I'm jealous of folks, including this guy, who create their own business model out of nothing. Chris Guillebeau loves to travel and hates traditional jobs, and so he's made himself the expert on non-conformity. Perhaps it's inaccurate to say that he's the expert on professional non-conformity. Maybe that's Johnny Rotten or Neil Hamburger, but he's made a business out of it. He's made a job out of being himself. And that sounds pretty great to me.
On his blog, he advocates others doing the same thing. And while I appreciate the sentiment, my sense is that entrepreneurialism is almost by definition something that cannot be generalized. The entrepreneur is akin to the pioneer who risks his life to stake out a homestead. Once an area has been settled and it's safe, others come and want to live in the same area, but those folks have to pay for their land. If you can make a business out of telling the late-comers how to homestead, good for you. But them folks missed the boat.
Chris Guillebeau writes books and speaks on how to start your own business. There's a lot more people out there, like me, who want to start their own business, but don't quite have the guts to give up the comforts of a stable job, than there are people who are willing to risk their livelihood and career on it, just as there are many more attempted entrepreneurs who attempt to start their own business than there are people who make a living off it. It's kind of an entrepreneurial pyramid scheme. Great work if you can get it, and those who pull it off are to be commended. But the homesteaders who sell the hope strike me as a bit disingenuous.
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