Mind the Beginner

Looking back

On March 13th 2009 I made my very first blogpost ever, starting the blog on a wordpress hosted domain. Right off the bat I can tell you that that was a mistake. I should have started on my own domain from the beginning. My old domain is still getting more traffic every day than where you are now. Over the year this blog has had several small and big changes made to it. Ranging from new layouts, inserting images and discovering some useful HTML features all the way up to getting a clearer focus on what this blog is about.

I started out blogging about “A little blog on beginning, it sounds so simple but it’s quite complex.” this changed to ” lifestyle design and personal development with a Zen twist” and now I finally got down to what really gets me going: “Thoughts from a Zen mind in a Western World”. My view on just about anything and everything in my daily life. At times confronting and perhaps even a bit extreme, but always honest.

All I knew was that I wanted to learn how to write and connect with people around the world. I was looking for affirmation that there were more like-minded people out there. Also, I wanted to learn more about the dynamics of online marketing and social media. To do that you need some sort of platform to promote obviously. So it became twofold: connecting with minds and learning how to market.

Right now

Looking around at other bloggers who started out at just about the same time as I did (Corbett Barr and Carl R. Nelson to name two) you might be tempted to say that this blog is a very slow grower and I must be doing something wrong with the marketing. That could well be the case, I like to think the main reason is that these two put so many hours in their blogmarketing that they deserve it. There is no secret way of doing this, it comes down to putting in the hours. (That, and I haven’t done any guestposts)

Looking around you might also conclude that I’m doing rather well. For the first time in the history of this blog the feedburner counter jumped the 200 mark. It took me 8 months to reach 100, and 4 months to go up to 20o. May I conclude that I will be at 300 subscribers in another 2 months? (and 400 one month later). That would bring me well over 1000 subscribers in the next year. 300 Subscribers is one of my goals for this year as you might recall and it looks very much within reach.

Another awesome thing happened to me this year of blogging. For the very first time in my personal history I actually earned money through without selling a physical object. Although I’m no where near my goal of the $500 a month goal I set seeing money being transferred into your paypal account from a sale is empowering, no matter the amount! It gives a sense of accomplishment. And thinking about one of my initial intentions to start blogging, I’ve marketed my blog effectively enough to earn a few dollars. The theory that you can earn money through blogging is now a fact to me. I can now honestly say I know.

Personal things

Learning how to write has had a significant impact on how I think and express my thoughts. Developing the skill to put to words what you are thinking is very powerful and if this was the only thing that blogging would have brought me I would be a very happy man. But of course there is more to blogging than just that. It also thought me how to stand up for what I think a bit more. I’m still trying to keep friends with everybody at times but there are moments when you can quite simply agree with me or be wrong!

I am a blogger and I am in it for the long haul. Personal experience and thought will never dry up and as long as that is there you’ll be reading about it here. Blogging taught me how to express myself, how to market a website and how to use social media to that end. Through blogging I’m very happy to have made friends all over the world, loyal readers and honest critics. Thank you!

Looking forward

We made it this far. So what’s next? Life and business are nowhere without a direction, a goal, a set of values. You can always come here and read about the world through my eyes, I will keep doing the best I can to offer you high-value content and meaningful blogposts to think about. Ruthless honesty and simplicity are my main values here and that is what you will get. My ultimate goal is to have this blog grow to well over 1000 subscribers, for however long that takes. Once there, nothing will actually change except the number of readers you can connect with to discuss my thoughts.

Are there other plans as well? Of course! I’m thinking about a few things: guestposting, a second blog, an eBook, learning CSS and HTML, more serious marketing to get my name out there as a blogger, the blogger on the subject of Zen thinking and the effects it has on life in terms of personal development, lifestyle design, minimalism, productivity and simplicity. You get the idea don’t you?

This first year was awesome! Thank you for your continued support. Hang on to your seat, it’s going to be a wild ride from here.

A small request

As a closing thought on this blogpost I’m going to ask you for your help. If you think this blog has added value to your life in any way, please spread the word. Backlink on your blog, tweet  and urge others to subscribe to my RSS feed.Thanks again, I would be nowhere without you.

There’s a buzz in the lifestyle design sector the last few days. Clay Collins is about to re-open Project Mojave to the public. For a modest fee you can take part and learn how to build a “freedom business” in 3.8 months.

