PebbleStorm Story

PebbleStorm “ Make Money Through Enjoyment” DRAFT DRAFT

“ Make Money Through Enjoyment”

Who Should Care About PebbleStorm…
If you’d like to:
Make more money, have more fun & help more people!
Have a say in the how, what, when & where you work
Make money from doing what you love, even while you sleep, or from Argentina, or from Kauai…
Create profitable businesses with 4 hours of work (I’ve done this twice already)

Use the Downturn To Your Advantage
Business has changed
Reflect on your dream business
Finally move on it
Selling/Promotion-> Attraction
Push > Pull

What if you could Make more $$$ ,
Have more fun
And make a bigger difference From doing what you love?

Example: Tim Ferriss
Author #1 Bestseller, “The 4-Hour Workweek”
“ The Indiana Jones for the digital age”
Travel, mini-retirements, life hacking, Tango, breakdancing, “Trial By Fire” TV show…
www.FourHourWorkWeek.com

Roadmap To The 4-Hour Workweek
If you love your work, is it still “work”?
Goal: spend only a few hours per week on work you don’t like by creating a business:
Out of what you enjoy, and
That generates passive income

Aaron Ross
Past
CEO of LeaseExchange: $0
Director at Salesforce.com: $100 Million
‘ Entrepreneur-in-Residence’ at Alloy Ventures: $1B
Current
PebbleStorm: “Make money through enjoyment”
CEOFlow: “Grow revenue through enjoyment”
DataSalad.com, ColdCalling2.com, Nitro.la…

Why I Created PebbleStorm

What Is PebbleStorm?
PebbleStorm is an organization that helps people “make money through enjoyment” by supporting anyone in their creation of any Dream Business , with:
Guidance (blog, book, etc.)
Monthly conference calls
PebbleStorm Groups

Where The Name Came From
Small Pebble
Big Wave

Combines The Best Of…
Capitalism…
Financial abundance
Creative evolution
Satisfying needs
Buddhism…
Happiness
Integrity
Letting go of needs

Align What Makes You Happy
Is your work aligned with your life purpose/Unique Genius?
“ Leaves ” are Fleeting Pleasures that last minutes to weeks, such as the enjoyment from closing a big deal
“ Branches ” are Enduring Satisfactions that last for years, such as a career
The “ Trunk ” is Lifetime Meaning , such as your Unique Genius. This is what most people are missing
Everything springs from your Mindset, the “ Roots ” , the source of health or dysfunction of the entire tree

Align What Makes You Happy

Example: Al Gore
Al Gore came alive after politics and in doing “An Inconvenient Truth”
He reconnected with his “trunk”, the environment
Net worth: >$100 million*
*Fast Company, July 2007

PebbleStorm In Its Simplest Form
Envision your Dream Business & tap into your Unique Genius
Keeping taking babysteps towards creating your Dream Business
Practice patience while it evolves
1 2 3

Reflect, Play, Attract, Package, Receive

PebbleStorm’s 5 Steps
REFLECT – What is your Dream Business? Unique Genius?
PLAY – What is your ‘voice’, and how would you share it with others? (Blog, events, video…) How would you mash your passions?
ATTRACT – Who is drawn in by your ‘voice’? How can you build an audience?
PACKAGE – What kinds of products, services can you offer to your audience? (Either from yourself or others)
RECEIVE – Income and growth naturally flow to you

Unique Genius Is Your Power

What Is Your Unique Genius? How can you mash-up your talents, in ways that you enjoy, and that are meaningful to yourself and other?

Unique Genius Examples
Aaron Ross: “Make money through enjoyment”
Yanik Silver, “Make more $, have more fun, give more back”
www.MaverickBusinessAdventures.com
Steve Pavlina, “Personal development for smart people”
www.StevePavlina.com
Max Simon, “Instill some stillness in the world”
www.GetSelfCentered.com
Amy Applebaum, “Help people create lives they can’t wait to wake up to”
www.BootcampForYourMind.com
Kacy Paide, “Creating the Centerpiece of Your Success”
www.TheInspiredOffice.com

Sample Questions
If you didn’t have to make money and could do anything for work, what would it be?
What are all the things you enjoy doing?
What do people come to you for advice on?
What do people keep telling you you should do?
What are you so good at that you don’t even realize it, because it’s as natural as breathing?
Who would you help with your business, and how?
At 8 years old, what did you want to do, and why?

A Dream Business: Inspire Yourself!
On a blank sheet of paper, ask yourself “If I was assured of success and could do A N Y T H I N G for work, I would…”
“My dream business would be…”
How would you make it enjoyable or fun , for yourself & others? What would be your ‘twist’?

“Don’t Let The Bozos Get You Down”
-Guy Kawasaki, Author ‘Art of the Start’
Easy to spot: the grumpy, cynical people who shoot down all your ideas
Harder to spot: the "successful bozo" wearing a nice suit

Example: Yanik Silver
Took a blank sheet of paper and designed his dream business of how to “Make more money, have more fun, give more back”
Adventure, CEO networking, helping others
www.MaverickBusinessAdventures.com

My Dream Business, PebbleStorm, helps others create their own Dream Businesses.
… while working when, how, with whom and from where I want.
Example: Aaron Ross

Mash Your Passions How could you combine your favorite things all into one business? Yoga + poetry + travel + X = ?

