Episode 50 – WOW! Thank you, everyone.

As I sat down to record this episode of the VBL Podcast (the last in a while – you’ll find out why when you listen!), I must be honest, I felt extremely humbled by the success of the show and the way that its grown in popularity over the last year. There is not a day that goes by when I don’t receive at least one email, tweet or Facebook message from someone saying how much they enjoy it.

Hit the ‘Play’ button below to listen to this VBL Podcast now. Or, download to listen in on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad later on. DON’T FORGET: Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

In this episode I discuss the following:

• The effect the podcast has had on the blog, my brand and my businesses.
• How grateful I am for all the wonderful guests that have been on the show.
• The reason why I am taking some time off from producing it.
• What’s in store for the future…
• Plus, some more random rambling.

I also mention the following:

It’s been a great run, and I’ve had some amazing guests, of whom I would like to say a special thank you to, and once again, this is NOT the end. It’s just a break, so I can focus on a few other things.

Be sure you check out and enjoy the VBL Podcast Archive in the meantime, and I look forward to continuing to converse with you here on the blog, via the VBL Facebook page, and Twitter, too.

I’ve been fortunate enough to know my special guest today for at least a year and a half or so. Although, saying that, it feels as if I’ve known David Siteman Garland for a lot, lot longer. We’ve spoken via skype a ton of times, I’ve been featured on his fantastic web TV show, The Rise to the Top not once, but twice (a feat he now repays, by being on this episode of the VBL Podcast!), and its safe to say, we’ve become good buddies.

He even listed me on his ’20 Unconventional Entrepreneurs Who Will Inspire You!’ run-down, along with guys like Tim Ferriss and Seth Godin (thanks again for that, dude!).

David’s passion for business, life and entrepreneurship is infectious. Not every now and then, but ALL the time. He oozes affection and energy for what he does and shows the world, on his blog, TV show, as well asin his recent book ‘Smarter, Faster, Cheaper’.

Throughout the course of our conversation, you’ll hear us discuss amongst other things, the following:

• David’s amazing 7-day journey from ‘discussion’ to ‘book offer’.
• Why most first time authors get around a year, but how David got his first draft together in just 4 months!
• David’s ‘writing schedule’… How he got shit done – from coffee shops, daily!
• How 4-6 hour writing sessions got the ‘bulk’ of ‘Smarter, Faster, Cheaper’ together, fast.
• Much, much more!

Hit the ‘Play’ button below to listen to this VBL Podcast now. Or, download to listen in on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad later on. DON’T FORGET: Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

This story just goes to show you that with perseverance, hard work and all-out passion, you can pretty much achieve anything. It might not have been your normal, run-of-the-mill first time author story, but lets face it – David is not your every day, run-of-the-mill kinda guy, is he..!!!?

To find out more about David, his book, blog and fantastic web TV show, hop over to TheRiseToTheTop.com, and tell him that Chris Ducker sent ya! Then, sit back, relax and enjoy his online ‘show’.

I can’t help but be inspired, excited and motivated every time I watch him. I’m sure you’ll feel the same way.

Are you utilizing video on your blog? Podcasting? I’d love to hear from you if you are. And tell us how you got started, as well as some of the high’s and low’s, too! Comment below.

I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting todays guest face-to-face yet, but I know that when we do eventually meet up in the flesh we’ll just get on like a house on fire. Tyler Tervooren’s thirst for life is clear to see, and the way he approaches community, networking and getting things done is an inspiration for all online entrepreneurs.

Tyler’s fantastic, popular blog, Advanced Riskology is a mouth-watering collection of inspiration, realization and bang-smack in-your-face advice as to why and how you need to be living your life, by taking risks and making things happen. However, what I wanted to talk to Tyler about was how he’s mentioned to create a huge following of brand new blog readers and fans in a realitively short space of time.

Throughout our conversation, you’ll hear us discuss amongst other things:

• Tyler’s secret behind getting that ‘little bit further’ than most out there online.
• The catalyst behind Advanced Riskology and why he focused in on the niche of ‘taking risks’.
• His 1% Club and how important it is to him, and the tribe he’s built.
• How he put together his first online product, by engaging his community, and why it was a raging success!
• Plus much, much more.

Hit the ‘Play’ button below to listen to this VBL Podcast now. Or, download to listen in on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad later on. DON’T FORGET: Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

Community is about as important to bloggers and online entrepreneurs as praying is to the Pope, lets face it! What I loved about this conversation was how free and open Tyler was with his advice, just like my buddy, Pat Flynn, who has also fermented a massive following over the last couple of years online. It’s things like this that really inspire other people to go and do likewise.

Thank you, my tribe, my community… for all the support you show me, too.

If you’d like to find out more about Tyler, the risks he takes and what he has in store for the rest of the 1% Club, then hop over to his blog, and be sure to follow him on Twitter, too.

What type of risks have you taken in the last few months to get your business or personal projects off the ground? Are you actively building your own community, or tribe? Let us hear all about it, below…

Today’s podcast guest, Jonathan Mead is a guy that knows what he wants, and goes out to take it, on his own terms, every day. You have to love that! At his excellent blog, Illuminated Mind, his tagline reads “Live and Work on your Own Terms – Don’t read if you want Ordinary!’. I love that even more!

I first met with Jonathan last year at BlogWorld in Vegas. We enjoyed a dinner, together with his wife, and various other great minds that were at the same table, such as Corbett Barr, David Risley, Maren Kate to name a few. And I remember Jonathan because he had this sense of calmness about him. The rest of us were super pumped to be at the conference and were a tad over excited, I would say. But, Jonathan sat there with a smoothness about him that only a man living on his own terms would. This is a man I needed to get onto the VBL Podcast!

