I was just in one of my high-level mastermind/coaching groups yesterday  (this is a group I pay a lot of money to be in), and we had a real beatdown. You see, there was a guy who was in a “hotseat”….

If you haven’t ever been through something like that, it’s pretty wild – basically one person presents an idea or problem they have in their business… and then the entire group does a big brainstorm about the idea.

If you have the right people in the group, it usually ends up being like a massive shark “feeding frenzy”. You put 20 or 30 really creative entrepreneurs into a room and then you throw a business problem in front of them… well, that’s like putting blood in the water. And don’t accidentally leave any arms dangling over the edge of the boat!

(After all, everyone has more fun solving other people’s problems than working on their own issues.)

In this case, the person was presenting an idea for creating a financial newsletter.

Now if you want to start an information marketing business, well that happens to be a very good market. It’s actually how I started out in this business way back in 1996.

And the person in the hotseat was very smart and very knowledgeable about the topic. He also had a unique perspective on the topic, and a real passion for helping people in this area of their lives.

The only problem with the plan is that, well… there was no plan.

It quickly became apparent that this person in the hotseat had no real knowledge of the information marketing business. He only had a vague idea for getting tens of thousands of followers and then writing a best selling book.

He had no knowledge of the business models in his chosen market. He had no knowledge of exactly who he wanted to sell to, or what they wanted. He had no knowledge of how the business really worked.

(For instance, one of the numbers that you’ll live and die by in that type of business is the renewal rate of your subscribers. And in that market, most of the newsletters are really just lead generation tools for investment advisory services.)

Even worse, this person actually had some capital and was willing to invest a sizable amount of money in this project. So he stands to lose time AND money.

The good news is that he brought this idea to his hotseat… and the idea was not going to survive intact. No freaking way. The other piece of GREAT news is that he was in the hotseat… and he stayed very open to all the coaching. This hotseat literally saved him years of work and tens of thousands of dollars.

Now my behavior in these hotseats is typically to sit back and listen for a while before I weigh in. After all, there were a LOT of really smart people in the room.

But when I finally spoke, this is how I started… with one simple sentence:

“You have to go to school.”

The reality is that information marketing is a profession like any other profession. Just because you have some knowledge, and just because it’s easy to put up a web site… well that doesn’t mean that you don’t need to learn the business.

Now that might sound self-serving since I’m in the business of teaching people about information marketing – but it’s the truth.

And the reality is that I spend a ton of time and money on my own education. I have to. It’s my job.

For example, I’m in the midst of two-weeks of intense learning. Last week I was with my Platinum Mastermind group (30 of my top PLF students) for two days, and then I spent another two days trading coaching days with another high-impact teacher in this market.

That was last week… this week I have two days in a high-level mastermind, and then I’m flying to Austin to attend Ryan Deiss’s conference.

You never stop being a student.

In any case, let’s get back to the mastermind beatdown… the fact is that there are approximately one bazillion other financial newsletters out there. Those folks are ALL more experienced in the business.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t compete… crowded markets are generally crowded because they’re good markets. There’s always room to compete.

But you need to be good and you need to be smart.

You need to study your competition… because at least SOME of them are doing well. And… if you’re doing things right, some of them are going to become your partners.

And the education doesn’t stop with studying your competitors and partners.

You also have to study the business. Back when I started in the dark ages of the mid-90s, there was almost no training available. This business was in its relative infancy.

Nowadays, there is TOO MUCH training available. Much of it sucks or is an outright scam. It’s easy to get blinded by the next pretty butterfly coming along… there is always another system getting promoted.

(Sometimes I’m the person promoting it. )

But that doesn’t change this fact: there is a HUGE amount of really great training available. Whatever you want to do in this business… someone else has figured it out. And there is almost always someone who is willing to teach or train you about it.

It’s an incredible business, but one of the costs for great success is that you have to stay on top of your game.

You have to go to school.

And you’re going to have to keep going back to school.

