Chris Guillebeau's Blog, page 41

It’s Not How Much Email You Get, It’s the Lack of Purpose in Your Life

If you misidentify a problem, your proposed solution probably won’t work.

Let’s say you have a headache, so you decide to amputate your leg. You’ll probably still have the headache, and then you’ll be missing a leg as well. For more effective treatment of headaches, consider a glass of water and perhaps an aspirin.

Many other treatment plans fail for the same reason. Something is wrong, and you think you know what it is, but that’s just because you’re looking at the obvious.

You may feel, f...

If You’re Getting This Month’s Bonus Offer, Don’t Forget Your 5,000 Extra Points

Link: Earn 50,000 Ultimate Rewards Points

Last week I mentioned the new-and-improved bonus offer for the travel rewards card I use every day, no matter where I am in the world. For a limited time, you can earn 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points instead of the usual 40,000.

Extra points are always great! Depending on how you use them, 10,000 points can be halfway to a plane ticket, or even two hotel nights.

But I almost forgot something: you can actually earn an additional 5,000 points just by ad...

Scholarships for Real Life: The Ryan Banks Academy

In 2013 the WDS community started a foundation, making an initial investment of $100,000 and pledging to support “Scholarships for Real Life,” a program to enable people to pursue a dream of their own while also addressing a problem that affects others. Here’s one of our 2015 grantees.

Valerie Groth is a trained social worker and life coach. She recently founded the Ryan Banks Academy, which seeks to create a safe and positive learning environment for kids in the Chicago area.

Ryan Banks A...

Coming Next Week: 25% Off All Unconventional Guides

Hey everyone, happy fast-approaching holidays!

The season is barreling toward us and regardless of how you celebrate, I hope your holidays will be filled with spiked eggnog and loved ones. Over here, I’m planning an early start to this year’s Annual Review.

But first—next week, starting on Wednesday the 25th, we’ll be kicking off the only sale we do every year at Unconventional Guides. There’s only one! And it happens very soon.

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Our Annual Holiday Sale: This Time It’s 25% Off!

Important...

Coming Next Week: 25% Off All Unconventional Guides (Once a Year Only!)

Hey everyone, happy fast-approaching holidays!

The season is barreling toward us and regardless of how you celebrate, I hope your holidays will be filled with spiked eggnog and loved ones. Over here, I’m planning an early start to this year’s Annual Review.

But first—next week, starting on Wednesday the 25th, we’ll be kicking off the only sale we do every year at Unconventional Guides. There’s only one! And it happens very soon.

—-

Our Annual Holiday Sale: This Time It’s 25% Off!

Important...

“It Doesn’t Matter How Many People Don’t Get It”: Vani Hari at WDS

We recently finished the first round of ticket sales for WDS 2016, and they went quickly! We’ll have one final round early next year. If you’d like to join us, be sure you’re on the waiting list for first notice.

But first, we’re rolling out more speaker videos from WDS 2015. Vani Hari, food activist, creator of FoodBabe.com and author of the bestselling book The Food Babe Way, shared her story about finding her voice and dealing with haters.

Check out the video!

“When you become who you...

One Free Ticket, 18 Hours on Amtrak, and Many Interesting Passengers

Greetings from the Coast Starlight! I’ve been riding Amtrak 18 hours through Oregon and California, while traveling to San Francisco and eventually (by plane) to San Diego.

A few years ago I took a long train journey from Chicago to Portland, riding the Empire Builder just in time for the launch of the Empire Building Kit.

Aside from some short journeys, though, I haven’t been on “real” Amtrak for quite a while.

So why now? Well, to be honest I don’t think I was aware of how good the points...

Limited Time: Earn 50,000 Ultimate Rewards Points (Usually 40,000) toward Free Travel

Link: Earn 50,000 Ultimate Rewards Points

My longtime favorite card for earning miles and points, the Chase Sapphire Preferred, has just raised its signup bonus offer. For a limited time you can earn 50,000 points (usually 40,000, which is also good) upon getting the card and completing a minimum spend.

As I’ve explained before, different cards are good for different reasons. Some cards are great for big bonuses, but after that it’s best to put them in the drawer and reserve your spending f...

How One Family of Four Created Enough Passive Income to Travel Forever

This is a traveler case study. ( Read others or nominate yourself . )

Sharon Goulary didn’t want to stop traveling as her family grew—so she gathered up her two kids and husband, then figured out how to work less and have more time with the people she loved while seeing the world.

Introduce yourself!

My family and I left our home country of Australia. We’re not sure how long we’ll be gone—or if we’ll return. We wanted to create a lifestyle where we weren’t running around all the time.

Currently...

Limited Number of WDS 2016 Tickets Are on Sale!

Link: WDS 2016 Registration

Brené Brown at the Newmark Theatre: WDS 2012

Hi all,

I’ve mentioned this already by email and with the speaker videos we’ve been posting. You can also read a bit more about WDS, including the changes we’re making next year.

But the pertinent info of the moment is: WDS tickets are now on sale! If you’ve never been to WDS, I hope you’ll join us next year for an all-new adventure.

We release all tickets on a first-come, first-served basis. Once this round of tickets...