what is your evil plan?

As many of you know, this year I’m on a mission to stop waiting for permission, play to my strength and get things done. As part of this I wanted to share with you what helped inspire this decision, it’s a little book called Ignore Everybody by Hugh Macleod:

A self-described ex-advertising hack, Macleod reinvented his career over the course of ten years by carving out a niche market for himself drawing and selling cartoons drawn on the back of business cards.  As he explains in his book this took a lot of hard work, trusting his gut and ignoring everybody:

The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you. When I first started with the cartoon-on-back-of-bizcard format, people thought I was nuts. Why wasn’t I trying to do something more easy for markets to digest i.e. cutey-pie greeting cards or whatever?

Ignore Everybody – Hugh Macleod

His book offers up 37 tips that includes such musings as “The idea doesn’t have to be big, it just has to be yours”, “Keep your day job”,  “Selling out is harder than it looks” and “The best way to get approval is not to need it.”

I don’t know about you but all this really struck a core with me. So you can imagine how happy I was when for my birthday the girl got me Macleod’s follow up book Evil Plans:

Everybody needs an EVIL PLAN. Everybody needs that crazy, out-there idea that allows them to ACTUALLY start doing something they love, doing something that matters. Everybody needs an EVIL PLAN that gets them the hell out of the Rat Race, away from lousy bosses, away from boring, dead-end jobs that they hate. Life is short.

Evil Plans – Hugh Macleod

For me Evil Plans couldn’t have come at a better time. Macleod’s inspirational words, practical advice and fierce independence has been instrumental in helping me to stay the course on my projects. If you’re looking to do the same then I recommend you give Macleod’s books a try. I’ve got my evil plan, what’s yours?