OK, this is going to be a real treat for you… a plan on how to QUICKLY get more traffic to your site.

I just interviewed Jeff Johnson about how to get more traffic to your web site. Jeff is an old and very good friend of mine, and he’s long been known as one of the true “traffic-getting” superstars on the web. In this interview, we start with the big picture of traffic… and then quickly drilled down into a specific plan on how to get started. I know you’re going to get a huge amount of value from this interview.

Just click the play button below…

>> Click here to get more FREE Traffic Videos from Jeff Johnson <<

And be sure to leave a comment below…

There were THOUSANDS of questions on my webcast last week… and there was one that got me fired up more than all the others combined. This video is all about that question…

Let me know what you think – please leave a comment down below…

Happy Thanksgiving!

And once more, back to the Gratidude Fountain of Awesomeness – the elixir that fixes pretty much everything that ails you…

I just love Thanksgiving… a day dedicated to Gratitude. One of the things I’ve learned in my life is that the more I can live my life from a place of gratitude for all the gifts I’ve received… well the better my life is. In every way.

Including, not incidentally, my business. Make no mistake – the more gratitude I have, the better my business does.

It makes me more impactful. It attracts better people into my life. It builds my relationships with the people in my life. So many benefits… and so easy to obtain. Which is why I do my best to bring more gratitude into my life.

Of course, I’m not perfect – in fact I’m so far from perfect… well, it’s downright silly. I can still get frustrated by stupid stuff.

But gratitude pulls me out of frustration… but only 100% of the time.

And one of the ways I’ve been able to stay in gratitude more is by building “gratitude rituals” into my life. (Check out my post here about the “Discipline of Gratitude”… it’s one of the most popular posts ever).

If you aren’t already doing this, you might want to try adding gratitude rituals into YOUR life. The impact is amazing.

For example, we have a team meeting each week. And the first thing we do in every meeting is a simple gratitude exercise. We “go around the room” and each team member shares something that they’re grateful for in their lives. It could be as simple as the weather, or time with family… or a team member helping out on a big project.

It’s not complicated, doesn’t take long… and then we move onto business. But what a wonderful way to start our team meeting! It sets a completely different tone than if we just plunge into the latest project.

You get the idea – that’s just one example of a gratitude ritual that I’ve built into my life…

So what gratitude rituals do you have? What gratitude rituals can you bring into your life?

A few months ago I was sitting at a big conference table with about 20 people… most of whom I’d never met before. It was an impressive group – they were world class experts in a number of fields, including things like neuroscience and psychology. Many of them were New York Times bestselling authors (one guy has sold 10 million books.) All of them ran highly successful businesses.

We did the whole “go around the table and introduce yourself and tell us why you’re here” thing.

Now I don’t know about you, but I sorta hate that type of thing. I’m naturally an introvert… and since my parents raised me to be humble, it’s just never felt natural to brag about myself.

But when it came around the table to my turn, I knew it was time for me to step up… to raise my game. This is what I said:

“I’m Jeff Walker, and I’m here for the Future Of All Humanity”

That got their attention. And more importantly, it was true.

- EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED -

Have you ever sat down and wrote out all your biggest goals? Really went for it in a big way and wrote down some outrageous goals? It’s an interesting exercise, and I highly recommend that you try it. The first time I did it was about 15 years ago.

And then a funny thing happened. A couple of years ago I realized I had hit pretty much all of those monster goals that I had written down. Obviously, I wasn’t thinking big enough.

But you know what happens when you reach all your goals?

Well, you might go sit on a beach for a while. But soon enough you wake up and ask “what’s next?” or “what do I do now?” or maybe even “is that all there is?”

This might sound counterintuitive, but it’s actually a really unsettling, uncomfortable place to be.

I know some of the people reading this have been in that same situation – you work really hard for some big goals, and then one day you hit those goals. That’s where I was in 2008…

- THE BIG WHY -

Before that time, the “Big Why” behind my business was about supporting my family – about making enough money to pay the bills and keep food on the table. That’s the reality for most people when they start a business… and that’s where I was. In desperation mode.

