Have you ever asked yourself that question? If you absolutely could not fail (consider yourself the ultimate, badass Superhero), what would you try?

Try asking your in-laws. (I did.) Or your own parents. How about your significant other? Your friends? Ask anyone who will listen — you’ll be doing them a huge favor. 

The world is becoming a collection of free radicals — entrepreneurs that are successfully building their businesses around their passions. Passions that ultimately don’t feel like work at all. In the article “A Manifesto For Free Radicals”,  there is an interesting section that I can identify with strongly. It goes something like this:

[Free radicals] spend the necessary energy to invest in ourselves as businesses – leveraging the best tools and knowledge (most of which are free and online) to run ourselves as a modern-day enterprise.

Isn’t that the truth? Just this past week, I have spent important family and friend time digging into some projects I feel are bigger than me. I have invested ours in reading industry articles and creating content for those I think may benefit. I am investing in myself. Are you?

Have you ever felt that sitting down at your computer to work at 6:30PM (after a full day of meetings and phone calls) feels like coming home? Turning that laptop on to a fresh page and an open field to create is a joy like no other — no matter what time it is.

Have you ever felt that there is nothing more satisfying than meeting a fellow geek in your area of interest? Well, guess what? You’re only going to find these people if you immerse yourself in your field of choice! Dig deep in the trenches of that geek-dom and uncover people like yourself!

What are you scared of? Take my word for it. Passion lights the way. Money follows suit.

But users really just want the same thing they wanted when they were kids: to HAVE FUN!

Doritos’ Crash the Superbowl was a huge success when they let users create their Superbowl ad. They let people have a blast by being creative and competing with fellow users, turning it all into a game of sorts. The prize — being featured during the Superbowl — was a gigantic incentive worth millions in exposure. In gamer speak,  an “epic win.”

Did you know people are more likely to remember you and your brand if they can see and hear your content? A silent movie may be entertaining for some, but a melodious and funny game is a much better way to get me to remember you in a few days. (Jingles exist for a reason — just ask Coca-Cola.)

Some tech-savvy users may know how to program their RSS reader to read your corporate blog, but a much bigger portion of the population have already played Fruit Ninja, not to mention newer blockbusters like Temple Run. (Forget Angry Birds already. That’s already mainstream.)

What gives? A few things, actually:

Technologies like the iPad and smartphones have made gaming more available to users, stripping away some of the geek-like stigmas that haunted gamers for decades.

Brands, on their end, have opened up to listen and collaborate with users, and users have gotten used to the attention. More than ever, brands are on the defensive to provide as much entertainment and opportunities for fun as possible. What the user wants, the user gets.

Startups like Foursquare and Groupon have gone both massive and ultra-popular. Users wantto gamify their lives, leveling up for all kinds of mudane actions and reaping rewards for them, as well. Brands have no other choice but to comply. Starbucks played with offering free coffee to “mayors” and retailers give discounts to a select few deal-finders. Seems like even grownups now want a never-ending game of hide-and-seek.

Is your brand game-ifying the user experience? If yes, play on directly into the fruitful land of brand loyalty. If no, time to take a seat at the chess board and assess your next move — your customers are moving in on you. Quick.

Back when I was even 12 years old, I went from having a cutsie AOL email account to joining public forums on music and, more specifically, my boyband of choice. The problem with these super popular forums was that other boybands (you know which ones I’m talking about — no need to name them here in my special place) had fans that liked to join in the conversation and launch their glitter-colored and GIF animation attacks on us, fighting over who was the best boyband out there.

Let me tell you — it got ugly. So, we started marketing.

We held contests. We did some online voting, way before SurveyMonkey or similar tools ever existed. We did blogger outreach — it just wasn’t called that yet. We launched microsites on specific topics and new CDs. There were even offensive attacks on the competition via viral campaigns — similar to the lolcats and memes of today’s digital natives. We marketed and fought hard, and, in the end, I think we pretty much won. (You don’t need me to rehash boyband history here, but the sales numbers say it all.)

So, when you see me writing about marketing and mixing it with things I enjoy — fitness, for example — don’t squirm or think I’m weird. This about it. Wouldn’t you want to mix business with pleasure?

