Earth is an interactive map for surf, skate and snow spots as well as pro shops and company headquarters. It’s almost like local search for action sports. Check it out…

Tax Poem

Be sure to read all the way to the end!

Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table
At which he’s fed.

Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.

(more…)

My Twitter handle is @factive, so follow me there if you still care about my thoughts.

I will still be posting here about as infrequently as I ever have… Whenever I have deeper thoughts that I want to expand on.

New Laptop Battery
I’ve had my MacBook Pro for a few years now. So it was no surprise that a few months ago my battery went to complete crap. It was basically at the point where if the power cord got disconnected, the laptop powered off. Apparently I’m lucky that I even got the few years out of it that I did. From my understanding, it’s completely normal for laptop batteries to start going bad after roughly 300 cycles. Well, lucky for me, I have a client who sells replacement batteries so it was easy for me to just call him and up and ask for a replacement. It wasn’t something he had to do for me though and when he sent me a new one, he didn’t ask for anything out of it. And to my pleasant surprise, the replacement battery for my MacBook Pro actually works better than my original Apple battery ever did… and that’s pretty cool.

Surf Art
I was pretty stoked the other day when the UPS guy showed up with a package at my door and I opened it up to find this….

It’s a killer painting from Hawaiian Surf Artist, Clark Takashima. Perfect, I’ve been needing some nice surf art. And again, something that was sent to me with no expectations. Clark is someone I’ve developed a friendship with over email in the last year. Never in a million years was I expecting him to send me one of his paitings. I love it though and it will look perfect in my office. Thanks Clark!!

1) Patience - It takes a long time to learn to surf, it’s hard and one should not expect to be ripping waves their first day out. Same with building a business. It’s an exercise in patience. If you think you’ll be successful overnight, you’re sadly mistaken my friend. You will fall a lot at first but the more you do it the better you will get.

2) Thinking fast - No two waves are exactly alike. Every way breaks differently and when you’re riding a wave you always need to be making split second decisions. This is a skill that’s required in business too. You can’t predict exactly how the wave of your business will break so be ready to make decisions and adapt on the fly.

3) Positioning - This is pretty much what the other two articles I referenced above talk about. With surfing, you’re relying on so many elements to come together to make a surfable wave. When then do, you need to be positioned correctly to catch that wave. The same thing with business. Lots of waves will come your way, be in position and be ready to ride the good waves.

4) Wave selection - Being in the right position to catch a wave is one thing. Catching the right wave is another thing. As a surfer, you learn to read the shape of the waves as they’re coming in. If you pick the wrong wave it might close out on you and there will be no where to go. Like I mentioned in the point above, pick the good waves to ride. In business you need to learn to recognize and pick the right waves that you can ride to success. Get on the wrong wave and you might put your business in a position that it has no where to go.

5) Competition - There are a lot of surfers competing for the same waves as you, just like there are a lot of entrepreneurs competing in the same marketplace as you. If you don’t get aggressive while surfing and take waves, there are a hundred other surfers in the lineup who will paddle right around you and do so. In business, if you don’t jump on the opportunities presented to you, there are a hundred other people waiting who will. I love surfing next to the candy-ass surfers who aren’t aggressive, that way I can take all the waves I want. I also love competing in marketplaces where candy-ass entrepreneurs don’t leverage the opportunities that come their way, that way I can and I will.

If you’re a surfer, I’d love to hear some of things surfing has taught you about business.

Then one day, a light went off in my head and I thought… You know what, I don’t want my main focus to be building traffic, or increasing RSS readers, or any of that. Screw that stuff. This blog has my name on it and I just want to keep it real and write about things I want to write about and as often as I want to write about them. Sometimes that means I’m writing about stuff that relates to my career and sometimes that means I write about surfing, or taking a vacation, or whatever.

I honestly don’t care if this blog ever makes a cent, that’s not my intention with it. I don’t care if people read it or not. If you do want to read it, that’s great. I am stoked on that. But just be warned that I’m going to write what I want to write about - and they might not be exactly what you want to read about.

