<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>jaredmatthewkessler.com</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com</link>
	<description>simple unconventional insights (for you and your business)</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:09:44 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0</generator>
		<item>
		<title>The Artist Versus The Executive: Who Gets It?</title>
		<link>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/the-artist-versus-the-executive-who-gets-it/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/the-artist-versus-the-executive-who-gets-it/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 24 Jul 2010 20:24:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jared Matthew Kessler</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/?p=5463</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I got up at 5am the other day, not because I had to, but more because something really bothered me that I had to get off of my chest and talk to you about. Without going on some big long explanation, I kinda think it&#8217;s both funny yet sad that &#8220;The Artist&#8221; and &#8220;The Executive&#8221; haven&#8217;t [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<div id="attachment_5521" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 265px"><a href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Picture-1.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-5521" title="Picture 1" src="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Picture-1.png" alt="" width="255" height="485" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Courtesy of Flickr (by Banksy)</p></div>
<p>I got up at 5am the other day, not because I had to, but more because something really bothered me that I had to get off of my chest and talk to you about.</p>
<p><strong>Without going on some big long explanation, I kinda think it&#8217;s both funny yet sad that &#8220;The Artist&#8221; and &#8220;The Executive&#8221; haven&#8217;t managed to get along much in the world (especially in the work environment).  In a somewhat recent post I did called, &#8220;</strong><a href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/banning-art-in-the-workplace/"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>Banning Art In the Workplace</strong></span></a><strong>&#8221; I pretty much understand why neither one of us really does.</strong></p>
<p><strong>We undervalue the importance of one another and the type of value each provides in ANY&#8230; yes ANY organization.</strong></p>
<p>Going on for LITERALLY hundreds of years, I think it&#8217;s been ingrained into much of society that &#8220;artists&#8221; are a particular way &#8211; and most aren&#8217;t true.  As with the typical &#8220;executive,&#8221; I&#8217;m sure they&#8217;ve been just as misunderstood &#8211; but this doesn&#8217;t mean it has to keep going on and on like this.</p>
<p><strong>We need a 50/50 split of artists and executives in every single company out there (like &#8220;Apple, &#8220;Google,&#8221; etc).</strong></p>
<p>Here is why.</p>
<p>Artist&#8217;s don&#8217;t want to do what executives do and executives don&#8217;t at ALL want to do what artists do.  And that&#8217;s fine.  We get that. Yet what happens is, people judge artists based on some bullshit criteria that has nothing to do with the value that they can bring to any company OR position they work at &#8211; and people really resent you for that.</p>
<p>You see, there is this thing that seems to be woven into much of the workforce today that companies pay people to do something and some get a certain amount of enjoyment from seeing people at work be miserable.  The thing is, <em>most artists come up with brilliant ideas a lot of times when you just let them do what they do and when they&#8217;re happy </em>(this isn&#8217;t done when we are given busy work or sitting inside an uninspiring atmosphere or office cubicle &#8211; as most do).</p>
<p>I know this isn&#8217;t typical of many executives and it may be hard to swallow a lot of times, but it&#8217;s 100% true.  Instead many large companies OPPRESS artistic people (which are probably most people in an organization scared to show their &#8220;creative side&#8221; for fear of being ridiculed) because they want to be seen as &#8220;the hero.&#8221;</p>
<p>Have you ever experienced this?</p>
<p>This happens all the time with artistic/creative people.  <strong>Artistic expression is oppressed in much of the workforce because you again value their worth by their job title, what they&#8217;re paid and/or wear!</strong></p>
<p>Which brings me to this point&#8230; why would ANYONE share their brilliant ideas to help an organization if we&#8217;re being treated like this?</p>
<p>Not many.</p>
<p>So lets give everyone a fair chance, shall we?  We&#8217;re BOTH just as important to each other &#8211; and our business/world needs a healthy mix of both types.  The artist.  And the executive.</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t you think?</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> <em>Signup here to get </em><a href="https://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/tools/subscription.php?username=jaredkessler"><em><span style="color: #0000ff;">my free newsletter</span></em></a><em> and other cool free unconventional stuff to UNnumb the workday.  However, if you feel more comfortable just </em><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=jaredmatthewkesslerfeeds&amp;loc=en_US"><em><span style="color: #0000ff;">subscribing to the blog feed</span></em></a><em>, you are welcome to do that instead.  Heck you can even <a href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/hire/"><span style="color: #0000ff;">go hog wild and hire me</span></a></em><em> for your next project. </em></p>
<p><strong>Follow Me:</strong> <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a href="http://www.twitter.com/jaredkessler"><span style="color: #0000ff;">@jaredkessler</span></a></span></p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/the-artist-versus-the-executive-who-gets-it/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What To Do With Who You Are</title>
