For two years, I grew a small business in the countryside of Yamaguchi (that's about an hour from Hiroshima). I provided in-house (or in-office) English lessons personalized to my students' needs. I relied heavily on word of mouth and guerilla marketing tactics to grow from 0 to 65 students in …
#3: Learning by Doing
Seventeen and a half years of my life were spent sitting at a desk, listening to a teacher, studying for a test, and, when I passed, getting a piece of paper with my name written on them. But -- so what? Even though the education system involves a lot of learning and doing -- nothing prepared …
#2: You’re Stronger Than You Think
Last year was the shittiest year of my life where everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. F*ck!!! On the professional side -- three of my best copywriting gigs ended their contracts in the same month which had nothing to do with my performance. One of my clients hired an in-house …
#1: Are You Being Challenged?
I spent the better parts of my 20s riding a bicycle across countries without any plan or purpose as to where I was going. Most days consisted of waking with the sunrise, slipping into my cycling attire, packing up my gear, then brewing a cup of coffee as I mentally prepared for the day …
Buyer’s Journey: 5 Essential Secrets to Selling More
Not all buyers are impulsive, even though research suggests 64% of people make impulse purchases at least once a month.1 When it comes to complex products and services with a bigger price tag or promise -- here's a glimpse of a non-impulsive buyer's journey. What is a Buyer's Journey? Think …
Productivity Results: Is Your Time Well Spent or Totally Wasted?
Are you happy with your day-to-day productivity results? Do the things you do help to accomplish your big picture goals? Or did you just waste another weekend binging a random series on Netflix? Sure, our body needs water and oxygen to live but time is our most precious commodity. You can't …
Morning Routine: 3 Smart Habits for a Healthy, Happy Day
If you've ever wanted a better morning routine -- because you're tired of staying up late all the time -- here are 5 smart habits to make it happen. Do you consider yourself to be a night owl or an early bird? Morning people (early birds) like wake up early, brew a wicked strong coffee, and …
Overthinking: How to Get Unstuck From Being Inside Your Head
How do you conquer the problem of overthinking when all your thoughts and feelings continually destroy your ability to do things? You start a digital journal -- that's how! When I grew up, writing was an outlet for my thoughts and frustrated teenage feelings. Even though I cringe whenever I …
Smart Freelancers Get Paid for Consulting Instead of Wasting Valuable Time
Ever been hacking away at your work when a client drops a "We gotta talk -- now!" email without any context whatsoever? Your instincts say to drop everything but your gut knows there's a better way to handle these random interruptions. Smart freelancers value their time and they also know how to …
4 FREE Web Audit Tools
If you want to improve your website's performance -- without paying $1000s for a consultant -- these FREE web audit tools are a must-use. With these tools, you can audit your website in minutes and get information to make strategic changes that can help you rank higher in search engines like …
Henry Miller’s 10 Rules for Working Effectively
Henry Miller's Rules for a Productive Workflow Slightly stolen from Henry Miller's rules of writing, I use them to guide my day-to-day working: Work on one thing at a time until finished.Don't be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, and recklessly on the task in hand.Work according to program and …
Virginia Satir’s I Am Me
I Am Me by Virginia Satir In all the world there is no one else exactly like me. Everything that comes out of me is authentically mine because I choose it… …I own everything about me, my body, my feelings, my mouth, my voice, all my actions whether they be to others or to myself… …I …