[Note: This post is from a questionable character named Johnny.  It’s a dam good post.  Enjoy!]

Sometimes, people come up to me and say, “Hey, Johnny, what exactly are you going to be doing as part of the Project Mojave faculty?” And then I say, “Who are you, and how do you know me?” At this point, my inquisitors usually vanish into a swirl of color and hippie music, and I realize that I’ve yet again fallen asleep in an unventilated closet filled with open cans of paint thinner.

But it would be shortsighted of me to dismiss these people’s questions simply because they don’t exist. What are you doing? It’s the same inquiry I get every time I try to walk out of Dunkin’ Donuts with one of their ovens. It deserves an answer. People are hopping on board with Project Mojave, and they know they can expect solid advice on five clear topics from five very cool other people. But what about me? Who is Johnny B. Truant, and why is he stealing our ovens?

I’m a lot of things, and I’ll be a lot of things to Project Mojave. But for the purposes of this post, you can think of me as the guy who’s going to keep people from getting boring. If I have to enlist the help of Director of Ass-Kicking Jonathan Mead to make sure that happens, I will. I’m going to make sure that PM members learn to be themselves, to be out there, to be interesting, to be their own brand. I can do that. I have a title that says so.

Stay with me, Sparky. Half of you are rolling your eyes, but I promise there’s an actual business point to all of this if you’ll just hang tight. And here we go.

You Are Your Product

Well, okay, not all of you. I realize that there are a bunch of different strategies here, and some of them are fairly automated and impersonal. But in most cases, what you’re really selling is you. If you’re selling an insomnia cure, you’re selling yourself as an insomnia expert. If you sell pet training advice, you’re selling yourself as a person worth learning from. If you sell widgets… well, there are a zillion widget sites out there. If you want to stand out, you should sell yourself as this interesting person who sells widgets. Which, by extension, are maybe interesting widgets.

This is all especially true if you’re selling expertise. Eventually, you’re going to ask your prospects to pull out their credit cards to hear more of what you have to say. Before they do, part of their brains are going to ask, “Well, who the fuck are you?” And the answer had better be good.

This is branding 101, right? We all know this, you’re thinking.

But do you? So many people — especially solo entrepreneurs — put all of their time into their product and sales and forget that business is about relationships, which means putting your personality out there and building a brand around it. It’s not enough to write a compelling sales letter. When you’re not selling, what are you doing? Are you out there relationship-building, being cool by giving away interesting tidbits, and just being yourself? Do you feel to your prospects like an online friend?

If the answer is no — if you’re just sort of out there offering widgets and being boring — why should people like you enough to buy what you’re selling?

Let’s take me as an example. When I started online, I did so as a humor blogger with a nice little cult following. I wrote about weird and funny stuff, and people passed me around and got to know me, my family, my town, my pets. I got some fans.

I became “That funny weird guy.”

Then I started writing a weekly column on IttyBiz, launched a second blog, wrote a free e-book about how to launch a blog super-easy, and became the funny, foul-mouthed guy who makes technology simple. I wrote basic, stupidly easy, step-by-step tutorials. I started a service where I set up blogs for the low low price of $39. You end up with a pimped-out blog on your own domain, and it’s totally badass, and a good deal. But out of all of the tech guys on the Net, why should you read my stuff? Why should you hire me, even for just $39?

In other words, Who the fuck am I?

Well, if you knew me personally, you might have an answer to that. You would say, “Johnny’s this cool guy I know,” and all other things being equal, you’d be more likely to hire me than some random person in the Yellow Pages. My ability to win your business would depend in part on my ability to present an interesting, possibly fun and engaging image. My skills themselves are a commodity; if they’re there, they’re there.

When you operate online, personality still gives you that same insider’s edge. Developing a strong, engaging online personality will make people feel as if they know you, and make them more likely to do business with you. But online, you’re handicapped. You don’t have your facial expressions and body language to win trust. You don’t have tone of voice in most cases. You don’t have a firm handshake. In the vast majority of cases, you only have words on a screen and a few visuals to showcase yourself.

Your personality is assessed in large part based on how interesting those words are. Being boring online may not make you look like a scam artist, but it’s the equivalent of having shit stuck in your teeth or a dead fish handshake. No personality to the words, no personality to you. That means you’re just one of the horde, with nothing to make you stand out — and that means you’re relying on luck and gaming the system to make sales.

