User:Coach Aneirin/Sandbox

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Colin Wright (1985) is an American media designer, writer, and entrepreneur who focuses on sustainable practices, minimalism, world travel, and eco-friendly design.

Early Life and Career
Colin was born in the Bay Area of Northern California but moved with his parents and siblings to Missouri at age nine, starting his first businesses (a culture magazine and a studio) when he was nineteen. His passions in high school were journalism and art (he wrote and illustrated editorial cartoons for the school’s newspaper), and after graduating in 2007 he enrolled at Missouri State University, which he had planned to attend only until he had saved enough money to pursue painting at the Chicago Institute of Art. However, after taking a few courses in the design program at Missouri State, he discovered a talent for and an interest in the medium and decided to finish his degree there, dual majoring in Graphic Design and Illustration. After graduation Colin was hired by a design and production studio in Los Angeles and made the move to California. His responsibilities there ranged from directing commercials to designing and building websites to consulting with clients on their company and product image. He worked with such household names as Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart, as well as universities, magazines, and apparel companies.

Subsequent Business Ventures
After becoming disillusioned with the corporate environment, Colin started his own design studio, Colin Is My Name. His studio is focused on company branding and sustainability, and he takes on only a select number of clients each year, channeling his energy into profitable projects that can be completed quickly. As a result of this practice, he has reduced his workweek from eighty hours to eight hours. His website exhibits his trademark minimalist style, reflecting his emphasis on helping his clients develop clean, clear communication between company and consumer. In accord with his commitment to sustainability, he focuses his attention toward work in which he can implement eco-friendly practices—his self-initiative to go green was a factor that led him to base his business entirely online, rather than in a traditional office. Colin ran Colin Is My Name for a year and a half before launching Exile Lifestyle, a blogging and media website that chronicles his travels and his philosophies on minimalism. Colin has lived and worked for four months each in Argentina, New Zealand, and Thailand, and allows his readers to dictate his next destination through votes on his website (though he will only take seriously votes for relatively safe destinations). He has said he is able to live comfortably in his travels through the concept of “geo-arbitrage”—that is, he makes his money in countries where the currency has a high value, and spends it in countries where the currency rate is lower and he can benefit from the conversion rate. In his commitment to minimalism, he owns only fifty-one items. However, his philosophy is not about streamlining for its own sake—rather, he says he has pared down his belongings in order to reassess his priorities and focus only on the things that bring value to his life. While Colin has admitted that he can’t live (or work) without his laptop, his other possessions are kept for functionality, not frill, and include shirts, pants, shoes, his reading glasses, and a universal adaptor. In addition to exploring the country he is in and integrating himself into the culture, Colin takes on a small number of speaking engagements when requested.

Experimental Enterprises
While traveling, Colin maintains his branding studio and also designs a T-shirt a day for his company I Have No Shirt, hosted by Skreened and now offering 365 shirts. Colin is also very involved in his companies Flashpack, a site reviewing travel gear for the modern backpacker, and Ebookling, the tagline of which is “independent ebooks for everyone.” Ebookling serves as a hub for ebooks, podcasts, videos, and materials like newsletters and training programs. Customers can choose from topics including health, nutrition, website design, and traveling, all listed at a range of prices from free to $300. The “authorpreneurs” on the website receive fifty percent of the profits and have freedom as to the qualities of their product—for instance, if the author wants to integrate music or videos into his or her work, he or she is encouraged to do so. Colin cites authors that he has learned things from as Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, Jared Diamond, and Dr Seuss, and says that Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged” have been very influential on his own philosophies. Colin himself is also the self-published author of “Personal Branding,” “How to Be Remarkable,” and “Networking Awesomely,” all three of which are entries in his “The Least You Need to Know” series, a line of ebooks written in a concise, highly-informative manner about how to achieve success in the business world. Colin also writes and maintains the blog How We Date, which focuses on the changing scope and boundaries of modern relationships. Colin continues to be involved in other experimental ventures and start-ups, as well, such as the site “Most Interesting People in the Room,” a forum in which “interesting people” apply to be accepted to the forum and, if accepted, pay a $10 fee. The users discuss various topics in the forum, and the person who submits the most interesting comment (as voted on by the other users) gets ten percent of the site’s profit for the month. Colin has said that he always has new ideas for business ventures in the works.

Media Presence
Colin is an active presence in online interviews, and has been profiled by FreeStyle Mind, Cool. Single. Ceo., Lifeaftercollege.org, Mixergy, Just Creative Design, Greenopolis, and JetSet Citizen, to name a few. Highly successful at a young age, Colin has said that his five tips for success are simple: get your money situation straightened out, be open to but discriminating about new things, give to others, be confident, and streamline your life. His most notable interviews were with Andrew Warner of Mixergy and Paul Henry of TVNZ’s “Breakfast Show.”xxiv He has been outspoken in encouraging his philosophies of minimalism, sustainability, mobility, and entrepreneurship and frequently interacts with his followers on Twitter[ext. link], Facebook [ext. link], and LinkedIn [ext. link].

References (2) http://justcreativedesign.com/2008/12/14/designer-in-the-spotlight-colin-wright/ (3) http://www.jetsetcitizen.com/jetsetcitizens/interview-nomadic-artist-colin-wright/ (4) http://www.jetsetcitizen.com/jetsetcitizens/interview-nomadic-artist-colin-wright/ (5) http://singlestartups.com/2009/10/colin-wright/ (6) http://colinismy.name/about/ (7) http://magazine.missouristate.edu/2010/06/18/class-notes-3/ (8) http://www.jetsetcitizen.com/jetsetcitizens/interview-nomadic-artist-colin-wright/ (9) http://colinismy.name/about/ (10) http://greenopolis.com/goblog/mollywrites/interview-colin-wright-sustainable-entrepreneur-and-globe-trotter (11) http://exilelifestyle.com/about/ (12) http://singlestartups.com/2009/10/colin-wright/ (13) http://www.pioneerosis.com/on-the-business-road-pioneer-stories-with-colin-wright (14) http://www.farbeyondthestars.com/colin-wright-on-minimalist-business-networking/ (15) http://www.farbeyondthestars.com/colin-wright-on-minimalist-business-networking/ (16) http://exilelifestyle.com/51/ (17) http://exilelifestyle.com/about/ (18) http://skreened.com/ihavenoshirt?partner=exilelifestyle&token=exilelifestyle (19) http://ebookling.com (20) http://ebookling.com/whats-ebookling-all-about-and-where-are-my-pants/ (21) http://www.minimalistadventures.com/2010/12/06/superstar-week-colin-wright/ (22) http://freestylemind.com/interview-with-colin-wright-of-exile-lifestyle (23) http://www.k-international.com/blog/meet-colin-wright/ (24) http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/breakfast-monday-march-22-3426124/video?vid=3426567 (25) http://mixergy.com/colin-wright/

External Links http://colinismy.name http://www.ebookling.com http://exilelifestyle.com http://flashpack.com http://howwedate.com http://mostinterestingpeopleintheroom.com http://skreened.com/ihavenoshirt

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