In today’s podcast session you’ll hear me and Jonathan talk about, amongst other things:

• Why its so important to do what you truly love, and being creative.
• The difference between motivation and purpose and how to take the answer, and apply it to business.
• How he helps people align their passions to be able to live a life truly worth living.
• The focus that he had on wanting to work for himself, instead of just going through the motions of working for someone else.
• Much, much more!

Hit the ‘Play’ button below to listen to this VBL Podcast now. Or, download to listen in on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad later on. DON’T FORGET: Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

You’ll enjoy this conversation with a real new age entrepreneur that is really carving out quite a following and solid niche for himself.

Spend a bit of time getting to know him some more over at his blog, and be sure to follow him on Twitter, too. Tell him that Chris Ducker sent you, and he might, just might give you a free latte, or something. Then again, he might not!

Are you living on your own terms? If not, why not? Whats in your way? Comment at will…

Myself and Sean Ogle have been online buddies for well over a year. And it’s taken us that long to get our schedules to match, so we could record this interview for the VBL Podcast! Why? Because the guy isn’t in one place for very long!!!

Location independence is one of those topics that you see being discussed all over the Internet in a number of different ways, by a number of different people. However, from my observation very few of these lifestyle design types are really living a location independent lifestyle, I mean, REALLY do it. Sean is certainly not one of these guys.

He IS living it, and living it very well, for that matter!

In the process of my discussion with Sean, you’ll hear us talk about, amongst other things:

• What the catalyst was for Sean to break free from the hum-drum of the  ‘normal’ working lifestyle.
• What the biggest challenges have been working independently and in some remote countries.
• Why he loves the lifestyle so much and what he does to get the most out of it, from a business perspective.
• The different things that he is currently working on, as well as how he makes his ‘rent money’, so to speak.
• His new online course to help others live their optimum lifestyle, Location Rebel.
• Much, much more!

Hit the ‘Play’ button below to listen to this VBL Podcast now. Or, download to listen in on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad later on. DON’T FORGET: Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

My whole take on lifestyle design is perhaps a little different to Sean’s, or anyone else’s for that matter. My view is that ‘lifestyle design’ is simply designing a lifestyle that is right for YOU, and the people you love. For example, it would be very hard for me to travel around the world, because of my family and my brick ‘n mortar business. However, that doesn’t mean that I can design a 4-day work week, plenty of time with my family during the day and fantastic weekend getaways…

It’s a long, long journey, and as Sean has discovered and most people in the lifestyle design / location independent sector have discovered alongside him, its also one that is forever changing, thanks to technology in general.

Be sure to check out Sean’s great lifestyle design blog, and when you’re ready to take your own life design priorities to the next level, hit him up on LocationRebel.com and be sure to tell him the VBL sent ya!

Have you spent any length of time ‘on the road’? What was it like? Struggles working seamlessly? We’d love to hear about it. Comment below, at will.

Sam Carpenter had been running his business for years and years, but it was still facing financial ruin. He was only ‘just’ going to make his next pay-roll bill, and was in bad health, with his ‘work’ engulfing his entire life and almost all of his waking hours. Then, one night, as he tossed and turned from side to side, it hit him. Systems. He had to break his company down into as many systems as possible… It ended up being HUNDREDS!!! But, it worked.

Nowadays, Sam only works a couple of hours a week on his main company, and currently enjoys keeping fit and healthy, spending time working with non-profits and enjoying quality time with Linda, the lady in his life. When he sent me a copy of his book, Work the System, I instantly got stuck into it, and following this interview, and finishing the book – I’m already starting to make certain changes.

You are all gonna LOVE this conversation… I promise.

Throughout the conversation with Sam, we discuss, amongst other things:

• How he broke down his entire company into systems, so that its totally self-reliant.
• How putting these systems in place have allowed him to own one of the most successful and profitable call answering services in the world, and keep his employee numbers down.
• Why utilizing systems in your business and the way you live life in general is more important than ever.
• Why Sam continues to ‘pay the bills’ himself.
• Sam’s AWESOME free gift for each and every VBL Tribe member.
• Much, much more!

Hit the ‘Play’ button below to listen to this VBL Podcast now. Or, download to listen in on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad later on. DON’T FORGET: Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

As we also discussed in the interview, Sam has got to the point where his business ‘runs itself’. Literally, this is where we should ALL be aiming to get to, as entrepreneurs. That has to stand out to all of us, if it doesn’t there is something wrong there.

Above all, however, the one thing that really stood out for me in this chat is when Sam said that ‘99% of his working hours are spent on creativity’. As someone who is very creative himself, this rang home with me, and certainly got me thinking about further ways to be able to eliminate myself even further from the day-to-day stuff, even though I’ve done a great job on that over the last couple of years.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY OF SAM’S BOOK RIGHT NOW!

Be sure to check out Sam’s website and to click over to the Work the System Academy home, too, to find out a little more on that.

What systems have you incorporated into your businesses, online, offline…? Are their certain sections of your business that you’re struggling with? Let us know below… Perhaps we can help each other out a little on things.

PERSONAL NOTE: On hearing of the passing of tech innovator and Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs today, I grabbed my iPad and read all the great tributes people were paying to him and his legacy on Twitter. I suggest you do the same. There will never be another man like him. #SteveJobs

Once in a while, you pick up a book and it smacks you right between the eyes. Instantly. This was the case when I picked up a copy of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Michalowicz a couple of years ago. And, as I read it, I thought to myself, I want to chat with this guy one day… And here I am, doing exactly that, in this latest episode of the VBL Podcast.

