OK, we all know how I feel about memes. (Although if you want to read a meme IttyBiz-style, check out Duct-Taped Breasts, Hairy Mangoes and New Kids on the Block. You know you want to.) But 90% of you are recovering from The Great Turkey Incident of 2008 and I am recovering from seeing Australia, the longest movie ever made. So we’ll slack off and just chat, huh? Totally not a meme because nobody made me do it.

(Re: Australia. Total thumbs up. I LOVED it. I would love to say it’s the best movie I’ve seen all year but there’s a good chance it’s the only movie I’ve seen all year, so that’s not the best endorsement I can give. But yeah, awesome.)

First up, we’re having a sorta sale — Online Business School buyers can get consulting for crazy stupid cheap. Go here for details, because there’s not-so-fine print. (You’ll find it under the ingenious heading, “The Not-So-Fine Print”.) And yes, it also applies to those of you who already bought.

Yesterday, when this went out to my advance discount list (you ARE on that list, aren’t you?) there were fifty. There are no longer fifty but that’s all I’m saying to avoid the Filthy Marketing Whore scarcity tactics thing that we’ve already talked to death.

And yeah, the price on OBS is going to double soon and no, I don’t know how soon because I can’t predict the future and Seth Godin might decide to become an affiliate tomorrow and sell fifty million copies in half an hour. You just can’t know. Probably next week, so you might want to get off your ass on this one. (If you don’t want the consulting deal because you’re afraid of the phone or commitment or whatever, you can just get the course at the normal Online Business School page.)

On that topic, if you go to the same page as my sorta sale, you’ll find Dave Navarro is giving away 30 Hours A Day for $77 which is totally insane and retarded. (Note regular price of $147. Sale-hating-Havi is probably knee deep in deep breathing right now just to handle the stress.) There’s, like, nine left or something at the time of this writing.

Next up, writing ebooks. The very lovely Tina McAllister has done what the rest of us have been telling ourselves to do for months — she’s specializing. She’s a freelance writer and she really likes ghost-writing ebooks. So she said to herself, “Tina, you know what you should do? GHOST WRITE EBOOKS!” So she is. She’s got some contest going on or something where you can win a free custom book, but that’s not really what I’m interested in. (Although if you are broke or cheap, you may very well be interested.)

What I’m interested in is the fact that she doesn’t suck. Now, I can’t have my books ghost-written because nobody drops the f-bomb quite like I do and readers would know something was amiss. But from what I’ve seen, Tina doesn’t suck. And if I were to get a book ghost-written, she would be my go-to chick.

What I’m ALSO interested in is that Tina got off her ass and said, this is what I’m doing. This is a gutsy and vital thing to do. If you want to make any real money in freelancing, do what she’s done. (Well, not ghost-writing. She’s got that well in hand. Specializing.)

Speaking of books, I’m reading two and you should be, too. The new Malcolm Gladwell (of Tipping Point and Blink fame) is looking like it’s going to be killer. It’s called The Outliers. Very cool. And The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
has me literally gasping. Wicked.

Moving on to Charlie. Now, I want to be Charlie when I grow up but that would involve a lot of lifestyle changes I’m not particularly willing to make. (I have a feeling I’m not going to be allowed in to the US National Guard, and I’m a long way off from getting my Ph.D., for example.) While the rest of the blogosphere is running top ten lists, Charlie is, you know, using the brain the good Lord gave him. However, if I linked to as many of Charlie’s posts as I wanted to, IttyBiz would become The Charlie Show, so I don’t. BUT.

This post was fucking killer. I won’t go into too much about what it’s about, but it really touched a nerve with something I’ve been having a hard time with lately.

Eco-friendly practices have become the new black. Being green is dead sexy. But it’s hard to be as green as we want to be when we know we’re flawed and it feels like any of our attempts at helping are a drop in the bucket when held up against our many, many failures. Charlie sheds some very interesting and thought-provoking light on this. Go read it.

Last up, speaking of top ten lists, have I ever linked to this video before? I don’t remember, but I remember that it’s awesome. That’ll make you feel better about the turtle situation.