I keep doing things I’m not supposed to do. Then they work. Then I do bigger things I’m not supposed to do.
High school dropout turned world-famous DJ. Got banned from the US, went bankrupt, then built a multi-million dollar tech company. Hypnotized 5000+ people on stage just to see if I could. Now I’m going after climate change because… why the hell not?
Here’s the thing: I document everything. Every experiment. Every failure. Every holy shit moment. Not to teach you – because I’ve learned something strange: When people witness me doing the impossible, they start doing impossible things too.
This website is my laboratory. These stories are my evidence. And the Frolic 100 are my witnesses – not just watching me, but having their own realities rewired by what becomes possible when someone goes first.
The question isn’t if you want to see what happens next. The question is: What will happen to YOU when you do?
Recently, a visual metaphor appeared to me. I saw myself paddling a canoe down a river. I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about “what’s next?”. The canoe metaphor gave me permission to just enjoy the journey, that this is exactly where I’m supposed to be, and there is no rush. As I pondered this metaphor some more, I also realized I can’t see far ahead...
In a lot of ways, creating a business is much like being an artist. There is no one way to create art, and certainly no one way to create a business. You can even fail at it, junk it, try again. Develop your craft and get better each time. For me personally, I’ve always followed my own path for how I wanted to do it. Most of the time I made it up as I went along. Sometimes it worked...
There’s a lot of things I’ve just done without realizing it. I’ve operated naturally on my own, but now I have a word for it since it’s something that is spoken more in today’s world: Being a Solopreneur. For the last 20+ years, I’ve operated all my businesses out of my home desk. That desk used to be in my living room, now I have a dedicated bedroom office...
A lot of people dream of taking a hobby of theirs into a full-time business. But should they? I would consider this long and hard. One of my hobbies is collecting pinball machines. I’ve built an arcade in the basement of my home. I get a lot of pleasure from it, both from the experience today with it, and also how it goes back to when I was young and the memories I have of being in arcades...
I feel like I’m in a unique situation. I write to share my experiences and lessons learned, but am doing so from a position of success. So much success, that I’m not looking to sell anything. So that allows me to be honest, and tell things like how they are/were. At the same time, these true stories I feel run so counter to the “instant success formulas” being peddled...
I’m not sure how many times I’ve come across new entrepreneurs who get caught up in busy work, instead of doing what it is they are here to do. That is generally one of my first bits of advice – stop the busy work. Start generating money, the quicker the better. What is busy work? Websites, social media, promo pieces, writing a book for promotion, head shots, business cards and...
I still wrestle with feeling like I don’t know anything. I think it will always be with me. Like, my biggest financial success was creating some technology, yet put me in a room with a bunch of tech people as they throw terms around I don’t know and I feel like a moron. Part of it is because I went about it in a very unique way. I remember watching a food documentary, watching these...
I remember years ago coming across some “diploma mill” that would give you a degree or something for little effort (and a lot of money), and one of the things they’d give you a lot of credit for was “life experience”. At the time I thought that was the biggest joke in the world. Now, in that specific case, it was a joke because they were just using it as a way to...
There’s a simple trait I’ve seen amongst successful entrepreneurs, and it seems to separate those that achieve from those that just dream: Taking Action. From first hand experience and observation, those simple 2 words seems to make the difference. Taking Action means just do it, just go for it, just start it. Whatever your business is, do it. It does not mean “find more busy...
When working alone as a solopreneur, one of the key components you will have to figure out is how to automate as much as possible. Otherwise it turns into a real grind, and you are spending way too long doing manual things. Automation can take many forms and you’ll build them specific to your business needs. Here are some that I’ve personally done, to give you some ideas. 1) An email...
Lifestyle Business is a term I’ve learned recently that would apply to pretty much everything I’ve ever done. I didn’t build businesses to grow exponentially, or to be sold off, or to plan for exits. I built businesses to provide for me the lifestyle I wanted. As long as it was doing that, then it was a success. It’s also a whole lot more stress free. In general Lifestyle...