But what is it exactly. What I can tell you is that the project is a collection of people who have combined their skills in teaching people how they can set up an Internet business with the goal of making an income that’s automated leaving you with enough time on your hands (because you no longer have to work) to do what you really want to do. You’ll be freed from the bonds of the 9 to 5 till 65.

Sounds great doesn’t it? Well, yes it’s a sales talk of course it sounds great. But does it really work?

No! it’s not a magic program that will get you up to speed and guarantee you your freedom business. For Clay it’s a business and as any business it earns him money. 200 people, times $99 a month or something like that equals buckets full of money, split in several pieces to pay all the other stakeholders and it’s still a lot of money every month.

But you know what? That’s perfectly alright, it’s a get rich scheme for Clay but at the same time its a wealth of knowledge brought together in one place. All the knowledge is out there on the Internet but most people can’t find it. At Project Mojave it’s all there in easy bite sized bits and easy to follow tutorials. Setting up a business really isn’t that difficult, save for one single thing everybody seems to keep forgetting:

It’s damn hard work! Hundreds of hours you need to spend staring at numbers until you find a niche, hundreds of hours working on an information product. So in the end it’s not a get rich quick scheme. It takes many many hours of dedicated work. On both sides… You get a lot back for your $99 a month, knowledge painstakingly gathered and tested over and over to give you the best possible chance to make it through and be successful. All it takes is a lot of perspiration, some inspiration and a modest monthly fee.

You’ll be in there with people like Jonathan Mead, Johnny B Truant, Laura Roeder and Carl R Nelson, all discussing their take on things and helping you get through the program through discussions on a lively forum.

If you’re up to it and believe this is the path for you, click the banner below and take part on the project, I promise you that if you do the work you’ll make it through. Just don’t underestimate it…  Good luck!

Another week has come and gone, another weekly update is in order. I’m getting more into the routine of blogging, so I’d better watch out for the “routine-trap” and keep the quality high. I have no idea yet what I’m going to write about next week but I promise you, it will be great!

Average number of pageviews over this week: 120. If I wouldn’t count yesterday all the days of the week generated more than 100 views. I can clearly remember the day that I was exhilarated that I had over 50 views a day.

Number of subscribers to my RSS feed:It’s at 44 today, but I’ve seen spikes reaching a bit higher over the week and I regularly see that the link to my feed has been clicked so the number of subscribers is rising. Thanks Sarah Mae for suggesting that I remove the subscriber counter while I have few subscribers. It’s definitely working although you might not see it if just looking at the weekly numbers.

Where the traffic is coming from: I’ve been using su.pr to promote my blogposts through twitter. This has contributed a lot I can tell you. The blogposts I promote this way now get traffic not only through twitter but through stumble as well, almost doubling the effectiveness. My name seems to be getting out there more and more. My blog’s name even gets searched with google. I’m regularly wrapped in conversation with people I used to thing of as unreachable to me. Also, I’ve done a guestpost over at Sudeep’s blog and have gotten several links back to my blog from Carl over at Slacker Reform. I really do think he’s putting out some serious quality blogposts. If you haven’t visited his blog yet here’s a link: Slacker Reform
I’ll be looking into doing more blogposts and I need to get back to commenting more on other blogs, I’ve been a bit lazy this week.

What I have done this week to get my blog bigger and what I learned:There have been some changes to my blog, mostly subtle. I deleted the feedburner subscriber counter. It will be back up when I reach more than 100 subscribers. I’ve also deleted the “Copyright” page. Somehow I didn’t feel it was adding anything and it has been weeks since someone looked at it. In it’s place I’ve created the Teapot Flow page. If you haven’t seen it yet please do take a look. I like the photo in particular.

Yesterday I actually learned something very valuable while I was running. (Did I tell you already? I’ve taken up running, I’m running almost an hour every other day and have been at it for about three weeks now.) I can to the insight that I currently have something very valuable in hand and that I better act upon it while it’s still in my hand. Before you know it the moment is gone forever. I could tell you all about the insight but then I would have to talk about seeing a cloud dragon with wings of light holding a golden orb. In short, you’d tell me I went insane. Also, it’s not very zen-like to see things that aren’t there. Let’s keep it at a very strange cloud formation with a setting sun strategically behind it. My highly active imagination did the rest.

