If you haven’t stumbled upon More Love Letters, you’re in for a lovely treat! This is Hannah’s journey of one amazing passion project. What started as a randomly inspired idea to write a love letter on the New York 4 train and leave it for people who might need a lift, has now grown into a small army of love letter writers and an incredible movement that has transformed many people’s lives.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Hannah below.

1. I recall you mentioned that you wanted to be a professional love letter writer when you were a kid. How did this become a reality? Did you consciously have it in mind up until your 20s or was this a nice surprise memory you conjured after More Love Letters was created?

Though I swore I would become a love letter writer as a child, I never actually anticipated it would happen past that 7 year old age mark. I think I just continued to carry my passion for writing and love into my experience as a blogger. I always did view my original blog as a love letter to my readers. But the thought of actually doing what I do now, scripting love letters to strangers? No, I don’t think I could have ever anticipated that would happen. And I still regard it as an accident. It is part my love for handwritten notes, my need to be helping others, my sometimes gut wrenching sense of empathy, and my love for social movements all meshed into one.

2. I love when things seem to happen organically, and you can just simply go with the flow… Like your kid self unknowingly manifesting the future. I know you have a lot of faith. How has your soul guided you? Can you give an example of how things just “naturally work”.

As much work and energy I have had to put into the site, I regard all of it has an act of God. He really placed this divine purpose on my life and I have been continuously blown away by how much my vision has spread in less than a year. Everyday there is someone new, in another country or state, spreading love letters and I have to stop and ask myself, “Did I really start this? Was this me?”

I’ve gone with my gut in everything. I have made decisions based off of the peace I have felt. I have asked myself, what in this world do we need more of and how can I make that get displayed on the internet? Things have just naturally flowed from there.

An example I always use is the time I scripted a love letter to college students during their final exams. You could have seen that as “content” for the site or as a genuine love letter reaching out and saying, “Hey, I’ve been there before… hold tight.” I viewed it as the latter and, as a result, the love letter went viral. It reached over 150,000 college students in three days! That could have never been by my own works! That just happened all on its own.

3. What impacts do you see from More Love Letters? Are you able to track people’s reactions or is it just a mystery once a letter comes out of your hands? Do recipients ever get back to you?

We are starting to get more and more recipients coming back to us now that the site is growing and spreading. People are normally blown away. They are thankful for their letter. They had already begun to wonder where the compassion in the world had wandered of too. Many of those who find or recieve a love letter in the mail are the ones who join on board and start scripting their hearts out.

4. Do you have a day job? How have you been able to keep More Love Letters running?

Yes, yes, there is a day job. I am lucky to have my cake and eat it too. Though I adore my love letters I also have a serious passion for human rights and communications. I marry those two in my 9-5 job at a leading global NGO for children.

More Love Letters stays running with a lot of caffeine, faith, night hours, dedicated participants and the sometimes hard to swallow truth: most passion projects take a lot of grind before they switch from you carrying them on your back to them carrying and supporting you.

5. I know that you’ve gotten media attention in the past. How has that come about? Do you see More Love Letters gaining steam and more notoriety? What’s next?

I am constantly getting story requests from editors at different publications. It has been really something wonderful and completely organic in the sense that I never had the time to go out there and get my own press. I think that the story has an infectious tinge to it and it also comes with a hook for anyone to get involved. People seem to dig that. But press like Oprah and Hello Giggles or the Wall Street Journal? I could have never anticipated that.

What’s next? Certainly, I want it to be a book. Though I love the interviewing opportunities, I think I am ready to tell the story with my own writing.

6. How can people get involved? Who do you give love letters to? Is it random or is there a system where people request letters?

The site is absolutely packed with the ways to get involved so I won’t go talking your ear off. Basically there are a number of ways from writing love letters and leaving them where you are based or from signing on to script love letters to people in need. We intro’ new people who need love letters every other week. I’d recommend you check out the site because I could never do each of the options justice.

7. If you could write a love letter to everyone in the world right now, what would it say?

Oh boy, aint that the million dollar question? My goodness… I don’t know if you could start a love letter off with speechlessness… I think I would just let that love letter be a reminder to them, a reminder to think back on the dreams they had when they were younger- when the world was kinder, where things weren’t so hard- and I’d ask them what changed? What did they let go? How can they hold it once again?

I think every love letter should exist to let people know that they are precious beyond measure. They are important. Valuable. They fill the shoes that no one else in this whole, wide world could fill. It is not something to take lightly or belittle. Life… she is short and not guaranteed, so I’d use my love letter to make sure people know that… that they should be grabbing life for all she is worth.

