[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 . . .

|Read the Rest of the Entry…

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).

[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 . . .

|Read the Rest of the Entry…

Before embarking on this very public Project Mojave launch, I knew how much work it’d entail.

I mean, I knew this would involve 2+ weeks of 16-hour days. And lots of hard work.

But I didn’t anticipate being this drained.

You see, the type of business I’m used to is what I call a “freedom business.” And a freedom business is designed to . . . you guessed it . . . create freedom.

It kind of fucks me up because 6 months ago I was cruising along, getting up every day at 11:00AM, going for a long run, having lunch with friends . . . yada, yada, yada.

But in the midst of all that freedom, I had to write a freaking mission statement (which has wreaked havoc on my life in beautiful ways — at the same time that it’s fucked me up).

So I stopped selling mediocre books and started a green agriculture-ish business (no way in hell I’m telling you my niche).  So what my mission statement impelled me to create was not a “freedom business,” but instead a “mission business.”

And mission businesses — unlike freedom businesses — are jealous mistresses.

But I don’t mind that, because Project Mojave is what I’m here to do . . . so I might as dig in.

Anyway . . . today, Project Mojave started its pre-launch. With like 30+ affiliates and 6 coaches.

We’re looking to grow the current community of 150+ members.

As a side note: my biggest paranoia throughout was that the affiliate system I have (which is quite snazzy) was going to somehow not work, and that people weren’t going to get paid. So I tested repeatedly, and had the owner of the software company test it, and everyone under the sun test it, etc. . . . (by the way, the affiliate system passed with flying colors).

So anyway, Project Mojave has pre-launched (whatever that means). And frankly, I’m not that happy with my first video.

Just not that impressed.

It’s a C+ or B- (at best).

First off, in the video I forgot to mention (in the video) that I’ve actually helped plenty of people create “freedom businesses” and that I’ve created my own.

Secondly, check out all those cuts. I mean seriously?!

Thirdly, why am I not driving a car in one of the videos? I mean, it SAYS you have to in section 3.59A of the internet marketing launch handbook for gurus (which I apparently don’t own . . . because it’s a 37 page ebook that sells for $7,000).

And then there were player problems: the video wouldn’t show in Internet Exploder (by favorite browser of all time . . . don’t get me started on cookies and P3P policies).

Anyway, if I were the only one involved with this launch, I’d hold off and stuff.  Wait another day.  Get all anal about everything.  Mess with stuff all night long.  Etc.

But since had to try and be all professional, and create a launch schedule for affiliates, I now have a regimen to follow.

And I can’t miss deadlines without getting too much egg on my face.

Nice.

The Good News

The good news is that my launch wasn’t the only one that went down today.

Nope.

Today, the VERY first person to join Project Mojave (Andy D.) launched his freedom business. At 7:00PM or something. And when I last spoke with him . . . (2 hours after he launched), he’d sold 85+ spots in his membership site. At $47 per month. And he still has two more days to go before he takes down his sales page.

At this rate, I think he’ll sell at least 200+ spots. Which results in some pretty impressive math.

And a dead as shit day job.

(I’m interviewing him tomorrow about it and posting the case study on Saturday).

And then there’s Josh and Jim and Caitlin, and so many others building successful freedom businesses and making daily sales.

And the 6+ people who’ve left their jobs already. And the unsolicited video testimonials. And the awesome group of coaches who’ve joined me on this crazy ride.

So the good news that while I’m a bit whooped, fatigued, and drained, so many others are kicking ass.

Which makes me feel like I’m kicking ass.

–Clay

About the Author: Clay Collins is tired, emotionally drained, but nonetheless very happy.

http://projectmojavesite.com 

Thursday 5-14-09. Right here.

So there’s this phrase that fancy bullshit copywriters are using a lot.  The phrase is “money getting,” as in “my product is . . . quite simply . . . a money getting system” or “you should buy my money getting blueprint.”  Or whatever.

This phrase (“money getting”) appeals to buyers because it implies passivity.  After all, who wants to buy a money earning system when they can buy a money getting system?

All of this brings me to “monetization.”

Let’s talk about monetization for a second.

Monetization is the process of taking something that’s not making money – and that (usually) wasn’t created with the intention of earning money (or getting it) – and then trying to squeeze money out of it.

Think about it for a second . . . if something is making money, you don’t monetize it.  You might want to increase profits.  You might want to up your margins, or improve your conversion rates.  But you don’t monetize it.

It’s kind of like freezing an ice cube.  It’s pointless.

Sam Walton never thought “how can I monetize my store?” (because that evil organization started out intending to make money).