		<link>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/what-to-do-with-who-you-are/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/what-to-do-with-who-you-are/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:39:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jared Matthew Kessler</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/?p=4889</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No matter what we do and who we are, I&#8217;m always fascinated with the varying amounts of possibilities out there.  Yet at the same time, there is an awful lot of things that become lost in: *What people might think of us. *Whether or not we can take the chance and actually make money at [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Picture-2.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-6287" title="Picture 2" src="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Picture-2.png" alt="" width="456" height="157" /></a>No matter what we do and who we are, I&#8217;m always fascinated with the varying amounts of possibilities out there.  Yet at the same time, there is an awful lot of things that become lost in:</strong></p>
<p>*What people might think of us.</p>
<p>*Whether or not we can take the chance and actually make money at doing what we love.</p>
<p>*Whether people like us, or think we&#8217;re a friggin nut (especially those that know us).</p>
<p>*Whether or not we can actually do something with the many crazy yet fleeting ideas we have.</p>
<p>On the other hand, we&#8217;ve probably all failed at something in our lives at one point or another that&#8230; who we are is shaped more by the fear of what people think of us, than who we know we are &#8211; at our core.</p>
<p>A lot of things can add to this fear.</p>
<p>A relationship never worked out like we wanted (so we change ourself).  The job didn&#8217;t take us to where we wanted to go (so we change ourself).  We can&#8217;t get hired after God knows how many jobs we applied for (so we change ourself).</p>
<p><strong>Pretty soon, we&#8217;re lost in who we truly are because we&#8217;ve changed ourselves every which way in just trying to survive &#8220;today&#8217;s economy&#8221; &#8211; and that&#8217;s not good.</strong></p>
<p>We become confused.  Angry.  Bitter.  A pain in the ass to be around.</p>
<p><strong>*Get back to knowing who you truly are.</strong></p>
<p>Although it might seem a bit daunting and hard to do, it&#8217;s a lot easier than you think &#8211; because we know who we are by knowing who we are not.</p>
<p><strong>Once you&#8217;re in touch with this, then you can do more of who you are, and less of who you are not.  The real problem lies where we do a lot of things that aren&#8217;t us (working a job we hate &#8211; which attracts people that don&#8217;t know who we really are).</strong></p>
<p>And seriously, I know how difficult things can be at times.  I&#8217;ve been there.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve worked many places that couldn&#8217;t give a rats ass that I do music.  I&#8217;ve worked many places that couldn&#8217;t give a rats ass that I write, have a blog, etc.  Here&#8217;s the thing though&#8230;</p>
<p>That doesn&#8217;t mean I shouldn&#8217;t do what I do.</p>
<p>People think that they need to be bar hopping friends with the people they work with. Why?  You don&#8217;t have to. A lot of people there, know who you are by the job you work, the pay that you get, and your job title &#8211; and why should we even care about that.</p>
<p>Think about it.  Are we pretending to be interested in something we don&#8217;t even care about just to fit into a place that isn&#8217;t us?</p>
<p><strong>*Stop lying to yourself.</strong></p>
<p>In 2006 my laptop died, I rented a room in some back house of an older ladies house (gosh&#8230; this sounds like another hokey pokey rags to riches story &#8211; but it&#8217;s not).</p>
<p>Basically, I almost gave up on music.  I was let go from another soul sucking job and I financed this iBook G4.  Then I tinkered with Garageband, and had an awakening.</p>
<p>I was finally able to do the music that I always wanted to do since day one.  The thing people have to understand though, is that in 1997 most musicians would have to pay thousands of dollars to do what I could do now for free &#8211; with just a laptop, guitar and keyboard.</p>
<p>And so I had some of the best reactions to the music I&#8217;ve been doing, because I stopped lying to myself.</p>
<p><strong>I stopped defining myself by the situation I was in, admitting to myself that just because I might work another job back then to finance what I love doing, doesn&#8217;t mean that I suck at it.</strong></p>
<p><strong>*Admit to yourself that who you are and what you do has nothing to do with the money you&#8217;re making.</strong></p>
<p>I remember it like it was clear as day.  Admitting to myself that I do music and write (Copywrite to be more specific).  Not only that, I also have a lot of unique and authentic products that seem to center around providing unique inspiration for individuals and businesses without the bullshit lacquer that people tend to put around things.</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t have to make a certain amount of money to prove to someone that this is what I do or have 20,000 followers, etc.  I just do it.  It&#8217;s what comes out at 4:30am or 1pm.  When I&#8217;m tweeting or when I&#8217;m talking with a new client.</p>
<p>I only do something with it because I feel I have to.  That&#8217;s really it.</p>
<p>I remember in my early days with my mentor I would email him just about every day asking him, &#8220;what do I do&#8230; what do I do.&#8221;  His response now is,<strong> &#8220;Do what you know to do.  And when you can do that, that it probably all that should be done.&#8221;</strong></p>
<p><strong>My problem lies when people know what to do, and they don&#8217;t do it. Then you lose who you are, constantly trying to figure out, &#8220;What do I do? What do I do?&#8221;</strong></p>
<p><strong>The thing is, we know who you are by what you do, not what you tell us.  So what do you do with who you are?</strong></p>
