I think you described it well. There’s nothing wrong with traditional paths for those who want to follow them, but part of what I hope to do is provide alternatives and shine a spotlight on those who have chosen a different path. There are so many opportunities! We can do so much! And I think that as more people become aware of alternatives, more people will pursue them.
2.) Admittedly, I didn’t catch wind of the Guillebeau train (and WORLD DOMINATION!) until this summer with the $100 Startup. I regularly go to Barnes and Noble to snoop in the business section for books I want to buy, take pictures and run back home to Amazon. The bicycle on the cover caught my attention. As I started to do some research on the book, and then on you, I realized that you’d been at this for a while. Can you talk about how you were able to grow your following starting fromA Brief Guide to World Domination, to The Art of Non-Conformity and finally to The $100 Startup? I think many people get discouraged because they feel like successful writers have some “special sauce”, or that they always had a big following. I suspect that’s not the case. Please fill us in on how your following unfolded as your work progressed.
Sure. A few years back I published a manifesto called 279 Days to Overnight Success (free on my site) that goes into more detail, but the short version is that once I started working toward the goal of establishing a community around unconventional ideas, I didn’t stop. For the past five years, one way or another I spend most of my time working on this project. Of course I’m constantly traveling at the same time everything else is happening, so that takes its time and toll, but for better or worse I’ve been fairly focused. As you said, many writers get discouraged at what they perceive is a poor response, but I think many writers give up too early. This kind of work takes time and continuous improvement.
3.) Going as deep as you feel comfortable here, can you give us some metrics on how your business has progressed in terms of subscribers, income and engagement? I see now that you have several streams coming in: the blog, published books and live events. How does it all fit together and how has it changed from $0 to now? If you had to start over again and develop everything from scratch, would you do anything differently?
It’s now a multiple six-figure business, perhaps low seven-figure if you include everything. Subscribers are probably around 70,000-100,000, depending on how you count them. As for live events, I don’t profit from those: all of my $100 Startup events are free, and we operate WDS as a not-for-profit.
I’m glad I can earn a good living from the work, but the central goal is one of influence, or to use your word, engagement. Reading emails from readers who have quit their jobs, traveled the world, or otherwise done something meaningful in part due to connection with AONC is one of the most rewarding parts of the whole experience.
If I could go back… I would have started earlier. I probably would have been more specific about intentions in the beginning as well. When I started I didn’t really know what I hoped to achieve, and the vision has grown considerably since then.
4.) I try to stay away from the terms “Internet Marketing” or “Information Products” in my work because people either don’t know what those terms mean, or there is some negative, scam-ish connotation associated with them. The best way I can describe what myself and others like yourself are doing is the phrase “teaching as marketing”. Basically, you don’t need to be a salesman anymore to make money on products or services. With this gigantic platform known as the internet, you don’t have to really “convince” anybody to believe in you. You can just put your ideas out there and if they are high quality and well-presented, people will latch on. Can you talk briefly about how newbies can teach other people valuable ideas and skills that benefit the student, but also make a significant income for themselves?
Yes, well, it’s much easier to connect with like-minded people than it is to persuade skeptical people to join your cause. I write about this quite a bit in The $100 Startup. These days, many of us tend to align with groups based on psychographics more than demographics. What this means for someone in online marketing (however you choose to describe it) is that you need to understand what your “target market” has in common. I put the phrase in quotes because much of the time, your target market will not be defined by a traditional demographic anymore; it will be defined based on shared values or ideals.
5.) I appreciate your time Chris. How can readers find out more about you, your work and your upcoming events?
I’m easy to find. My main website is ChrisGuillebeau.com and I’m on Twitter as @chrisguillebeau. Upcoming tour events are at 100startup.com, and we also host an annual event in Portland called the World Domination Summit.
