The Liberated Life Project is dedicated to helping you develop the inner tools to make outer changes in your life (and on the planet). That’s why you see me going back and forth between posts about the inner dimensions of change and then on to some of its outer manifestations.

One of those manifestations is creating sustainable work that you love and that’s in alignment with your values.

Over the past year, one of the tools that’s been a huge help to me has been Chris Guillebeau’s Empire Building Kit (EBK). Because some of you may share this aspiration to create more liberated work for yourself, I’m offering this rather lengthy review in case you’re seeking some support in that area. If you’re not into this, no worries… we’ll shift back to another “inner dimension” post next week!

(Disclosure: I am in Chris’ affiliate program, so if you decide to purchase the Empire Building Kit through the links in this article I’ll receive a portion of the sale… which is a fine way to support the Liberated Life Project!)

The Story

About a year ago, I was in a dry period that hits all freelancers now and then. I’d had my own consulting business for two years and established a good baseline of clients and projects. But I also had more ‘free’ time than was good for my bank account and my creativity.

Earlier that year, I got my first introduction to a revolutionary idea: There are other ways to create revenue besides exchanging my time for money. I was intrigued by this notion and wanted to learn more.

Right around that juncture, I ran into Chris’ Empire Building Kit. I had never heard of Chris before, but there was something about him that I immediately liked and trusted. He did a great job of conveying who he was and his values through his blog, The Art of Nonconformity.

One of the things I appreciated about Chris was his commitment to progressive social change – this turns up in a number of his posts (like this one) as well as the fact that he donates a portion of his profits to Charity:Water.

I took time to read through two pretty hefty e-books that Chris makes available for free on his website: A Brief Guide to World Domination and 279 Days to Overnight Success. And I watched Chris talk about the EBK in his own words.

I was thoroughly impressed. I was ready to take a leap. So in May of 2010 I signed up for the EBK.

What is the Empire Building Kit?

The premise of the Empire Building Kit is that by taking one small step each day over a year, we can actually build a successful small business by gaining knowledge and overcoming fear and resistance.

The core of the EBK are the daily lessons delivered by email over the course of 365 days. In addition to those daily lessons, the Kit includes:

• Case Studies interviews with successful entrepreneurs from a wide variety of industries, including detailed financial information (these come in the form of PDF documents).
• Video interviews with entrepreneurs about how they built their business and what they recommend for others with similar goals.
• A 43-Step Launch Checklist that covers all the steps for a successful launch of your product. (Included with the “Hail Caeser” and “Alexander the Great” options)
• Bonus videos and case studies on topics like how to set up a mailing list, pricing, and so on. (Included with the “Alexander the Great” option)
• Recording and transcript of a webinar with Chris where he responds to questions about building a business.

You can download all of the above to your own computer to go through the documents, recordings, transcripts, etc., at your own pace.

All the material that Chris presents is based on his own experience of setting up a number of successful small businesses. He shares both what’s worked and what hasn’t worked, in great detail. This is supplemented by the conversations with other entrepreneurs, all of whom have businesses that bring in a range of income from $50,000 – $150,000 a year.

One of the great things about the EBK is that it features case studies of people doing a wide range of things – from dog trainers to artists to home stagers. These are not just web-based business, though most of them have learned how to effectively leverage the power of the Internet to extend their reach.

How Did the EBK Work For Me?

In the very first email, back in May 2010, Chris asked us to imagine what our empire would look like one year from that day. Here’s what I wrote in my journal:

Most importantly, it will be a vehicle for my passions, my deepest intentions. It will be a way for me to share what I love with a bigger circle of people, and to be fully supported by the universe for doing so. One of those ways will be the energy in the form money that it generates.

My empire might look like a very inviting, inspiring website, with a collection of my writings and insights, with a way for like-minded and like-hearted people to connect with each other around a common vision, and plenty of resources to support them on their journey. It may look like something else, so I am open to other things emerging… but that’s one form to start playing with.

My empire will give me a way to amplify my work… to have it be available to a larger number of people, and to give those people an opportunity to learn more about this topic.

Where am I a year later? Well, that vision of a “very inviting, inspiring website” turned into The Liberated Life Project. I launched the LLP at the end of November 2010. I’m sure I wouldn’t have done it without being in the EBK.

I’m still fairly early on in my own business plan for the LLP. Right now, my focus is on writing excellent content and slowly but surely building a base of people who appreciate what I’m trying to do here. Even so, I am already starting to generate some income via affiliate sales, and because of what I’ve learned through the EBK I’ve done that in a smart way.