My traffic and RSS subscribers stopped increasing on this site a long time ago. And that’s just perfectly cool with me. I have enough other sites that I work my ass off on to increase traffic. This is my personal outlet and that’s they way it will always be.

Is he a greater athlete than Tiger Woods? Michael Jordan? Lance Armstrong? I think so. There is no other athlete that has dominated his respective sport the way Kelly has.

What would be your best tips for someone brand new to social media? (how to grow in the communities etc.)

The best tip I can give anyone brand new to social media is to actually use social media. Before you jump in the pool you need to learn how to swim. Take some time to understand how certain social media sites work the way they do. Watch and learn from others marketing campaigns. Get to know how the social media crowd works, how they think, and what interests them. Expect a fair amount of trial and error before you hit a home run.

Check it out.

Whatever goals you’ve set for yourself, you need to wake up the next morning ready to do the hustle until you beat whatever benchmark you hit yesterday. If your goal is sales; you need to wake up tomorrow and work your ass off until you get at least one more sale than you did today. If you don’t do better than the day before, you’re business is going in the wrong direction. If your goal is traffic, wake up tomorrow with the mindset of getting just one more unique than you did today.

Everyday I wake up ready to beat yesterday’s traffic(or sales, leads, etc), whatever it takes. I like to make it a game and get in the competitive mind frame of beating myself every single day. It keeps it fun too. I like to make sure I do the necessary tasks asap that day. That way it gives me the advantage of having more time to reach my goals that day.

Whether I got 1 more page view that day or 1000- as long as I’m trending up and to the right I’m trending in the right direction.

I’ll be in Vegas all week and I hope to meet everyone of you that will be there. Please come say hi to me, if you mention this post and there’s a bar nearby, rounds are on me. Looking forward to seeing you all there.

I’m saving every penny I possibly can so that I can invest into as many distressed assets as possible. There are going to be some amazing opportunities to pick up some sweet deals on web companies over the next couple years and I want to be the one picking them up. Quite frankly, there are a lot of websites run by people who don’t have clue, so when I can swoop in, pick those up and rehab them, I will.

I’m spending as little money as possible on myself right now. I stopped buying new surfboards, taking surf trips, buying new clothes, going out as much, I downsized my house, don’t drive a fancy car, etc etc etc. The only thing I want to spend money on right now is distressed websites.

So in a nutshell, that’s it. I’m not only going to survive this recession, but I’m going to come out on top, much better off then I am now. What’s your plan?

1) Save gas - More and more people will be trying to save money in every way possible. This will include saving gas by making more purchases online instead of driving around town looking for the best deals.

2) Smarter purchasing - As people start to really watch their purchasing decisions they will be comparison shopping online and doing more research on the web before they make purchases. This will also lead to more online purchases as they realize these are where the best deals are.

3) More time - Again, chalk this up under the people saving more money category. As people begin to watch their spending habits, it will mean less time & money spent doing things like going out to eat, going to movies, traveling, etc etc. These will give people more free time at home, which in turn will mean more time spent online.

4) Measureable - Companies that are cutting back on ad spending will only put their money in what they absolutely know provides results. This gives online advertising a big advantage over pretty much every other form of advertising as it’s all trackable down to the click/penny.

While these are general statements, there will certainly be some sectors that spending will drastically decrease online. I think that will be luxury goods, travel, automotive, and some financial sectors.

Although I feel that advertisers will cut back on banner ads and other rich media, I think that more advertisers will be moving to affiliate type CPA stuff and CPC, as well as other Search Marketing efforts. So, that means CPM advertising may slown down but overall I still think the state of Internet Advertising is healthy.

I’m curious, what are your thoughts?

Update: I’m not the only one who thinks advertising online will remain healthy.

