Being A $100 Changemaker With Other Digital Nomads & Global Entrepreneurs
Natalie Sisson of The Suitcase Entrepreneur asked me to be a $100 Changemaker in her $100 Change Program. It's an ecourse designed to get you to take action on your dream idea, project or business to make it a reality in 100 days or less.
I’m joined in the program by 100 other entrepreneurs, digital nomads, thought leaders, TED speakers, authors, and artists from around the world, to share what it really takes to start something, make it happen, and create real impact and success.
Other changemakers include Chris Guillebeau, Danielle LaPorte, Janet Hanson, Chris Brogan, Michael Stelzner, Cameron Herold, Steve Kamb, Laura Roeder, Jonathan Fields, Clay Collins, Pamela Slim, Amy Porterfield, Corbett Barr, Lewis Howes, Pat Flynn, Nathalie Lussier, Dane Maxwell, Christine Kloser, Adam Baker, Johnny B Truant, Pam Brossman, Derek Halpern, and Alexis Neely.
Here are my answers to the $100 Change interview.
If you had $100 to start a creative project how would you spend it? Get Internet access. If I had that already, then invest in more access (like wi-fi, or a mobile device to facilitate using the web for more things, in more places).
What is your daily ritual for setting yourself up for success? You may not be ready but you'll be so much further along (and figuring it out!) if you simply get started right NOW.
You'll also be in community with your peers, and your clients will be lining up when you launch.
Build those relationships years before you "need" them.
What I'm doing now with my startup GlobalNiche I've actually been doing for years but didn't make it available to as wide an audience as I could have way back then.
Get started, go wide. Share the process. Don't wait til it's perfect, or when you know everything you need to know. That day will never come.
What is worth paying for? I'd pay for nitty gritty details and big picture advice from professionals who specialize in certain areas.
Legal advice, accounting guidance.
The opinion of a high level editor on a massive writing venture.
A consult with a brand messaging expert.
These kinds of things can unfreeze you, set you on the right path, and help you avoid lots of pain in the future.
What's a saying of yours we can put on a poster? A nugget I can offer from GlobalNiche's combo of microbrand building, creative entrepreneurship, global community development: polish your ideas in public.
That's how you're going to build a borderless community you love, and tap into a deeper sense of yourself.
What key methods do you use to stay focused on your priorities? Committing to making sense of what I do.
I'm finding the last mile of taking my ideas to market has been about GOING BACKWARD to meet my larger community.
Letting go of the coinages and jargon I love but that confuse the uninitiated.
For so long I've been pushing forward and existing on my own leading edge -- which is necessary to evolve in your field -- but now I need to make sense of how I got here and why any one else might want to join this journey.
I think of it as leaving a trail of bread crumbs they can follow.
In committing to simplifying my message, and charting a path others can follow, I am both getting to the heart of my thinking, and reaching far more people.
How do you stop fear from allowing you to do your best work? Do your thing in public, and invest in yourself.
Volunteer to get access to opportunities no one is offering you otherwise (for instance, if you want to go to a conference but can't afford it and Twitter-attending won't suffice, ask to work there. You'll make contacts and open new doors.)
Don't keep your best ideas on a shelf -- you want to be known as the person with all those good ideas.
Keep them flowing, more will come and they'll be even better developed.
Learn the basics of pitching your ideas to people more established than you are. If you nail that etiquette (know their work, which part of your idea is right for them, and you're able to be brief), you're going to find success.
Jet Set: How Do You Pack For The Life You Lead?
Who even remembers September? We don't. In fact, seems we're rocketing past autumn like time itself is going out of style. We're refueling with a month of inspirational video bursts, automatic intel on the Istanbul scene, plus a new poll on the obstacles of global citizenship and a virtual conference about the future of storytelling.
Speaking of the jet set: how do you pack for the life you lead? Are hybrid types better attuned to our own personal style or do we experience even more fashion flux?
+++++ AT expat+HAREM
It's all a blur now: "Harem girls for sale" is a blow-by-blow from the archive. Expat writing duo bringing our idea to world -- 2 speedy years from critique workshop to little-bestseller-that-could.
For anyone who hasn't actually read the anthology (a show of hands!), how about making it a party with our book club study guide...sample question: "What's more suprising, Turkish social norms or how they were suspended for a lone Western woman?"
city+INTELLIGENCE is the final entry in our year-long Culture Capital webcarnival. From uppercrust opinions to hipster red ropes, this round up of local Istanbul intel can prep a savvy visitor 24/7/365.
Sometimes we sleep. Ever had that nightmare where everyone is staring at you -- because you're dressed like an American? (Insert any nationality.) Tackling the style idiosyncracies of Israel, Sarah Melamed wonders if fashion assimilation is a measure of cultural assimilation.
Spirit of the season(ing): With the holidays coming and citizens of my native state California calling for the legalization of marijuana in the midterm elections this month, we'd be remiss not to point out this spacey recipe for family harmony.
+++++ AROUND THE WORLD & AROUND THE WEB
Every day in November She's Next digital media series will feature one minute videos from inspirational women like Mediabistro founder Laurel Touby, moment-of-truth diva Danielle LaPorte -- and me, shown below -- talking to the 21st-century woman about cultivating happiness and leadership.
Discarding the superpower-centric model: We love the premise of Cultural Dimensions Press. This ebook publisher is committed to showing what North Americans "need to know about their own cultural values, beliefs and perspectives" in dealing with the rest of the world.
And among the trends under virtual discussion at this month's superfresh Reinvention Summit (affiliate): how storytelling is reinventing identity and how culture is reinventing culture. Any wonder host Michael Margolis is a Third Culture Kid? We identity adventurers are all about reinvention!
+++++ YOUR THOUGHTS
Way to extrapolate an experience, woman: In 2008 Texan Jessica W. visited Turkey reading the Expat Harem anthology "at night, while experiencing the areas, the sights, the sounds, the smells your writers described" during the day. Now she's chucking "a good job, a townhouse, a car" for soul-enrichment in Istanbul. "I will look to [expat+HAREM] for information, for encouragement, for inspiration. At a time where so many people are angry and looking in I want to use the site to make my world larger and richer."
What's the biggest frustration in seeking your global niche?
Talking to She's Next
Happy to contribute a 60-second She'sNext interview for Hana Kamm's inaugural month. Here I'm talking about how multifaceted, 21st century women can find their global niche.
In this series of inspirational videos, I join other inspiring women around the web and the world in the fields of entrepreneurship, digital life, wellness, empowerment, and personal development, including Alexis Neely, Gloria Feldt, White Hot Truth's Danielle LaPorte, Ali Brown of the Millionaire Protege Club, Courtney Martin, Carol Roth of The Entrepreneur Equation, Aliza Sherman, The Flourishing Muse Hiro Boga, SOBCon's Liz Strauss, Tara Gentile, Laura Roeder, Chris Carr, Laurel Touby, the location independent Lea Woodward, The Suitcase Entrepreneur Natalie Sisson, Shama Kabani, Dusti Arab, Tara Sophia Mohr, Tamar Weinberg and Penelope Trunk.
