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 hold other people up on pedestals?  Do you think you should always be clear and happy, and feel guilty when you aren’t?  Everyone is human, and perfect in their imperfections.

I can feel confused. I can be overwhelmed.  I get anxious.  I feel all the same stuff you do. The fear comes up…but I don’t let it stop me from moving forward, even if ‘forward’ is a babystep.

Babysteps, no matter how small, are one of my main “get unstuck” practices. I LOVE babysteps!

Here’s a two minute video of me sharing about what I did when I was feeling totally overwhelmed last week:

What I Created

In the video I share the next step that gave me a real sense of relief.  Below is the landing page I drafted in Powerpoint.

If you haven’t done one before, or anything like it, it might look like a lot of work.  It wasn’t – I’d already written much of this content up in different places, or in my Unique Genius webinars and invitations.  For me, the challenge was removing content to leave behind the least, best stuff (click on it to enlarge it):

Related Posts

• Using Rocks & Babysteps To Overcome The Fear
• Fear is Natural – Just Get Started

Do you worry about being transparent with clients and friends? It’s much easier to be this way and BE YOURSELF…rather than putting on a mask of perfection.

What Do You Do When You Feel Like This?

Please leave a comment, I and others would love to hear from you and get your advice!

If I could share only one thing with you to make the biggest impact on your success, it would be to have you look closely at the people you spend your time with. You are a reflection of them and their attitudes and values – for good, numbness or toxicity – rub off on you!

After spending time with friends, family or coworkers – do you feel energized, powerful and inspired – or drained and exhausted?

The people you spend time with are like the soil to the dreams, business and life seeds you’re planting.

Optimistic, supportive, accepting people will help your Unique Genius bloom (along with your income, enjoyment and freedom).

Pessimistic, discouraging and judgmental people (including the ones we love) will crush your dreams, energy and success – or at least make it feel like you’re moving through molasses.

Valerie Young left a particularly insightful comment on why the people we love can be so discouraging: “The people who are least likely to support our dreams are the people who love us the most. Why? Because they love us. And taking chances like following a dream is scary to them and they want you to be safe.”

So:

• Which of your close friends, coworkers or family members are energy vampires that leave you drained? How can you limit your exposure to toxic or discouraging energy?
• Which of them are inspirational and encouraging, and how can you spend more time with them?

It’s important to know this, because it has an enormouse affect on your own chances of enjoyment and success.

Don’t let people kill your dreams!!  Spend time with people that will support you, no matter how crazy you want to be 🙂

Dear Parents…

Parents are usually the first dream killers people experience in life (luckily, mine weren’t).

Did your parents support your aspirations, or discourage you from dreaming?  Please encourage your children’s dreams of what they want to be or do – even if those dreams aren’t ‘practical’.

A Quick PebbleStorm People Exercise

Here’s a simple worksheet (a sample from more upcoming www.UniqueGenius.com materials) you can look through and print:

PebbleStorm People Exercise

Do You Agree? What’s Worked For You?

Has changing who you spend time with affected your business?

Sometimes it’s hard cutting off or limiting energy vampires – what’s succeeded for you?

Please leave a comment!

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(By the way, the picture is from a PebbleStorm Treasure Map Hike on Sunday in LA…hence the eyepatch!).

Below is an excerpt from an email I sent to the PebbleStorm group going through the “Come Play With Us” program.  I’m posting it for two reasons: to practice non-perfectionism (is that a word?), and to declare that I’m on a kick to let go of perfectionism, which is an  Enjoyment Enemy. Besides creating unneeded pressure, it just gets in the way of progress.  Ever heard the term “perfection is procrastination”?

“Perfectionism spells paralysis.”
— Winston Churchill

I, we, can’t be enjoying ourselves fully if we’re worrying about things being ‘perfect’.  How often does being perfect get in your way, either in life or work?