<p><strong>1 &#8211; Stop limiting yourself.</strong> I talked about this in a free eBook of mine called, &#8220;<a href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/a-free-ebook-with-a-unique-recipe/"><span style="color: #0000ff;">How Not To Be A Buttered Roll: Using Your Own Unique Recipe To Thrive Past The Masses</span></a>.&#8221;  In short, I think we pigeon hole ourselves into thinking that we have to be one defined thing.</p>
<p>You&#8217;re either a &#8220;customer service rep.  A manager.  A musician.  A writer.  A ______.&#8221;</p>
<p>Forget your title (which most forward thinking companies abandoned).  It&#8217;s ok when someone asks you, &#8220;What do you do?&#8221;  And you say, &#8220;Well I get paid to be me&#8221; or say, &#8220;I just do what I do&#8221; or skirt it right back to them and say, &#8220;Well what do you do?&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>2 &#8211; Inspiration comes at random times.  You&#8217;ll have to write things down or record it when things come to you.</strong> It&#8217;s hard because who wants to wake up from a comfortable nights sleep when we have a great idea come to us at 2:30 am? Not many people (and I certainly don&#8217;t like to a lot of times).  The thing is, you can&#8217;t control when the idea comes, but you can control when you capture it.</p>
<p><strong>3  - Take baby steps towards it.</strong> Sometimes it can get overwhelming to listen to this person or that person to achieve certain things.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ll tell you, I didn&#8217;t think my first book would take 5 years to finish.  But whether most &#8220;successful&#8221; people want to admit it or not, they all take small incremental baby steps each day to move forward towards where they want to be.</p>
<p>I was recently reminded of this after releasing my new album, &#8220;Flight&#8221; in April 2010.</p>
<p>Many people don&#8217;t know it was actually done between 2006-2009 (while also creating another finished album that I hope to put out this year too).  If I&#8217;ve never done an album of music and set out to do six albums, it would probably be a lot more overwhelming to me than it really is.  I couldn&#8217;t do that.</p>
<p>All I do is play music when the inspiration comes.  I then collect the songs I like that sound like it will work together with an album concept and, it&#8217;s done.  I put out the album.</p>
<p>And quite honestly&#8230; some people think it&#8217;s wrong what I do.</p>
<p><strong>They say, &#8220;How can you not read music or not go to school to get a degree in music and keep putting out your own albums that you record with minimal equipment in your bedroom?  How come you don&#8217;t use that pedal on the bottom of a piano when you play?  How can you make an album without using &#8216;Pro-Tools?&#8217; How can you mix, produce and play all the instruments without the proper education or training or knowing whether or not it&#8217;s all done the right way?&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>The same way most things are done&#8230; because it just feels right.</p>
<p>So that&#8217;s really it.  This is what you do with who you are.  It&#8217;s an organic process of letting yourself be you, capturing ideas when they come, being honest with your true self, and doing something with that honesty.  Pretty simple (but also a bit difficult at times).</p>
<p><strong>Quick Info: </strong><em>As a unique and edgy professional Jared Matthew Kessler has an undeniable belief that one person (no matter how big or how small), can make a HUGE impact. This same principal resonates through &#8220;Moving Mountains,&#8221; because it&#8217;s not just the name of his company&#8230; it&#8217;s been his way of life. To find out more, signup now for</em><em> </em><a href="https://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/tools/subscription.php?username=jaredkessler"><em><span style="color: #0000ff;">his free newsletter</span></em></a><em><span style="color: #0000ff;"> </span>and get cool free unconventional insights to UNnumb the workday and UNBORIFY your life. However, if you feel more comfortable </em><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=jaredmatthewkesslerfeeds&amp;loc=en_US"><em><span style="color: #0000ff;">subscribing to the email feed</span></em></a><em>, you are welcome to do that as well.  Not only that, if you want to get REALLY crazy you can <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/hire"><span style="color: #0000ff;">hire Jared  for your next project</span></a><span style="color: #0000ff;"> </span><span style="color: #000000;">or two. </span></span></em></p>
<p><strong>Follow:</strong> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/jaredkessler"><span style="color: #0000ff;">@jaredkessler</span></a></p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/what-to-do-with-who-you-are/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Can You Run A Business Like A Pilgrim?</title>
		<link>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/can-you-run-a-business-like-a-pilgrim/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/can-you-run-a-business-like-a-pilgrim/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:06:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jared Matthew Kessler</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/?p=6040</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I saw www.travelsofanearthpilgrim.com a while back, I got really excited because I saw someone living just about everything that I was talking about in a recent blog I did called, “Forget the New Years Resolution, Start a New Years Revolution.” From what I’ve seen so far, Graham Phoenix is really doing something quite unique; he [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<div id="attachment_6047" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 471px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gurbirsinghbrar/3331604775/in/set-72157608226533734/"><img class="size-full wp-image-6047 " title="Picture 1" src="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Picture-12.png" alt="" width="461" height="309" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Photo Courtesy of Gurbisinghbrar (via Flickr)</p></div>
