I’m going to have the Rockstars for 2010 introduce themselves officially on another thread, but thought I’d post some more details of why we selected these particular Rockstars and show you their video applications here.

Those of you who want to get into Project Rockstar for next year, I would strongly advise you to take note of everything you read and see in this post.

TROY BOILEAU

Troy sent in his application nice and early. He’s young, 22, but his application was well written and showed an high level of intelligence – both the standard kind and the emotional kind. This was backed up by his writing and academic experience, which he was more than happy to provide examples of (a lot of guys sent in applications saying “I am amazing at XYZ and can do ABC” but often didn’t provide evidence for it).

When I asked him to submit a video application, his positive qualities came through even more strongly. Initially, I wondered whether there was too much self-assurance, but the rest of his video (and later his interview with me) showed me that he did actually had quite a humble perspective on life.

He’s in this for the right reasons: to grow as a person, to reap the rewards and to contribute value to others. He’s also got a good sense of humour and we’re definitely going to need a bit of that on Rockstar.

CAY DIAMON

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx7AFaxcHNc

Being a skydiver and base jumper for a living immediately caught our attention. Delving into Cay’s application further, we saw that he had an entrepreneurial mind, evidenced by several ventures he got into as a teenager, and was driven by passion – something huge we look for in a Rockstar.

His backstory is diverse and reminded us of Starlight, one of the original Project Rockstars from 2008. Cay has been in a band before, run a skateboarding accessories company and managed an ebay storefront, among other things.

He too is young, but shows an extremely mature outlook on life and has the kind of fire we look for in a Rockstar. You only have to see his video to see the fire I’m talking about.

COLLIN WOLFF

Collin had a slight social circle connection to me already, as I’d given a Dating & Seduction talk in his apartment to a group of guys based in Chicago about a year ago. He wasn’t present for the talk, but he mentioned that it was his apartment that his friend arranged for us in his application, which made him stick out in my memory as someone who had basically done a favour for me in the past (even if I hadn’t met the guy yet) – another “connecting the dots” type story that I love, and the sort of reason why you always want to be good dude and be offering value to people.

I liked how he had taken his desire to work for himself and executed a plan to free himself from his 9-5 job. An accountant by trade, Collin reminded me a little of Aaron Patzer (also an accountant by trade), the founder of mint.com, a consumer finance website that was sold for over $200m within a space of two years of being founded.

Perhaps a little more mature, logical and even-keeled than some of the other Rockstars, I thought he would bring a good analytical balance to the team.

MARCUS MILLER

http://www.youtube.com/user/marcusmill?feature=mhw4#p/u/0/-LDJiY226aI

What better industry to be in to demonstrate passion but music? Marcus’ original application highlighted his journey from highly paid New York-based investment banker, to Brooklyn based musician and creature of passion.

Nothing gets me like a story about following a man following his dreams. After seeing the creativity, spirit, enthusiasm and warmth that came across in his video, I was sold on Marcus.

A follow-up phone interview told me that this wasn’t just a guy blowing hot air. This guy is pure, adulterated spirit.

GABRIEL ENGLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFEkw3acQf0

Gabriel is another guy with a personal connection to me. I first met him on a San Francisco Day Game Workshop over a year ago. His attitude and work in-field impressed me so much that I invited him to come help out on a couple of my programs.

As I found out about his life story, I realised here was another man driven by passion. Currently a pilot for Virgin America, Gabriel is in training to be one of the pilots for Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial space tourism service.

We talked about Project Rockstar together and agreed that he should submit an application. I showed his video application to Whim, and we both concluded that here was a guy not just with passion, but charisma.

As we’re filming Project Rockstar professionally this year and making a documentary about it, we knew this would be a great element to have on the team, especially in front of the camera. I think Gabriel is also going to be one of those guys that helps the entire group to have fun, wherever they are and no matter what is going on.

ASTOUL KARIM LAURENT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7sVfh851z0

Laurent was a latecomer to the game. His application was one of the last I reviewed, but was strong enough to catch my attention. A lot of people sent in applications fairly late, despite my original notice that applications were going to be processed on a rolling basis (and if you didn’t know what “rolling basis” meant, it’s not hard to google that shit).

Having co-founded a couple of companies and having a rich geographical background, I reasoned that he would be a mature, intelligent and balanced guy. When I jumped on the phone with him for an interview, my instincts were right.

