“What the hell are you doing, son?”

The words sounded muffled in my head. I sat frozen – gripping the steering wheel on the side of the dark, empty interstate.

“Shut your engine off, get your license, and put your hands back where I can see them.”

I did as I was told, silently.

Upon glancing at my license, the office immediately glanced up and locked eyes with me.

Starting at the beginning, I told him everything…

Story #1: The $10,000 Wake Up Call…

I was addicted to gambling.

Now, this was before getting back together with Courtney (before we were married) and far before Milligan was even a thought. We have to go back to the period between me failing out of college – and getting my life back on track.

At this time in my life, you’d be hard-pressed to find me awake and not sitting around a card table or in a poker room.

We lived and breathed it. We played most of the day – and when we weren’t playing, we were organizing tournaments and cash games (or dealing them for addicts).

During one six-month period, I worked one day each week (a 20-hour shift) dealing one of the largest cash games in Indianapolis. I made around $60/hour in tips and would take home anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 in one sitting.

I did this every Monday night – and spent the other 6 days playing video games and online poker with my two roommates (neither of whom had their own job).

This was the most “stable” I had been in years.

*****

A few months later, I found myself pulled over on the side of the interstate – convinced I was about to be violently arrested.

I had just passed a police car going 130 m.p.h. at 3 a.m.

You see, I had just worked the entire day, taken my overpaid cash wages, and sat down at the poker table. A couple hundred dollars quickly became a thousand, then $3,000, then $10,000.

At 21 years old, I wasn’t content with $10,000 for two hours of work. It wasn’t real money to me. I wasn’t content unless I had every chip at the table. I wasn’t content until I sent every degenerate at the table home to their mortgages they could no longer pay.

Over the next 90 minutes, I lost the $10,000 as quickly as I had amassed it.

I don’t remember leaving the poker room or getting in my car.

*****

“What the hell are you doing, son?” The officer’s words echoed in my head.

Upon glancing at my license, the officer immediately glanced back up and locked eyes with me.

“Adam *Baker*… you wouldn’t happen to be ______’s son, would you?”

I swallowed. “Yes sir, ______ is my father.”

“Adam, what the hell are you thinking?”

He listened to all of it, before giving me a breathalyzer (I hadn’t been drinking).

The next thing surprised me the most… He let me go.

No arrest, no ticket, not even an official warning (although he had plenty of words for me).

At one of my darkest and most irresponsible times, I was pulled over by the only state police officer in Indiana that had grown up with my father.

Coincidence? I’ll let you decide what to call it.

On the rest of the drive home – moving a good 15 m.p.h. under the speed limit – I fought back tears as I vowed to finally change the direction of my life.

Story #2: Trapped in the Most Beautiful Place on Earth…

Flash forward five years.

“Get Milli and crawl slowly out of the car…”

I should’ve been scared, but for some reason I wasn’t. Even so, I wasn’t about to move.

Through the passenger door, I saw the waterfalls that were streaming down the mountain side and I took in the bluest sky I had ever seen.

As I turned to my left, gravity pulled my head toward a mangled mess of tree branches.

I squinted to make out what was beyond the branches.

… nothing …

Only a few trees stood between me and two hundred feet down the side of the mountain.

As I snapped back to reality, Courtney was twisting her body to unstrap a dazed Milligan from her car seat. She was fighting gravity to try and lift the rear passenger door and climb out.

I didn’t dare move.

*****

We had come to New Zealand 8 months earlier on a last-second decision from Brisbane, Australia. We had spent the last few months living in Auckland as Courtney taught a few semesters at a local elementary school.

It was one of the most freeing times of our life.

We had spent the last two years transforming our financial life. We had paid off $18,000 in consumer debt, sold all of our possessions, and set off to backpack Australia.

Somehow our journey had now brought us to the side of this mountain outside of Milford Sound on the South Island of New Zealand.

I didn’t dare move…

*****

After what seemed like the longest minutes of my life, I let out a sigh of relief as I saw Courtney and Milli climb out of sight to where we had slid off the road.

“I guess it’s my turn,” I thought.

I moved as slow as I could given the awkward angle. The car was nearly on its side.