<p style="text-align: left;">When I saw <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a href="http://www.travelsofanearthpilgrim.com"><span style="color: #0000ff;">www.travelsofanearthpilgrim.com</span></a></span><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a href="http://www.travelsofanearthpilgrim.com"><span style="color: #0000ff;"> </span></a></span>a while back, I got really excited because I saw someone living just about everything that I was talking about in a recent blog I did called, “<a href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/forget-the-new-years-resolution-start-a-new-years-revolution/"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Forget the New Years Resolution, Start a New Years Revolution</span></a>.”</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">From what I’ve seen so far, <a href="http://gphoenix.org/"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Graham Phoenix</span></a><span style="color: #0000ff;"> </span>is really doing something quite unique; <strong>he lives AND runs and business while traveling all around the world.  Unlike most people who “travel a lot” – Grahams home and business is ALL 100% mobile (meaning his home is the road and the road is his home)</strong>.</p>
<p>And so… as I like to talk about and find “authentic people” that might inspire about living an unconventional life, Graham definitely has a lot to say about what he does.</p>
<p><strong>The first thing that came to mind is how much of an authentic person he is and… here is where we started:</strong></p>
<p><em>I’m not sure about being an “authentic individual,” I just live my life and make what I can of it. I want to enjoy life, be creative and decide on my own way forward. I don’t let fear get in my way. I believe that you create the life you intend for yourself. If you focus on problems and difficulties, that’s what you will get.</em></p>
<p><strong>But the thing that I find REALLY crazy about what you are doing, is that you literally live and work while travelling (whereas some do a lot of travelling for work, take long vacations, buy a motor-home and live in that while seeing the country, etc)&#8230; but they eventually come “home.”</strong></p>
<p><em>I don’t have a home, in terms of a permanent base. My home is where I happen to be living. I was used to this in my late teens and twenties when I travelled around the UK working in the theatre. I stayed in flats and digs and often would move at very short notice. But living somewhere soon became permanent. I have a small store and virtual office, and that’s it. My partner and I are living in a house in Holland, at the moment, for a period of three months &#8211; we have made it ‘home’.</em></p>
<p><strong>You’re a lot different in that you blended the two into a pretty unconventional and simplistic lifestyle because you literally “let go of your home.”  Can you explain where you were when you made that decision to let go of the “conventional” type of life and why?</strong></p>
<p><em>I lived a conventional life for many years with a family and a mortgage. I moved around but owned the homes I lived in. Although I travelled a lot for work, I had a base and was no different from most people. My long-term marriage fell apart and I got a divorce. We sold the house and I moved into a flat in London and then into a cottage in the countryside. So I no longer owned a home, but rented on six month contracts. At about the same time my design practice that I owned with a business partner, got into difficulties, so we closed it down. I went back to working for myself with my existing client base. I moved into my own office in North London and eventually moved my office to my cottage. I continued to use the virtual office facilities offered by my office landlord. So I was now in a situation where my work location was separated from where people thought it was. That move was a revelation.</em></p>
<p><em>At this point I did a great deal of self-development work and I seriously re-assessed what I wanted out of life. I wanted more than I had, but wasn’t sure how to get it. I met a new lady, who is now my partner. She had sold her house a couple of years before, after a divorce, and was permanently on the road. She had an allowance and cash and so was able to support this life. In the beginning of 2009 I was asked to go to Fiji to work on some self-development seminars. This was unpaid, but food and board was provided. I ended up spending 4 months in Fiji that year.</em></p>
<p><em>Having rented the cottage for six months I ended up living there for only six weeks. I realized this was an enormous waste of money. It became a simple and obvious move for me to let go of the cottage, at the end of the six months, when my contract was up. I put my ‘stuff’ into storage and started travelling with my partner. Over the next year we developed our lifestyle and, especially, developed our contacts in house-sitting around the world.</em></p>
<p><em>Although it seems a dramatic move, it grew by baby steps, each one seeming logical and obvious. When you look back, it is, of course, a bit different.</em></p>
<p><strong>Is this something that you think anyone can do?  I mean when was the moment you said, “This is something I need to do?”</strong></p>
<p><em>Yes, anyone can do it. My children are grown up so they were no issue.  I actually know of a number of people who travel with children. They are more easy-going and flexible than people realize. We create our own obstacles because we won’t face our own fears. It is fear that stops us (fear of what others will say, fear of whether it will work, fear of not having enough money). If we face those we can do anything we want.</em></p>
<p><em>The moment I made the decision was returning to the cottage from Fiji to find it full of packing cases filled, mainly, with my files and catalogues from work. I had been living a free, relaxed and uncluttered life and became conscious of the burden of ‘stuff’ we put on ourselves. We weigh ourselves down so that we can’t move. It becomes a convenient excuse that forces us to stay somewhere (while pretending we really want to go).</em></p>
