Cameron Olthuis

I’m looking for a few Design or Photoshop experts that can write some blog posts for one of my sites. The site right now is getting about 60,000 (and growing fast) uniques per month so it’s a great way to gain some exposure for your work.

There are two compensation options for writers:

1) I’ll pay you on a per post basis. I’m fair!
2) I’ll give you a 2-3 byline author bio in the footer that can include a couple links.

I’m also offering advertising on the site for anyone interested in reaching a targeted audience of 60,000+ design professionals.

Please use the form on my contact page if either of these tickle your fancy. Please feel free to refer anyone you know as well.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of making my kids sit through several hours of the public hearing for the Trestles Toll Road. I wasn’t sure how well it would go, considering my girls are 5 & 2, and public hearings can be about as fun as a kick to the balls, but either way, I thought it would be good to expose them to the bigger picture of standing up for good causes like the one being debated.

I originally attended the Save Trestles rally partly because I was covering a story for 5ones but more importantly it’s an issue that I believe strongly in and want to support. Even though I’ve never even surfed Lower Trestles (as good as the break is, I’d rather not have to paddle over 50 people on each wave), I do think it’s generally a good idea to preserve one of the last pristine world class surf breaks in the country. There are enough roads, parking lots, houses and shopping centers elsewhere that the last thing we need to do is destroy a beautiful beach to build more. Nature’s a nice thing to enjoy and once it’s gone, it’s gone. You can’t exactly dig up the concrete and put everything back the way it was.

I was pleasantly surprised when the night came to an end and I’d realized both my daughters had actually sat through the majority of the hearing without misbehaving, even participating. They waved the signs they created, cheered when appropriate, and held their thumbs down when those in favor of the road presented their issues. And when my 5 year-old leaned over to me and said…

“Dad, these people should not build that road.”

I knew that bringing them to this event turned out to be a priceless experience for them. To quote the lyrics from one of my favorite musicians, Xavier Rudd…

“…our children keep growing up with what they know, from what we teach, and what they see…”

Politics aside… No matter where you stand on issues, I think it’s important to stand up for the ones you strongly believe in. In more ways than one, Surfing has turned me into a tree-hugging shark-hugging hippy, and by no means am I perfect. But as I listened to both sides of the argument last night, I don’t know how anyone could be in favor of the 241 Toll Road, hippy or not… It’s not even a political issue, it’s an earth issue.

Sorry for the poor quality, snapped this with my phone.

Just another evening on the beach… took this the other night while BBQing some burgers.

Another thing for the ThinkTankers to look forward too.

Funny mental picture isn’t it? A bunch of sun-starved geeks out on the beach trying to learn how to surf. Alas, I vow that every one of them, who gives an honest effort, will get up and feel the sensation of riding a wave.

Wondering what I’m talking about? ThinkTank, an un-conference that’s being put on here in San Diego by my buddy, David Klein, is bringing together about 40 or so of the top Internet Marketing minds to network and learn from one another in a casual environment. I noticed there were a bunch of very cool activities lined up (i.e. MMA Training sponsored by Surehits) for the event but I also noticed no mention of surfing. I thought, hmm, how can there be an event here in San Diego that doesn’t even include surfing, especially an event that will be happening on the beach??

So I contacted DK and asked him what he thought about one of my sites, 5ones, sponsoring an activity that would give surfing lessons to all the attendees. Seeing as dk loves surfing (almost ;)) as much as me, he was thrilled with the idea. So, my action sports website, 5ones, is hosting surfing lessons to any of the attendees that have the sack to get in ocean and try. Yes, that’s a direct challenge to Neil, Shoe, and all the other attendees. I have hard time picturing Neil on a surfboard but I will try my hardest to get him out there, that’s a promise.

I’m beyond thrilled to be able to share my passion of both surfing and the ocean with my friends. Surfing is one of those things that unless you’ve done it, you just have no idea what an amazing experience it is. There truly is nothing else like it in this world, and on so many levels too. Not only is surfing fun, and physically rewarding, but it also serves as a form of mental therapy. It doesn’t matter what stresses I have in my life, or how bad a day I’m having… when I go surfing, it erases all of that from my mind and I always leave the water with a smile on my face. Hopefully I will be able to pass this passion on to at least a few of the ThinkTankers.

PS - I think there still might be a couple spots left for this event. It’s a small investment for the amount of knowledge you will leave with and I’d recommend that any serious Internet Entrepreneur attend.

While sipping guzzling my morning coffee and reading through my feeds, I came across a great post from Sugarrae titled How to Find a Pair of Balls. Her post is more or less about; if you’re wanting something out of life you need to reach out and grab it. It’s not going to be handed to you.

The only difference between my success and someone else’s lack of it is that I refused to accept, and still do refuse to accept, anything less than what I want for myself in life. I don’t give myself excuses. I don’t wait for shit to be handed to me, I go in search of what I want.

I love reading posts like this because I can relate to them on so many levels and Rae inspired me to write a post about my experience. I struggled for years to get to the point where I’m at now and to be honest I still have at least a few more good years of struggling left in me. Otherwise, I’d be retired on a beach somewhere, surfing epic waves all day. And until I’m there you can bet your ass I’m still busting my ass and making sacrifices every day. I’m now starting what will be the third business I’m currently running. I work hard, even if it doesn’t always seem like it.

Most people don’t realize the amount of work that I’ve put in over the years to get where I am. Like Rae, I wasn’t handed an audience or a reputable name in my industry, I had to work hard for those like anyone else. My family and I sacrificed years of our lives for the hope there would be a payoff (better quality of life) at the end of the rainbow. We’ve gone through many times where we literally didn’t have a dollar to our name and we’d stay up all night wondering how we would come up with a few bucks just to eat the next day. Luckily for family or we’d have starved to death. But I also want to point that family only helped in times of emergency… the only unfair advantage I’ve ever had is my burning desire for a life that doesn’t consist of a dead-end job. I instead desire a life where I have as much free time to spend with my family and surf as I want.

I have friends and family (you know who you are) coming up to me all time asking if I can teach them to do what I do. The problem is that they’re expecting quick success because they chose to look the other way all those years I busted my ass with nothing just to get where I am today. All they see now is what looks like a pretty glamorous life from the outside (I can assure you though, it’s not always glamorous, far from). I am in no way trying to disrespect these people because I love them, but to be quite frank, none of them have been willing to do what it takes to become successful online.

Even though it may sound like it, I’m not trying to toot my own horn here. That’s not at all what this post is about. I’m just trying to point out that if you want to be successful in life you need to get off your lazy ass and do something about it. It will not be handed to you. It all comes to down to how bad you really want something. I’ve had every excuse and reason in the book on why I shouldn’t be successful but I refuse to accept that there’s nothing I can’t do or have.

I definitely recommend you check out Rae’s post.