Chris Guillebeau is an online business owner and a world traveler. He can be found at chrisguillebeau.com or on Twitter @chrisguillebeau. One of his recent projects is The Empire Building Kit.
Bryan: So to get started, maybe you can explain: Who is Chris Guillebeau?
Chris: I'm a writer, entrepreneur, and world traveler. I publish the blog The Art of Non-Conformity, and the new book of the same title (Compare Prices).
Bryan: When was the last time you had a job? Or stayed in one place long enough to consider it home?
Chris: I've never had a full-time, 9-5 job. The last part-time job I had was more than 10 years ago while working the night shift at FedEx. I learned pretty quickly that I was "unemployable." As for staying in one place, well, I do have a home in Portland, Oregon. I'm there about half the time and around the world elsewhere the other half.
Bryan: A while back, you announced your intention to visit every country in the world by your 35th birthday. How’s that project coming? And, how do you still manage to get any work done?
Chris: So far, so good: I've been to 151 countries out of 192 in total. It gets progressively more difficult as I go along, but I think I'm (just barely) on track to conclude on time. As for work, I structure my travel around work and vice versa. Wherever I am, I'm thinking about work and completing various projects every day.
Bryan: How long have you been self-sufficient (aka: making a living) with your online businesses? And what does this mean for your lifestyle?
Chris: For my whole life, or at least starting at age 20 when I left FedEx. For me, self-sufficiency means no debt, enough money to do most of what I want to do, and enough to invest in others through my charity work.
Bryan: You’ve recently launched the Empire Building Kit. Can you explain the idea behind it, and how it works?
Chris: The idea of the Empire Building Kit is to help people build a business in one year on a low budget, usually oriented around something the business owner ("emperor") is passionate about. The material is taught through a series of case studies of people who have done exactly that, along with the world's-longest follow-up series of 365 daily emails for an entire year.
Bryan: What type of feedback have you heard from your Empire Building students? Which students have really turned the course into a huge success?
Chris: It is my most popular product and I've received only good feedback. You can use Google to find a number of people who have been chronicling their journey through the course. One fun project was Only72.com, which earned more than $100,000 during a recent launch. Others are Meet Plan Go, which is in the process of turning a national movement into a business. Sean Ogle, whom I wrote about in the AONC book, now earns a full-time living online.
Bryan: Obviously, not every online product or offering is going to be a raving success. What is your best flop of a product? What did you learn from it?
Chris: Great question. My best flop was called Travel Ninja. I thought everyone would want it... but they didn't. Then, much later, I launched Frequent Flyer Master and it was a huge hit. The difference was that prospects felt intimidated by the material of Travel Ninja; most people didn't want to travel the world as much as I did, or at least didn't care about the technical aspects of how that works. With FFM, I tried much harder to "give them the fish" as opposed to teaching them how to fish.
Bryan: What role does social media play in your businesses? Which tools do you primarily use?
Chris: In some ways, my business is a product of social media. I don't think I could do what I do without what I call the small army of remarkable people who participate in different ways. As for tools, I'm pretty low-tech by design. I use Wordpress, Tweetdeck, Aweber, 1ShoppingCart, etc. - all free or low-cost resources.
Bryan: Many people feel that social media is too complex to master. What advice would you give them?
Chris: You don't have to "master" it; you just need to consider participating in it. It can take as little as 5-10 minutes a day, and this is the way the world is communicating now. Ignore it at your peril.
Bryan: What advice would you give to someone starting an online business?
Chris: Always think about your customer or end-user. Why should they care about what you have to offer? It's good to be passionate about things, but in business you have to find convergence between your passions and what people are willing to spend money on. (We go through this concept in the EBK repeatedly because it's so important.)
Bryan: What is up next for you? What are you reading now?
Chris: Right now I'm in the middle of my 63-city book tour to every state in the U.S. and province in Canada. It's kind of an all-consuming project. But in 2011 I'll be starting a new business, heading out to about 20 countries, writing my second book, etc. As for what I'm reading, here are a few books in my bag for this trip: Built to Sell; Beg, Borrow, Steal; Everything Matters!; and The Financial Lives of Poets. I try to read widely and learn from everywhere I can.
Chris Guillebeau is an online business owner and a world traveler. He can be found at chrisguillebeau.com or on Twitter @chrisguillebeau. One of his recent projects is The Empire Building Kit.