But if you’re interesting? If you’re a neat personality who infuses humor or sentiment or desire or beauty or controversy into your online presence? Well, that’s a leg up. That turns you into “This interesting guy or gal I know about.”

In other words — and this is especially true if your skill isn’t 100% unique — being interesting sort of becomes your unique selling proposition, or USP.

Like, in my case, I’m “the funny swearing guy who makes technology easy.”

Or, “That weird guy who launches blogs.”

Or, “Snow.”

I called Clay the other day* to discuss this post and we got to this point and he said, “Snow? It that your alter-ego?”

“It’s a nonsensical joke. You remember Snow. He had that song ‘Informer.’ It went, ‘In-FOH-MA! Yessee a skiddly bumbidy bumdee len. A leaky boom boom now!’”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“1992? White rapper, thought he was cool, was incorrect?”

“I was eleven.”

“He was like Vanilla Ice?”

“Vanilla Ice?” **

That’s when I hung up. Damn kids today. ***

And I thought, Maybe my USP is that I’m the guy who goes off on nonsensical tangents. I’m the guy who will write a joke that one in a thousand people will get because it will be so worth it to that one person. I’m the one guy in the world who remembers Snow.

But it’s at least interesting. Admit it. You’ve never seen a white rapper diatribe in the middle of an online marketing article before. NEVER. Years from now, you’ll run across me online and you’ll think, “Do I want to buy from this guy?” And then you’ll be like, “He was the one who talked about Snow and Vanilla Ice. I remember him. So, no. Hell no, I’m not going to buy.”

But hey, better than being boring.

P.S: Comment if you remember snow. Don’t be embarrassed.

—

* Conversation may not have occurred.
** I actually think that Clay does know who Vanilla Ice is, but that’s only because I’m pretty sure he is Vanilla Ice. I mean, have you ever seen the two of them in the same room at the same time? No? Well, then I rest my case.
*** This is exaggeration humor. I’m 33. It’s not like I’m Methuselah, although I do admire his beard.

 
photo by Leo London

One of the most damaging myths perpetuated by our society is . . .

The Myth that if You Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow

There is this insane myth in our culture that if you do what you love, the money will naturally follow. It’s one of those deceptive half truths that often leads to humiliation.

The reality, however, is much more like this: if you’re dedicated, disciplined, and smart, and willing to make short-term sacrifices for long term gains, AND you fundamentally understand how money is made (i.e. and the ins and outs of successful business models and the business models of your competitors), then there’s a good probability that, if you’re selective about what you do, you can turn your passion into a money making venture. Whew.

This isn’t always the case, but it usually is. There are always . . .

Exceptions to the Rule

Some people are lucky in love. They marry their high school sweethearts, have beautiful children, rarely fight with their spouse, and rarely question their relationships.

Other people are lucky in business. They start businesses in their garage with friends and end up developing that business over the next 30 years and becoming billionaires.

For many of us, financial freedom and success takes us a little more work, but the payoff can still be huge. We just have to face . . .

The Problems Associated with Doing What We Love

Here are two common problems you might face when trying to make a living doing what they love . . .

1.—You make very little per hour and have to work 16+ hours per day in order to make ends meet. Working that hard makes you hate your life.

2.—A market exists for what you do, but you don’t know jack about how to get paying customers.

Another problem is that . . .

There’s an announcement I’ve been chomping at the bit to make.  It’s this: Project Mojave is currently planning its first "world conference" (I just added "world" to sound cool).

It’s going to be at a group camping site in Joshua Tree National Park — which is IN the Mojave Desert.  (Note: there are plenty of hotels nearby if you don’t like to camp).

We’ve been to too many sketchy internet marketing conferences in places like Vegas, and we want to change the way these things are done.

Anyway, the conference is going to be 100% free to Project Mojave members and their friends and family . . . with the exception of food, which we might do potluck style. Details about dates and times will be coming out next week.

(P.S. Go here if you’d like to get in on the conference).

Mojave Goes Off the Market on Friday at 11:59 PM

There are only 93 PM spots left.  And Mojave goes off the market this Friday, at 11:59 PM.  If you’re planning on joining but just haven’t gotten around to it, there’s no time like the present .

Bonus Stuff

The first 25 spots in Project Mojave were gone in 5 minutes.  And since then, all the other bonuses have long since gone.  Which is unfortunate, because a lot of people wrote in and were like "I just signed up . . . did *I* get one of the bonuses."  And I had to say no.  Which made me feel bad.