8. What’s your hope for the future and how are you changing the world to make it possible?

I never stop to think or say, “Oh, I am changing the world.” The thought does not really even dance in my head. I grew up not saying that I wanted to change the world but rather that I wanted to teach others how to do it… That is what I love and that is what I want to do on a grander scale in the future: give people the tools and empowerment they need to believe in themselves and their capacity to change the world. I like the background roles and I am looking forward to more of those in the future. I’d rather train up a generation of go getters than focus on me… My goals and my dreams are hinging on the younger ones now so that is where I will invest my energies.

Janet

Janet is a Professional Hobo, burgeoning entrepreneur and homeless nomad passionate about working with creative world changers and showing people how to march to their own beats.

It’s no secret that like many 99ers, my “comfortable” US lifestyle has been compromised and downgraded. Rather than do what’s “normal” and move in with my parents, I did the “impossible” and started over in SE Asia while living in humble local conditions instead. Yes, I live in the slums. What of it?

But because I live in the slums I can’t ignore the poverty that greets me every day. Imagine having to scrounge the garbage just to survive, while you can’t afford to put your son in grade school. What would they do with an extra $500?

Your #firstworldproblems are much smaller on a grander scale. Most Americans seem to be living in a dream, wondering when they’ll wake up. When life will be “perfect” again and when they can afford to live on their own. They might think about ending it all and taking their life, because living in a hotel room in the ghetto after losing their home is just too much and too hard to bare. They are disillusioned and hoping for their “normal” life back. I have to laugh a little because here’s the thing:

What you are experiencing right now, no matter how good or bad, is normal. Stop with the petty judgments already and realize that the ability to adapt to change and learn to be comfortable in the uncomfortable is paramount to your ability to survive.

The family that scrounges for garbage just to survive is true to life. This is a real family that I want to help. One of many, I’m sure. And although I’m not “rich” by Western standards, I want to give back.

I am 1 of 20 finalists to win $500 from Stratejoy’s 1st Annual Essay Writing Contest

You can vote for my essay #9 (my favorite number!) here by March 2nd.

Here’s what I plan to do with the extra $500:

-Donate part of the money to the family to get their kid in school. This is perfect timing since it’s nearing summer vacation here and upcoming new semesters don’t start until our US summer break. It’s the perfect kickstart to the social entrepreneurism that I hope to start at Purple Panda. Whether I win or not, I’ll make a way. The $500 would be a great intro to the things I’ve got planned!

-Renew my passport(s). I’m now a dual citizen! I haven’t done a lot of international travel lately, though I had a brief stint in Florida for a “work trip”. My US passport expires at the end of this year, and my Philippine passport should probably be renewed too. Just cause I can. Since I’m a Filipino citizen and all. *beams*

-Buy my boyfriend new shoes. The man who has walked Luzon island and Palawan in just sandals doesn’t have many walking shoes. He needs an “everyday shoe” that he can wear…everyday.

Here’s something that I’m learning about money:

Money is not meant to be owned. It’s meant to be shared.

Abundance is all around us, you just have to be willing to give (and receive)!

What would you do with an extra $500?

Janet

Janet is a Professional Hobo, burgeoning entrepreneur and homeless nomad passionate about working with creative world changers and showing people how to march to their own beats.

That’s right, bitches.

If I may get my sassypants on, and channel my inner “Flow”reta, as in Janet FLORETA, the J Flo mofo ghetto bitch who isn’t STARVING, thank you very much, because my ass has some love and I’ve got love handles to boot. Where was I? I swear I’m not schizo, I just like the idea of an alter ego who’s just a little sassier, braver and fiercer than me. Floreta comes out when I make horrible blog articles that make you laugh your ass off or shake your head in disgust (i.e. Break Social Convention. Be Crazy).

Calling All Artists/Creatives

Before I get any further, I’d like to announce a super free Enterprising Artists Survey by Dan at Right Brain Rockstar for all you artists and creatives out there. The survey is available until March 1st so get crackin’! Since he reached out via his blog to get help spreading the word about the survey and since it’s No Self Promo month, I’m all over it! A chance to help! I’m on it!

In Dan’s own words:

If you have a passion for creativity, and you earn a living from your creative pursuits (or you aspire to some day), then we would like to ask for your help. It won’t take long.

Do you ever wonder about other artists in the same situation as you? Do you wonder how they make their living, how old they are, or what struggles they face in their career?

This is your chance to help us get answers to those questions and more.
(The full post can be found at Right Brain Rockstar here)

As an added bonus, Dan will share his survey results to everyone who enters, so you can learn more about the art community and get free market research. Win-win!

What’s an Artist Anyway?