Mike is one of those personalities that I just know, even before I meet with them, that I’m going to get on with them, like a house on fire! His blog is excellent, his videos are great entertainment and full of brilliant content and his outlook as an entrepreneur screams nothing more, or less, than sheer passion!

In today’s chat with Mike we discuss, amongst other things:

• How he landed a gig as the small business columnist at the Wall Street Journal.
• What makes a personality stand out online.
• Why you need to embrace and engage your audience like never before.
• The importance of being the ‘real you’ online.
• Much, much more!

Hit the ‘Play’ button below to listen to this VBL Podcast now. Or, download to listen in on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad later on. DON’T FORGET: Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

FYI, when I spoke of how to get past gatekeepers in this clip, and Mike said he was going to mention it on his show the following week… Guess what? He DID IT! That’s the kind of guy he is. Solid.

I thoroughly enjoyed my chat with the man that is affectionately known as The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, and I will heavily assume you will too! When you’re done, pop over to his blog for more of his antics, and enjoy…

What have you done to grow your community recently? Are you already engaging your audience with video? Any other ideas? Let us all know what you think below…

I first met Robb Sutton when I was looking for a designer for this blog. The design you see before you today is very different to the initial VBL Blog. I’ve focused heavily on building a brand for the VBL Blog, and myself to a certain extent, over the last year. However, that first design was sweeet, and Robb was the man that crafted it all. Including the logo that you STILL see today!

Robb is one of those guys that you instantly enjoy being in the presence of. Although we’ve not met in person yet, we’ve spent more than enough time hanging out on Skype for me to know that when we do finally get to meet, we’ll instantly have a blast.

The Journey of Blogging

Recently I’ve been getting more and more emails and comments from people asking about blogging in general. How to get started, how to promote a blog, how to keep one updated properly (without killing yourself) and much more.

I talked a little on this subject with Leo Babauta of ZenHabits fame, in VBL Podcast Episode 23, but always felt we just grazed the surface! I’ve got a solid couple of years under my belt blogging now, but I still class myself as a student of sorts. So, I figured I would have Robb on the show to fill in those missing gaps and to take everything to the next level..!

Throughout the course of our conversation we touch on the following, and more:

• Why you shouldn’t have a ‘solid’ blogging schedule.
• How focusing on quality content, more than anything else is what you should do from day one.
• How making your content easy to digest is paramount to making your content go viral.
• Why losing certain plugins is important to making sure your site loads fast.
• How making a checklist and sticking to it everyday is so, so important as a blogger.
• So, so much more…!

Hit the ‘Play’ button below to listen to this VBL Podcast now. Or, download to listen in on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad later on. DON’T FORGET: Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

Getting started in blogging is easier now than its ever been, thats for sure. With hosting and domain companies such as Bluehost (which I use), awesome, professional looking themes from providers such as WooThemes, and email list building providers like the phenominal AWeber, you can be up and running in as little as an hour. Literally. (Yes, those are affiliate links! Thanks in advance, if you end up clicking them)

What Robb has done for himself is carve out great niches, and focus on them to the point of becoming well known, highly respected and considered a thought leader in those niches. You can do this, too.

Be sure to check Robb’s ‘BloggingLabs‘ site out for more great free content on blogging, and if you have any questions for him (or me!), feel free to comment below, as always!

It feels as if I have been on such an awesome roll, when it comes to getting one phenomenal guest on the podcast after another, recently. And todays addition into the VBL Podcast Archive is absolutely no different, I can tell you!

I have been a MASSIVE fan of best-selling author David Meerman Scott for so long. I came across him first of all via his book World Wide Rave, which prompted me to put together my first free ebook (which you can find on my Resources Page), and then picked up a copy of his New Rules of Marketing & PR (2nd Edition), and on it goes!

Common sense, is the first thing that springs to mind when I read David’s books and listen to him speak. He’s just jam-packed full of it! We spoke about a lot of business and marketing related issues together on this call, but here are a few highlights that you certainly need to make sure you check out:

• How David looks at public speaking as not giving a speech, but instead ‘entertaining’.
• How he poised a personal question to President Barack Obama, on live TV – by using Twitter!
• The fantastic story of one man and his guitar, and an airline… And what came of it.
• Why he makes it a priority to jump off the stage at his speaking engagements.
• What attending 426 live rock shows has taught him about being an influencer.
• How businesses are losing opportunities to make $$$ by not embracing REAL-Time Marketing
• Plus, much more!

Hit the ‘Play’ button below to listen to this VBL Podcast now. Or, download to listen in on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad later on. DON’T FORGET: Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

Spend some time getting to know David Meerman Scott a little more. Follow him on Twitter, check out his blog. Also be sure to consume his books, which are all available on Amazon.  He is one of the few people that I will literally read anything and everything that he puts out. And I cant say that about too many people nowadays – nobody can.

Any questions, comments or feedback on this session are greatly appreciated, and I’ll see if I can convince David to pop by and answer a few comments if he has time, too!

I first came across my guest today, Gideon Shalwick, when looking for info on improving my videos for this blog. As you know, I like to use video a lot here. I feel its more intimate and definitely more effective when wanting to get personal opinions across – which is kinda what blogging is all about, right!?

Anyway, shortly after subscribing to his newsletter and blog, I was a little taken aback when he signed up for my Virtual Staff Finder service. So, as part of the service, we jumped on the phone and have become good online buddies since.

FACT: Gideon is my ‘Yoda’ when it comes to online video!

