GenJuice

GenJuice is a 13 city tour that aims to connect and highlight young innovators, influencers and go-getters across the nation. Hitting major cities like SanFrancisco, Atlanta, Chicago, New York and more, they have been sharing their adventures and workshifting along the way at co-working buildings, at empty desks at start-up companies's offices and filming every step of the way. With help from sponsors Justin.tv, BazaarVoice, The Cash Flow and more they have the support of the young tech and entrepreneurship crowd and bring an interesting unconference style that draws from the personalities of the co-founders, Arielle Patrice-Scott, Virgilia Singh and Danielle Leslie. Look for GenJuice coming to a city near you!

The Way Below Status Quo Tour

This adventurous journey is the coming together of 3 nomad and lifestyle design bloggers and entrepreneurs - Colin Wright, Andi Norris and Ashley Ambirge who wanted to bring interested, motivated individuals together to facilitate in-person, connect with the communities that have supported their respective online endeavors and create a link between both groups, essentially forging a network of remarkable people that's tighter than Fort Knox. Sounds pretty ambitious and it is. They will be dropping into most of America during the trek, navigating unconferences, volunteering with charities, organizing meetups and looking to find other inspired young individuals. I'll be hanging out with the crew at their Orlando put stop on July 12th.

What Are Your Summer Workshifting Plans?

With more and more young people going after their dreams, working from the road and joining co-working spots, there is an immense opportunity to collaborate, brainstorm and integrate your ideas with that of others. The advent of Workshifting is helping to make this more and more real everyday. So as the temperature gets warmer here, what are your workshifting plans this summer? Do you want to get out of the office more and work remotely (say from a nice beach) or do you want to take your show on the road, generate experiences with your customers, readers and fans? Whatever your plans are, feel free to share in the comments below.

This week I saw a great video with pop and hip-hop super producer Timbaland and his office on wheels so to say. This thing is pretty extravagant. Way beyond anything that many of us reading this little blog post would ever dream up (or would like to pump money into). But nonetheless, the guy is making top 10 Billboard singles on a bus.

Check out the video below:

So my question to you guys is that if Timbo can be doing this, why can't you do what you need to do from where you need to? Surely we don't need Pro Tools or huge mixing boards and synthesizers. All we need is a laptop, some web apps and maybe some old fashioned pen and paper?

But here's the problem I think many of us get caught up with - the tools. Adapting the tools to work with our companies, our clients and the environments that are "supposed" to work together. I can tell you that if 2 weeks after the iPad came out you would have Rana Sobhany making sweet mixes and rocking crowds with "2 iPads and a microphone" then you can surely figure it out.

I am going a little over the top here. It surely has to be more complicated. I was reading over the data from the new Workshifting white paper and its really flooring the positive change that a few days at home will have on our entire economic framework. Billions of dollars saved. More productivity. Less reliance on price-gauged natural resources. It's nuts right?

It's a total no-brainer? Then why are more companies not jumping through hoops to make the change? I don't really have that answer, but I do know that change is hard. Like driving the lane towards Dwight Howard hard (Go Magic!).

My generation (the young bucks with big mouths) may be more open to this environment. We are writing books that chronicle these ideas and principles and educating people on how it has positively affected their business. We are creating networks with thousands of influential players that all want to talk about work.

Are people listening?

My hope is that one day we'll all dance with these ideas like we do on Friday nights to one of Timbaland's bass heavy singles. Till that day, we'll keep leading by example and workshifting our butts off, while they sit in their cubes, water cooler chatting and roaming from meeting to meeting.

That's a song I'll listen to all day long. Cheers.

Bandize / Basecamp

One of the first things we teach musicians is to treat their music like a business. That may be an easy concept for many reading this site to understand, yet many musicians are running their career like a hobby. The first step beyond all the legal mumbo-jumbo is to get organized and start tracking progress of all the things happening in the band. We use project management software to do this. For smaller indie bands we go with Bandize, a project management software made specifically for musicians where they can track everything from mileage to gigs to inventory, accounting and more - all from a very nice user interface that gets even the most computer loathing musicians in tune. For those bands with a bit more going on, we use Basecamp from the 37 Signals crew. It gives more power to the big projects and allows us to tie in all kinds of users from promoters to PR to techies to booking agents, managers and even the band members themselves.