But as I became more successful, that started to change. Gradually I worked my way out of that desperation mode – my business started to come together, I caught a few breaks, and I kept my nose doggedly to the grindstone.

The next 10 years or so was a non-stop whirlwind of learning to think bigger. And non-stop amazement at the growth in my business – and the growth in my impact.

And, wonderfully, I started to see my students achieve massive success as well… sometimes even exceeding my own success. It was a joyful, simple, wonderful time.

And then there was the quantum leap forward – when I released Product Launch Formula 2.0 – and I did $3.73 million in sales in 34 hours.

That completely changed the game for me.

I’ve actually got a pretty simple life, and I never bothered drastically upgrading my lifestyle. Sure, sometimes I fly first class… and I don’t have to look at the right-side column when I’m in restaurants. But I still live in the same house I bought 11 years ago. And I’m not really into fancy cars… and it doesn’t make much sense to drive a Ferrari when I live a mile down a dirt road!

In any case, with that huge launch I found I had suddenly hit almost all of my “lifetime” goals. And it had me wondering what was next in my life.

Like I said – this is NOT a very comfortable place to suddenly find yourself.

Now I’m not the first person to go through this, and I won’t be the last. But the story often ends badly – just look at all the childhood actors that destroy their lives, all the rockstars that do the same, all the world-class athletes that don’t retire gracefully… the list goes on and on.

So this is how I dealt with it – I went on a search. It was a search that took me all over the place – from Tony Robbins seminars to long trips in the wilderness to meditation to yoga retreats.

I learned a lot from that search… about myself and about what I wanted for the next chapter of my life.

And in the end I found three things that REALLY excited me… that filled me with a passion to create and contribute. And I found something deeply important about my business, and its place in the world.

So here goes… these are hard-won, deeply held beliefs. They are simple statements, because I put in a ton of work to make them simple.

I know these statements will resonate with a lot of people reading this… but I also know a lot of people will disagree with them. But that goes with the territory. Here you go:

1. Entrepreneurs are the future of the world.

I could write five blog posts about this, but here’s the short version: entrepreneurs are the ones who are out there making an impact, building things, creating jobs… and raising the standard of living throughout the world.

(Here’s a link to some interesting data on how entrepreneurs are the ones creating *all* the jobs in the last 30ish years.)

2. Information marketers are the future of education.

Again, I could write about this all day, but I’m only going to give you the super-condensed version here: the world is changing faster than the current education system can handle. There are so many dedicated, amazing teachers and professors in our current system… but they’re too often fighting a losing battle. Clearly, large chunks of our education system are moving online… and that charge is being led by information marketers.

(Check out this link: Will Dropouts Save America by the author of “The Education of Millionaires”)

3. My business is all about helping entrepreneurs and information marketers start and grow their businesses. Which, given my first two statements above, means my business is all about…

- THE FUTURE OF ALL HUMANITY -

I help entrepreneurs and information marketers bring their gifts to the world. That’s what I do. That’s what my team does. And those three things add up to my “Big Why”… and the future of all humanity.

It’s a pretty big mission.

And when I talk about it in public, it’s always with a bit of a wink and smile… because talking about that stuff can sometimes make folks uncomfortable. But I’m dead serious. It’s important work.

- GET CLEAR ON YOUR BIG WHY -

You might want to spend some time thinking about your BIG WHY. Now I’ll be the first to admit that when I started my business, I just wanted to make some money. In fact, I was DESPERATE to make some money.

But after a while, once the success train starts rolling… then you might want to start thinking about your Big Why, because it changes things.

For instance. back in the days before my Big Why I ran my business a little differently.

I tried to avoid building a team at all costs… because I didn’t want the hassles. Now, I’m slowly building my team – because I’ve got a big mission, and I can’t get there alone.

Another example… I changed the way we sell Product Launch Formula. It used to be for sale every day of the year… and it sold really well.

