Today you’re in for a treat! I’m going to share with you people who have inspired me and opened my eyes to new ways of living, learning, and thinking. They have mind-blowing accomplishments and have relentlessly pursued their dreams to create amazing lifestyles for themselves. You’ll find world travelers, polyglots, and all around superstar entrepreneurs on this list.
I asked them to share their favorite quote or piece of advice that inspired them on their journey to greatness in hopes that something will resonate with you. It sure did with me. These folks inspired and reminded me that there is no limitation to what you can accomplish. In no particular order, I present to you the top 14 movers and shakers of 2014! Drumroll please….
1) Miki Agrawal
“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” – E. B. White
Advice from Miki: Make progress every day.
Miki is a rock star. She has accomplished so much that I literally don’t know where to start. She just does cool ish! Such is conveniently titled her latest book, Do Cool Sh!t. She is the definition of an entrepreneur and always has something going on. Miki was named 2013’s Forbes’ “Top 20 Millennials On a Mission”. She is the founder of a farm-to-table, alternative pizza concept called WILD located in New York. She is also the founder of Thinx Underwear (ladies, this will change your lifeeeee!).
Girl Power!
2) Neil Patel
“Leadership is doing what is right when no one is watching.” – George Van Valkenburg
Neil Patel is a guru when it comes to digital marketing. I subscribed to his updates on Quicksprout, which provided me with oodles of knowledge on content marketing and building web traffic. If you want to learn how to drive massive traffic to your website, check him out!
3) Dan Andrews
“…Pay close attention to what excites you and what drains you. Pay close attention to when you’re being the real you and when you’re trying to impress an invisible jury.” – Derek Sivers
Dan is the man (I know that was really cheesy, but whatevs)! I stumbled across Dan’s Tropical MBA site a while ago, and it was inspiring to see the type of lifestyle he is living. He is a location independent entrepreneur, and shares advice to help others achieve a similar lifestyle. His podcast is one of the few that I subscribe to because he offers really valuable content. Who wouldn’t want to learn how to run their business from their laptop in a beautiful country like the Philippines? I know I would.
4) Chris Guillebeau
“You don’t have to live your life the way others expect. You can do good things for yourself and for others at the same time.”
I discovered Chris through his book The $100 Startup. It completely dispels the myth that you have to have a lot of money to start your business. You can do a lot with what you have right now. The dopest thing about his book is that it shows actual case studies of individuals who have built businesses earning $50,000 or more from a modest investment (in many
cases, $100 or less), and in nearly all cases, these people had no special skills.This reminds me of my favorite quote:
“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” – Albert Einstein
You don’t have to be incredibly talented. You just need to have passion and the drive to bring your dreams to reality. If you have that, you will figure out how to overcome any limitations that may arise.
Ohh, and did I mention that Chris visited every country in the world between 2002-2013?!
5) Corbett Barr
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.” –Mark Twain”
I stumbled across Corbett’s site which was then Think Traffic, but it’ now Fizzle. I was looking for advice on how to build up my blog. He teaches people how to build a thriving and profitable audience online.
6) Maneesh Sethi
Maneesh is the founder of one of my all time favorite websites, Hack the System. It’s actually pretty addicting. It challenges conventional ways of doing almost everything, and inspires you to live a more productive, efficient, and exciting life. Of course, when I asked Maneesh to share his favorite quote or piece of advice, he replied unconventionally with this link:
http://www.reddit.com/r/NonZeroDay/comments/1qbxvz/the_gospel_of_uryans01_helpful_advice_for_anyone/
The most important nugget I took from that article was about the “Non Zero Days,” meaning there shouldn’t be a day where you don’t do a single thing towards whatever dream or goal you want to achieve.
7) Noah Kagen
“You’ve got to risk it for the biscuit.”
I first discovered Noah when I came across a post on my fav blog about how he created a million dollar business in a weekend. He is an entrepreneur and the founder of AppSumo, which is a daily deals website for nerds. I’m currently doing his earn 1k in a month business class and it’s bomb!
8) Neville Medhora
“Constraints create creativity.”
What this quote means to Nev is that if you have a limitation set (such as specific time), you will finish a goal BY that time. Therefore, set it sooner, and you will get it done sooner.
I immediately loved the concept of Nev’s blog when my friend shared it with me. It’s basically about him tracking his road to financial success. I like to consider my blog a kind of fusion between his and Tim Ferris’s. Nev also works on AppSumo with Noah and is a really dope copywriter.
9) Sean Ogle
“There are only seven days in a week, and someday isn’t one of them.”
Sean is another location independent entrepreneur I stumbled upon. I found his blog Location 180 where he offers advice on how to build a business you can run from anywhere in the world.
10) Joel Brown
“If you doubted your fears instead of doubting your dreams, imagine how much in life you’d accomplish.” – Joel Brown
If you don’t know Joel’s website Addicted 2 Success, then you’re totally missing on the most epic and inspiring content. Anytime I need a boost of inspiration, I head on over to Joel’s site. Addicted 2 Success is the #1 Motivation and Inspiration Website.
11) Benny Lewis
“Speak to a man in a language he understands, and that goes to his head. Speak to him in his language, and that goes to his heart” - Nelson Mandela
I’ve been a huge fan of Benny’s blog for a while now. I have many interests, and language learning is one of them. I’m currently trying to tackle being conversationally fluent in Spanish. Benny’s stories of tackling languages in 3 months is what inspired me to take on the feat. What I love most about his blog is that it eliminates common excuses people use that hold them back from learning a new language. When he was 21 the only language he knew was English and now he speaks over a dozen languages! He is also a location independent entrepreneur that supports himself through selling his digital products to aid language learners around the world.
12) Cody Mckibben
Follow @codymckibb
“Go big or go home.”
According to Cody, if you’re not at least going to have an incredible story to tell, or if you’re going to half-ass something, then chances are it’s a waste of your precious time.
Cody is a digital nomad, writer, and entrepreneur in Thailand. The title of his website accurately depicts the amazing content that he shares with people everyday: Thrilling Heroics. On his site, he shares advice on how to achieve the digital nomad lifestyle. Cody’s
been traveling the world and living the digital nomad lifestyle for 5+ years.
13) Thomas Frank
“I live with the realization that my mind is a map of the territory that is reality. Just as we strive to make our paper and electronic maps as accurate as possible, so too do I always attempt to constantly mitigate biases and update my map – my beliefs – with evidence found in the real world.”
Thomas is the founder of the popular college website College Info Geek. His blog inspired me as an undergrad because I thought, wow,this guy is doing all these things as a college student—why can’t I? On his blog, he shares tips, tricks and hacks on how to be awesome at college. Wanna know something cool? Thomas paid off $14,431.72 of student loans in just six months before graduating!
14) Daniel Dipiazza
“Entrepreneurs are the only people who will work 80 hours to avoid working 40.”
Last but certainly not least is a good friend of mine, Daniel Piazza. He’s offered me invaluable advice. I discovered Daniel’s site and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Who doesn’t want to be a rich 20 something?? On his website, he shares tips on how to be an entrepreneur and create wealth.
I hope this list inspired you to pursue your dreams, but I also hope it introduced you to unconventional lifestyles that you may not have thought possible. Think big, and you can do anything you put your mind to!