<p><em>As you pointed out above, the vast majority of ‘travellers’ writing on the internet have a home and just go on trips. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it just isn’t letting go. In described this in a recent post I renamed ‘RTW’ ‘Return To Work!  </em></p>
<p><strong>How difficult was this type of decision to make?</strong></p>
<p><em>Surprisingly easy, for a number of reasons. I already had an infrastructure in place to deal with administrative matters. I had an income from my design work that I could cultivate while travelling and while I transferred to a career in writing and speaking. I had a partner who lived and loved this type of life. I had friends around the world from my business travel days. Finally I had lost all fear when my marriage and my formed life broke down.  </em></p>
<p><strong>You mentioned keeping a business going, maintaining your sanity and, certainly there is a certain amount of preparation that one must do to encompass this type of lifestyle.  Can you go further into detail on how to manage that effectively?</strong></p>
<p><em>Unless you have loads of cash in the bank, or a pension to live off, you need an income on the road. This usually requires that you work for yourself. But many people do this already, as I was. Your work needs to be some sort of service work, i.e. not dealing with physical ‘stuff’. There is a lot you can do such as designing, writing, internet based work, software, illustrating, speaking etc. With today’s connected society there are no issues with this. A company such as 37Signals develops software with a small staff distributed around the world. There are Virtual Assistants and CAD Drawing experts who will do much of the graft for you.</em></p>
<p><em>You need an infrastructure that creates a virtual home. You need an address that can handle your mail, credit card statements etc, and someone who can deal with matters such as banking and form filling. This is all readily available and you can remain contactable by mobile phone and email. I had that already so it was no sweat for me.</em></p>
<p><em>You cannot become simply ‘homeless’, society doesn’t really accept that. You must be able to continue to take part, albeit on a virtual level.  </em></p>
<p><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><strong>For someone who works a “regular” job and isn’t happy with it&#8230; What would you tell them?  Is that why you got into this type of living (to avoid a “regular job”)?</strong></span></em></p>
<p><em>Well I never really had a ‘regular’ job for very long. For the first 15 years of my working life I worked in theatre as a technician and a lighting designer. Much of that time I was self-employed. I went into architectural lighting design and spent some time working for others but soon became effectively self-employed again when I became a business owner.</em></p>
<p><em>So my life has been mainly a self-directed one. I didn’t try to avoid a regular job &#8211; I just wasn’t that kind of person. This is important for a travelling lifestyle. You need to be able to be a self-motivated person who controls every aspect of their life. If you are unable to get out of the regular job and find your own niche then you are unlikely to be able to take the uncertainty of constant travel. You have to find your lifestyle before you take on the life</em></p>
<p><strong>I know that you also mentioned you have kids and it’s a bit of a challenge (I’m sure with them), but why didn’t that stop you from living this kind of unconventional lifestyle?  Was their any opposition from friends and family when you decided to do something like this?  If so, how did you not let that affect your decision?</strong></p>
<p><em>Yes there has been opposition, mostly because people just don’t understand what I am doing. At first they thought I had got involved with a cult and then that I had just gone potty. I have two boys and there has been no issues with them. This is mainly because they have unconventional lifestyles themselves. They are in their late 20’s now, they are both artists and musicians and neither of them has a regular job. They don’t own properties or have cars, they just rent and love life. They tour and travel themselves. Mmmm, I wonder where they got that from!</em></p>
<p><em>My decision was mine, if that meant I lost the support of others, that was a decision for them. I live my life, especially now my responsibilities as a father do not involve daily care. I love my family and I keep in contact with them, but they have to come to terms with how I am. If that seems harsh, well that’s how I am. I don’t mean it harshly and people don’t need to take it that way.</em></p>
<p><strong>I mean you “let your house go.”  You have a storage unit next to a major airport.  A “virtual office” in London.  Have most of your belongings in only 2 suitcases.  No car.  Have your own financial system set in place when you need money.  How hard or easy do you think this is for the average “business professional” to make something like this work?</strong></p>
<p><em>I do have a car. I use it in Europe and store it when further afield.</em></p>
<p><em>It depends on what business they are in and how they go about their life. If you ‘want’ it to work then there is always a way. If you want to hang on to the old lifestyle, then it will never work. </em></p>
<p><em>You need to make that switch in your head. The best analogy I can find is that it’s like being an alcoholic. Someone drinks and enjoys the lifestyle but eventually finds that it runs them. They can’t escape, they can’t free themselves. The drinking gets worse and come to totally dominate their life. This goes on until one day something ‘switches’ in their head and they stop. </em></p>
<p><em>They need to put in place a totally new infrastructure to live their life by because nothing they did before works any more. They develop a completely new life and become a completely new person. To do this they really need to want it!  </em></p>
<p><strong>The thing I love about “Travels of an Earth Pilgrim” is that it got me to think back hundreds of years ago &#8211; literally even before Columbus discovered the states (not that this has anything to do with you – since you live in the UK) &#8211; and I’m not sure where I’m going with this&#8230;</strong></p>
