If you wanted every tip known to man on how to be a broke blues guitarist, Pat O’Bryan is your man.  Here’s a guy that has played music professionally for the better part of 30 years, toured Europe, landed recording contracts.  And he’s been so broke that he had a trailer repossessed.  That’s broke.  Pat today would be the first to tell you that “a career in music is as dangerous as a crack habit” for him.  Why?  He explains it in his book, Your Portable Empire.  Written after the broke guitarist stage, O’Bryan is able to sell his narrative with grace and humor.

Which leads us to Pat O’Bryan, rich Internet marketer.

This Pat O’Bryan is a hugely successful marketer who does his best work by the pool with a cigar in his mouth and wine in his hand – though it’s a struggle to call that work.  O’Bryan has developed a consistent system to deliver products to willing buyers.  Not just any products but products that he has created to answer the specific questions that they are asking.  His reward has been to make more money than he ever thought possible.

O’Bryan’s book, Your Portable Empire: How to Make Money Anywhere While Doing What You Love, is both autobiographical – he doesn’t spare himself embarrassment describing his life as an aging hippie musician- and informational as he explains his system, the steps to build it and how to duplicate it.  It’s also a genuinely fun read – a quality that is lacking in many “how-to” business books. 

The first half of the book deals with the “how-to’s”.  How to create a product.  How to get a list.  How to find mentors.  How to find a joint venture.  It’s the “how-to” toolbox for anybody that is looking to create an internet business in information products. 

Not interested in information products?  Then take his same techniques and apply them to marketing your product or service.  The key is automating your systems to remove you from the machine.  By automating, you free yourself to take advantage of opportunities as they come at you instead of chasing your tail with unproductive tasks.  In this sense, he is preaching from the same book as Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich.  Automate, automate, automate.  Look constantly to streamline your systems.

Each of the “how-to’s” are written by experts in their field: Craig Perrine for marketing, Joe Vitale, one of the stars of The Secret (Original Edition) and author of the Attractor Factor, for copywriting and a cascade of others, each with a unique point to make.  The only complaint about these sections is a lack of a call to action.

It’s in the second half of the book that Pat O’Bryan shines.  All the skills training in the world won’t help you create Your Portable Empire unless you combine them with the mental and emotional skills to apply them consistently and successfully.  Starting with a chapter titled “Your Inner Game” and moving to topics such as Self-sabotage Solutions, the Gold Zone, Failing Up and The Magical Marketing Tour, he takes you through the mental tools that you’ll need.  Every lesson is one he learned the hard way – by living it.

That’s powerful in telling and he’s brilliant at teaching it.

This is a terrific motivational book with a ton to recommend it for skills building especially for the beginning infoprenuers.  More advanced marketers will recognize and appreciate the emphasis on the Inner Game.