NoahFleming.com

Where’s Noah?

October 21, 2010 in Life with 9 Comments

I’ve been MIA for almost two weeks now.

Here’s a quick little post on what I’ve been up to lately. I’ll have more in-depth posts for you shortly, but this is where I’ve been.

1) Launching an online retail business.

I’ve never sold and shipped a physical, tangible product online before.

This is a whole new ball game for me. I have to deal with wholesalers, sourcing products, working out the margins, packaging, shipping, contracts, merchant accounts, API’s, banks and oh so much more.

It’s fantastic. I’ve found a good sense of flow working on this project. It’s fantastic and the hours can quickly slip away. I’m also working with some great people. Feels good to be working with people directly again.

2) Adding new services to my own business.

I’m in the midst of adding a new series of business related coaching services to my own business. I’ve been spending a lot of time writing copy, testing the copy, rewriting the copy, but more importantly, I’ve been spending a lot of time tweaking the product and the service offering.

I’ve gotten a few emails lately about coaching and consulting services for both online and offline businesses.

3) Removing services from my own business.

Over the past five years, I created and ran a variety of websites that made a lot of money. These websites paid for our house, bought us a vehicle, and took us on endless trips, but I decided it was time to start moving forward.

Some would call it silly, essentially walking away from thousands of dollars per month of income. I disagree.

Sometimes we need to take the riskier path. While it may be the riskier path, in terms of income generation, it’s the smarter path for me at this point in my life.

4) Doing some volunteer jobs.

Some people would say you should never work for free. I disagree.

I’ve been putting in a fair amount of time to do “important” good-feeling type of work. I’ve been helping a few organizations with their websites and marketing.

And the kicker is, it actually does feel good and important. That makes it totally worth it.

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That’s the biz aspect in a nutshell.

The baby’s due date is less than eight weeks away. My wife, Heather, is doing fantastic. She looks beautiful and is happier than ever. She’s had an amazingly problem-free pregnancy to this point.

We’re anxiously awaiting our Jedi to enter the world.

What’s happening in your life? Let me know.

Choking

October 12, 2010 in Life with 4 Comments

Last summer, I choked on a fatty piece of steak.

For a few minutes, I was pretty scared.

I had just arrived at our family cottage and, in a moment of excitement, I bit off a bit more than I could chew. My mind was racing with the thought that I actually might not take another breath of that fresh northern air.

It was a pretty amazing experience. I also hope you never have an experience like this one. I was scared and concerned, yet fully aware of what was going on around me.

It was at that moment, as I watched my mother’s panic stricken face, my wife shedding tears, my cousin Adam jumping to my side and telling the others I couldn’t breath, and my Uncle Joe, without hesitation, jumping in to try to dislodge the steak from my blocked airway that I realized sometimes, we all choke.

Choking, metaphorically, happens to the best of us. We choke in our businesses. We choke at our jobs. We choke in school. We choke in our families.

But sometimes, you just have to let go and trust the people who care about you will jump in and help out.

On the flip side, if you see someone choking, metaphorically of course….Don’t be afraid to jump in and help them.

They might not be able to call for help.

You won!

October 8, 2010 in Fun Stuff with 0 Comments

So did I. We both did.

Congrats.

Are you wondering what you won? What are you talking about Noah?

You won when you woke up this morning, when you got out of bed, and you got another shot at this thing called life.

Cory knows he won. He was running before most of us finished the morning paper.

Don’ t waste the best prize. Lots of people aren’t as lucky.

Have a great weekend.

P.S. Yeah, maybe it’s cheesy, but some of us need a daily reminder. I’m happy to be the messenger.

The above picture is the property of my friends at Work Is Not a Job – Check them out!

Keep Running

October 7, 2010 in Misc with 10 Comments

Eventually the economy will pick up…

One day I’ll be able to afford to..

Someday I hope I can learn to..

In a few years I’ll be able to ..

When I retire I’ll travel to..

The kicker however is this:

There’s a very good chance that your future is going to look a lot like the past, and you’ll be saying those exact same thing years from now, unless you do something about it today.

Got a problem that needs to be fixed? Need to improve on something in your life? Stuck in a situation and feel like there’s no way out? My suggestion is to use the small things monster to your advantage. I didn’t say he was bad all the time!

