Your Portable Empire: How to Make Money Anywhere While Doing What You Love

Chapter 34. The Magic of Un-Framing

It's a Japanese woodblock kind of day in the Texas Hill Country.

Rain softens the already diffuse light that manages to get through the clouds, muting the colors and softening the outlines of the hills and trees. A good day to be indoors, working on a Portable Empire, looking out the window.

What is "un-framing?" Well, it's like the old saying, "If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."

What's a frame? That's the point of view, or the set of filters, through which you see the world.

Here's an example. Let's imagine an old-growth redwood tree. Now, look at it from the point of view of an ecologist. That tree provides shelter for birds and other animals. It's a piece of history that has watched America change for hundreds of years. It's a piece of natural art. It's very valuable right where it is, and you wouldn't cut it down at gunpoint.

Now, look at it from the point of view of a carpenter. There are many fine pieces of valuable furniture locked in that tree. You could build shelter with it. It's worth a fortune to you if you can cut it down.

It's the same tree. However, by changing the frame, it looks very different.

There's a great book called The Power of Impossible Thinking that addresses this. Highly recommended.

I used to frame the world from the point of view of a blues guitar player. So, whenever I had a problem, I'd try to solve it from that point of view.

There are lots of problems I couldn't solve, because I was ...