As I stretched to try and force the passenger door open, I thought for sure the trees would snap under my shifting weight.

Luckily, they didn’t budge. Not a single inch.

As weak as they looked, the trees grouped together to form a safety net that had kept us from sliding down the mountainside.

Up on the road, we pulled out our cell phones and confirmed our suspicions – absolutely zero bars. We were 90 minutes from the nearest town on a road that is sparingly traveled that early in the morning.

We had no choice but to sit on the side of the road and wait.

Irony hit us hard as we soaked in the visualization of being trapped in the most beautiful place on earth.

*****

48 hours later, I found myself talking to an old man that owned the closest tow-truck company.

An Israeli family had found us stranded on the road – and had taken us to the only lodge within two hours of the sound. I rode in the back with their groceries. Milli rode on Courtney’s lap.

The lodge was booked solid for months, so after 18 hours of discussion (to make a long story short) we finally shared a single bunk bed with the employees of the lodge for a few hours of sleep.

I had spent hours on the phone over the last two days, trying to coordinate police, rental companies, and tow-truck drivers from a city 90 minutes away from the accident site.

*****

“Well, this isn’t going to be pretty…”

The seasoned tow-truck driver almost felt sorry for me through the dollar signs in his eyes.

He poetically laid out all the expenses he had incurred in retrieving the car.

Earlier it had been carefully explained to me that since I took responsibility for the accident that we’d have to cover the tow-truck charges ourselves (though the rental company would cover the damage to the vehicle).

“Yeah, I was there”…  I mumbled back to the tow truck driver.

I remembered waiting several hours for the driver to wind his way through the mountains.

I remembered the driver and I blocking the road for 45 minutes as we tried to figure out a way to rip the car out of the trees it had nestled in.

I remembered the gas, the after-hours calls, the size of the truck that was needed to do the job.

I knew all along the price tag of this operation would sting.

We ended up negotiating it to around $800 New Zealand, which was around $600 in U.S. dollars.

Keep in mind we were camping in a broken tent to save money at this point in our road tour. An $800 tow charge at this time was extremely demoralizing after all our frugal hard work.

But here’s the difference between the two stories…

We paid the tow-truck driver in cash.

There was no negative thought, no added stress, and not an ounce of worry.

As shitty as that 48-hour moment in time was… I was proud.

It was the first time in our life we had a fully-funded $5,000 emergency fund, and the first time we had to use it.

In the first story, money controlled me. It controlled my actions, my emotions and my relationships.

In the second story, we controlled our money. It didn’t dictate our actions in this emergency. It didn’t change much of our emotions at all.

As I handed the old man $800 in cash… I was proud.

How much worse would this situation had been without an emergency fund?

How much extra stress, arguing, and worry would have come with it?

I lived my life for years like that, and I don’t even want to think about it.

So we did the only thing there was left to do.

We buckled back into our mangled rental car (with deep gashes running down the left side and no front bumper) and finished our driving tour of the South Island of New Zealand.

We weren’t going to let sliding down the mountain keep us from finishing what we started.

*****

Taking back control of your financial life doesn’t prevent this kind of stuff from happening.

It doesn’t keep you from getting into situations where you are trapped.

But when shit does hit the fan, having a flexible financial life makes all the difference in the world.

Trust us, we know.

The goal isn’t to make it through life without any scars…

The goal is to empower yourself to break free, heal, and bounce back quickly.

The goal is flexibility.

The goal is freedom.

*****

Note: Up until now, I’ve only shared these two stories with our You Vs. Debt students. Several of those students pushed me to share them publicly… thanks to them for the nudge. The next You Vs. Debt class starts next week (January 23rd). More info soon!

*****

I’m extremely excited to share with you a talk I gave as part of TEDx here in Asheville a little over a month ago. Some of my favorite online sources of inspiration are TEDx Talks, so I was honored to be invited to give one myself!

I spent a lot of time planning and preparing what I believed to be the most powerful and concise version of our message here at Man Vs. Debt. I’m extremely pleased with how it turned out!

It revolves around finding your own answer to one powerful, life-changing question.

It’s less than 20-minutes long. I think you’ll love it!

