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 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…

And, I was asked what my top book recommendations were for marketing, selling and writing compelling copy. So, I reached deep down hoping to come up with the coolest, newest, hippest, most cutting edge recommendations…but instead, I started offering up titles that ranged from 20 to 80 years old.

What gives? Simple answer. Times change, circumstances change, marketing and distribution channels change, products, services and technologies change. But, human nature has remained largely unchanged for as long as history has been recorded. And, in the end, solving, selling and marketing are fundamentally about understanding human nature, not bells and whistles.

So, if you want to go find the latest jazzy book on copywriting for the web or optimization, that’s fine. But, my guess is you’ll get even more out of legendary books like

• The Robert Collier Letter Book (1937),
• Claude C. Hopkins’ Scientific Advertising (1923),
• John Caples’ Tested Advertising Methods (5th ed 1997), and
• Eugene Schwartz’ Breakthrough Advertising (1966)

These books are as relevant, powerful and useful today as they were when they were published. Because, they spoke directly to:

(1) Crafting messages that cut directly to the heart of human nature and what makes people act, then

(2) Measuring, with precision, the impact in an effort to repeatedly tune and improve that message

So, if you want to know how to solve, sell, write copy and market better, don’t study advertising, study human nature…and start with the classics.

I’m actually going to post more about this over the course of the next month, but today I thought I’d share a pretty cool new resource that was just launched (literally, today) for those looking to brush up their interiew skills. It’s a virtual interview training website called 360jobinterview.com. And, it let’s you master the art of the interview through video chat coaching and more.

Beyond the value of the services offered, it’s got a lot of free resources (including a post from me) and the website is also a great example of finding the opportunities that have been “created” by this economy, then leveraging cutting edge technology to deliver a great solution.

Textbook Career Renegade thinking.

So, go check it out, see what you can create by focusing on opportunity, rather than desperation and, if you need some interview training, maybe give it a whirl!

Within seconds, answers came flooding in. You can find them all individually by just searching on twitter, but, I thought it’d be valuable to aggregate and a share a sampling of replies here on the blog, too, because it really shows the diversity of mindset that’s out there today.

And, amazingly, a full 45% said…no, they’d walk away from the money. I sometimes wonder what that says about people on twitter (or who follow me) versus, those in the “general population.”

So, without further ado, here are the detailed replies from twitter…

And, now, my question to you is…what would you do and why?

Share your thoughts in the comments…

Okay, well, there’s a simple lesson, drawn from the world of internet marketing, more specifically, pay per click advertising that’ll put you miles above everyone else who graces the resume slush pile or the interview chair.

What’s the secret?

Relevance!

For those who don’t know what pay-per-click is, it’s the little ads you see on the side of a google search page. Advertisers post those ads and then pay every time someone clicks on one. Rule of thumb—the more relevant an ad is to what a person is searching on, the more likely they are to click on it.

So, after a bazillion or so tests, advertisers realized that if you actually insert the specific keyword phrase that was searched on into the ad, preferably in the headline, that ad would trigger relevance sirens and more people would click on it. And, once they clicked though to a landing page, if you then also began that page with that same phrase, the clicker would be even more likely to then continue to read and buy your stuff.

If you match exactly what someone is searching for, it’s like you’ve read their mind. You’ve given them the most relevant solution possible. And, once they’re on your page, you confirm they’re in the right place by repeating the phrase.

Relevance resonates because it’s like saying, “here’s what you were looking for, on a platter!”

Same thing applies to resumes and interviews.

Rather than sending out batches of mass resumes. Target a smaller number of positions, read the job descriptions carefully to determine the most importance keyword phrases, needs and qualifications in it. Then, tailor your resume to begin with and strongly emphasize those very phrases.

Once you’re actually in the interview, then, just like our internet marketer did on their landing page, focus immediately back in on the critical phrases and ideas from the job description and keep them in the front of your mind as you frame answers to questions.

