I’m thrilled to be bringing Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity to Adversity University.  He’s someone truly different from the rest of the bloggers I’ve interviewed here.  In fact, he was in a guest house somewhere in Erbil, Kurdistan, a nice peaceful place, not at all like the rest of Iraq!

I mean, IRAQ?  Wow.  I wonder if he was scared to be so close to a war zone.  Imagine that!

Let me briefly tell you how I “met” him.  I had seen his name floating around the Internet a bit.  One day, I decided to visit his blog and browse around (isn’t that what most of us do out there?  We tend to browse around, like we do in a shopping mall, and then we either make a purchase (in blogging that’s like signing up for a subscription) or we lurk around some more.  I’ve had lots of “lurkers” around Adversity University over the last few years.  Only when they feel my work is worth their time do they finally sign up.  People are funny that way.

Anyway, I was looking through his site when I found an article of his that caught my attention.  One thing led to another and I ended up subscribing.  I’ve never met anyone who made it their life’s purpose to travel around the world.  He’s usually writing from some foreign cafe like he was doing when answering my questions.  Don’t you think that’s cool or what?

By the time you’re done with Chris, I think you’ll be fascinated with what he’s trying to accomplish. Shall we call him out now??

(THE AUDIENCE ROARS ITS APPROVAL, SHOUTING CHRIS! CHRIS! CHRIS!)

CHRIS?? Please come out from behind those doors, we’re all waiting for you, my new friend!  Come on out!

1. One of my favorite questions when I want to learn about someone is by asking them to give me their 5 second introduction when I pose the question:  “What do you do for a living?”

I have been self-employed for most of my adult life, having done anything I could to avoid getting the dreaded “real job.”  The specifics of that have ranged from importing coffee from Jamaica to consulting to working with Google Adwords and Adsense.  At the moment I’m more focused on my writing than on making money, but I’ll be introducing a couple of information products soon that will help support the writing project.

Stephen’s Response:  Haha, that one makes me laugh - the “real job.”  Yes, I know what you mean.  The first ten years of my life after college was with the “real 9 to 5 corporate job.”  But when I got to Merrill Lynch, my whole life did a turnabout because being a stockbroker meant that I was no longer in a “staff job.”  It was as if I was my own boss because I was responsible for my production.  Anyway, I’m sure many people here at Adversity University can identify with the “real job” thing.  They’re probably in them!  Best wishes with the launch of your products that will help you support your writing endeavors.  I need to do the same thing here.

2.  Tell me in 3 to 5 sentences something we can’t read in your bio or at the “About Page” at your blog “The Art of Non-Conformity.”

I’m a pretty quiet person and I keep to myself a lot.  I had a crazy childhood that wasn’t much fun at the time, but it helped me become who I am now, so I have no regrets. I like to run and drink coffee, not usually at the same time.

Stephen’s Response:  That’s pretty interesting - I bet that’s why you’re able to travel on your own much of the time.  Haha, run and drink coffee?  That’d be fun to watch if you made an attempt at it!  I myself love coffee but am not very fond of running  -  on the treadmill, that is.  But I do it in the name of good exercise!

3. How long have you been blogging at “The Art of Non-Conformity”?

I outlined the project last year while traveling, and then spent a long time thinking about the platform and how I would structure the content. We officially launched in March 2008.  Since then I’ve published three essays a week on Life, Work, and Travel, along with some other occasional updates.

Stephen’s Response:  Well, I’ll tell you something Chris.  I love your blog.  It’s beautiful.  That’s why I became a subscriber after reading a few articles.  You most definitely have an unusual platform.  There aren’t too many bloggers who blog from different parts of the world.  Not only that but you have this writing style that I like very much.  Can’t put my finger on it but it’s just that “special something” about your writing.  I love getting your updates and I think my readers will too.

4.  What is the real reason you started “The Art of Non-Conformity”?

I have helped a number of people on an individual basis prior to starting the site, and I wanted to be able to do that on a broader level.  I also wanted a platform for my writing about personal development and world travel.  The goal is to write my first book over the next year and then go on from there.

Stephen’s Response:  Blogging is a great way to help the largest number of people at one time, for sure.  I’m about to launch a personal/spiritual coaching business online because I want to reach out to as many people as I can.   It’s amazing how much the Internet has evolved over the years.  It’s powerful beyond imagination.

5.  One of the reasons why you’re being interviewed, Chris, is because you come across as someone who I’d like to meet in person.  Your writings reflect a source of honesty and inner wisdom.  That means I perceive you as an authentic blogger, an important prerequisite for this interview.  How did you become like this?

Thanks!  That’s nice of you.  I think it happened through trial and error, with a lot of error.  I have made many, many mistakes in my life, but I’ve managed to keep going and not give up. There’s no real secret to authenticity other than that, I don’t think.

