Note from Nick: this is a guest post from my friend Rebecca Tracey, of The Uncaged Life. Her blog is unmitigated genius – great holiday reading, if ever there was any. I asked Rebecca to share with you something straight from the heart. Told her she could even swear if she wanted. And this is what she came up with – enjoy!

When Nick asked me to write a guest post, I sorta freaked out. My business is new, I’m still establishing my own website, and I don’t have nearly as much ‘expertise’ as he does.

Yet not once did he ask for my resume, my credentials, or check up on me to make sure I really know what I’m talking about. Why would he want me to write for him?

I mean, I know I’m a great coach. I have fantastic insight, amazing life experience, and a finely tuned bullshit meter. Of COURSE I’m valuable to Nick’s readers.

Thing is, on paper… I’m not so hot. My resume – it sucks. Sure, I have an undergrad degree (in a totally unrelated field), I did post-grad training as a nutritionist (so what, right?), and I’ve gone through a few intensive coach trainings (Finally! But – I don’t even list those on my website/resume).

I don’t have 10 years of coaching under my belt. I don’t have an MBA or any particular entrepreneurial skills training. I’m not an expert on blogging, or internet marketing, or technology. I have more than one series of year-long gaps on my resume where I chose to drop out of life as I knew it and focus solely on travel, play, and neglecting all my responsibilities. Not exactly a marketable skill, right?

In the traditional sense, on paper, I’m crap.

But in life, where it really counts – I’m more than “qualified” to be doing what I’m doing.

And, true story – many great innovators are in the same boat. Mark Zuckerberg. Bill Gates. Einstein. Disney. Oprah. Dropped out of school, fired from jobs, kicked out of college and told their ideas were shit.

We seem to have this insane want for more education, more degrees, more time spent in the classroom, more training, more courses, more hours and dollars spent to prove to the world that we are worthy.

We use the excuse that we just need to learn a little bit more before we can be great.

And it’s a fucking cop out.

What if you chose (yes, voluntarily) to leave your education out of the equation. What if you focused on what you have to offer, in real life skills rather than obscure letters after your name? What if everything you’ve ever done and everything you know NOW is all you need to create the dream job you crave?

Stop putting it off because you’re not perfect on paper yet. Start believing in more than what’s on your resume and what letters fall after your name.

Save your money, save your time, and have the balls to just GO FOR IT, regardless of how qualified you are on paper. Because if you really wanna go places in this world, your resume means jack shit.

xx becca

Rebecca Tracey | The Uncaged Life
As a Life-switch + Career-shift Coach, Rebecca Tracey helps cubicle-phobic crusaders bust out of their self-imposed cages, by taking big risks + bold swings—the kind that pay off, in more than just cash.

Explore Rebecca’s rule-bending riffing on radical life design, road-tripping + rock climbing at TheUncagedLife.com… and schedule your no-cost Uncaged Chat, to see if 1-on-1 coaching is the awesome-sauce you need to activate your dreams.

(Header Photo: This is happening without your permission)

Schadenfreude.

Get to know this word – because it’s the thing that may eventually cause your movement to fail. It’s a German word for the pleasure derived from the misfortune of others. It’s why TMZ is so popular, and it’s why – despite evidence that the economy is leading us directly towards a civil war – some folks continue to post snarky comments about the Occupy Wall Street movement on Facebook, Twitter, and giggle while the nightly news shows recaps #OWS arrests.

Let me be clear here: I do not want you to fail. I do want you to get a hell of a lot more organized so you can do this thing right.

Schadenfreude only comes into play when there’s an “us vs them” mentality. Our enemy slips up. Someone much more wealthy or powerful than us gets caught doing something naughty. We’d never be that silly. We could never do those things. But when something happens to mom, dad, or our little sister, suddenly we can empathize. It’s personal – it’s just as bad as if it happened to us.