<p><em>Of course that was before we developed such burdens in our lives. Before life became so complicated before. Before life became organized with so many state administrative structures. People just disappeared and went to live and work somewhere else.</em></p>
<p><strong>But wasn’t this normal back hundreds of years ago for just human beings to do? Why don’t you think more people live like this?  Do you think they are afraid of the stigma attached to what some might call a “nomadic” lifestyle?</strong></p>
<p><em>Many are afraid of the stigma but many are afraid of themselves. Tony Robbins talks about the six human needs, certainty, significance, variety, love/connection, contribution and growth. So many focus on certainty, significance and love/connection. They need people and places, they need stability, they need to know where they are and where they’re going to be. There is massive fear of the unknown.  </em></p>
<p><strong>What is the message you would like people to get from doing this?  Do you think you’ll stop soon or continue on with this for most of your life? Why or why not?</strong></p>
<p><em>My message is simply to let go of the things that hold you back, embrace your uncertainty and start to love life. It will love you back in return and pay you back a thousand-fold.</em></p>
<p><em>We have just secured a house-sit for three years in Spain. That is a bit scary because there is some more permanence involved. It’s not ours and there is no ’weight’ of things involved, but it still is a form of settling back down! We will still travel when the owners come to live there for vacations etc. We don’t, however see it as a move back into a settled life, just, as someone put it, a vacation from travelling for a while.  </em></p>
<p><strong>I’m not sure about living in the UK, but I think many people who be “scared to leave their benefits (401k, health insurance, etc)&#8230; What would you say to those people? What would you also say to those who want more information about this, but are scared to leave their job to do something similar?  Is there a major goal that you want to achieve in doing this?</strong></p>
<p><em>The UK is a bit easier in this respect. There is a free National Health Service which also covers us throughout Europe, although not elsewhere. My state pension will still be paid to me when I retire. Currently I have a company in the UK and pay UK taxes and so retain my rights to benefits. That’s about it. I have no coverage for most places, travel insurance just doesn’t cope with people like me. So I stay healthy and know I will be OK.</em></p>
<p><em>I do believe you get what you wish for. Despite this I don’t know what I will do when I get old and infirm.  I expect to have enough money to deal with this when I get there. I just take responsibility for myself and don’t put it on others.  </em></p>
<p><strong>Finally&#8230; if this was your last day on the planet, what would you want someone reading this to know?  What’s your life message?</strong></p>
<p><em>I really enjoyed my life and regret none of it. I have lived my life to the full and, as a result, have met and connected with many people all around the world. I have inspired people and been inspired by them. I feel I have made a difference and wish others to do the same.</em></p>
<p><strong>You can </strong><a href="http://www.travelsofanearthpilgrim.com/"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>visit Graham&#8217;s web site here</strong></span></a><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong> </strong></span><strong>to see where he&#8217;s headed next or how he might be able to help you and your business.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Quick Info:</strong> <em>As a unique and edgy professional Jared Matthew Kessler has an undeniable belief that one person (no matter how big or how small), can make a HUGE impact on the world. This same principal resonates through &#8220;Moving Mountains,&#8221; because it&#8217;s not just the name of his company&#8230; it&#8217;s been his way of life.  You can visit Jared&#8217;s &#8220;</em><a href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/hire/"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><span style="color: #0000ff;">hire</span></em></span></a><em>&#8221; section to see how he can help you or your business, or signup here to get </em><a href="https://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/tools/subscription.php?username=jaredkessler"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><span style="color: #0000ff;">his free newsletter</span></em></span></a><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><span style="color: #0000ff;"> </span></em></span><em>and other cool free unconventional stuff to UNnumb the workday and UNBORIFY your life. However, if you feel more comfortable </em><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=jaredmatthewkesslerfeeds&amp;loc=en_US"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em><span style="color: #0000ff;">subscribing to the feed</span></em></span></a><em>, you are welcome to do that as well.</em></p>
<p><strong>Follow</strong>: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/jaredkessler"><span style="color: #0000ff;">@jaredkessler</span></a></p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/can-you-run-a-business-like-a-pilgrim/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Small Biz Summer Essentials</title>
		<link>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/small-biz-summer-essentials/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/small-biz-summer-essentials/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:20:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jared Matthew Kessler</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/?p=6063</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ok&#8230; so this is my big Details Magazine esque blog that I had an idea to do and thought, &#8220;What the hey?  Let&#8217;s do it!&#8221; I call it my &#8220;Small Biz Summer Essentials&#8221; for the semi-working-I-need more-income-than-the-stupid-job-is-paying-me-for-help-me-start-my-own-company professional: 1 -Treat yourself to Kevin Murphy. I just discovered this guy and I have to say&#8230; I&#8217;m [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<div id="attachment_6093" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 339px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/burnsland/2609941571/"><img class="size-full wp-image-6093" title="Picture 1" src="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Picture-14.png" alt="" width="329" height="232" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Courtesy of Burnsland (via Flickr)</p></div>
