Pebblestorm

(The picture is of a notebook that Honour Leigh, in the Superhero Program created.  Ain’t it cool?)

This past Wednesday morning I freaked out for a bit 🙂

Hey, it is relatively rare these days (especially since I began meditation regularly), but it happens once in awhile. I am human…

And when I say I freak-out moment, know what I mean?

It was one of the times where, for whatever reason, there’s an overwhelmed feeling and “holy s___” how will it all get done?

Some big things in the past week all coincided to hit me at once on Wednesday morning (this is pretty much the order they went through in my mind…): 

1) SUPERHEROES: Up, Up & Away! We completed the launch of the sold-out Unique Genius Superhero Program, and delivered the bulk of the first module of content, “Define Your Dream Business”.

• Some stats: ~7700 video views, 75 Superheroes in the program, a ~$25k launch (not bad for my first official ‘launch’), and more than $2000 is being donated to Village Enterprise Fund.

2) SKIN CANCER: I found out last Monday, via doctor call, that I have some skin cancer on the side of my nose which must be removed. It’s not dangerous, but still requires a “MOHS”surgery . I’ll know this coming Friday (9/3), when they do it, how much tissue they need to remove.

3) NEXT SEMINAR “Unique Genius Your Call To Adventure”: I also realized on Wednesday that it is only six weeks until the Unique Genius “Your Call To Adventure” Live 3-Day Event. It’ll be awesome, but I do have a bunch of work to do to prepare the materials and get the word out so that you can decide & make travel plans…You have often been a hero to others…do you secretly wish for a hero to come to your rescue? Are you ready to be the hero of your own story?

• SAVE THE DATE… October 15-17th, in the mountains outside of Los Angeles at www.PaliRetreat.com…more details coming in about a week.
• It is going to be fun, walking you through the (Super)Hero’s Journey and have you leave the event having created – while you’re there – something tangible around making money through your purpose and passions.
• Details: YourCallToAdventure.com

4) SALES BOOK: With the Unique Genius launch done, I turned my attention back to completing the draft of my sales book, “Predictable Revenue“. I’m behind on what I’d intended for a release date both because of the launch & need to replace my first editor.

5) SKIPPING TOWN: Of the coming six weeks, I’ll be offline for almost half the time. I wouldn’t want to make things easy on myself now, right?  I’m heading out today (Sunday) for “Enlightened Warrior Camp” – not exactly sure what we’re doing there, but several friends said it was one of the best adventures of their lives.

And yep I did this all to myself, this ‘traffic jam’.

But the freak-out didn’t last too long…

What I Did About It (In Order)

1) Meditation: I have access now to “peaceful mind on demand” through meditation.  Actually, since the Brian Johnson/PhilosophersNotes interview, I’ve meditated every single day – even if it was at 3am after working on the Unique Genius launch videos.

• How I started meditating: “A lifetime happiness and focus enhancer: Vipassana meditation”.
• I will also have a whole “Meditation 101” chapter in the Superheroes Program.

2) Made lists: Wrote down everything I felt I needed to do, mostly to get it out of my brain so it stopped bouncing around in there.  Sometimes just writing stuff out snuffs the brain spazm.

3) I reminded myself that everything always works out. I never learned this lesson in the corporate world, but for some reason, I really ‘got it’ after starting PebbleStorm…because I began consciously creating my happiness. I can beat myself up and be hard on myself – know what I mean?  It’s easy to worry about how much money a project will make, or “will people show up” or value it.  But now, whenever I have an event, launch or create something, I’ve seen how it all comes together no matter what.  I KNOW that it will work out one way or the other.

• Everything is a learning opportunity, and there’s no way to ‘fail’ except by a) Not trying, b) Not learning from something, or c) Giving up.

• When I found out I had skin cancer (again, not serious as far as we know) this attitude also helped. I haven’t been worried about it, since I know it’ll work out fine…whatever happens.
  

