How Small Adventures Can Be The Start of Something Huge

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” –Lao Tzu

We’re continuing on with the adventure theme, because I truly believe that it can be truly life-changing if you’re willing to embrace it.

Last week, we talked about how adventure can be a means of finding out more about who you are.  We didn’t get very many comments on that post, but I don’t believe that to be a sign that it didn’t resonate with readers.

At the end of the post, I asked “What adventure will you be going on this weekend?”.

I think the challenge with this question had to do with the context given to the word “adventure”.

For Jo and I, the adventure has been traveling the world for the past 12 months.  16-hour visa runs. Street food. 3-foot long monitor lizards and rhinoceros beetles. Learning new languages. Experiencing new cultures.

Maybe you’re thinking: “I was just planning to take my kids to the park this weekend and have a picnic. That’s hardly an adventure.”

My friend, every single adventure you take contributes largely to expanding your vision into what is possible.

It is not the size or expense of the journey that matters.  The important thing is the quality of the experience for you.

 

A Great Adventure Has You Coming Back For More

Overnight success is anything but overnight.  Except for winning the lottery, most people build their dreams over years of learning, growing, and taking action.  That last part is the most important.

Without action, anything you learn is only potential.  Action gets you the results, and seeing results keeps you coming back for more.

 

Consider the possibilities:

That trip to your local park could awaken something in you to take a bigger adventure to the beaches and outbacks of Australia, like our friend Steve at NerdFitness did last year.

 

A 15- minute jog three times a week could balloon into 26.2-mile marathon like it did for my amazing sister Jackie.

 

A weekly bike ride with friends could become a full-fledged cycling team like Fred and Candee’s Team Disco Inferno, who are raising funds to beat cancer through Livestrong.

 

A weekend project adventure of installing a home theater might inspire you to create a product to guide others to a clean installation.  Jo’s awesome brother did just that when he created the hol-e-cap as a side business, which earned him thousands of dollars in revenue.

 

Want to go from ordinary to extraordinary?  It’s simpler than you think.  Like the people we just mentioned, it’s simply a matter of you going on an adventure that you’ve been curious about and have never tried. Do something that is not part of your ordinary routine.

Adventure Adds Tremendous Value To Your Life

Keep changing it up.  Seek a new adventure every chance you get.  Keep learning new things, and meeting new people. Learn a new skill, or take a cooking course.

It’s your small adventures outside of the ordinary, that have the potential to change your life in an extraordinary way.

Consider these examples:

Maybe this weekend your adventure was to start one of those “photo-a-day” projects.  That’s what our friend Benny did, and it made him over $30,000 in 30 days. Maybe you’re familiar with his app, Photo365.

 

Maybe you don’t usually spend time in the kitchen cooking.  What if you knew that a culinary adventure making some energy snacks this weekend would blow up into a $200 million a year enterprise?

 

Is working out atypical for you?  What if you knew that the one trip you planned to take to the gym this weekend would catapult you into a multi-millionaire like it did for this guy?

Your Adventure Could Blossom Into Your Dream Job

Those last few examples showed you how a little adventure can become a great business.  Find something you love and feel passionate about. Help others improve their lives with your product or service. Impact the world in an amazing way. Live off of the fruits of your labor.

Isn’t that what we are all striving for in life?   You’re doing an amazing job of taking care of yourself and your family despite the harsh conditions in today’s economy.

But I know if you could pull it off, you would love to have your own gig, working when you want and only on things you truly love to do.

 

We want the same thing.  We want to work with people like you, to help you empower your life through action. You’ve got unlimited potential within you, and we’re making it our business to help you achieve whatever goals you aspire to in your life.

That’s why we’re so excited to share with you about a really cool book that we just finished up reading, one that might just give you the courage to try putting yourself out there and exploring the possibility of turning something you love into a business.

The $100 Startup

Many of our long-time readers know that we are huge fans of Chris Guillebeau’s work. His book The Art oF Non-Conformity really changed the way we look at life, career, and the world at large.

 

Chris is at it again. He just published his second book, The $100 Startup, and I’m happy to report, it’s a hit!

In the book, he features 70 different case studies on people who for one reason or another found themselves starting a business for as little as $100, and built it into a business earning at least $50,000 a year and in many cases several times that.

These folks dared to do something different, whether out of necessity due to being laid off, or out of a passion for something totally unrelated to their day job.

In essence, they got out of their comfort zones and ended up getting on a path to some pretty lucrative business (ad)ventures.

Filled with many examples of thriving businesses that started out as simple dreams, this book will get you thinking about the possibilities within your own realm of adventure.

In addition to the real-life entrepreneur profiles, Chris covers the bare essentials you need to consider so that you can quickly get started on whatever venture you are thinking of pursuing.

Speaking of bare essentials…one of the people he profiled is our good friend Courtney Carver from BeMoreWithLess, who turned her love for simple yet purposeful living into a thriving business with just a laptop and an internet connection.

 

While other books read like an MBA textbook, The $100 Startup gives it to you in simple and easy-to-understand concepts that don’t have you stuck in analysis paralysis.

Covering topics such as writing your business plan, creating your offer, product launch, and promotion, this book will get you ready to start exploring the possible paths you could take with your business idea.

As if the book wasn’t enough, there are online tools provided as well, including “The Instant Consulting Business”, “Become Your Own Publisher”, and “7 Steps To Market Testing”. The best part? These are offered absolutely free!

For the vast majority of would-be entrepreneurs, the major obstacle is not money, resources, or a sure-fire idea. It’s courage to take action. Most people under-appraise their skills and abilities, and this is a major obstacle in getting started.

This book serves as in inspiring read to give you the right mindset for starting a business(or anything in life for that matter). It then merges that with real-life examples of people who’ve successfully taken the leap, and provides you tools that you can use to get started.

Get a copy today. You might just get an idea to start a small venture that could be the start of something huge!

We’d love to hear some ideas that you have for an adventure in the near future.  It doesn’t have to be about business, we just want to be inspired by your courage to try something new!  Let us know in the comments…