In this audio-only podcast you will hear Gideon and I discuss a number of super interesting topics related to the online video space. Including, but not limited to:

• Why video is so powerful and why you shouldn’t leave it off your online agenda!
• What Gideon has been doing lately to take his OWN business to the next level.
• Making sure that your passive income outweighs your expenses to escape the rat-race.
• The phenomenal success behind his Rapid Video Blogging course.
• Different types of cameras to shoot high quality online video clips.
• Tons more ‘insider’ tips on the different type of equipment you’ll need to get started with video blogging and producing online videos for marketing, etc.
• So, so much more…!

Hit the ‘Play’ button below to listen to this VBL Podcast now. Or, download to listen in on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad later on. DON’T FORGET: Be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

You’ll easily see that Gideon really does know what he’s talking about when it comes to creating great online videos to help promote and market your blog or business. Also, as an internet marketer himself, he knows how to do things the RIGHT way for the search engines and to make sure you pop up in YouTube results properly, too.

Rapid Video Blogging

In this personal course which offers step-by-step coaching, Gideon teaches you how to really get going with online video. Whether you’re wanting to simply incorporate video into your blog, build a personal brand using video, market your business, build your email lists fast, or even produce an entire video course yourself, RVB is without a doubt the BEST online video course out there. Hands down.

If you haven’t already done so, you should certainly pop over to Gideon’s site and download your free copy of his RVB eBook. At almost 100-pages, it offers a monster amount of content and will easily get your started on your video making mission!

Then, when you’re ready to take it to the next level check out the Rapid Video Blogging course itself. Trust me. It’s bloody brilliant. (Yes, that’s an affiliate link, and you know you don’t see them very often on this blog. So, please use it if you’re serious. I’ll buy you a beer when we meet face to face!)

I’ve had great success with my online video and I do, genuinely, owe a certain amount of that to Gideon. Don’t get me wrong, my videos are nowhere near as awesome looking as his – but, they work. The techniques I’ve learnt from my Yoda have proved to be spot-on.

Now go learn something from him, yourself… 

I contacted Rick as I wanted to get inside his head a little on why he set this badboy-of-an-expo up (easily the best expo I’ve been to in many, many years), and what his and his team have got set-up in terms of plans for the future, in the even-changing landscape that is now simply referred to as ‘New Media’ (blogging, podcasting, social media, online video, etc.).

Since last years expo in Vegas, the BlogWorld crew (phenomenally well put-together and orchestrated team of professionals, I was sincerely impressed!) put on an East-coast outing (in NY) of sorts, which was incredibly successful, with the West-coast conference now being held in LA, this coming November. I have actually submitted a proposal to speak at the LA event, and hope to share good news in regards to that with you soon. However, even if my proposal is not accepted, I will STILL be going to LA to spend time with friends, network like a dynamo and soak up the atmosphere.

During my conversation with Rick, we discuss, amongst other things:

• How Rick got started in blogging himself.
• Why he set up BlogWorld after finding a huge gap in the market place!
• The difference between traditional, or ‘old’ media and ‘new’ media.
• How Rick and his team are heading a revolution in the media world through his expo.
• Why Rick is going to put in a good word with Gary Vaynerchuk (the ONE GUEST that has eluded this podcast, but will hopefully succumb to my invites, too!).
• So much more golden stuff!

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

I always talk about my biggest take-away from my interviews in the post version here on the blog. In this case it was that Rick is quite obviously a fountain of knowledge on the subject of everything ‘media’, not just online. His understanding of traditional media, coupled together with the ‘new media’ approach to marketing, promotion, networking, building relationships and doing business in general is about as second-to-none as I have seen from anyone online. Not much of a shocker, I know, as the man responsible for creating without a doubt the premier related event, but nonetheless, impressive!

As the next round of BlogWorld fun is now under heavy preparation, if you’re interested in attending the expo in LA in early November, simply check out their website and sign on up! You might want to follow Rick on Twitter, too. Like I said, I’ll be there, and I look forward to meeting any of the VBL Tribe that come along!

As always, if you enjoyed this chat, all I ask is that you please mention to your friends and followers, by clicking on those sexy little buttons below!

And if you have any comments and questions – well, you know the deal by now!

In this edition of the Virtual Business Lifestyle Podcast I sit down to talk with one of my all-time favorite authors, bloggers and entrepreneurs. Chris Brogan is easily known to most people doing any type of business online worth talking about! He is also a highly sought-after speaker, extremely well-known web personality, successful business owner, the brains behind Kitchen Table Companies and the popular paid-for weekly newsletter ‘Blog Topics‘, as well as being a best selling author.

I reached out to Chris with the idea to talk to him about beginning, building, growing and capitalizing on relationships. What I got was a full-blown, hands-down business lesson that I will never forget – and niether will you, when you’re done listening / watching.

Amongst other things, myself and Chris discuss:

• How to create loyalty through online relationships.
• How to ‘follow up’ on potential business without becoming a pain!
• Why understanding the relationship ‘dating cycle’ is so important.
• How to be seen as ‘useful’ to your followers and online fans.
• The concept behind ‘Whats in it for me..?’ in business.
• Why Chris is a little ‘touchy feely’ when he meets someone for the first time!!!
• Plus much, much more…

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

Relationship talk to one side, my conversation with Chris (which took place a while ago… I’ve been waiting for the right time to put it live!) led me to think about so many different aspects of my business – which I knew it would. On the back of this chat I’ve hired more management staff to take care of clients, put in place a COO at my company to be sure that the day-to-day operations are better than ever before, reached out and met not one, but TWO groups of VBL fans in two different cities in the world (San Francisco and London) and decided I’m finally going to write a book – which I am in pre-production on right now!

Inspiring, entertaining and thought-provoking, Chris Brogan is the real deal when it comes to knowing people, and how to win them over in the world of business and life. Spend some more time with Chris over at his blog, and tell him that I sent you over to him. If he doesn’t sound impressed, let me know!!!