Big warning – This will work if you actually have the relevant skills, abilities and ideas. If you say you do on your resume, but you really don’t, your conversation will quickly betray and you’ll likely end up labeled inauthentic at best and a liar at worst.

In the pay-per-click world, a giant relevance gulf between the ad and the landing page will get you labeled a spammer by google and “slapped” with massively higher costs as punishment. In the job hunting and interview world, it’s no different. And, by the way…people talk!

So, if you really wish you had something to offer that you don’t have, go out and get it.

But, don’t be someone you’re not.

Kapish?

Every week, my in-box is jammed with people offering:

• Webcasts, webinars, teleseminars, simulcasts,
• Tweet chats, facebook events, video seminars,
• Mini-courses, ebooks, podcasts, internet radio, Blog Talk Radio,
• Blog posts, vlog posts, ezines, lifestreams, pipe-dreams, premiums, freemiums, uStreams, iStreams, we all stream for ice-creams,
• Electronic, exotic, erotic, exogenous, extraterrestrial, interactive, proactive, radioactive, radio-controlled, hyper-kinetic, self-actualizing, hybrid on/offline intergalactic symposia…

All in an effort to sell small business owners, private practice owners and solopreneurs some kind of product or service that’ll teach them how to market their businesses online. And, I agree, there are few, if any, businesses that won’t benefit from getting online. But, there’s a big problem…

Everyone’s trying to sell to these people using the very technologies that terrify them!

HELLLOOOOO!!! Beuhler? Beuhler?

Yes, I get the power of the online world as a source for community building and marketing. I preach that message non-stop. But, one of the reasons I wanted to write Career Renegade, “the book” is that…

The folks who’ll benefit most from getting online very often source their solutions offline.

They don’t know blogs, webcasts, social media, streaming video or PPC exist. Or, they may know these things exist, but they have no idea what they are, how they work or why they matter.

And, they’re terrified of the prospect of having to learn them!

Asking them to attend a webinar about marketing with webinars is like asking a hermit to attend a conference about getting over his fear of crowds.

I know this because I’ve not only worked with so many small business owners, but I’VE been a small business owner! I’ve launched, grown and marketed my own brick and mortar (yes, they still exist) businesses for the last dozen years. And, I’m half geek and half marketer by birth, but it still took me a long time to really understand, then tap the power of the web as a marketing tool for my neighborhood business in NYC.

So, if you’re looking to build a new renegade career that serves the needs of small business online, you need to understand this critical fact—many are massively uncomfortable with the ways of online marketing, social media and communicating any way other than face-to-face, phone and, if needed, e-mail.

Your job is to find these folks and reveal the money-getting, business-building, community growing power of your online ways.

But, you need to do this not using the medium you’re most comfortable with…but the medium they’re most comfortable with.

And, that means, more often than not, getting your hands dirty, going local, getting out from behind the keyboard, running neighborhood events instead of webinars, talking to people face to face. It means running workshops at the library, the community center, Town Hall. Or, good heavens, even the high school gym.

It means using language and examples “those people” understand. And, accepting the challenge of not only selling, but educating. Invest in them.

Bring the revolution to them, on their turf…on their terms.

Show them what’s possible, then become their faithful guide as you bridge the gap to the online world together.

Do this…and watch the magic unfold.

I’ve been a huge proponent of social media as a tool to build community, brand, showcase knowledge and even market your ideas and business.

But, a new study just completed by Professor Lipra Sloof at the London School of Economics revealed…

A horrifying connection between tweets/day and gluteal mass (aka, butt size).

And, that’s got me thinking seriously about pulling back from social media in a huge way.

According to Professor Sloof:

We’ve just completed the first-ever longitudinal study of 16,427 regular twitter users and the results took our entire team by surprise. We discovered a direct linear relationship between tweets/day and gluteal mass, the concern being that gluteal mass is leading indicator of obesity, heart disease, anxiety, insomnia and even @GuyKawasaki syndrome.

