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Chris Guillebeau's Blog, page 95
July 9, 2014
Creative Business as Art: A Conversation with Wendy Downs
This is an excerpt from Designed to Sell: The Unconventional Guide to Creative Freedom.
Wendy Downs is the owner and designer of Moop, a Pittsburg bag company. She sat down with Jen Adrion and Omar Noory to talk about migrating from sculpture to photography to designing, sewing, and selling American made bags—and what it means to suddenly become a business owner with no business background.
Here’s a snippet of their conversation:
Jen: Your entire process must have shifted as you’ve scaled from o...
July 8, 2014
Country Hopping, Tri-Annually: On the Road with Colin Wright
This is a traveler case study. ( Read others or nominate yourself .)
After meeting Colin Wright in Austin, I made my way to his blog, Exile Lifestyle. We reached out recently and asked about his experience making a new country his home three times a year.
Tell us about yourself.
Every four months, I move to a new country based on votes from readers of my blog. While there, I live like a local as much as possible, meet new people, and try new things. I make my living from my books, which run the ga...
July 7, 2014
Pessimism Is an Indulgence
Interviewer: “When it comes to human nature and human behavior, would you describe yourself as a pessimist?”
“Pessimism has no function. It’s an indulgence of people who have little stamina to confront the challenges of modern life. And it’s a good way to rationalize their withdrawal from the great work of human beings, which is, as Senator Daniel Webster said, justice.”
Link: A Conversation with Ralph Nader
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If You Want to Write A Book, Go to a Boring Place
A friend is writing a book and asked me what I thought about taking a writing trip.
“I’m going to Bali to write for a month.” she said.
Big mistake! I thought. The goal of writing a book in Bali never ends well.
Don’t go to paradise to get something done. Go to Bali, or any place like Bali, for lots of reasons. (I went there for a birthday by myself.)
But if you want to find a place to write, don’t go to an interesting place. Go somewhere where you can withdraw from the world, fully free of engag...
July 6, 2014
Attention: It’s Your Last Chance to Become a World Record Holder!
Have you ever wanted to add “Guinness World Record Holder” to your CV or Twitter bio? Now you can!
Since we announced this year’s World Record Attempt, more than 600 people have signed up to meet us at 8:30am sharp next Friday morning in downtown Portland. We need all of those people to show up, and we still need at least 150 more people to join the party and ensure we smash the record.
Thinking of joining in? We’ve prepared a few helpful Questions and Attempted Answers below.
What if I don’t...
July 5, 2014
6 Discoveries From Near and Far, Volume I
I. Around the World
Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.
A Conversation in Six Languages — Matthew and Erika meet in a cafe for a tour of European languages. Fortunately, there are subtitles!
Why We Spend The Most Time on The Least Important Decisions — Short version: we talk about trivial matters because they are easy
Training to Run Across America — Nicole’s journey from non-athlete to crossing the entire country next year
Is being alone...
The Wing by Cathay Pacific at Hong Kong International Airport
I love airline lounges and regularly spend four or more hours at a time working from them. This series explores some of my favorites from around the world.
I travel through Hong Kong at least six times a year. Most of the time I’m flying on OneWorld, and I always look forward to a visit at The Wing, Cathay Pacific’s original lounge.
More than once I’ve had to spend the night on the floor of Hong Kong airport, and fortunately The Wing opens up at the crack of 5:30am.
The Wing recently completed...
July 4, 2014
Top 5 Credit Card Signup Bonuses for Miles & Points
Every year I earn well over one million Frequent Flyer miles and points. About 250,000 of them come through actual travel, and the rest come through travel hacking: the art of seeing the world on a budget.
One of the easiest ways to earn a lot of miles all at once is through credit card signup bonuses. This post contains the best current card offers as of Friday, July 4. Happy Independence Day!
In this edition:
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase Ink Plus
Lufthansa Premier Miles & More
U.S. Airways Mas...
Giveaway: Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Every Friday is giveaway day. Comment to win!
I enjoyed reading Essentialism, a new book by Greg McKeown.
Personally I’m not much of a minimalist (except when it comes to travel gear). In fact, I’ve even joked that I’m a maximalist—I want to do it all! Even so, this book challenged me and improved my life.
What you need to know:
This book offers great lessons in how to get the right things done (rather than how to get everything done)
This giveaway is global. We’ll ship a copy anywhere!
Our cats...
July 3, 2014
Can You Spare Any Change?
I can’t bring myself to use the hashtag, and I felt really uncomfortable as I watched the first part of this video.
Then I saw the ending, and then I watched it again—two more times.
P.S. If that made you think, here’s another good one.
