I know what you are probably thinking right now… “Dan has completely lost it”… And it’s probably not going to help my case if I told you that you could add an extra hour of sunshine to your evenings every single day! However if you keep on reading you will see that this is very possible and you can help to make it happen.

Lighter Later is a campaign that has been put together by a collection of charities and environmental agencies to support the Daylight Saving Bill. This bill proposes that we move British Time forward a full hour whilst retaining the tradition of British Summer Time. This would mean that we still change our clocks twice a year but the entire day would be shifted forward a full hour meaning that it would stay lighter later into the evening rather than the peak hours of sunlight occurring earlier in the day.

It’s an interesting idea that would actually offer a lot of potential benefits:

• Less energy would be used in the early evenings when most people are coming home from work and turning on their lights
• Increased productivity during the workday as there is more light when people start to tire
• More light on the roads during peak traffic periods which could potentially improve road safety
• Having a late lay in means you don’t miss the only sun of the day!

For a more in depth analysis of the plans, it’s forecast benefits and ways to get involved with the campaign visit the Official Lighter Later Website and pledge your support today.

*Sunshine is subject to availability and as you are well aware within the UK we can make no guarantees as to it’s frequency. That said by pledging to support this campaign you increase the potential for sunshine later in the day to help keep the British spirit alive.

“The Only Constant is Change…” – Heraclitus

You might not think that real exploration is truly possible  but there is a certain type of exploration that is certainly overlooked. The discovery/rediscovery or your local area. This post may not be as relevant to those of you who’ve lived in a single place your entire life or a tiny village but on the other hand who knows?

Yesterday I took my first entire day off in a while, as in not even checking the old emails, and whilst it wasn’t entirely ground breaking, it was certainly refreshing. After cooking an epic meal I decided to go for a walk with the objective of finding some cool new places in my area… Not your typical “cool” either, just something a little different.

In total I spent about 2 hours just strolling around my local area and whenever I was presented with a choice of roads taking the one that I’d never used or used least. Doing this I managed to find; 2 Museums, a square of restaurants, a great little hidden arcade, and several tasty looking resteraunts that I didn’t even know existed. What’s more worrying crazy is that these were all within less than 30 minutes and I’d never seen them!

Whilst it’s true that not every trip you take will have dramatic discoveries it’s great to refresh your view of your local area every now and then even if it’s just to see your area from a different perspective. Get lost! You might like it

So today I’m going to talk about Frank Kern’s Core Influence offer that he is currently promoting. Allow me to preface this by saying that I’ve owned the content he is offering on DVD for a couple years now and to date only one other internet marketer has come close to offering this kind of ‘training’. Oh and guess where they learned it from

The essence of what you will learn is how to truly identify an individuals core influences. This can cover everything that has an effect on an individual; current situation, their dreams, goals and even hidden fears. The beauty of the tools that Frank will give you is that whilst you can create what’s called a customer avatar that you can use for marketing purposes, you can also work on your own profile. If you’ve never really taken the time to sit back and think about what really drives you this can be quite an experience.

This training covers things which some may consider a little deep; however after watching you will begin to understand the power in the process:

• On a personal level core influence can make the difference between stumbling through your day reactively with no sense of direction and powering through your days with a sense of purpose and clarity.
• On a business level core influence can help you to discover the truth about your target market and what really makes them tick. When you really understand your customers; suddenly you are in a position when you can offer them exactly what they need or want, often before they know it themselves.

You can get access to the entire core influence training free of charge when you head over to Franks new site for a limited time. Whilst you will need to provide your email address to get access to the training, this is one offer that I can highly recommend. I personally paid money for the DVD as part of a previous promotion he ran and I have no regrets and definitely no doubts in recommending this opportunity to you today.

Get Core Influence Free of Charge

P.S. Even if you are a perpetual freebie seeker with a hard drive full of info, this is one presentation I recommend that you actually WATCH the whole way through. It is that important!

No matter what your goals are this year they will likely take time and that’s something that has to be rationed wisely in this day and age. It would be all too easy to let half your life slip away watching TV, surfing social networking sites and generally goofing off but real success takes time and in turn successful time management.

I was recently in a discussion with my mastermind group on StomperNet and the subject of how we all manage our time came up. I started talking about my simple set-up and quite a few people were interested so I decided to write up a blog post sharing a few of the tricks up my sleeve I use to manage my time.

Essentially as humans we can never manage time as it will continue endlessly with or without us. Therefore the essence of what we really refer to as time management is actually ‘task management’. The route to getting more things done with your time is actually managing how we allocate ourselves to tasks throughout the time that we do have.

