If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Well it looks like our friend Max of Zedomax.com was able to get an interview with blogger John Chow at the Adtech 2008 in San Fransisco. I am not sure how planned the interview was, but it is none the less entertaining. My favorite part is when John Chow admits to looking up to Darren Rowse of Problogger.net. This goes to prove that everybody looks up to somebody. Also there are some pretty good tips that Chow shares about blogging, life, family and building relationships. Check it out and feel free to share it.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Last year I spent a lot of time working on a business plan involving ebooks. I can’t say that the plan is completely shelved, but it is definitely on hold. Inspired by Timothy Ferriss’s book The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich to contact a famous person, I did. Around Christmas time I wrote Warren Buffett a simple letter. I also included a stamped postcard with my address on it.

Dear Mr. Buffett,

My name is Josh Whitford, and I live in Fargo, ND. I am looking for a bit of advice. There are few things I know better than the fact that I truly do not know much. I do not seek knowledge but rather wisdom. I admire the foresight you have that has led to your success as a person. I would like to know what single piece of wisdom you would offer to someone you have never met.

Sincerely,

Josh Whitford

seasons greetings

A couple weeks later I received my postcard in the mail. The response was “Read, read, read” and nothing more. I do enjoy reading compared to the majority of Americans who only read 1 book a year. I guess you could say that I read 1200% more than the average American. If you haven’t read lately, feel free to pick up a book, cozy up on your recliner, crack the spine (of the book that is) and enjoy.

Receive Josh’s Unconventional Marketing Blog by Email

Popularity: 100% [?]

Welcome to Hollywood! What’s your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don’t; but keep on dreamin’ - this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin’. -Pretty Woman

The worst thing you can do when discovering the type of work you enjoy is fight the current. Instead, find your true passion. If you are not gifted in automobiles or knitting, don’t try to make a living related to them. You have to love the work you are doing or it isn’t going to be easy.

Everyone has a life dream or an ideal they envision. Mine is to own and operate a business. I have not yet realized my dream, but I have been working on it for some time. For me, I always knew I would some day start a business and fill the leadership role with my abilities. It took a lot of thinking and reading to actually come up with a game plan. In the book 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller , the author asked questions that helped me figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Now, figuring out what kind of “job” I wanted seemed a lot easier in theory than in reality. I started by figuring out the things I loved to do in my free time and the patterns in my life. After a while, it dawned on me that I truly loved business. Maybe it was the fact that I was tracking stocks and reading prospectuses of companies when I was 12. Although I did not invest money at the time, it did start my learning curve for business. As time progressed, I learned about business, investing, people, trust, how to educate myself and most importantly, learning from my mistakes.

• Here are a few questions you should ask yourself:
• What am I good at
• What is my passion?
• How much do I know about my passion?
• What value can I add to the field my passion is in?
• What other passions do I have?

If you can answer these questions thoroughly about your given passion or passions, you are well on your way to securing income from them. The goal is to work within the areas you know best and to capitalize on your knowledge.

Popularity: 6% [?]

I ultimately reached this question last year. I graduated for Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota last May. Shortly after, I went back to my summer job of building decks around the area. I was in the slow process of selling the rental property I bought while going to school and thought that everything would just work itself out. So after building decks I did not look for any “real jobs,” because those are handed to college graduates shortly after receiving their diploma. I decided to haul beats for one of the local farmers.

I actually enjoyed hauling beats quite a bit. The downside is that the work only lasted about 2-4 weeks depending on the weather. So after that you are out of a job. Just to give you an idea of my last year, I had 6 W-2’s to fill out on my tax return. Although I enjoyed what I was doing temporarily it was not sustainable. While sitting in a beat truck for 12 hours shifts I had a lot of time to listen to the radio. That is where I discovered talk radio. What a blessing. While listening to one of these shows it was recommended to one of the listeners to get the book “48 Days to the Work You Love, by Dan Miller”

I immediately went to Barns and Noble to pick up my very own copy, which I will give to every graduate I know from now on. What I discovered while reading the book are the things that I like and how I to can do the things I love and get paid for them. I really think what it took was to sit down and ponder the things I exactly wanted to do with my life and then pursue them, which I had never done before. Through all of this and the time spend pondering, I came to the conclusion on the type of business I would like to start. More to come. For now, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Popularity: 3% [?]