4) Asked for help: Sometimes I forget how much support I have around me.  My inspiring girlfriend Jessica Henning (who is starting a company called Bond Girl Bootcamp in LA…more to come in Sept!),  my rockstar web woman Lisa Tarrant, and writer/crazy creative Sandie Samuells are three that came to my rescue.  Thank you all!  

• You have more support around you then you realize…but you have to ask for it.
• PS – anyone looking to intern on some awesome Unique Genius / business projects?  Email me!

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The Unique Genius “Your Call To Adventure” Live 3-Day Event

It’s October 15-17th in the mountains outside Los Angeles (YourCallToAdventure.com). When I went to check out the site I had fun doing some impromptu video…

When was the last time you did archery? This is going to be a blast:

See all the details on the YourCallToAdventure.com Page

Related Posts

• I’m Feeling Confused & Overwhelmed (video)
• Using Rocks & Baby Steps To Dodge The Fear
• Lessons Learned From Feeling Funky

Update

The cancer was worse than I expected (instead of a ‘nip’, I walked out of the center on September 3 with 30 stitches in my face), but they got it all and I’ll heal up all nice and pretty again 🙂  Just with a cool pirate-y scar, heh.

My girlfriend has been incredibly supportive in helping me recover and in dealing with the shock of such a fast switch from ‘small not threatening’ to ‘worse than we thought now we need to do some plastic surgery’…it took a day for “my soul to catch up with my body”, for the impact to actually register.

What Do Ya Want?

I haven’t done a longer “Aaron Update” post for awhile, but I always love sharing. If you want them more often, or about specific topics, let me know in the comments below.

Do you find yourself wanting the perfect answer BEFORE you make a decision or commitment?

Casey Berman is a friend in San Francisco and one of the first folks to go through my Unique Genius Process.  He’s a mergers and acquisitions advisor “by day”, and joined the Unique Genius program last year to get help in starting a business that he could enjoy and that would give him more financial & time independence (especially since he’s married with children and has limited time).   When Casey began the process, he even already had a fledgling business with his wife he was ready to work on: “KidFriendlySF.com: Local Spots That Cater To Tots”.

But as Casey started to explore what he could be really passionate and purposeful about, a whole new & surprising Unique Genius business popped out of him! (Which I see happens all the time.)

See, Casey went to law school, then graduated & realized along the way that practicing law just wasn’t for him. It could pay the bills, but it wasn’t fulfilling and he just didn’t want to do it.  (Though giving up those sunk costs of time and money invested in school was tough…)

When he was going through the Unique Genius Process, one day it hit him from outta nowhere: “Leave Law Behind” would help lawyers take their lives back… as he had done with his own.

And he could design Leave Law Behind to work the way he wanted, in alignment with his life, values & how he wanted to make money.

Within a few weeks, Casey not only started the business, but had made his first $2000.

(I’m twisting Casey’s arm to include, as an extra gift in the Unique Genius Superhero Program, the exact steps he used to do this, including emails used and the casual & fun event he held).

The same surprising thing happened to me. If you had asked me about three years ago (before July 2007) what I’d be doing with my life, I would never have guessed that I’d be helping people make money through enjoyment. NEVER NEVER NEVER! I would have still thought I was going to start another software company!

This process consistently creates surprising results; but results or business ideas that are obvious in hindsight.

TWO LESSONS…

1) Clarity, confidence & results come AFTER you make a commitment.

Before we knew knew how it was going to happen, Casey and I (and every other Unique Genius client…) committed to starting a business that aligned with our life values and would lead to sustainable financial independence, and THEN the clarity, confidence & results came.

Whether it’s in business, health or relationships…results follow commitment.

2) Some big surprises can be in store for you.

You may not want what you think you want! Stay open to the idea that there could be something totally surprising and awesome to you beyond what you think you’re going to do.

