How to live a remarkable life…

If you haven’t seen ‘My Life Awry’ yet, it’s my list of all the fun and crazy stuff I want to do and accomplish in my life.

The point of this page is to discuss how I’m actually able to do this…

How I’ve set up a lifestyle of remote work and long-term travel.  It’s not easy, but nothing great ever comes easy.

I present to you the four step process of ‘The How:’

1. Belief And Other Mental Revisions.
2. An Ambitious Life List.
3. Radical Goal Setting.
4. Funding It All.

1. Belief And Other Mental Revisions:

- You can have/be/do anything you ever dreamed of.

Life is short.  You’ve heard it before, but it’s not becoming any less true.  So why not cram it full of fun and adventure?  Why not enjoy it?  Why not live it to the fullest?  The interesting thing is that living a remarkable life begins with a very simple choice: Become remarkable or stay mediocre.

Once you decide that you want more out of your life, that you are worthy of a great existence, don’t let anything get in the way of you hammering out the items on your life list.

- Money is not the goal.  Excitement is the goal.

Money alone is worthless.  It’s worth comes from what you use it for.  Therefore, money is not the goal.  I believe that a better translation for the over-used word “happiness” is “excitement.”  We need to be stimulated, we need to feel alive.  Excitement is the goal.

I don’t work to make money, I work to fund an adventurous and exciting lifestyle.  If I want a few fun toys, then I’ll buy them too, but they are not the mission.  Things are just things.  Truly living has more to do with the ‘being’ and ‘doing,’ than the ‘having.’

- The Mental Force-Field.

You’re going to break out of a mediocre existence.  Or in other words, you’re going to break out of the status quo.  People don’t like other people messing with the status quo, and they will let you know.

The world will do its best to keep you mediocre, to keep you living within the status quo.  Prepare yourself for this.  Create a mental force-field that completely blocks out all negativity sent your way.  Sounds hokey, but totally true.

People are jealous that you “never seem to work,” or that you’re “always away on vacation,” or that you’re simply stimulated and happy.  And when they get jealous, they will try to bring you back down to their level.  Don’t let them.

2. An Ambitious Life List:

- What do you want out of life?

Create your own life list (bucket list).  Write it down.  And don’t hold back.

You want to climb Everest?    Become fluent in Spanish, while exploring Costa Rica?  See the Pyramids?  Buy and run a Vineyard?  Write it all down.  You don’t have to show anybody if you don’t want to.  But again, don’t hold back.  Live a life your great-grandkids will brag about.

For a guide to writing your own list, click here.

3. Radical Goal Setting.

-Let’s make a plan.

“I embark on life, my path is all math.”  - Rick Ross

Simply put, it’s going to be real tough to hit up Peru for a month to white water raft and hike Machu Picchu if you don’t develop a plan first on how it’s all going to go down.

Enter Radical Goal Setting.  This is not for chumps.  This is intense.  This is for those who want to do remarkable things.  For people like you.

Money, metrics, timelines, to-do lists, etc.  The whole shibang. (A post to come on all the details and the exact how-to)

4. Funding It All.

- This all sounds real juicy, but how the hell am I supposed to pay for it?

The biggest confusion most people run into while going through this process has to do with money.  And obviously so.  If you want to go on safari in Kenya for a couple weeks, and like most people you don’t have a surplus of cash sitting around waiting for a sweet adventure, how are you supposed to be able to go.

Sadly, though, most people give up on their dreams because of this reason.  They don’t think they are capable enough to make more money, when in fact, they are far more capable than necessary to make all the money they need to hammer out their life list.

And I’m serious about this.

If you let you financial status limit what your going to do in your life, then you gave up on yourself and your family.  Re-enter the life of mediocrity.

If, though, you decide to take control and make this world your b*tch, then get ready for smart planning, smart work, and some elbow grease!

- There are a million and one ways to make a million dollars.

There are a lot of ways to make enough money to fund your ideal lifestyle.  None of which will be handed to you on a silver platter.