Email Solutions

photo by LoneGunMan

The largest asset a band has are its fans. They dictate the income, travel and release schedules for all musicians that are paying the bills through their art. When artists are on the road they need quick and effective ways to communicate with all their rabid fans. For us, we teach that the email is the most valuable metric to their business and we have gone on to show that more than 30% of their revenue will come as a direct result of the emails they send. There are countless email software providers and each has its own little quirks and features. In the music industry there is FanBridge and Reverbnation that are the two big players for indie artists. Again when the musician gets to a point where their skills pay the bills we look into larger solutions like Aweber or InfusionSoft.

Bandcamp

In the music sharing space the hands down leader is BandCamp. This service allows you to upload high quality .wav files and distribute them to your fans in a multitude of ways including

• Pay What You Want
• Per Track
• Per Album
• Free W/ an Email
• Free W/no Email
• With physical merch
• In any format of your choosing (.mp3, FLAC, WAV, etc)

I can't say enough about the service other than they rock and will be a huge player in the direct to fan movement happening in the music business right now.

 

Google Suite of Tools

What business would be complete without good old Google. From the web apps to the smartphone connectivity nearly all communications go through Google in one way or another. Whether its brand management through Google Alerts, managing a street team with Google Groups, checking Basecamp and fan mail in Gmail or reading up on some trends with Google Reader, we can go on and on about the "G." The best part for a band. They are all free, which fits right in their price range.

Mobile Blogging With Wordpress

Fans love interaction and they love seeing behind the scenes. Technology has really helped give musician's the edge here as their ability to quickly and consistently post photos, videos and text to their official sites has become very seamless and effective. Wordpress is our weapon of choice, however posting updates to a Tumblr account is just as easy. The simplicity of sending an email to your Wordpress account as a post means that even on the road or on someone's couch they can keep their fans updated with the latest happenings. There are plenty of other tools, yet you have to draw the line somewhere. We keep seeing new industries get into the location independence mindset. I love learning about them. Let's share some other tools and industries that help make this lifestyle attainable.

A few years ago this discussion wouldn't be happening. It is (or was) the American Dream to buy a home and pay a boat load for it during the prime years of your life. The years when you are starting a family, have a secure job and could afford the nicely wrapped payments mixed between the two weeks of vacation you were given from your employer. Over the past two years the mindsets of many people (including myself) have changed.

For some, time has become more important than income and material things. Experiences, people and memories serve as souvenirs from a life well lived. No longer were we subject to the white picket fence that meant we had to settle down in one place for as long as possible.

In the workshifting, lifestyle design and internet business world, we are coming to a piece of mind that renting may actually be a better option to this lifestyle. Renting allows us the freedom to move from place to place, traveling the country or the world and putting our saved monies into other investments, or even in experiencing more things. A recent article from Housing Watch notes that "a mere 55% of adults say buying a home is the best investment families can make."

Personally, I still believe in the power of real estate investments. But my mindset in working from home, the beach or the park tells me that 6-12 month rentals are not only freeing mentally, but they can save you a ton of money in the short term to enjoy your time. I am not pretending to be an expert in real estate (I read everything I can get my hands on, but still get confused), but I can see that investing in a home that is depreciating faster than the interest is rising is not a good financial plan for my own future. Much like many of us have made the decision to work location independent, whether for a company or out on our own - we did it to better our situations in life.

A recent article from the LA Times echoes that fact for people in upside down mortgages as proposed by Professor Brent T. White:

Go ahead. Break the chains. Stop paying on your mortgage if you owe more than the house is worth. And most important: Don't feel guilty about it. Don't think you're doing something morally wrong.

Renting may be the answer, but maybe its not. In my own life, I am torn between these 2 worlds. There are benefits and advantages to both. What I want to do is turn the conversation over to the community and see what you think of the situation.  What do you think about the following questions:

• Are you renting or do you own a home?
• Have you thought of foreclosing, a short sale, etc?
• How do you manage your travel and work schedule with your living situation?

Let's learn from each other in this community. To buy or not to buy, that is only part of the question!

Photo Credit: Azhure

Ah the holidays. Time for family, for food and giving and a few days off to relax, unwind and send people to your out-of-office auto replies. It's also a time when many people travel and have to adjust to a changing schedule for workshifting, fitness and eating.

