Today I read: The Meaning of Life by Esquire Magazine. A compilation of interviews, people from Economists to actors to Snoop Dogg that talk about their thoughts on life and how it should be lived. Lots of great stories, not super deep and philosophical but some good humor and pictures. What I got out of it, the reaffirmation of:

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Every day you have the choice, either make yourself happy or make yourself sad. In America we have the rights that allow us to chase happiness. A lot of entrepreneurs play with the end goal in mind—retirement, to make a million bucks, or maybe even to donate those dollars to charity. That’s all fine and dandy but what about the journey? If you are working solely for the end game, it’s going to be a long journey.

As Brett Leve from the Summit Series said “Practice self amusement every day”.

Every day we should be looking to make ourselves happy not 5 years 5 months or 1 week down the road. Hard work comes with a price—don’t forget your work should be one of the things that creates happiness, not the idea of retirement or monetary returns.

Some fantastic quotes from the book

“We all have more abilities and internal resources than we know. My advice is you don’t have to break your neck to find out about them.” –Christopher Reeve, who stated in 10 years he expects to be walking.

“To really become free it takes courage or disaster. I recommend courage.”—Christopher Reeve

“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad I feel bad. That’s my religion.” –Abe Lincoln

“Never tell your wife she’s lousy in bed. She’ll go out and get a second opinion.”—Rodney Dangerfield

“Pain is a state of mind”—Conrad Dobler

“Multitasking is a great way to miss life. The gifts come only when you give 100% to a moment.”—Ariana Huffington

“All you need is a kickstart from someone to stamp your shit.”—Snoop Dogg

“I don’t understand bordem. All you have to do is walk around the house as if you were blind. How could you be bored?—Dustin Hoffman

Get my free eReport on Biggest Brand Wasting Time Killers at http://RockStarBusinessSeries.com

Happy 4th of July everyone.  Some big changes have been made at Under30CEO.  We are now in the beginning stages of being an online lifestyle magazine on how to “Live the Dream!”

More Articles

Elephant Safari in Remote Thailand Jungle

Experience Weightlessness

How you can contribute:

1. Find Your Dream Blog

- This blog focuses on highlighting all of the cool things this world has to offer. Things most people never get to own, try or see. Dreams.

- Anybody can submit a post about something they have done or simply something they know of. Think of your best vacations or things you dream of doing one day. Be descriptive and linking up something with more information is encouraged. Pictures and videos are also encouraged.

2. Make your list: 15 things in the next 15 years.

- This is our 15in15. 15 things you want to achieve in the next 15 years. This is all about cementing your goals and letting the world see them. Everyone should cement their goals so they can look back at them for motivation and measure their progress!

- Every goal needs to be represented with a picture or video.

3. Live the Dream Blog

- This is where you show off what you know. Help change the way people think. We aren’t looking for 10 steps to marketing but rather posts that challenge the standard way of thinking. Think challenging the 9-5, the rat race, cubicles, resumes, job hunting, and simply settling for anything less then what you truly want in life. Make people uncomfortable so they get out there and go after their dreams.

4. Living the Dream Profiles

Are you living the dream? We want to make MTV Cribs meet “a day in the life”.  Let us profile you–share your story on why and how you are living the dream! Dreaming Big by Matt Wilson

On all the blogs we will shout out your name and whatever link you want us to include at the top of the post so don’t forget to include them! Feel free to write more then once or for multiple blogs!

Email us at info @under30ceo.com with all post submissions!

You can look to us with this:

Viralogy is the home of the best blogs on the internet.

You Can Be Whatever You Want When You Grow Up

We were all told we could be whatever wanted when we grew up. So why isn’t anyone doing it?

Are you designing your life so it’s fun and exciting? If not, quit! Or at least make it exciting!

Life is about the accumulation of stories. Are you writing your story? If your story is boring now, it will probably be that way for the rest of your life.

Sit and think—what am I passionate about?! How can I turn this into viable cashflow. There are people out there doing it now and it’s because they struggled with this question day in and day out. Most people don’t think it’s possible, so they don’t bother.

Focus on your goal. Whatever it is that you want to do, dream it, live it, do it. Stick to your plan and execute.

See the video at Thrilling Heroics

Leave a comment and let us know how you balance your business/social life!  How do you achieve balance?

Dana Zurbuchen (Queen Bee, Business Enjoyment Expert) helps entrepreneurs make more money AND have more time and fulfillment in their lives!

She rescues disconnected business owners from burn out, micromanaging and joyless success and offers innovative solutions to business challenges that transform business owners into inspired leaders.

*Win 30min Coaching Session and Book Package*

(Giving away 2 packages!!)

Breakdown

How did you become the queen bee? 0:58

What did you not like about success? 2:33

How do you go about rekindling the relationship with your business? 3:16

How did you overcome the people that criticized you for taking a step back with your business? 4:59

Can you make more money by cutting back your business and forming stronger relationships? 5:49

How do you find the right people who are also going to be in love with your business? 6:55

How do you market that passion for your business to potential clients? 8:00

What’s that 1 tip to fall back in love with your business? 9:18

Contact Dana for Consulting

Leave me a comment let me know what you think…. for more on this and to comment to win: http://tv.factor77.com

Subscribe

1. You stand out–if your young, you stand out from the crowd, people will remember that about you

2. Mentors–nobody wants to mentor a washed up 50 year old entrepreneur, but what successful businessperson doesn’t want to show the ropes to a youngster?

3. Technology–let’s face it, we know how to use it. The older generation didn’t grow up around it and therefore didn’t invent Google, Facebook, YouTube or anything else cool (haha).

4. Opportunities on campus–state of the art libraries, meeting facilities, computers, printers, copy machines; what more does an entrepreneur need?

