Do you want to change the world, but struggle to differentiate yourself enough?

Organizing a community lets people know whether they belong there or not. Whether it’s for them or not. With the right people, you are able to focus instead of wasting your time and energy on everybody else – who is not meant to be part of that community.

Author, world traveler and change agent – Chris Guillebeau is our first guest this month. He took a moment from planning his book tour – to let me know what inspires him and how he built his global community.

Q & A with Chris Guillebeau

Q : What is the Art Of Non-Conformity?

Chris : AONC is a blog, a book, a business, and a community—mostly the latter. I started the project in 2008 as a way to spread unconventional ideas and help people find a way to achieve big goals.

Q : While developing products and travelling the world, how do you maintain focus on building your business and “making a living”?

Chris : I don’t really focus on “making a living.” I do focus on work, but most of my work is free for everyone. I use a 90/10 model where 90% of my writing and events are free and 10% are paid.

Q : How would you define your product?

Chris : Let’s look at the overall goal: to help people live unconventional, remarkable lives. How that works varies. I have the blog and other hubs where I connect with readers. I have the Unconventional Guides business that consists of things like the Empire Building Kit and the Frequent Flyer Master guide.

Overall, I hope that all of these help people in a different ways, but with the same goal of creating individual freedom and inspiring action.

Q : Why did you decide on creating your own niche community?

Chris : I felt like I had helped a lot of people on a one-on-one basis over the years, but I had no broader platform. I turned 30 years old and in the process realized that I wanted to be a writer. So I started the site and went from there.

Q: Most entrepreneurs starting out want to satisfy everyone. We want to sell everything to everyone. How did you identify the people you wanted to organize into a community?

Chris : Correct, and that’s a big mistake. In my case I learned to target people on a psychographic basis as opposed to a demographic basis. I have readers of all ages, all backgrounds, from all over the world. What they have in common is a desire to change the world.

It’s interesting, because in the beginning when I connected with a literary agent and he was pitching my project to traditional publishers, some of them said, “People who want to change the world are not a target market” – which makes sense in a traditional, business-oriented context. But over time I’ve become more and more convinced that “people who want to change the world” is indeed my perfect audience. It’s also an audience that is motivated to take action, which is always good.

Q : What would you attribute as the single most important aspect of creating your community?

Chris : Consistency. A lot of bloggers start out strong and then fade off into the blogging sunset. If you can just keep going and building a strong platform, you end up outlasting people and it gets easier over time.

Q : In your manifesto: A Brief Guide To World Domination – you clearly state “I should warn you now that this report is not for everyone”. I have also realized that from your blog and the rest of your products. Doesn’t that separation of your audience from everyone else limit how much you can make and who you can reach?

Chris : No, for reasons you alluded to earlier—it’s always a mistake to target everyone. Better to be clear what you’re about and who your work is for. This also makes it much easier to build trust and authority among the group with which you choose to identify.

Q : Most of your content is free, while traditional business principle tells us to “sell” “sell” sell”. Where do you make your money?

Chris : I still make money, but the greater goal is influence. The money comes from UnconventionalGuides.com and my book publisher—though much more of it comes from my own projects than the publishing arrangement. (I’m still a fan of writing books, but it’s true that there’s not much money in it.)

Q : You have become quite – in fact very influential online and off. What does it take to build such influence and become this outstanding?

Chris : Well, I’m not sure I’m outstanding. When I think of people who are outstanding, I don’t think of bloggers—I think of people who have truly sacrificed, like the aid workers I used to work with before I embraced the soft life as a world-traveling blogger.

But in terms of influence, it takes working towards something day-in, day-out for an extended period of time, often without much reward or attention in the beginning. I also decided I wanted to create real relationships with readers as much as possible. I answer all the emails and don’t outsource anything. I meet with readers wherever I go. I do blog interviews for sites that have 10 readers and podcast interviews for shows that are still getting off the ground.

Over time, I think those things have a real impact.

Q : Most entrepreneurs want to be different, but fear the unknown – the unexplored. How does one overcome that hurdle of distinguishing themselves and carving a niche?