My Christmas weekend was no different. Over in Daytona with my wife's family we enjoyed an amazing Florida holiday weekend filled with fun, family and food. Over the last two months I have been working hard to work out, fighting to get back into shape (that seems to have escaped me after those high school baseball days) so that I can stay healthy working long days on a laptop. With a new sleep pattern, a full house and some rain, it made working out a little more difficult. Luckily I had a built in personal trainer on site.

My brother in law, Barry Heyden, is the former strength coach for the NY Mets and came well prepared to keep me on my holiday schedule. During the 4 days I had the opportunity to learn to use things that are available and also time allotments to get the most of my workouts. No one wants to spend 45 minutes to an hour on vacation getting sweaty by themselves and no one wants to carry a portable gym on an airplane (plus I'm sure TSA wouldn't be too happy about that!). Barry had the solution that I am going to share with you today that really any traveler can use to get the most of their traveling adventures and still feel like they are in the hometown gym or running a few miles around the neighborhood.

It's All About The Core

The core as in the midsection where all the turkey, pasta and sweets have taken over (though it was so tasty to eat).

When putting together a quick holiday exercise plan the focus was on working the core and building heart rate quickly. We performed a slew of exercises from push-ups with some bicycle kicks in between each rep to leg lifts with the bike kicks. All with a high intensity and short rest time. This got the blood pressure to rise and the lungs to begin to strengthen.

Multitask

The next best suggestion from Barry was to work as many muscles with each exercise as possible. Remember that we are working in a short window of time. Maybe 20 minutes before breakfast, or a quick break in the action in the afternoon. The more you can accomplish with one group of exercises the better.

We started with a squat to shoulder press. No lie, but this was tough. We started with arms in the air with a broom stick. Then we went down to squat, bringing the bar down. Before we attempted to stand up, we raised the bar and then came back into the start position. Doing a set of 15 really whipped us into a quick sweat, working the legs, core and shoulders with one quick minute long exercise.

When you are creating your hotel workout, look for similar activities to work many areas of the body. There are plenty of add-on exercises and motions that can turn single muscle exercises into multiple with a little creativity and thought.

Hydrate With Water

Whether on the road workshifting or having fun on the holidays it is very easy to pick up a cola, beer or loaded fruit juice. Barry said this was a huge mistake that many of the Mets players also had. Keep replenishing yourself with water and your body will cool down and recover faster. Adding sugars will only slow the growth process. Also look for a quick healthy snack after going through a quick training. Carrot sticks or apple slices are easy ones and they can even be picked up at the hotel convenience store or local grocery store.

Above All Else, Shoot For High Intensity

I know as good as anyone how easy it is to relax, throw the feet up and say I'll get back to it when I get home.

Going hard for 20 minutes can be the best thing you do all day as it gets not only your body but your mind stimulated and ready for a rocking day. Whether that be meetings, presenting or giving superior attention to the family. The key here is to have a quick plan of action to keep yourself in a high intensity physical mind frame for 15-20 minutes. The number of reps or sets is irrelevant. Going quickly and with full focus from pushups to lunges to laptop curls will ensure that you keep yourself in a ready and mobile state. Above all else it will allow you to survive the equivalent of the freshman 15.

What are your holiday and hotel workshifting fitness tips? I'd love to hear what gets you going on the road (even if it's just to get away from the crazy in-laws for a few minutes!).

Photos by: ex.libris & Playtime Fitness

Many cubicle employees dream of being able to work from home, either for their current employer or through stretching out on their own as an entrepreneur - living the dream! In my own quest and through talking with other home bound warriors I have been thinking about some mental and psychological triggers and how that affects their performance and their growth.

Below are just some ideas around 5 Mental Workshifting Triggers that affect the way you work away from a traditional office.

Time Management

The first is a critical aspect to your success working from a non corporate office environment. How you spend your time dictates your success. Spend too much time on noncritical tasks and your paycheck, clients and output suffer. Spend too much time working on growing your business or working on tasks and you miss out of the benefits of location independent based working. There are plenty of sites and resources geared towards productivity.

