How to Become a Permanent “Slasher”

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No, not that kind of slash

Some people call them “slashers”.  Emile Wapnick calls them “multi-potentialites”. I call them Location Rebels.

However you want to describe them, there’s a growing movement of people who are working to make their living doing a wide variety of things, rather than specializing in one.

“So what do you do?”

“Oh you know, I’m an “SEO specialist/affiliate marketer/HDR photographer/blogger/consultant/world traveler.”

No joke, I’m pretty sure at one point or another that has actually come out of my mouth.

Right now is the era of the slasher. I’m a blank slash blank slash blank.  Get it?

When you combine books like Never Get a Real Job and the 4 Hour Work Week with a lifestyle design movement that’s growing with ever increasing fervor, you end up with a lot of people who have never full specialized their skill sets and are doing whatever they can to get by on their own terms.

The crappy economy has spurred this on even more.

Lose your job? “Oh well, I’ll go travel the world and try and make a couple extra bucks while I’m at it!” – thus a slasher is born.

However, here’s the thing about a slasher. Most of them will never be able to make a living at it long term.

In order to be successful in this type of position, you need to be able to provide an enormous level of value to others, and then find a way to monetize that.  When you fail to develop an in depth skill set you’re unable to provide much value to others, because you don’t have the knowledge to do so.

Many of these people will get by doing things like seo writing, or adding a few paid links to their blog.  Unfortunately for most, that’s not a recipe to long term living.  Of course there’s always the exception to the rule, but if you don’t commit to becoming a “relative expert” in one or more categories, sooner or later you’re going to end up going back to a more traditional job.

The fact is, there are very few permanent slashers.

However, they do exist. And if you look at the one’s who’ve been successful, you’ll see some similarities.

First off:

They each built up their expertise in one thing first.

Take Colin Wright for instance.  Colin is traveling the world, living in cool places, and doing lots of cool stuff.  However from the beginning he’s been an excellent designer. He had design and branding work while he was getting started to help him supplement his income.

I started doing SEO right at the beginning of my foray into the Location Rebel lifestyle, and any time I’ve needed more money or work I’ve always been able to pick up an extra client or two to get by until my other ventures picked up.

It’s important that you learn enough about a given skill set to add value to the lives of those around you – otherwise you really don’t have a way to get paid – not a good one anyways.

The second similarity you’ll notice about the successful permanent slasher, is that:

They are usually good writers.

When you’re trying to make money online doing a bunch of random things, almost all of them will one way or another relate back to your ability to string together a few coherent sentences.

So much of the slasher lifestyle revolves around your ability to create content.  Whether it’s a blog post, ebook, review of a product etc. the more content you produce, the greater your chances of making a real living at it.

Even if you’re doing something that seems unrelated, like video editing or web design, you still need to be a good enough writer to communicate well with your clients – doesn’t bode well for you if you send over a proposal full of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.

Third:

They Treat Their Life as a Real Business

This might be the biggest thing that separates the men from the boys, so to speak.

It’s easy to throw up a blog and make a couple bucks.  To turn your slashing into a long term, sustainable lifestyle isn’t quite so easy.

It requires dedication, discipline, persistence, and a good strategy. Most people aren’t willing to treat their business as such, and at one point or another die out.

If you’re planning to become a slasher, then put some thought behind what you want the business to look like in 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, 2 years, 5 years etc.

I’m not saying you need to know all of the intricate details, but you have to be moving forward somehow, if you don’t know which way you’re going, you could run into some serious trouble.

This time of year is an excellent time to re-evaluate where you’re at and what you’re actually serious about in terms of your business. Ready to get serious? Hell yeah. Not quite there? Then don’t fool yourself into thinking you are, you’re better off committing to something you can get serious about.

Finally:

They Establish a Clear Brand

Almost every successful slasher I know at some point establishes a very clear brand for themselves.  Maybe it’s a clear tagline, perhaps its relative expertise in one particular field, regardless you need to become known for something. Even if that something is only a fraction of your income, or perhaps completely non-income generating.

You have to get known. If people don’t know who you are, they can’t pay you. If they can’t pay you, you can’t have a real business.

Keep these four tenets of this lifestyle in mind and you’ll be well on your way to living a life that will never be void of opportunity and incredible experiences.

Agree or disagree with this? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit: Edvill

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