I’m a web designer and I filled out the survey. If you’re a writer, designer, musician, entrepreneur or anyone associated with the creative pulse, fill this shit out. You’re an artist or creative if you can create your own living. I used to think that as soon as I stopped painting, I stopped being an artist. Think again. Artistry lives in everyone willing to think for themselves. Do you design your own life? Then you’re an artist, and life is literally your canvas. As life should be. We are NOT puppets to a grand master plan. We’re our own masters, with our own plans. Whether we are conscious or not, you can choose to take an active role or a passive role in life.

Artists Will Save the World

The world is experiencing a digital renaissance. A kind of Renaissance 2.0. Gone are the times of the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker but today, we see individuals expressing their real authentic selves and somehow earning a living. These are the new artists in the digital renaissance each leading the 21st century in their own small (and BIG!) way.

More artists will save the world.
Hear me out. We are literally creating a new economy right before our eyes. We are creating our own worlds and changing the world by default.

We are movers and shakers.

It takes creativity to do what we do and help others follow by simply leading by example.

The more entrepreneurs and artistic enterprisers that the world has, the more we will create innovation, invention and solutions to problems. We all know that the world needs more solutions, not more problems! With our ingenuity and guts, we have the power to change education (hello unschooling, you rock), healthcare, the food supply, and the ways we live and dwell.

And while we talk about solutions, entrepreneurs (particularly women entrepreneurs) have the desire to donate part of their profits to charities or create a fundraiser altogether. More entrepreneurs in this world means giving back to more charities that support solutions. When you support entrepreneurs in this new economy, we are all in turn supporting this new world vision for a better, healthier society.

Your economic decisions play a big part in shaping the world that you live in. There wouldn’t be supply without demand and the less we demand for superficial stuff and come into the beautiful realization that experiences and the ability to help create better experiences for everyone else (be it charity or volunteer work or innovation) is the start to true happiness.

I may be an idealist but I know that humans want to feel connected and experience the world together. Typically we have done this through brand loyalty and experiencing a sense of community by the way we live and the way we dress. We are primed this way since middle school. High school cliques are small ecosystems of social status. It’s ultimately a cheap fix with roots in disconnection and fear. It is not a model vision for sustainability and thrivability, but in one of scarcity. When you free yourself with a minimalist way of life, you are actually freeing yourself from the scarcity model, despite being consciously aware of changing your buying decisions to less is more.

In the new economy, everything stays the same except that brands have now become people. Why not cut the middle man out and forget brands as stuff and go to the very heart of connection and community through the people (not the brands) that we resonate with. This is the beauty of digital entrepreneurship. Through social media, we are now able to connect with our tribe in real, human ways despite being connected to our computers. To take this a step further, and as a necessary part of the process of connection, these digital nomads and lifestyle designers who have made the change to conscious living can now geo-hack their way around the world to meet eachother in real life, thus accelerating change and growth together.

The new economy is powerful and we get to write our own rules and create our realities every day.

The true rebels and artists are changing the world from the ground up and we’re not stopping in the name of status-quo or convention.

The Myth of the Starving Artist

Who says we’re starving, bitch?

No, really. Chances are, you’re not physically starving and if you are, go eat a damn sandwich (note, NOT a hamburger)!

The myth of the starving artist is bullshit from society to keep you feeling small, and in the scarcity/fear model that is being perpetrated every day from the media (tip: if you haven’t killed your television yet, I suggest you start now. DO IT. Who needs TV anyway when you’ve got the internet. Do you know how much BORING CRAP there is in 100+ channels? It’s RIDICULOUS. If you’re still watching TV, why!? For more fake connection to other people as something to talk about? Who honestly gives a crap about the fucking Bachelor? Hulu your shows if you must, or Netflick away, but stop watching the news. It’s as depressing as beauty magazines and practically the same bullshit syndicate. What kind of world do you want to live in today? FEAR and SCARCITY or LOVE and ABUNDANCE? That’s right. So stop watching and reading the fear syndicates NOW).

WE as artists are STRONG and POWERFUL. And the sooner you know this truth, the sooner you can break away from the bullshit. We’re not starving. We are powerful beyond all measure and it is our moral right to think and live in abundance. If your brain has a hard time believing that, keep practicing the thought shifts (I still am). Read more crazy blogs. Reach out to those digital brand people and feel inspiration. Go down the fucking rabbit hole. Go deeper. Turn your world upside down, where UP is DOWN. Shake your reality. Realize the beauty of an impermanent world and constant change and start living your life with BIGGER, BOLDER, BRUSH STROKES. Your life is art and you design it every day.

So go out there and make a damn masterpiece. The world needs your brilliance.

Shine on.

Janet

Janet is a Professional Hobo, burgeoning entrepreneur and homeless nomad passionate about working with creative world changers and showing people how to march to their own beats.

My journey into a healthy, holistic lifestyle is wrought with inconsistencies and half starts. That’s to say, I’m probably not the most holistic person out there, though I’d like to be, and I resonate with the woo woo just a little bit more each day (woo woo is optional by the way).