I’d love to hear from you on this, the latest installment of the VBL Podcast. Are they getting better? Boring? More entertaining, or rewarding? I’d love to hear your thoughts…

If you enjoyed, please share by clicking the cute little buttons below!

One in a while you get the opportunity to have a free-for-all type of conversation with someone you’ve never met before, that you KNOW full-well, you will NEVER forget! This was the case when I got the chance to interview Peter Shankman, founder of HARO, author of two successful books and highly sought-after speaker.

Peter is highly regarded as one of major worldwide innovators when it comes to Social Media, PR, marketing, advertising, and customer service. He changes the way that people look at very simple, yet highly important business tasks, and his mindset to entrepreneurism in general is absolutely second-to-none. I thoroughly enjoyed my chat with him, and look forward to meeting with him face-to-face the next time I’m in New York!

Throughout our conversation, we discuss amongst other things:

• How to be interviewed for an awesome podcast and make a cup of coffee at the same time!!!
• How to be innovative and a game-changer when branding yourself.
• What its like to be a sought-after speaker, and get paid to do things he got yelled at for at school!
• Why ‘cool’ sucks, if you’re not making any money…
• How companies are taking their eyes off customer service, and why its hurting them bigtime.
• How he turns his ADHD into a weapon, and why he doesn’t take medication.
• Plus so much more awesome stuff!

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

A lot of people are unaware that Peter has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, this hasn’t slowed him down as an entrepreneur, and as someone with massive amounts of energy, creativity and passion he has made all of this work to his advantage in creating successful businesses, an awesome person brand as well as becoming a successful author.

Following this interview, I was pumped!!! I got out my iPad and jotted down a ton of ideas for a new project that I’ve been devising for a while, on-and-off. I’m happy to say that Peter gave me that push I needed to finalize the plans for that project and I am now already in the first stages of actually ‘creating’ for it. Thanks, Peter!

Spend some time getting to know Peter Shankman more, everyone – you won’t regret it, and check out his Facebook page, too. Any questions or comments on this session of the VBL Podcast? Awesome… Jot them down below. Cheers!

When it comes to designing a personal brand online it does, a lot of the time, come down to the real DESIGN aspects of the entire process, as to whether or not you get a good start. James Chartrand (pen name) of Men With Pens is one of the web’s foremost respected experts on this subject and I thought it would be awesome to have her on the podcast to share her wealth of knowledge with the VBL Community!

As we discussed on Monday, making sure you have a great logo is important, but building your brand through snazzy design goes a lot further than just creating a kick-ass logo.

In this audio-only conversation with James we discuss, among other things:

• The importance of creating clear, simple goals when starting out.
• How to make your website look credible and professional for first-time visitors.
• Why branding yourself with an eBook can help you get great social ‘proof’.
• Why people don’t focus on real-world marketing and being ‘personal’, and why YOU should!
• Why you should take your time in planning your branding for the ultimate success.
• Much more…

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

One thing is for sure when it comes to branding and the visual nature of web design – originality is by far the best route to take. Just look at James’ website for evidence on that. There is no other website out there that looks like that one! Its awesome. My thanks to James for taking the time to do this interview, and for more details on what she’s all about check out her site, where you’ll find a bunch of awesome information on everything related to web design and copy writing, as well as great additional resources such as eBook’s.

I’ll be seeing you on Friday again, when I’ll be announcing what niche I’ve decided to get involved in for the ‘VBL Niche Community Challenge’, as well as more details on my aspirations for my niche site and how you can personally get involved, too!

In the meantime, if you have questions about designing an online presence, please feel free to comment below, I’m sure James would be happy to pop over and answer them for you.

Following on from Wednesday’s popular post, where we were discussing niche sites - where it became apparent that a lot of you wanted me to turn my personal Niche Challenge into a full-blown competition (which I’ll do, somehow!), this podcast is VERY relevant, indeed!

In this audio-only session of the VBL Podcast, I speak with renowned internet marketer, Chris Guthrie about his various successes online, and how to be able to get started in the ‘make money online’ space, a subject that I have started to receive more and more emails and questions about over the last few months.

As someone that has only really been online for the last 18-months, in regards to being ‘vocal’, and ‘active’ on the internet, its discussions like this that I really get into, mainly because I know how much content they produce and how many questions they answer for you guys – my loyal subscribers and followers.

In this conversation with Chris, we discuss, amongst other things:

• How he went from playing video games and making videos, to launching his own web forum – and what he learnt from picking the wrong domain name for it!
• How he started to come up with high-profit niches, one after another.
• How he sold a website for a 6-figure deal after working on it for less than two years.
• Why is advises against building a ‘make money online’ blog!
• Why focusing on your passion and something that you genuinely enjoy talking about is what you should be focusing on.
• Chris’ 3 golden rules that he keeps in mind when building niche sites.
• So much more great stuff!

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

This interview was actually recorded a short while ago, but I held off on publishing it because I wanted to time it well with my own Niche Challenge (call my selfish, if you like!), so that it would be more relevant for you all. I hope it worked…

I’d like to send a huge ‘thank you’ to Chris for taking the time to do this podcast session with me – be sure to click over to his excellent blog for more info from him. It was a real eye-opener, and I must say that I learned more on this call than I have done for quite some time from one individual. Chris really, REALLY knows his stuff!

It’s All About Passion!

I guess my biggest takeaway was that Chris emphasized one thing that so many experts in this field are talking about. PASSION. Or, more importantly, working on something that surrounds your passion.

What is YOUR passion? Are you working on it now? If not, why not? And if you are, whats working for you? Let us all know below. Thanks for the support!