This income is very modest right now – in the neighborhood of $100 a month. I am methodically working through the steps that I learned in the EBK and at some point in the near future I’ll create an ‘information product’ to sell. That’s where I project generating more significant revenue.

I’ll be bold and tell you my long-term goal: to have this site produce at least $2,000 a month. This is a fairly modest amount (compared to other potential business models that Chris outlines), but it’s a good supplement to my other income and will help me make some headway on paying off an ancient student loan.

As I’ve learned over the past year from the EBK, a blog isn’t the easiest way to make money. (It’s certainly not a business model that Chris recommends.) But I’ve felt clear all year that my primary motivation for creating the LLP was about connecting with people through my writing and offering something of benefit to the world. Any income that comes in will be a happy by-product of this – and the EBK has helped me to strategically plan for how to make that happen.

I had a vague notion about starting a blog that could bring in some revenue, but had no real grounding in exactly how to do this. The lessons from the EBK have helped me get more refined in that area, and have steered me away from some ideas that could have been an energy drain and not yielded much income (for example, Google AdSense).

What worked well for me about the EBK
I found that going through the EBK was like getting an MBA that covers the newest wave of business, one based on a paradigm of cooperation rather than competition, and one that is savvy about the possibilities that the Internet presents to entrepreneurs. (And it’s way cheaper than an MBA from a traditional university!)

I loved the diversity of people included in the case studies and interviews, ranging from folks like Jonathan Fields (author of Career Renegade) to Tsilli Pines, a Portland-based artist who creates and sells ketubahs for Jewish weddings.

Most importantly, the EBK helped me gain the courage to try ideas out and gave me a much-needed (gentle) kick in the tush to actually implement them.

What didn’t work so well for me
One thing I missed was having some kind of learning community element. You’re basically on your own with the Empire Building Kit, and no one will hold you accountable but yourself. Even so, I found ways to work around this… described in the next section.

How I optimized the EBK
I found that the EBK worked best for me if I created another layer of structure. I had two ways of doing this:

1. I copied and pasted Chris’ daily email lessons into my own Word document. Then I organized the lessons into categories that I created to help me make better sense of them and see the continuity that was starting to unfold in the lessons. Some of these categories included “Visioning and Planning,” “The Entrepreneurial Mindset,” “Customer Relations,” and “Pricing Strategies.”
2. I set aside time each month to review some of the key insights I had gained from the EBK material and made a plan for how I was going to apply them to my projects. I created a worksheet to help me to do this.

Is the EBK Right For You?

I loved the Empire Building Kit. I believe it works best if you already have some basic knowledge and comfort level with being self-employed and you’re ready to take your business up a notch (or launch a new idea). If starting your own business is a whole new thing for you, you might want to take a look at Chris’ Unconventional Guide to Working For Yourself instead.

No product can be all things to all people. The EBK, for example, doesn’t take you through tasks like setting up financial systems or figuring out tax requirements. And it won’t provide you with individualized coaching – for this, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

If you have even a small amount of self-employment experience, though, you’ll get a lot out of the Empire Building Kit. It’s a wonderful collection of very practical advice from someone who really knows how to do this stuff. It can help you take your business to the next level, or, like me, it might help you to formulate a new idea and then actually get it off the ground. It’s great for building and sustaining momentum toward your goals.

The EBK comes in three sizes: the “Emperor in Training” at $149, the “Hail Caeser” at $249, and the “Alexander the Great” at $449. I went whole hog and got the Alexander the Great package and was delighted with all the components. Given my income over the last few months, I’ve now covered the initial cost and I project more return on investment going forward. As I noted above, by choosing a blog as my business model I’m taking the long route for revenue; there are quicker ways to generate income.

The EBK is not going to make you rich overnight. As Chris points out, “it takes hard work, persistence, and the right sequence of decisions” to build a business. But if you’re ready to invest time and energy into your future, and if you love to learn, the Empire Building Kit is a fantastic resource.

Special Offer

If you do decide to pick up the EBK using my affiliate link, I’d be very happy to share with you the worksheet I created to help me dive deeper into the material and track my own progress. Just drop me a line at maia [at] liberatedlifeproject [dot] com after you order the EBK and I’ll send the worksheet right to you.

Thanks for reading this whole review, and I wish you luck in your own quest for liberated work!