At the same time, I’ve just relaunched TribalAuthor.com as a full-on blog and began contributing a weekly column to the new Huffington Post book section.

Now, as I begin to do some retooling and reigning in (part of my “bigger game” plan), I’ve decided to merge the blog element of CareerRenegade.com into JonathanFields.com (which should make the sizable chunk of you who subscribe to both blogs happy, too).

On Tuesday, October 13th, we’ll be merging the two blogs.

CareerRenegade.com “the website” will continue to exist and that site will host book-related things, the Career Renegade podcast and related events. But, when you click on the “blog” button here on CareerRenegade.com, you’ll be taken over to the newly merged blog at JonathanFields.com. We’ll also be importing all of the posts from CareerRenegade.com’s blog into JonathanFields.com, so you’ll be able to find and search for everythere in one place.

And, for those who subscribe, either by RSS or email, we think we’ll be able to make the switch pretty seemlessly, but if we hit any snags, we’ll let you know and share what to do to continue to receive updates.

Thanks so much to my family at both homes, I look forward to continuing to grow with you in our newly unified blogging homebase at JonathanFields.com.

Kapish?

In our interview, you’ll discover:

• How she became one of the youngest VPs in a giant NYC ad firm in NYC
• How knowing more people makes you more lucky
• How she landed her first book deal and grew that to 1 million books now in print
• What made her walk away from the job to pursue her passion
• The role gender plays in the limiting beliefs you create for yourself
• How your personal relationships can enable or crash your professional life and ability to go renegade
• And, much more…

Renegade Profiles can be downloaded in two ways:

• Profile Vault: Sign into the Renegade Profile Vault, just sign up using the form below if you haven’t joined yet, or…
• Podcast: Renegade Profiles are also now available as podcasts on iTunes along with a featured post of the week. Career Renegade Profiles PODCAST

This week’s Renegade Profile is school teacher turned passionate husband, dad, strength coach and fitness info-entrepreneur, Zach Even-esh. You can find him online at ZachEven-esh.com

In our interview, you’ll discover:

• Why he just walked out of a $90,000 a year job to do what he loves
• How he developed a passion for fitness
• How he turned that passion into a part-time business and began to build his renegade path on the side
• Why he decided now, in the middle the bad economy, is the time to go renegade
• What conversation he had with his wife and family
• How he handled naysayers
• How he’s building a live fitness business and a second online info-business
• And, much more…

Renegade Profiles can be downloaded in two ways:

• Profile Vault: Sign into the Renegade Profile Vault, just sign up using the form below if you haven’t joined yet, or…
• Podcast: Renegade Profiles are also now available as podcasts on iTunes along with a featured post of the week. Career Renegade Profiles PODCAST

Fact is, there is no single “best” model, but one of the most powerful ones is the approach shared by famed blogger and friend, Brian Clark of Copyblogger.com—membership sites that teach high-value/how-to information.

In fact, Brian’s first big monetization play as a blogger was his own membership site called Teaching Sells that (cough) teaches people how to build membership training sites.

Confession, when Brian first launched Teaching Sells well over a year ago, even though I have huge respect for him, I was suspect. Because there are a lot of scams out there selling make money online info. But, after spending a bunch of time peeking under the hood and getting to know Brian, I was blown away by the quality of information he was sharing. In fact, that’s a large part of why I included him in my book.

And, here’s the thing coolest thing…

Teaching Sells has been closed to new members for a while, but in a few days, it reopens. And, every time Brian reopens Teaching Sells, he does a mini-launch where he gives away a boatload of tremendous information. I don’t know why he does this anymore, because his reputation is so good, people pretty much line up to scramble for their spot before it closes again anyway.