While almost everybody could empathize with the feeling of not being able to pay a bill, losing a job, or thinking that it’s time to whack some high-level bankers like piñatas until no more money falls out, here’s the problem you’re facing (and it’s a big one): occupying a park is not something that everybody can do. Most of the 99% still has jobs (they might not be the best jobs, but we still have to work). A lot of the 99% run their own businesses. And trust me, while I’d have no reservations about chilling in a park all day, working on my laptop – a lot of folks don’t have that kind of time or luxury. Meanwhile, we wish we could do something to help, but we don’t know what – and then we get on with our day while you’re getting zip-cuffed in the park.

So, while we should be empathizing with you, we end up dissociating from you instead. You become “the protesters” and not Mary the 32 year old spinster who barely scrapes by in her apartment on Prospect Road since losing her job at the bank while her former CEO decides whether or not to buy a third gold-lined umbrella holder at Bed, Bath, and I’ve Got Too Much Fuckin’ Money. And it’s not the media’s fault. Got it?

Don’t believe me? What did I just say about a banker piñata? Didn’t you get that, “Hell yes” feeling? OK, how about if our banker’s name is now Gary from Littleton, father of two and avid donator and volunteer to the foodbank? Now it’s a little harder to justify whipping out the whiffle bat, right? He might be a rich prick at work, but I can’t shake down a volunteer dad of two.

Schadenfreude is what enables us to disconnect from our morals and justify harm to marginalized groups. It’s why ordinarily rational white folks did nothing while black folks were getting firehosed for sitting in the wrong chair. And it’s why folks who should be supporting you may just be changing the channel instead.

While a mass occupation is great and all – hey, it worked for Woodstock, right? – you’re running out of time to make this personal. You have a serious marketing problem.

You desperately need a leader. Someone who can stand up – someone well-spoken – and deliver a speech that makes these things personal. Remember Obama’s 2008 campaign? He took this country by storm, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him. Why? Because he was the guy who understood our problems. The guy who told us stories about people just like us - who came from roots just like us - and had a plan to try and fix the problem. You need an Obama. And you need a plan.

What’s #OWS’s plan? I’ve been watching for a while now and I don’t see one. If you (and even if you aren’t a part of the #OWS) want to get sh!t done, you have to get activation.

The public’s lack of activation for your cause is not a sign of laziness, but instead a lack of clarity on how to help. Any project must have that clarity to succeed.

So here’s a plan of action for you – and anyone else who wants to make something happen – because you need it:

- Get Your Message Straight and Align it with What Your Audience Wants to Hear: Stop the political preaching on your blog. We get it. Instead, I want you to start posting the personal stories (video if you can) of every single person you can – always include a photo – hopefully of the person with their family. Once a day, non-stop. Use a secondary Tumblr blog if you have to. Make this thing personal. For the titles of those blogs, first name, town name, age, and family stats.

- Get Your Message to the Right People and Be Consistent: Send these out as press releases. Flood the media with them. Give Obama-type online talks and post them online for all to see once a week.

- Develop the Right Platforms and Design a Clear Path: Create a newsletter. Your website is not enough. Get people to sign up to your newsletter and give them a weekly course of action, not just events or marches, but 5 small things they can do that week to help the movement and raise awareness.

- Make Spreading the Message Simple: Create a guidebook that you can use to educate the general public with stats directly from the Government on why things are so bad. I’m also working on an ignite-style video with those same stats. Release everything you do under Creative Commons so anyone can reprint and share it without asking for permission.

- Generate Sympathy and Camaraderie: Nominate a leader in each city who can speak for their movement. This person should be well-spoken, well-groomed, and very sympathetic. No political preachers, no lecturers, just a plain-jane-family guy or gal. Then have them share the stories that came out of the occupation that day. Have them give a speech twice a week to rally support, to give followers a list of tasks to take on that week.

- Find Allies to Help You: Start courting small businesses. Don’t expect handouts or freebies, but promise to shop in their stores in exchange for spreading the word or standing by you if they get interviewed (or, better yet – ask them to do a video interview for you and post it on the blog: the more business support you have, the better you will do).

- Change Your Tactics to Leverage the Element of Surprise: Silence works better than any other method of intimidation. Instead of loudly protesting outside of a bank, instead, line up, side-by-side, five rows deep, and *stare* at folks who cross the line. That’s creepy as all hell and will get you all sorts of attention.