Well, it’s a short update again but as things are going I’m very happy with the progress. Not only with my won blog but with a few other blogs that started out roughly at the same position I was three months ago. It’s good to see them having success and being there to witness it.

A bit of a chaotic post today. You might recall me writing about Project Mojave in my post on Monday and my writing about it stating that I hope it really does work while at the same time trying to kick everyone who believed in such things and keeps reading without acting upon it. After that ass-kicking blogpost on Monday and the long post on hormones last Wednesday I though I’d go in a different direction today.

I want the globe to be my playground

Project Mojave  opened up to new subscribers last Tuesday 4.30pm PST. At which time it was 1:30 am where my bed and computer are located at the moment so I was sound asleep seeing as I had to get up at 5 am the following day.

Now this is where Carl (Slacker Reform) comes into the picture. This guy really is amazing as I’ve said before. He gave me a heads-up on the project back in April and I’ve been hearing about his adventures on the project for the last month. He got so excited about it all that he really wanted to have me on the project too.

So how do you do that? Remember I was asleep at the time the project went live. I could of course sign in on at a later time but perhaps I would miss out on all the nice bonus material. I could also just wait for the next run of the program but who knows when that one would be. I went to sleep with some thoughts about that and thinking about an offer Carl made me…

..

In the mean time

..

…He signed me up and made all the arrangements! There was a mail in my mailbox the next morning with my login details stating that everything was payed for. Although this was the offer Carl made me while we were talking over twitter I never imagined him doing this for real. I’ve known Carl now for little over a month and we have only talked using twitter and through blog comments, and now this. I knew we were roughly on the same wavelength now and then but this is absolutely crazy. I guess he really wants me on the project and I’m very happy to be on it!

Sorry for the rant-like blogpost but it’s hard to write properly when you’re this excited. So for the next three months I’ll be simultaneously doing three things aside from my every day life:

• Run this blog like I have these past months and reach my goal of 500 views a day, followed by transferring this blog to it’s own domain
• Working with Project Mojave to create a freedom business, perhaps I can combine this blog and the project here and there. You’ll notice soon enough
• Preparing for university which starts this September but for which I still have to do a math test or more accurately a test in proposition and predicate logic.They want to see if I can wrap my head around that kind of thinking

So what is the future holding for me?

• A successful blog, where I can vent my creativity and generate a small side income
• An income through online entrepreneurship aka running a freedom business which will make me location independent
• A degree in information science which if the first two things don’t work out will be my “backup” to a normal job, with more than enough possibilities there to either earn enough to be financially independent or become an entrepreneur using what I’ve learned at uni. I’ll be learning some major computing skills there and whichever way my life goes this will come in handy

All things considering one of my biggest life goals is Financial Independence to do all the things I’ve been dreaming of. To summarize: I want the globe to be my playground as a zen inspired vagabond/digital nomad and I will achieve that, one way or the other.

Here in The Netherlands there is a whole subculture around squatters. Squatters are people who occupy buildings without having a lawful claim to it. Squatting over here is legal as long as the building has not been used for over a year. Buildings that would otherwise stay empty and in disuse. This has been going on since the latter half of the 20th century and however annoying it can be to property owners they serve a function. No property owner here can get away with leaving a building empty for to long. It’s a constant game between owners and squatters.

You’re probably wondering where I’m going with this one: Squatters were my inspiration for this post or rather the skills these squatters have learned to be able to live like they do. They have a minimalist lifestyle. According to law when you occupy a building you need a bed, a table and a chair in order to establish yourself. A mattress, a barstool and a wooden board on a couple of crates is all they need. Some squatters literally own nothing more than the clothes on their back and a mattress.

 Traveling for an extended period of time is becoming less of a dream and more of a real goal for people to aim for

The difference between them and the homeless is that they choose to live this way and quite often do have an income. There are even grad students who live this way with nothing more than their books and a place to sleep. A computer can be used at the public library or at university, washing yourself might be done by going to the local swimming pool every few days. Their lifestyle certainly is not for everyone but there is one thing they got down to an art form: minimalist living. I admire them for that skill and their creativity.