How to get rich - I’m a big fan of Mark Cuban and his blog. This is a great post about not taking shortcuts to get rich (cause there aren’t any) and working hard and being in the right position to take advantages of opportunities that present themselves.

Free vs. Paid - Fred Wilson’s blog is another that any serious Internet entrepreneur should be reading. This particular post is in response to Roger Ehrenberg’s post about his new Investment criteria. Roger no longer thinks highly of the Freemium model and Fred disagrees. Both posts worth reading.

SEOmoz Announces New Tools - I’ve never seen much of a reason to subscribe to SEOmoz’s paid tool service but that may change with the link tool they just announced. I think you could gain incredible insight and value with that tool.

Work Hard, Play Hard - SugarRae has started a series on reasons you fail at making money online. Working soft and playing hard is reason #1. I couldn’t agree more. If you want to be successful online you need to work your ass off. If you do, and play your cards right, then down the road you’ll have plenty of time to work soft or not work at all. I’ll also say that I think keeping balance if your life is important, too much work and no play and your ass will burn out, hence the…. work hard, play hard.

Places to Work from for Free - When you work from home it’s nice to get out and work at a new place for a change of scenery. Otherwise you might just go crazy. This is a nice list of places you can work from for free.

Hope you enjoy!

I originally attended the Save Trestles rally partly because I was covering a story for 5ones but more importantly it’s an issue that I believe strongly in and want to support. Even though I’ve never even surfed Lower Trestles (as good as the break is, I’d rather not have to paddle over 50 people on each wave), I do think it’s generally a good idea to preserve one of the last pristine world class surf breaks in the country. There are enough roads, parking lots, houses and shopping centers elsewhere that the last thing we need to do is destroy a beautiful beach to build more. Nature’s a nice thing to enjoy and once it’s gone, it’s gone. You can’t exactly dig up the concrete and put everything back the way it was.

I was pleasantly surprised when the night came to an end and I’d realized both my daughters had actually sat through the majority of the hearing without misbehaving, even participating. They waved the signs they created, cheered when appropriate, and held their thumbs down when those in favor of the road presented their issues. And when my 5 year-old leaned over to me and said…

“Dad, these people should not build that road.”

I knew that bringing them to this event turned out to be a priceless experience for them. To quote the lyrics from one of my favorite musicians, Xavier Rudd…

“…our children keep growing up with what they know, from what we teach, and what they see…”

Politics aside… No matter where you stand on issues, I think it’s important to stand up for the ones you strongly believe in. In more ways than one, Surfing has turned me into a tree-hugging shark-hugging hippy, and by no means am I perfect. But as I listened to both sides of the argument last night, I don’t know how anyone could be in favor of the 241 Toll Road, hippy or not… It’s not even a political issue, it’s an earth issue.

Wondering what I’m talking about? ThinkTank, an un-conference that’s being put on here in San Diego by my buddy, David Klein, is bringing together about 40 or so of the top Internet Marketing minds to network and learn from one another in a casual environment. I noticed there were a bunch of very cool activities lined up (i.e. MMA Training sponsored by Surehits) for the event but I also noticed no mention of surfing. I thought, hmm, how can there be an event here in San Diego that doesn’t even include surfing, especially an event that will be happening on the beach??

So I contacted DK and asked him what he thought about one of my sites, 5ones, sponsoring an activity that would give surfing lessons to all the attendees. Seeing as dk loves surfing (almost ;)) as much as me, he was thrilled with the idea. So, my action sports website, 5ones, is hosting surfing lessons to any of the attendees that have the sack to get in ocean and try. Yes, that’s a direct challenge to Neil, Shoe, and all the other attendees. I have hard time picturing Neil on a surfboard but I will try my hardest to get him out there, that’s a promise.

I’m beyond thrilled to be able to share my passion of both surfing and the ocean with my friends. Surfing is one of those things that unless you’ve done it, you just have no idea what an amazing experience it is. There truly is nothing else like it in this world, and on so many levels too. Not only is surfing fun, and physically rewarding, but it also serves as a form of mental therapy. It doesn’t matter what stresses I have in my life, or how bad a day I’m having… when I go surfing, it erases all of that from my mind and I always leave the water with a smile on my face. Hopefully I will be able to pass this passion on to at least a few of the ThinkTankers.