- Engage the Desire to Belong to Something: Give everyday joe’s an ability to show solidarity. A bumper sticker, a t-shirt, something… and a check-list of activities to perform (ie: join a credit union, don’t shop at xyz) so that we can help you, even if we can’t occupy with you (as an aside, this will help you raise some money to afford to sit around in a park all day).

With all that even marginally attempted, Occupy Wall Street (and all the other Occupy movements) would become an unstoppable force, so what’s stopping you?

–

This post is part of the October Word Carnival on productivity. Check it out for more great advice on being productive!

(Header photo: Occupy Wall Street)

I have a problem. I’m guessing it’s a problem we share.

I like to hide behind work. Like, lots of work. I take on a lot of client work at a time. Meanwhile, I have creative flashes for fun projects and purchase domains, wistfully biding my time until I can “have enough time” to build out the project. Someday - and granted, I’m 25 when I write this, but – is quickly becoming never.

My projects are like marshmallows on a stick over the fire, and I’m watching ‘em burn.

Are you like me? I was reading Do The Work and Steven Pressfield said something that really stuck with me. The general premise was that there’s a force dedicated entirely to actively conspiring against you and your success. If you’re not aware of it and actively fighting against it, it derails you.

You’re probably thinking I’ve gone all Charley Sheen. But really – if you think about it, how many times do you put off a project because you get interrupted? Or how often does that phone ring right when you pick up your pen to get to work? Or the dog needs food, or the dishes need put away, or…

Fuck. Right? So my friend Erika shared DoItMotherfucker.com – a treatise to getting stuff done. And like me, I hope you realize that we’re woefully lacking on tools to take on this foe.

It’s a hard battle to wage war against something you can’t see or touch – for the sake of simplicity, let’s just call ‘em Commander Cockblock.

Commander Cockblock loves nothing more than to screw up whatever amazing shit you’re working on by distracting you from what’s really important. Remember when I talked about being consumed in the process? That’s CC’s other tactic: get you so buried in the fine details that you can’t see the light of day and send your awesome out into the world.

The first step in defeating ‘em is just knowing that he’s out there. Stop whatever you’re doing to avoid doing the shit you want to do and start fighting back against Commander Cockblock. Make your projects a priority. Make somebody else wait for once. Fuck folding laundry, you’ve got flaming marshmallows to eat.

How are you going to take him on today? Let me know in the comments below.

(Header photo: On Fire by Pipistrula)

When I have a product, I’ll be all over the QR code movement (click on the link if you don’t know what a QR code is). Basically, it’s a barcode that smartphones can read – they can resolve to websites or add contact information.

Here’s a few QR code uses that I’d like to see:

• QR codes on the backs of book covers with a link to a video intro from the author.
• QR codes at the Denver Museum to get more information on my favorite pieces of art.
• A QR code on my favorite soda to show me nutrition information comparisons.
• A QR code on a shirt at Kohl’s, which takes me to a display of a complete outfit involving that shirt.
• A QR code scavenger-hunt to find the best sightseeing spots in a city I’ve never been to before.

In fact, I don’t know why food bloggers, fashion bloggers, art bloggers, and travel bloggers aren’t printing out a bunch of QR codes for their blog posts and sticking ‘em to the backs of menus, on outfits, on art displays, and on city guides.

Do you?

(Header photo: QR Code Cupcake by Clever Cupcakes)

I’ve always wanted to bring more creativity into the business world, so on December 25th, I’ll be launching my new business: Creative Renegade. My focus is on reminding businesses how to be creative by improving communication with their customers, employees, and businesses partners. If you are interested in learning more, visit the Creative Renegade website at http://www.CreativeRenegade.com and subscribe.

Without getting in to too many specifics, I see a serious need in a few different areas:

• Web Marketing Strategy
• Talent Procurement and Management
• Team Communication and Creativity
• Customer Engagement and Retention

I don’t pretend to be a wizard (and if you know me, you know ‘guru’ in my book is the same as ‘snake oil salesman’) – but over the last few years, I’ve been able to help businesses in every industry communicate better. Perhaps as a neat side-effect, not one of those businesses has gone out of business because of the economy.