I’ve let go of a lot of perfectionism over the past couple of years (my father might say I never had it, after so many years of seeing messy rooms 🙂 ).  I didn’t even see it until recently, when I started helping people overcome their own perfectionism, both the progress that I’d made and how much farther I have to go.

When you’re in your own room for a long time, you get used to the dirt. Also, when your room is really dirty, a little more dirt doesn’t show up.  You see things in a new light when you visit a neighbor’s room. And when you leave your neighbor’s room, you carry a new perspective with you back to your room.  Seeing others’ perfectionism has made me more aware of my own, and how it gets in the way of enjoyment. It’s a new smudge to be aware of and let go of.  My room’s getting cleaner, so smaller smudges become much more obvious.  Of course, the room never(?) gets perfectly clean… there’s always another smudge to clean…

Hey, there’s a perfectionism lesson even here, in that we, to be happy, have to be accepting of having smudges, even as we work to clean them up!  ‘Cuz they’ll never completely go away.

Before I move on, here are a couple of ways I manage my perfectionism…throwing rocks, as I described in “Using rocks & babysteps to dodge the fear“, and “bursting” as I wrote about in the “Big Aaron Update…Bursting…”

[UPDATED] When perfectionism can be useful

Like anything in life, perfectionism can be helpful or hurtful, depending on your relationship with it.  When it prevents you from getting started or from finishing things, it’s an enemy!  When it can help you complete a project in a way that delivers an amazing experience, it can actually be a friend.  The key is noticing how it affects you, so that you can avoid getting trapped by it and instead can use it to help you with your goals.

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Hi everyone!

1) Teams Update
[yadda yadda yadda…]

2) Some great enhancement ideas from my 8p call tonight  (Thank you Jim Belden, Onna and Erin Halling!!):
i. A 1 day game” babystep. Erin Halling had a great idea to make it simpler to practice the “Play” concepts!  The example she used was to create a game out of moving, in which she’d win by finishing moving by a certain time, and an example rule would be having to stop to jump around and be silly every 2 hours 🙂  More to come… Reminder  – have fun with thinking of games, there is no reason to be ‘perfect’ here. Perfect is NOT fun – messy is fun!

ii. A Serendipity Board that lists the games and players, as they’re created. Thank you Onna!!!  Here’s an example from a local open house event we held last year:
https://pebblestorm.com/2008/09/08/a-serendipity-board/

iii. A “Design Your Game” template, that will be created as I work with the first few people in creating some games.  Thank you Onna!!!

iv. A “Meet Your PebbleStormers” call on the Wednesday between webinars, to give a chance for people who want to meet and connect with more people to do so (anyone have suggestions for icebreakers?).  Thank you Erin!!

3) Lastly  – I’m asking for help (and will continue to)
Whew!  By the way – I can see that there’s no way I’ll be able to create all this, and the other ideas that will come up, by myself (I can’t do it all myself – mental note).  Anyone interested in helping me with any particular pebble(s), in addition to Erin and Onna?   Or ones you might think of but I don’t have here?  You know it’d be fun to do together!!

My own perfectionism & ego
I have a hard time asking for help, which is related to both own perfectionism and ego (I don’t like looking bad as much as the next person).  I’m going to keep letting this go, and will appreciate your support in doing it!   Perfectionism is one of the worst enemies of PebbleStorm and enjoyment, and one I’m going to be paying attention to in myself, so that I can help others avoid it too.

🙂

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Below is an email I recently sent to a group of inspired entrepreneurs in Washington D.C., organized by Klia Bassing of www.VisitYourself.net. I feel this note could help others see a new perspective on what’s going on with these financial and economic earthquakes. As painful as they are now, they’re helping us in an important transition in business, from a “pushing/pestering” energy to a “attracting” energy.  For most PebbleStorm readers, even if you don’t understand exactly what I mean by this, I’ll bet that idea or those words resonate for you. This isn’t an overnight change, and it will take more years to fully realize.  Meanwhile, the harder people and organizations hold onto the ‘prior’ way of doing business, the more painful it will be for them and their communities…

———————

Hi Seedbed’rs!