What also stood out for me was his respect. I’m constantly telling people I meet that respect comes first to me (which is why those of you who’ve written me well-thought out, respectful emails probably got more detailed and equally respectful responses back). Laurent has this in spades.

The respect first, value second philosophy is one of the cornerstones of Social Circle Mastery. I think Laurent will take to it well.

HARRY DAYO

Harry met first met Mr M in London for a bootcamp, then fell so hard in love with everything we were doing that he decided to fly to LA to train with Braddock, Daxx and the rest of the LA crew.

The more he got involved with us, the more we realised here was a good guy who had simply been led astray by the restrictions of the culture he grew up around. Training with us showed him what was possible in terms of dating, meeting women and living rockstar lifestyles, but Harry was hungry for more.

Harry’s authenticity, relentless determination and untold generosity warmed all of us to him quickly. Within weeks he had become a part of the LA family. After meeting and training him myself in Miami, I decided that it was time for him to join Rockstar and become a part of the global family.

CHASE NGO

[Video coming soon]

I originally heard about Chase when I was crashing with Thanh Bonsai (famed for his blog www.asiandatingcoach.com) in LA earlier this year. Chase had taken a Bootcamp a few weeks’ earlier and he and Bonsai had bonded over their passions for dating, self-improvement and internet marketing. It turns out that Whim had also met Chase and spoke highly of him, so that was another plus in my book.

The more I heard about Chase, the more I wanted to meet this guy. He ended up taking a spot on my Miami Day Game Workshop. It was then that I saw that this was a guy who had a lot to teach us about business. I talked with him and pitched him on Project Rockstar; when he heard what we were offering, it was an easy decision for him to make.

TIPS FOR FUTURE ROCKSTAR APPLICANTS

Reading through these assessments and watching the videos, you guys should have a good idea of what we were looking for in Rockstars for this year.

Here are some more clues on what constituted a green flag (positive) or red flag (negative) for us.

* Anyone who had already taken a Bootcamp, Day Game Workshop or 1-on-1 training with us already was a green flag. If you claim to be serious about wanting to improve your dating life, it makes sense that you would have taken a program with us already. There are exceptions to this (for example, last year we accepted Whim on Project Rockstar, even though he hadn’t taken a program with us – however, he had done lots of dating training already by himself).
* If you said you wanted to take a program but didn’t have the money for it, that was a red flag. Although Rockstar training is free, you need to cover your own expenses for six weeks and that will typically total up to a lot more than the price of a Bootcamp.
* Anyone who had met us in person either on a training program, mini-conference, internship, or through our social circles and we liked came in with a green flag (conversely, if we thought you were a bit of a douche, red flag).
* People who seemed invested in the Love Systems brand, followed our activities (blogs, posts, newsletters etc.) and admired the quality of our work was a green flag. People who were new to us and clearly hadn’t done much research into dating and simply stumbled upon our site and threw an application together in 5 minutes was a red flag.
* People who blew a lot of smoke without fire was a red flag, i.e. if you wrote a lot of things in your application about things you could do without backing them up with evidence.
* Not being clear on your goals, or having goals that weren’t aligned with ours (e.g. if your goal was simply to become a “pick up artist” rather than striving for something more healthy and holistic in terms of improving yourself) was a red flag.
* Having specific and relevant value you could offer to the team, e.g. business expertise, social circle contacts, or technical skills (such as writing talent or web design skill) was a green flag.
* Writing a clear and well-articulated application was a huge green flag. Spelling and grammatical errors were a red flag. Even if English is not your first language, if you were really committed you could got a native English speaker to check over your application.
* Asking me or emailing me lots of questions that had already been answered on this thread or could be found on www.projectrockstarblog.com was a red flag.
* Sending me emails telling me how much you *wanted* to be on rockstar without mentioning any specific *value you could offer* to Project Rockstar was another red flag. I’m a huge believer in people earning things and not simply being given them because they “want” it (read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

WHY I’M DOING PROJECT ROCKSTAR THIS YEAR

A lot of people ask me why we do Project Rockstar and why I decided to take over leadership of it this year from its original founder, the legendary Mr M.