The data show the impact of “tweeting” to be so potentially harmful to the participants’ health profiles, as determined by relative-change in Gluteal Mass Index (GMI), that we terminated the study prematurely and strongly advised all participants to immediately terminate the use of twitter.

While details of the study were being prepared for publication, Sloof did agreed to release the following chart in an effort to get his message out to the masses, before it’s too late:

Tweets/Day      Increase in Gluteal Mass Over 16-wk Study Period

1-5                           Not statistically significant
6-10                         3.2% increase in gluteal mass
11-15                       12.6% increase in gluteal mass
16-20                       18.3% increase in gluteal mass
21-25                       22.8% increase in gluteal mass
26-30                       26.4% increase in gluteal mass
31+                          42.1% increase in gluteal mass

Immediate action is needed to stem the damage…

While the team conceded that the study is correlative and can not prove causation, because the results were so compelling, Sloof et al have requested an immediate hearing before Parliament with the intention of proposing an immediate, worldwide treaty-based moritorium on the use of twitter.

We, here at CareerRenegade.com, were able to track down 14 study participants who were willing to share their experiences, under the promise of anonymity. Sadly, 8 of the 14 could not make it into our London studios, due to an inability to extract their twitter-plumped globules from their desk chairs.

While all conceded a noted increase in gluteal mass, though, many also decried an inability to break the addiction cycle induced by the twitter demon.

One even compared the pull of the twitter screen to crack cocaine, sharing…

Honestly, I didn’t even get it in the beginning. People just sharing the studipest stuff. Then, it’s like ‘BAM,’ something clicks and you get sucked in. You start checking your damn timeline every 5 minutes, then comes the phone app and text-alerts. It’s like you blink and you’re hooked.

Honestly, I think I’d rather do dope than twitter. I want to stop, but I can’t. I actually heard Promises in L.A. has a new twitter addiction program and I’m whacking around the idea of jetting to L.A. to get this monster under control. Hell, I’d go tonight, but I’m waiting for Virgin to install wifi.”

So, where does this leave us?

Honestly, I don’t know what to say. As a strong proponent of social media and twitter, I feel somewhat responsible. But, I guess, really, the only advice I can offer at this point is…

Have a wonderful April 1st!

There’s no such thing as a one-sided coin…

If something’s going down, something else must be going up. And, for Career Renegades, that means opportunity.

Example #1 – health & Healing

In NYC after 9-11, while many businesses crashed, health and healing businesses soared. I know firsthand, having launched one of those businesses weeks after 9-11. My company not only helped contribute to the process of healing, but built a real, vibrant community and substantial stream of revenue. In fact, it’s now one of the top yoga studios in the Northeast and has served nearly 20,000 students and trained hundreds of teachers.

Example #2 – DIY

Over the last year, while home construction pulls back, the need for high-value, do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvement information has taken off. People still want to live in a nicer place, but can’t sell and can’t afford to pay someone else to do the work…so, they turn to DIY. If you can deliver the information people want need to DIY a project, for a fraction of what it would cost to pay someone to do the job, you’re in.

Example #3 – Candy

And, just last week, yet another market revealed itself as a massive “other side of the coin” business in tough economic times…CANDY!

You heard right. It seems the worse the economy gets, the better the candy biz gets. And, not just any old candy, but the old faithfuls from childhood. Because, in times of stress, people seek comfort. Beyond the sugar rush and effect on serotonin, our favorite childhood candies are anchored to a lot of emotion, very often great memories that come soaring back on a visceral level. And, most candy is still priced well below the level of even an austerity budget impulse buy.

So, even if the sky IS falling (and it’s not), you still have a choice to make…

While the pundits scream about the sky falling, most people are running for cover, ducking into doorways and buying umbrellas. But, a small group of savvy entrepreneurs and Career Renegades are out their with buckets waiting to catch it.