I hope everyone is weathering both the literal storms and financial market storms. The financial market problems are one symptom of a massive change in how business works, from one of  promotion (driven by a hunger for money and prestige), to one of attraction and receiving (driven by a desire for enjoyment and inspiration).  This will be, it is, a very painful shift for many people and entire organizations.

I’m sharing here a v1.0 handout I created for the PebbleStorm Open House event I had recently in Los Angeles.  The intention of the handout, and the idea of “unique genius”, is to help you or anyone reflect on what kind of dream business you would create for yourselves. Once you have a vision of it…you can begin to make it!  Even if it might take years…better to start now than later 🙂

Download the Unique Genius Handout – 090308

Here is one other exercise around pausing to reflect on “what do I really want for myself?”
https://pebblestorm.com/2008/04/17/the-original-small-pebble-big-wave-self-manifesto/

All the best,

Aaron Ross
aaron (at) pebblestorm (dot) com
PebbleStorm.com: “Make money through enjoyment”
CEOFlow.com: “Make money through enjoyment” (for organizations)
BuildASalesMachine.com: “Create predictable revenue”

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I have a bunch of reminders up on a wall near where I work.  I believe that PATIENCE is a vital part of making money through enjoyment.  The “urgency addiction” we’ve all been trained to believe is so important just gets in our way of 1) creating a truly unique, resonant dream business, and 2) our enjoyment in creating it.

Do more by doing less – 80/20 rule

It’s not the quantity of stuff that you do that matters, it’s the quality or resonance of what you do. 80/20 rule: 20% (or less) of what you do will create 80% (or more) of the results.  So focus on finding the 20%!

Patience is important in helping you sift the “gold from the fool’s gold.”  It’s easy to come up with a bizillion ideas for your business – blogs, products, features, events, content, lead generation ideas…blah blah blah.  Time, even a few days or weeks, helps you sift through the ideas worth doing from the ideas to leave behind.  What would really be meaningful to customers?  What kind of dream business do you really want to create?

It’s tempting to think “if I just get more of these ideas done, it’ll help my business, right?”  But – you and your business, no matter how big it gets, will never have the capacity to execute on all your ideas. Even if you become a billion-dollar company. So instead of trying to do MORE, focus on finding the idea nuggets, the diamonds in the batch, that will truly make a difference (which takes patience).

It’s quality of experience, not quantity of features or marketing programs, that draws customers to you. For example, customers won’t care, use or consume most of the features, content and marketing efforts you produce.  Before doing much marketing, be patient in tuning your business, testing your product/packaging/messages. Do you still have to ‘push’ people into buying, or do people connect with it and come to you?  If you still have to push or pester people to get their attention or to buy, it’s a sign you haven’t tuned your product or messaging enough yet.  When people get excited and say things like “I want that!” or “That is so cool!”, then you know it’s time to start investing more in getting the word out!

Create ideas, but then sit with them to see which ones truly deserve your attention, and then pick out the few best ones.  Do more by doing less.

Impatience steals your enjoyment

Impatience = unhappiness.  “I’m not happy with what I have, so I need to get these other things, fast.”  Impatience implies a need to be somewhere else, a dissatisfaction with what you have. So by definition, when you’re feeling mpatience, you’re enjoyment and happiness is less.  How can you smell roses when you’re moving too fast even to see them?

Patience creates time

When you realize that most of what you do (80/20 rule) isn’t a true contributor to your dreams and success, and that patience is one way to help distinguish “activity” from “productivity”, then consider that patience creates time for you.

How long will it take to create your dream business?