I’m sure that by now everyone is familiar with the concept of the ToDo list, however there is a 21st century alternative to the tiny slip of paper that has completely changed the way that I plan my tasks. The ‘secret’ tool that I’ve been using recently is called Remember The Milk (RTM) which is basically an updated version of the traditional ToDo list.

You can install RTM so that it appears across your virtual workstations throughout the day so that you always have an up to the minute information on exactly what it is you need to do that day. Right now I have RTM installed in my web browser, my GMail account, iPhone and even my Twitter account. Rather than worrying about where a tiny slip of paper is, all of these lists are synchronized to a central account over the Internet that I run for just $25 a year.

The beauty of RTM is that you can make things as simple or as complicated as you want with their advanced sorting features. If you are the kind of person that just wants to list out 20 tasks and know you can zip through the lot in a day then you can it. However if you require a slightly more in depth solution you can set tasks with varying levels of importance, arrange them in categories and even plots them days or weeks in advance.

One tip that I’ve always tried to stand by is setting up the tasks you need to do a day in advance. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t always do this but at the same time whenever I do the benefits are clear. You start your day with a sense of purpose and rather than spend the first part of your working day chasing your brain you can get straight to work on the most important tasks of the moment. If you’re lucky enough to work for yourself this can be the difference between making a profit or loss over the day or even finishing early if you have plans after work.

The beginning of the year is often a time for reviewing how things are going. Whilst this second tool is not strictly based around productivity  you can use it analyse how you are using your time. Toggl is another service that you can link with your iPhone, browser and in this case even your desktop. You simply enter the task that you’re currently working on and can keep record of exactly how much time you spend on various tasks throughout the day.

One final idea that was discussed in my StomperNet Mastermind is recording how much time you spend on every single task throughout the week, including goofing off. Don’t even consider the data until you reach the end of the week. Once you have spent a week collecting it all you can then look objectively at how much time you spend productively and you can also see in plain view how much time you are wasting. Although I’ve yet to try this specific review, it’s clear to see how using Toggl to track your time could be beneficial.

In conclusion it’s clear that if you want to get things done you need to not only know what it is you need to do but how important each task is. Once you have this information you can successfully manage how you apply yourself to various tasks through your working day and week. Just a few simple changes in the way you work really can add hours to your week making this possibly your most productive year so far.

The advent of the internet and even wireless technology is changing the way that people work. Whilst you often hears stories online about people traveling to exotic countries and the travel (mis)adventures that people find themselves in, this is not always the full story.

The following is a video clip from The Economist website in which they follow a digital nomad throughout his week. I personally think that it’s a great example of how living internationally does not automatically mean spending your time tapping away on a laptop at the beach. When all is said and done, business is still business and unless you have an inherent interest in your work you will burn out far quicker than the opportunities of travel.

Whilst watching the video it’s important to remember that travel for the sake of travelling is not necessarily the end goal. Jan Chipchase, the star of the video, is a highly regarded businessman not simply because of a desire to travel but because of the work that he does. The passion that I’m sure he finds in his work is what drives him on and that passion is what you’ll need to discover for yourself and only then will you really start to appreciate the opportunities that present themself to you.

So I’ve just finished reading the 2nd edition of ‘X Marks the Spot‘ and as promised I’m here to give my honest review. To give you a little background, I read the first edition roughly two years ago before I spent my first year, traveling/working abroad.

I recently re-read the 1st edition as well in preparation for this review and I have to say, I think this book has actually had more of an influence on my life and way of thinking than I first gave it credit for. I’m currently back home in the UK but with every intention of experiencing more of the global lifestyle. That’s enough about me though and from now on it’s all about the book that’s been tagged as the indispensable guide to living & working anywhere you choose.

Although the phrase ‘location independent professional’ has been around for maybe a few years, the concept is as old as we’ve been trading across countries. At it’s most basic it all boils down to being able to travel the world whilst still maintaining your income. It could even be argued that a traveling bard from times past were living the location independent lifestyle, moving from place to place surviving on his trade.

Snap back to now with the advent of modern technology and the truth is, we all have the ability to create a wider reach with our jobs and our businesses. It’s possible for a website to be set up in London one morning and be selling products to Canada later that evening. Whilst building a sustainable business of any type will ultimately take time, it’s quite apparent that there is more opportunity than ever for global trade at all levels. Although that the ability to sell to people globally is great for business, it’s only when you take the steps to create a business that you can run from practically any location that you truly become location independent.

Lea Woodward (The Author) leads into the book with a little background about herself and her husband, Jon Woodward. She talks about the life that they were living before they made the transition and the specific events that took them both onto a completely different path through life.