But, hey, his kindness is your windfall…

Because, even if you have no intention of signing up, after you’ve headed over to Teaching Sells today, you’ll be able to download all this stuff (e-mail required, but it’s so worth it):

• A 22 Page whitepaper - Forget Everything You Know About Making Money Online (And Start Making Some). Also available as an mp3 version, so you don’t have to read it (love to listen to stuff like this while I’m driving, except it takes forever to get anywhere, because I have the urge to pull over and take notes every 10 seconds!)
• Case Study: Aaron Wall Moves From SEO Book to SEO Training - an eye opening look at how one of the most respected SEO publishers moved from offering an ebook to a membership model (PDF & mp3)
• Case Study: Realtors Become Real Estate Industry Online Trainers – A great example that reveals how to turn your industry-specific experience into high-value training content for that same industry (PDF & mp3)
• Case Study: Borrowing the Expertise of Others – Shares how to launch a membership site even when you’re not the one with expertise to share (PDF & mp3)
• Report: How to Build & Launch a Quick & Easy Membership Site with Licensed Content – Reveals an alternative approach to membership sites that let’s you essentially borrow other people’s proven training content
• A 20 step process map that literally outlines how to build an online training business
• A killer video that reveals how to “borrow” other people’s traffic and send a torrent of people to your site

If you want to jump in and sign up for the full Teaching Sells training, hey, that’s your choice. I can tell you as someone who’s worked through the content firsthand, it’s tremendous.

But, even if you don’t, at the very minimum, click over and download all the tremendous educational content that Brian’s giving away.

And, probably best not to wait, because the giveaways usually come down when the launch goes live and I think that’s happening tomorrow or Thursday.

This week’s Renegade Profile is writer, dad and creator of, believe it or not, the web’s best potty-training info-product—Sean Platt. You can find Sean at WriterDad.com and @writerdad on twitter.

In our interview, you’ll discover:

• Why Sean decided to leave a mainstream job to create his own future
• How he and his wife started their own school
• How they not only taught little kids, but became known as the potty-training whisperers
• What led Sean to start turning to the online world
• How he launched a blog that got dozens of comments on each post within weeks
• How his relationship with his wive and kids has empowered his online journey
• How a “rival” online dad became his close friend and biz collaborator
• How he bridges the gap between his online persona and his true self without losing his authenticity
• Where he’s going and how he’s making money from his blog
• And, much more…

Renegade Profiles can be downloaded in two ways:

• Profile Vault: Sign into the Renegade Profile Vault, just sign up using the form below if you haven’t joined yet, or…
• Podcast: Renegade Profiles are also now available as podcasts on iTunes along with a featured post of the week. Career Renegade Profiles PODCAST

I’ve been keeping something from you guys for a few months now…

It’s an insanely cool event called Basecamp Renegade and it’s going down in Charlotte, NC on September 25-27th. And, because I can’t do anything the way I’m supposed to, it’s not in a conference room or hotel. It’s in a 200 acre man made outdoor adventure center called the U.S. National Whitewater Center.

For 2 1/2 days, me and Olympic Gold Medal whitewater kayaker, Joe Jacobi, are going to guide a mini-tribe of 25 people through the whitewater, mountainbiking, rock climbing, zip lining, renegade lifestyle and career transformation experience of a lifetime.

There’s some bad news, though…

We only have room for 25 people. No way we can pull off the level of personal attention, intensity and forward movement we want with more than an intimate, driven mini-tribe of Basecamp Renegades.

And, enrollment officially opens TODAY.

Click here now to learn all about it

In our interview, you’ll discover:

• How Jeffrey discovered the world of voice talent while working a day job
• How he began to build his voice career on the side
• What the different paths to being a voice artist are
• How getting laid off has allowed him to focus on his renegade path
• How social media has helped grow his reputation and biz
• And, much more…

Renegade Profiles can now be downloaded in two ways:

• Profile Vault: Sign into the Renegade Profile Vault, just sign up using the form below if you haven’t joined yet, or…
• Podcast: Renegade Profiles are also now available as podcasts on iTunes along with a featured post of the week. Career Renegade Profiles PODCAST

If You Have Pain, You Need Law

My jaw dropped. I was really bothered.

First, at the law firm. And then at society at large. Because this commercial, sadly, reflected a growing and in my mind somewhat perverse expectation (at least in the U.S.) that if you get hurt someone’s gotta pay…even if it was nobody else’s fault

Even if it was YOUR fault!