It’ll be years, not months. For a normal new business that isn’t based on consulting, it usually takes 2-3 years to get to self-sufficiency.  So if you’re always impatient, thinking “if I just get to that next goal…”, you’re going to be unhappy for quite awhile 🙁

Focus on enjoying the ride – find ways to make money through enjoyment, including enjoying the path of creating your business 🙂

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Here’s one thing that scares me: organizing new events.  Yep.  You thought I was fearless?  Or that other people who start their own companies are fearless?  No – they feel fear just like anyone else (even CEOs of the largest companies)…but they don’t let the fear stop them from moving forward.

Consider it this way: practically by definition, entrepreneurs (that includes you too) always feel fear because they constantly push the boundaries of their comfort zone.  Yes, some people have bigger (even massively bigger) comfort zones than others, but there is still a comfort zone. Even for Donald Trump.  Doing anything new, such as making money through enjoyment, requires you to get out of that zone…which is by definition scary. Make sense?

For example, I find it’s always scary to decide (because now you’re committed) to organize a new kind of format event, such as the one I’m holding next week in San Francisco: http://ceoflowsf.eventbrite.com. Once you’ve done it, it gets much easier and you find other ways to get out of your comfort zone to scare yourself 🙂

A peek into my process

Here’s what I go through in putting an event together (whether in person, a conference call, anything):

1. I reflect on the kind of event I want to have, including it’s purpose, type of attendees, location, and how I can make it enjoyable for both myself and them. I might reflect on this for a few days, weeks or months, until it gels enough for me to want to do it.
2. I pull out a calendar and just pick a date.
   
3. I post a note and that date on my blog (now I’m committed!) That committed energy ‘pulls me forward’ to make the event happen. Another example from May: “Upcoming Pebblestorm Events (LA, SF, DC, Kauai)“.  For example, I had no idea about the logistics for the Kauai trip when I first posted about it.
4. I prepare everything…argh.  This is still a part of the process I mostly don’t enjoy. I do enjoy creating handouts and exercises for it, but not the logistics (venue, invite list, food…)  I do work to find ways to make it easier to organize, such as doing it with friends, at the same place regularly, etc.  Anyone who enjoys helping get events together as a hobby, PLEASE contact me.
5. The event works out perfectly and we all have a great time!

Throwing rocks

The analogy I use is this: I’m standing at the edge of a river I want to cross.  Do I take a long time to architect and build a perfect bridge?  I could.  Or do I just pick up a big ol’ rock and throw it in the basic direction I want to go and then jump?

Ker-plunk!

Are you stuck? Take babysteps

Stop and consider the question, “is my fear holding me back from moving forward?”  If you’re stuck, here are some ideas, PebbleStorm-style, to play with.

1) Rather than ignoring fear or pretending it doesn’t exist, acknowledge that it’s ok and normal.  EVERYONE feels it.

2) Consider ways to make it easier on yourself, such as taking babysteps.  You know you should do something, and that big something is paralyzing you. What is the smallest little step you can take to move forward?  It should be something you can complete within seconds (such as making a decision) to a few hours.

3) Return again and again to the principle of “make money through enjoyment” as your guide to which babysteps to take.  How can you make your path work for you and what you want?

4) Choose a next babystep NOW to commit to. It could be as small as picking a date for the event, or reserving a URL for a business, or buying a notebook. Small is great! Fall in love with small. Huge castles are made of lots of little bricks. It’s more important to think of ways to not let fear stop you, rather than feeling like you have to take huge steps.

5) Repeat steps 1-4.

Examples around events

– Instead of starting by trying to throw a 100 person event as your first, hold some 5-20 person sized events to practice and build a first audience base.

– Hold an event at your house or a friend’s house, to simplify the venue.  Though it might complicate the cleanup, ha.   Speaking of which, I’m going to have one for 6-8 people at my place in Santa Monica on the evening of Sunday, September 28th, details to come in the next week. See how I just committed to it without having done any planning behind it yet? 🙂 Ker-plunk!