So we’re extending the bonus offer.  If you get in on Project Mojave *before* 11:59 Eastern TODAY, you’ll get the following.  No matter what.

A copy of Clay’s "Virtual Assistant Hiring Exam" (this is the EXACT same test I give to my virtual assistants before hiring them; a $37 value).

Access to Laura Roeder’s "Backstage Pass to Twitter" (a $197 value).

A copy of Dave Navarro’s "30 Hours A Day: How to Add Hours of Productivity to Every Day" ; a $97 value (this isn’t even on the market right now).

A copy of Jonathan Mead’s "Reclaim Your Dreams: An Uncommon Guide to Living on Your Own Terms" (a $24.95 value).

That’s all I’ve got now in the way of news.

–Clay

Can’t believe the time has finally come.
(By the way, you’ve NEVER seen more video in a sales letter before).

The main purpose of project Mojave is to help you create a business that allows you to work when and how you want, spend more time travelling or with family, and that enables you to live a life of massive personal freedom.

Project Mojave was created after it became clear to me that . . .

• Too many people get up in the morning dreading their upcoming work day.
• Most people will retire from jobs that they dislike (as much as the ones they have now).
• Too many people’s jobs are the #1 life-sucking force in their lives.

We’re going to take a very new approach to teaching and learning and I think you’ll be in for quite a few surprises.

Anyway Project Mojave is, quite literally, a project.  And over the course of 2-3 months, we’ll cover . . .

• How to use market research to get over your fear (of failure, going broke, pain etc.).
• Simple, step-by-step instructions to begin a very small but profitable business to ease into making money.
• How to try new business ideas before you develop a product.
• How to figure out the business ideas you can start — with your skills — and actually be excited about for years to come.
• How to find reliable sources of income that don’t monopolize all of your free time.
• Detailed instructions on how to discover profitable markets and niches that others are overlooking (and that can fund your freedom for years).
• How to decide which of your ideas will likely be the MOST profitable and succeed.
• How to eliminate much of the uncertainty involved in starting a business and launching a product.
• How to figure out which of your skills are sufficiently developed to finance an independent lifestyle.
• A step-by-step blueprint for testing whether or not people want to BUY the product you want to make.
• How to “run” with your business ideas and make them profitable as quickly as possible.
• How to specifically focus your time and energy so that you’re not wasting time or resources.
• How to determine the best way to market your business (SEO, Adwords, etc.)

And really, there’s a lot more.  But you’re find out more when we start accepting new Project Mojave members.

Warm regards,

Clay

[Note: I was browsing through my old blog the other day when I came upon this.  This post belongs here.  Especially today.  So I moved it over.  I hope you like it.]

My ex-wife Amanda used to cut her own hair. But occasionally she’d have her hair done by a professional. She referred to this as having her hair cut by a “real person” and she’d sometimes say things like: “I really like having my hair cut by a real person.”

The term caught.

Years after Amanda and I separated, I started using the term “real person” more broadly. In graduate school, for example, I referred to anyone who was done with school and had a “real” job as a “real person.”

But in my mind, being a “real person” wasn’t just about having a respectable job, it was about . . .

The End of Stepping Stones

So many of us live “stepping stone lives.” We spend the majority of our waking hours working for goals that are merely stepping stones to other goals. For example:

• We do well in high school so we can get into a good college.
• We do well in college so we can get hired by a good company (or get into a good graduate school).
• We do well at our jobs so we can get even better jobs and make more money.
• We join committees to pad our resumes or impress our bosses.

(Question: what would your life be like if you cut out all the stepping stones?)

So anyway, a few years ago I referred to anyone done with a formal education (who was working full-time) as “real person.”

In my mind . . .

• Real people get up between 5 and 7am and go to work on weekdays
• Real people have the weekends off
• Real people own property
• Real people are grown ups
• Real people aren’t what their former selves wanted to be when they grew up
• Real people are married (to other real people) and tend to have children
• Real people don’t get to take a lot of chances
• Real people do not take mini-retirements or engage in long-term travel
• Real people have separate home lives and work lives
• Real people’s daily realities are owned by institutions (their pay, how they spend their time, and what they think abut during their most productive hours are determined by their employers).
• Real people gain legitimacy from schools, institutions, monetary income, etc.

Real people, however, most definitely do not get to . . .