This group includes:

To Do and Task Management - Remember the Milk, TaDa List, Prioritiz'd
Project Management - Bacecamp, Front Office Box
Life Hacking - Life Hacker, Zen Habits
Lifestyle Design - Four Hour Work Week, The Life Design Project, Rock Star Lifestyle Design Outsourcing - Source Control, eLance, Guru
Automation - TubeMogul, Ping.fm

Time management is something that many teach and few actually follow through. Personally I try one system every week only to play on Twitter and read RSS Feeds for hours and wake up and smell the deadlines. The best system I have found so far is the one that fits your goals and growth plans. Those that are ambitious and strive for excellence manage their time much differently than those with lackluster or passion driven goals (or those with no or undefined goals). Every person will manage their time differently from David Allen and the Getting Things Done system to the freelancer working a 9-5 and fitting in client projects with every waking minute, break and crack of free time in the day.

The end goal here is to find a system that fits within your values:

Step 1 - Define your values and goals.
Step 2 - Figure out what it will take to get there.
Step 3 - Manage your time to succeed.

Motivation

The second touch point is personal and professional motivation to perform the work. Seeing the body language and the amount of effort it takes to give and receive response, many home based workers have a tendency to be, for lack of a better synonym, lazy. Getting out of bed, putting on appropriate clothing and getting serious in your spare bedroom or makeshift office is a difficult task for many remote based workers.

How do we program ourselves to be motivated and excited to get out of bed 6 months, 12 months, 2 years after we begin working at home. The feeling you had the first week out of the office is now very distant and the same problems will begin to arise. Remember your first week on your own? Coffee was on at 6am, you ran a few miles before dawn and hopped out the shower with a crisp pair of jeans and even did your hair like you had a million dollar client meeting? Now it's 6 months down the road and the alarm snoozes till 8am. The run has turned into walking the dog to the "spot" and back and your basketball shorts and company picnic tee make your uniform look, well, you get the picture.

One of the keys to motivation is to always have something to be motivated about. If you are working from home just to get by, well, its going to be no different than mulling around in the office. If you started a company and became complacent with your clients and your income, well, then, get used to the groggy 8am wake up call. One piece of advice I got from John Jantsch (Duct Tape Marketing) is that we all need to be striving for the next thing. We all need to be treating our work like we are starting a business, the business of you. What I took from this is that we all need to be working towards "awesome" and whatever that is for you. For me it's a picture of an Audi R8 and some beach front property, right next to a picture of my wife. For me it's breaking free and living on my own terms and everyday I wake up, see these pictures, glance at my goals and get to work before the sun cracks the window.

Finding that motivation is going to be different for you and you will be inspired in different ways. The one thing I know if that we don't NEED Tony Robbins to whip us into shape, we need to find that fire deep down in ourselves and then seize the day!

Single Child Syndrome

One thing that many are not prepared for is the realization that you are working by yourself, in your home, alone. We attempt to supplement this with Twitter chat, Facebook and IM, but the fact is that human to human interaction is such a strong part of how we grow, learn and develop. Communication with people, like real, breathing people is something that helps me get through the day and can always give me a second to remember that no matter what business you are in its a people business.

Some cures for the single child syndrome can include conferences and events. The number one reason people go to large seminars and events is to meet people and learn things. They want to exchange cards, talk about their business and learn about yours. There are conferences and large scale events for every niche, every industry and every hobby on the planet. Some of the best networking for me has come from events where not everyone was a marketer. I've gone to food and restaurant trade shows and events to meet restaurant owners to talk Social Media and online marketing and as one of the only marketing agencies there I had some great conversations that were interesting and a great time that led to great relationships and ultimately business in the long run.

Possibly the newest form of live bodies in a room is the Tweetup. Get on Twitter, find some locals and find a place to hang out. Cheap, effective and very powerful for local community building. Other great sources of finding live bodies (aka not Twilight'ian vampires) Upcoming - Yahoo crowdsourced directory of goings-on in your neighborhood Eventful - Events based on location Mashable's Guide To Events.

Rotating Office Chairs

The 4th trigger is your ever changing office chair, and I don't mean the seasonal upgrade at Ikea (although that would make for a great Christmas gift if anyone is thinking of sending one my way). What I mean is the ever changing office settings from coffee shops to Panera's to makeshift home workstations to buses, planes and waiting places. When you were working in an office or going to school, you were prepared for the everyday consistency. You knew your seat, the time to be there, the people that would surround you and you basically had a routine. Now that your boss gave you some freedom or you made it on your own, your environment is no longer consistent. Even in your local coffee shop your table or chair may change, the traffic flow can fluctuate, new distractions come into play and your routine is now a routine of adjusting to your surroundings.