It first began with my experimentation with vegetarianism while living in a monastery. The Chinese have a way of balancing nutrition by the amount of color that’s on your plate.

Then, it was 2 months at a raw foods retreat house called Bahay Kalipay. To this day, my favorite breakfast meal is still the simple raw food ‘cereal’ that we ate every day. Sliced bananas and coconut milk as the staple, mixed with avocados (in season) or papaya, honey and raw organic cacao powder (optional).

It was at the raw foods retreat that I first discovered green smoothies; a blended concoction of fruits and greens from kale, spinach or others. Being a lover of smoothies in general, and considering Jamba Juice or the local mom and pop smoothie place back on the west coast my diet staple, I took on to green smoothies naturally and loved them instantly.

The Raw Foods movement in the Philippines is a tight knit community with some dedicated followers. I am merely on the edge of it, with less raw foods to my meals but more vegetarian (+ the occasional seafood). We’ve organized on facebook groups and gather together with an annual Raw Foods Potluck. I don’t miss the chance to go, being a huge foodie, and missing the spoiled raw foods every day I treated myself with (in a good way!) at Bahay Kalipay.

I’ve been wanting a blender for months so I could finally make my own green smoothies and add a bit of raw foods back into my diet when the potluck sponsored a door prize giveaway of a Dynamex blender! Now was my chance. Like a hippy manifesting her intention, I knew that I would win the blender that night. I just had a feeling.

And I did!

The name they pulled out of the jar the first time had already left and wasn’t present to claim the prize. I excitedly held my breath for the next name.

Janet Brent!

The look of genuine surprise on my face as I excitedly jumped up and down like I’d just won the Price is Right. I couldn’t believe my silly hunch was actually right!

Vegetarianism and raw foods has been a big part of my journey and transformation in the last two years, after quitting my job and taking a year long spiritual sabbatical, it just came hand in hand. It’s no wonder that I would eventually be called towards it since I loved Popeye the Sailor Man and my spinach when I was a kid!

When I first noticed Farnoosh Brock of Prolific Living had a green juicing book, I knew I wanted to help promote it for the No Self Promo challenge. While I haven’t tried green juicing yet, Farnoosh’ book has given me the extra push and I know I’ll be trying this in the future.

Green smoothies and green juices are like “apples and oranges”. One is entry level while the other takes a little more dedication and investment. A juicer isn’t something you’d find in your every day household, unlike a blender, but I believe green juicing is worth getting into for more health and vitality. It’s another level of raw foods that I’m sure to love. And now the Juicing Guide has got me curious to try!

Preventative medicine is the best kind of medicine. I no longer eat much processed food (not living in the US has helped) and when I’m craving a dessert I’ll opt for a smoothie instead. I love to drink my calories and I’m sure green juicing will be a great added option.

You can get the Green Juicing Guide for only $9.99 on Amazon (not an affiliate link) or read more about it here.

Janet

Janet is a Professional Hobo, burgeoning entrepreneur and homeless nomad passionate about working with creative world changers and showing people how to march to their own beats.

In this parts of the world it is February 14.

Happy Valentines Day!

I spent yesterday doing the usual. Going to the mall for some air conditioner relief (really, I never thought I would ever be a mallrat, but when you live 10 minutes walking distance from a major mall, live in a concrete slab slums with no air conditioner and still don’t cook with coal, it just kind of happens). But then I also bought an erotica book (because I have this fantasy to become a popular erotica writer, under a pen name of course, but realize I’ve never actually read proper erotica) and my boyfriend and I saw The Vow which is the perfect Valentines day movie.

But this has nothing to do with this article.

Boyfriend aside, I honestly believe one of the cheapest forms of love is romantic love and that this Valentines Day business is… well, not my thing.

I’m proud of the fact that I’ve never received flowers and the rebel in me wants to stick my middle finger through Cupid’s heart.

Ouch. This chick is brutal.

Whatevs.

My point is that romantic love is often cheapened by the whole courting thing itself. “Falling in love” is just an infatuated idea of love laced with crazy hormones and pheremones. Add in the idea that current day marriage is basically a joke (and less females are choosing to get married) that would honestly be set right by allowing gay marriage because marriage, like society, has evolved.

(Not that you didn’t know my stance because I’m obviously a raunchy liberal and completely off the map when it comes to democrats and republicans, who are seriously in bed together having crazy orgies, why do you think I chose to opt-out and move out of the country as soon as Bush left? I’m monogamous, ya freaks, and I don’t regret it.)

The better way to practice love is to Love Yourself (In a World that Doesn’t Want You to). In this way, you rely less and less on external factors for assurance and validation (the media, the “perfect” boyfriend/girlfriend, the beauty magazine that tells you what you “need” to look pretty) and exude self-confidence within yourself.