But then I tried running PLF as on online course – similar to the way a college course is taught – and I saw that people got much better results that way.

The interactivity – having me answering questions on the phone and in the PLF portal – people loved it and got better results. It’s a lot more work for me this way… so we usually only run one or two classes per year – but it gets great results for my PLF Owners.

(Right now I’m gearing up for our next Product Launch Formula class – we’re going to start one in a couple of weeks. Which means I’m trying to get as much sleep as I can right now… once it starts the whole thing just plain takes over my life.

One more example… I used to occasionally take on consulting clients. Now I’m all but impossible to hire, because taking individual clients will rarely fit strategically with the mission of my business.

Finally, and I sorta touched on this earlier, I decided I needed to start talking about this Big Why stuff publicly. That wasn’t an easy thing for me – since I’m an introvert, and since talking about this type of stuff can make you a target. And because I’m really not holier-than-thou at all – I’ve got plenty of faults and make lots of mistakes.

And I have this rather insistent voice in the back of my head that sometimes says “shut up, who are you to tell people about stuff like this”… and it’s a lot of effort to fight that voice. But I realized if I was going to go down this road, I had to fight that inner demon and I needed to talk about this stuff… even if I ended up drawing a big target on my back.

- WHAT’S YOUR MISSION? -

Like I said above, if you’re just starting out… then you need to worry about getting to profits. Worry about putting together a great offer and getting in the game.

But once you get there – once you’ve built a solid business… you should start focusing on your “Big Why”, because it will sustain you.

AND it will transform your business and make it a much bigger force in the market. You will become a leader, and people love to rally behind leaders.

I’ve now got a process to help people get to their Big Why, but I don’t have the time or space to go through it with you in this blog… and this isn’t the right medium. Maybe I’ll figure out some way to do that outside of my live events… but it won’t be today.

But trust me… getting to your Big Why is a very powerful and liberating exercise. And you can make a pretty good run at it if you sit down in a quite place with some paper and pencil, and write down what’s important to you in your life and your business. The big picture stuff. Try it, I recommend it highly.

IMPORTANT: your mission does NOT have to be about the future of all humanity… that’s mine, and it took me a long time to get there.

(And you never know, one day I might change it to “finding the perfect Mai Tai on the perfect beach”… but for now I’m sticking with “the future of all humanity” )

Your mission might be “improving skiing instruction so that people can make turns on their first day on the mountain”… or “bringing people closer to nature through mountain biking”… or “helping people lead healthier lives by losing a combined total of 1 million pounds of fat”… or “helping people protect and grow their life’s savings”…

This doesn’t have to be your final answer, and you can’t get it wrong. You can always change your answer (and I can pretty much guarantee that you will.)

- BRINGING THIS HOME -

OK, this has been the longest blog post ever. Thank you for coming along on the journey with me. This has been something that I’ve been working on for a few years now. It’s been evolving and will continue to evolve. And I promise to keep you updated.

But for now, since I just put myself out there in a big way, I have one favor to ask – please leave a comment below and let me know what you think about all this stuff. Agree? Disagree? Give me your reaction. Or you can even just tell me to shut up and get back to talking about marketing.

(P.S. All photos are from a hike I did this summer in the mountains near my home. That’s where I go to think about the important stuff and recharge my soul.)

I didn’t know that my life was about to change forever. I suppose, in those types of moments, you never do.

I remember the moment like it was yesterday. I was at a one of the mountain parks near my home in Colorado with my two young kids. I brought a picnic lunch, which the kids quickly gobbled up. Now they were happily scrambling around… climbing on some big rocks and playing in the forest.

I was seated at a picnic table. It was a beautiful summer day. The sun was out, but I was in the shade of a pine tree. In my hands I held a slim, hardcover book that I hadn’t started reading yet.

Little did I know when I opened that book that it would quickly transport me to another world… and inspire me to start a business that would help tens of thousands of people, make me a fortune, and eventually change the way business was done on the Internet.