PS - I think there still might be a couple spots left for this event. It’s a small investment for the amount of knowledge you will leave with and I’d recommend that any serious Internet Entrepreneur attend.

The only difference between my success and someone else’s lack of it is that I refused to accept, and still do refuse to accept, anything less than what I want for myself in life. I don’t give myself excuses. I don’t wait for shit to be handed to me, I go in search of what I want.

I love reading posts like this because I can relate to them on so many levels and Rae inspired me to write a post about my experience. I struggled for years to get to the point where I’m at now and to be honest I still have at least a few more good years of struggling left in me. Otherwise, I’d be retired on a beach somewhere, surfing epic waves all day. And until I’m there you can bet your ass I’m still busting my ass and making sacrifices every day. I’m now starting what will be the third business I’m currently running. I work hard, even if it doesn’t always seem like it.

Most people don’t realize the amount of work that I’ve put in over the years to get where I am. Like Rae, I wasn’t handed an audience or a reputable name in my industry, I had to work hard for those like anyone else. My family and I sacrificed years of our lives for the hope there would be a payoff (better quality of life) at the end of the rainbow. We’ve gone through many times where we literally didn’t have a dollar to our name and we’d stay up all night wondering how we would come up with a few bucks just to eat the next day. Luckily for family or we’d have starved to death. But I also want to point that family only helped in times of emergency… the only unfair advantage I’ve ever had is my burning desire for a life that doesn’t consist of a dead-end job. I instead desire a life where I have as much free time to spend with my family and surf as I want.

I have friends and family (you know who you are) coming up to me all time asking if I can teach them to do what I do. The problem is that they’re expecting quick success because they chose to look the other way all those years I busted my ass with nothing just to get where I am today. All they see now is what looks like a pretty glamorous life from the outside (I can assure you though, it’s not always glamorous, far from). I am in no way trying to disrespect these people because I love them, but to be quite frank, none of them have been willing to do what it takes to become successful online.

Even though it may sound like it, I’m not trying to toot my own horn here. That’s not at all what this post is about. I’m just trying to point out that if you want to be successful in life you need to get off your lazy ass and do something about it. It will not be handed to you. It all comes to down to how bad you really want something. I’ve had every excuse and reason in the book on why I shouldn’t be successful but I refuse to accept that there’s nothing I can’t do or have.

I definitely recommend you check out Rae’s post.

Such a place does exist and I am fortunate I was able to find my own little paradise in Nicaragua.

A couple months ago I wrote a post expressing my desire to not only travel to Nicaragua but also someday own a home there. Last month I had the pleasure of fulfilling half that dream as I was able to spend a few weeks in what is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places on this earth. And after spending some time in Nica, it has only made my (now burning) desire of buying a home there that much stronger.

Nicaragua is not only beautiful in the sense of the breathtaking landscape… it’s a combination of everything; the people, the food, the culture, the surf, the experience, the wildlife… everything.

My trip began with a series of fortunate events… From getting bumped up to first class, to oversized luggage (think surfboard bags) fees being waived, to scoring a ride with a local surf guide from the airport in Managua to our destination in San Juan Del Sur… it was definitely a sign of good things to come.

Once arriving in San Juan Del Sur, my good friend Shaun and I quickly looked for the nearest taxi (and by taxi I mean an old Toyota 4×4 pickup with a bench in the bed) we could find to haul us to the nearest surf break, Playa Maderas. One of the very few annoyances I found in Nicaragua is that the surf is not easily accessible, it’s mostly by boat or muddy “highways” that will push any 4WD to the limits. However, riding in the back of a truck through the jungle is certainly an exciting experience in itself.