While you may be thinking that the freedom of choosing your workspace is awesome (and personally I think it is), there are certain time and space constraints that need to come into consideration. I for one, create a great deal of videos for my membership sites and filming screen casts are not going to happen at Panera. Other limitations can include download and upload speeds (even your home connection may not be as strong as those T1's at the old office).

The key here again to to determine your needs and evaluate locations in your hometown that match your goals and workload. For me it's a combination of working at home and in some local spots that allow me to be comfortable and get in the zone to write, record and manage my day-to-day activities. I also plan my days to fit the times at these local spots when I can best utilize their environment. For me its the post breakfast time. I find that arriving at 9am is a great time to get in some culture, then find quiet and hit the zone before the lunch rush. At home, its early mornings before my wife wakes up. I'd love to learn more about your limitations with your rotating office chair. (Share in the comments below)

Communication

The last major factor that I have been studying is the communication piece. I have found that in my companies and in many others this is still a major barrier to growth and stability. While the tools may be there, the lack of follow through and discipline inside of organizations is extremely disappointing. This can include email overhaul at the top of the list. A booking agent friend of mine sees over 200 emails from artists, other agencies, venues and major players every single day. This doesn't include the social media requests and general email. That is 200 emails that typically need a response and posiibly need it with time sensativity (a band en route needing directions or confirmation on a show time). This makes his business awfully difficult to manage even though he can work from anywhere at anytime.

Interestingly enough we live in an information society that can have answers to complex problems in a matter of seconds yet have payments sent to wrong addresses, sent to wrong people in the wrong format or miss the ball with time zones for scheduling. Communication is the number one reason businesses fail and succeed. From hiring new employees, freelancers or outsourcing - the ability to send clear and concise directions can be a major challenge. For work at home employes, being able to communicate virtually and maintain the level of activity can be very challenging out of the gate.

The best resources are only as good as the pilots using them. For my love of tools like RTM or Basecamp, if the orgization or individual fail to use them, the tools ultimately fail (or the user does, depends on whose eyes you are looking from). For many people and entrepreneurs in particular, the idea of communication while workshifting needs to be a top priority as the other elements we have talked about today fall into line if there is routine and efficient communication.

Conclusion

Today I really wanted to share some ideas and concepts that have been brewing in my head over the last few weeks. These are challenges in my own business and in businesses that I have the pleasure of learning about or working for. They all tend to be different for every business but the same in nature and the way you go about setting triggers and responses to combat the situations.

The main theme is surrounding your business and your work with actionable goals that continue to help you grow. Once you have these goals it becomes much easier to develop communication strategies, adapt to work environments, work with teams or by yourself, get motivated and manage your time. Let's talk in the comments below and see how you manage and work with these problems.

Photo by: David R. Carroll

In a recent cover story in Business Week, Gen-Y was painted as a helpless group. A large population that is settling for underpaying opportunities, moving into fields just to have a cube to call home or staying home with mom and dad while they wait out the Recovery Plan. Only 46% of people aged 16-24 had jobs in September of this year. Where does Gen-Y go?

School

They can head back to school. This certainly seems like a viable option. Learn more stuff and in turn, look more experienced or fit for a job a few years down the road. The options range from Grad School to Tech and Trade Vocations. While this may only dig you deeper into debt, it does prolong the idea of going out into the workforce and not finding something you love to wake up to do everyday.

Start a Business

Gen-Y can opt to start their own business. This is something that Gen-Y is taking to heart and in record numbers. Donna Fenn, author of Upstarts interviewed over 150 Gen-Y entrepreneurs for her book and was amazed at the growth, maturity and leadership qualities found in these young business owners. When we talked a few weeks ago, she mentioned that many of these companies (and not all are Internet companies) had better visions, customer service and creativity than most big businesses.

The Freelancing, Blogging, Career Hopper

A close friend of mine has had an awesome time in her 20's. Heading up organizations in college, landing internships with mega media companies and graduating at the top of her class was just the beginning. When she left UCF doors seemed to open for her. She started at a magazine as an assistant and left as an assistant publisher. Next was freelance writing, a little time off and some brand building. Next was an opportunity at a large production company running their marketing department part-time. With Fridays off, she was free to frequent the coffee shops, browse through Guru.com or eLance and pick the jobs for her price. Her latest opportunity brings her to a Fortune 500 as a contracted writer where she got to name her price and hours. This makes her an asset to the company, builds her portfolio and gives her the freedom to enjoy her 20's while focusing on her future.