Whatever happened to personal responsibility?

I’ve even seen this mindset justified by people arguing, “hey, nobody gets hurt, it’s just the insurance company that’s paying and they’ve got billions.”

Wrong on two levels. One, where do you think all those billions came from? Uh…you and me. And the one of the big reasons our insurance fees are so high are because so many people will sue at the drop of a dime in the mistaken belief that nobody gets hurt when an insurance company pays. We all pay in the form of higher personal, health, product liability and business insurance. And, on the consumer side, a portion of those costs are often then passed on as higher service and product fees.

Two, it’s not supposed to work this way, but in the U.S., you can leverage the system to more or less coerce a person or company to pay “something” in order to avoid the fees associated with a full-blown law suit. It’s a simple cost benefit analysis and a lot of litigants and their representatives know this. Happens all the time. Puts money in your pocket when you feel pain without much reference to fault.

But, just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s right.

I’ve seen small businesses created by moms and dads trying to put food on their tables crushed because someone decided the system would let them get something for nothing. I’ve seen caring, compassionate OB/GYNs who love bringing babies into the world drop the OB part of their practice, because they can’t afford the insane malpractice insurance.

FYI – This doesn’t happen in a lot of other places because the rule of law in many other locales is “loser pays,” meaning the loser not only pays their own fees, but the fees of the winner, too. This drastically lessens the number of “lightly supported” law suits.

Am I saying “if you feel pain, you should NEVER need law or dollars?” Of course not.

The same laws that allow for people to claim pain and cash without merit also protect those who’ve genuinely been wronged and are rightly entitled to compensation. But, the notion that pain automatically entitled you to legal recourse and money…that’s just wrong.

Life happens. Pain happens. Accidents happen.

But, liability doesn’t automatically flow.

Curious what you think…

In the 9 months since its release, though, both the economic climate and the mood throughout the world have changed in a fairly profound way.

And, again, I felt the need to revise and expand the Fire Fly Manifesto to address the questions that were being asked of me and the challenges that lie ahead. Things like, “should I really be thinking about starting my own adventure in this economy?” Or, “can I really go renegade if I’ve just lost my job?”

So, I created  “F2 | Firefly Manifesto: Remixed,” and I’m grateful to have it released today by ChangeThis.com.

Please check it out now and, if it resonates, spread the word by sharing it on twitter, stumbleupon, facebook or any of your preferred communities.

Together we change change not only the conversation…but the world.

Pass it on…

The first thing I did was go to each website to learn more. And, without even diving into the details of the apps, I was taken aback by a very impactful difference in the marketing sequence that immediately said one vendor gets it and the other doesn’t.

Here’s what I saw when I clicked over to the HighriseHQ website:

There were a series of short instructional videos on a singe page that did a great job of walking me through the major features of the app. Within minutes, I got all the information I needed about the product.

Next, I clicked over to the NetSuite CRM homepage and here’s what I found:

Ugh! No details, no demo videos, no tours…unless you’re willing to pay them by giving them something of value, my e-mail address, for the privilege of hearing their pitch and getting a trial that requires you to enter a bunch of information on the next page, BEFORE being given access to anything.

Yeah, I get why they’re doing it. They’re trying to build their list.

It’s one thing when you’re talking about a highly individualized, high-ticket service that would make personal interaction during the sales process far more critical, even value-added, for both people. But, grabbing info, so you can squeeze prospects by phone or e-mail because you’re not confident that your presentation will deliver enough value on a commodity-based product = not cool.

It’s like the web version of the old “pay to receive my catalogue” scam.

Attention Companies: CONTACT INFORMATION IS CURRENCY!

You can’t do this and expect to keep winning when you are going head to head with a number of competitors (also SugarCRM and ZohoCRM) with very good products who don’t play those same games. Especially, when your solution is priced above the savvy competitor with a far better, free, value-added, non-confrontational, completely ungated sales process.

Note to everyone who wants my business and my money…

Don’t make me pay to hear your pitch.

So, what do YOU think?

Let’s discuss…