Author: Scott

21 Feb

Posted at 19:06h in Career & Purpose, Influence & Negotiating, Productivity by

taylor swift becoming famous

"If you're lucky enough to be different, don't ever change."

~Taylor Swift

Today I want to challenge you to be different. Not necessarily better. Just different. To stand out in a way no one has. I challenge you to do something that causes people to say: "What the */$# are you talking about?!" The path to this type of recognition (and even fame), be it business, social or whatever, is not as complicated as you think.  So why is it that some people seem to crush it while so many others flail around in mediocrity? Somehow the lucky few become overnight-famous, while the rest spin their tires. *Side note: by now I hope you know that nothing meaningful happens overnight - we seem to like to think it does for others, but it's really all in our head. I've made a study of the ordinary vs. extraordinary since as long as I can remember. And spending time with all kinds of relatively well-known Living Legends, exposed some interesting results. And I have good news.

15 Feb

Posted at 18:07h in Career & Purpose, Influence & Negotiating, Life on Your Terms Interviews by
Simon Sinek Start with Why

"The goal is not to do business with everybody who needs what you have. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe."

- Simon Sinek, Start with Why

Early last year I came across one sentence that turned out to be the single most profound business concept and tool of 2011 (and perhaps my lifetime). It caused me to fully rebrand and reposition Live Your Legend as well as my investment business. I believe it has everything to do with why Live Your Legend has experienced the rapid growth and success it has. It's only fitting that I share this with you as the closing to our "Monetize Your Passion Online" series. The man who taught me this lesson was Simon Sinek.  In 2009 he wrote a book called Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Within a few years that book, and the concept behind it, literally swept across the world. Simon Sinek is now considered one of the preeminent thinkers both on leadership strategy and passionate work around the world. He often speaks upwards of 20-25 times a month and does much of his work with the United States Military. He's been invited to do work with groups like Microsoft, Dell, SAP, Intel, Chanel, various government groups and Members of the United States Congress. He's also presented his ideas to the Ambassadors of Bahrain and Iraq, at the United Nations and to the senior leadership of the United States Air Force. This guys' the real deal.

01 Feb

Posted at 14:33h in Career & Purpose, Entrepreneurship by

You will you help the world

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

*Note: This is the third article in the “Monetizing Your Passion Online” series. It's also a little primer to some of the big ideas Jonathan Mead and I are going to cover in our free webinar/online presentation.  ****

I have a little secret...

It took me a while to learn it. Ready? Most blogs don't make much money. With how many there are, that might seem obvious. But I'm talking about the moderately big ones too (and even some really big ones). I know quite a few sites with thousands of followers and even tens or hundreds of thousands of monthly page views, that hardly make any money. And it's not because they're doing it for charity either... On the other hand, I know even more friends and mentors who have even smaller blogs and sites, but yet make more money than they'd ever need. Contrary to what many early stage business builders believe (and I was just as guilty as any), it is not all about size. The truth is that even the small guys can kick some major ass.  It just requires the right offering.

25 Jan

Posted at 01:38h in Announcements, Entrepreneurship, Free Guides by

The Full Live Your Legend Business Model

"A hobby is just a hobby unit you make a sale. Then it's a business." ~Anonymous

*Note: This is the second article in the “Monetizing Your Passion Online” series I’m running for the next few weeks. Enjoy *****

Now on to the good stuff - exactly how this site makes money...

At the beginning of last year I had a goal of making $1,000 from Live Your Legend in one 30-day period by the end of 2011. It seemed like a pretty ambitious goal at the time. But that's not quite how it turned out… Instead, by the end of 2011 this website had made enough money to support a pretty nice existence in San Francisco. That works out to a bit more than 1k a month... The full details of how I did it are in the next few thousand words.

11 Jan

Posted at 17:37h in Ask the Reader, Productivity by

"Goals in writting are dreams with deadlines." ~Brian Tracy

*Note: Below is my full list of goals for 2012, which I created using the free Goal-Setting and Action Workbook. If you haven't downloaded your copy, do it now and let's get cranking, because it's time to share your biggest goal of 2012 with our community! *****

There's no getting around it, accountability creates results.

For some reason we tend to have a difficult time keeping promises to ourselves. But most people absolutely hate breaking commitments with others. That's exactly why further down this post I've shared every goal of mine for 2012. Showing you all everything scares me a bit, but I know that the more people I commit to (10,435 of you as of today), the more on the hook I am and the more likely these things are to actually become reality. I've found no more powerful way to produce results. So now's it's your turn. In this edition of Ask The Reader, I want to hear what matters to you most this year. This is your chance to speak up and add direct value to what we’re building at Live Your Legend, and get specific help on your biggest goals, both from me and the community.

09 Jan

Posted at 15:27h in Productivity, Self-Guided Education by

2011 life lessons

“Making a mistake once is called learning. Making it twice means you're not learning."

~ William Brett Wilson

*Important Note: If you haven't gotten your copy yet, the totally free 2012 Goal Setting and Action Workbook is available for download. It's been downloaded over 5,000 times since last week and people seem to be getting a lot from it. Here's the link to the download page. I hope it helps. Enjoy! *****

As far as I'm concerned, life is about learning and helping...

The more you can do the former, the better prepared you are to accomplish the latter. We all learn things every day. The problem is we also forget the great majority of what we learn, sometimes just moments after learning it. In order to avoid that and give today a chance at building on yesterday, you have to have a process for learning things once (and for all). After all, the first time you learn something, it's experience, but the second time it's foolish. As a part of my weekly planning (one step in my goal setting process), I write down any lessons I learned from the past week, either from my own experiences or that of others. Below is the list of the top 2011 lessons from an initial list of hundreds.

04 Jan

Posted at 05:10h in Free Guides, Productivity by

2012 Goal Setting Guide

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ~Benjamin Franklin

The Big Announcement: The 2012 Goal Setting and Action Workbook is officially live and available for download. The best part? It is completely free. I just added it to the subscriber-only Epic Work Toolkit, so all you have to do is enter your email below and you'll get full access (as well as some other awesome exclusive free tools). *Note: if you're already subscribed, entering your email will not double subscribe you. It will just take you straight to the download page. Enjoy! In the past few weeks over 9,000 people have downloaded this, so I can't wait to see what you think! The only favor I ask is that you share it with people who need it by using the the Twitter, FB and "email this" links above and below (but only if you feel like it). Download the free workbook here:

02 Jan

Posted at 10:02h in Productivity, Stewardship & Gratitude by

Reviewing Accomplishments

"Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years."

~Bill Gates

*Important note: The below are the results of the first step of my annual goal setting process, as outlined in the totally free Goal Setting and Action Workbook that will be available for download later this week.

***** I usually try to spend the week between Christmas and New Years not doing much at all. It's mainly family time, relaxing and some pretty deep reflection. One of my favorite parts of the year is this annual pondering. I'll spend hours on end reviewing my events, goals, weekly planning documents and each month on my calendar. Just to let the past 12 months soak in. This is always the first step of my annual goal setting process and the first step of every new year. You notice the quote from Bill Gates above. Well, I like the to think of that even shorter term:

Most people overestimate what they can do in one day but underestimate what they can do in a year.

It's amazing, if not mind-blowing, what any of us are capable of accomplishing and experiencing in just a few months.