A Free Unique Genius Ebook:

You Can Make As Much Money As You Want, Doing What You Love

By Aaron Ross

Hello!
Hi, Im Aaron. Im a corporate refugee, who founded the company PebbleStorm (Make Money Through Enjoyment), and created the Unique Genius body of work to combine the best of money (capitalism) and happiness (buddhism). Were a creating a worldwide movement of work based on values like trust and integrity and fun. I want you to be able to make as much money as you want, doing what you love.

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Geek Makes Good

Heres a bit about me so you know that Im not some get-rich-quick guy making it up as I go along. Ive put my time into the trenches Before starting PebbleStorm, I spent 15 years as serial entrepreneur and in investment banking, software and venture capital. Ive founded six companies. I created a Cold Calling 2.0 sales process and team at Salesforce.com that helped add $100 million in just a few years. Ive written two books, CEOFlow: Turn Your Employees Into Mini-CEOs, and Predictable Revenue. My third, The Unique Genius 21-Day Program, is in development. At age 36 I rediscovered, after 30 years, that I am an artist, as youll see with some sketches in this ebook. I love motorcycles, adventure, meditation, and morning green smoothies. I grew up and spent 35 years of my life in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now I live in Santa Monica, California, just outside Los Angeles. (If you ever visit Santa Monica, here are two eating places you need to visit: Huckleberry for their hot chocolate, and Planet Raw for just about everything.)

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My life hasnt been all ponies and rainbows

Beyond the resume, Ive had my share of challenges too, like a failed business, a failed marriage, and before all this I was a geeky, socially awkward high school programmer who didnt have friends for years or a date until I was 18. I have had long periods of self-doubt, with lots of thoughts like what if I fail?, will this work? and will I fail to live up to my potential? (Shhh those doubts can still pop up now and again.) Id like to say I dont care about what you think of me and my work, but Id be lying, because I want you to like it and get value from it. I have lots of strengths and plenty of weaknesses I am a human, with all the related imperfections. In other words, Im just like you.
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Turn that around and realize that youre just like me, with my potential and the potential of all the other successful people out there you put on pedestals. No one is perfect, and if they seem like it, you just dont know enough about them I guarantee they have their dark sides too! You dont succeed by being perfect or never feeling fear and doubt you succeed by moving forward despite any fears, doubts or uncertainties. Forget any feeling of a lack of money, time, college degrees, skills or people you know There are only three reasons you will not be successful: you dont try new things, you dont learn from what you try, or you give up.

Choose Both
The PebbleStorm and Unique Genius story begins in 2007 (after all the entrepreneurial and corporate stuff Id done), while I was at a Silicon Valley venture capital firm as an Entrepreneur-inResidence. I had a dream job getting paid to figure out what kind of company I wanted to start. And after three months there, I had a huge revelation. I realized that while I enjoyed the salaries, security and often the people in it (if not the management cultures), the corporate world and technology startups held no meaning for me. Regardless of how much money I made or could make in the corporate and startup world, it just wasnt fulfilling. I also realized that I have always had the ability to make money doing what I want to do but I never tried to because I didnt really believe I could do it. (This is true for you, too.) I had bought into the lie that I had to choose between well-paying OR fulfilling work. I committed to choose both, to create work that was well-paying AND fulfilling. And the truth is you too can choose both: you can make money doing what you enjoy, without compromising how much you make or how you make it.

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What Happened to Integrity in Work?

In figuring out how to choose both happiness and money, my views and perspective on business changed. I used to buy wholeheartedly into business is the answer, and free markets solve all. And Americas model of work seemed like a shining example to the world. Yet the reality is that the way you work is stressful and drains you of your happiness, fun and health. You work too much with people who dont care about you, doing things you feel are a waste of time (but the boss wants it), not getting paid what you are worth. Somewhere business lost its honor and integrity and profit at any price - became everything. Its just not right for companies to violate the rules of humanity and integrity in the name of profit and press...whether the result is a trashed environment, overseas slave labor, or even the corporate
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servitude we accept right here in the USA. You are TIRED of corporate servitude on the career track. We grow up being trained to believe all kinds of lies about what it takes to be successful. (Ill be sharing with you Five Great Lies Of Success and Five Great Truths Of Success.) Because we believe the lies (or were never taught the truth), we end up working at all kinds of jobs that either stress us out, are meaningless, or dont pay us what were worth.