Chris : Yes, I agree that fear is a very real obstacle. I think the key to overcoming it is:

a. acknowledging your fears, without trying to be “fearless” or pretend that fear doesn’t exist, and

b. not allow your fears to make your decisions for you.

Instead, ask yourself – what would I do if I wasn’t afraid, or if there were no limits? Then find a way to get closer to that, even if it’s a series of small steps at first.

Q : You are doing the Unconventional Book Tour soon, what inspired it?

Chris : These days a lot of people are saying that books are dead and book tours are ineffective. I like the idea of proving those ideas wrong—my contention is that people have been doing book promotion the wrong way, but that doesn’t mean that books are dead.

And I also like big goals, so when I decided to establish my own tour, I thought… why not make it as epic as possible? So I picked all 50 states instead of just the major cities. Then I added all 10 provinces in Canada, because I didn’t want to leave them out. Then I added an extra city in California, an extra city in Texas, Washington, D.C. – and came up with a 63-city self-funded, collectively-organized book tour. I hope to take it worldwide next year, but one thing at a time.

Q : As an entrepreneur and agent of change, what is the one most difficult challenge for you?

Chris: The fear and insecurity we mentioned earlier are continual challenges. I also have a hard time asking for help – I have a lot of people willing to help with things, but I don’t always know what to ask them to do.

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While Chris is on the go and launching his new book, he also Tweets here and blogs at AONC. I recommend you follow him.

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My posts here have decreased over the past few months. The most natural thing to think is  – oh come up with a new strategy. Talk about some exciting airy fairy little idea that keeps people at the edge of their seats.

No edge-of-your-seat sitting, unless you normally do when you write.

The plan is to have a minumum of one guest post per month to start with. As more posts come through, I will increase the frequency. They can range from posts about business, business events and your experiences in dealing with clients.

Some of them will also be interviews with some entrepreneurs I know locally and everywhere in the world. That way, we all get insights from each other and keep building from the experiences of one another.

First up, we have a guest post by a freelance writer and PR Specialist. She has dealt with quite a few corporates and currently advises in an NGO for young business professionals. Her post is coming your way tomorrow.

Are you one of those guest bloggers? Drop me a line.

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Photo by: DaveAustria.com on Flickr

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I recently wrote about the Tech4Africa Conference, which actually turned out to be amazing. More awesome than the conference itself were the organizers, who gave me an all-access blogger pass. Emerging Media and the Tech4Africa team are rockstars.

We interviewed some of the speakers, delegates and Seedcamp participants.

The Tech4Africa Special

In this NetwebTV special, we spoke to:

• Gareth Knight, the founder of Tech4Africa, about how it was received and whether the change he foresaw ago when we spoke was achieved.
• Gareth Ochse – the founder of iSigned and one of the competitors in Seedcamp Africa. I heard they are also one of the companies who qualified to attend Seedcamp Week in London

Speakers and delegates

We also caught up with some of the speakers and delegates who gave us their views on development in Africa as a whole.

Erik Hersman, the co-founder of Ushahidi spoke their development and how it’s changing lives. It is also one of the most talked about projects on the web.

Mark Kaigwa, a Creative Director and Entrepreneur shares his views about the conference and what it means for Africa. Kenya is 4 to 5 countries away from where conference was, so Mark came a long way.

Clay Shirky was the keynote speaker at the conference and he also took a moment to speak to us. In a nutshell – Clay is a professor, speaker, thought leader and an icon in all things economics, community and open source.  He is the author of 2 books and shares his expert views on how social phenomena were started small and grew globally.

Take a look at the video below and share some of your views with us in the comments.

It is not often that you get appreciated for the hard work you do. The sleepless nights. The pitches you don’t get called back for. But lucky for you, someone out there is watching.

This morning in the mail, I got something that might excite you. At least I thought it would.

Sanlam and Business Partners are giving away up to R100 000 in their Entrepreneur Of The Year Award. It’s also quite easy to apply from what I saw.

The requirements in their three categories are also simple enough. Before you think it’s too good to be true. You have to prove that – by their standards – the three most important financial risks of your business are quantifiable. The application form has more details on that. 

