Adventures ahead (what do you think of the last idea?)

Things are getting tough.

I like that.

Here is a list of adventures planned for the next few days! Praise the Lord!

Subscriber Toolbox for LifeETC blog

I am working on two things right now, to include in the Subscriber Only Toolbox:

• The Blog As A Business course. This course make the case for using a blog as a proper tool to spread your idea, your product or your cause (or all three!!). This is how a lot of lives are being changed for the better: Independent Online Publishing. This is not for everyone but a lot of talented, creative, passionate people are missing out on using a blog to make a bigger impact. This course hopes to equip you with the right strategies to move forward confidently and know what to do next! The coolest bit? This course will be free for all members of the LifeETC/Momekh family. If you haven’t joined yet (if you’re reading this in your email inbox, then you are already a subscriber!), join at this link … the subscription is free (or rather, comes at a cost of you allowing me access to your email inbox).
• The second thing that goes into the Subscriber Only Toolbox is the Progress Reports! This has been a tough one for me. I am not an organized person. Not as organized as I must be. I want to be, and I keep trying out things.
  Keeping a progress log of my projects is one of those activities that has really, really helped. Alhumdulillah. And thanks to a push from a few of the people in the LifeETC community (I’m looking at you Saqib), I will be making the progress reports available for you to see. I cover the four “work” projects that I am working on, namely: Blogstarta, Cakes.pk, this blog here and DesignByMomekh. Why share progress reports? Because it gives me a sense of accountability (I want you to hold me accountable on my commitments), a sense of authenticity (I want you to see that I am putting my heart out here and trying hard to make all of this work) and a glimmer of hope to inspire (you will hopefully see that it is not as hard – nor that easy – to do once you get down to really doing it).

What do you think? Do you think this will be a good addition to the Subscriber Toolbox? Let me know here.

The Subscriber Only Toolbox should be ready by the start of next month, God willing.

Invited to Speak

InshAllah, I will be in Peshawar for two days for the Digital Youth Summit (cool website), 21st to 23rd of May, 2014. I recently was invited to attend the Social Media Summit in Islamabad, and I really had a good, learning experience there (here’s what I mean).

This time, I have been invited to be part of a panel on “Impactful Blogging”. I will be sharing the stage with the blogger/journalist from Karachi, Faisal Kapadia, who of course is a total gangsta when it comes to blogging and has been blogging even before blogging was cool. (And no, not the singer Faisal Kapadia!)

This should be fun, God willing.

I have attended social media / digital conferences in Karachi and Islamabad, but this is the first one where I am invited to speak.

Speaking on Blogging and Communications and Community, I love that. This is what I do all day anyways: think about these things, talk my friends into this, convince everyone around me that living a life of adventure is possible and easier with an online community.

I want people to understand the hard work it takes to produce even a half-decent blog. I want to share the strategies that I have learnt and continue to learn from the experts in the field of blogging and independent publishing. Sharing what you’ve learnt is always a good thing. Alhumdulillah.

But I am certain now that I have a lot, a lot to learn. I am not doing 80% of the things I know I should be doing.

I do make a living with “blogging” now, have two ebooks in the market, am working on two more products. Given that I’ve been doing this professionally for some time now, I am confident that I can help people who are at a place where I was when starting out. God willing.

But I still have lots and lots to learn. I know for a fact that the experts are somewhere else (I am looking at you Corbett, Scott, James, Chris)… the people I try to learn from.

I plan to have a lot of fun at this conference, make a lot of friends and plan to help as many people as I can, God willing. And in case you’re wondering, one must attend (or even arrange) conferences within one’s field.

I have been fortunate enough to take this message of “living a life of adventure” to platforms such as TEDx. I have given talks at numerous universities and talked about “adding venture to our lives” on national television. And I just want to have fun while doing it. 🙂 So let’s see what Peshawar has to offer (I hear that “Charsi Tikka shop” is nice, anyone been there? And what a name for a shop, no?)

Four Projects and a Ritual

I go into details in the Progress Reports about the four projects and one ritual that keeps me way too busy these days.

Truth be told, I have never been busier. This is good for someone like me. I am way too lazy for my own good. 🙂

But this has a side effect: I am not as available as I was before. I missed a great opportunity to be part of a social initiative lead by Beaconhouse National University, the World Bank and the government of Punjab. I just didn’t have the time to prepare and I slipped up: I didn’t even have the professional courtesy of letting the concerned know that I won’t be able to make it. It completely slipped my mind.

Now I also turn down a lot of requests to meet. I get a lot of people emailing me to meet up, discuss everything from dairy farming to blogging to entrepreneurship to living a life of adventure! That is very humbling and exciting, and I had always said yes. I have had weeks where everyday I was meeting someone, in batches of 1 to 3 (and enjoying the usually-free coffee!). But that had to stop.

After a very long time, I have actual work to do! What an exciting concept. 😛

You will be reading a LOT MORE detail on these four projects that are keeping me busy in the Progress Reports, when they come out (see the first sub-head)

Events and Meetups

Having said that, I think it is high time we formalize our meetings. I am hoping to start something on a monthly basis, where anywhere between 2 to 25 people can get together, and talk for 2 to 3 hours on all the topics we talk about here on the blog!

I learn a lot from meeting people, and if we can do it in a group, a lot more of us can benefit God willing.

Of course, the way this can be done is that we charge a nominal fee per person: 400 to 600 per person, meet at a restaurant for lunch/dinner or tea/coffee. This is not a for-profit event or anything – but I figure this way all of us can meet, spend less money overall and hopefully come up with better plans for each of us.

The other route is a sponsorship: a restaurant or some brand sponsors our meetups in one way or the other. But I am hesitant of that: sponsors may end up overtaking the overall message! But there is a middle way, where the sponsor understands the power of community and agrees to be a part of it rather than “pay an entry fees” of some sort to get access.

Anyway, I am really excited about how we do this: meetup every month, on a related topic. What do you think?

For starters, what about a meetup on blogging? Share your thoughts at this link (this is a very cool way of exchanging ideas within ourselves). We will see how many people are interested, and then we can arrange this. What do you think? Click here to let me/us know.

Other than that, I will talk to you in a week’s time, agar Allah nay chaha.

Till then, I wish you the best and God bless.

P.S. You can now ask your questions, give feedback the usual way (via a reply to this email), or use this awesome-dawsome platform: just click here to explore that. Talk soon. God bless!

P.P.S. Yes, I just said dawsome up there. Peace.

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You can check out the four dudes mentioned above at their respective sites:

Corbett Barr: Fizzle or tell him Hi on his Twitterz.

Scott Dinsmore: This living legend can be found here.

James Clear: His writing can be seen here.

Chris Brogan: The Brogan himself. Google+ him (he’ll like it) or tweet his Twitter here. 😛