Drop me a line and learn how. Now.

Habits are called habits for a reason — have-its. You have them, and they are damn hard to get rid of. They’ve been ingrained in our brains as permissible and necessary, like a crutch we lean on to deal with certain types of issues. Not anymore. The good habits can stay, but the bad ones have to go — and pronto.

So, how can we change this vicious cycle of bad-habit-dom? Let’s hack the system. Let’s make every single change something positive — even fun.

1. Accept it. Messing up is a necessary part of the process. I messed up at MarioKart lots of times before I got it right and beat whoever played with me. It’s a part of human nature to explore and learn by doing, right? Don’t sweat it. You’re one step closer. Keep going.
2. Tell other people about your change. I feel like an idiot if I tell someone about a project and then fail at it. You may be hard on yourself and not feel like changing, but doing it for others may be the jumpstart you need.
3. Ask a friend to come along for the ride. Spending a Saturday at the gym truly sucks most times, but playing tennis with an awesome friend makes it that much easier.We all strive for these things, but we don’t enjoy the process. Ask a friend to join you
4. Set up some healthy prizes for when you achieve your goal. I may be eyeing a new purse, but I rather treat myself to some new workout gear. That cake looks awesome — I deserve it, don’t I? — but that Chai latte will be just as good. Be smart about it.
5. ENJOY, RELAX, & TAKE PLEASURE IN THE PROCESS! Getting in shape can be FUN. Eating right can be TASTY. Not picking at my fingers will probably FEEL BETTER. Not tapping the keyboard and avoiding my husband’s annoyance will probably FEEL BETTER.

See? Changing doesn’t have to be horrible. If you let it, it can be pretty badass.

(I just re-read this post. I tapped the keys. Dammit.)

“What’s this AdWords thing I keep hearing about? Is it Google’s new Facebook?”

A big chunk of the time I spend consulting consists of explaining new trends to executives who are slightly out of touch with the latest and greatest technologies out there. Let’s face it — Dropbox, Instagram, Evernote, and the iPad have changed the way we work forever. Put 10 senior marketing officials in a room and ask them about each of these, and chances are their eyes will light up only at the mention of the iPad.

“Evernote? Dropbox? Insta…gram? I’m getting a headache.” 

Like those three web and mobile marketing tools above, there are scores of others that are becoming even commonplace among younger generations but are still going largely untouched by the older crowd. There’s only one problem — up-and-coming digital customers have little mercy for brands that are not tech-savvy.

It’s time to get up to speed — your customers demand it.

1. You never have to lose any of your files every again. Backing up documents and using external hard drives as extra security is a thing of the ancient past. There’s no more risk of losing your companies logo files or even the pictures of your last family vacation. Dropbox has solved all of that for you — just watch their video.
2. Ideas can be captured 24/7. Get those notepads out of your car, gym bag, and nightstand. All of that idea capturing can be typed into your smartphone! Use Evernote to cpature any ideas you have, be in text, photo, and voice note, then store it in a section with relevant material. Easy to capture, and easy to find later on!
3. Being on the road just isn’t an excuse anymore. The rise of the smartphone has relieved the need to be stuck to a computer, but it has also allowed us to have access to our files from any corner of the world.
4. Marketing to new customers is getting cheaper. Yes, we all learned that retaining customers is cheaper than attaining new ones, but tools like Google AdWords begs to differ. Spending money on finding new clients can be measured and capped at any amount of money per day. Opening up a new location? Target users in just that area in a cinch.
5. Facebook isn’t the only social network out there. Job-seekers use LinkedIn, yes, but there are whole different worlds out there waiting for brands to discover them. Instagram is a photo sharing network for smartphones — Kate Spade and other brands are already snapping away ahead of the curve, showing off their brand personalities through images. Google Plus is a great place to host focus groups. Pinterest is the latest up-and-comer. Et cetera.
6. Traditional advertising is going out of style. This year, online advertising will beat out traditional advertising. That means that a lot of brands are banking on the fact that their customers are more susceptible to paying some attention to their brands in a digital space. Something tells me you should follow suit.
7. Hitting up influencers is becoming more important than clutter-like banner ads. A guest post on Tim Ferriss’s blog can do more for a person than a thousand Amazon reviews or a feature on primetime television. Influencers have created their communities over time, and their opinions have a greater impact on their followers than the traditional ad clutter.
8. Customers evaluate your value differently — not just as a product or service, but as a brand. They demand quality customer service, and a non-spammy digital relationship with you. They want emails that are interesting and worthwhile reads. They want communities of people that can help solve their problems. They want content that relates to your brand but also keeps them interested. They want and want and want. You are no longer are just in the business you are in — you are in whatever business they want you to be in.
9. Mobile devices mean a lot of change very quickly. Now that consumers are using their smartphones and tablets to surf the web, you need to optimize all of your web presences for mobile. That includes making sure your webpage views correctly, considering developing a mobile app for your company, and fixing your website to optimize for more general search keywords. So much more than you are aware of changes on mobile.
10. Google’s search page isn’t the only place to advertise online. First of all, try the Google Display Network to follow your customers around the web and flash your advertising at their every turn — it’s called remarketing, check it out. But also check out other online advertising opportunities — like the ever popular StumbleUpon. Branch out to platforms that give you more raw data on how clicked, how long they stayed, and why. Try Facebook, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, and more.

