John Reel’s Blog

While my previous post on banning “Is this a scam?” marketing got a lot of positive feedback, and I hope it will get people thinking and changing their affiliate agreements to stop people from using those tactics, it also brought up the topic of this post.  Who am I to be suggesting that other people change, when I’ve done some questionable things myself?

I’ll start with an aside:

I’ve been vegan for 21 years.  As anyone else who has pursued this alternative lifestyle can attest, people often get defensive just at the mention that you are vegan or vegetarian.  They seem to feel that my choice is an attack against their choice to eat meat, and they attack back.  I strongly suspect that they know that there is a lot of merit to my lifestyle choice, and they feel the need to defend their choice because they know it has ethical, environmental, and health implications that they aren’t comfortable with and don’t want to think about.  My existence makes them think about it.  (Personally, I don’t care one bit what they eat.)

When they ask why I’m vegan, I answer that I don’t like eating animal products.  It grosses me out, and that is the real reason I became vegan.  If they ask for other reasons, and they really want to know, I tell them about the way animals are factory farmed, the way they are treated, the chemicals that are put into them, the health ramifications of that way of farming on us, how the environmental impact of our species eating animal products is worse than the environmental impact of cars, how eating meat is not sustainable with our population growth, how rain forests are cut down to make room for grazing cattle, etc.  I guess I haven’t figured out how to answer their questions in a way they like, because this can really get them on the defensive, despite all the research that backs this up.

One of the arguments that people tend to give when attacking me for being vegan is that I’m the pot calling the kettle black.  They’ll start asking me questions like, “do you drive a car?” to catch me in an ethical conundrum, to make me into a hypocrite, and thus negate all of my reasons that being vegan is a better lifestyle for the planet.  If I don’t use a car, then they’ll search for something else, until they find something that makes them feel that they have put me in my place.  The look of relief that I see on their faces when they find something is profound.

If you don’t agree with me about being vegan, then fine.  I really don’t care.  But, we can choose to do something positive for our world, or we can choose to justify a lifestyle by saying, if you can’t live in perfect harmony with the world, then there is no point in trying.  To make a difference, some people may choose to be vegan, some may choose to telecommute instead of driving to work, some may choose to give money to charity, some may run for office, vote for the green party, or choose one of a hundred other things.  I made my choices in ways that I can reduce my impact on the planet, and continually try to reduce my impact and improve the world in small ways.  Your choices are probably different than mine and I’m okay with that.  I don’t judge even if you have no causes or beliefs that I can identify with.

Back to my previous post:

I find a lot of people cross lines in this industry of Internet marketing.  It encourages and rewards corruption, dirty tactics, and unethical behavior. I’m looking at the lines I’ve crossed, am not happy with it, and have changed. This particular rant on “scam” marketing is the first of many to come in an attempt to challenge other people to help us all clean up our acts and show people that Internet marketing can be done better, and more profitably - without resorting to these tactics.  You may agree or disagree, and that is fine.  All I hope you’ll do is consider and take action if something I suggest resonates with you.

What I hope you will not do, is to say that because I’ve crossed lines in the past, I have no right to grow, change for what I think is the better, or to put ideas out there on what we can do differently.  If that were the case, nobody could reflect and change.

Thank you,

John.

I’ve been practicing and teaching Yoshinkan Aikido for something like seventeen years.  This is a very powerful martial art, and the official style of the Tokyo riot police. 

When I started, I was blessed to join what was at the time probably the best dojo outside of Japan.  People flew in from all over North America to join us for our monthly intensive training sessions, and we flew in guest instructors from Japan and elsewhere on a regular basis.  The day I joined there was about three new people like myself, and several dozen brown and black belts, including three fifth degree black belts who had just returned from training for three years full-time with the founder of our style.

Those instructors were out to prove themselves by creating the best Aikido trainers they could, and I was one of them.  I soaked it up, loving every minute of it.  Each of the top instructors had their own very different styles, and I tried to take the best of all of it.

When training in Aikido, the goal is to learn while being safe.  Our training partners are kind enough to lend us their bodies to practice on, so we return them in the same shape we got them in.  We take people slowly through learning how to move while keeping perfect timing, control, and balance, while taking their oponent’s balance.  This alows small people (like me) to easily control and pin much larger opponents.  We also spend a lot of time learning how to easily and safely fall, so that we can advance you up the ranks to more exciting techniques, without risk of injury.