Digital Nomads

On a slightly different level there are the digital nomads who are gaining popularity on the Internet. People who quite literally live out of a backpack. Earning enough money to sustain their travels and day to day activities through Internet entrepreneurship.

There is an immense sense of freedom to be had when living this way. A freedom I would almost encourage you to try and experience if you ever get the chance. Most digital nomads I know of run a blog as a means of income. Take Carl Nelson for instance, a professional dancer who has been traveling through the USA the last few months with nothing more than his single suitcase and shoulderbag. He already knows I envy him for this. A bit higher up the nomadic food chain we find people like Tim Ferriss (yes, the 4 hour workweek guy) and Chris Guillebeau. Although as far as I know both these do have a “home base” from where they travel and come back to. (and receive snail mail probably.)

Flashpackers

Another name that sometimes is used for these people is “flashpackers”. Although not applicable to every digital nomad a flashpacker is someone who travels in the same way a backpacker does, but with less stuff. More digital toys (iPod, laptop, GPS perhaps, high-end digital camera) and far less clothing. What they need while traveling they buy. Clothing can be very cheap is you don’t mind not wearing a certain brand and when shirt’s cost you maybe 4 dollars each (in Asia for instance) you might opt for the same strategy unless you want to be frugal. Wear it until it’s time to move on. Toss all the cheap clothing you can’t fit in your bag and take the rest with you to replace later on. You can easily travel the world with only two of everything, washing one while wearing the other.

• Now we hit on a slight problem a lot of people share: missing the ability to throw something out that doesn’t serve a real purpose anymore (other than sentimental value).

To often we are tied down by the things we own. All those little things that clutter our home or our desk. That porcelain dog figure your aunt gave you, the useless collection of pens that just sit there drying up when you have that one favorite pen you always use, the DVD collection you built up but never watch. Let’s face it, humans are pack rats by nature. We have evolved (I a strong believer of Darwin’s evolution theory but also harbor some Buddhist thought patterns.) in an environment where more was always better. Throwing away anything that might some day be useful could be deadly. (deadly taken literally here) So we waste nothing keep everything. 

And now we live in our huge homes, with everything we could ever want and it’s still not enough because now we’re trapped by our belongings. Traveling the world can’t be done because we worry about out plasma TV being stolen or the priceless tropical fish that needs to be fed and only we know how exactly to do that. 

Materialism isn’t everything, freedom is

Not only our physical belongings tie us down, our social ties also “help” in staying put. “What will the neighbors think” or “how am I going to explain this to my parents”. Our species started out as nomadic but ever since we started farming we got tied down. Sometimes living our whole lives in the same region just because we grew up there and knew everyone. And we were happy. 

But now with the ever diminishing size of the globe due to all the means of transport and the Internet traveling for an extended period of time (Vagabonding or living like a digital nomad) is becoming less of a dream and more of a real goal for people to aim for.

What sets squatters, digital nomads and flashpackers apart from the rest of us? They have acquired the skill to travel very lightly for extended periods of time. Not being tied down by their worldly possessions. They also acquired the skill to generate an income, wherever they are. 

The beginner’s mind

How do we begin with this? – This blog is about beginning after all so I’d better tell you how to get started – It starts with recognizing the things that tie us down and adopting a minimalistic lifestyle. Materialism isn’t everything, freedom is. I leave it up to you to decide what freedom is and if you should adopt this way of life. Who is happier, the squatter who can live anywhere? Or the CEO with his giant house and obligations? If you’re happy where you are right now by all means do stay there. If there is some place else you’d rather be, know that many have gone before you.

How to we begin setting up an income? The fun bit is you don’t have to. Money isn’t everything either. You need enough of it to get to where you want to and maybe to pay for your food and a place to sleep. On other continents however it’s not that hard to find a cheap place to sleep or even to get invited to stay somewhere. It’s not about money, it’s about social skills and people. 

I’m not a digital nomad myself nor am I a world traveler. I’m an outspoken minimalist however who is always looking for ways to strealine my worldly possessions so eventually I’ll have only those things that can be contained within a backpack. My biggest problem will be my book collection for which I will probably have to rent a very small apartment somewhere. A place to call “home base” so to speak. With nothing more than a bed, a table and a chair… hundreds of books, an Internet connection and a meditation pillow.

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