The Empire Building Kit

So if you're not familiar with the work of Chris Guillebeau, he's sort of a badass of the non-traditional entrepreneurial circle. He is a writer and his goal is to travel to every country IN THE WORLD by the time he's 35. Crazy. However crazy he might be, he is on track to do it, and he shares his travel hacking tips, advice on starting up your own business, and how to set off on your own and make money doing something you love.

I randomly found out about him after clicking a link on twitter, and I was sold. After purchasing his guide to Art + Money, we were convinced he was the real deal. Now don't get me wrong - the dude gives you a lot of awesome advice, but it's not a get-rich-quick scheme. It's more like "here are the tools to go change the world, now it's up to you to start doing the heavy lifting (albeit in bite-sized quantities).

He sells Unconventional Guides with topics like travel hacking and making money off your art that, from what we've read (and we own three of the guides), pretty awesome advice. They run $35 and up, from when I last checked, but they're worth it.

He just recently released his Empire Building Kit, which we invested in, and has thus far been well worth the $149 (the lowest of three tiers) that we paid. It has helped us re-evaluate business strategy, and helped spur us onto creating the free 7 Ways to Make Ordering Wedding Invitations Easier (and Cheaper). Anyway, we are so all about this that we wanted to let you know that Chris will be selling his Empire Building Kit again for another limited 24 hour period. If you want it, you'll have to visit between 9am (PST) tomorrow (Tuesday May 18th) and 9am Wednesday.

Really, for $149, reading all the interviews with small business owners who are actually making it doing what they love (a lifestyle business, if you will) was well worth it, and the case studies are icing on the cake. The case studies, which you get more of, aren't as in depth as I might want, but the interviews definitely make up for it.

Finally, you also get an email a day for 365 days helping urge you along your path to carving out your own empire in the world. Although 1/7 are recap emails (which I honestly don't find really that helpful), that's still a good 312 emails of motivational stuff, suggestions on small actions you can take, and other cool things that make it easier to keep on working towards the dream.

So Monkey + Seal are affiliates of the Unconventional Guides (meaning we do get a cut if you buy something), but like we said if you've ever checked out our affiliate policy before: we don't endorse crap that we don't use ourselves. I can't guarantee that you'll find the Empire Building Kit (or any of the other guides) useful, but Chris does come with a 100% money back guarantee - assuming you actually try his suggestions for a month and if you are still unhappy with the results, he'll give you your money back no questions asked. Not bad, eh? Additionally, Chris offers two free guides (his manifestos) which also offer loads of wonderful information, so even if you don't go to buy, at least check out the free stuff!

Go here to sign up for building your own empire! Huzzah!

Late Wednesday post (aka Thursday post)

So first off, sorry this is late. Second, in compliance with the new laws concerning bloggers and testimonials, etc., we would like to say that unless specifically notified, Monkey + Seal do not do paid referrals, endorsements, etc. If we talk about a product, we do not get anything via affiliate programs or anything. We endorse things because we believe in them, not because we got paid. And if we were to get paid, we wouldn't do it unless we believed in the product (and we'd notify you too). With that, Monkey would like to talk about a book today:

So I found a listing of good books that every illustrator should read (as well as some killer tips for upcoming illustrators on the fabulous and amazingly talented Yoko Shimizu's website. If you haven't heard of her, go to her site right now and check out all her amazing illustrations. Seriously.


Anyhoo, I ended up buying (and reading) all the books listed, and I found that the single most powerful read was Paul Arden's It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be.

It's a pretty awesome read that you can pick up for cheaps through most online sources - we got a used copy :) It's a simple, short read written by one of the world's top advertising agents. Even though it's specifically for ad people, it really is applicable for any creative who wants to get paid to make art.

It has awesome pieces of advice like "Getting fired can be a positive career move," and "the person who doesn't make mistakes is unlikely to make anything." All in all, it keeps me motivated and thirsty for success. When I think thoughts like "I wish I was able to fully support myself from my art," I realize that I'm thinking small and change my thoughts to something like "I want my art to be more famous than McDonalds/Coca-Cola/Jesus." Gotta think big if you want big things to happen.

It also reminds me that making mistakes is alright, and that every mistake is just a learning opportunity to hep you on your way to international superstardom. I highly recommend it, and I think you can get it for under $8 if you play your cards right.