<p>Ok&#8230; so this is my big Details Magazine esque blog that I had an idea to do and thought, &#8220;What the hey?  Let&#8217;s do it!&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>I call it my &#8220;Small Biz Summer Essentials&#8221; for the semi-working-I-need more-income-than-the-stupid-job-is-paying-me-for-help-me-start-my-own-company professional:</strong></p>
<p><strong>1 -Treat yourself to Kevin Murphy.</strong></p>
<p>I just discovered this guy and I have to say&#8230; I&#8217;m SUPER impressed.  It&#8217;s a little pricey but my hair hasn&#8217;t moved one bit (and it doesn&#8217;t even look like I have anything in it).</p>
<p>It also smells nice for the ladies &#8211; and they&#8217;ll love you for it.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m using his product called &#8220;<a href="http://www.kevinmurphystore.com/categories/style/GRITTY-BUSINESS.htm"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Gritty Business</span></a>,&#8221; and you can find it in select hair salons or online (for all of my retro/cool AND wanna be cool business professionals).</p>
<p><strong>2 &#8211; Get some Alternative Apparel tees.</strong></p>
<p>Ever since <a href="http://www.twitter.com/alternativeapp"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Jarod</span></a><span style="color: #0000ff;"> </span>(who handles their online promo stuff over there) mistakenly sent me a few more products than I originally asked for &#8211; in his super cool free giveaway contest that I won&#8230; I&#8217;ve been supporting them and their stuff.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m wearing their pastel color v-neck tees and love their choice of fabric.  Great for sitting at cafe&#8217;s trying to think of a cool blog to write for people like you who enjoy the &#8220;Casual Friday&#8217;s&#8221; or &#8220;Taco Tuesdays&#8221; as I like to call it. <img src='http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p><strong>3 &#8211; Delegate you time-sucking tasks (enjoy the sun more).</strong></p>
<p>It&#8217;s true.  If you own your business, you&#8217;re probably trying to save money left and right&#8230; but at some point you CAN&#8217;T do it all!</p>
<p>So what I did (as many of you may or may not know) <a href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/hire"><span style="color: #0000ff;">I opened my Copywriting services to the public</span></a><span style="color: #0000ff;"> </span>- after much thought and time into cultivating my own brand the past 15 years.</p>
<p>How cool is that?</p>
<p><strong>4 &#8211; Invest in big MASSIVE headphones.</strong></p>
<p>When you need to get serious work done WHEREVER you are&#8230; no one will approach you with big headphones on.</p>
<p>So when you&#8217;re busier than ever and visiting your favorite cafe trying to get a ton of work done, or have an idiotic person that lives above you whose annoying bass is driving you up the wall&#8230; or you just need to cram and get the report done at work&#8230;</p>
<p>These puppies will scare anyone away and more importantly, they communicate the obvious point that you don&#8217;t want to be disturbed (without feeling bad in telling them &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to be disturbed&#8221;).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sennheiserusa.com/private_headphones_dj-headphones_004974"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Here are the headphones I use</span></a> &#8211; not to mention the fact that it takes your music listening to another level (and make your iPod headphones look like a joke)!</p>
<p><strong>5 &#8211; Enjoy your feet more.</strong></p>
<p>As my girlfriend is reading this&#8230; she will admit that she was against Tom&#8217;s Shoes since day one.</p>
<p>But when Nordstroms started carrying them and she saw how fab I looked in them, it was a completely different story.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.toms.com/"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Get a pair &#8211; they mold to your feet</span></a> AND they give a pair of shoes away to someone in need (each time you buy a pair &#8211; as I&#8217;m ALSO a big fan of &#8220;Conscious Capitalism&#8221;).</p>
<p><strong>6 &#8211; Grow your client base and tell your employer to F&#8212; off!</strong></p>
<p>Sorry for the lighthearted at mind, but&#8230; had to be honest with things here.  The quickest most effective way to do this is:</p>
<p><em>*Develop your innate gifts/talents.</em></p>
<p><em>*Form a service that helps people &#8211; and cultivates your talent.</em></p>
<p><em>*Offer your service to every single person you meet and get out there to network your ASS off!</em></p>
<p>So that&#8217;s about it (for now).  Anything else you would like to add?</p>
<p><strong>Quick Info</strong>: <em>As a unique and edgy professional Jared Matthew Kessler has an undeniable belief that one person (no matter how big or how small), can make a HUGE impact on the world. This same principal resonates through &#8220;<a href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/lets-begin/"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Moving Mountains</span></a></em><em>,&#8221; because it&#8217;s not just the name of his company&#8230; it&#8217;s been his way of life. Visit Jared&#8217;s &#8220;</em><a href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/hire/"><em><span style="color: #0000ff;">hire</span></em></a><em>&#8221; section to see how he can help you or your business, or Signup here to get </em><a href="https://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/tools/subscription.php?username=jaredkessler"><em><span style="color: #0000ff;">his free newsletter</span></em></a><em> and other cool free unconventional stuff to UNnumb the workday.  However, if you feel more comfortable </em><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=jaredmatthewkesslerfeeds&amp;loc=en_US"><em><span style="color: #0000ff;">subscribing to the feed</span></em></a><em>, you are welcome to do that as well.</em></p>
