And We’re Off….

I started this journey long ago, however, my first Blog Post on Adventure Toward Freedom was June 24, 2015.  I was stressed out, burned out and sick and tired of Corporate America – I wanted out.  It has been an interesting 18 months.  Toward the middle part of last year, I had an epiphany – Freedom to me isn’t about more – it was about letting go of stuff and LIVING more.  Less stuff and more adventures.  Pat and I decided to drastically downsize and hit the road.  At the end of November, we sold our house and are now living Full Time in our RV.  In the RV world, we’re now known as “Full Timers”!

With this new “Freedom” we spent a month at my sisters in Missouri over the Christmas Holiday.  We had a great time with family over the Holidays.  Thanks to my cousin Donna for some awesome pie!  I also had the opportunity and honor to help my sister redo her kitchen cabinets (I never would have had this opportunity working in Corporate America).  I think she was thrilled with the finished product, and I cherished the time I got to spend with her – day-to-day living, not just a visit – PRICELESS!

We’re now off heading toward warm weather-– Arizona.  We have a general direction – but no concrete plans.  I’m learning how to “slow down” and not live on adrenaline, and I must say I like it.

Follow along on our adventures – I’ll be posting about some of the awesome places we visit, the fascinating people that we meet along the way and lessons I learn on my Adventure Toward Freedom.

 

The Big Reveal

Call us crazy — but Pat and I are selling EVERYTHING!  Yes, you read that right, EVERYTHING; our house in Lakeway, all our rental properties, all our home furnishings, the Geo Tracker, years of accumulated STUFF — EVERYTHING (well not Beau:)!

The last few years we have been longing for something different in our lives — something more.  We longed for Freedom.  I had “ideas” in my head of what that looked like, but I kept doing the same thing – expecting different results (you know that’s the definition of insanity).

This last year has been an amazing journey and I will Blog more about experiences and lessons — but a couple months ago we had an epiphany — our journey to Freedom isn’t about more, it’s about less.  So we’ve made the decision to “Let Go” and things are just falling into place.

Facebook reminded me of a post I made, a year ago today.  It is coming true.

So what is my fondest dream and what are we going to do?  We’re going to load up in our RV with the pups and parrots and travel across the United States.  No definite plan on where we are going or timeline on how long we will travel.  Our “home” will be wherever we are.  We are going to live the adventure of a lifetime!  Look forward to see some of you along the way.

 

About

About.

via About.

Letting Go

I guess I was destined for a career in sales. You know the saying, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. My 84 year-old Dad has been in the Safety Equipment industry most of his life, and today he is still selling, still getting out calling on customers, and still excited to get every sale.

I’ve been blessed and fortunate in my career – working with great people, working for great companies – and I was happy and loved what I was doing for the longest time. Something started shifting for me though. If I had to pinpoint it to a single event, I think I would have to say around 2006 reading Robert Kiyosaki’s book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” started planting the seeds of desire to take control of my work life, my future.   Truth be told I was an “employee” – trading my time for money. The great thing about sales is you do have the ability to generate a nice upside when you are successful, nevertheless, I had a job – and I wanted more, I wanted Freedom. I wanted to feel like my work mattered, that it served a bigger purpose.

I grew up with “the Poor Dad”. I was told go to school, get a good job, work hard, stay with the same company until you retire and you will be successful.   In my parents generation this seemed to “work”. For me I felt like the hamster on the wheel – running faster and faster and unable to get off.

A lot has happened since 2006 in my life – 3 jobs, 8 significant deaths in my family, lots of personal growth opportunities, work successes and failures, and more insights, oh and did I mention I turned 50? I had made a decision that 2015 would be the year I’d start my own business. I was still fearful of leaving my job. The stars aligned though – and June 15^th was day 1 on this new journey.

My partner and I sat down and did the assessment on making the move – what are the advantages and disadvantages? The advantages list was huge, filled with opportunity and excitement. The disadvantages list only had a couple of items on it – one of course was “it won’t work out”.   This short list was all fear based, and the worse case scenario would be I’d have to get another job. I’m choosing opportunity and excitement. For the next year I’m taking the leap of faith and building a business. I’ll be blogging about my journey, process, and insights along the way.

I’ll end with a couple of questions – Are you happy with your work life? If not – what’s holding you back?

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!