– If you’re nervous about charging for an event, start with an amount you’re comfortable with.  $5? $10?  $1000?  It’ll vary per person.  You can take babysteps to experiment and to build confidence and momentum. Also, it’s perfectly ok to lose a little money here and there in some experiments, but your intention must be to have a profitable business. That means if you lose money on an event, don’t do the same event/pricing/whatever again, change it up and try something else!

– Try overcharging for an event or service once in awhile. You might discover that you AREN’T overcharging, and that people are happy to pay your ‘high’ price, because they’re getting more value from your events/services/products than you assumed.

– Instead of a sit-down dinner, start with a potluck.

– Call a friend to brainstorm about it, or to get support (either emotional or logistical) for it.

…You get the idea.

Now pick a teeny tiny babystep and just do it!

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Amazing Energy

The PebbleStorm LA Open House was last night, and it was phenomenal!  (I’m biased, but it’s still true.)  We had about 25-30 people and there was just a GREAT energy in the air. I felt a lotta lotta interaction and inspiration.

I knew about 2/3 of the attendees personally, and the rest either came as guests or found PebbleStorm through the group on Meetup.com.  I felt that everyone really was very open, friendly and interested in each other.

LA’s My Playground

The second ‘stage’ of PebbleStorm is “Play”, and Los Angeles is my playground for PebbleStorm itself – events and all. There’s an enormous creative, entrepreneurial energy here looking for more ways to be channeled and directed.  That (ok plus the fun and weather) is why I moved here! As I experiment and tune PebbleStorm tools, event formats and such, I’ll then take them to a few other main areas as well (SF Bay Area – you’re next).

Fear Gremlins

I’m not someone that holds much fear of doing or trying new things (as my friends and family know). But even I, when doing a new event format, even with a small group of people, always have those little ego/fear gremlins: Am I missing anything? Will people show up? Will the format work?  Will they enjoy it, get value from it?

Then, once the event starts, whether in person or a conference call, I get into the flow and love it, and it always works out exactly as it should. I know this from experience, and yet the gremlins are there each time I do a new one 🙂

PebbleStorm Circles

Ah, fear. Everyone experiences fear and loneliness as they start and run a business, especially if you’re a single entrepreneur or CEO without a true peer or partner in the business. One of, or the, best antidotes for this common fear and loneliness is connecting with other people going through similar journeys, people who can also help each others’ businesses. Community increases the enjoyment and makes it easier to be successful, since you have a group of people helping you out!

A fundamental part of PebbleStorm includes connecting people in supportive communities, both offline and online.  I’m still working on fleshing out the idea of a ‘do it yourself kit’ for motivated people who want to start their own “PebbleStorm Circle”, a small local group of like-minded people that would meet say, at least once a month.  (Interested in finding out more? Send me an email.)

Unique Genius

A topic we spent some time on last night was “Unique Genius”…a unique mashup of your talents, interests and enjoyments combined in a way that adds meaning to your life – usually by helping others in some way. For example, I say “helping people make money through enjoyment” is my unique genius, and PebbleStorm is the manifestation.  I’m getting closer to putting up a real blog post about it (the raw material is on the wiki: unique genius).

Another Open House Post Coming

I’ll put up another followup blog post with some more content, pictures, etc. in a few days once I digest everything and ask the group for some stories or impressions I can share here.

Digital Versions of Handouts / Contact Info

If anyone at the event missed my contact information, or would like digital versions of the handouts, you can reach me at: aaron [at] pebblestorm [dot] com

1. Lack of awareness of what they enjoy, their purpose, their unique genius… or that they could even begin envisioning a 5th Work Option. It never occurs to most people (at least until they get fired or have some other serious life change) that until they step back and clearly rethink what their ideal working life should be, they won’t get it. They just take whatever comes their way.