Five Great Lies Of Success

If you can choose both money and happiness, why havent you done it yet? Why dont more of your friends do it? You and I have deep misconceptions about what it takes to be successful. These unspoken assumptions of success sabotage you, because if you buy into these lies, you practice the wrong principles. Here are Five Great Lies Of Success Ive found through mentoring hundreds of people, things you may believe but that are not true: The First Great Lie Of Success You Cant Have It All: You must choose EITHER work that pays a lot of money OR fulfilling work, because you cant make much money doing what you love - even if you could figure out what that is. All deeply fulfilling, meaningful work has to be
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done through non-profits, right? (No!!!) The Second Great Lie Of Success Having Fun At Work Wastes Time: To make more money, first work harder. More work will fix it. Actually, more work will fix anything, and when in doubt, just work harder. Enjoyment and fun arent bad or actively discouraged in work (hopefully!), but they do get in the way of getting things done and making money. The Third Great Lie Of Success You ll Be Discovered: Hope is your strategy; if you work hard, following the career track, at some point youll be noticed. Someday you ll just be discovered. Some people win the lottery too...but do you want to bet your life on it?

The Fourth Great Lie Of Success You Just Need A Promotion: If you get a new job or promotion, then THAT will make you happier, wealthier or more successful. Of course, you thought that same thing before getting this oneand the one before thatand before that. Groundhog day anyone? The Fifth Great Lie Of Success Youre Not Good Enough: What is your dream? Can you make as much money as you want, doing what you love? Your inner critic tells you all the reasons you cant do it, like Who are you to start a business? Who are you to change peoples lives? Youre not special, people dont need you, they dont value

what you have to offer, you dont have enough experience, talent or creativity, and on and on and on. (Those are all lies.) Finally...an Extra Great Lie About Money Earning Money = Making Money: The working world and school teaches you how to earn money, not make it as in being able to create money when you need it. Which, my friend, is thankfully a learnable skill like learning to play a guitar.

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A Mission: Bring Integrity Back to Work

As my search for combining money and happiness got clearer and clearer, I realized that what was missing was integrity. I found my life purpose: to bring integrity back to all levels of business, to our relationships and to our purpose of work, and integrate work into the rest of our lives. Integrity means not only getting to work with people you trust all the time, but even more importantly, making it possible to remain true to our personal purpose and passions in work and life. We dont have to sacrifice passion, fun or health for money anymore in work we can have it all if we choose. How this can happen begins with a dream.

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A Dream
What if you could work on what you want, when you want, from where you want, with whom you want? What if everyone you worked with partners, clients, coworkers, vendors, managers, employees was someone you liked, respected and trusted? What if values like trust, freedom, authenticity, fun and play were the basis of how you and we all worked together? What if the people you worked with were devoted to helping you succeed? What if there was no competition, only cooperation, because everyone was a Unique Genius who had found their special gifts and turned them into enjoyable, meaningful work? And everyone could bring their unique talents together, like unique puzzle pieces, to jointly create masterful new products, businesses and money? What if work was enjoyable, playful, meaningful and fun and we all made a lot more money because of it? Is this even possible?

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A Vision
I began to think about how I could make the dream real. How could it be possible? And the answer came to me: a community based on trust. Whether they are employees, partners or clients, I dont enjoy work when its with people that I dont like, respect or trust. I love working with people whom I like, respect and trust. What if I could work with trusted people ALL THE TIME? What if you could too? What if we had a community of like-minded people big enough that we could always work with great people whether as partners, employees, or clients? What if we could collaborate, buy, sell and hire based on trusted, long-term relationships rather
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than complex legal, sales, and HR contracts? Where everyone works and makes money together based on principles like trust, integrity, fun, freedom and fulfillment Where there isnt dog-eat-dog competition, because each person has found their special gifts, their Unique Genius and each person is like a unique puzzle piece with their own single place in the broader puzzle What if we could get so many people involved that we reached a tipping point of the world (~1% of the worlds future population, 100 million people) ...and revolutionized the way people work - and thus their lives around the world?