For a long time I struggled with acknowledging that I was having success in my life, but the way I achieved it, in a completely unorthodox fashion, always left me feeling like I faked my way to it. I recently came up with the correct word to describe myself and how I did this: Audacious. When I look up the definition of that word I get: Showing a willingness to take surprisingly bold risks. When...
There’s a great business metaphor featured in the book Blue Oceans Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. The gist is: Find “Blue Oceans” to operate a business in, free from competition. Avoid the bloody “Red Oceans” where everyone is fighting it out. As you develop business ideas and markets, keep this in mind. The best and easiest thing to do is: don’t...
I didn’t follow a conventional education path. In fact, I went straight into the workforce after high school. However, my education never stopped. I enjoy reading and learning. As I’ve gotten older, I actually read more, because I’ve realized you can never stop learning and I benefit from it. Choosing an entrepreneurial life, I’ve never had to write a resume. I’ve...
I was just recently introduced to the concept of being “authentic”. As soon as I heard it, it really struck me. I realized immediately I have been a master of “Fake It Till You Make It”. It did work for me, quite successfully, many times in my life. I can’t even speak against that as a strategy. Certainly when you are starting out. But I’m in a different place...
When speaking to people today starting out their businesses, one of the pieces of advice I will generally give is that this is going to take longer than you thought or hoped for. My rule of thumb, based on my own experiences, is that you better be committed to seeing it through for 3 years. Three years to figure out your market, grow the business to something that can support your goal of success...
This was originally posted at my DJ site, anabolic-frolic.com. StealthSeminar, a webinar software company I co-founded in 2010, just celebrated its users generating over 1 billion dollars (USD) using the platform. What’s more amazing is that the software that I created and has been used by over 20 million people owes its existence to my DJ past, and specifically technology I created to host the...
As I embark on the next chapter of my life, one where I hope to help others like me, I’ve realized we are all unique. I will share my story, and hope it might inspire others, but there is no following in my foot steps. There is no secret formula. And certainly there are no short cuts. And that is OK. The quicker this is learned, the better. Prepare for the hard work. Prepare for things...
In hindsight, I am so glad I was unable to access debt or credit during my struggling years. At the time I wished I could, I thought it would make my life easier. I see now it would have set a trap that would have been very difficult to get out of. It forced me to be resourceful. Because I couldn’t just charge something to a credit card, I had to come up with other solutions. When...
There’s a quote, attributed to Jim Rohn, that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. I’ve only recently become familiar with that quote, but realized it has come to play with me many times over my life. Often as I’ve started new ventures, as I was immersed in it, the people I was around were also in that world. We all fed off each other. As each of us...
Here is a link to a TED Talk from Tim Ferris that I found quite helpful. Instead of “Goal Setting”, Tim talks about “Fear Setting”. I used his literal exercise outlined in this video to help break some of my inertia I was dealing with in my life. Inertia from fear. I was paralyzed from making any changes and was suffering because of it. I worked it out, and that enabled me...
Years ago I came up with a “Freedom 35” goal. Basically, I calculated what my monthly nut was (all of my expenses) and would consider myself “free” if I had reliable automatic recurring income that met or exceeded that number. Not including work I had to go actually do (like gigs). 1 month before my 36th birthday, I crossed that line. That was a great day. However, at the...
As an adult, your life grows much more insular and you generally don’t get many opportunities to meet new people. The last big period of my life meeting new people was during my DJ days. I connected with so many people through a shared passion for the music and the scene. But that period ended, and everyone went on their own ways. As I worked on new things, I would connect with people that...
There’s a few stories from history of early explorers literally burning their ships, so that there was no way to go home, and the men were then committed to success or die. I realized as part of my story, I had done a figurative “burning of the ship” as I embarked on new business ventures. I purposely avoided getting a job, or any other work, other than attempt at building my...
If you’re struggling, it’s easy to come up with a list of people or things to blame for your lack of success. “I blame my parents” “I blame the economy” “I blame The Man” “I blame my debt” “I blame society” “I blame Trump” etc… I’m not even going to disagree with any of those statements as they apply...