I’m going to include “lack of money” and “lack of time” here under the awareness bucket, because many people are unaware of how easy it can be to start on the path.  Commitment is step one.  Take the first step right now just by saying “I will start my own business.”   Now keep each next step as small as possible – tiny babysteps.  As for lacking money to start a business – all you need is $9 for a URL.  Businesses can be started with very very little money today – passion and patience is much more important!

2. Fear (mostly unconscious) of change, fear of new ideas, fear of telling people their personal ideas, fear of telling themselves that they want more out of life, a fear of committing to themselves that they’re going to do something about it… I’m not sure why fear plays such an enormous role in blocking people, but I see it everywhere. I’m convinced by reducing the fear factor here, we’ll enable huge numbers of people to blossom as entrepreneurs.

3. Bad habits (including working for the wrong reasons). In the United States/the West, we’re trained to think that money, titles, prestige and ‘stuff’ lead to happiness. So in our search for happiness, we go after the wrong things – ‘stuff’ that does not lead to sustainable happiness. It’s really hard to break these lifetime habits. When people work with the intentions of acquiring power, prestige (a title) or more money, it’s a rare path that leads them to contentment and happiness.

Here’s a disturbing observation: some of you who read this will associate “contentment and happiness” with being lazy, poor, or unsuccessful...!!! How have we gotten to the point in a society when contentment is denigrated? Not necessarily publicly, but it does happen in casual conversation or body language.

Contentment does not equal lack of activity or laziness. I’m incredibly content while working on multiple projects, clients and new companies (I’ve lost track of how many…), because everything I do is aligned with my purpose, through PebbleStorm. More to come on this.

Letting Go Of Fear

One of the most natural fears we go through in nurturing a passion or new business is “will people accept it?” “What will they think?” We hold back talking about it…which only holds the business back. What we find is that the people who are our real friends will be accepting of ANYTHING you share, and appreciative of it, even if it’s not for them.

A big part of success (especially in PebbleStorm) is letting go of fear as much as possible – even those little bits that we don’t notice because we’re so used to living with them. “What will people think? Can I really do it? What if they don’t appreciate it, or buy it, or like it? What if it doesn’t work out?” Being able to let go of this kind of mindset begins with practicing awareness of when fear affects your behavior and holds you back, undercutting you. You have amazing potential – if you can remove the fear limiter. It takes constant awareness and practice, because it can always creep back in.

Even I’ve had some hesitation in mentally committing to taking the first concrete steps with PebbleStorm. Sure I’d share the wiki and ideas with some people, but I’d always hedge – “oh, it’s the future…” As courageous as I can be, there’s always a part of me that whispers “Is it ready yet?” At some point, as the puzzle pieces come close enough together, anyone creating something that they care about has to get over that hump of hesitation to commit to putting it out there for people, a big step in making it “real.”

So here I am.

So here’s the real world kickoff for PebbleStorm.

This week is a big milestone for PebbleStorm and the future of making money through enjoyment, because after almost a year of thinking, writing and talking – I’ve set things in motion. For real. I’ve mentally committed to it, I’ve started actively telling people about this blog and PebbleStorm itself (“my calling is…”), and a first dinner group is scheduled for this Wednesday night at Javan: “Brainfood: Make money through enjoyment”
http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?inviteId=AIGDTNDZXCSQERMQLJHI

Interesting Moment of Oprah

On Saturday and Sunday this weekend, I met about 10 people that seemed ready for the next step in their lives, who wanted to escape the rat race and sustain themselves through a passion or calling. After a BBQ at an amazing house in Malibu on Sunday, and a few more of these conversations, I had an interesting moment while driving back down PCH 1 to home. I had a crystal clear image of being on Oprah’s show. Oprah had become a fan of PebbleStorm because of what it was doing to help people create these amazing businesses for themselves, to accomplish things that had previously scared the shit out of them or that they thought were impossible. It felt totally real, as if it’d already happened, and very natural, as in “yep, I can see that happening, it just makes sense.” Trippy.

We’re only at the very beginning steps of the PebbleStorm journey, but here we go 😀