But back then I couldn’t have had a more humble setting. At the time I was Mr. Mom – I was a stay-at-home-dad… the primary caregiver for my kids. My total personal income for the previous five years was exactly zero dollars. I had quit my corporate job, and my wife was supporting the family. I liked spending so much time with my kids, but there was definitely a gaping hole in my life. I felt the drive to create something, but I didn’t know what… and I didn’t know where to begin. I was paralyzed.

The book I was holding in my hands was a book that my wife had given me. That’s not necessarily a good sign… since we don’t tend to share the same taste in books. But this one was different, and it was about to change the course of my life.

It’s a good thing that there was nothing menacing in the woods, and that my kids did a good job fending for themselves… because I can’t say I was the most attentive father that day. As soon as I opened the book, I was completely consumed by it.

That book that changed everything for me was “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. It doesn’t seem like an impressive book when you pick it up. It’s a short book, and it’s very easy to read. It’s not about marketing, or business… or even personal development.

Instead, it’s a parable about how to live your life and pursue your dreams. And the journey the book takes you on… well, it made a huge impact on my life.

Now I’ve had many mentors over the last 15 years or so – and I’ve written about some of them on this blog. And they’ve all helped me in various ways… but it was Paulo Coelho and the mysterious Alchemist that was there at the beginning and gave me permission and faith to pursue my dreams.

Paulo is a wildly successful and influential author. He’s sold over 140 million books. He has 6,605,086 likes on Facebook. He has 2,396,203 followers on Twitter. He clearly influences a lot of other people (in addition to me.)

And now, in another one of those cases of things circling back for me… one of my best friends – Brendon Burchard – is interviewing Paulo on a live teleseminar. That’s a really big deal – to show you just how significant that is… Paulo is only doing two interviews in the U.S. this year – one is with the New York Times and the other is with Brendon.

I’m going to be on the call – because I’m a fan of Paulo Coelho… and because I want to hear from someone who has had such amazing success in his life (and become so amazingly influential.)

You can register for the call FOR FREE at this link:

CLICK HERE for Paulo Coelho and Brendon Burchard

Go register now… this is going to be unlike any other call you’ve been on – I can’t wait to hear Brendon’s interview with Paulo… it’s not going to be about marketing, and there isn’t going to be anything for sale. But with what this man has accomplished in his life and the people he’s impacted… well I can’t wait to hear the wisdom he has to share…

Best regards,
Jeff

P.S. And now you know the “why” behind the name of my company – Internet Alchemy, Inc… I named it after the book that inspired everything.

P.P.S. It’s sorta funny… things have come full circle in some ways, and they’re very different in other ways. I’ve now read most of Paulo Coelho’s books. And obviously, the circumstances of my life are very different. My kids are a lot older now. My wife was able to retire long ago to be a Mom. My business has grown to levels that I never could have dreamed.

But this past spring I opened another of Paulo’s books. Once again, I was with my family in a lovely place out in nature. But this time I was on a 44-foot sailboat that I had chartered for a week in the British Virgin Islands. Once again I was transported away to another world when I started reading the book. And once again I was inspired.

I can’t wait to hear what Paulo has to say to Brendon.

P.P.P.S. There are lots of inspiring books out there. I’m not sure why “The Alchemist” was the one that did it for me… but I’ve gone back to read it several times since that first time out in the woods with my kids. It really resonates with me. But I’m curious… what books have inspired you?

Have you ever wanted to attract top tier celebrities or “big names” to your business? That’s what this Product Launch Case Study is all about, and it’s happening right now…

Will Hamilton has a tennis instruction site at FuzzyYellowBalls.com, and he’s used his past product launches to attract the most successful professional doubles team in history. Bob and Mike Bryan have won more professional doubles titles than any team in history, they’ve won 11 Grand Slam titles, and earlier this year they won Wimbledon.

And now they’re partnering with Will on a new product… and a PLF-style product launch for that product.