Great people do great things. It’s a simple way of looking at life. Todays guest is Jonathan Fields. Dad, New Yorker, Entrepreneur, ex-Wall Street Lawyer, Professional Speaker, and amongst other things, a very nice gentleman who went from working 80-hour weeks to starting one successful business after another!

When I contacted Jonathan to be on the podcast we had only shared a couple of tweets together. Never met, never spoke before. But, I knew of him alright, like thousands of other ‘hungry’ entrepreneurs worldwide through the pages of his blog and his excellent book, Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love!

Throughout the course of our chat, Jonathan and I discuss, amongst other things:

• The mistakes people make when starting their own businesses.
• How to understand the psychology of your business model.
• His thoughts on passive income, and why its a little misleading.
• How he went from working as a consultant 25% of the time to virtually doing none now, and WHY!
• His thoughts on SEO for bloggers.
• The power behind social media for sharing content online and why its more important than SEO.
• Plus much, much more!

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

Going from a New York, Wall St lawyer to personal trainer, to fitness club owner, to speaker, consultant, author and a whole bunch of other achievements was probably not the easiest path! But, here’s Jonathan, doing what he LOVES to do for a ‘living’, and spreading the importance of that exact concept better than anyone else out there, as far as I’m concerned.

FYI, Jonathan is also speaking at Chris Guillebeau’s ‘World Domination Summit‘ in Portland in a few days… So, if you’re close by, you might wanna check it out. I sincerely wish I was going, I know that much!

If you’ve not got to know Jonathan yet, spend some time with him, and be sure to mention you’re part of the VBL Community. He is a walking, talking business class act!

Are you in the process of just starting a business? Got questions or ideas you want to share with the VBL Tribe? Let us all know below in the comment section, and perhaps we can help out!

In this session of the Virtual Business Lifestyle Podcast I sit down and chat with Adam Baker, or ‘Baker’ as he is more affectionately known as online, from ManvsDebt.com - a phenomenally successful personal finance and lifestyle design blog. FYI, this was a video interview, but the connection wasn’t great, so I have turned it into audio only.

I’ve followed Baker online on-and-off for well over a year. It was the image that you see on this page (which is the header for his blog) that got my attention straight off the bat. His little girl peering over his shoulder as they obviously had lots of fun together slammed home with me immediately, being a Dad myself.

Baker’s story is unbelievable. He was ridiculously in debt – to the tune of well over $70,000. He and his wife literally sold everything, paid off their consumer debt (leaving just student loans) and moved to Australia with his family for a year to start getting their lives in order.

On this call myself and Baker discuss, amongst other things, the following:

• How he got into debt, and what he’s doing to get out of debt.
• Choosing where he invests his emotions and time.
• My ridiculously old CompuServe email address!
• His tour of the US in an RV which has been sponsored for the entire trip!
• His entrepreneurial drive and how he stays productive on the road.
• The love and affection he has for his family, and why everything he does is for them.
• Much, much more…

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

Baker and his ‘get debt free’ exploits have been featured on high-end press outlets such as USA Today, CNN, Fox Business and MSN to name, but a few. There’s a reason for this as far as I’m concerned… He aint the only one in this situation! There are people in debt all over the world, and in the US particularly, where Baker is from and lives – and because of that people can relate with his situation.

Check out Baker’s blog, ManvsDebt and be sure to also see what he’s up to at YouvsDebt.com and his latest online ‘movement’ with VBL friend Corbett Barr, over at The Hustle Project (be sure to view the interview I did with Corbett on this exciting project, too!). What about you guys? Are you in debt? What are you doing to get out of it? Have you already removed debt from your life? As aspiring, and hard working entrepreneurs, focusing on this type of thing is important.

I’d be interested to hear some fo your own personal stories (you don’t have to get too personal if you don’t want to!), in the comment section below - perhaps we can help each other out a little, too!

Corbett Barr has fast become one of my closest buddies online. There’s a few reasons for this… Firstly, he is a super-nice guy with a genuine friendly, helpful demeanor. Secondly, he is a very, VERY smart entrepreneur that came from a corporate background, like myself (so we have plenty in common!), and lastly because he makes a great cocktail..!!!

As the founder of Think Traffic, a blog dedicated to helping people get more traffic to their blog and websites, he’s had marvelous success with his most recent online venture ‘Traffic School’, and talks about that, and many other things in this interview.

Subject matters such as the following are also discussed:

• How Corbett went from corporate guy, to start-up dude to self-employed, pro-blogger.
• Why you should be focusing on creating epic content to attract traffic and keep it.
• How Corbett escaped the 9-5 grind and went out on his own.
• The excitement of working on his latest product for 4 months and launching it to a huge list of potential buyers – selling out in just 36 hours.
• How he convinced big names like Gary Vaynerchuk, Leo Babauta and others to be involved!
• Much, much more great stuff..!

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

Corbett is as solid of an online entrepreneur as you’ll ever get. He knows his niche very well. He focuses on putting out the absolute best content. And most importantly, he always delivers. There’s a lot to be said for that online nowadays.

Find out more about Corbett and his online exploits at ThinkTraffic.net and his more ‘personal’ and quite frank blog over at CorbettBarr.com.

When it comes to living a seriously extreme lifestyle, on your own terms and making the most of every second available to you, and a travel schedule, there aren’t many people out there that does it better than todays guest (or is it latest victim!) – Colin Wright from ExileLifestyle.com.

Colin and I only really just recently ‘met’ online, but I’ve been a fan for ages and ages. His freebie eBook’s are what caught my attention first. Cracking quality, spectacular design and solid message put them all at the top of every lifestyle designer’s ‘download or die’ list! My favorite being his ‘Personal Branding’ publication.