<p><strong>Follow:</strong> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/jaredkessler"><span style="color: #0000ff;">@jaredkessler</span></a></p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/small-biz-summer-essentials/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Business Of Words: How Is It Affecting Me?</title>
		<link>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/the-business-of-words-how-is-it-affecting-me/</link>
		<comments>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/the-business-of-words-how-is-it-affecting-me/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 Jul 2010 22:42:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jared Matthew Kessler</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/?p=5827</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Listen&#8230; I don&#8217;t need to tell you that people have a tremendous amount of options these days than just using you or your business. Instead of putting a false facade over how badly this can affect it, I&#8217;m here to tell you that the words you choose are doing more than just communicating who you [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<div id="attachment_5891" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 310px"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kateri/3257212916/"><img class="size-medium wp-image-5891" title="Picture 1" src="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Picture-1-300x227.png" alt="" width="300" height="227" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Courtesy of Kateri (via Flickr)</p></div>
<p>Listen&#8230; I don&#8217;t need to tell you that people have a tremendous amount of options these days than just using you or your business.</p>
<p>Instead of putting a false facade over how badly this can affect it, I&#8217;m here to tell you that the words you choose are doing more than just communicating who you are and what your business is about&#8230;</p>
<p>They&#8217;re helping it thrive or burn to the ground &#8211; without you even knowing it.</p>
<p><strong>The Boredom Affect.</strong></p>
<p>Boring and conventional businesses are filled with boring and conventional people and you cannot and will not liven things up unless you hire some unconventional people to help keep it going and do things differently.</p>
<p>Now of course, that makes total sense to you as you&#8217;re reading this, but who&#8217;s going to be the one to do something to change that?</p>
<p>The one that wants to stay alive.  Literally!</p>
<p><strong>Something Else Besides Just Marketing, Sales And Design.</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong>Graphic Designers (whom I&#8217;ve worked with a ton over the years) will write for you by default.  Of course this makes total sense because you want to save money where you can.</p>
<p>But are you?</p>
<p>That&#8217;s like getting brain surgery from your dentist and&#8230; why would you have your dentist take a look at your brain just because he&#8217;s already working on your mouth? To save money again?</p>
<p>You might as well throw away the money you think you&#8217;re saving because any new business or potential sales are probably going out that same window.</p>
<p>Marketing is the same way.  You can market something all you want, but without translating the marketing concepts into words that get attention, engage your customers, develop rapport and lead them to make a sale&#8230; the best marketing plan, graphic designer or sales team is pretty much useless.</p>
<p><strong>The Quick, Simple, Painless Alternative:</strong></p>
<p>Hiring an experienced Copywriter is the best way to go about breaking new ground in this new and shaky economy that&#8217;s taking form right before our eyes.  Without going into the whole shpeal about why that is and yada yada yada you can&#8230;</p>
<p>1 &#8211; <em>Contact me and send over a sample piece of writing that you need help communicating with your audience over (this can be a flyer, ad, brochure, web page, etc).</em></p>
<p>2 -<em> Don&#8217;t just send it over, tell me about it&#8217;s purpose and the audience it&#8217;s going to.</em></p>
<p>3 &#8211; <em>Give me about 20 minutes to do what I do, and I&#8217;ll show you the difference that a qualified Copywriter can make in grabbing your audience, bringing your product to life and having customers sell themselves on whatever it is you&#8217;re selling.</em></p>
<p>Read <a href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/hire/"><span style="color: #0000ff;">more about joining forces</span></a> here&#8230;</p>
<p><strong>Because paying someone who isn&#8217;t qualified to do what you need done, isn&#8217;t worth killing your business over&#8230; now is it?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Note: </strong><em>Signup here to get </em><a href="https://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/tools/subscription.php?username=jaredkessler"><em><span style="color: #0000ff;">my free newsletter</span></em></a><em> and other cool free unconventional stuff to UNnumb the workday.  However, if you feel more comfortable just</em><a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=jaredmatthewkesslerfeeds&amp;loc=en_US"><em><span style="color: #0000ff;">subscribing to the blog feed</span></em></a><em>, you are welcome to do that instead.  Heck you can even </em><a href="http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/hire/"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em>go hog wild and hire me</em></span></a><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em> </em></span><em>for your next project.</em></p>
<p><strong>Follow:</strong> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/jaredkessler"><span style="color: #0000ff;">@jaredkessler</span></a></p>

]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.jaredmatthewkessler.com/the-business-of-words-how-is-it-affecting-me/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