Once you learn how to love yourself, relationships then become less and less something you “need” but something you choose as a conscious way to outpour the love that you already have. You don’t need to go searching for it, but it’s something that you want to share.

The love that you want to share spills over in relationships of all kinds. Being a more loving, compassionate being is a mindset shift that means loving yourself, your enemies and your neighbors. This doesn’t just mean your street, your city, your state or your barangay (village)… It’s compassion for all living things and the world. Remembering we are one.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.
~ Dalai Lama

Maybe John Lennon and the Beatles were right.

All you need is Love.

The Real Way to Show Some Love this Valentines

With love and compassion in mind, the real way to show some love this Valentines day, or any day is to start donating to a good cause and help change the world for the better. I’ve got the perfect cause to champion!

My friend and amazing woman entrepreneur, Natalie Sisson of The Suitcase Entrepreneur is taking on a major challenge and needs your help! Natalie has really encouraged me over the years and been a major inspiration in my solo blog bum entrepreneur journey ever since she commented on one of my very first posts on this blog! When I heard that she was biking across the entire African continent to raise $10,000 for WomenWin.org and help improve the lives of women and girls in Africa, I jumped at the chance to help promote the cause (hello, no self promo).

For more information and how you can get involved, go to Natalie’s snazzy looking fundraiser page for more details!

Additionally, you can also buy fashionably designed graphic tees and tanks (designed by the popular exiler Colin Wright himself) where a generous 50% will be donated to the cause!

Janet

Janet is a Professional Hobo, burgeoning entrepreneur and homeless nomad passionate about working with creative world changers and showing people how to march to their own beats.

The other day, I went into the men’s restroom, by deliberate choice.

I was tipsy. OK, maybe a little drunk. Those bottomless margaritas be damned!

The reason I did it, small bladder aside, was because the men’s and women’s restroom were good for one person only. No walk in to 2 or 3 stalls. Just toilet and sink. And since the women’s bathroom was already occupied, I thought to hell with it and snuck in to the men’s room.

Only I didn’t sneak in. There was a line of 1-2 other females.

I heard snickers. I heard them say “cah-raaaa-zy!”
I heard them say “when you gotta go, you gotta go.”

That’s right, bitches.

I broke social convention and pissed in the “mens” room.

Mommy wow! I’m a big girl now!

And a fucking bad ass.

When you think about it, the idea of separate rooms for individual bathrooms is stupid. They should be co-ed! Everyone knows that women have longer lines — every time and I’m going to make a guess and say that we generally have smaller bladders too (especially when alcohol is involved). Not to mention all the fuss powdering our faces and being obsessed by our reflections.

That adds up to a fucking long time to wait for some bitch to wash her hands or shove a tampon up her vulva (that’s a funny word — vulva). Except over here, in SE Asia, everyone uses pads. You literally have to go to the pharmacist to buy tampons.. What the fuck!?

But here’s a secret. The other reason I went into the men’s restroom is because I saw another girl do it earlier.

I gave her a puzzled look. She said something in a language I still don’t understand fluently (ONE DAY!). I imagined her saying “it’s ok. You can go here.” And so I did. That time, with no line behind me, it wasn’t a big deal. But the second time, without the frame of reference that the others in line missed that made me reason it was OK, it was deemed “crazy”.

“I might follow her! I have a really small bladder.” I overheard a poshy girl in chip-chirp voice say.

We are All Lemmings

Even the “unconventional” people. Think about it.

If we were as unconventional as we claim, there wouldn’t be a huge following and a book deal for Chris G. at the Art of Non-conformity.

People love to be lead and there are just way too many people quitting their jobs to travel or start freelancing to even mention it as an “unconventional” path. It’s simply a new model to replace an old one; a new way of thinking, and a new economy emerging, that will eventually become the norm.

(It’s also a really exciting time and I’m glad to be a part of it.)

All it takes is one person to start something. One person to prove that it’s even possible, and the rest will follow.

I love the example of the weird white guy dancing in an outdoor concert festival by himself (I’m not cool enough to know which one), and slowly amassing mobs of people.

(I love it even more that it happened in Portland.)

It’s an old (in internet terms) viral but its still one of the most fascinating looks into human social behavior in regards to how movements are formed. First you need the founding leader who’s crazy enough to break social convention, and then you need 2-3 people who are crazy enough to join before it picks up and snowballs into social acceptance.

Crazy people change the world. And crazy is exactly where I want to be!

Meet Rodrigo of The Brave Man Blog.

Rodrigo is a fun loving guy from El Salvidor who wishes to make it on his own in lifestyle business. Like many before him, after reading the Four Hour Work Week, he “woke up” and became hell bent on going after his dream to a freer life.