I don’t know if you can imagine the way that your friends and family would handle the news that you were planning to weigh anchor and travel the globe, but you are bound to get a few reactions. Lea not only goes into some of the reactions she received from people but gives practical advice on how certain types of people are best left to deal with things in their own way.

If you’re thinking about buying the book you are more than likely interested in how this lifestyle might suit you. One of the key additions to the book is the mini self assessment that Lea shares to help you come to the decision about whether this really is the lifestyle for you. If you come out of this section as a convert then this is where the book really becomes exciting.

Without going into too much detail I’ll just mention that the second part of the book covers all the topics you would expect from a book of this sort and really breaks down the basics of what it will take to succeed in a lifestyle of location independence. There is information covering the three key elements of making the transformation for the employee/fixed home mindset to the life of a location independent profession. Another great addition are 3 simple lessons that you can use to guide yourself as you start to travel and make your dreams of freedom a reality.

Which Edition is for me?

The first thing that stands out about the second addition is that it appears shorter (83 pages in 2nd edition as opposed to 203 1st edition). Whilst this may seem counter intuitive, I actually believe that this is a huge improvement for anybody actively looking to become location independent. The general feel is that everything is more concise with visual depictions of certain concepts. This allows to the book to appeal to a wider audience of people who perhaps won’t have the time or desire to read the first edition. Having said that, if you are new completely foreign to the idea of location independence and would prefer a slightly more traditional style with extra narrative the first edition will probably be your book of choice.

Ultimately both editions provide you with roughly the same thing; an introduction to the concept of the location independent lifestyle, an idea of the kinds of costs and processes surrounding such a thing and finally, the steps that you will need to take to make it happen for you. If you are merely looking to this book for the process and steps driven areas then you will definitely opt for the second edition. However there is probably more information on specific locations within the first edition.

I’d also like to note that there is a hidden option, if you are undecided or would just like to have both editions of the book for personal reasons, Lea does offer a discount when both editions are purchased at the same time. To see up to date information from the woman herself along with the latest prices head on over to The Location Independent Book site.

Regardless of which edition you purchase I would highly recommend this book to any aspiring location independent professionals as it is a great starting point and should be the very first step to anybody that is researching the idea. If you are already quite knowledgeable about the topic and are possibly already running your own location independent business you probably don’t need this book, even though you may find the odd tip here or there to help you out.

Buy X Marks The Spot: The Indispensable Guide to Living & Working Anywhere You Choose

Experienced Location Independent Professionals: If you are one of those looking for the next step after you’ve read this book, then you will probably be happy to find out that Lea has also released a more in depth location independent business course. Her advanced course will almost hand guide you through the process of setting up your freedom business. You can read my review of the location independent business course here but please if you are not sure if it’s something for you, do yourself a favour and read X Marks the Spot first

Disclosure: This is an honest review and I would not recommend something if I didn’t fully believe in it. Some of the links I’ve provided throughout this article provide me with a small affiliate commision towards my LIP fund at no extra cost to you, however if you’re not happy with this then just head on over to the LIP site.

I know, I know I’m probably just about breaking all the rules of the internet by talking about two separate topics in a single post but sometimes a mans got to do what hes got to do. You see, I recently reviewed two great products via the Squidoo website and I just wanted to share them with my loyal blog readers. Mainly because I’m sure both could be very interesting to you even though they may not appear related at first.

Location Independent Business Course

Comprehensive guide to setting up a freedom business that allows you to escape the rat race, travel the world and live a life that most only dream about.

Full Review: The Location Independent Business Course Review
Read More: Building A Business You Can Run From Anywhere

Wishlist Membership Plugin

A fully featured WordPress Membership Site Plugin that allows you to create multiple user levels, paid and free subscriptions whilst protecting & releasing your content in all manner of ways.

Full Review: Wishlist Member – WordPress Membership Site Plugin Review
Read More: Build a WordPress Membership Site with WP Wishlist

So What’s the Big Deal with the Whole

“Two Reviews” Thing Dan?

I’m glad you asked: WordPress is such an easy to use publishing platform that has gone far beyond the realms of personal blogging. People are using WordPress for all sorts of projects that you probably would have been thought impossible in it’s early days.

In fact I was speaking with travel writer and photographer @andrewghayes on Twitter the other day and he mentioned that it seems like there is literally a plugin for **everything**! Whilst I’m not sure that there is a plugin that will make me coffee in the morning yet, I am always pleasantly suprised at the possibilities that WordPress and plugins like Wishlist Member offer.