So how does a tiny web site with a weird name put together a deal to partner with two of the most accomplished professional tennis players in history?

This story starts about a year ago, when Will went through my Product Launch Formula program. He did his first launch last July and did $35,000 in sales in a week… that was for a product that had already been on the market for a year with only mediocre sales. Then in September he did a relaunch for that same product that did $65,000.

But that was just the start – in December he launched a new product that did $105,000 in sales, and then another one in March that did $170,000 in sales. Do you see the pattern here?

(Full disclaimer: Will joined my Platinum Mastermind Group in October, so he had additional access to me in addition to his PLF training.)

Those four launches caught the attention of a sports agent that represented Bob and Mike Bryan (known as “the Bryan Brothers”)… and after some negotiations they inked a deal where Will would work with the Brothers to create and launch a product on FuzzyYellowBalls.com.

So now Will has created a new tennis instruction course with the Bryan Brothers, and they are in the middle of the launch. They’ve already released three great prelaunch videos which have gotten hundreds of enthusiastic comments.

So far, it’s classic Product Launch Formula in action… sharing great content, and getting the community enthusiastically involved and eagerly anticipating each new video. They’re about a week out from launch day – and it’s looking like a big winner. This launch is “hitting on all cylinders” right now…

There is definitely a lot to be learned from looking at the way Will has structured this launch and the prelaunch content:

[ Click here to follow along with this launch ]

One of the things that I’ve taught over the years in Product Launch Formula is how a well-executed launch can bring a lot more to your business than just the revenue from the launch. It will often build your list, build your positioning in the market, attract new affiliate partners, help you plan your next product, activate a list and make it more responsive… and in this case Will’s prior launches attracted the most accomplished doubles team in tennis history.

Pretty cool stuff!

P.S. Yes, I’m an avid tennis player… so this Case Study is extra cool for me. And I’ve gotten a chance to hit with Will (he’s really good)… but he hasn’t hooked me up for a game with the Bryan Brothers yet! Hint hint…

Today, August 30th 2011, is the 15 year anniversary of the start of my Internet business career.

That’s right… I actually started out in 1996. Sorta crazy.

And it’s hard to imagine more humble beginnings. The story is too long to recount here, but I started out of desperation – I needed a change in my life.

And I started with one single action… I sent out an email newsletter.

I sent that first newsletter to everyone I personally knew who had an email address. Back in 1996 email was still somewhat rare, so the newsletter only went out to 19 email addresses.

Of course, one of those addresses was my second email address and another was my wife’s email address… but I figure there was 19 emails on the distribution list, so I’m sticking with the story that I had 19 subscribers. It felt more important than if I only had 17 subscribers.

That was the start of my publishing career… and the crazy thing is that newsletter eventually grew to more than 80,000 subscribers.

Since then I’ve sent out well over 10,000 email broadcasts, and I’ve sold millions of dollars of products… and I’ve helped other folks make HUNDREDS of millions.

Now, as I sit here 15 years later, it’s pretty interesting that the very first thing I did was start building an email list… even before I had my first web site.

And that leads to my First Law of Internet Business Success:

It’s All About The List (And Your Relationship To That List)

For almost all Internet businesses, your only real asset is your list. Or more accurately, your lists, because you should have many of them (prospects, clients, affiliates, email, social media, etc.) …

Your content can get knocked off, your technology can be bettered, your search engine rankings can go away. But no one can take your list away. And with that list you can overcome nearly any setback. It’s your “license to print money”… it’s your insurance policy.

BOTTOM LINE: In your Internet business there are all kinds of things you can’t control, but your list is the one thing that you CAN control.

Of course, I’ve been saying that to people for almost 15 years now. Some people listen, many don’t.

The thing that really kills me is the folks who complain that they don’t have a list.

Well NEWSFLASH – none of us came out of the womb with an email list. We all got them the same way – we BUILT them. Every list starts with a single subscriber. If you don’t have a list yet, that just means we started before you. But it’s not a race, and there’s no finish line… so just get over it and start building your list.

