The Real Secret to How I Got Started

There's a super easy answer to how my career really got started. It's all related to one simple detail: I connected with people who were doing cool projects in the space I wanted to work in.I didn't connect with the "legends." I connected with smart people doing cool work. I connected with the up and comers. I connected with whoever seemed truly excited about what they were doing.And I asked questions. Endless questions. I asked people what they were doing, how they were doing it, what was working, what was a mess, and I asked them for advice on my own projects. I asked how I could help.There are thousands of photos of me with other people. I pulled a random half dozen or so by searching "with Chris Brogan" on Google. Every one of these people and the thousands I've reached weren't the "amazing top of their game" when I reached out. I've only really talked with a half dozen people who were "way out of my league." Instead, I spoke to people who were just like me. Workers. Doing something.And we help each other. We share each other's stuff. We call each other out when one of us is doing something dopey. And we talk a lot about the behind the scenes stuff.You could do this. You could be this. You could have this. It's not relegated to any particular kind of person. It's not "hard" per se. Though it requires work. But if you want to win, everything requires work.I put together a webinar on what I've learned through business mentorship, networking, and community development. In it, I'll share a lot about how I got to where I am and how you can take action on a handful of simple efforts and get yourself closer to your goals.Lots of people skip these steps. They think that success is all about the work. But no one gets there alone. And I can help.Join Me.

The Next Event I Might Run

As the co-founder of PodCamp, it was interesting to participate at the most recent PodCamp Pittsburgh (this is their tenth running of the event). I was nearly surprised that nine years later, we're still talking about which microphone to use and how to monetize a podcast. But that's technically WHY we still run PodCamps. Because people still have that question. It made me think, though.

The Next Event I Might Run

I spoke with Carla Swank from Nashville a few times. She's part of the team running Craft Content, which is their own project but that follows the BarCamp/PodCamp/other similar events legacy. It was exciting to see the new brand, the new ideas, the different spin on what is out there.

Related to that, I was thinking about how the MODEL of the event is worth copying, and that got me thinking that maybe an interesting event would be a clustering of events all using the same set of tools.

Unconference Events Need to Live On

Many of my friends run really good bigger-style events. Sponsors, speakers, set schedules, etc. I attend and speak at lots of those. They're swell! Even better.

Rules of an Unconference

An unconference can be formed around a reasonably simple set of rules:

• Free or cheap to attend.
• No official keynotes. All participants are treated equally.
• Participants can submit speaking sessions.
• Free space is available to impromptu sessions.
• Financials are disclosed as it's not for profit, not for loss.
• All content created at the event must be released under Creative Commons licensing for distribution purposes.

What Goes Into an Unconference

What goes into an event isn't trivial, but it can be figured out.

• Venue with separate speaking rooms.
• Wifi and A/V (projectors, at least).
• Sponsors to cover the above two needs.
• Centralized (online) schedule.
• Volunteers at the event.
• Promotion and supervision before the event.

College campuses work well. Churches have worked okay. Tech companies often have great spaces (in Boston/Cambridge, we like the Microsoft NERD Center.)

But Could Multiple Related-but-not-the-Same Events Run Together?

Carla Swank pointed out that Nashville had a little bit of a splintering issue (lots of events that diffuse the attendance of any one event). PodCamp Pittsburgh wasn't exactly bursting at the seams with attendees (though everyone there were the right people and I'm glad to have caught up with them all again!).It seems to me that a "menu" of events might work. Justin Kownacki (co-founder of PodCamp Pittsburgh) mentioned that the SXSW folks are working from that theme. TED has done that a bit, especially with their TEDx project. And Jeff Pulver has run many various 140 conference events of different themes.

The Value of these Unconference-Level Events in the Event Ecosystem

In a world of thousand-plus people events that are great, full of amazing content, and are becoming destination experiences, why bother creating little 200-300 people events?I think there's something we gain from small, flexible, regionally-executed events. You get the public, the community outside of the "core" people, and a real seed bed for potential local area growth. I think that's why, and I feel it's worth it.I just read somewhere that we do our best "open ended" thinking in groups and our best work in isolation. I think that sounds about right.I might just do something to help contribute to some more open-ended events.But will I run another PodCamp? Never say never.

The Secret Empire Decades in the Making (and how you can start yours and get there faster than me)

I started blogging back in 1998. I had no idea what it was going to turn into. But over the last handful of years, I've known more and more what this all CAN do together.

A Peek Into How This All Threads Together for ME

I'm sharing MY personal setup. You can do yours any which way you want. But There's some method to the madness, and it's all contained in that picture above. I wanted to show you how it works for me.

The Social

I've written a bit about which social networks work for me these days. I use social platforms to point people towards media that I've created. Social - > Media. That's a huge part of how I use it. I also use other media (like Instagram) to build up warmth and trust so that people might actually choose to look at the media I create for business purposes. It's that mix that matters.

For me, Facebook + LinkedIn + Twitter (to a much lesser extent) + Instagram (for that non converting media) is what's working. For you, it might be a different mix.

What Social YIELDS

- In the drawing above, it goes in two directions. To the right is Community. That happens to be free of cost for people, but there are many ways that this provides a super powerful asset. Each of my paid courses has a private community wherein which there are many great bonds made and business shared. But even the Secret Team, which is a free Facebook Group, is providing for tons of really great connections that move things along.That's social to the right. Social pointing down means that I can get people from social to my blog (or to wherever I share a piece of content - a podcast episode, for instance). Social points to Media.

Media

As I mentioned above, media like my blog yields a few different outcomes. I use some of my media to earn more people's opting into my newsletter. That's a very valuable asset to me. That's the "down" direction. To the right is the pure earning of my blog to get me speeches and consulting gigs. My content gives people ideas that turn into some of my primary business.Remember, YOUR boxes might have something else. If you sell nursing services, where mine says "speeches/consulting," yours would say "new patients/clients." Make sense?

Newsletter

My newsletter accounts for over 70% of my sales and revenue overall for my entire business. A lot of that comes from my courses and my other digital offerings. It's truly the powerhouse of the empire.