San Juan Del Sur is a beautiful little town that sits right on a picturesque bay in the Pacific. It served as a hub for most of our time spent in Nica. All the amenities you need can be found in SJDS; hotels, restaurants, bars, markets, taxis, friends, and more are found here. Here is a couple of pictures of the view from one of the restaurants…

We also spent a few days up near a surf break called Popoyo, where we stayed in a B&B that was literally right on the sand. It was the coolest beach house ever with the most amazing decks where I spent many-a-afternoons lounging around in the hammocks. There was a couple of pretty good surf breaks right out in front, so it was a nice change from the boats and 4WDs. Its nice just to grab your board and walk 10 steps to the surf. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of this place but that’s ok because they could never do it justice anyways. I do however have this wonderful picture of a whole pig that we roasted on the beach one night…

The one thing I can’t stress enough is how good the actual surf in Nicaragua is. In the few weeks I was there, the infamous offshore winds blew every day but one and the swell was consistently at a minimum of chest-high with most days going head-high or overhead. For you non surfers, that means it was really good.

All-in-all my trip to Nicaragua was a wonderful one filled with more great experiences than I can remember. I could turn this post into a book but I feel like it’s already getting too long. I can hardly wait until my next trip back. Some things that really stand out in my mind are….

The greeness. It’s their wet season right now which means that whole country is literally all green right now. So beautiful.
The people. I met so many wonderful people and made many life long friends. That’s pretty impressive for only being somewhere for a few weeks. I was also very impressed on how most of the local people there have no money or “things” yet they are so happy and nice.
The cost. Everything is so cheap… most meals, which I found to be excellent, where about $5 US. My last night there I splurged and went for a Filet Mignon, it was as good as anything I’ve had here in the states (thanks Nick!) and I think was only about $13 US.
The underdeveloped land. Surfing at beaches with no homes or people is amazing. You don’t get to experience that here in the US. Everything is so crowded. I was so blown away when we cruised the coast line in boats at just how empty the land is.

Here a couple fishing pics to leave you guys with…

A nice Blackfin Tuna…

Notice the colors of this Mahi-Mahi, they call them Dorado in Nica…

I want to give some shout-outs to the friends I made, if I forgot your name I apologize and it doesn’t mean I love you any less…

Alan, Codo, Nicaraguan Superman, Heather, Sandra, Sonya, Caleb, Oscar, Marlys, AJ & Molli, Nick, Josue, Cliff aka “killing it”, Jeffrey, Brandon, Ashley, Dan, Jesse, Gustaaf, Aaron & Rena, Kevin & Betsy, Mike, Victoria, Tona, and last but not least my good friend Flor de Cana… All truly wonderful people.

Next time you see me, ask me to tell you some stories about Nicaragua, trust me, I have lots of them I’d love to share ‘em all.

Our audience is growing at a very rapid pace… I couldn’t be happier. The best thing is that it’s super defensible traffic too, we get a very healthy mix of Google, direct, social, and referral traffic. We’re now at the point where we’re ready to start monetizing our sites. Exciting!

I love the fact that I’m building a company around something I love so much. I wish I would’ve done this sooner as it makes life so much more enjoyable to combine work with your passions. At that point it no longer becomes work, as big of a cliche as that is. For example, ‘board meetings’; instead of sitting in an office, I now have meetings with people while I’m surfing. I get to go hang out at cool places like the Red Bull headquarters. I can fly around the world on exotic surf vacations and call it work. And companies are backing their trucks up to my door with free products for me to review. Its got it’s perks to say the least.

My advice to you is: get into something you truly enjoy and figure out a way to make money doing it.

Consistent year-round swells, offshore winds 300+ days a year, low crowds, white sands, crystal-clear water, low cost of living…. sounds like the dream to me. I certainly can’t think of any good reasons not to move there. Seeing as all I need is an internet connection to make my living, work certainly wont be stopping me. At the very least I’ll probably be buying a second home there where I can spend 6 months a year.