You Have a Special Gift

One thing Ive learned this from mentoring hundreds of people is that everyone has a gift. EVERYONE. (However, not everyone is ready or willing to discover it and do something with it.) This means that YOU have a special gift to share with the world. A gift that can be heard, respected and turned into fun, fulfilling work! Perhaps your purpose and fulfilling work is to change the world. Perhaps it is to change yourself. Dont you feel this inside yourself, that there is a bigger gift in you yet to be discovered and shared? That you are meant for more? (Yes you are!!!)

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You Have Superpowers

I have never met anyone who did not have superpowers or the potential to make as much money as they want doing what they want (again, whether or not theyre ready to take action to do it.) This is what I know about you: YOU have a 1-in-6 billion combination of talents, interests and gifts YOUR life story can inspire, educate or entertain others YOU have a form of x-ray vision that sees aspects of the world or people that no else does YOU have an intuitive spidey sense that picks up on challenges and solutions in a way that no else does YOU can make a difference in the world and change lives (and make money doing it)

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The First Great Truth Of Success

You can make as much money as you want. Question: What is holding you back from making more money? Answer: Yourself. You choose your jobs. You choose your expenses. You choose who you work with and how. You choose how much you learn, and if and how you apply it. You choose to start your own company or not, and what it does, how you work and with whom you work. You can choose how much money you make (though not how fast you make it). But you have to practice BELIEVING you can do it. Because it is your commitment and desire that will pull you forward to figure out how to do it. If you say, I want to be a millionaire [or billionaire], but never take steps, even baby steps, to make it happen (such as reading Napoleon Hills book Think & Grow Rich) then maybe you dont really want what you think you want. If other people have done it, so can you.

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The Second Great Truth Of Success

You can do anything you love. Do you love adventure? Time and location independence? Health? Fun? Integrity? Creativity? Kids? Giving back? No matter what your values are, you can create work around them and in alignment with them. With me for example, staying healthy is a core value. When I work more than 30 hours a week (regularly), my health suffers. So I dont work more than 30 hours a week. And another of my principles is that I have to enjoy my work which I do.
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The clearer you are on what is important to you, and how you want to work, the easier it is to make it your reality. Start with a single day. If you could start over, from scratch, and could do something you enjoyed as much or as little as you wanted, what would your ideal work day or week look like?

The Third Great Truth Of Success

Your work can fulfill you AND make a difference. Does your work fulfill you? Does your work matter? Theres an illusion that you have to choose between making money or doing really meaningful work (like in non-profits). Part of being successful in work and in life is finding a purpose that is bigger than yourself and your family, and living it each day. If you havent found your purpose yet but want to, its because you havent been committed enough to it. A stork doesnt just drop your purpose in your lap like a baby down a chimney. You have to WANT to find it, because when
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you find your purpose, doubts will come up whether or not you can actually do it. Your desire for it must be stronger than the fear. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. - Marianne Williamson

The Fourth Great Truth Of Success

You can feel powerful, valuable and capable of making an impact. Do you have fears, doubts and uncertainties? I do too. So do authentic entrepreneurs. Welcome to the human race! But fear, doubt and uncertainty do not stop us from learning and doing what it takes to find and express our authentic self, which includes the value and power within us all. You are far more valuable, powerful and inspiring than you realize. I know this because it has been true of every single mentoring client and partner of mine.
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Its up to you to find it, develop it and make money from it. You will have to find your own path to do this, by starting your own project or business. If you work for other people, without having your own project or business, you will never be able to truly find your full power and value.

The Fifth Great Truth Of Success

You can have the peace of mind and freedom that comes with having all the support you want from people that you trust and respect. Forget competition -- community and collaboration is the future of work. There are millions of like-minded people out there just like you. You enjoy helping other people, right? Lots and lots of those people out there enjoy helping people too. They would enjoy helping you. You cant find each other if you dont know where to look. The clearer and more authentic you are in broadcasting your message, the more easily you will attract a community of people who want to support
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you and each other. You have all the help and support you need already around you and out there. The best way to receive support is to ask for it. If thats hard for you, try it once youll see that it works, and notice that people enjoy helping you, if its an authentic request for help.