Note: I have a deep passion for speaking and would love to add a couple more events to my 2012 speaking schedule! If you know of any opportunities, conferences, or events – don’t hesitate to reach out to me. You can email me directly at Baker(at)ManVsDebt.com.

What did you think?

Let me know in the comments below!

For the last two and a half years, I’ve been sharing our story and message online in an attempt to grow the amazing community here at Man Vs. Debt.

By taking a stroll through the archives, you can see just how much we’ve been through together. (Hasn’t it been fun?)

Reflecting back, there’s been 4 clear phases of our journey – or chapters, if you will:

1. Chapter 1: The Struggle (the months in the trenches – selling stuff & plowing debt)
2. Chapter 2: Freedom Realized (our time spent traveling Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand)
3. Chapter 3: Return of the Family (coming back to U.S. – launching Sell Your Crap)
4. Chapter 4: Life is a Highway (our RV Tour around the U.S.)

And, I’m excited to announce that last month we entered in to the newest chapter of our person lives – Chapter 5: Mountains & Music.

In other words, Courtney and I decided to wind down the R.V. tour and we’ve rented a home here in the beautiful city of Asheville, NC for the next year.

There were dozens of factors that played into our decision. Some of the major ones were:

• Our primary personal goal of the entire RV tour was to scout places we’d like to spend a year or two. In our 6 months on the road we became comfortable with a couple places even sooner than we thought! (Portland and Asheville, for those wondering)

• While I love so many aspects of traveling, I’ve realized that hosting friends and family is engrained deep into my personality. Courtney and I wanted to spend some time returning a portion of the hospitality we’ve received all over the world.

• Our business and message won’t be able to spread and grow in the manner we want if we stay on the road. I’ve been leveraging coffee shops, intermittent wifi connections, and picnic tables for two years. The next evolution of the business requires some more stable working space.

A couple friends have asked me whether or not this decision was made as a result of our miscarriage on the road. The answer is: Yes & No.

No, it’s not a direct response – we were already on this path. Honestly, it didn’t really factor in the decision much itself.

Yes, if only for the reason that it was a catalyst for self-reflection.

When Courtney and I were starting off our journey, it was bringing Milligan home from the hospital in the days after her birth that opened our eyes. We didn’t start traveling just because Milligan was born. However, the experience granted us the clarity to see the life the we really wanted to be living.

The same is true this time around. Our loss simply gave us the clarity to step back from the day-to-day hustle and the clarity to see what we really wanted for the next year or two of our life. In this case, it was choosing between Portland and Asheville to settle in for a year.

Once you’ve been given the vision of what you’re life could be – and you know you want it – why wait?

What good is all the freedom in the world, if you aren’t willing to use it?

Two years ago, freedom was traveling the world with our one-year-old daughter.

A year ago, freedom was buying an RV in cash so that we could visit all our friends and explore potential areas of the U.S. to spend time in.

Last month, freedom was the ability to move into a (slightly bigger than we need, but great) home here in a wooded area of Asheville.

Next year, I have no idea what freedom will mean to us. But I’m excited to know our possibilities are nearly limitless – as long as we can gain the clarity to be honest with ourselves.

The clarity to know what freedom means to you may be the most powerful currency in the world.

*****

What’s next for Man Vs. Debt?

To be honest, in the first 6 months of 2011 I’ve been disappointed in my commitment to the community here.

I underestimated the hectic nature of our mobile lifestyle, which led me to underdeliver over the last few months. I haven’t been producing the amazing content that I’m capable of. I’ve been giving my C-game, instead of my A-game.

I’ve been mediocre, which for this community is simply unacceptable. You deserve better!

So I’ve done the only thing I know how to do. I’ve taken massive action to break free of the funk of mediocrity.

For the last two months, I’ve been buried working on several exciting changes:

• First, I’ve hired two full-time team members to help me take things to the next level. I’ll introduce Sarah and Dustin to you soon (in addition to several other part-time team members). Working with this new team here in Asheville has been amazing. We are starting to realize how much is possible (it’s exciting!).

• We’re also going to be switching the content direction of the site. Instead of leading with personal updates “hey look at me I’m in XYZ city,” we’re going to be leading with amazing resources and content. Specifically, we are going to start a weekly video Q&A series. We’ll also be focusing on covering more case studies from real people going through similar struggle in achieving freedom in different areas of their lives.