Categories and minimum requirements 

• Emerging Entrepreneur (business younger than three years old)
• Business Entrepreneur (turnover up to R20 million)
• Medium Business Entrepreneur (turnover greater than R20 million

Of course, you are not motivated by the cash prizes. But they are offering those too.

Cash Prizes

• Category winners will receive R20 000.00
• R100 000 in cash for the overall winner along with the opportunity to attend an international conference or trade show, as well as extensive public exposure. That should help in acquiring the much needed sales.

Download the entry forms and more information to enter.

Spread the word as far and wide as possible as well. . . . Good luck!

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Image by : xtrarant on Flickr

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A while back I wrote about the 100 list and promised you another post about it. After spending sometime thinking of ways to present it in writing, I finally decided that this would be it.

One of the things I do a lot of is talk about interesting things to do and experience as much of them as possible. But my thinking here has been quite rigid and business – focused in a way that makes it difficult to write about anything else.

Getting out of the boxes

The 100 list is partly me getting out that box and partly challenging myself and you to do certain things over the next year. Call it ‘living the dream’.

We all thrive where there is a bit of variety and interesting things do. That variety, adventure and word of mouse is what the 100 list all about.

.  . . but what for?

There are entrepreneurial companies out there that provide phenomenally amazing service, which we never get to talk about. Instead the ones that give us crap get more mention. The 100 list is where I will talk about them.

There are quite a few things I want to do over time which seem to get put off and once after a while they get relegated far from memory. And we tell ourselves they weren’t worth doing anyway.

Ones that are worth doing

For the ones that are worth doing there’s the 100 list. To start off here are a few things I plan to over the next year:

• Take the highest commercial bungee jump in the world at Bloukrans Bridge.
• Get dressed by Urban for a year
• Interview Malcolm Gladwell on NetwebTV
• Interview Chris Anderson on NetwebTV

This list will grow over time as more activities come to mind. Some I can only mention later on.

What things have you put off that are still worth doing? Tell us in the comments. And if you happen to be from Urban, feel free to email me.

Photo credit: Photo by Johannesen on Flickr

It seems 2010 brought with it a downpour of work and little distractions that just keep me away from writing. But there will be more reading this winter.

If you have been here before, you would know I had an interview with Seth Godin about his book Linchpin. (If you haven’t – you just might score yourself a free copy. I’m glad you stopped by).

Linchpin is a book about gifts, and art and adding value and being indispensable. If you thought that couldn’t be done where you are right now – in your job or business. This gem blasts that misconception along with the lizard brain that propagates it. Seth describes the ‘lizard brain’ as that part of our minds which holds us back from making real progress. It strikes a balance between being an entrepreneur and a change agent where you currently work.

Lost marbles

By now you are probably thinking I’ve lost my marbles, books that accomplish such balance are watered down and don’t really speak to the one or other person. But it does, in a way that on only Seth Godin can. And I will have you know that my marbles are still intact. Thanks for the concern.

Monthly read

The idea is to share and recommend our latest reads, while giving one book away every month. Yes, you stand a chance to get yourself a copy of Linchpin, because that is what I’m reading at the moment. Leave some ideas in the comments and the best one gets the book. It’s really that easy! We’ll keep expanding on the ideas and probably make it more intricate with your contribution, but that’s not intention.

Terms and conditions don’t apply, but there’s just one small thing

As you might have guessed it, there is one thing that could be a potential challenge. Because this is a self-funded project, I’d like to try keep it as cost effective as possible. So for now, the give-aways will be to our South African readers and we can spread it globally at a later stage.

Why should you get it?

Leave some ideas in the comments and if yours is the best to spread this project to most people, you get the book sent to you.

In July of 2009, I announced the Netweb Event for that month with a video give away sponsored by Missing Link. Little did we know that the prize would go to an amazing project I had been following for a while.

One Matchstick, a concept where the founder is trading a single matchstick till she gets to offices through a series of trades, is a lesson in innovation.

It was simple for us – start a competition that benefits small business and give it to the most deserving company after our delegates have voted. From that simple definition came being an MC at the premiere in Johannesburg, being in Cape Town for another and making interesting contacts along the way.