For the past year or two, I’ve been donating my time to help a dojo get going here in Guelph.  It was started by a former student of mine from back when I had my own dojo.

It’s been a rough road, as we’ve been forced by circumstances to move five or six times, starting in Fergus, then Elora, then Guelph.  We thought we had a big space right downtown, around the corner from my new place, but it didn’t pan out at the last minute.  I thought that might be the end for this little club.

However, last week, a new place was found downtown.   Yesterday I taught the first class there and we had about a dozen people show up.  Apparently the new location is a hit and the club’s web site is getting more hits than ever before.

If you are interested in seeing some Aikido videos or trying out a class, check out our web site at Grand River Aikido.

On a totally personal note, on September first I’m moving in with my girlfriend, Rebecca, pictured to the right.  We’ve rented a house together, with a third person to keep costs low and to add some extra fun into the mix.

What makes this especially interesting for me is that Rebecca and I will have only been dating for three months when we move in with each other!  This is unprecedented for me.

Here are some of the exciting things we plan to do together:

1) Living raw
I’ve been vegan for 21 years, and Rebecca is a fairly recent convert to vegetarianism.  She also has some training in raw food cooking and we’re going to take classes together and start “cooking” predominantly raw food.  I am really looking forward to this, and to having regular sit-down meals with the household and friends.

2) Yoga in the morning
She teaches yoga.  How yummy is that?  I love the idea of doing yoga in the mornings and have wanted a partner for that for years.  We’re going to keep the living room free of furniture, and full of pillows.

3) No television
I’m going to get serious about selling my stupid big television.  No cable and no renting movies means more quality time spent doing things with friends.

“Wait a minute, I like watching movies” she said, when reviewing this post.  Okay, maybe we’ll keep the TV, but no cable!!!

4) Music
The thrid person, Ken, is a professional musician.  I play the guitar somewhat.  Rebecca used to play the guitar and organ quite well so perhaps she’ll take them up again.  With many musical friends between us all, we intend to have lots of jams and singalongs to fill up all the time we might have been sitting around watching television.

5) More travel
My girlfriend is an accomplished world traveller, much more so than I.  We should soon both be able to get to a point where we can work from anywhere, as we both work in the computing field.  This means some extended trips, exploring the world while we continue to work.

6) More blogging
Rebecca has quite a following on her personal blog and on FaceBook and I’m learning to be more open about my life.  We plan to blog about our adventures when we start travelling.  (We already are doing some small trips, but nothing extensive yet.)

7) Massive purging
Rebecca has done some purging of stuff she owns.  I’m doing a massive purge.  Everything that is currently in storage will be brought out and either put to use, sold, given away, or thrown out.  All the stuff that I’ve been pack-ratting for years will be gone, reducing my load for living and travel.

Exciting times ahead!

I once had enough money to do whatever I wanted thanks to a successful start-up.  Sadly, like most lottery winners, I was unprepared for this and mismanaged my new-found wealth.

This is what I learned from being rich for a little while:

1.  I can get rich.
I think one of the biggest things holding people back from getting rich is the belief that it is possible.  I did it once, getting past this roadblock by finding mentors to guide and inspire me.  I will do it again soon, better, and with more ease, simply because I know I can do it.

2.  Success begets dangerous opportunities.
When you do well, suddenly a lot of doors open up to you.  May I humbly suggest that you ignore them unless they are directly part of your plan.  Otherwise, you may find yourself distracted, spread too thin, and losing ground.  Related, I suggest flushing out fully everything to do with what made you successful in the first place before moving on to something else.  There probably are other ways to take what you’ve done to greater success, riding on the wave you’ve started instead of starting a new wave from scratch.

3. Money does buy you happiness.
To all the people who say otherwise, I say hogwash.  There was a dramatic change in my personality when I had money.  A tremendous weight was lifted when I suddenly went from a low income to (apparent) financial security.  In a society ruled by money, no longer having to worry about money is something very worthwhile that money can buy.  (Note:  I know very happy people with no money, living off the grid.  Money is not the only route to financial security!)

4. Stuff does not buy you happiness.
There is an image that our society as a whole seems to subscribe to of what it means to be rich, and a good part of that image is attached to buying stuff.  With a lack of a different role model, I found myself subscribing to that belief system, even as I questioned why the heck I needed these things.