 I need to lose 10 pounds. No Facebook at work this week. This year, I will focus solely on customer service. I’m going to the gym every single day until I see my abs.

Nothing new, right? By now, I hope you are expecting what I’m about to say about this kind of thinking. C’mon, say it with me: Short-term change for short-term results. But, what is the point if the results fade away as soon as the change does? What is the point in making all that extra effort if the results are gone before you can say “I’m tired of trying”? Because you will get tired of trying — trust me.

Instead of focusing on these intense, short-term programs, why not create some kind of change that can be carried out even when you’re old and gray? What if the best habits you can create are the ones that aren’t limited by time, place, or age? What if you started practicing habits that you could continue doing deep into your latest years — bringing those life-changing results with you the entire way?

Here are a few suggestions on how to create the kind of sustainable change you can still be practicing when the grandchildren are running around your yard:

1. Look at the greatest — and oldest — people you know. They’ve made it so far with pretty good standing, so what kinds of habits led them there? I can assure you that they are still practicing these habits now. There are plenty of older runners faster than me and retirement-ready business people who are lightyears more efficient than I am.
2. Take the time to audit your own habits — work, fitness, hobbies, family, creativity, eating, and everything else. What do they consist of? Are they leading you to a better or worse place in your life? Heads up to all the teenagers out there with metabolism of steel: eating cheeseburgers every day isn’t going to take you anywhere good. But, also. Heads up to the twenty/thirty/forty-somethings out there with gym-rat tendencies: the joints won’t hold up much longer if you keep banging them the way you do.
3. Time to learn some yoga, play some golf, and buy a text-magnifying Kindle. Well, not only — but it’s a start. Take a look at some sports and activities that older folks are into. Chances are you might be doing those very things when you hit the older decades in life. My suggestion is to get good at them sooner rather than later. If that’s where you’re heading, embrace it and master it with all your energy, no? Even if that means reading books on a screen easy on the eyes with oversize text. Do what you gotta do.

See?! It is possible! Before you get any older, it’s up to you to take some of that habit-forming energy and put it to good use. Deal?

There’s a brand I love, a business I visit all the time and vouch for to anyone who will listen. The staff know me, and I’m a good recurring customer who brings friends all the time. And I decided to offer them some free stuff just because I love them so much. I went up to speak to the owners and made my offer.

Let’s just say it did not go well.

Insulted and humiliated, I sat back down, paid my bill, and high-tailed put of there, vowing to never return. To politely decline is one very acceptable thing, but to insult a customer’s profession and free offer is quite an unacceptable other. Faster than I could say “To each their own,” the business owner transformed me from a True Fan into a vehement naysayer.

It’s frustrating to think that hours of hard work can go into pleasing and serving a client, and that a one minute interaction can belittle it all to next to nothing. The positive is out the window, while what stays left behind is the sour taste of a sour encounter. It sounds frustrating, and it isn’t fair.