• Lastly, I’ve been pouring myself into the next evolution of our premium products. After studying behavior change and psychology for nearly 2 months without coming up for air, we’ve completely revamped our You Vs. Debt course. We broke the course down into daily lessons and actions for 6 weeks straight. I spent two weeks filming the new videos with a dedicated video editing team (think DVD quality). This is the largest scale project I’ve ever undertaken – but the final product is *amazing* (take that mediocrity)! I can’t wait for you to see it – and in the next few days I’ll give you a peek.

Here’s the summary: Over the next month you’ll see a lot of changes around the site. We’ll be rereleasing You Vs. Debt (Sept. 19th), and we’ll be launching the first site redesign in several years. We’ll also be starting our weekly Q&A video series & a string of case studies and interviews of community members achieving inspiring results.

Most importantly, Courtney and I are extremely happy to be entering Chapter 5 of our journey.

And if you ever find yourself in Asheville, NC – be sure to email me! The city is full of great music, fantastic food, and I know a young family with a guest room in their rental home.

Xoxoxo,

-Baker

Last week, I awoke to find several emails and texts saying… go to Yahoo.com now!

Turns out, Yahoo.com had syndicated an interview I did with CreditCards.com several weeks before and had published it – along with a picture of Courtney, Milli, and me – on its front page for most of a day.

Sweet!

The article generated just under 1,800 comments – the far majority of them negative, abusive, or spammy. However, if you’d like a good laugh – just go scroll through them for a while.

On the flip side, it brought a huge influx of people into the community here – with thousands of new people deciding to follow along via email, Twitter, or Facebook.

If you are new to the community… welcome!  We are glad to have you.

Here’s a brief guide to the site:

• Start with our About Page – it’ll give you a breakdown of who we are and what we are about (in addition to the questions below).
• You can learn more about us from our transparent Our Finances and Our Stuff pages.
• Lastly, our Where Are We page has more information on our current tour – and links to our past travels and adventures.

Get started with these hit blog posts:

• 24 Quick Actions You Can Do Today That Can Change Your Financial Life Forever
• 26 Life Lessons I’ve Learned in 26 Years of Living
• How NOT to Suck at Blogging
• Tyler Durden’s Guide to Personal Finance
• Travel Hacking for Noobs

In order to catch everyone up (and give old-timers a walk down memory lane), I wanted to answer some of the most frequent questions I’ve received in email this past week.

How did you get started traveling?

I’ve written a lot about our story on this site, but here’s the condensed version:

In 2008, the birth of our daughter (Milligan) really led Courtney and I to examine our life path. Courtney had just graduated from college and was starting her first year as a elementary teacher. I had just started a Real Estate business and was working 80-100 hours per week trying to get it off the ground.

We weren’t struggling to put food on the table, but we weren’t living within our means either. We had all sorts of loans… loans to family, loans for the wedding, two car loans, $55,000 in student loans, and several credit cards at different levels.

Bringing Milli home from the hospital, we were finally given the clarity to understand that our lifestyle wasn’t in line with our true values.

We made the decision to sell everything we own down to two backpacks, pay off our $18,000 in consumer debt (all non-student loan debt), and spend a year living in Australia.

Over the next year we set about that mission – and about 5 months into our personal journey I started keeping track of it online (here at this site).

How can you afford to travel around all the time?

We’ve changed the way we afford to travel over the last few years.

Early on, we saved up money – and traveled *very* frugally. After we paid down our $18,000 in consumer debt, we also saved up $17,000 to spend a year in Australia. I chronicled a lot of this in the early days of this blog.

We didn’t end up staying a year in Australia (long story, which you can read about in the archives), but instead ended up for 6 months or so in New Zealand.

While in New Zealand, I stayed at home with Milligan – and made a couple hundred dollars a month (whoo-hoo) on this website and as a freelance writer. Courtney went door-to-door (on foot) to local elementary schools in New Zealand until she landed a position with a school who sponsored our visas.

So we not only saved money beforehand, but we also quickly found overseas opportunities to help with living expenses. We weren’t (and still aren’t) on vacation – we work and travel as a lifestyle.