And Yet

If you look at it all, it's all relatively tied tightly together. If I weren't using the social platforms in a special and nuanced way (We cover this in Earn More Customers in great detail), then I wouldn't have that many people looking at my blog. If I didn't have more people looking at my blog, I wouldn't have the ability to grow my newsletter. If I didn't grow my newsletter and nurture it all with the community efforts I make, I wouldn't earn the right to sell and serve.It all matters. But lots of us have the formula wrong.

Check out Earn More Customers

I just had the first webinar to promote and launch Earn More Customers. The registration won't be open for very long (maybe two weeks tops), but if you're at all interested, now's the time to look. I'm going to show you how to thread together your own version of a platform/system that works, how to stop wasting all your time on the wrong parts of the equation, and how everything fits together and why. This encompasses the MOST detailed explanation and solution to the questions I'm asked the most often, from solo business people all the way up to huge corporations. I've got a way to distill it all and show you some maps to the treasure.Peek at it. Earn More CustomersRemember, if you're reading this past the end of May 2015, you're probably looking at a waiting list page. So peek now. :)

How Online Courses Changed My Business

I've been teaching online courses for the last three or four years. When I started out, it was because Julien Smith told me that I ought to teach people how to create their own blog topics. That evolved into Blog Topics: The Master Class, and since then, I've launched a dozen or so more.Over time, online courses came to represent over 70% of my revenue. That wasn't overnight, and it wasn't immediately intentional. But I want to explain how online courses changed my business, and I want to further explain the potential for you.

How Online Courses Changed My Business

My work consulting has always been fun. I get to speak to huge companies in one capacity or another. I've worked with Google and Pepsi and Coke and Disney and all kinds of other great people. I love being there in person and sharing ideas and thoughts and trying to help guide people's efforts to grow their capabilities and connections.But one drawback of an in-person engagement is that you can only do and say so much. Unless I'm going to embed with the company, I'm usually only there for a day or two. Even if I were to work on retainer, that's just a lot of check-ins and nothing as methodical as I found that I was able to deliver in a course.Plus, there's the cost. I charge a lot for my time. To get me on a plane once a month isn't inexpensive. So, I started thinking about whether I could deliver the baseline parts of my strategy and learning via courses. And the answer was yes.

What Goes Into Building an Online Course

We just reopened Online Course Maker for another week of registration. I've been excited to work with over 500 course makers on their offerings, and it's been neat seeing what people want to cover in their own courses. It's also teaching me what goes into making a good online course.

• Work from a strong framework to guide what will be delivered.
• Build the learning so that it's bite-sized and modular.
• Solve a specific problem and show a specific area for potential gain.
• Courses work better with a community element.
• Make definitive how-to information that gives people a way to advance their understanding.

Beyond this, I've learned that there's a lot of technology questions, that people have huge marketing and sales education needs, and that people are nervous about wiring everything together, so they hesitate. On that last one, I've learned that having 500+ classmates to help you through that hesitation is what seems to signal the wins for people.

Check Out Online Course Maker

If you're thinking about delivering online course materials, I've built out a really simple framework to help you turn your ideas into content, how to price and sell it, and how to deliver the final product. Check out Online Course Maker and see if you're ready.(Note: the doors are only open til May 5th at 11:59pm ET. If you miss that window, it will be a while before we offer the next class.)

My Ideal Buyer Partner

The people who work best with me are trying to grow their business. They may or may not be employees of some other company, but they want to grow their business, their part of the story. They are looking for next-level advantages.

My ideal buyer partner is trying to better understand the digital space. Maybe they were told "just use social media" and nothing happened. They tweeted as much as everyone else. They started a blog that nobody ready. They started (and likely abandoned) their email newsletter.

What I Do To Help

Over the last several years, Owner Media Group (and formerly Human Business Works) has helped everyone from the big guys like Sony and Microsoft and Google and Disney with some of the above, and we've helped individuals like you with the same.Mostly, I share strategies and approaches for making this all work for you.

Current and Upcoming Projects

• Belong: Insider's Group (coming) - a media powered community incubator, where we work with partners to help better develop the community they serve and improve their marketplace opportunities. This is a kind of mini-mastermind with the primary goal being cross-member support and pollination.
• Belong: Earn More Customers (coming) - use media and community efforts to develop a bigger and more engaged customer base. This covers the mechanics of developing a better online presence to serve your offline or online business. I fix a lot of your "broken" experiences in this course.
• Online Course Maker (next class opens April 28th) - stop trading hours for dollars and learn how to help others via an online course. Over 500 makers are currently developing ways to help the community they serve.

How I Deliver These Projects

• Webinars - A quick one-hour-ish dive into a strategy and related tactics.
• Private Membership Groups - Ongoing access to myself and others seeking to grow their capabilities and connections.
• Courses - Deeper dive work to get you fully set up to succeed.
• Speeches - Strategy & vision work from the stage (or in the boardroom).
• Consulting - Deep dive work either in person or virtually. (I do this sparingly these days)
• Retreats - We're planning a few in-person deep dive retreats for people looking to get even more out of their growth and learning.

Referring An Ideal Buyer Partner

Depending on which of the above best suits you, there are a few ways to refer people.

1. It's always best if someone joins my newsletter. That tells people pretty quickly whether they'll like my style or not.
2. If you'd like to earn money for your kind referrals, we have a great Affiliate program, where on MOST offerings, we pay 50% commission to you.
3. For speeches, please refer to my speaking page.
4. For Consulting, please scroll down my about page and use the contact form there.
5. The retreats will be announced on the newsletter.

What I Most Want to Do

My goal in explaining all this is to be sure that if someone's struggling with the strategies, tactics, tools and connections to succeed in developing out their digital presence to serve their offline and online business, that people know how to reach me and get the help they need.When I don't know how to help someone, I often know the person who does. I'm very happy to refer people where it makes the most sense.

Now, are YOU going to make a post like this and help others understand YOUR ideal buyer partner or customer?

Make Media that Serves

I was the keynote speaker at Perry Drake's UMSL digital marketing event last week. The room was a mix of agency people, business owners, and students. With that in mind, I asked them if they wanted to see what I speak about with businesses who are asking about how to use media and community to earn more customers. They said that would be okay (I mean, I was the keynote. If that wasn't okay, would they have asked, "What else have you got?") I thought I'd share WHY I picked what I did as my keynote speech.