THIS, right now, is the time and the moment when the small things do matter to the overall big picture. Baby steps, if you will, are better than no steps at all.

But that’s not why I wrote this post. I wrote this post for a friend.

I wrote this for one of my dearest and lifelong friends, Cory.

Cory moved from Canada to New York City, then to Alaska, and now he’s in California. He’s been chasing down his dream like a mad man.

The great thing about Cory is he knows that every day when he wakes up, the race is on. He’s working on the ”someday” things now instead of just talking about them.

And Cory puts his money where his mouth is. He always has.

The best part of all this is, as Cory chases his vision, he keeps gaining ground. He keeps getting closer and closer to reaching his dream. But he also keeps pulling further and further ahead of the “someday” people.

So what? So what if Cory doesn’t make it? He gave it his all. He gave it everything he had. That’s something to be proud of.

Bravo Cory. Keep running.

The Little Thing Monster

October 5, 2010 in Business, Getting Things Done, Ideas with 5 Comments

This morning I had a business meeting with some colleagues to discuss a new venture we’re working on.

The meeting was great except for one thing.

The “Little Thing Monster”.

The Little Thing Monster is the monster that loves to knock you off the track. He loves it when we focus on the little things that don’t matter as much as the big important things.

Let’s be realistic for a minute about this classic lizard brain tactic. The lizard unleashes this little devil of a monster that wants to divert our attention. The monster loves it when we get caught up in the little things.

“It’s the little things that compound and snowball into big things” he says.

Now, I’m not saying that little things don’t matter. Of course they do. What I’m saying is, when you let the monster take over and let the monster shift your focus, you’ll end up stalling out and not getting anywhere.

Believe me, I understand how important the small things are. That’s not what I’m saying. The difference is that this monster’s goal is to derail you from what’s actually going to move you forward. It keeps you from looking at the big picture.

And it’s your goal to figure out what the big picture is. Figure out what needs to happen. Look at the big picture and focus, and the little things will end up happening regardless. After all, it’s the big things that make the little things worth doing.

Source: medialunadegrasa

What The Rear View Mirror is Really For

October 4, 2010 in Life with 1 Comment

Without our past, most of us wouldn’t be where we are today. Our history is what has shaped us into who we are today and who we’ve become. Our successes and failures have taught us lessons which we can use moving forward. The past is important.

I like to look at the past the same way I use the rear view mirror.

I take a glimpse every now and then to check what’s behind me. If I need to, based on what I see, I’ll adjust accordingly. But most importantly, I keep moving forward.

If you constantly focus on the rear view mirror, you’ll end up in big trouble.

In fact, I DO NOT recommend testing this hypothesis when you get into your car later today. The outcome could be disastrous.

Learn from the past. Don’t stare at it.

The rear view mirror isn’t just used for backing up. It’s used for moving forward.

Get it?

The Wake Up Call

October 1, 2010 in Fun Stuff with 6 Comments

Did you sleep well last night?

Good.

Ask yourself this. Are you living your dream life, or following someone else’s?

The goal, as far as I’m concerned, is to chase your own dreams. If you’re living a life based on what someone else thinks you should be doing, then consider this your early morning wake up call.

Quit tossing and turning and get out of bed.

Take Control

September 30, 2010 in Life with 3 Comments

Picture this scenario.

You’re flying in a plane. It’s just you and the pilot. The pilot suddenly keels over with a heart attack and dies.

The plane now is in a nose-dive.

You now have a choice to make, and you need to make it fast. (This is where your chameleon skills come into play).

Option One: Do nothing. Hold on for the ride. Let gravity decide your outcome.

Option Two: Take control.

Please choose option two. Don’t blame the pilot. Don’t throw a fit. Don’t huff and puff. Just take control.

When your life’s in a nosedive and everything that could possibly go wrong is going wrong, take control.

Don’t blame the economy. Don’t blame your circumstances. Don’t blame your boss. Don’t blame your co-workers. Don’t blame your customers. Don’t blame your spouse.

We all know there are times and moments when it seems like everything is out of our control. “I’ve never flown a plane, and I don’t know how to fly!!!”

Of course you don’t know how! But don’t you think when the stuff’s hitting the fan, it’s worth a shot? The alternative outcome is guaranteed to be worse.