He is still stuck at a cubicle.

What’s interesting about Rodrigo is his location and culture. It’s a little overdone when Americans move to SE Asia and build businesses, and a lot more acceptable these days. But get an El Salvadoran to aspire towards the same path and he is the first “crazy” in his country to pursue it and leverage technology.

Rodrigo will lead the movement for people in El Salvador to eventually do the same!

His act of breaking social convention, in a culture more stuck to traditional values, makes him “crazy”! And truly brave.

Don’t listen to the naysayers and keep on keeping on! It’s good to be crazy!

Janet

Janet is a Professional Hobo, burgeoning entrepreneur and homeless nomad passionate about working with creative world changers and showing people how to march to their own beats.

This post is dedicated to the talented yogi, Nina Yau, who writes Castles in the Air with beautiful truth like The Last Post You Will Ever Need to Read (A Letter to the Soul). You can read that post, and then never read my blog again. I won’t mind. I believe Nina’s voice to be an important one, far greater than the ‘marketable’ content that I’m normally accustomed to. Her philosophical, thought provoking writing is one that I feel the blogosphere needs more of, especially in these times of transition and change. She is the inspiration for my thought, in blurbs of 140 characters or less:

In a world full of blogs pushing the boundaries of professionalism and “the new economy”, priming you for their sales funnel like hamsters on the wheel, I have to wonder if the art of philosophy is but a spec of dust. Either start making infoproducts or get off the digital space!

Posts like Making a Living By Writing Blogs by Dan Andrews of Tropical MBA reinforce this by scoping out the winners and losers of blog topics.

Don’t get me wrong. I loved that post and found the information to be valuable, especially for someone getting into the digital space to market my talents, and build my ‘brand’. There is an art and a science to this that can be beautiful and extremely rewarding. But there’s another side too.

The more one focuses on their sales funnel, and thinks of their readers as nothing but money bags, the more ones content turns to crap. I remember a time when some of my favorite blogs had much more inspiring and qualitative content than most do of late. The writing seems shallow and forced. Formulaic. Kind of a one night stand.

Don’t get me wrong. Money is good, and I want more of it. Much more. But how do I do so in the most authentic way? Where marketing doesn’t make me cringe and I don’t feel like I’m selling out.

I remember the 90s and how people would get mad when their favorite bands “sold out”. It’s the same patterns and struggles. And behind it all, I have to laugh. How amusing it is to see how money drives people and how people react. Either out of jealousy, inadequacy, or their own fears. I observe the way I react over money. How happy I am when I have it and how low energy I get when I don’t. But money is just money.

I’m all in. There is no other way but through. I’m reading business books and reconciling my love/hate for marketing. How do I let my entire core of being shine through in a way that also sustains me? This is my struggle. This is my inevitable triumph. I am getting crystal clear on my work and calling, but I have yet to get crystal clear on how it will make me money. I am worried that it isn’t marketable. But my challenge is to make it so. I just have to take the leap.

The reality is that everything can be marketable. You just have to position it in a good way.

Wherever you are, remember that your core mission and authentic work must shine through beneath the bullshit of sales funnels and marketing. You must love what you do and believe in it so much that sharing it to others only makes sense and comes naturally. Make it as effortless as possible. Do what drives you. Be who you are. Money is only a tool, an exchange of energy that we use to value that thing that we do. So do it well. Build a strong foundation, a crystal clear mission, and the rest should come eventually. It is like the chi. The energy force of all things. Block your authentic self and the material, the money, will be blocked too. The clearer you are about your core mission, value and purpose that you can contribute, and pair that with action and implementation, the more money will flow.

Dive deep into who you are. It cannot be ignored on this path. You’ll have to face your truths. And never deny it. BELIEVE in all your being that you have something important to contribute to the world. Because you do.

Something personal has haunted me for two years that I can’t let go of, and I am about to take a big leap, in efforts to answer questions and innovate solutions.

I was at an overcharged $20 film showing for The End of Poverty, which is ironic, because I’m pretty sure charging $20 to see a documentary that you can watch for free on youtube won’t end poverty, and probably just contributes to it.

The scene was upper-middle class old people, and staunch liberals that had an air of entitlement and better than. After the end of the film, a short Q and A was conducted by a popular liberal radio personality. People were outraged why more young people didn’t care about the issues and why they weren’t represented that evening, failing to realize that the $20 ticket had something to do with it.

I was outraged that they didn’t get it. Young people do care. They just do it differently. It’s not about writing to our local congressmen. It’s grittier than that. It’s raw. It’s grassroots.

The organizers of the event mentioned that most cities turned them down and wouldn’t let them show it because the topic just wasn’t “sexy enough”. Marketing speak for something that appeals to a market, something that sells.