Stephen’s Response:  Same here - I started writing seriously right after I quit Wall Street in the late 90’s.  I credit Julia Cameron, author of “The Artist’s Way” for helping me get out the words on to paper.  I began journaling and writing to my heart’s desires.  Eventually, I started to write short stories and submitting them to various inspirational sites like heartwarmers.com  When my stories began getting accepted, my confidence in writing began to shoot up.  Like you, I just kept writing and didn’t give up.  Now I’m at a point where I’ve written a complete manuscript for my first book and am, in fact, waiting to hear from a major publisher on the results of their review of my book proposal.  One step at a time, right Chris?

6.  If I were to ask you to dig a little further, how would you define who you really are?

At the moment I would say I am a writer, social entrepreneur, traveler, and learner.  I change focuses every two years or so, but those things usually remain constant in some form.

Stephen’s Response:  That’s pretty cool.  I think it’s awesome that you’re gaining some pretty incredible experiences as a traveler.  I bet most people would love to do what you’re doing if they put their minds to it.

7.  What is the best advice you’ve ever received?  Given?

Received - I’m not sure; I’ve heard so many good things and have been impacted by so many great people that it’s hard to pick just one.

Given - “You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.”  That’s one of the messages in the manifesto, and it seems it resonates with a lot of readers.

Stephen’s Response:  The manifesto was absolutely astonishing.  I not only Stumbled it but I also Twittered and told the Adversity University community about it.  I love the philosophy “you don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.”  Gosh, Chris, that’s so incredibly powerful and freeing!  Can you imagine if every single person on this planet was living their life according to the way they wanted to?  The world we live in now would be such a different place, don’t you think?

8.  What do you consider your proudest achievement in life?

It is a joint achievement, obviously, but in all of life I am most proud of my ten-year marriage to Jolie. She is a remarkable person and we have come a long way together.

Stephen’s Response:  So does she travel with you too?  This is the first I’ve heard about your wife.  I was under the impression that you were traveling by yourself.

9.  We all have a dark side, what’s yours?

If by “dark side” you mean weaknesses, I have more than just one, unfortunately.  The biggest challenge for me as a leader right now is insecurity, especially knowing when to listen to criticism and when to ignore it.

Another challenge I have with life in general is that it is very difficult for me to do anything I am not motivated to do.  That is related to the A.D.D. I have had since childhood. Sometimes it can be a positive characteristic, because a lot of expectations we all think we are supposed to follow are not at all necessary, but there are other times when it would be great if I could get my act together and do something that needs to be done.

Stephen’s Response:  We’re all insecure on some level.  I’ve never met a 100 percent secure person unless they were acting out of arrogance (pretending to be secure).  Criticism is one of the hardest things to grapple with.  It takes time and experience to sort out which ones you need to listen to and which ones are petty.  I’m still trying to sort that out myself!

10. Just recently you released a fabulous manifesto that I fell in love with:  ”A Brief Guide to World Domination.”  How did the idea to write that come to you?  What made you do it?  It inspired me to write my own!  Did you do the design yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?  It was very professionally done, pleasing to the eye and quite clean - and enjoyable.

Since last year I knew I would write the manifesto to build readership and create flagship content after the first couple of months of writing.  I wanted something a bit longer than the usual blog post or essay length, but not as long as a book.  I ended up working on it, off and on, for a couple of months while going between countries in the Middle East, South America, and Asia.

I’m glad you liked the design-I did too, and can’t take any credit for myself.  For that, I used the services of the great Reese Spykerman. Reese and her husband do fantastic design work from two continents, and I highly recommend them.  A number of people have said that when they opened the document they were initially expecting a regular “ebook style” report, but were then drawn in by the design. For that, I can only thank Reese.

Stephen’s Response:  Well, thanks for the tipoff to Reese Spykerman.  When I’m ready to do my manifesto, I will see what he has to offer me.  I know I need to do one.  In fact, I need to do not only a manifesto but also an e-book.  But I keep putting that stuff off1  Your manifesto really inspired me to do one of my own so I thank you for that!  Yes, people are drawn in by design - many of us out there are visually oriented, don’t you think? I know I am.  Maybe that’s a big reason why I loved it - it was a combination of great writing and pleasing visuals.

Gosh, ladies and gentlemen, that was a QUICK interview!  We have the second part coming next Wednesday so stay tuned for that.  Let’s give Chris a hearty applause for taking a break from traveling and coming to our beautiful campus here at Adversity University.  It was a priviledge to have him here and we can’t wait to see him again!

Thanks Chris and the rest of you for listening in on this interview.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.  More to the point, I hope you took some time to roam around Chris’ blog, The Art of Non-Conformity.  I believe you’ll enjoy yourselves while there.

Until then, enjoy!

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