If you’re sitting thinking that there is no way a WordPress membership plugin could be related to the idea of a location independent business or that I’m the boy who cried wolf, then I challenge you to look again. I mean what better business model can you think of to allow perpetual travel than a subscription based membership where the same customers end up sending you money each and every month?

A recent study of location independent entrepreneurs revealed several web developers, information marketers and consultants. It really wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine any one of these people successfully creating a passive income stream through the use of WordPress membership sites (In fact if you fit into these categories and would like to partner, I’m open to discussions).

The idea of travelling the world whilst running your own business is a dream for a growing community of people and running a WordPress membership site could easily help you to make your dream a reality.

To Your Success!

P.S. In case you missed the review links I’ll share them one more time:

#1 – Wishlist Member – WordPress Membership Site Plugin Review by Daniel McClure

#2 – The Location Independent Business Course Review by Daniel McClure

When speaking to somebody really successful they will often tell you that action is key to your success.  It seems so obvious but the reason I believe it often gets lost in translation is that people are either trying to get the perfect approach before doing something or taking action in the wrong areas.

The reason I bring this up now is that I’ve suddenly starting taking massive action. Not that I wasn’t doing stuff before. i was doing a ton of ‘stuff’ but the thing’s I’m doing now are really putting themselves out there to fail or succeed fast. The key to this I’m starting to believe is take action that provides immediate feedback. This might sound odd if you are not living inside my brain right now so I’ll try explain a little better.

The tasks that I’ve been tackling have changed in that I’m putting stuff out there faster than ever before. I’m giving more and more of my work the chance to succeed or fail rather than speculating. You put something out there maybe it hits, maybe it doesn’t but you have instant feedback and can work from there. Something not working, then you try another method, still not working perhaps you took the wrong angle or it just isn’t getting enough exposure.

When you allow yourself to fail more often you get the feedback you really need rather than the perfect product, website, article, whatever which only fits in with your world view. So in conclusion to this article I’m afraid I’m going to have to fall back on the slightly cliched “Fail, Fail Fast!” as it really is the quickest path to success. One thing I would like to say as a sidenote is this doesn’t give you an excuse to put out rubbish, just ‘good enough’ rather than ‘Perfect’.

Do you ever feel that you’ve been at it for hours but not really got anywhere? That feeling is becoming more and more common in everyday life, both business and personal. As mentioned in an earlier post I recently undertook the 30 day challenge (30DC) from Ed Dale. Through this I actually picked up quite a few new media tools.

The problem is I started noticing that my day was being filled up with distractions rather than ways to increase efficiency. This is not at all a dig at the 30DC but rather a warning for those of you just getting into social media. Be very careful and selective of your usage, What I had gotten into was quite the opposite and it was seriously taking up my time. To put this in perspective before I go in fully, previous studies have shown It takes 25 minutes for you to regain focus on an activity after an interruption.

You may or may not have heard of Twhirl but essentially it’s just a desktop application that provides you with up to the minute notifications of updates by people you follow on FriendFeed and Twitter. I had this program running the entire time I was on the computer, The Result? Every few minutes that all too familiar update sound would play and a little message would appear in the bottom right of my screen. Sometimes I would read the Tweet, sometimes I’d even end up clicking through to a link and reading an entire blog post.

Learning new things is all well and good but it was happening so often that I’d be getting distracted half the time I was logged on. Couple that with the time to get back into a task properly I was working at full capacity about 0% of the time I spent on the PC. You read that right, even though I was getting some things done and of course I was constantly ‘developing’ through these little snippets of information, I was effectively taking my work rate to that of Sloth. Scary hey?

With so many of these tools to make life easier it’s so easy to get wrapped up and not realise what’s happening right in front of your eyes. So what’s the solution to this information overload? To get the most out of your efforts either, Set yourself a specific time period for it’s use or Only use it for specific tasks at a time. I still like the ease of use and extra functionality that Twhirl can provide. Except now I’ve decided to use it for a specific period each day rather than have it interrupting me at every opportunity.

As to the effectiveness of cutting out the noise just look at this post It’s been a good couple weeks since I got around to adding an update to this blog. I won’t blame that entirely on social media, I have taken on an extra project as well. But it has certainly played it’s part and now it’s time for me to get Super-Efficient payback with my NEW Information Diet, WOW!

Buzz words aside, cut the noise pollution and it’s like being set free. I’ve finally realised another piece of the puzzle that made my recent times spent traveling feel so different, not only was a I light on baggage. Life was light on the mind, I wasn’t being constantly bombarded with information 24/7 and with limited internet usage, every minute counts. If you can take that approach and apply it in your daily life, in most cases I don’t see how it can have a bad effect.