Indeed most cities had a weak turn out, but in the heart of liberal, “weird”, Portland, Oregon, the show sold out.

Why would something like this not be “sexy enough”? Did people not care about poverty? That it exists? The comment has bothered me to this day.

How can I make poverty sexy? What does it take to get people to notice and care? How can I make a difference?

Janet

Janet is a Professional Hobo, burgeoning entrepreneur and homeless nomad passionate about working with creative world changers and showing people how to march to their own beats.

This article is dedicated to Niall of Disrupting the Rabblement who wrote about The Month of No Self-Promo: How Can I Help You Be Successful? Thanks Neill for the inspiration!

You can be more successful in two months by becoming really interested in other people’s success than you can in two years trying to get other people interested in your own success. – Keith Ferrazzi, Never Eat Alone

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. ~Albert Einstein

Value. I struggle with that. I struggle between being too much like a “personal blog”, telling my own stories, versus actually writing something that people would find valuable beyond those stories.

I’ve got a good story. But how do I weave my journey to help others on theirs? How can I help you be successful, particularly when I haven’t figured it out for myself?

I am in survivor mode. I’m a survivor. While it’s really cool that I can survive for two weeks on only $10, the not so cool part is that I am on a base level existence, often dwindling my resources and barely getting by. The easy, programmed way of thinking is to go into loops and cycles about how useless and hopeless it seems, how you are so poor, or deprived, how you’re a loser, a failure, and ultimately have nothing to offer. That’s wrong.

I’m getting myself out of these loops, and ultimately out of survivor mode, but not without some conscious effort.

I feel useless. Useless in the sense that I’m not contributing to greater things beyond my base existence. And lets face it. Scarcity is a shitty business model.

How can I be of service? How can I help you be more successful? How can we both thrive? Ultimately, my work is web design services but that could evolve as I evolve. I want something more. Something that approaches people on a holistic level.

Your Success is My Success

For the next two months, I will actively change my focus from my story and help you out on yours.

To achieve this, I am asking for your help by introducing yourself in the comments. Please feel free to do so! I’d like to know who my readers are, new or old.

What are you working on? Is there anything you’d love help in promoting?

Do you have a question that I may be able to answer? How can I help you solve a problem?

Would you love the chance to tell your story on my blog to reach new audiences? If so, email me!

My friend, Neill, is giving himself some guidelines that I’d like to adopt.

• All tweets and Facebook updates have to help promote someone else’s work.
• Reach out to at least one person every day and ask how I can help them.
• Actually follow through and help people, without any expectation of reciprocation.
• In every blog post that I write, highlight some cool shit other people are doing.

It’s easy to think that I have to help myself first, before I can help others. But what if it can be the other way around? Why not try?

This “experiment” will start TODAY and officially end two months from now, on March 15th. Of course, I hope that the lessons learned will last beyond that and into a clearer business/lifestyle model. So I can finally learn, once and for all, how to weave my stories with purpose.

My hope is that in helping others, I help myself and break my cycle of scarcity into clear abundance and thrive-ability, and have fun doing it! Will you be a part of it?

To your success!

Janet

Janet is a Professional Hobo, burgeoning entrepreneur and homeless nomad passionate about working with creative world changers and showing people how to march to their own beats.

for each of us eventually
whether we’re ready or not
someday it will come to an end
there will be no more sunrises
no minutes, hours or days
all the things you collected
whether treasured or forgotten
will pass to someone else
your wealth, fame and temporal power
will shrivel to irrelevance
it will not matter what you owned, or owed
your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies
will finally disappear
so too your hopes,
ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire
the wins and losses that once seemed so important
will fade away
it won’t matter where you came from
or on what side of the tracks you lived at the end
it won’t matter if you’re beautiful or brilliant
even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant

so what will matter?
how will the value of your days be measured?
what will matter is not what you bought, but what you built.
not what you got, but what you gave
what will matter is
not your success, but your significance
what will matter is
not what you learned, but what you taught
what will matter is every act of
integrity
compassion
courage or
sacrifice
that enriched, empowered or encouraged others
to emulate your example
what will matter is not your competence
but your character
what will matter is not how many people you knew
but how many will feel a lasting lost when you’re gone
what will matter is not your memories
but the memories that live in those who loved you
a life lived that matters is not of circumstance
but of CHOICE
- The Beautiful Truth
Watch the documentary on youtube here

I’ve been watching more and more documentaries that just reiterate what I already know, and call forth the need for focused clarity and change by simply living by example. As more and more people turn off the noise and allow themselves to see the truth that only comes within, learn to trust their intuitions, and become ‘awakened’ to the connectivity that we are all one, a massive change will happen. It has already begun. Our current modes of existence can no longer support us and must be updated to the changing times. We are experiencing a worldwide shift in consciousness; spiritually and creatively. Self-actualization breeds change.