Restaurants don’t say to themselves, “how can I monetize food?”

You don’t fucking monetize a business . . . because it’s already a business.

So what we end up monetizing are things that were never intended to create money in the first place.  And the result is kind of awkward.   And unnatural.  And amateur.

And like a diesel engine jerry-rigged to run on gasoline, it never quite works right.

It’s backwards.  And it leads to a lot of mediocrity.

It leads to a lot of amateur eBooks, wasted time, and low ROI.

Amateurs monetize.  Professionals build businesses.

Amateurs occasionally write mediocre eBooks that anyone else could have written, to squeeze a little money out of their website.

Professionals get up every day; look at themselves in the mirror; rededicate themselves to their mission all over again; execute like madmen; and produce excellence week after week after week.  (Actually they produce excellence week after week regardless, because that’s the difference between an amateur and a professional).

Amateurs don’t.

I’m not saying this to talk down to you.  I’m not saying this because I think you’re amateur. And I certainly have no high horse to ride.  Because I’ve tried to monetize several times in my life.

What I am trying to tell you is that you’re better than monetization . . .

. . . and that thing you care about A LOT, it deserves better than monetization.  It deserves to be a business run by a passionate person.

Or it deserves to be left the fuck alone.

Pure.  Unadulterated.  And unmonotized.

That thing you care about.  It doesn’t deserve monetization. It deserves better than that.

About the Author: Clay Collins writes this blog.  One of his businesses is called Project Mojave, which he runs with 5 of the best people he knows.  It re-launches next Thursday.

[Note: Jonathan Mead kicked my ass in the comments.  As in “he’s right.”  See here.  I agree with his position.]

The blogosphere is filled with lots of intelligent people going around making really excellent points.  Extraordinary points.  Brilliant points articulated very well.

And in the past (and at present), I still aspire to this from time to time.  It’s fun.

You might remember my previous blog The Growing Life.  There, I essentially rejected the “100 Life Hacks for Saving Time” type of article and instead tried to contribute to the self-development conversation by (attempting to) making excellent points.

I wrote declarations and manifestos (and I still have a few in me)

I challenged norms.

I spent hours upon hours trying to craft perfect arguments.

But I’m not sure much changed as a result.

I think the people in agreement with me really liked it, and the people who disagreed largely moved on.

But it FELT like I was doing something.

• I regularly received 40+ comments.
• Readers would write to me and say “dam, Clay, that’s an excellent point . . . you’re a great writer.”
• I got links from other bloggers who made excellent points about the excellent points I was trying to make.

It was exhilarating, it was fun, it was controversial, and I got to feel revolutionary.

Today, things are much different than they were back then.

I don’t get as many comments.  My 6k subscribers don’t get in heated debates in the comments.  I don’t get as many links from personal development blogs (although Marc and Angel, Charley, and Jonathan, Jared, and Chris have been good to me).

I have less social media popularity.  But that’s OK.

• It’s OK because 5 Project Mojave members have left their jobs so far – after only two weeks.
• It’s OK because I got a phone call yesterday from someone who downloaded the free Business Ideas Litmus Test (and who knew little about internet marketing 4 weeks ago) recently built a list of two thousand people and is about to do a launch that should make him at least $8k (for his first product).
• It’s OK because two Project Members made their first “passive income” today.
• It’s OK because one of my personal coaching clients is well on his way to supporting his family & doing what he loves.

The problems of the world . . . they don’t exist because more excellent points need to be made.  They exist because enough people aren’t willing to bust their ass to fix them.  They exist because the work that EVERYONE knows needs to be done, still needs to get done and no one’s done it yet.

Friends have asked me why I’ve taken on a much less revolutionary tone.

Here’s why . . .

. . . on the Morning of January 17^th I wrote this mission statement:

I aim to live my life in a way that is fundamentally oriented towards maximum contribution and making the world a better place.

I strive to live in a manner that renders this statement true: everything I do is oriented towards helping people generously feed their families while following their deepest purposes.

I have a vision for a world where every person can be their own boss and secure an abundant income while working from places that make them happy. I have a vision for a world where people do not have to choose between being their own masters and feeding their families. And I pursue this vision because I believe entrepreneurship is one of the most powerful enablers of self-improvement.

Anyway, I’m less revolutionary because I’m not going to move this vision forward anymore by making good points.

So I’ve stopped making them.

And I started building something with 5 amazing individuals.

I don’t have many good points to make these days.  And I couldn’t be happier.

–Clay

P.S. Um . . . feel free to point out the irony of this post in the comments.  That is, if this post deserves to be ironic.