Survivors of the big deal or any deal, especially business people looking to dole out advice, tend to present their stories as if what they did is what it takes to accomplish a particular feat.

I get a lot of emails from people just getting started asking me to evaluate their business ideas. Here are some general principles I pulled out of my responses and my hope is that these thoughts are helpful to some folks who are looking to get started with their own internet based business.

There's a lot of important factors that go in to owning a business that makes 10K a day, but the most important one is mindset.

I was just writing a post called “How to Make 10K in One Day (YEAH!!!)” I was excited. It was an “x tips” post. I’ll still publish it. Probably. But then I found out I got a new competitor. I got PISSED. And then I got pissed about my post.

I’m often asked, “how can I become a lifestyle designer?” I’m not going to focus on what that means. If you are here and have a heartbeat you probably want tons of personal freedom, unforgettable experiences, and boatloads of cash. Let’s talk about how to get that done.

Let me just say: I am an American. The first amendment of our constitution requires me to believe that America is the best country in the entire world. I believe that. But three years ago I decided to uproot and live in Asia.

I spent the day visiting an impressively ambitious internet startup here in Manila. I found myself missing my office days– a little. It was tons of fun to see office comraderie, leather couches, power lunches, killer work stations, and big LCD screens.

I’ve been blabbing on for weeks about how I’m going to share the “nuts and bolts” of what we are doing at the Tropical MBA. I am just talking a lot of junk.