I also want to see some cool things happen around Fort Collins. On my 5-year to-do list (and you’re welcome to help, I can’t do it alone!):

• Eliminate Hunger in Fort Collins
• Regular Free or Low-Cost Music Lessons in Fort Collins
• Bring TEDx to Fort Collins (I just found out on Friday that our license was granted!)
• Make Fort Collins a major hub for cool, geeky events like PodCamp, GameCamp, FreelanceCamp, and CareerCamp!

I’m really excited to make a difference for businesses and the community. In the next few days, I’ll post a few choice questions for local business owners; let me know what you think and you’ll be entered for a chance to get my services for free. Keep watching CreativeRenegade.com for more updates!

I need your help to stay on track.

Here’s me at 254 lbs (what I weigh today).

My goal for one-year from now: get to 200 lbs. The “healthy” upper BMI for my height is 179 but for me that’s not a sustainable goal (at least, not right now).  Here’s what I looked like at 179 (side-by-side with this Halloween):

Keep in mind, I still thought I was fat at this weight.  Fucking nuts, right?  That shirt is a Medium or a Small and I thought I was a porker.

Here’s the thing, though: it was sustainable doing the things I do every day.  I wasn’t at the gym, I wasn’t hard-core dieting (although I was on WeightWatchers), and I kept that weight off for a good year and a half.  I’m not a guy who likes going to the gym; I’d rather have a back-to-back vasectomy and reversal.  But I am willing to do what it takes to get to a healthy weight (besides the gym).

I know I’m a bigger guy, but there’s no reason I can’t get down to a healthier weight and maintain it.  So, as I said before, I need your help to stay motivated.  I have to do better, but it’s easy for me to forget on my own.

If I eat lunch with you, remind me to get a smaller portion or save half for later or go for water instead of soda.  If I meet with you, let’s take a walk somewhere or ask me how my exercise went that day.  I’m committed to the goal of getting to 200, but I know I’ll do better if I have help staying in the game.

Maybe I’ll come up with some sort of contest.  Stay tuned.

It Might Get Loud is a film about the electric guitar featuring Jack White, The Edge, and Jimmy Page.  It has a little to do with guitar, and much more to do with finding your way in the world.

Among the best lessons, U2′s The Edge found the E chord too complicated to convey the sound he had in mind.  He invented a new chord to cut out the unnecessary bits and get the exact sound he wanted.

It’s hard to fight convention, the “right” way to do something – like play an E chord.  Traditional wisdom tells you play the chord the right way.  Traditional wisdom would have been wrong – 22 Grammys wrong.

Is doing things the “right” way keeping you from doing something right?

Crooks and thieves apply this lesson every day to do something wrong, to do harm.  I’m looking at you, AIG.

Good and kind people should apply this lesson to do something right.

Being a rebel isn’t always wrong.

The light shines brightest in the darkness; hope isn’t enough. We must be rabidly determined to take back our lives, our jobs, our families, our money, our homes, our minds, our attention, our hearts, our souls, Our Country, and Our World.

Remember that you are not alone.  I will work to make the second half of the video’s statement true; to make it happen, we have to work together to make our voices heard.

Here’s my vision: free or $1 bi-weekly class with an hour dedicated to music lessons and an hour dedicated to a recorded community jam session.  The goal being closer community ties and music appreciation!

The $1 would go to provide insurance or help cover the cost of the instruments or materials used.  The sessions would be recorded, and we could sell the CDs for $5 a pop in various places around town.  The cd revenue would go to fund music programs in Fort Collins area schools.

What we need:

• Instruments (Music schools? Pawn shops?)
• Teachers (Again, Music schools or seasoned pros?)
• Participants
• People willing to record the music (I can do this pretty easily)

Let me know if you’re interested in helping to make this idea happen – I won’t be able to do it on my own, but I’m willing to help as much as I can!

Just think of all the awesome possibilities… like getting to dress like Gogol Bordello!