Lately, Man Vs. Debt has grown in popularity to the point where it has become a full-time business (this took 18-24 months to come to fruition).

Man Vs. Debt and my other online opportunities now fully support our current travels. Again, this means I work full-time on the road out of the RV and random coffee shops.

How do you make money on the road? This seems like a scam!

I run an online business. This allows me to work on the road.

Man Vs. Debt is a huge part of this business – helping people through this medium allows me to build an audience based on transparency and trust. I’ve built this community over two and half years.

More specifically, I sell courses and digital guides to solve specific problems related to the content I blog about.

Sell Your Crap is a series of ebooks (digital downloads) that teach people how to maximize the amount of cash they can get from their useless clutter.

You Vs. Debt is a 6-week course that is currently in beta with a trusted group of around 80 people. The first public version of this online course will be available this summer.

The Hustle Project is a membership program for online entrepreneurs and bloggers who are looking to gain momentum online for their businesses.

Lastly, I occasionally recommend products and services that I personally use or love. This is called “affiliate marketing” and sometimes I’m paid a small percentage of any sales that result from my community.

One example of this is the Travel Hacking Cartel - A membership program that teaches people how to “travel hack” – or earn free flights, get extremely discounted lodging, and rack up bonus points and travel upgrades. Courtney and I actively use this to save money while traveling.

I’ve publicly detailed my income and expenses (down to the penny) from this blog every month since I started earning money from the website.

As to whether it’s a scam – that’s for you to decide. My refund policy is 100% lifetime no-questions-asked and currently sits at .4% of all customers (less than half of a percent). 95% of the content on the site is completely free – and will always remain that way.

What do you plan to do when your daughter gets old enough to go to school?

We don’t know, yet.

Our philosophy is simple – we want to be in a position to teach our children in the method that we believe is best for them individually.

We aren’t against public school – Courtney is a teacher – and we both came up through public schools. If we believe that Milligan will thrive in that system, we’ll take that route in a year or so.

We aren’t against private school, either. We aren’t against home schooling, road schooling, unschooling, or any other type of schooling that may be out there.

We are continually learning and exposing ourselves to options – and if we think one will be best for Milligan’s personality and learning style – we’ll embrace that one.

What we *don’t* want to do is to put her in one form of education or learning just because that’s what everyone is suppose to do. She won’t be in public school because that is our only option – if we choose traditional schooling, it’ll be consciously.

What’s your plan for the future?

We don’t have a specific plan for the future.

Our plan is to be as flexible and free as possible. This includes working towards debt-freedom, living with a reasonable amount of “stuff”, building a business and income around something we enjoy, and improving our own flexibility and openness (our attitudes mostly).

We are far from perfect, but we constantly strive towards the path that gives us more and more options. We don’t want to go back to when we felt suffocated and trapped.

To be a little more specific, we’ll likely slow down our travels very soon. Staying in a place for 6 months or so (instead of 3-4 days) is something that appeals to us.

Most importantly, we just want to ensure we are conscious.

That means not living in a house with a white picket fence because that is what we are “suppose” to do. But that *also* means not traveling around every week just because that seems like a “cool” thing to do.

As long as we are living a lifestyle that we really want – we are content with that.

If we want to sell the RV next week, we may do that. If we want to live in it for another two years, we’ll try to do that.

Maybe we’ll choose a city and never move again soon… Maybe we’ll spend another year traveling overseas.

We’re trying to build our lifestyle to be flexible enough for us to live the life we consciously want. That changes – and we’ll make a lot of mistakes – but it beats the alternative for us.

*****

I’m glad you’re now along for the ride!

And wherever you are in your own journey towards flexibility – stay in touch. Introduce yourself in the comments or interact with the community on Facebook or Twitter.

I can’t wait to hear more from you!

xoxoxo,

-Baker

I’d been putting it off for months…

I’d talked about starting a website, a blog, or an online store. I’d dreamt up designs, slogans, domain names, and dozens of “million dollar ideas.”

You see, Courtney and I had passionately been attacking our clutter and our debt for the past few months.

Round 1 of our stuff had been listed and sold on eBay and craigslist – and for the first time in several months our budget was starting to actually work.

