5 Top Business and Lifestyle Design Resources – No Croc!

by Paul Goodchild on February 25, 2011

Watch out for the crocs

If you’re interested in creating a business online, you need a place to just start thinking and learning about it all.  There are heaps of them.  Many of them are crap, and many are top class.

Below I’ve listed some of the best, in my humble opinion, online resources and communities you’ll find on the web.  They’re either about Internet Business, or Lifestyle Design, or both.

In the last couple of months I’ve been working on a couple of projects to try and explore the world of doing business – mainly, an online Internet-based business.  It’s been a lot of work so far, and I’ve learned stacks.

I haven’t earned much money though.

Perhaps one of the greatest lessons I’ve ever learned came from a book I read about a decade ago: Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

It wasn’t the only lesson I learned from this book – to list them all would require a few articles to cover – but it was a major game changer.  It’s very simple, and it goes like this:

Don’t work to earn; work to learn.

And that’s what I’ve been doing. With gusto!

I’ve made it a mission of mine to understand this crazy world of online business and entrepreneurship, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, search engine optimization, social media, screen-casting, Pod-casting, e-books, membership sites.  The list goes on…

I wrote just over a week ago about the next big bubble – internet marketing.  There’s something fundamentally wrong with parts of the industry and I feel I only scratched the surface.  It’s not all doom and gloom though, and being frustrated with many of the “online entrepreneurs” I was reading about served to help me filter out much of the crap.

I’ve since found several quality resources and inspiring people from some of the most unexpected places.

While the list below is by no-means exhaustive, it will serve as a fantastic introduction to many ideas and people playing a huge role in their respective fields in the online world. I’m sure you know them all, and if you pick up only 1 new face, I’ll have added some value to your day by introducing you both.

Top Quality Online Business and Lifestyle Resources

The Four Hour Work Week – Tim Ferriss

I need a whole week of articles to talk about this guy, but these few paragraphs will have to suffice.

I first read his book – The Four Hour Work Week– several years back, shortly after it was first released and I’ve never looked back.

Everything that comes out of this guy’s mouth is gold. He questions every assumption under the sun, and then tests them to back up his findings. He’s brilliant.

Sure, not everyone agrees with his opinions, but that’s their right.  One of the most mis-understood concepts about the four hour work week is the idea that he’s advocating that you only need to work fours hours a week.

But don’t be mislead by the nay-sayers and find out for yourself. Grab a copy of the book wherever you can and open your mind to new ways of thinking about your life and the trap of the deferred life plan.

Check out his blog here. TheFourHourWorkWeek.com/blog/

Pat Flynn – Smart Passive Income

This guy is one of my favourite.  His site is filled to overflowing with guides and how-to, case-studies, video and training materials, and Podcasts.

And what is he talking about?  He’s telling the world how he has gone about making money online and creating for himself multiple passive income streams.

He’s as open and transparent as they come and you can’t read one of this articles without learning something valuable.  If you’re interested in making money online and you don’t know where to start, then start with Pat Flynn.

Smart Passive Income

Leo Babauta – Zen Habits

If you’ve spent any amount of time looking for quality resources and guides for creating a lifestyle that’s optimal for you, getting the right balance between work and life, you’ll have heard of Leo Babauta, I’m sure.

His site is rated by Time as one of the top 25 blogs in the world, and after you give it the once-over, you’ll see why. His focus is on living your life, taking the time to savour it and enjoy those precious moments that so many of us are quick to let pass us by. Be still, find peace, get rid of the clutter, and be creative. That hardly begins to sum it up, but it’s a crude start if nothing else.

There’s a large focus on minimalism and while I’m a huge proponent of the concept, I’ve become (unfortunately) increasingly cynical of the copy-cat blogs and sites that have sprung up telling us all how we can do it too! It’s a valuable message, but minimalism isn’t about “travelling the world with 50 things or less”. At least, that’s not what it is for me.

Have a look at Zen Habits and be inspired.

ZenHabits.net

Gary Vaynerchuk

This guy saved my sanity last week! I was a little disenchanted with the whole online internet marketing hype.  I’d just had a real sickener of it. I’d had enough and I was in need of some serious authenticity.

Authenticity… this word along with many others like “minimalism” and “passive income” get bandied about all over the place by many people – many of whom are missing the point.  I’m tired of listening to them frankly.  But then what makes me any different?  Perhaps I’m not…

Last week, I watched countless speeches made by him and I was, quite simply, inspired.  Inspired to work my ass off, help people, and make money doing it.  Ideally it would be online, but we’ll see how that pans out.

As with Tim Ferriss, right now for me, everything he says is golden.  He hits a lot of nails squarely on the head with regards business, hard work, “entrepreneurship”, and of course wine!

You gotta check him out: www.GaryVaynerchuck.com

Copyblogger

Yet another fantastic resource for those who are looking to create compelling content.  The quality of what you write on your sites is directly proportional to your ability to create and maintain a healthy following and, if you want, to make money.

It covers topics such as optimizing your content for search engines, internet marketing, keyword research and heaps more.  Of course, this is all free content, and they have some pay-for premium content too.

Copyblogger.com

Did I miss anybody?

Like I said, this list isn’t exhaustive – it only has 5 people/websites on it!  If there’s someone or a website that you’d like to share because you think their resources are top class too, please please share it in the comments section below.  I’m always on the look out for more inspiring people!

Thanks for stopping by!

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

David Scott Lynn February 25, 2013 at 01:14

WOW! … ALL of whom you mentioned are on my short list!

Pay Flynn’s probably the Guy Sneaking Up from Behind, though.

I’m also big on Jay Abraham, Rich Schefren, Paul Myers rof
more contextual stuff.

For more in the trenches technical, sales & marketing thinking, it’s Jim Edwards, Perry Marshall and Robert Plank.

And we cannot forget Dan Kennedy, whom in some ways got this whole ball of wax rolling, even though a little late in pulling the trigger on the internet.

Thanks for all your great Posts, Paul, I’ve read bunch of your pages today.
DSL

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