Example: Adventure Yoga Retreats
Ted McDonald combines yoga, world travel and excursions
The beaches of Fiji, horseback riding in Patagonia, safari in Africa…
www.AdventureYogaRetreats.com

YOU Are Your Own Worst Enemy
“ I don’t have a great idea”
“ I don’t have any time”
“ I don’t have any money”
“ My friends & family discourage me”
“ I’m not an entrepreneur”
“ I can’t focus”
“ What if I fail?”
“ I’ve never done this”
“ I didn’t go to Stanford”
“ I don’t know where to start”
“ I’m not special enough”
“ I don’t have connections”

I Designed PebbleStorm For ANYONE
You don’t need much time (just a few hours per week or month)
You don’t need money
Or even ideas, support, connections…
Everyone feels the fear (yes, me too)
YOU are the only thing holding yourself back from making money through enjoyment!

I Designed PebbleStorm For ANYONE
All you need is to be able to:
Be authentic with yourself,
Take babysteps, and
Practice patience
I’ve proved this works through my own personal experience

Examples: Aaron Ross
I’ve been planting seeds for businesses for 2 years, taking advantage of my Unique Genius(es)
Time per business per week: 1-4 hours
Startup capital required: $10 (for the URL)

At the Receive step
Generates $2,000 per month in passive income
Created it with 4 hours of work
It’s a “business mashup” that offers a product of my partner, Brian Mackley, to my sales & marketing audience
DataSalad.com: “Fresh B2B Marketing Data”

ColdCalling2.com - “Create predictable revenue”
At the Package step
For sale: “Success Kits” for sales reps and managers
Offering it to my existing sales & marketing audience
Profitable day 1, after creating the site and product in 4 hours

CEOFlow - “Grow revenue through enjoyment”
‘ PebbleStorm for CEOs’
At the Attract / Package steps
Monthly CEO meetings in San Francisco, Los Angeles

Nitro.la : “Getting more companies funded in Greater Los Angeles”
A non-profit mentoring network with USC, CalTech, UCLA
At the Attract steps
My salary: $0, but –
I get to help entrepreneurs, & attract CEO & VC audiences

Don’t Quit Your Dayjob
Starting from scratch, it can take 1-3 years to receive enough (non-consulting) income from your businesses to support yourself
Your dayjob, or other source of income, gives you the breathing room to let your businesses evolve authentically

Fun & Play Are Great Business! How can you add fun to work for yourself, your employees and your customers? Even with something simple, like sketching?

Example: Zappos!
Ranked #23 on Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For
Zappos’ revenue was more than $1 Billion in 2008
“ Zappos avoids serious titles & uses parties, parades and decorations to open up trust and communication between depts…and to bring customers in on the fun.”

The Golden Rule
“ Always follow your enjoyments”
Every day, find ways to do
more of what you enjoy,
and less of what you don’t

The Golden Rule
Not enjoying something at work? Shoot it with an “ARROw”…
EliminAte: what if you just didn’t do it?
Redesign: how can you change it to make it more enjoyable? What’s a better alternative?
Reframe: how can you find ways to look at it positively?
Outsource: can someone else do it?

The “Hard” Work of PebbleStorm
The hard work is not about hours or effort
It’s the ‘inner’ hard work of:
Commitment to yourself, rather than sacrificing for others
Letting go of limiting beliefs & neediness
Letting go of ego
Patience

Be Patient
Doubling the temperature won’t bake a cake faster
Patience:
Enhances clarity
Increases enjoyment
Creates time

Example: “Ideas Bowl”
Write one idea per post-it as you have them
Toss into a bowl (or envelope or…)
Go through the pile every few weeks
Toss 80-90%+ as duplicates, dumb or irrelevant
Savor the time created by not working on them 
Patience becomes easier with practice.
I’ve been working on it for two years!

Making The Transition
Roadmap
Treasure Map

PebbleStorm In Its Simplest Form
Envision your Dream Business & tap into your Unique Genius
Keeping taking babysteps towards creating your Dream Business
Practice patience while it evolves
1 2 3

Act Small Take a babystep, no matter how small, at least once per month. What can you get done in an hour or three?

Examples of Babysteps
Meet for lunch or dinner with friends to share ideas
Brainstorm business names
Buy some URLs
Write & reflect on your dream business or Unique Genius
Write out a list of blog topics or event ideas
Storyboard a video or presentation
Sketch an image
Draft a website from scratch, for free, on www.WordPress.com or www.Synthasite.com
I built www.DataSalad.com in a few hours

I’m a Bridge

Example: Onna Young
9 months ago:
Struggling saleswoman
Today
Successful sales job (main income)
CEO of ColdCalling2.com
Marketing group
Mananonymous
etc

Option 1: Self-Study
Explore your Dream Business & Unique Genius by writing & talking with friends
Worksheet on PebbleStorm.com/Get-Started
Get a group of entrepreneurial friends together monthly, say for a potluck dinner
Take a babystep of any kind – just do something!

Option 2: The PebbleStorm Program
Description
Find out more, hear samples, and sign up at
www.PebbleStorm.com/Get-Started

Option 3: Special Situations
Description
Find out more at

Thank You!
Find out more up at

PebbleStorm Story

by Aaron Ross on Feb 01, 2009

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

2 Embeds 82

Statistics

PebbleStorm Story — Presentation Transcript

http://pebblestorm.com	80
http://www.slideshare.net	2