Wowie zowie. Sometimes the blogosphere (or at least the teeny tiny piece of it that I monitor) seems to blow up about the same topic all at once. Perhaps it’s like some blogger, mind-reading thing? Or maybe they get together in secret and plan it out? Who knows.

What I do know, though, is that a couple weeks ago several high-profile business/blogging/social media bloggers all published on the same topic:

Guest Posts.

Many of you know how much of a fan I am of guest posts. I think, hands down, that they are the #1 way to increase traffic, reach new audiences, and build your brand. Both for the blogger hosting the post and the blogger contributing the post.

Which reminds me, who wants free content? Contact me here if you’re up for it. :)

Side note: yes, I do have a project in the works, a web-app of sorts, that relates specifically to guest-posting. (Coming soon.) Because of this I am probably more sensitive and observant to catching discussions about it. So, in the spirit of full disclosure, am I writing about this topic now because I felt strongly about guest posting before or because it relates to one of my new projects? Probably a bit of both.

Scan the following posts and form your own opinions on the topic, whatever they might be. Promise me, though, that you will at least educate yourself by reading the viewpoints of some of the uber-successful.

Yup, it’s that important.

Escape Your Blog To Grow It, by Chris Garrett blogger & internet marketing consultant, co-author of ProBlogger

Guest Posts and Traffic, by Chris Brogan President of New Marketing Labs, #2 ranked blogger from AdAge’s Power 150

Diary of a Wimpy Blogger, by Stanford Smith VP of Marketing at Fluency Media, blogger at Pushing Social

Thoughts?

I’ve recently caught-up with all of the back episodes of The Ren Men Show, and that, coupled with my having just read the updated and expanded edition of Tim Ferriss‘s 4-Hour Workweek, has really got me thinking a lot more about lifestyle design.

I started my journey towards time and financial freedom when I was 18, but until recently I never really considered calling it lifestyle design. But that’s what it is, right? I mean, when you develop businesses that, once established, provide residual, passive income, you then have the time and financial freedom to do as you please. Once you have that freedom, you can design your life in whatever ways you choose.

Two questions have been bothering me the most: one, why aren’t I focusing on designing and achieving my ideal lifestyle directly, instead of focusing on achieving the dream-like and generic “time freedom?” and two, what am I doing to ensure that all of my business ventures are set-up from the beginning to provide passive income?

Big questions.

Additionally, how does lifestyle design mesh with the work-your-tail-off mantra of online media celebrities like Gary Vaynerchuk? Maybe this is what Brian Clark and Chris Brogan and Darren Rowse really had in mind when they said, you know what, we’re no more part of one tribe than the other. We sit somewhere in the middle, so consider us part of the Third Tribe.

Hmm.

I’ve thought so much about this the past couple days that I’m pretty sure it will result in not only a meticulous review of all of our ventures, but a discussion about the overarching goals and intentions of our business. Why – truly, really why – are we doing all of this? Where is it leading us? Where do we WANT it to lead us? What do we need to change in order to ensure we are, in fact, moving in that direction?

And when it’s all said and done, what does our ideal lifestyle look like? I know many of the individual pieces of that picture, but could definitely work on clarifying what the painting looks like in its entirety. Exciting – and scary – stuff.

Updates to come! In the mean time, what say you? Thoughts on lifestyle design?

Earlier this week I was fortunate enough to receive a pre-release copy of Chris Brogan’s new book, Social Media 101, to play around with, and have recorded a quick review as a guest post on The Ren Men Show. Grant Peelle and Alan Ledford have a fantastic show about lifestyle design, real estate, self-education, and all sorts of other inspiring entrepreneurial topics. They’re professional, always-learning, and a little goofy – perfect.

I was honored to submit the review for their audience to watch. Go check it out! And while you’re there, say hello to Grant and Alan and stick around for a little bit. You won’t regret it.

Also, if you’ve recently landed here, on AnnieSorensen.com, from Grant and Alan’s site, welcome! Thanks for visiting. Please, take a look around, and feel free to leave a comment and let me know what I can do to help you to live your very best life, every day.

Finally, guest posts; let’s chat about those for a second. I LOVE submitting to the blogs of those who have a similar mission, are dedicated to providing great content to the world, and care about building professional, fun, and purposeful relationships. What do they always say, you only become a success yourself once you’ve helped many others find success first? I often don’t know where the posts will be, or what new folks I’ll meet, but several of my goals consistently surround giving and submitting content to the sites of others. I think it’s that important.

So, what do you think of guest posts? Do them often? Worry about giving away too much? Do you enjoy giving away content for free, the “go-giver” mentality?

If we’re connected on Twitter or DailyBooth, you’ve might caught me mention recently that I have turned in my two-week notice at my nine-to-five jobby job and am counting down the days until I’m 100% self-employed. Am I getting a fast start on my 2010 goals or what?! LOOK AT ME GO.

One of the many, MANY things I will be doing to move my business – more accurately, my brand – forward once these two weeks are over is to review and expand on the length and strength of my reach online. I’ve liked the concept Chris Brogan has been talking about lately regarding your online spaces and how outposts can improve your strategy with social media. There, Chris talks about your ‘home base,’ ‘outposts,’ and ‘passports’ online. AnnieSorensen.com is obviously my home base, and one that I have many plans to expand.

I currently consider Twitter, DailyBooth, Facebook, and Corkd as my outposts; those areas online where I consistently spend time conversing and connecting. The purpose of these outposts is to have fun, network, and eventually filter folks back to my home base.

Passports, however, represent a huge growth area for me. I think of passports as areas online where I’m reserving and representing my brand, yet not actively playing in the space. And the work I could do on my passports is massive. I mean, LinkedIn? Ugh, let’s not even get into how much I’m leaving on the table in that space. That’s a current passport I DESPERATELY need to turn into a solid outpost.

Then there my other passports; Tumblr, Flickr, Ustream, Amazon, YouTube, TubeMogul, StumbleUpon, and…hmm, I’m sure I’m missing others. I will soon have much more time to develop my brand, which items from this list do I want to dedicate more time to and develop into outposts? Which would I prefer to keep as passports? What passports have I not yet even secured? Very important questions that I need to figure out how to answer.

Lots of work to do!

What say you – how do you decide what spaces to develop into strong, beneficial outposts of your home base? What spaces do you think are important in 2010 to, at the very least, secure a passport?

…I want to be like Chris Brogan, because he creates quality content regularly and consistently, and never complains about it.

…I want to be like Jillian Michaels, because she has been nothing but true to herself and now inspires millions.

…I want to be like Gary Vaynerchuk, because he cares. Period.

…I want to be like Jon Wheatley, because he launched a start-up and is having an absolute blast with it.

…I want to be like Malcolm Gladwell, because he produced media that changed our outlook on the world, one thought at a time.

Who do you want to be?

A really cool thing happened to me a few weeks ago that represents the core purpose of what Twitter, and really networking online of any kind, is all about. Here’s why:

You can find Inbound Marketing here.

What Twitter Wins have you experienced? Share.