The Key Ingredient To Making As Much Money As You Want, Doing What You Love
is Authenticity. There is a very simple explanation for why authenticity is the key ingredient to having both money and happiness in work. Fulfillment comes from bringing your full self to work, including your successes and failures, prides and embarrassments. It also includes your past (your life story), present (who you are today) and future (your vision). Its everything you believe in. This total you is your authentic self. Work based on your authentic self: 1. Creates Value for others by teaching, educating or entertaining based on what youve been through in your life (past), who you are today (present), and your vision (future).
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2. Creates Trust in others because you are authentic. 3. Makes You Unique, because no one in the world has your same combination of life experiences, vision, values and talents. So through your work, your authenticity can create value for others, create trust and make yourself unique... which means you can make (and create) money. Authenticity is the key to combining money and happiness in work! If you want to hear me share this live, click http://tinyurl.com/UGEquation

Who Are You?

So you want financial freedom, and to be able to work from anywhere? Great! But theres an even deeper desire for freedom in you. Its the freedom to be you, in any way you want, without giving a care about what others think and in fact, to be more respected, loved and successful for it. The freedom to be your authentic self. To declare to the world who you are, what you stand for and to live it. Over time, youve forgotten parts of yourself, like many of your passions and what its like to have fun and be a kid. These passionate and fun parts of you can be remembered, and can be mashed back into your life and work. In fact, you must do this to make more money and feel more fulfilled. If you dont know who you are or what you believe in why should people believe in you?
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Who is your authentic self? What are you going to do with your life? Why do you matter? How will you make a difference? Why will people miss you when youre gone?

You Will Start Your Own Thing

The bad news: You cant make as much as you want, doing what you love, by working for someone else. You can learn a lot by working for others, but at some point you must do your own thing. The good news: You can be an entrepreneur and start your own thing. Its easier and cheaper than ever to get started. I founded PebbleStorm with less than $100, and many others have started profitable businesses this way too. More good news: Nothing stands in your way of starting your own thing. You dont need a lot of time or money. Or a fancy degree, big network, website, programmers, startup funds or any of that standard malarkey. No one is stopping you: not your your boss, spouse, children, ex-husband, parents or friends. (If you think otherwise, then youre not taking responsibility for your life.)
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Even more good news: You dont have to quit your day job to start your own thing. Start your project on the side, and nurture it with a few hours a month of attention, until it grows up enough so that it can support you. Do you already have a business? If you dont enjoy it, treat it as your day job, and start a new passion project on the side.

You Will Be An Entrepreneur

All you need to be an entrepreneur is this: to declare that you are or will be one. Say to yourself, I can start my own thing, or I will start my own thing. Say, I can make as much money as I want, doing what I love. Say them every day, or some other version that feels more powerful, aligned and resonant with you. Every time you say this or write it down, you make it more real. This can be true, even if it takes twenty years to do this (though it wont).

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The Four Ingredients of Success

Success means different things to different people. Here are four fundamentals you need for success, and to make as much money as you want, doing what you enjoy: Clarity: What do you want? What do you want to do? What are your gifts? What does success mean to you in work and in life? What kind of work would you enjoy? What do you stand for? If you declared yourself to the world, what would you say or what would be your message? Commitment: It takes babies 300 attempts to learn to walk. What would happen if they gave up on try #297? Nothing works right the first time, or perhaps the thousandth time. You must keep taking baby steps. No matter what, DONT GIVE UP, even if it takes twenty years (which it wont).
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Confidence: You must believe in yourself and your vision. The good news is that confidence can be learned and practiced, like learning to play a guitar. You turn half-baked ideas into awesome ones by getting them out there to people and evolving them. Remember: Dont worry. Be crappy. Itll work out. Community: No one can do it alone, and creating success with others makes work more enjoyable and easier. At the beginning, it can be hard to find like-minded, truly supportive people. However, once you begin declaring yourself, who you are and what you stand for, you will be surprised at how easy it is to find these people. People move slowly. Be patient in building your community of supporters.

Give Yourself Three Years

Figuring out what you enjoy and how to make plenty of money from it takes experimentation and time. While everyone is different, here is a common path towards making as much money as you want doing what you enjoy: Year 1: Thinking about it and what you want (taking baby steps). Year 2: Experimenting with what you want to do (taking more baby steps as well as a leap here and there). Year 3: Going All-In and committing 100% to taking leaps to fully replace (or more) your day job income with your passion income Does one year sound like a long time? Does five? 10?
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What is a few years in the scheme of the rest of your life? With patience and commitment, the only way you will fail in achieving what you want is if you give up on it, no matter how many dragons you have to fight, mountains you must climb, or deserts you have to cross. Dont give up!