Thanks for listening, I hope you learned something of value from this 🙂

Aaron

[Update: the “Ask Aaron Anything” call recording is posted below]

I believe, in my soul, that the way we work needs to change, and that people only use 10-33% of their potential in work, today. If even that!

(Seen the Unique Genius videos yet?)

After working with hundreds of people, I KNOW that you have hidden talents and powers that can be turned into work you love, that makes you plenty of money… and that you can start finding it with only baby steps investments of time. I know this is possible… so the question is, WHY HAVEN’T YOU DONE IT YET…?

After 5,000 video views and a couple of hundred comments, I think I understand what you care about:

• You want a clear notion of how you can “get paid to be yourself’ by combining your passions, interests and talents into a single, easy to start business, AND make a great income at it.
• You want to get clear on what’s uniquely powerful about you – what can give you an unfair advantage?  What’s your shortest path to success?
• You want to be able to do this in bite-sized, achievable steps, so that it feels simple and FUN (not overwhelming)!
• You want to be able to start making this real without making drastic or risky changes in your life, even if you’re short on time or money.  Yay!

And you have some concerns and questions…

• As someone with “Shiny Object Syndrome”, it seems like you keep scattering your energy and nothing ever really takes off.  But you want to be able to do all those cool ideas!
• Perhaps you’ve been unsuccessful at it in the past, and are discouraged.
• You have responsibilities and bills to pay. You’re unsure if you can find your passion and turn it into income without leaving your secure paycheck.
• You have some conscious fears or hesitations that hold you back, and aren’t sure how to move forward.
• Perhaps you don’t even know what you’re passionate about, or good at and don’t know where to begin figuring it out!

Does any of that sound like you?

If so, I’m putting together something for you (something that’s changed my life and will change yours), but I need you do 1 of 2 things (or both if you want to 🙂

1) EMAIL ME (my address is [my first name at pebblestorm dot com] or on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/motoceo) your biggest fear or frustration about doing something you love with your life and making plenty of money at it, and/or…

2) Attend The “ASK AARON ANYTHING CALL”
… an open Question & Answer call.  I’ll be hanging out on the line, taking ANY question you have about Unique Genius (or ANYTHING)…you don’t need to register, just show up!  I’ll stay on as long as you have questions.

[UPDATE: Here’s the recording]

Or Click here to download…

I really love talking with people about this stuff.  Good thing, since I’ve built my business around it, heh.  I’ll share more of the details of the thing I’ve been working on later this week, but first I want to get a chance to talk or email live with you, so please email me at [my first name at pebblestorm dot com] to share your questions or biggest frustrations with me…

Can’t wait to hear from you!  🙂

Aaron Ross

The Unique Genius Superheroes Interview Series is about ordinary people who make money through their purpose & passions. They’ve found ways to combine enjoyment, money and meaning in their work.

Looking for some blunt talk about purpose + money + some swear words?  Gotta say this was a fun interview 🙂

Clay Collins founded “Project Mojave”, a business that teaches people how to use internet marketing to make more money. Clay’s Unique Genius is “helping people sell more sh__”.  (In loving &  authentic ways. Truly.  Check out the interview.)

Here are some of the topics we covered…

• How Clay moved from working on card catalogs at the library to internet marketing
• Why Clay would help people sell stuff if even if he didn’t make money at it
• Why Clay can only get one thing done per day (not two), and why this works so well
• Clay’s take on purpose, and why you shouldn’t care

Clay’s a good dude. Young too – he’s a precocious one.

Listen To Or Download The Interview

Click here to download…

More about Clay Collins

• His free internet marketing training videos on his signature “Presell Formula” system, the program of his that I am in: http://tinyurl.com/PresellFormula [Aff – I highly recommend his stuff]
• www.ProjectMojave.com

What of these resonated with you? Let me know!

About Unique Genius

There’s a process to discovering your purpose and turning it into a business you love. Find out the latest at www.UniqueGenius.com.

What Was Your Favorite Part Of The Interview?

Please leave a comment!

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