The interesting thing is that increases in monetary compensation don’t necessarily lead to better performance – especially as the task become more complex. The study cited found that workers who had a sense of autonomy, mastery of their area of work, and a true sense of purpose performed dramatically better than those motivated by compensation.

This, without a doubt, lies at the heart of entrepreneurial motivations – it’s not all about money. It’s about being free to sail your own ship, acquire a level of knowledge and mastery of your work that you’d never achieve inside someone else’s office (often because you have no choice as an entrepreneur), and, if you’re going to be successful, you need to be working on something you feel passionate about. Here’s the video in its entirety:

The highlight of the discussion was talking about a new product offering that will really help his clients out. After discussing all the potential streams of revenue and how this might, in fact, be an industry altering launch, his eyes really lit up when he started talking about all the worthy non-profits we’d be able to give this away to.

It’s good to work with folks with vision, it’s great to work with folks who have passion and a true conviction to make an impact.

While it’s not necessarily groundbreaking – the premise is that to be a disciplined “work from home” person, you need to do things that require discipline (plan, execute, deliver, etc…).

This is, however, a great jumping off point for discussion for those of us who have been doing this for a while, but are still looking for ways to improve our efficiency and productivity.

The more important thing you can do is plan your day (probably why it’s #1 on the list). I actually break my daily list out into 3 different sections:

1. Things I absolutely HAVE to get done today
2. Things I need to get done in order to feel like it was a productive day
3. Stretch items to jump on when I’m really killing it

This lets me react to immediate needs that may pop up – or opportunities (like an impromptu meeting with a potential new client) – without feeling like I’m falling terribly behind. The challenge grows as you transition away from working “for” other folks and being managing your own projects. You can be your own best or worst boss.

The recommendations to plan break times and chunk tasks and place them in time goals is also a good one. I find that I’m able to stay on top of things, especially when it section off the morning to get things done that I have to accomplish. This leaves the afternoons a little more open for things that may pop up unexpectedly.

My favorite thing about the morning is that my first hour or so is sectioned off to look over my business and personal books and balance things out. That may sound a bit OCD, and maybe it is, but I always know the status of all my accounts and cash flow situation going in to each day. It really only takes about 15 minutes. The rest of that time I set aside for education – it’s important for me to keep up on the latest search marketing trends and topics, and I make time to do that every morning.

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His topic today was on adventure. I hope he doesn’t mind if I paraphrase here:

Wanting adventure, being able to have adventures, being able to see life as an adventure, is not luck. It’s a choice. And the ones who fail to make that choice; invariably make something else instead: Excuses.

It’s fascinating, especially as we get older, the lengths we will go to in order to AVOID adventure. Security, routine, comfort – all of those things are fine and good in moderation. But, a life without excitement, without adventure, is a life that is filled with “what-ifs” and “should-haves.”

I’m not talking about jumping out of airplanes here, unless that’s your thing (and there’s nothing wrong with that). I’m talking about changing your mind-set and choosing to make your life an adventure. Instead of dreading that meeting at the office, look at it as a challenge to be conquered. Look at annoyances in your office as mountains to climb. Start a home business after hours. Try a new sport. Take your kids down the big water slide.

Find the things standing in the way of your success and happiness and kick their ass. Then relish the adventure that led you to that point.

To make things even better – it’s surprisngly hot inside the gate, in retrospect, I should have talked my mother-in-law into having another beer at the  Taqueria outside security.

Sitting here, I gain even more respect for the road warriors who spend a lot of time in places like this. I’m not sure, if my business required me to be on a plane every week, that I could handle that.

So, to all you folks out there that jet across the country on a near daily basis to chase your dreams, kudos to you. I’m going to sit here and figure out  how to keep everyone happy by being hyper-connected in my home office.

Those are all fine and good – but I want to talk about some of the awesome things about working out of your home – things that make the risk of running your own business completely worth it. Some of these things would make it worth taking a lesser salary from your employer to telecommute (if you’re still living in cubicle land).

1) Wear, tear, gas and mileage. I literally drove my car less than 10k miles in the last year. This included two 1000+ road trips. I fill it up about once every three weeks, and get the oil changed about twice a year. It should last another 15 years at this pace.

2) I just mowed my yard on my “lunch break” – how awesome is that? This arrangement allows me to do things like that without missing a beat. You’d be amazed at how much free time a few timely errands or odd jobs spread around your work day can create on your weekend.

3)Fitness and Diet. I don’t remember the last time I ate out at lunch. Actually, I do, but that was because I was out with my wife on Monday afternoon. I don’t have to pack a lunch, and I never have to run out and grab a bite – I just eat what’s in the fridge. This leads to a much healthier diet.

Speaking of that – I can also generally have dinner ready between the time I knock off for the day and my wife gets home from work.

If you’ve never considered it, I highly encourage you to attempt to arrange a work from home scenario for yourself. While there are challenges, the time and money saved makes it well worth it.

In the mean time – please go to my 7xo Media Facebook page. I just launched it, and need to get to 25 fans to get a personalized URL.

In the long run, I think the happenings of the last few years are laying the groundwork for another explosion in growth in the next 20 years. Why the optimism? Because the people that are going to weather the storm of the next few years are going to have two things going for them:

1) A Shift in Their Interpretation of a “Career”

For most of us, our grandfathers and fathers were able to be comfortable being cogs in the corporate machine – knowing they had a pension and social security to get them through retirement. In the New Normal, a stint with a particular company may last less than one year.  A willingness to simply work hard and show up on time could have led to a lucrative (albeit blue-collar, not that there’s a thing wrong with that) career. Now, many of those jobs will be outsourced.

The new American worker will have to have an entrepreneurial mind-set, even if they are currently cogs in the machine. They will have to constantly strive to get better, learn more, and show more value in order to maintain their position. Even better – more and more people are going to strike out on their own. In my world, I can already see this – talented people working with other talented people in temporary arrangements with multiple companies.

That’s diversification, people – and leads me to point #2.

1) (Super)Enhanced Financial Literacy

I have this sneaking suspicion that 90% of what most people know about personal finance has been poured into their head by a bank commercial or a politician. In order to make it over the next 20 years, Americans are going to have to actually learn how money works. Not just max out your 401(k) at work and say you’re “saving for retirement” – but actually have the tools to understand and optimize how your money is working for (or against) you.

I don’t mean knowing exactly what allocation of your portfolio should be in Japanese growth stocks – but understanding what a new car REALLY costs, or why making the minimum payments on your credit card is going to lead to the bank taking your house. In the New Normal the ability to look 2-5-10 years in the future and plan for that will be a skill that will be almost as valuable as the ability to earn a higher salary.

I’m making a conscious effort to keep this little corner of the web alive and kicking. First, I’ve gutted it completely. Here is where I want to talk about the business world, entrepreneurship, and all the other great things that come with that, and I wanted a fresh start.

More importantly, when your success depends a great deal on success in SEO and PPC marketing – it’s easy for that to become a primary focus. One could accurately call this blog my attempt to remain not only a well-rounded businessman and entrepreneur, but a well rounded person in general.

I think that’s important, don’t you?