Although the video side of Colin’s connection let us down a little on this, I decided to post our video (instead of just audio, which I’ve done on occasion when the video has been poor in quality) just because of the interaction we had. You can see that we genuinely got on well, and that the entrepreneurial ‘bounce’ is there in our conversation.

In todays podcast episode myself and Colin discuss, amongst other things:

• How and why Colin allows his readers and followers pick where he’s going to travel to, and live for short bursts of time.
• How Colin switched up his business philosophies when he wanted to ‘hit the road’.
• How he visited 25 different cities in 6 weeks, with two other bloggers.
• The difference between focusing on one niche and spreading your focus and diversifying your income.
• How he focuses on work, even though he’s consistently traveling, and the tools he uses to do so.
• His focus on creating great free content in his fantastic eBooks.
• Much, much more…!

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

Another thing worth noting about Colin his is incredible sense of humor. Light, fun and always up for a laugh, I encourage you to check out his great blog, and his musings via Twitter, too. Stay tuned at Colin’s online spaces. Great things are coming his way, for sure…

If you liked this interview, please give it a quick mention on Facebook and Twitter, by clicking the buttons below, and feel free to leave your comments below, too. Thanks for the support!

Every now and then you get the chance to meet and converse with an entrepreneur that kinda blows your socks off. My guest today, Timothy Sykes, is one of those guys!

Tim exudes confidence, you have to love him for that alone. But, if you couple that together with the fact that he turned $12,000 of gift money into over $2,000,000 trading stocks and that last year he made well over $1,000,000 (yes, thats 6 zeros there!) with his blog, and affiliated products and services online – its easy to see that this guy is more than just confident. He’s plain SMART!!!

I’ve stressed, time and time again, on the importance of building a personal brand online, and what it can mean to an entrepreneur for the long-term a lot on this blog. Tim’s dedication to his brand and his loyal followers/subscribers is testament to the fact that if you put in the effort, the rewards will come.

Throughout the course of chat we discuss, amongst other things:

• How he got started as an entrepreneur, whilst still a freshman.
• What keeps him fired-up and ready to get to work everyday (he average 16-17 hours a day!).
• How he positioned himself, through pure personality, in a market niche with lots of ‘gurus’.
• How he genuinely takes time for his clients, to help them – and make more money!
• The things he does to create a crazy amount of email sign-up’s – all amounting to more click-thru sales.
• The reason why he drops the odd f-bomb in interviews, and especially in online video.
• Plus lots of great stuff… Trust me, this is a great interview!

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

I always talk about my biggest takeaway from these interviews that I do, from a personal perspective. In this case it was the ‘balls to the wall’ attitude that Tim possess. I mean, the guy has made more than $50,000 in a day – one more than just a few occasions. The reason behind this is because he hustles. Plain and simple. He gets up early, works his ass off and does a phenomenal job on making things happen.

Even if you’re not into the stock market, or trading in any way, there is still a lot to be learned from Timothy Sykes. So, make sure you visit his blog, follow him on Twitter and stay tuned on what he’s up to. I have a sneaky feeling he’s positioned for even more success than he has already encountered, and probably with a lot more zero’s attached to it!

If you liked this interview, please give it a quick mention on Facebook and Twitter, by clicking the buttons below, and feel free to leave your comment below, as always. I’ll try my best to entice Tim across to answer anything you might want to fire at him!

Anyone that knows anything about the online and affiliate marketing world will already be very familiar with the name of today’s special guest – blogger, author and speaker, John Chow. With over 126,000 subscribers at his blog (121,000 when we recorded our chat!) he is a guy that has many, many people listening when he talks.

I first came across John when I fumbled over his ‘Dot Com Lifestyle‘ video on YouTube quite a while back and was then lucky enough to meet him personally last year. We kept in touch via Twitter and recently I was able to corner him for this freakin’ fantastic talk on the subject of internet marketing, getting started as an affiliate rockstar and basically everything and anything else ‘making money online’.

Throughout our conversation, we discuss, amongst other things:

• How to grow your blogs subscriber numbers over time.
• How to get yourself to the point of taking your first ‘making money online’.
• How to find the perfect affiliate products to promote on your blog.
• Understanding the importance of building a mailing list for your online marketing.
• How to set up an entire auto-responder series to keep your audience engaged.
• The importance of promoting products with built-in continuity for on-going passive income.
• How John averages income of $45,000 a month by blogging full-time and working 2-3 hours a day.
• So many more golden pieces of advice!

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

One of the biggest takeaways for me from this conversation is that it is all down to the individual, and how they are alloting their time and energy when it comes to focusing on their online money making activities. Sure, John makes it look pretty easy, but, don’t forget he’s been doing this stuff a long time, and I’m sure he’s made plenty of mistakes along the way.

Stay focused, hone in on the skills you already posses – whether that be techie skill based, your passion, your experience in business, or simply your drive and ambition and exploit the living daylights out of it.

To find out more on John and what he’s all about, be sure to visit his blog at JohnChow.com, as well as follow him on Twitter, too. You’ll also be smart to download a copy of his ‘Make Money Online’ eBook, too, which you can get for free at his blog.

If you enjoyed this interview, and even got just a tiny little bit out of it, I’d be very thankful of a quick ReTweet, or Facebook ‘Like’. Go on… Hit the buttons below, and thanks for the support!

SPECIAL NOTICE: I am currently in San Francisco and we’ll be doing the first ever VBL Meet-Up here, this coming Saturday, in the Union Square area. If you’d like more info on the location / time, just email me.