The core reasons are:

* It’s a shit ton of fun. Project Rockstar was probably the most fun I had in all of last year. Numerous sexcapades, spontaneous romances, teamwork, friendships and just damn cool experiences already stir my nostalgia…
* It helps us to find new talent for Love Systems, forge new friendships and expands our social circles.
* It gives us a playground to test new theories and training methods we have, so helps us to evolve everything we do and teach at Love Systems.
* It’s a great tool for publicity. This year, we’re having Project Rockstar professionally filmed and making it into a documentary.
* We all love coaching people and changing lives. Normally, we get to do it for a period of two or three days. Doing it for six weeks with the same crew of guys and seeing the ripple effects it has on their lives feels incredible.

Finally, the ripple effects Project Rockstar has on all of our lives can be astounding. Let me leave you guys with a note I wrote to last year’s Rockstars just after they got accepted onto the 2009 program. This will give you an idea of the ultimate reason why I am doing it this year.

Have a fantastic summer everyone, I’ll be in touch again soon about how you can follow the progress of this year’s Rockstars.

Dear Rockstars of 2009,

As I sit here in my central Stockholm apartment, newly decorated with black oak furniture and chrome fittings, the last rays of the Swedish summer filtering through my window, I reflect on what brought me here.

Steve Jobs once spoke at Harvard about connecting the dots. He said that sometimes the smallest of events, even those which we consider insignificant at the time, can eventually have huge impact on our lives.

I can trace back where I am now, which is a place I consider to be the happiest I’ve ever been, to a series of such events. Looking back, each of these dots was critical in making me the man I am today.

Starlight was one of last year’s Project Rockstar candidates. We got along so well that I introduced him to Eskay, a serial entrepreneur and client I had trained in Day Game several weeks prior to Rockstar.

Eskay and Starlight discovered common ideology in love, sex, romance and business. They got along so well that, together with Mr M, they took an infamous trip to Shanghai to party with some of China’s most influential businessmen and most beautiful women.

I was on tour in the USA at the time. On my return, Eskay introduced me to the founders of Spotify, the application currently changing the face of the music industry. He invited me to their launch party in Stockholm and gave me a couple of extra invites.

I invited Rokker, our Swedish based instructor and an old friend of his, Maximilian. The party was legendary. A few months later, I found out Maximilian had a spare room to rent in Stockholm. I decided to come visit and see what it would be like to live here.

Within a couple of days, I was in love. This was my favourite city in the world and I decided to call it my new home. The dots had connected.

Good luck to all of this year’s Rockstars. Work hard, be respectful, and remember this moment a few years from now when you are living the dreams you have right now. I’ll see you gentlemen in Stockholm.

Regards,

Jeremy Soul

Let your passions shine through

If you’re not living an interesting life, then it won’t matter how you present yourself to women over the long run. No matter what clothes you wear, how much money you have, or what car you drive, women will not want to spend time with you.

The best way to become an interesting person is to find your passion in life by living out your dreams. If you need inspiration, watch Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture” on YouTube, or pick up the book by the same name. Another great book to read if you feel like you haven’t done enough in your life is Yes Man by Danny Wallace. The hero of the story realizes one day how boring his life is and decides to say “Yes” to every opportunity that presents itself to him for a year. It’s an inspirational story and I think we can all learn from it.

Do something unexpected

When something unexpected happens to a person, they are more likely to remember it. Most people do not remember their commute to work on any given day. That’s because 90% of the time it’s always the same. However, if there was a big fire at a building you always pass on your commute, you can be sure that day’s commute will not be soon forgotten.

This is why when you read about the adventures of Love Systems dating coaches it seems like we often do or say such random things. Since it’s different, it catches people’s attention, and it’s memorable. However, doing something different does not necessarily mean doing something outlandish, and it definitely does not mean doing something weird (unless you really know what you’re doing).

Approaching a girl on the street to tell her that you really like her style and that you had to come over to find out some more about her is different. First, it’s different since she is not used to strangers approaching her in the street. Second, the approach method is different – instead of hooting and hollering you are being bold and direct, yet in a respectful manner. By becoming more memorable you’re inherently increasing your odds of success when you follow up.

Be Congruent

To have credibility with a woman (especially a beautiful woman that is choosy), you must be congruent. Being congruent means that you have behavior that is consistent with the identity you portray. If you display a particularly personality trait (for example, integrity), congruence requires that you act in a manner consistent for someone that has that trait. I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Women are not stupid – they will notice if you act in an inconsistent manner, and it will severely damage your credibility with them. Do not try to be something you are not.

Jeremy Soul