My friend Zach and I at the Civil War football game last week. The Ducks play in the first ever Pac-12 championship game today, so I had to show a little love Frequently I’m asked by aspiring entrepreneurs “how should I get started with my business?” It’s true there’s SO much information out there, and there are so many opinions on how to go about it, that it can be really easy to get paralyzed into inaction, and continue putting it off for an indefinite amount of time. Right now I’m going to give you the best piece of advice I’ve ever received regarding building a business. It’s not technical, it’s extremely easy, and you can start right now. Are
Continue Reading > 13 Comments posted: December 2nd, 2011
This morning I woke up to a nice surprise, an email from about five people telling me that an article I wrote awhile back had hit the front page of Yahoo! Easily the most visible article I’ve ever written, I was pretty stoked. Over 600 comments, 900 Facebook likes, over 100 tweets. Yep, I’d hit the big time. All with the exception of one small detail: there was no link back to any of my sites. All of those thousands of eyes that were reading my writing had no idea how to find the person who wrote it – well except for the 217 people who have Googled “sean ogle” today. The article was called “6 Businesses You Can Run
Continue Reading > 56 Comments posted: October 24th, 2011
When I was at my old job, there was a phrase that my boss used all the time: inquiring mind. He’d ask me to make sure I had some talking points on a particular company, because so and so client was an “inquiring mind.” I never liked the term much, but it’s only just recently hit me why. I didn’t like it, because by nature I’m not an inquiring mind. I was never the guy in class constantly probing the professor with questions of why? All too often I’m content to accept things at face value. I rarely do the difficult thinking that will take things from good, to incredible. The last six weeks however have done something to shift my
Continue Reading > 22 Comments posted: October 17th, 2011
Sunset from the bean bag bars on Seminyak Beach in Bali – about 5 minutes from where I’m staying. On a fairly regular basis I get people telling me how lucky I am. By all accounts I am very fortunate to live this lifestyle. If I’d found someone doing this while I was holed up in my cubicle, I’d probably call them lucky too. All luck is not created equal however. When people make remarks to me, they usually come in one or two different forms: “Man, you’re really lucky, I wish I could do that.” “The only reason you can do what you’re doing is because you got lucky.” There’s a very big distinction between those two statements. It’s
Continue Reading > 26 Comments posted: October 3rd, 2011
View of the pool at my hotel, the Bhu Nga Thani, in Railay Beach, Thailand As I sit here on a ferry from Koh Phi Phi, Thailand to Railay Beach (one of my favorite places on Earth), I can’t help but reflect upon what’s led me here – to the Andaman Sea in the middle of a Wednesday. The same Wednesday that used to be spent in an office, dreaming of the day where I could go off gallivanting around the world for an indefinite period of time. Note: I play up the fact I’m able to do this a lot. Not because I’m trying to brag, but because this is my life. This is my reality. When I started the
Continue Reading > 15 Comments posted: September 29th, 2011
View from our Bungalow in Koh Phi Phi above. At least in low season you get the good rooms for cheap! Remember that bit last week about flexibility? Well I wasn’t joking. You see, this week was supposed to be my vacation of sorts. Tate was coming out to Asia and we were going to go spend some time in the Gili Islands, Ubud, and I was going to make an attempt at peeling myself away from my computer for a few days. Well l should still have the opportunity to get away from my computer, but it’s not going to be from a beach in Bali. You see, due to some passport expiration issues Tate was told in Hong
Continue Reading > 13 Comments posted: September 26th, 2011
Note: On Tuesday, September 20th at 6pm PST I’ll be doing a webinar with my good friend Derek Johanson of Live Uncomfortably. We’ll be discussing the 5 Essential Components of Running a Laptop based business. I’d love it if you would join us! Register for the webinar here. You know the dream? The one every lifestyle entrepreneur seems to have, where you’re sitting by the pool with your laptop, and the cute little umbrella drink. Sounds great in theory? But does it really live up to expectations? I feel like the beach vacation or the beach trip is oftentimes better in theory than in practice. People forget about sand. Sand gets everywhere and it definitely doesn’t like your laptop. If you’re in
Continue Reading > 11 Comments posted: September 19th, 2011
Have you ever not done something because you feel as though you’ve missed the curve? Perhaps you’ve thought about starting an ecommerce store, but feel like all of the profitable niches out there are taken. Maybe it’s something as simple as wanting to take up a sport, and you feel as though your now too old to do it. I’ve got news for you. The curve doesn’t exist. In fact, it never did. Regardless of what you’re doing you will always be one step behind the curve. The curve is constantly changing and moving forward. Therefore the curve is a figment of your imagination and a terrible thing in which to make decisions on. I don’t care what you’re thinking
Continue Reading > 4 Comments posted: September 15th, 2011
Greetings from Seminyak, Bali! After having to listen to me talk about it for months, the big day has finally come. Location Rebel will open to the public at 8am PST this morning! You can head here to join in on the fun. While it’s bright and early back in the States, here in Bali that’s 11pm, so I’ve recruited my friends from the Tropical MBA to keep the music going and the Red Bull flowing to ensure I don’t nod off Not only have I spent hundreds of hours putting this program together, but I’ve traveled halfway across the world for the big day. I mean honestly, what good is a program called Location Rebel if I can’t prove
Continue Reading > 8 Comments posted: September 13th, 2011
Earlier this afternoon I was thinking of ideas for today’s post, when it hit me: tomorrow is the biggest day of my entrepreneurial career. My head has obviously been focused elsewhere for the last few weeks as I work hard to make sure that everything is in order for the release of Location Rebel. So instead of writing a traditional post, I decided to just put together a quick “Welcome to Bali” video where I mention what I’ve been up to, and say a quick personal thank you for all of you who have been following along for the last couple years. We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming on Thursday, where I’ll talk more about the trip and
Continue Reading > 4 Comments posted: September 12th, 2011