Youre a Lighthouse, Not a Fisherman

Weve been working backwards. Before the internet, it was costly and HARD to start a business, create a product, stand out and build an audience of followers and customers. Youve been trained to find a market need and fill it, to ignore what we want to do. Its like going out fishing for markets and ideas, but not being sure where to find them and being at the mercy of where they are and how they move. There are more than a BILLION people on the internet, and 500 million on Facebook. All you need is one thousand fans to support yourself in doing what you want to do. The challenge isnt starting your own thing, its standing out from everyone else.
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... which you can do, because YOU have the potential to be a Unique Genius and stand out from the noise. How? Not by doing what you should do and finding a market and serving it. In the Unique Genius world, first you decide what you want to do and how you want to do it, then, as you become bolder and clearer in declaring yourself, the market finds you. This is how you stand out by being your best self, figuring out what you stand for in the world, your message and sharing it unabashedly with others. Be a lighthouse... the more clearly and brightly you shine your light, the easier you attract success to yourself.

Where I Started (and So Can You)

One day I took a blank piece of paper and at the top wrote My Dream Business. I began writing out ideas around the question: If I could do ANYTHING without limits of time, money or ability what would I do? I didnt get any business ideas at all! What I did get I was total clarity on how I wanted to work, including: 1. I wanted to make lots of money at work that mattered. 2. I wanted freedom to be able to work on what I wanted, when I wanted, with whom I wanted, when I wanted. 3. I wanted to be able to make a big impact with little effort (to make big tidal waves with small pebbles = PebbleStorm).
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Beyond that, I had NO IDEA how to make this happen. I did have faith that if I had a clear vision, and kept taking baby steps towards it, never giving up, eventually I would figure it out, even if it took twenty years. You can start with this exercise too. And you can achieve what you want as long as you dont give up.

You Cant Do It Alone Ask for Help

You cant do it alone. Dont you like helping others? So why do you think others wont enjoy help you? You might not like to ask for help because You dont know who to ask or what to ask for You dont feel that your ideas are good / interesting / unique enough Its embarrassing to ask for help You think you or your idea needs to be perfect before you can share it All these reasons for not asking for help from anyone -- friends, family, coworkers, mentors or even strangers -- are like cleaning the house before the maid arrives! You are not alone. Its okay if you have a hard time asking for help, as long as you ask for help. Its impossible to create anything alone, and by involving others, you will get better results and have a better time doing it. If you are authentic, you can be surprised at how readily it comes back to you. And after you ask for help the first time? Keep asking!

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Start Now
No matter what you think your issues, ideas or challenges are, there are people out there waiting for you to share your genius and become your champions, cheerleaders, clients, mentors, subscribers or partners. They are waiting for you to take the first step! What baby step can you take RIGHT NOW to move even an inch closer to your vision? Take out a blank piece of paper and do the My Dream Business exercise. Call a friend and have a conversation about what you most want to do. Pick a date to hold a meeting-of-the-minds lunch to invite people to share your ideas, to ask for their ideas, or even just debate the Great Lies and Great Truths of this manifesto. Publicly declare on email, Twitter or Facebook what you are going to do about your work and life! Hint: It is always more effective when you can do something with a like-minded buddy.

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Free Unique Genius Training Videos

I have a series of free Unique Genius training videos on topics like: How To Start A Business That Cant Fail, and 5 Ways To Make More Money On Purpose. You can find them here: www.UniqueGenius.com I would love to hear from you in the comments sections of the videos!

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Please Share This EBook

You have friends, coworkers & family members frustrated with work, who arent happy with what theyre doing or just arent making what theyre worth. Please share this ebook with them. Here is an link you can use to spread the word about this ebook: www.PebbleStorm.com/Manifesto Some suggestions on where you can share it: Email it to as many people as you can. Post it on your blog. Retweet it on Twitter or share it on Facebook. Print out copies and leave them in your office kitchen. The more people who believe this is possible, the easier it becomes to make it a reality for you and us all. Thank you for spreading the vision and helping grow the community. I cant wait to see what YOU create!

Aaron Ross

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