Lifting Rocks

The case of my friend is not an uncommon path. Take a look at the bloggers over at Brazen Careerist. I bet over half have links to freelance design, consulting or coaching. Those same people are working full time, looking for new opportunities and building huge personal brands that will enable them to work on their terms with companies they believe in.

The Gen-Y's in the Business Week article are depicted as the victims. The jobless in a nation faced with major unemployment problems. I like to call them the unmotivated. There are jobs. There are opportunities. You just need to lift the rocks before you can look under them.

Gen-Y gets a lot of press for a bevy of reasons. I just wanted to point out that the do'ers, not the say'ers are today's hit makers and there are plenty of do'ers within Gen-Y. I know Donna can introduce you to 150 of them. Brazen another 500 or so. Let's go say hi.

Photo by: billaday

For the past 3 years Rock For Hunger has grown from a small group of college students into, well, a larger group of college students that are impacting the Orlando community in major ways. From throwing $20,000 concerts and events, to helping people find jobs, initiating lifestyle design programs, tutoring underprivileged children and feeding close to 200 homeless every week, they are able to do all of this without an office, a home base or a paid employee.

The group is led by a group of 20-something change agents (disclosure - I am one of them), sprinkled in with a few thirty somethings. The mission is to inspire individuals of all cultures to join together through music, education and peaceful solutions in order to end the cycle of hunger and poverty. This is done with the help of online communication tools, a strong internship and volunteer program and the ability to adapt to change and surroundings. Meetings have been held in places ranging from public libraries, board member homes, Panera's, mom and pop coffee shops, random office spaces, parks, college campuses, music venues, dressing rooms, over the phone and all sorts of interesting places that never have enough chairs to fit the inspirational Gen-Y's that lend their time, ideas and actions.

The group has grown organically, with volunteers coming from college clubs that bring in new Freshmen every year, friends that bring their friends, bands that bring fans and out reached family members who want to lend a hand. Rallying with weekly and monthly emails, a homeless blog, Twitter accounts, Facebook messages, events and physical meetups, everyone comes ready to deliver regardless of the physical environment with with they are located.

Success stories have come from cell phone calls to local education centers offering certificates in forklift certification to building resumes on laptops in library study cubes resulting in job placement at local hotels and security firms. This has all been made possible by technology and the ability to act and use the technology to find an answer to a problem. Think of the iPhone app commercials. There is a "hope" for that.

For the homeless Rock For Hunger serves, they all work virtually. Workshifting from one site to another, all trying to make a means to an end for the day. Having a place to seek refuge every Monday night for a few hours and kick back with friends, while looking at ways to improve their tomorrow in an office they enjoy visiting. There is no coming in late and everyone gets their questions answered by the boss. The concerts serve as places to not only showcase the product (helping the homeless), but recruit new team members (volunteers), give the community an opportunity to give back (sponsors) and for people to have a good time (the music). It is part conference/trade show and part job fair. It mixes entertainment with guest speakers, images of the impact in the community and ways to act - from Tweeting about the experience, signing up to volunteer, blogging to sharing photos and finding donors to make it all possible. In essence, it is a driving force behind the main product - change and education.

(One of Rock For Hunger's Homeless Friends at Recent Concert)

The growth of the Workshifting culture, mixed with technology and personal development have allowed us to tackle issues, find solutions and create programs in record time. On November 2nd, a new program, "Homeless Lifestyle Design" will begin that will take the homeless group through a 4-week program designed to change the way they think and envision their future through creativity, job training and financial awareness.

The course was created using things like Google Docs to pass through ideas, Basecamp to create milestones and send out tasks and Wordpress to manage the training site. This is all done seamlessly with our board members, interns and volunteers who never miss a beat or a deadline, because someone's life is on the line.

This post was not meant to be self-serving, but to show the ideas of working from anywhere can impact any organization, any payroll size and any goal worth achieving. Using tools for keeping organized, sharing notes and documents and throwing large scale events are now more possible than ever. Supporters and fans can live on any part of the globe and have the same impact as if they were in the board room. The product your company builds has the opportunity to help people everywhere with a few clicks of a button and the right marketing behind it.

We are living in a very exciting time and I am happy to be living and working that way.