Here’s the deal – as some of you might know, I filmed a whole bunch of great interviews when I was at BlogWorld in Vegas in October last year. Almost all of those interviews have now gone live, except a few. These are not ‘late’ being released by any stretch of the imagination, I’ve simply held them back for the right time.

And, as I am now starting my travels for the next few weeks, this one with Karol Gajda from RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com and Matt Gartland from MattGartland.com hits home perfectly.

Throughout our conversation, we discuss the finer points of world travel, making money on the go, and staying healthy to maximize the benefits of a nomadic lifestyle, plus much more, such as:

• Why Karol enjoys traveling so much, and why having freedom by being his own boss allows him to be a digital nomad.
• How Matt keeps an open mind whilst on the road, when it comes to eating healthy.
• Why its important to stay fit throughout multi-city trips and travels.
• How being healthy keeps you motivated across all aspects of your life.
• Much, much more!

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

These guys are doing the ‘do’, as they say. Health conscious and eager to get out there and experience life to the fullest, Karol and Matt are the digital nomad personified. I think they’re both great!

Both have great online offerings, which you should absolutely check out. SO be sure to spend some time with with Karol over at his blog RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com and then hop over to Matt’s online home, which just recently experienced a great makeover at MattGartland.com.

What secrets can you share to staying healthy, as a busy entrepreneur on the go…?!

As any small business owner will know, especially when starting out, there is a lot to consider when it comes to starting up a new business idea, and then focusing on that ‘idea’ to turn it into a full-blown business, with clients and prospects and strategies and costs, etc., involved.

Nowadays, technology plays such a huge part in the way that businesses, especially smaller business (both online and off, for that matter, too!) can position themselves in their market space, and most importantly utilize it to enjoy growth. Phil Simon is no stranger to this side of the entrepreneurial world, and as a expert speaker and author on the subject of small business, particularly with a tech slant on the whole thing, I figured cornering Phil for a chat on this subject would do us all a world of good. I wasn’t wrong…

Throughout the course of our chat, we discuss among other things:

• How social media plays a massive role in customer service.
• The reasons behind why small business owners shy away from technology.
• Why, as new-age entrepreneurs we must embrace a more tech-savvy mindset.
• The main game changers when it comes to utilizing online technology for customer service.
• Lots more awesome content!

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

One of the things that I really enjoyed about this podcast episode was that Phil generally tells it as it is. There is no bullshit here. No fluff. And in todays online marketing world of so-called ‘experts’, REAL experts, like Phil really do stand out..!

Be sure to dig into Phil’s new book, too. Entitled ‘The New Small‘ it goes very deep into the subject of utilizing technology and social media, amongst other topics to enable the ‘small acorn’ that your business begins as, to turn into a ‘mighty oak’ of a company!

When I first met Craig Jarrow, otherwise known as the Time Management Ninja, he came across to me as someone very sure of what he wanted out of life. That sort of thing sticks with you. We ate lunch, spoke for a couple of hours and have become good buddies since that initial meeting at BlogWorld in Vegas last year.

Throughout the course of our chat, we discuss, among other topics:

• Why you have to stay out of email, and not ‘live inside’ it!
• Why you shouldn’t be using your inbox as a project management system or to-do list.
• Craig’s favorite tools for productivity on the go.
• How to work at airport lounges to achieve great entrepreneurial time management.
• How to use your iPad for maximum mobile productivity!
• Lots, lots more…

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

Entrepreneurs the world over struggle with saving time, and getting more time – no matter what industry they are in. This conversation with Craig certainly sheds a lot of light on a topic that, as an entrepreneur myself, I see never becoming boring to discuss with likeminded souls!

To find out more on Craig’s philosophies and approach to time management in general, check out TimeManagementNinja.com, and tell him the VBL Ninja Clan sent you his way!

David Risley is a rare breed in the internet marketing / pro-blogging world. Knowledgable, friendly, doesn’t act like a know-it-all and is an all around nice guy, with family at the forefront of everything he does. I love him for that!

He has had success after success online, including his extremely popular Blog Masters Club and has been a full-time, 6-figure blogger for the last 6 years (although blogging for 10 years in total). In one year he even made over $200,000 with just two blogs. Yes, thats right – just TWO blogs. That’s 100 grand a pop. Nice!!!

Along with having dinner with David, I was able to corner him for this short, but jam-packed-with-tons-of-awesome-info conversation, at BlogWorld last year, and I’m sure you’re going to enjoy the resources, tips and tactics that he lays down for any aspiring blogger wanting to monetize their site, and especially for those that are thinking about getting a membership site up and running any time soon.

Throughout the course of our chat myself and David chat on, amongst other things:

• How David juggles being a ‘Work at home Dad’, getting things done and keeping focused.
• David’s success in membership sites and why he prefers this money making avenue to AdSense.
• Tips on how to build an online community from scratch.
• Getting the balance between creating the content and monitoring a forum for a paid-for community.
• David’s favorite WP plugins and other tools to start-up and launch membership sites.
• His reasons for attending conventions like BlogWorld – networking.

Play or download the audio of this VBL Podcast (below) to listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, or iPad and be sure to subscribe on iTunes, too!

David was also very kind to allow me to publish a guest post on his blog a while back, on the subject of How to Avoid Bloggers Burnout, which seemed to go down pretty well, with 50-odd comments.

It seems that everywhere I turn online right now people are talking about pro-blogging and in particularly about membership sites and programs. I am glad that I held out on publishing this interview until now, as it is more than relevant right now.

My thanks to David for taking the time, and if you’d like to spend a little more time yourself getting to know him, be sure to check out his blog, follow him on Twitter and download his excellent, and free ‘Blogger Blueprint‘ guide, too!