But there are some options that are smarter than others, and here’s a few ways to weed out the ones not worth you time:

• Does it make way for a remote lifestyle?
  • If, like me, you want to be able to live around the world for 6 months of the year, you need to find a way to get paid no matter where you are.  The best solution for this is through internet land.
• Can you ‘own’ this business?
  • The goal is not to replace our current 40 hour per week job with another 40 hour per week job.  We want a start a business that can be run with very minimal time input.
• Is there a team for exponential growth, or if not, how easy is it to outsource?
  • The work still needs to get done, but does that mean that you have to be the only person to do it?  No.  Either work with a team that uses cohesion and synergy for growth, or outsource everything that does not absolutely need you to finish.
• Where does the money come from?
  • I am fully backing everyone on the planet having a blog and creating their very own personal brand, but small advertising cheques are not going to bring in enough money.  There needs to be a product or service to sell.  This can be a hurdle for a lot of folks, but it is a necessity.  Money has to be handed over somewhere so you can get your cut and rent that yacht for your trip to the Eastern Caribbean.

- A few good options.

I am not a guru in any field I play in.  Guru’s know all the answers and I will never claim to have all the answers.  What I do know is what I have learnt up to this point in my life.  And since I’ve attempted to be a successful entrepreneur for years, I’ve learnt a lot about small business, especially on the internet.  Having said that, this is not a how-to on making money online… just a brief outline of some options.

Before I give you some options, here’s some of the best advice I can possible give you about making money online:

- People have become very weary of everything on the internet, and rightfully so.  They are confronted non-stop with information overload, scams, and hype.  There is a major shift in online business happening and it is beginning to favour the no-hype, transparent companies.  Therefore, in whatever avenue you wish to take, remember that in order to succeed you absolutely need to be an honest and transparent.  Otherwise you will waste your time and money.

- Niche or bust!  You need to be niche.  There is more money in becoming a big fish in a small pond than a medium size fish in a big pond.  If you want information on niche research and competitive market analysis, email me at dane@danehomenick.com and I’ll send you a some information I’ve created.

- Social Media is not a place where you should try to sell anyone anything!

- Do not spam!  Without becoming a leader in your niche, with an honest and effective means of providing your product or service, you will be shooting yourself in the foot and destroying any credibility if you send out product links to people who did not ask for them.  Do not email people if they didn’t ask, and do not share in the social media spectrum unless specifically asked for it (I know I repeated this, it’s that important)!

Okay here you go, a few good options as to how to make money in internet land:

• Sell other people’s products:
  • Affiliate Marketing.
    • Selling other people’s products for a percentage of the sale (7-15% material products, 40-50% digital products).
    • Head my warnings above.  You want to create a substantial business, not just get lucky and make 50$ one time.  You should only sell affiliate products that jive with the niche you have become a leader in.
    • Affiliate networks: Clickbank, Commission Junction, Amazon.
  • Alibaba.
    • Chinese produced goods you can buy for cheap and resell.  Everything under the sun.
  • Worldwide Brands.
    • Like Alibaba, but these cats drop-ship to your customers so you don’t have to hold any inventory.
• License a product:
  • Sell an inventor’s product for 90-97% of the profit.  Can be a complicated process and I have not done it personally so I don’t have much to say about it.  I believe there are easier ways.
  • Search your local patent databases for something interesting to you and make it happen.
• Create your own product:
  • Not as impossible as it sounds.  The best avenue to take is creating an informational product.  Like I’ve said before, if you become a leader in a niche market, then creating an informational product can be huge.  You can offer it on your site, and you can upload it for others to sell at places like Clickbank.
  • I’ve done it, you can too. *I’m currently developing a product that teaches, in minute detail, how to do everything on this page.  Stayed tuned.

Whatever route you take…

Remember that your life can be anything you can drum up in your mind.  It really can.  People with a lot less than you have went on to live extraordinary lives, so the only thing holding you back is you.  Living a mediocre life falls on no one’s shoulders than your own.  The buck stops with you.

Believe you can do it.  Figure out what your ideal life would look like.  Make a plan to get there.  And work smart to fund the madness that will ensue!

I truly hope you make this world your b*tch.  You now have the process, so go and make it happen!