Remember, I started with 19 email addresses.

Of course, building the list is only the first part of the equation. The second part is every bit as important… you need to have a relationship with your list. But that’s a whole different blog post.

Whew… I really didn’t mean for this post to turn into a rant. I figured I would reminisce about the past 15 years. Maybe compare getting started now with getting started back in the day, possibly even give you all 15 of my Laws of Internet Success… but then I got carried away.
I guess I just get worked up when I see people making the same mistakes that I was seeing back when I started.

Just get over it, and focus on building your list.

So I just got back from a big adventure… I just spent 10 days rowing my raft down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.

(And yes, it was my raft… this was a “private” trip with no guides.)

Rowing my raft down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon

Those of you who have been down the Grand Canyon know that it’s a trip of a lifetime… and I’ve been lucky enough to do it six times now.

You see, rafting and kayaking whitewater rivers is a passion of mine – and I’ve paddled and rowed down all kinds of wildnerness rivers from Arizona to Alaska. But the Grand Canyon is the mother of all river trips in the U.S… and everything down there is on a bigger scale. The canyon is bigger, the trip is longer, and the rapids are bigger.

It’s a wilderness trip… once you pull away from the put-in at Lee’s Ferry you are on your own. There’s no chance to re-supply, and you have to carry EVERYTHING that you need.

And, of course, while you’re down there you’re completely disconnected – there’s no Internet, cell phones, or electricity… which is a FANTASTIC to recharge while you’re away from your business. I can guarantee that you won’t be checking email.

The trip is 225 miles long (my trips have varied from 10 days to 21 days), and there are hundreds of rapids down there. Many of them are big and burly… and things can get pretty exciting.

It’s nice that the rapids gradually get bigger as you go down the river… so you can work your way up to the big ones. If had to deal with Granite or Crystal rapid on the first day… well, that would be terrifying.

So as you go down the river, you gradually gain confidence… and if you’re having good runs down the rapids, you might even get a bit of a swagger. And you start feeling like maybe you’ve earned your stripes.

But lurking down the river at Mile 179 is a problem of a whole different sort… and it’s called Lava Falls.

Lava Falls is the most famous (or infamous) rapid in Grand Canyon. You usually hit it on Day 14 or so of your trip… and by then you think you’ve seen everything. You’ve heard all the stories about Lava, but you’re wondering if it can really live up to all the hype. And then you round a turn in the river… and you hear Lava – a huge, deep, menacing roar. And the sobering thought goes through your head – “we’re still a half-mile away from the rapid”. Hmmm.

Lava Falls from a quarter mile above the rapid

You pull your boat to the shore a couple hundred yards above the rapid so you can scout it… and you climb up to the top of a bluff and take your first look at Lava Falls… and it’s instantly very clear that after 179 miles that this is a whole different ballgame.

In all my trips through Lava, I’ve always had clean runs… but I always have the same thought when I first look at it… “do I really have to run this rapid?”

There’s no such thing as a free pass through Lava. You’re always going to be flirting with disaster and hitting some big stuff that could flip you (or knock you out of the boat). And the swims in Lava range from “ugly” right up to “completely horrendous”.

And on this trip, Lava was looking particularly unfriendly. At first glance there was an obvious channel down the left side… but I knew from past experience that a run that is obvious from the side of the river would be not so obvious at all once I was back down on the river, floating into the rapid.

And the real danger was that my run on the left side would take me right past the edge of the “Ledge Hole”… which was the one single place on the whole 225 miles of river that you didn’t want to be…

Scouting Lava Falls from the left side... do I look nervous?

Think of the Ledge Hole as a 12-foot wave in the ocean, then think about that wave breaking on top of you… and then think of it holding you in place and continuing to break on top of you… with you stuck under the crashing whitewater. That’s what the Ledge Hole is like.