They’re finding, tapping and exploiting gaps and creating opportunities.

Question is…which camp are you in? Maybe it’s time to start looking beyond the perceived limitations of the economy, take off your “pundit blinders” and start ferreting out the other side of the Renegade coin.

Maybe, just maybe…it’s time to go gap-hunting!

You in?

A recent search of twitter revealed that, on any given day, hundreds of people are tweeting about job hunting…and how much it sucks.

Well, here’s a thought, stop hunting for a job and start hunting for a life!

One, where you’re not waiting around, hoping and praying someone else finds value in who you are and what you do. One, where you maintain substantial control over your career, regardless of whether you work for yourself or someone else.

Here are 5 killer ways to rapidly tap technology to wrestle back control over your livelihood…and your life:

1. Megalo-Blog

Whether you plan to work for someone else or break out on your own, one of the most powerful things you can do is establish yourself as a thought-leader, go-to person, someone with industry cred and high value in the field you’re passionate about. And, this starts with your blog. It’s your career-power home base. Even if you have a personal blog, set up a standalone blog and create meaty, substantive content that showcases your mastery/value and thought-leadership in the area you’d like to become known for.

2. Tweet Stalk

Tap twitter.com as your primary vehicle to find, connect with and wow others in your industry or the industry you’d like to move into. Use twitter’s search function, wefollow.com and twellow.com to search conversations and profiles for keywords that are relevant to what you do best, find the people and conversations that touch on your industry/passion, then join in and, most importantly, add value to those conversations. And, begin to develop relationships with other thought-leaders, connectors and influencers.

3. Answers Rawk

People have questions, lots of questions. And, they ask them in the darndest places…online! Right there, in front of everyone! On Yahoo Answers and LinkedIn.com Answers.  Your job is to go and troll, looking for people asking questions that center around your area of interest/expertise/passion. Then dish out responses that make people say, “whoah, this person really knows their, um, stuff!”

4. Forum Crash

Do a google search for “[keyword that's of interest to people in your chosen field] forums” to find forums where people are having daily conversations about that same thing you love to work at and talk about. Lurk for a bit, then start by sharing non-spammy, high-value ideas and answers in threads started by other members. Then, once you have a feel for the vibe of the forum, begin to start your own threads, offering high-value information and conversation.

5. Google Stalk

Don’t you just love the fact that google has now made it possible to covertly cyber-stalk words, phrases, ideas and people all over the world…from your inbox?! Take those same keywords, along with the names of the major players, and set up daily google alerts that let you know who’s talking in your field and what they’re saying. Toward the bottom the each alert is a section on blogs. See what the blogosphere is saying and, if appropriate, jump over to the individual posts and share high-value comments.

So, what are you REALLY doing here? Simple…

You’re positioning yourself to become a Master of Your Career Domain!

By establishing yourself, individually, as a force to be reckoned with, you effectively build a portable career power structure that:

• Is totally portable, it goes where you go
• Opens doors and opportunities, both in entrepreneurship and other employment
• Demonstrates your value to your current employer (if you have one) and to potential suitors
• Serves of a source of leverage coupled with social proof of your value and reach, and
• Builds a tribe of people who will rally to, evangelize and support you.

So, you all know, I am a big fan of the control and freedom that comes along with the entrepreneurial option. But, even if you prefer to stay under the umbrella of another person or company, these strategies will help you build your own base of power.

Once built, what you do with it is up to you…

Your job is to use it wisely, judiciously and ethically. In other words…

Use it for good, not evil!

P.S. – Yes, I know this brings up the question of your employer freaking out when they get wind of the fact that you are in the process of taking ownership of your career path, reputation and future.

I’ll be posting about that in detail next week…so if you’re not subscribed, HELLO, sign up below, so you don’t miss it!

Got any other thoughts on the topic?

Let’s discuss…