Grab the controls – and take control.

Don’t Resist – Release.

September 29, 2010 in Business, Linchpin with 5 Comments

I have a friend who has always been wonderfully talented musician.

Many years ago, I strongly urged him to release his music to the world over the Internet and share his gift. More importantly, I wanted him to find his speck.

He resisted.

He resisted because that was not the way traditional musicians did things. He believed the old system would endure. He resisted putting his music on the Internet.

Musicians were supposed to try to get their music on the radio.

Musicians needed a record label to succeed.

It had worked for Jack Johnson, but it would never work for anyone else.

He worried people would steal his music and his lyrics. He worried he’d never become a rock star that way. He believed that if he saved his music a representative from a record label would maybe, just maybe, happen to be sitting in the club the night he was playing.

He missed an early opportunity to share his art with the world. He missed an early opportunity for his art to spread, and the world missed him.

Now he’s resisting again because he thinks it’s too late.

It’s not too late. The world is waiting and ready for your gift. All engines are fueled up, primed, and ready for lift-off like never before.

Don’t resist, release.

Imagine, over 78 Million views later, if Andy McKee had never shared his talent with us. Imagine if Andy had resisted.

Please, don’t resist.

The Speck

September 28, 2010 in Business, Creativity, E-Commerce, Internet Marketing, Life, Success, The Speck with 17 Comments

The speck is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

When I found myself stuck in a dead-end office job five years ago, I quickly realized that trying to come up with the next Google or Facebook, in my spare time, was probably not going to happen. It looked as if I would continue working in the dead-end office job.

That’s when the idea of the speck came to me.

The idea was simple.

With close to a billion people using the Internet, I only needed to find 300 people, who shared my interests, were interested in what I had to offer, that would be willing to pay me $30 bucks a month, and I could find myself an office with a window.

My own office.

Only 300 people out of a billion. A teeny-tiny, yet extremely powerful, particle of dust. This is what I call the speck.

With a simple concept, like the speck, and a concrete goal on paper (300 x $30), I was off to the races.

I hit that target within a couple of weeks and left my job less than six months later. I haven’t been back to the windowless office in over five years.

Seth Godin talks about Tribes and the importance of finding your tribe. When I heard Seth speaking live last week in Chicago, he spoke about musicians and their ability to harness the power of the Internet to find their tribe and build a successful career at the same time.

The old model worked something like this: Write the music, take a loan out and record your demo, hope to be discovered by a record label, and keep hoping.

We could dive deeper into this old broken model, but your chances of being discovered and actually making money were next to none.

The new model: As Seth suggested, find 3000 fans who dig your music from that ever-growing pool of over a billion people. But find the 3000 who’d be willing to buy your new music for $30 bucks a year, and you’ve made it.

You’re done! Keep producing your art. Keep doing what you love, and earn a solid living at the same time.

$90,000 bucks a year is nothing to scoff at.

Some might argue that as the overall size of the group grows, it becomes harder and more complicated to find your speck.

3000 out of a billion.

300 out of a billion.

100 out of a billion.

In Tribes, Seth stressed that in many cases, the tribes have already been formed and they’re simply looking for a leader. “We need you to lead us”, the book’s tagline read.

I see it like this. You can find your speck faster than ever before. Your speck might even find you. There’s a good chance people on line are looking for you, or someone just like you. They’re ready to cling to you like dust mites on your Grandmother’s dining room table.

Finding 3000 people who like your music out of a billion may be easier then you think.

Finding 300 people to pay you $30 bucks a month for a service or product that you’ve poured your heart and soul into, and created just for them, is easier than you think.

Who knows, maybe your speck is even smaller. Maybe you only need a hundred people, or you may need more.

It doesn’t really matter. The whole point is this - in the big scheme of things, all you probably need to achieve success, beyond your wildest dreams, is nothing more than a tiny speck of people.

Back in 2005, I found a speck, organized them, and signed them up within two weeks. Done.

Five years later, the two weeks it took me to connect a speck of people can potentially happen a heck of a lot faster today. Maybe even overnight. All it takes is one good sneeze.

The speck is a small but insanely powerful concept for mapping your plan for success. As the size of the number of connected Internet users grows, your chances of actually finding your speck increases tremendously.

It worked for me, it can work for you.

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