Next time I’m rich I’m not going to attempt to fill holes in my life by purchasing stuff.  I’m going to use the money to do good and live a more extraordinary life, defined by what I do and experience, not what I own.  Stuff just ties you down and forces you to make yet more money.  You can be rich with a lot less money if you stop buying lots of stuff!

Very inspiring quick read: 10 Unexpected Costs Of Owing Things

[As an aside:  It seems almost a right of passage with many Internet entrepreneurs to buy a really expensive car.  Why?  Why?  Why?  If I really wanted to spend that kind of cash on myself, I would get a full-time personal chef.  Now that's a luxury!]

5.  It’s important to know why you want to be rich.
Money is a means to an end, not the end in of itself.  With the pace expected of Internet entrepreneurs, the means tends to become all consuming, and when the money comes, I think many people forget what the point of it all was and continue doing what they were doing, just on grander scales.  That’s what I did. I squandered the freedom of being able to do whatever I want, and it took (temporarily) losing the option to allow me to discover what I really want to be doing with my life.

I’m actually glad that I have had this experience of gaining and losing wealth.  It has given me more balance to my life now.  It has also prepared me to gain wealth again, keep it, and live my life in a much more intentional way doing things that really make me happy.

By the way, in future posts I will write about all the things I did right and wrong in my start-up, and the lessons I learned in the process.

Got 40 minutes or so? I really enjoyed this. It’s like looking into a crystal ball and seeing the future of this blog, muhah ha hah ha!

UPDATE: Direct link is http://www.drhorrible.com/

I’ve been running companies on the web since 1994 and my first web 2.0ish startup made $750K so far, almost half in the first week.  I’ve got some useful insight for for marketers, startups, and programmers.

Yet, I stopped blogging.  Here’s why:

1. I like my privacy.  (I think.)
2. Only marketers know I exist and I also want to write about other things that are more interesting to me.
3. I get distracted easily.
4. If I’m at a computer, I should be working, not blogging.
5. It’s sunny out.  Why am I in a dark room blogging?
6. I feel arrogant.  Who could possibly care what I have to say?
7. Some of the things I think are rather counter-culture and/or cynical.
8. Once in a while, I change my opinions frequently.
9. Blogging is out there forever and attached to my name.
10. I can’t spell, and I don’t have spell-check on my blog.*
11. I get distracted easily.**
12. People I care about might read this.
13. Nobody might ever read this.***
14. My editor, Jane will be offended by my bad grammar.****
15. Anything I write may be used in a court of law, against me.
16. UPDATE: And of course, because at least one person always has something negative to comment on whatever you write online.

However, I have a lot on my mind, and I feel like sharing, for better or worse.

If you care to read or subscribe, please be aware:

• Some of it might help you with your business.
• Much of it will be random topics that will only appeal to me, stalkers, and Internet voyeurs.
• All of it is me.
• Very little of it, if anything, will be for promoting affiliate products.
• This is kind of practice for the new direction I want to take with my life.  More on that in future posts.
• I might get distracted by something shiny at any moment and forget all about this.

Notes:

* Firefox used to spell-check automatically for me, and now it doesn’t.  What’s up with that?  OK, I just installed a WordPress spell checker plug-in.

** Yes, I said that already.  I really get distracted easily.

*** Please comment and let me know if anyone is out there!

**** If you want your written work to make you look smarter, hire Jane at http://www.WickedlyGoodGrammar.com

(I can promote Jane’s editing service because it isn’t an affiliate link, I use her services often, she is really good at what she does, she is a close friend who I see frequently, and she taught me the correct use of commas in lists such as this one.)

Hi.

If you have subscribed to this blog or to its mailing list, or are coming here looking for anything to do with products I have been or am involved with, please read this post about the shift in all future postings.

This blog has my name on it and it will reflect me, not my work from this point forward. I’ve removed any sales-type posts, but kept a few key-moment posts for now, until I move them to more appropriate sites.

If you are interested in getting to know me, what I like, what’s going on in my life - to a certain degree anyway - I welcome you to stay on this list and/or check back in from time to time. I also invite you to share with me your thoughts on what I write.

I only ask one thing: Please keep things positive. I have been known to take your comments personally.

Thank you,
John Reel.

Congratulations to Simon and Cheryl! 

They had their baby yesterday, a healthy girl they have named Ivy.  All went very well.