Brand loyalty should be stronger than that. Brand loyalty should be harder to break. But, the hard truth is that it isn’t hard to break at all.

One sour encounter, late shipment, moody customer service rep, faulty product, or lukewarm service — any single negative experience — can cause huge detriment to your brand immediately.

Are you safe-guarding your brand? Are your customer interactions positive? Is your staff well-trained? More importantly, are you delivering on your brand’s promise? Sure about that?

I’ve come to learn that what we think is abstract and different for each person is mostly the same all around. Most active change-makers and habit-shakers follow a strict routine in making life healthier and more enjoyable. Those that excel at creating sustainable change usually do it a certain way — a strict routine than can easily be replicated by any of us.

So, let’s do it. Together.

Each and every day, we practice all sorts of things both positive and negative. We practice brushing our teeth in the morning. We practice succumbing to the need for coffee for energy. We practice listening to the voices inside our heads that talk us out of visiting our buddy, the gym. We practice everything to near perfection, and breaking that practice can take extreme efforts — efforts that scare us into not trying at all.

Step 1: Change one thing at a time. One month at a time.

The slower we change our ways, the more likely we are to transform these new attempts into life-long habits — habits that can serve us for the rest of our lives. Therefore, we’re going to have one habit-change per month — and no more than that.

That is a strict rule we will not be breaking. Do not attempt a new change until the month is up. Next month, you can try something new.

Giving ourselves four to five weeks to incorporate these challenges into our everyday life will allow enough time for each new habit to become second nature. Who needs a push to eat healthier after five weeks of not eating fast food? One look at a Big Mac, and I assure you you’ll feel the grease pumping into your heart.

What will you change this month? I’m going for a shopping-free January, but I have bigger, healthier plans for February.

People you know like this blog. You like this blog. (Right?)

On Twitter, nearly double that amount of people are interested in reading my shenanigans on how to carve out a better living in both personal and business instances. Our lives are increasingly being overwrought by all the time we spend trying to make some money. It makes sense to try to make both of these avenues better at the same time.

Personal life and business life– they’re both very much a part of us, so they’re both very much a part of this blog.

Lots of people out there are looking for help in these two areas. Some want to find the motivation to better themselves. Others are looking for the information they need to take their business from Awesome to Incredibly Badass. Let’s face it — everyone wants to be happier, and both of these avenues help get us there.

How about subscribing to automatic (free) email updates?

The best (and easiest/laziest) way of reading this blog is to sign up for email updates. It’s this easy: click, enter email, submit. Why not, right? It’d be awesome if you encouraged some of your friends to subscribe, as well. The more the merrier on this here blog of badassery.

Or you can share this post with some people you think might be interested.

I bet you can think of at least 5 people you know that are interested in the type of stuff we discuss here on this here blog of badassery. (More than 5?! Good! That’s okay, too.) Below this post, there are some share buttons. See them? All the way to the right, you’ll find a very cute little icon for email. Go ahead. Click it. Send to some friends. Voila, all done!

I write to help you all out there find the betterment you deserve. In turn, you share it with friends to help others out there find betterment, too.

If we’re lucky, they’ll join the community, leave helpful comments, and we’ll all learn something new about how best to upgrade from a life of Awesome to a life of Complete Badassery. Yes/yes? Thought so.

How many times have you convinced yourself to eat one last piece of cheesecake — just one more? Or that it’s too late to make it to the gym — not enough time between gym and the next thing on the to-do list? How about putting off that call to grandma until tomorrow — today is busy, but tomorrow for sure?

The mind is talking, and we mostly (and wrongly) let it talk us into so many wrong decisions each and everyday.

There is an easy way to beat it. The easiest way of all. No more late-night snacks and convincing yourself that you’re just fine doing a little less work this week. No more convincing yourself of anything, really — with just this one trick.

Recognize the voice of the mind. Say hello, and settle in to listen to the ridiculousness of all the bullshit the mind is saying twentyfour hours a day.

When you are aware of the voices within you, you can ignore them. You listen, recognize the ridiculousness for what it is, let it pass (because it always does, within a few seconds), and move on with your day.

Consider them strong noises of the wind that come and go on a whim — they do come, but they always go.