One fateful night – several months earlier – we had pledged to sell everything we owned, pay off our $18,000 in consumer debt, and move to Australia.

Since then, we had picked up some serious momentum.

Everything in our personal life was clicking. Our mission was clear – and we were executing it like madmen.

But I had this funny habit.

Whenever it would come time to actually do something about my business ideas… I’d buy another business book. I’d tell myself I needed to learn more… that reading, thinking, and planning were an important part of the process.

I desperately wanted to be an entrepreneur.

I wanted to build a business that could support us as we traveled.

But, at the time, in this one area of our life… I just didn’t know how to take action toward that goal.

Looking back, I can see that it was a combination of naivete, laziness, and lack of clarity. What a nasty combo!

The Tipping Point:  ”Something just snapped…”

As it turns out, the two dozen business books I read were worth a tenth of the value I got from just one night of action.

It started around 3:30 p.m. – something just snapped. I was tired of waiting and fed up with putting off this idea any longer.

I registered the domain ManVsDebt.com and spent the next 4 hours walking through tutorials on how to set up hosting, domains, DNS servers, and WordPress.

To this day, I still remember feverishly searching the archives of ProBlogger for walkthroughs on how to get the technical stuff set up.

I had absolutely zero idea what I was doing (and zero technical experience). The only way forward was to put my head down and bust through it.

As night set in, my dream started to come to life. It was ugly, unoptimized, and bare bones… but it was alive.

I didn’t stop there.

Into the night, I outlined my first six posts. I focused on topics I was deeply passionate about and researched each of them for hours.

I started writing.

The last time I had written over 1,000 words in one sitting was high school. But somehow I couldn’t stop writing that night. Time moved quickly… or slowly… I wasn’t quite sure. I was in the zone.

When Courtney woke up early the next morning, she came to check on me. I was still typing. I was working on the 5th full post – some 8,000 words later.

Only in that moment did the feeling really hit me…

As the sun peeked over the horizon and in through the window, I could only think of one thing…

“I’m an online entrepreneur.”

I hadn’t had a single visitor to my website yet. That would come in the next few days.

I hadn’t got one person to subscribe to updates. That would come in the next week.

I hadn’t made a single sale. That wouldn’t happen for another year.

But I knew.

In the buzz of that all-nighter, I just knew.

“I’m an online entrepreneur.”

*****

For those of you that have been following along for a while (a few of you from that first month several years ago), you know there are three main areas that have driven Courtney and my quest to reshape our life.

1. “Sell Your Crap” – Our initial rejection of consumerism and purge of our possessions has radically shaped our life these last few years.
2. “Pay Off Your Debt” - Our journey to attack our $18,000 in consumer debt is well chronicled – and has freed us to focus our time, money, and energy on our passions.
3. “Do What You Love” - The last part of the equation for us involves cultivating that entrepreneurial spark to align our passions, purpose, and “work” lives.

I fully realize not everyone wants to be (or should be) an entrepreneur or business owner. That’s fantastic! There are tons of ways to align your work and passion with starting a business or movement.

For me, however – and many of you (based on our conversations) – entrepreneurship is a natural extension of the personal finance journey.

Building Man Vs. Debt has been extremely stressful, but extremely fulfilling at the same time. It has and will continue to play a central role in Courtney and my life. And we don’t plan to stop there as Courtney has her own entrepreneurial aspirations and goals to foster.

You see, I have no problem being an outspoken fan of entrepreneurship – because I believe that people building business and movement around their passions is fantastic for our culture.

Introducing ”The Hustle Project”…

That’s why I’m so proud to announce “The Hustle Project” with a good friend and mastermind partner of mine – Corbett Barr.

“The Hustle Project” is the third leg of my own business tripod. Along with “You Vs. Debt” and “Sell Your Crap”, it’s the third area where I can really help positively impact people’s lives.

“The Hustle Project” is a membership community for entrepreneurs looking to grow their online presence and revenue.

We have three very simple objectives:

1. Arm people with the concrete tactics (and examples) they need to build momentum.
2. Incite them into action.
3. Hold them accountable to the actions and their goals.

“The Hustle Project” is part mastermind group, part mentorship group.