Make Media That Serves

The premise of the speech was "Winning in the Choose Your Own Adventure Economy." If I boiled the whole speech down to one slide, it would be this one:

"If we can buy from anyone, why should we buy from you?"

The whole purpose of my presentation was: "hey, people who are here - here are some ways to think about how YOU do what you do with your business, framed around some seemingly simple questions that will take some work for you to solve."

That's what we need to be doing with our blogs, our podcasts, with everything. Or at least that's my big strong feeling as of late.

Inform and Entertain

Isn't that our duty? When we create our media, shouldn't we want to be at once entertaining and informative?

You don't need a magic checklist for this. You don't need a seven part sequence. Just ask one really simple litmus test question: Will this help someone? (Most importantly) And can you make it entertaining? (This isn't entirely entertaining, but I'll give you a slide deck to make up for it, if you want.)

Making Media Isn't a Burden - It's an Opportunity

Our role, yours and mine, is to help people succeed in some way. It's to grow their capabilities and connections. If you're a doctor trying to get people to eat better, or if you're a lady running an auto parts store in Mexico City, if you're hoping to create media to earn more customers or nurture your community, this is a great opportunity. This is your radio, your voice to guide everyone.

Want to See my UMSL Slides?

If you're willing to sign up to my newsletter, I'll gladly provide the slides immediately as a free gift. They'll show up on the thank you page after filling this in. And if not, no worries. Just wanted to show you how I'm thinking these days.

37 Blog Posts to Stop Writing - And What She Did Next Changed Everything

First off, I should be honest right up front: I lied. I'm definitely NOT going to give you 37 blog posts to stop writing. Instead, stop writing list posts just because you read somewhere that they're good.

We are TRASHING the opportunity to create great content marketing

Attention gimmicks are just that. They earn us attention. Briefly. And then what? If you've got no "next," then you've just wasted it. Your "71 productivity tips" post is like Stewie (and all children):Can't see the video? Click Here

Every time we create junk, we've just "mommamamommymom'ed" the community we have the opportunity to serve.

And I Don't Really Only Mean Blogs, Either

The weirdest thing has happened to my Twitter stream. Look at this (my mentions):My mentions stream, EVERY DAY, is a mountain of people tweeting that reasonably dumb quote of mine. (I mean, nice sentiment and all, but every day? Hundreds of times a day?) I wanted very much to blame @ValaAfshar, because his name is attached to it, but I suspect someone who follows HIM stuffed this into some weird quoting software. I hate it.But what it UNCOVERED to me was more interesting: lots and lots and lots of people are just stuffing quotes into Twitter, into their streams, because I suspect they're thinking, "Well, you've gotta feed the beast. Keep delivering content. Even if it's just a bunch of quotes I like."

STOP IT!!!!

The old (or misguided) mindset of "stuff all kinds of posts into the stream, and blog to 'catch' them" is no longer welcome here. The whole "Netflix-ing" of content is because of that. People are "scrolling through" content in vast swathes because we (I'm blaming you, but I'll say we to be polite) have been delivering junk content. List posts that are barely useful, "me too" posts, and then stuffing them into our Twitter streams alongside all the dopey quotes we *think* people like.Commit to making better content, content that serves the community you have the pleasure to interact with, and make it good. Make it worth it. Instead of "feed the beast" content, create material that's helpful to others.Are you willing to do that?Commit to me. Commit to making BETTER content that serves. No more fluffy link-baity content. Okay? Let's deliver our BEST work to those people who give us their attention. Deal?

One More Thing

I've got a free ebook for you that might help a bit. A smidge. It's a bit about how content marketing, specifically blogging, functions in this new world and how to get more value from it.

Money is PART of Value

I was talking with my friend, Jake Thompson about a project we're doing to send athletic clothes to some special needs athletes in Wichita East school ( the story is here and here). My friend, Angel is also helping out. Jake and I were discussing that service was a very important part of ownership. I said to Jake, "Money is a subset of value."

Money is a SUBSET of Value

My friend Anthony talks about value creation all the time. He works with sales organizations to help them forge what he calls "Level 4 Value Creation." I'm not smart enough to explain that but I know that the way *I* know how to do business is that I create value, often more than I charge for, and that the whole concept is that value is this nice broad spectrum, of which money is only part.Jake and Angel and I are working on doing something for some kids who were treated poorly by their principal and some teachers at their school. That's the opposite of anything to do with money. We just think it's the right action to take, and we want to show those athletes that they belong to a bigger community than the folks who told them to take their varsity letters off their jackets. The VALUE is that we get to feel really good. The VALUE is that we get to help others feel good by channeling their intentions towards some folks who can use the support.When I launched Online Course Maker (not for sale right now), my goal was to help people build online courses so they could stop trading dollars for hours. I wanted them to experience what I'd come to appreciate: that a lot of what I know how to do is something that I can teach at a distance, thus freeing up time to help more people on the custom issues. In building out that course, I've spent the last several weeks adding new material as questions and ideas pop up. We're working on technical walkthroughs and all kinds of other really great material. And it just feels SO GOOD to be of service.Creating that material and delivering the potential for success is value. It's a way to give value to others. It's a way to share in an "exchange" where people can pass even more value between them. I'm just thrilled to be part of the experience.

Stop Chasing Money

I'm sitting at home typing this to you right now. I've got a nice mug of coffee. In a little while, I'll probably read or play some Titanfall or something like that. Later, I'll record some more video overviews for a project I'm working on. And I'll do a few other tasks. I'll hang out with my kids and my girl all weekend. I'll talk to my parents every day (like always). And I fly out in a week or two to another great conference. The bills are getting paid (most of them). It's all good.I got there by creating value. More and more. The money? It comes. But only if you work relentlessly on creating value.Take a look at my picture on this post. That was shot by Vendela at a recent event. Do I look sad? Do I look stressed? That's me when I'm serving others, when I'm delivering value. When I'm working where I belong and helping people thrive as owners.Try some. It's worth it.

Content Marketing as a Food Truck: Rethinking Content Marketing In A World of Splintered Attention

With well over a billion users, Facebook must easily rank as most people's "where I see interesting stories and click" tool of choice. Sure, us nerds might point to Feedly or Flipboard, but that's not "most people." That's the enlightened. Some of us get our favorite sites to our inbox. But that's more rare than not.What seems most true, however, is that hardly anyone stops by someone's actual blog any more (or say "site" in case you bristle at the word "blog.") If people aren't visiting blogs directly any more, what do we do? How do we earn that attention? And what matters most in the equation.

Enter the Food Truck

Let's look at the analogy. A food truck goes to where the people are and delivers food. It's lightweight, and people like the variety. A food truck is not a restaurant. People headed to a restaurant aren't likely to change their mind and say, "Hey, let's just eat this food truck instead," or vice versa.Gone are the days of "let's all go to Chris's blog!" Holy cats. Back in the way old days, that's the only way people knew how to (cough twice) monetize their blog. Trust me, people of earth: almost no one comes to your site, and when they do, precious few click the ads in your sidebar. Precious few. So should you even have a site?

People Quit Their Blogs Every Day for Facebook, Medium, Extra Small, etc

I read an "I'm quitting my blog" post every few days. Always by accident. Why do I care if you quit? More potential readers for me."But wait, Chris. I quit my blog because I'm on Facebook, with a million users!"

Let's Get Back to The Food Truck Analogy

Content is food. Most food trucks create their food or prep it at a "home base" and then take it to where they'll prepare it and sell it to people: "the community you serve," in this case.Content = Food.Audience/Community = Customers.Digital Outposts = Food Truck.You've got to prep your food somewhere (your primary site), and then you've got to distribute it somewhere via your truck: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Podcasts, whatever. And every time you do that, you can prep a bit, but you've got to serve fresh flavors to those various food truck customers, not just copy/paste content because seeing your "leftovers" all over the place is pretty boring.

Set Up Your Content

In the world of "food truck" content, you've got to make your posts easier to eat on the go. Shorter. You can tell me long form is the wave of the future, and I'll show you that it's not. No one's reading it. This post is too long. The only long form that works is if you give out a lot of value and if you give people lots of action they can take.In a food truck world, make yours stand out. Pictures, graphics, something extra and flavorful is what will make your food truck stand out. There are many variations: amazing service, some added bonus, some flair, "stickers." Who knows? There are lots of ways to make your content more interesting. Instagram would help. Add some kind of value to what you're offering.Deliver. Configure your content so that it can be consumed at the outposts like Facebook or LinkedIn or wherever, and then gently invite them back to the home base to take whatever that next-action is for your project.Remember what I love to say: Content marketing is weaponized storytelling. Without some intention of a next action, it's content, not content marketing. (Tweetable)Here's the most important food truck part:Make "versions" for different audiences for key pieces of content.If you're going to market it on Pinterest or Instagram, make a special graphic (I use Picmonkey. If you're going to post to Facebook, pull a specific segment out and "pull quote" it there (just a way to highlight the information). Ditto with a different experience for LinkedIn. On Twitter, consider posting a graphic along with the link, maybe something different than the cover graphic.

Want a Checklist?

(Never mind. The offer's over. Love you.)

My 3 Words for 2015

Since 2006, I've been inviting people to shift how they approach their year and how they frame their goals and intentions. I created the "My 3 Words" exercise because most resolutions aren't especially helpful. We decide something vague like "I've gotta get in shape" or "I've gotta quit smoking" or "I need to make more money" but while these are all great goals, they're not really useful as ways to guide our activities throughout the year. I thought that maybe we could come up with something better, something more useful, something that would work within our thought process daily and not just for the first seven or eight days of the new year.

What Goes Into Your Three Words?

The first point I'd like to make is that it rarely works for you if you create a phrase. "Do the work," for instance, is a great thing to think about, but it kind of wastes two words. If you just wrote "work," you'd still get the gist of the intention. That frees up two words for something else.Secondly, I've heard from people over the past 8 years who have told me that vague words rarely help. "Focus" is on a lot of people's 3 words lists and people report back that it doesn't help them. Why? Because the word "focus" is a bit too, well, unfocused. It's a word in search of a problem.Last, I believe with all my heart that negative words aren't especially helpful. It's really hard to rally to a word or mission that starts with "Don't."So, if I were to give you some recommendations, pick three words that can be packed with depth. Pick words that will be your own.

Three Words of Years Past

2006 - Ask. Do. Share2007 - Seek. Frame. Build. Bridge (yes, that was 4. It also was a less successful year.)2008 - Believe. Loops.Farm2009 - Equip. Armies. Needles2010 - Ecosystems. Owners. Kings2011 - Reinvest. Package. Flow2012 - Temple. Untangle. Practice2013 - Walt. Ender. MonchuLifestyle. Monchu. Black.

And now...

My 3 Words For 2015

Plan - Work the plan. And if there's no plan, implement the plan. I chase a lot of "hey, what if" or "maybe this is a better way" and the like. You know how everyone likes to think outside the box? I need to make the box and stay in it.Leverage - I can work on a million things, or I can work on those things that will change the world in big ways. I'll die either way. Might as well go big. My goal is to help YOU by finding those parts of life and business will give you the most leverage in your days.Fabric - In this case, I mean the essential structure of things. The fabric of connected people, the fabric of how my physical health improves my business world. Connective tissue. This one means the world to me. It's my community-building goal, my family-building goal, my way to ensure that everything I'm doing is in alignment with my work and my life.Those are my three. They are how I intend to live the rest of the year.What should YOU do? SHARE your three words! Share them with the people in the community you frequent. Share them anywhere. Blog them! And if you want, feel free to link back to https://chrisbrogan.com/3-words-2015 so that people get the context of your project. I'd love to read yours. I hope you tweet them to me, share them where you can, etc.Happy 2015, my friends and allies!

Best Apps and Software of 2014

If you know me, you know that this list won't be your typical. I don't care which software most people use. But I do have some thoughts on the matter as it applies to doing business. See, that's always been the angle. I'm not into the tech. I'm into what the tech helps us DO. And to that end, I do have some opinions on what you should fire up on your phone and tablet and laptop and use more often.This list isn't especially all-encompassing. It's just a list of the stuff I use more often than not to keep my business and life afloat. You're welcome to your own lists. :)

Best Apps and Software of 2014 - So I Say

Personal Messaging - Whatsapp. There's a reason Facebook bought this for over a billion dollars. It allows great 1-1 messaging (text, voice, photo, and video), plus you can have little small group messages, as well. It's powerful as a "quick connect" kind of interaction, just a bit more robust than SMS text messaging but not as bothersome as a full-on phone call.Personal Media - Instagram. Facebook bought these guys for over a billion, too. I've loved Twitter for years (and it still definitely has its uses), but Instagram feels warmer, if you make it that way. Give the people who follow you a sense of your larger life and interests and you'll grow your connections in very useful ways.Blogging - Rainmaker. WARNING: I'm biased, and THAT is an affiliate link. Rainmaker rides on top of WordPress. It covers hosting, security, SEO, site maintenance, a podcasting platform, private community platform, email list management integration, and tons more. Once you get it designed up all pretty-like, it's amazing how hands-off the "guts" of this can be. (This site runs on Rainmaker.)Project Management - Trello. I've used a lot of different project management software briefly and abandoned it. For whatever reason, Trello seems to work the perfect middle ground of being super easy to use and still powerful enough to manage what I need for it to do.Documents/Office - Google Docs and Drive. All my businesses run on Google Apps and Google Drive. Nuff said.File Management - Dropbox. Do we even have to talk about this?Small Notes - Google Keep. Now, for Android, the mobile app is amazing. If you're on iOS, well, no good. You can also access this via the desktop. I use Keep daily to remind myself of things (personal mantras) plus to jot instant notes for later.Bigger Notes / Offloaded Brain - Evernote. It just keeps getting better. I don't even feel like I need to talk to you about it.Graphics/Photo Editing - Picmonkey. I use this app every day. It's desktop only (For mobile, I use Over), and with the premium version, it handles everything I throw at it.Health/Diet - MyFitnessPal. This app is part of the technology behind how I've lost and kept my weight off. Sure, I have to do all the hard work, but by keeping track of my eating choices, I'm able to make better decisions throughout the day. This works on your desktop as well as on your phone. Diet is 80% of the weight loss journey. MyFitnessPal is a great way to make that work.Tunes - Spotify. Yes, the artists get paid. It's a lot more useful than storing all my files somewhere and having to shove them back and forth over devices. And if a playlist is super important to me, because I'm a premium user, I can download those songs.

I'm sure there are more

But those are the apps and software that I use more than not. I spent a lot of time and effort inside all of those over 2014, and I'm sure that 2015 will see the same happening. And as always, thanks for visiting chrisbrogan.com. I appreciate your thoughts.

Dear Podcaster

Dear podcaster: I'm really glad that you were kind enough to invite me to be a guest on your show. It means a lot that you think my ideas will be of value to the community you serve. I really want to share a few things with you before we get started. (I'm blogging this because I want the universe to know, not just one person.) I run the risk of seeming a bit fancy or snobby. That's not it. I'm more sad than anything.

Please adhere to your schedule

I love being able to say yes to your show. When I do that, I usually allot a very specific amount of time (usually no more than 20 minutes). If you run over into 30 or more minutes, you've just given me a reason why I should say no to future podcasters. I value my synchronous time highest of all, so by giving it to you for free, I'd like for you to value my time, as well.

Please do your homework

There's nothing ever fun about feeling like you're a complete unknown, no matter who you are. In my specific case, you have to work really hard not to know much about me. Most people in my world could tell you when I last went to the gym, how I'm feeling, when I went to bed last night, and more. It's so easy to do a little googling. Really is. And for me in particular, feel free to start the interview anywhere but "so, how did you get started?" When you don't do your homework, it makes me feel like you don't really want to know much about me for the interview. It also makes you look very amateurish. This tells me that maybe I shouldn't do podcast interviews in the future.

Please honor your audience

This one's odd, but it seems that some podcasters come with no real sense of what value they hope to deliver to the people who will eventually listen to or watch the show. If you have the opportunity to interview a guest, it probably stands to reason that you might consider questions that will unpack some level of value to the people downloading your material.

Please be human

This happens with rookie podcasters, and I feel for you. You've got a list of questions. You are so nervous that you end up just reading them one after the other. Hint: if something interesting is said as an answer, maybe pursue that a little more, if it makes sense. The next question isn't ever as interesting as a great follow-on question.

Related to this, if you know that someone (me!) has done a TON of podcast interviews in the past (I do about 5 a week at present), please don't explain to me how an interview works, how you'll add the intro and other information after the fact, etc. Fine if the person isn't used to the format (they'll usually say something), but I usually find myself listening to a speech every single time I'm interviewed about your procedures. It's okay. I don't need to know. Just interview me. :)

Again, I'm Not Bitching

I'm giving you something to think about. And mostly, I'm doing it because I really like the format. I use the format. I have a podcast of my own. I cofounded PodCAMP, for Buddha's sake. I just want YOU to win. And so, those are my pieces of advice.Good?

Evolution

I started journaling in 1998. It wasn't called blogging until much later. I had no business intent. I just wanted to share stories I'd written that the mainstream had no interest in publishing. Along the way, I learned a lot (mostly by failing and adjusting), and became a New York Times bestselling author who speaks to princesses and heads of huge companies like Disney (also in the princess business). How did I get here?

Evolution is a Matter of Perception, Growth, and Persistence

When I started, I wanted to share stories. Along the way, I got interested in other topics (self-improvement, media, marketing, health, etc). I changed my blog (eventually journals became blogs), but what I really was doing was the same: sharing what I observed and providing some kind of learning you could use for yourself.

I had no idea how business would come of this. I just was doing my thing, mostly late at night, hidden in the corners of my job, etc. No one said I would find success. No one said anything. Most people didn't care. It took me eight years to get my first 100 readers.(Feel like tweeting that?)

And then a random event changed everything.

From BarCamp to PodCamp

In 2006, I attended BarCamp Boston. It's an event where people go to share software advice and related geekery in a very open "unconference" style. Whoever shows up are the speakers. Everyone is on a level playing field. Everyone can create the content of the event.

I didn't know a thing. I felt dumb as a stick. But I had fun. Christopher S. Penn was there, too. We struck up a friendship. He saved me from making a bad choice in recording some audio.

And then we created PodCamp. The idea was "BarCamp for media makers - bloggers and podcasters, mostly." We had no right. We had no experience. We had no permission. And the event rocked.

PodCamp Started Everything

At that event, I met tons of people who changed my life. I met Julien Smith (and wrote two books with him, one a NYT Bestseller). I met Mitch Joel (legendary man). I met and went to work for Jeff Pulver who gave me the best course in entrepreneurship and community-powered business the world would ever know. I reacquainted with Rob Hatch, who runs Owner Media Group with me. And hundreds more.

But what was the key lesson? That I needed no one's permission. Chris and I learned everything, shared everything, and made everyone in the event the star. That's the key kernel to everything I have done and become since then. PodCamp was the real powerful example/iteration of what COULD happen and what mattered most to me: make your own game and live by your own mission.

The Tools Were Just That: Tools

Along the way, I wrote more and more about the tools: Twitter, podcasting, blogging, media making in general. But here's where everything got a bit messy because what I thought I was conveying to you was "these tools let you do YOUR THING really well, and without anyone's permission." What it seems most people heard/received was "THESE TOOLS let you do your thing really well..." and the permission thing fell into the dumpster.

That's my fault. I learned that from Tamsen. I didn't help extrapolate the lesson I most wanted to teach. And it led me into this huge and deep circle of LOTS of attention, because as it turns out, people REALLY want to talk to me about the tools, and don't care as much about the insights I thought I was delivering.

So, my last several years of "fame" and attention pretty much grew out of a perception gap: people were thinking something like this: "THESE TOOLS made Chris Brogan really successful and let him live the life he wanted to live, doing the business he wanted to do."

The truth is different. I wanted something different. I wanted to work on my own terms. I wanted to serve the people who mattered the most to me. And I used those tools to help get me there. The media wasn't the message. The media was a delivery mechanism.

Evolution Goes On

As the world at large gets more and more excited about "social media," I continue to work towards helping people find their freaks and do the work they want to do. I use these tools all the time. Even though email marketing accounts for over 70% of my business, I use these social tools like blogging (still a must in my mind) and sharing via places like Twitter (a kind of short-hand fast way to connect to humans). I have a podcast because I fricken LOVE the medium. But the evolution is this.

I'm so very clear on my mission. It wasn't always this way, except it sort of was. I just couldn't see it before. All along, I've been pushing towards this intent to experience things, learn a lesson, and equip others for success with what I learned. And not just people. I serve owners. You can own the company, or just own your cubicle, but if you don't own your choices, and believe there are #noexcuses any more, but simply your actions, then you're not who I serve.

Getting clarity and alignment around my mission changed everything and it's how I'll most help you.

A lot of people come here for inspiration, for mindset, for a chance to better understand how to build a life and a business on your terms. Great! Because that's what I'm here to show you. I'm here to show you that you don't have to be robots, that you don't have to "fit in," that you can build a powerful life through finding your own path. And that evolution, dear friend, is what's most changed for me since the good old days of 1998.

That's core to what I'm doing with The Owner's Path and all the work I'm creating here. And it's core to the messages I share with you. I hope it's helpful. And I'm glad you're here.

Freaks Book Release Week

Hi there! If you're even vaguely considering getting my new book, The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth, but are on the fence, here's my big attempt to convince you, especially since this week is a big week in ensuring the success of its release. So, it's my job to entice you and convince you and it's your job to see if this book is for you. Deal?

Can't see the video? Click Here

Are You a Freak?

In the parlance of this book, a freak is someone obsessed with excellence and a deep understanding of their domain. Marc Ecko is a freak about design and apparel and deep level brand-making with meaning (interviewed in this book). Tony Hawk is a freak about skateboarding and the community around it (interviewed in this book). Kate White is a freak about women's success plus a mystery novelist and so much more (interviewed in this book). Sam Calagione is a freak about beer making and music (interviewed in this book). In short, I talk to people who are passionate about something the average person might not be, at least not to their level, and have gone one to make success from it.

What Does This Book Talk About?

It's not a book of high and mighty ideas. It's a book of action. Where do you start? How do you go from being a misfit to being a misfit who makes a living being a misfit (like AJ and Melissa Leon). How do you turn your passions into something that fuels your passion to travel the world like Chris Guillebeau? How do you learn what it takes to grow your ideas into something sustainable? And what tools will you need along the way?

What Are People Saying?

I've been very lucky. People like James Altucher was kind enough to say that he feels it's the best book on entrepreneurship from the ground up that he's ever read. On the page of Amazon reviews, Jeremy M says "And what better compliment can be paid to a book than to say that the world would be a better place if more people would read it and act on the thoughts in it?" Irina Baranov says, "He opens the book with this fundamental question: 'how can I do business my way and be successful?" and then continues to share a roadmap filled with road-tested advice and real-life examples of what works and more importantly what it takes from us to make it work.'"

And with book blurbs that span from Tony Robbins to Amanda Palmer, you can rest assured that it's not your run of the mill book.

Where Can You Get It?

There are many options. First, the worldwide way to check on release dates for the book as it pertains to your country is here.

800CEOReadAmazoniBooksBarnes & NobleIndieBoundAnd it exists wherever you want it to be.

Yes, There Will Be an Audiobook

NEW PRE-orders are open for the DELUXE version of the audiobook at the STANDARD audiobook's price: Get yours here! (The deluxe contains full interviews with people I cover in the book, and lots more.)

My Plea

If you're thinking about getting the book, this is the week. If you love me, please tweet this out (or some variant). And if you hope I fail, tweet this out. If you're indifferent, tweet this.And if you don't use Twitter, well, that's okay.Thank you for being you. Thank you for supporting my crazy ideas. More so, it's time for you to support YOUR ideas, and it's time for me to help you get there. This is the call to arms. This is the anthem. Let's go be freaks. :)Hashtag of reference: #proudfreak

Want the Short Version?

Feel free to swipe this and share it wherever you'd like. Print it. Whatever. : )

The Single Most Effective Change I Made to My Digital Presence

People ask me quite often whether the world of social media has changed much. The answer is yes. It's changed a lot. There are lots of details to think about. I'll give you those. But I also wanted to share the single most effective change I made to my digital presence.

What's Changed In Social Media

Here's a quick list:

• Then: conversational. Now: promotional.
• Then: thoughtful sharing. Now: shovel it over the wall.
• Then: "I'm hungry for lots of great information." Now: "I'm drowning in information."
• Then: just being here is great! Now: where are MY people?

To me, this isn't exactly bad. I'm not pining for the good old days. You can still do a lot of the "then" choices, if you are conscious about it. No one's pushing you to do anything specific (unless you're silly enough to try and figure out algorithms like Klout).

But it also means that something has to change in your tactics, lest you make the mistake of thinking your strategy and efforts are the bees knees.

Find Your Freaks

The biggest change I made to my digital presence is that I stopped trying to please everyone and I started serving the very specific community I've had the pleasure to serve. From that one change, a lot of things have happened. I don't blog here at [chrisbrogan.com] as much. Instead, a lot of the good stuff is hiding in my newsletter.

Further, instead of working tirelessly on more and more free information that people are going to treat as free ("I'll just read this later, meaning never."), I put a lot of my effort into building low cost but valuable information projects like the Owner's Mastery Foundation Group and my new Digital Business Mastery course. It's not that I don't provide free information. My newsletter is free. This blog is free. My magazine is free. BossFit is free. Instead, I just add a lot more value to the not-free information, because the people who are choosing to consume that information are really doing something with it.

And finally, I work hard at finding my freaks. I had an amazing telephone conversation with a very smart guy today. I knew within two sentences that he was part of the Monchu. I actually offered to grab up Gary and jump on a plane to England to hang out with him because I know that I can help him grow his business. But is this new guy a freak? Absolutely! The best kind. Passionate like the best of them. And so he's a freak I want to know and spend time around.

And Is This Effective?

Let me ask you this: are you creating digital material to get comments? Are you creating digital material because you hope people like it (and you)? Swell! That's great. But me? I'm building something, and I need to gather up the people who want to work on their growth and goals in the ways that I can help. If I can't help you, I don't want to take up your time. And that is definitely effective. For you and for me. Because you don't have to waste time going through material of mine that you find uninteresting or not immediately helpful, and I don't have to worry about how better to serve you.

I'm having the best experiences of my life right now thanks to the experiences coming out of the newsletter, and projects like OMFG and DBM. And the biggest project of mine is yet to come. But you might not hear about it here. In fact, I know you won't. So sneak into the newsletter, or lurk here. Either way, I'll know what to do.Rock on, freaks. : )

Sort Out Who Matters to You

I can tell you without a doubt that people who participated in (not attended) my last live event in Boston with Rob Hatch and Jacqueline Carly would go to the mat for anyone else in that room. There's a guest room available for anyone who participated in whatever cities people came from (Philadelphia, Miami, East Hampton, etc). There are buyers and promoters now for each other's works. Heck, we invested in one artist right then and there on the spot (note: his prices will go up in a few days. Buy now!)

In working on how I will make Owner Media Group a successful business in 2014 and beyond, Rob and I both agree that we are dedicated to serving the Monchu above all else. ( What the heck is a Monchu?) To do that, we have to sort out who is in and who's just passing by. I've done that quite well.

Casual readers of ONLY this blog are nice people, but aren't necessarily inside the Monchu. How do you get deeper in? Well, readers of my newsletter are definitely a bit more inside. That's for damned sure. That's the #1 most important piece of information I put out each week. If that's not your cup of tea and if you don't like what's there, you're probably not likely to want to be part of this kind of community.

That's one sorting mechanism.

Another is learning who reacts to which words. I use various words in my posts and newsletters. Often, I'll receive a small spray of concern or criticism if I tread towards anyone's specific sacred cow. That helps me understand who's willing to accept what. And again, there's not really a judgment here. It's just a way to know if you're the kind of person who wants the kind of experience I'm offering.

So Who Matters to Me?

The people who matter to me in this space seem to share the following traits (and several others that make them unique):

• You care about the success of others.
• You are giving, and give first before ever asking for anything.
• You promote others as often as possible.
• You work hard, and love hard work.
• You are a learner, tirelessly.
• You own your choices and your path to your goals.
• You see value beyond dollars and love to invest in experiences and people and community.
• You bring your own magic to the picnic.

That's who came to Boston for our event. That's who interacts with me most weeks on my newsletter. That's who becomes the Monchu I serve every day. That's who I create my best work for, and who I try to equip with what I know and have built.

And in that sorting, I gain a lot of peace and comfort. When you're not chasing everything and everybody, you find the time to serve the people who matter the most even better than before.

I'm glad to know you, and grateful that you're here. Just some thoughts at the start of another week of great opportunity and promise.

Focus on Your Core

If you follow my Instagram account, you've already been barraged by my fitness photos. There will be more on there later today. Don't worry. There always is. I am learning so much about business at the gym, so I want to share some of that with you. The lesson for today? Focus on your core.

Focus on Your Core

The "core" of our body are those areas we often call our "abs," but also our lower back muscles, our obliques (side area) and everything around the middle (the trunk stuff). They aren't just for "six pack abs." They help keep you upright. They improve your lower back pain issues. It turns out, they do a LOT for you.

I went and saw my coach, Britton Kelley, and asked him for help with my chin-ups, my squats, my planks, and some other exercises. In just an hour, he deducted quite easily that all those problems were tied to the same issue: my core wasn't really well developed at all. ALL of those issues related to that one thing.

So, I did the work (am doing the work). I've added tons of core work to every day's workout. Fifteen minutes of it every day added to the rest of my lifting and cardio and stuff. And guess what? EVERYTHING is getting better all at once. It turns out that EVERYTHING was related to the core.

The Same is True of Your Business

At Owner Magazine, I serve three groups: I serve the authors who give me their time and great articles. I serve the community who comes to learn from those articles. I serve our sponsor partners who seek a relationship with the community I serve.

What's the CORE of my business, then? My core is to get my authors exposure and opportunities. My core is to help my community learn more. My core is helping my sponsor partners find the relationships they need to grow their business.

If I'm not working on THAT core EVERY DAY, then I'm not working on my business. I'm working on "stuff." And "stuff" is the enemy of the core. It's like those endless curls you see people doing at the gym to get their biceps to pop. It's like those treadmill slaves you see, who want to run until their legs are spaghetti. Without the core, it doesn't matter.

So now, the question to you: what's YOUR core? What's the core of your business? And are you working on it daily?

Business is About Belonging - A Short Excerpt

The following is an excerpt from my new book, The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth, published by John C Wiley and Sons. The important concept I'm hoping to get across as a cornerstone for this book is that it's important that one learns deeply about belonging:

Business is About Belonging

I’ve received compliments with a consistent theme over the past decade or so. People tell me, “You really do care about people,” and “I feel like you see me and understand me” and “I’ve really enjoyed meeting and getting to know the people you’ve gathered into your community.”I’m proud of this, of course—but only because it continues to confirm a business tenet in which I believe strongly. Though you’ll rarely find it out there in the textbooks, if you listen and read closely, you’ll find in the works of many successful people: Business is about belonging.It might seem strange that a book that encourages freaki-ness and the refusal to fit in praises the idea of belonging. But you can see how these two ideas are different, correct? “Fitting in” often means shaving off your unique edges, hiding and masking what defines you, discarding any behaviors or appearances or images that prompt others to question you or push away from you. “Belonging” is about finding that place where you finally let out a deep breath you had no idea you were holding and feeling with great certainty that the people around you understand you.Raul Colon is a friend of mine and a successful business consultant, as well as one of the Spanish-language writers inside the pages of my magazine, Owner. Raul is also a vegan, which means that he doesn’t eat or use any animal products whatsoever. This is a challenge because Raul lives in Puerto Rico, where meat is a big part of the culture. He’s told me many stories of friends and relatives saying to him that they are vegetarian, and then watching them eat pork. When questioned, they say, “Well, it’s not beef.”Restaurants everywhere face a challenge when considering whether and how to serve the vegetarian and vegan (and other dietary choice) communities. Raul wrote a piece for Owner where he com- mented on the big difference between a restaurant that grudgingly ensures that a salad has no animal products, and one that proudly displays a wide selection of dishes specifically targeted for vegans. The difference, of course, is that when Raul finds a restaurant that welcomes his business, he spends more of his money there. He feels that he belongs.Harley Davidson might be one of the brands that is most famous for creating a sense of community. People who wear suits and dresses during work hours keep their Harley keychains and “My Other Car Is a Harley” bumper stickers handy to remind themselves and others that this is where they belong. Some books have looked at this kind of branding as tribal. What we’ve come to co-opt as the concept of tribes is built on belonging, as well.

Order your copy today!

You can get Freaks at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, 800CEORead, or at your local store. Grab one today.

Advice to My 18 Year Old Self

I really love that the Asymmetrical Press released a book called "Advice to My 18 Year Old Self." I love them, period, but this is something that's on my mind all the time. I wish I could go back and talk to myself when I was 18. It's such a great way to think about what you know now. To that end, here's some advice to myself. And then? I want you to write yours to yourself. (Oh and buy this book!)

Advice to My 18 Year Old Self

Dear Chris:

You are smart and clever. Stop worrying that people don't think you are. Your confidence will be far more useful than trying to prove how smart you are.

Make mistakes all over the place. Do it faster. Evidently, you don't learn well by trying to read or follow the advice of others. You learn by trying something you thought about or read about and seeing how it breaks when you try it.

Here's a quote I said once that suddenly was everywhere all over the Internet. I'd tell my 18 year old self this, too:

Chris, you are going to mess up with women for decades. You would mess up less often if you were wide open and honest about who you really are, even when it makes them not like you, this will go sooooooo much better than when you try to conform. Just be you. It's so sexy when you do it right. For some people.

Who you say you are isn't interesting. What you do is everything. Just do things. That's way better. Do, and then you'll never have to tell people who you are. They'll know.

Serving a community will be your everything. The more you learn how to speak for others, the more you'll gather people and empower them to speak for themselves. If you started this earlier, you'd be so much less worried about "finding a job." Man, your life would be more fun sooner.

Finally, Chris, know that all that you do for the world is great, but that the sooner you catch on that your humor is the best way to warm people up to the real lessons you want to teach, you'll see that everything goes better. It's like that great philosopher said, "Just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down." Humor is how you'll remind everyone that they will inherit the earth.

You turned out okay, but I'd love to save you some misery. Either way, you'll get there, Chris. Promise you will.

Work Backwards From the Goal

I'm an hour or two away from speaking to the board of directors of a major association whose charter is to help small businesses thrive. They want me to speak a bit, but the majority of the value of today will come from them picking my brain about specifics for their organization. I did the same thing differently via coaching yesterday with another company.

In both cases, the mindset required is to work backwards from the goal.

Start at the End

Watching Jacq prepare for her major fitness competitions is a great example of what I mean. Her events are all in April, and so she knows at the moment that she's eight weeks out from her first of a few shows. She's been working backwards from when her show days are for the last few months. Everything is laid out with "x weeks out" as the preparation and mindset.

Businesses work that way, when they're smart. For instance, you work backwards from your revenue goals. Need to make a million in revenue this year? Then you've got to make $84,000 a month. What are you doing to hit that number? What are you pricing out your products and services to be to hit that goal? How are you finding ways to deliver that much value to your community at large?

Goals Aren't Linear

The most important part of the goal, ultimately, is the outcome. Yes, the process and method become important, but only if they're the winning process. Put another way, if you're very diligent about making five sales calls a day because that's the process, and you don't hit the number, then who cares?

Goals aren't linear. They're a destination. Sometimes, you have to take another route. If one road is closed, you don't just go home. You try some other way.

Build Your Plans Around Outcomes and Goals

Rob Hatch and I have plans for Owner Media Group, my new company (which replaces HBW). We started with the outcomes we wanted to see for 2014. Not anything beyond that, except insofar as knowing that the story we're telling has a longer arc than just one year. But it's built around the goals. As recently as yesterday, I was saying to Rob, "Well, I can't really do 'A' to make us the revenue, because it's going to be too time intensive for not enough value to our community, so I'll have to do 'B' instead."

That's what you want for your planning.

Speaking of Goal-Minded Work

I started this by talking about Jacq and her fitness prep and the like. She's giving a free one hour online event to help educate busy women about fitness and nutrition. The program has tons and tons of great information that you can take away and use for your own goals and beyond. Yes, she's going to make an offering at the end (you know I'd call it a "selly sell!"), but the information you get for free will be every bit as valuable as you'd want it to be. Promise.

I'm happy to have helped produce it with her.

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