Go make something beautiful this week Workshifters. Please share. It helps us grow.

It's great to stop working for a few minutes and get into the mind of an author that can really change the perception of your day and give you that kick in the butt you were looking for. I know sometimes working from home you need a little spark to turn off Hulu, the Wii or the kids. You need that light to go off. For me, I like looking into the strengths of others and seeing how they transcended their life, overcoming adversity or just said I am going for it.

This list is a god start and what I turn to when I am looking for some daily motivation.

4 Free eBooks That Rock My Day

The Zero Hour Workweek by Johnathon Mead

This is Jonathon's personal story of going from 9-5 to day job killer and breaking free from the constraints that were holding him back. This is a really meaty 60 pages that looks into how to get paid to be yourself with tips and insights into how grabbed over 10,000 subscribers to Illuminated Mind, writes for a top 50 blog, and created a full time income online.

279 Days to Overnight Success by Chris Guillebeau

Writer of the blog, the Art of Noncomformity, Chris has a nack for connecting with others by sharing his insights and instilling wisdom that really lights up the page. In this free resource Chris shares how he created his own brand, the motivation for his website and how he set himself free. This is really motivational and something that a lot of people can learn from, get excited about and do themselves!

How I Got 100,000 Subscribers in 2 Years by LeoBabauta

Most people in the blogging space know of Leo's story from humble beginnings to a book deal and total domination online with his suite of websites and products. Learning what Leo did right and wrong is motivation for anyone to become a rock star. His story is very possible for anyone and applying some of his knowledge in your business, whether it's big or small, can give you a jump start on the competition.

Spiritually Rich by Brooke Ferguson

Brooke, author of the Business Backpacker blog, wants us to think about our core, what makes us special and how we can use that to serve a greater purpose. The read is quick and exciting and offers those questions you need to ask yourself to get going for the day. To grab the eBook, you will need to opt-into her list, where she sends out very infrequent updates on working from abroad and lifestyle design.

So, that is my list. I am really interested to learn from you all as well. What gives you a quick jolt of energy when you hit that mid-day lull? Please share in the comments so we can make a great resource for people.

Ah, football season is here. After the 2nd week of College Football (how about that Matt Barkley from USC) and the first week on the NFL - millions of people all over the country are now giving themselves a new job title - Monday Morning Quarterback. I can already see the player trades, the extra copies of the local paper being picked up to check stats, circling this week's picks and projections and checking the injured roster for nice and easy trades that come from the post game Fantasy Footballers. For those that are foreign to what I am talking about, Fantasy Football as written by FOX Sports columnist Roger Rotter is

...a game that allows fans to take an active role in professional football by creating their own team and competing with teams built by others. Fans create their own roster of players by drafting talent from actual NFL teams and compete based on those players' real-life performances in NFL games.

Most major sports media players offer free leagues for people all over the world to join, play, talk trash, track stats and enter an almost Second Life type of community for 4-5 months in the fall. The greatest thing for these media companies comes in the form of longer page views and inflated impressions due to the fantasy captains hanging around waiting for something to happen.

So what's the cure for the Monday Morning Quarterback?

As much as Americans love their football it can become a major distraction throughout the week and needs to be treated like any other distraction. The first thing is to notice when it is taking away from your work. This seems obvious, but when Monday seems to go by quicker than usual (not that this is a bad thing), your to-do list builds faster than Adrian Peterson in the Red Zone.

The next step is to allow yourself time to indulge. Giving yourself an hour in the morning to check stats is no different than giving yourself an hour to read your RSS Feeds. Having this time set aside gives you something to look forward to and gives you ample time to get through your to-do list.

The last tip is to start looking at Fantasy stats in your downtime and on the go. Taking the bus, subway or in the airport? Take a look at the top sports apps in the iTunes app store. They are sure to keep you in the loop and get your fix in while you are killing time on your way to a meeting, new destination or the office.

But I Missed This Year's Draft...

Don't feel left out if you missed Fantasy Season this year, there is still plenty to be thankful for this football season. Renewed hope and belief for every market, every school and every player that is on a contract year!

I look forward to seeing the coffee cups with mascots, Football Fridays and the water cooler talk that comes with football season. I have even seen some local sports bar hook up wifi for the Monday Night working crowd. Here's to a great season and may the Dolphins look better than they did last week.

Photo by: Arnett Gill