Our goal is for every member to add $12,000 in revenue to their online business over the next 12 months.

This isn’t a get rich quick program. It will require focused time, a lot of effort, and a bit of stress. But it’ll be worth it.

This certainly isn’t for everyone. But if you’re serious about online entrepreneurship – and ready to invest the time and effort we all know it takes – you need to check out this new project.

[Click here for "The Hustle Project" details]

*****

That one night – over two years ago – changed my life forever.

Another 6 months of planning couldn’t have come close to the feeling I got from just one night of focused action.

How much different would my life be today if I had read another book that night?

I don’t even want to think about that.

Each month, as part of an ongoing transparency project, I share the income and expenses of my pursuit to earn a living online.

Starting this month, I’ll also be sharing the costs that we incur as part of our RV lifestyle. Many of you have suggested a curiosity to know how much our adventure is costing.  :-)

Personal finances should not be a taboo subject in our society. The more light we can shed – and the more examples we can share – the better off we all are.

I also believe that if this community is supporting my family, then at the very least I can share a glimpse into the details.

That said, here’s how January looked for my business.

January’s Business Income/Expenses…

Unautomate Revenue:  $289.00

• Total Guides Sold:  17

Sell Your Crap Revenue:  $1565.00

• Total Guides Sold (all versions):  39

Additional Income:  $5,213.51

• Consulting:  $3968.76
• Freelance Writing:  $813.97
• Unconventional Guides:  $322.83
• Thesis: $54.45
• FireStarter Sessions: $45.00
• Unclaimed Affiliate:  $8.50

Direct Expenses:  -$1487.59

• Affiliate Payments:  -$344.91
• Food/Meeting People: -$315.89
• Airfare: -$276.30
• Cell Phone: -$152.46
• Paypal Fees: -$99.24
• Website tech work: -$97.50
• Products/Research:  -$78.85
• Aweber:  -$49.00
• Wufoo: -$29.95
• iStock Photo: -$18.50
• E-junkie:  -$10.00
• DropBox:  -$9.99
• Bank Fee: -$5.00

Net (Income – Expenses):  $5,579.92

Over the last 11 months of monetization, this brings average to: ~$5950/month

As always, I’m willing to answer any specifics in the comments below!  :-)

RV Expenses/Lifestyle Cost…

Starting this month, I’d like to be able to give you an accurate and fair view of what our mobile lifestyle is costing us. There are people living full-time on the road spending only a fraction of what we do – and I’m sure there are people spending exponentially more.

This isn’t as complete as we’ll try to be moving forward, but here’s an idea of some of our expenses related to the RV.

Gas: -$544.41

Unfortunately, I expect this to be the smallest this number will EVER be in a single month.

We’ve had a huge wake-up call with our RV averaging only 7 miles per gallon. This month we’ve had it parked and waiting for a large part of the month, meaning as we become more mobile – our costs in this category will soon skyrocket.

I’m anticipating that we’ll spend around $1500 per month here. Now, much of this is by choice. We are intentionally going to be driving a lot in the upcoming months to various locations.

This also pushes us to drive the Jeep as much as possible to certain destinations – rather than hauling the big RV. We’ll need to balance this in the coming months to not break our budget.

Campground Fees: -$665.00

On the flip side, I think this category is the *largest* it will ever be. We spent most of this month stuck outside of Baltimore. There were few options that were “all year round” here and we were forced to remain close to the city for coordinating the wrap of our RV.

The campground where we spent most of our time was $45/night – well on the high-end of anything we will look for in the future (even in the middle of winter).

As we head south, we’ll have a lot more inexpensive options – and will be taking full advantage of family, friends, and community members willing to host us.

Hotel/Hostel/Lodging: -$348

Another number that was unusually high for us this month – due to our decision to spend nearly a week traveling to NYC, Philadelphia, and Hershey, Pennsylvania (away from RV).

This was a conscious decision – and we knew the costs of being away from the RV would be much higher than normal.  That said, we won’t look to be stuck waiting in many more situations – nor spend many nights outside the RV in the coming months.

Propane: -$185.53

Because we’ve had to run the furnace nearly 100% of the time, we burnt through a lot of propane. