2012 marks the start of my seventh year in business. From the days of being an airline pilot, I’ve come a long way, but still have a few things I wish I had known back then.

Since going full time and needing my business to produce income, I’ve had several ups and downs. Some months I didn’t know where I was going to get grocery money from. I’ve stared at the celling of my office while laying on the floor, ripe with fear.

I’ve had huge things happen, like speaking on a five day cruise and working with companies large and small, all over the world.

If I could somehow reach back to that guy, brand new in business six years ago, this is the advice I would give him.
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Show Topics:

• Reselling products on eBay
• Twitter ID’s
• Which metrics to track for business

Dan: (writing back in with an update on setting his speaking fees) Interesting how it worked out. It is a fairly small gig speaking to 30-40 interns for a company. I asked for $150 and they came back and said their budget was $120. I said this was fine, but I really like your idea of having a few products available. I don’t have any completed products yet but I’m hopeful that I can by the time I speak. I’ll definitely have business cards/flyers to hand out. I also plan on video taping everything to use as a marketing tool.

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Want to meet influential people? Hang out with other influential people. No surprise there, of course, but how is slightly more complicated.

To kick off your hanging out, you have to first become friends. Take a close look at those folks (they probably don’t know you yet) and figure out how you can help them. Helping them is probably not giving them your product or service for free, unless they’re already looking for what you can offer.

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When I joined twitter, back in 2008, I was hosting a radio show called Past Due Radio. Since Past Due was my main brand at the time and it was much easier to spell than Lukasavige, I threw it out as my twitter ID.

A few years ago I handed over the reigns of Past Due Radio to my Lead Financial Coach, then a few months ago, wrapped up that project completely. Today, I’m still left with pastdue as my twitter ID.

I actually like the ID since it’s short and easy to spell, but I get a lot of questions about it and people seem to be a bit confused. Yesterday a few folks on twitter suggested some names for me, but I want to know what you think.

This is a two question survey (survey is now closed) that I’d your feedback on.

Should I change my name? If yes, to what?

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Show Topics:

• Turning abandoned shipping containers into medial offices
• Creating a global company while still in college
• Finding people and resources to launch and grow a company

G3Box team members Gabby Palmero, Susanna Young, and Clay Tyler join me to talk about their new business: turning abandoned shipping containers into medical offices.

The team began working together at Arizona State University and the project was kicked off in the Spring of 2012. They’ve had many ups and downs since then, but have surrounded themselves with many people who have helped them launch their ideas into the world.

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There was much excitement when some of the first telephone calls were made back in March, 1877. Click on the picture for a larger view, or go to the NY Times to read the full story.

Seems the world was on the edge of a revolution in telegraphy. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the next best thing, right?

I bet there were a lot of people back then saying things like, “But my customers don’t use telephones.” Sound familiar?

The truth is, just because your market doesn’t use the technology today, it doesn’t mean they won’t use it tomorrow. If all of a sudden everyone is using twitter, google+, and facebook (do you know anyone without a telephone), at what point will you jump in and use it?

Already, 50% of Americans are regularly using social media.

Will you use it before it’s too late? 

Check out some of these social media tutorials if you need to get started.

Blog to grow your business
At Need a Topic you’ll get topics, tips, & techniques three times a week to help you stand out from the crowd and actually make money from your time blogging. I cover writing, audio, and video to help you become profitable. Try the 7 day free trial.

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Show Topics:

• A $12,000 client
• How to blog/podcast consistently
• How to price myself as a speaker

Rendezvous member is signing a $12,000 contract today. Wow!

If you want your own group, you can submit an application.

Jake: Thanks for your Need a Topic service, it’s brilliant. Currently I’m in a rut with my online activity. Working two jobs plus going on vacation recently with no online access means my site has no fresh post or podcast in probably two months. I hate the feeling of not being reliable and regular the way my favorite blogs and podcasts are.

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Ideas come to me everywhere, as you likely already know. Even in the shower. That’s why I bought this cool board that allows me to write while I’m in there. The shower is one of my happiest places, and I could probably live in there like Kramer did in that episode of Seinfeld.

As excited as I get about things (it’s not too difficult), I’ve learned to sleep on them before acting. Nothing like jumping in and launching a business (I could seriously have the website nearly complete in a day) and not being excited the next day.

Do you sleep on your ideas? What filter do you run them through before launching?

Blog to grow your business
At Need a Topic you’ll get topics, tips, & techniques three times a week to help you stand out from the crowd and actually make money from your time blogging. I cover writing, audio, and video to help you become profitable. Try the 7 day free trial.