I didn’t want to be anywhere near the Ledge Hole, but I was going to be rowing my boat right past the very lip of it. That was a VERY unnerving thought. But when you’re above Lava Falls, there’s only one thing to do after you scout it… go back to your raft, tighten everything down, cinch down your lifejacket extra tight… and then go run the rapid.

As you drift down to the rapid, you can’t actually see it. You see a horizon line where the river just seems to drop away – and in fact, it does drop away. The entire river falls 37 feet over the span of a couple hundred yards.

(At one time it was rated by the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest stretch of navigable water in the world. That was an exaggeration, but still…)

As I approached the rapid, everything began to accelerate. I was scanning the river, trying to pick out where that left-side channel was… and where the Ledge Hole lurked. I was the second boat in our group… and I watched the boat ahead of me drop into the rapid – it completely disappeared over the edge of the horizon line, and I couldn’t tell what happened to it.

Then as the current continued to quicken and pull me towards the lip of the rapid – I was maybe 50 feet above the rapid and I finally got a glimpse over the edge…. and right then I knew I was OK… I knew I was on the correct line. The Ledge Hole wouldn’t get me this time!

After that it was all a blur – 20 seconds of crashing waves, icy water crashing over the boat, and big hits… at one point I saw the bow of my boat pointing towards the sky… but then we landed safely in the tail waves at the end of the rapid.

The boat behind me wasn’t quite as fortunate… the boatman was thown out of the boat – but he was pulled back in quickly and unharmed… and soon we were all celebrating below the rapid.

We were safely below Lava Falls. After many days with stories of Lava carnage lurking in our thoughts… we had passed the test. We pulled over at “Tequila Beach” just a little downstream… all five boats and 16 people – and we were feeling VERY alive at that moment.

High fives were exchanged. Beers were cracked. We were alive below Lava. And that’s when I made the classic Grand Canyon toast…

“You’re always above Lava Falls”

That truly is one of my favorite quotes… because even as I celebrated getting through Lava safely, I was looking forward to my next trip through the Grand Canyon, and my next test at Lava Falls.

But, of course, the metaphor goes much deeper.

Your biggest challenge is ahead of you… at least it is if you’re living life the way I try to live my life.

I’ll admit it right here… I’m addicted to growth in my life. In my capabilities, in my accomplishments, in my relationships. In fact, if I don’t see the opportunity for growth in any given situation, then I have a very hard time staying interested.

A big smile of relief to be below Lava Falls (and a celebratory beer)

It took me a while to figure this out, but I’m always looking for my next “Lava Falls”… in every area of my life. And I’ve noticed that most of the entrepreneurs and other “creatives” that I know are very similar.

Want to make sure you stay engaged in your business? That you stay interested, that you stay sharp? Just make sure that your biggest challenges lie ahead of you. Always have a future bigger than your past. Always be looking for your next challenge, for your next Lava Falls.

- Jeff

P.S. One of the toughest things about doing a private trip in Grand Canyon (vs. a commercial trip with guides) is getting the permit from the National Park Service. It can literally take YEARS to get a permit for a private trip. That’s why my six trips are pretty amazing – it’s unusual to get invited on that many trips.

I’m always interested in trips with great folks… so if you happen to have an upcoming permit and you’re looking for an experience boatman, then drop me a line.

P.P.S. Want to see a particularly terrifying encounter with the Ledge Hole in Lava? The video below was NOT from my trip, but it’s pretty crazy… and shows the power of the Lava Falls.

P.P.P.S. Are you still “above Lava”?

OK, this is without a doubt the craziest post I’ve made on this blog… because I’ve never seen anyone put a THREE HOUR all-content recording on their blog!

This is the deal – a few days ago my good friend Brendon Burchard (that photo below shows Brendon and I at this year’s Super Bowl) interviewed Andy Jenkins and myself on a teleseminar.

The call was all about information marketing – how to create and market your own information products… and it’s from three people who have “been there, done that” … and have sold millions of dollars of their information products. Enjoy!