5. Professors–How about heading over to the school of business for advice or books from an entire Management, Marketing, IT, Finance, Legals and Accounting departments?

6. Networks–Tap into your Universities alumni database. If they don’t have one, meet with alumni relations, ask professors who’s out there, attend networking events, and my favorite: Google names of famous buildings on your campus ie: Chaffee Center for International Business or google “Bryant University Board of Trustees”. Chances are the person who endowed the building has some good experience you could tap, and the board of trustees will pop up in numerous bios of important people across the internet.

7. You’ve got nothing to lose–house? car? family? Not me, now now.

8. Maybe free rent and meals at home while your bootstrapping your business?

9. You’ll get to laugh at your friends working their 9-5 hating life, while you live the lifestyle you want working for yourself!

10. If you fail you’ll still be young, full of experience and better off than where you started!

Les Stroud, filmmaker found on OLN and the Discovery Channel US, is one of the most fascinating stories of lifestyle design through entrepreneurship. A guy who simply loved to go in the backwoods and survive found a way to make a living at it (and a quite lucrative one at that).  Stroud who was admittedly astounded by the show Survivor, decided to make some cold calls, selling his unique skillset of both a survival instructor and filmmaker.  Who could say no to a guy who claimed he could shoot the whole thing himself?

According to Survivorman.com “In the year 2000 Stroud took a few small cameras out into the wilderness of Northern Ontario, Canada and spent a week surviving alone without food, water, equipment or camera crew. He single-handedly created, produced, wrote, filmed, hosted, edited and wrote the theme music for these first two original, one-hour pilots for what would eventually become the series Survivorman. He remains the only producer in the history of television to produce an internationally broadcast series entirely written, videotaped and hosted alone.”

Les founded Survivorman Productions and created an empire.  With shows on several different TV shows, DVDs, shirts, hats, bandanas and posters Les is making some serious bank.  Les has done several shows including: “Surviving Urban Disasters” along with two versions of “A week in the Wilderness.” Both of the “Wilderness” videos are available for streaming.  Read his blog here.

“Except for footage of him arriving at his new setting, and being retrieved at the end of the week, the content of each episode is taped entirely by Stroud himself using several DV video cameras that he must carry with him everywhere that he goes. (He has lately switched to a number of HDV cameras.) The burden of having to carry, place, and retrieve the camera equipment for each shot adds to the challenge and difficulty of each survival situation. His camera and audio gear typically weigh about 50 pounds (22.7 kg) in total. During the “Behind the Scenes” episode, Stroud explains that “setting up or tearing down all of my camera gear takes about 65% of my time,” making survival more challenging. The episode also explains that Stroud and his team extensively scout their locations ahead of time and consult with survivalists and natives to the area. The goal is both to ensure Stroud’s safety and to sketch out interesting scenarios and techniques that can be illustrated on the show. He later records a voice-over commentary in the studio, where he explains his decision-making process and details of how he accomplished various tasks.” (Wikipedia)

Les however does not go forward without proper planning.  Like any good entrepreneur Les knows  what he’s getting into before he moves forward. When situations arise, Les acts quickly and uses his instinct.

I was most interested in researching the types of cameras Survivorman carries. Sony HVR-Z1Us, is his main weapon.  For night scenes, Sony DCR-HC96, and for the real HD shots a Sony HDR-HC3.

Survivorman truly embodies what it takes to do what you love, love what you do. With entrepreneurial drive and passion, combined with carefully thought out and executed plan–anything is possible! A true hero in lifestyle design.

Read more about the 7 Entrepreneurial Secrets of Survivorman here.

With the internet, no matter where you live, you can still feel like you are part of your alma mater.  Why stay in touch?  Although you’ve probably paid thousands if not hundreds of thousands for your education there are some compelling reasons to stick around:

1. Rankings–The more you donate to your school, the better off they’ll be–ultimately increasing the value of your degree.  (This is of course if your school is fiscally responsible)  However, it’s not about the size of the donation it’s your schools alumni participation rate:  your participation directly impacts your schools rankings.  If a lot of people had a good experience at your school, they’ll stay in contact and donate–it means they got a lot out of their experience–and looks good for schools rankings.  You may have even graduated from a school that you wouldn’t have had a shot at getting into today–when the value of your degree increases, you sure look smart.
2. Networking–maybe your 40 years removed from your school and haven’t heard from anyone since.  It doesn’t mean all is lost.  Chances are you’ll be able to find people like yourself who attended your school and could open up some serious doors for yourself.  Attend regional alumni events–if they don’t exist–start one.  Call your schools alumni department and they’ll get you a contact list no problem.  Do a search on facebook or linkedin and start a group.  Head back for homecoming, alumni weekend or just organize get togethers with your old college buddies–you’d be surprised what they are up to these days.  Join your schools alumni directory to stay constantly updated and even to be contacted by old friends.
3. Career Development–your schools career development most likely will help you no matter what stage of your career you are in.  Many schools have alumni pages that allow alumni to upload their resume or have searchable databases of jobs.
4. Sports–who doesn’t feel good wearing college merchandise cheering on the team you committed 4 years of your life to.  Purchase a sweatshirt and support the team.  This year my school went Division I, now people who had never heard of Bryant University will see them on the bottom line on ESPN.
5. News–don’t care about what the rest of your classmates are doing? They’ll probably still care about you!  Get your recent accomplishments published in the alumni bulletin, quarterly magazine or online.  There’s nothing wrong with some good press.  Set your homepage to the schools URL and subscribe the newspapers RSS feed.
6. Give Back–you were once like the students in the classrooms today.  Think of those who took a vested interest in seeing you succeed and try to pass it forward.  Go back and speak to students, give internships, jobs, shadow programs, mentorships.  If you can’t give money, better yet–give time.