Regularly referred to in the media as "Australia's Richard Branson", Pete Wililams is a serial entrepreneur, author, internet marketer and ego maniac. This blog is where he shares his rants and raves on all things business, marketing & publicity - in particular, how to successfully mix internet marketing & business...
Last weekend, I was one of the keynote speakers at Ed’s ‘Coming Home 2′ event… It was actually 4 years since the Thirty Day Challenge team put on a public event Australia; so the room was packed.
It was an amazing success, with tonnes of great feedback and huge amount of #30DCHOME tweets.
My presentation will be online (somewhere) shortly; so I’ll be sure to let you know where you can get it then.
Since the event, there has also been a bunch on chatter online about it.. so I thought I’d collate some of it here…
With the release of Tim Ferriss‘ newly updated Four Hour Work Week; I wanted to answer a question I’ve often been asked:
“What’s the difference between the Thirty Day Challenge and the 4 Hour Work Week?”
Before I jump down this rabbit hole, for those who are not familiar with the phenomenon that is Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week…
The 4HWW in a nutshell talks around the acronym DEAL (coined by Ferriss) which stands for: Definition, Elimination, Automation, and Liberation.
The book (like the acronym) starts with Definition; figuring out what you really want for your lifestyle, and doing the sums to figure out what it will really cost to get there. It’s amazing how much it doesn’t cost to live like a king in Argentina.
Elimination is all about time management, or rather about not managing time. In my opinion this is the main take-away from the book; and is achieved by applying the 80/20 rule to focus YOUR time only on those tasks that contribute to your goal; and leaving the rest to an outsourced team (by taking advantage of geo-arbitrage)
The thirst section of the book is focused on Automation; and is about building a sustainable, automatic source of income. It’s here that the similarities with the 30DC appear.
Finally Tim ties everything together with Liberation; the goal of the ‘new rich’ = successful automation of one’s lifestyle and the liberation from a geographical location and job.
As I said above, The 30 Day Challenge relates to only one element of the 4HWW D.E.A.L. – the Automation component.
It’s in this section of the book that Tim does a great job of giving an overview of the ‘online business building’ process in the context of the entire ‘new rich’ philosophy, and making the process look achievable for everyone, because it really is.
This new rich philosophy, presented in the ‘Definition’ section, really drives home the ‘why’ in ‘why should I be doing this’ …
And it’s the WHY which is missing around the current 30DC format, which in my opinion, is one of the driving factors behind us putting together our own book (due out mid 2010) – Although Ed try’s to set the context during the pre-season and Day 1, the book will give us an outlet to give a much more detailed, detached and objective commentary on the 30DC philosophy, what it takes to create a successful business online, and our definition of ‘WHY’
Having said that, there is only so much step-by-step you can cover in a book – and where the 4HWW is weak the 30DC is strong (stronger than any other online training program period. Paid or Free) The 30 days of the 30DC is a lot more detailed on the ’steps’ you need to do it get your ‘muse’ off the ground and make your first $1 online.
Tim provides links to some great ‘tools’ in his book, but can’t go into a lot of detail on ‘how (and why) to use these tools’, which leaves the reader fending for themselves – and this is the void which the 30DC fundamentally fills.
With over 20 hours of free step-by-step (screen capture) video tutorials, the 30DC is the best partner for implementing the ‘Automation’ section of the 4HWW, and making a dent in that automated income goal.
… but more than simply being a online course (library), the 30DC is as much about ‘testing a niche’ as it is about starting a business – but more on this in the upcoming book.
Today is a rest day over at this years Thirty Day Challenge, and this gives everyone (around 70,000 this year) a chance to catch up, take a breath, and review any of they’ve content missed.
As today is a quiet day, I’ve put together a short video about the Thirty Day Challenge supported charity, Kiva. I go over the Thirty Day Challenge Kiva account, and show you our loan statistics and loan history. It goes through everything in detail, how how much money we’ve raised, what we’ve done with it, and the impact it’s had.
So, if you haven’t already joined the festivities over at www.ThirtyDayChallenge.com – Do It Now !
Also, make sure you support our support of KIVA – how you can get involved, either through our 30DC Auction, our 30DC Store, a direct donation to the 30DC Kiva account, or by joining the 30DC Kiva Team.
Ever wonder what actually goes on when the leading internet marketers catch up, plan the evil schemes and get upto shenanigans ?
Well a few years ago, everyone got together to try and beat the ‘Google Slap’ – This is an very exact, accurate and unequivocal rendering of the conversations that where occurring during that meeting.
Actually – I just came across this cartoon on my backup drive – I had it created a few years ago, for a launch that never eventuated… Anyway, I thought I would dust it of and throw it up here.
For those that can’t work it out; the characters here are: (left to right)
John Carlton, Brad Fallon, John Reese, Andy Jenkins (looking kinda pregnant – sorry about that mate – not not sure why you’re not talking about your Emmy.), Ed Dale, Frank Kern (apparently no-one wants to see his face ?!?) , Jason MoFo, Dan Raine (and his little pick thong), Mike Filsame, Rich Schefren, Jeff Walker, Armond Morin, Yaro Starak , Yanik Silver (was doing some part-time stand-up at the time), Guy Kawasaki, Alex Mandossian, Scott Ginsberg, Seth Godin and Perry Marshall.
Through their ‘actions’ these people make their market WHAT IT IS…
…By shaping the thoughts of the marketplace through contributing quality content continually.
… By actively creating relevant and stimulating conversations.
… By producing products and services to HELP their markets members fix their problems.
It’s these people that make the ‘market experience’ what it is – without them the marketplace would be a completely different landscape.
The contribution (and value) these people offer their marketplace is what shapes it.
The term MARKET MAKER also implies that they actually take action and implement something/anything…
.. as nothing is ‘MADE’ until action is taken.
The individuals we’re talking about MAKE something OF THEIR market; whatever that market is; new or old… They use their determination, to get through the dip (another Seth term) and find a way to extract some form of value; be it an income, a family/community, a {fill the gap}
Also, MARKET MAKERS are not always, nor ever need be, the biggest player (leader) in that space from a pure dollars and sense perspective. You only need 1000 rabid people in our influence to be wildly successful in your chosen niche – remember that.
[As a side note, there are some 'good friends' in this 30DC community that are 'market makers' in the Twitter space - and they don't have the biggest following, but are definitely shaping the way their 'followers' are using and thinking about Twitter]
In my opinion, it’s not just about leading the entire tribe, it’s about taking action and playing an active + positive role in your marketplace – AND MAKING IT WHAT IT IS.
The rest will follow.
So… what are you actively doing/contributing/creating to make your marketplace what it is ?
Last weekend, I was one of the keynote speakers at Ed’s ‘Coming Home 2′ event… It was actually 4 years since the Thirty Day Challenge team put on a public event Australia; so the room was packed.
With the release of 