The lessons

- You are as big or small as you think you are.

It ‘s because one matchstick that I went over 1000 kilometers away and made contacts I wouldn’t thought of on my own.

- Small has to do with efficiency than size.

The size of this project meant all we needed was a notebook, a DVD Player and a room of 30 people for it to be successful.

- Naming is very significant

We called the prize a corporate video when we gave it away, but Telana referred to it as the “One Matchstick Movie”.

You are invited to the “One Matchstick Movie Premiere” sounds better than being invited to the “Launch Of The One Matchstick Corporate Video” any Sunday afternoon. Yes, the Johannesburg premiere was packed on a Sunday afternoon.

If a single matchstick can make it happen, that changes the whole game.

Please view the One Matchstick Movie below.

When Telana called me last week about Ruan a cyclist who aimed to explore South Africa for 60 days. I thought it was an interesting story to follow and bring to you, along with the lessons it would come with.

Little did I know that the lessons would start sooner than he’d leave. I then had a meeting with the guys from Hotel Formula1, who later expressed some interest on following Ruan’s story. Before the week was over we had negotiated sponsorship for free accommodation for 10 days in 7 cities around South Africa.

Some lessons I got during the 5 days:

• Connect people who want to meet.
• Follow-through on an opportunity.
• Help someone without expecting anything in return; it gives you a great feeling.
• Build your reputation as a person of value.
• Have genuine interest in other people than you want them to have in you.
• A connection goes farther than a sale.

On Friday the 13^th, without even realizing it was Friday the 13^th, we met with the senior management team of Hotel Formula1. They all wanted to participate in the handover and you could see the genuine interest in them as well.

Ummm, what does that have to do with anything?

Under normal circumstances I would have been to a series of meetings offering a product and much later got a moment with the CEO, if ever.

Being a connector and finding opportunities to do it places you in a different position. You are no longer a company that is selling to a possible client, but a friend giving your client an opportunity further themselves.

Ruan will be travelling approximately 8 600 kilometers at 25 kilometers per hour over next 54 days. He’ll meet interesting people and along the way and there’ll surely be some more lessons over the next few days. I will be documenting some of the developments for you in the next few days.

Photo by: Ruan on Picassa

Ishita Gupta – Head Of Hoopla for Seth Godin sent a reply to an email I had sent about interviewing Seth Godin. To my astonishment, she requested me to send them my mailing address. “But I thought post died long before the archaic dialup connection, I mean this is Seth we’re talking about. He doesn’t write letters.” At least that’s the first thing I said to one of the guys at the office.

The mailman to much delight; delivered Seth Godin’s latest hardcover. And glossy offering called Linchpin – Are You Indespensable? It became a New York Times bestseller within it’s first 10 days of release.

We had an exclusive interview with him some weeks ago, where he spoke about the fundamental change in work and what the world has become. Basically, he writes about the choice to be indispensable at what you do. A choice to contribute where you are, to create art that is a gift to others in itself.

So every other appointment has been put hold, well sort of been slightly deferred, till I have completed this much coveted read.

Aside; there’s already a long queue of people waiting to lend it once I’m done. But they’ve been referred here, since it shouldn’t leave my sight. Not for a split second!

Thanks to Ishita Gupta and Seth Godin.

Since the South African Tobacco Products Control Act in 1993, that was amended till 2009, prohibiting all advertising and sponsorship by tobacco companies. The cigarette companies have to be even more innovative than everyone else to make a sale.

Over the December holidays at the normal price, you could buy Camels in a steel box that fits your pack inside.

The novelty of a steel box makes the smoker want to show it off to their friends. And ensuring only a few of these boxes were available they kept more people hooked for longer.  What are the chances of you having your last smoke the same day you get this pack? This got me thinking of how packaging can be used to increased sales.
If you went to the same store a week before or after this package was available your friend would have started a conversation about it. The same product you offer can be packaged in a way that makes it more special and coveted by customers.
Short of advertising and marketing this company makes themselves worth talking and remembering.  Are you?

Mongezi Mtati is the founder at NetWeb Event, a vodcaster and an opinionated geek on a bad hair day. Follow me on twitter.