It starts with you.

Janet

Janet is a Professional Hobo, burgeoning entrepreneur and homeless nomad passionate about working with creative world changers and showing people how to march to their own beats.

I have lived my two polarities.

It all happened so fast. A few papers here. A signature there and all of a sudden I was a new homeowner at 23. 1400 square feet. Three bedroom, two bathroom. Even energy efficient. Not bad.

It sounded good at the time, but I hated it. I realized what I knew all along: I am not a domesticate housewife. Duh.

Two years later, I was selling all my stuff before minimalism was cool, and hightailing it to Asia. I lived in a temple, and then I lived off the road, little Asian beatnik style.

And now, I live in the third world ghetto. The slums, if you must. I like to call my dwelling a “slumpad”.

At first I thought I had no choice, but now I realize it was completely my choice. The life of the road was a grungy, dirty existence that challenged my personal views of self, society and the world around me. It was also my prerequisite for living in the slums.

On the road, your emotions are tested. Somedays, you laugh for no reason, like a crazy person. Somedays, you cry for no reason, like a crazy person.

After reading Off the Map that a fellow traveler passed on to me, I fantasized about my shared punk-rock ethos that the writer had, and convinced myself that I was cooler than I actually was as I relayed my journey to theirs.

Sleeping in abandoned native huts and crashing on dingy mattresses probably full of bugs (it was too dark to check and god, I tried not to think about it) is sooooo punk-rock! Sure. I tried to attach this “hardcore” philosophy only so that I could sound more badass than I felt. Only so that I could convince myself that living in the slums wouldn’t be so bad. After all, I’ve experienced worst during my trek and I do like adventure…

Thinking back to my teenage years, when I wore my dad’s old torn-up brown hoodie, with holes on the cuffs to put my thumbs through, and safety pins on the back to display my CRASS patch (a controversial punk band from the 70s/80s); my parents hated it and told me that I looked like a person on the streets (looking like a street kid, “gutter punk” was the point right?). I wondered what they would think of me now. Living this “off the map” existence.

I’m on the verge of making enough to start to afford a better (read: western) apartment. I thought it was because I ran out of money that I was forced to live in this god awful place (and believe me, it was a hard adjustment full of culture shock and lots of crying on the floor; lots of feeling sorry for myself, too.). I thought that if there is a god, he must be playing some kind of joke on me. The girl who rejected her house and then-boyfriend now lives in a ghetto and sleeps on the floor.

Down but not out. The lessons on the road taught me the importance of perseverance and inner strength. No matter how hard that hill is burning my thighs or how sharp the gravel feels beneath my flimsy flip-flops, there is always the next bend. All you have to do is take one step at a time.

Movement. Nothing in life is permanent, even when your emotions hit you so deeply or so painfully. Just keep going. It will change.

I got through the uncomfortable bits. I am fine.

But then it dawned on me. If I hated the house, and I hate the ghetto–my two polarities–what makes me think I would be satisfied with a condo apartment? That extreme rejection I had for Western lifestyle, status-quo and buying stuff was exactly why I had gotten myself into this; from one pendulum swing to the next.

I realized that I would probably hate anywhere I live. Mostly for what it represents. Stability. Settling. Systems and societal inequities. That Bullshit keeping up with the Joneses. The only home I’d like to live in is, like an entrepreneur, one that is built. Where I call the shots and creative direction is a final touch.

I am the type of person that can’t resist the road. The call to travel. To be untethered. Free.

Most of the people in the world still live in poor conditions and rely on coal. How could I go back to my first world amenities knowing that so many people do without? I’m not that sheltered American that I used to be, even though I miss the sheltered life.

I’d rather spend money on travel destinations than monthly bills.

The ghetto feels demeaning. Walking past shit and a wall of flies. But a condo feels restrictive. I need something in between. Or something completely extravagant off of Home Living magazine, fully furnished, for my next pendulum swing.

Instead of upgrading to a new place I would ultimately feel unsatisfied in, why not change my intentions first? Save money. Don’t act impulsively. Find the right place. Take my time.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy what I have. Instead of hating where I live, I’ll try to make it work for me. I just bought plastic bins to organize my clothes and it’s working as an excellent makeshift table for my laptop as I sit on pillows and do my thing. The slumpad also makes an excellent art studio, because it’s the perfect space to get messy in!

Respect your space. Love your space.

The change must start with your inner mindset, and not in your external surroundings.

Janet

Janet is a Professional Hobo, burgeoning entrepreneur and homeless nomad passionate about working with creative world changers and showing people how to march to their own beats.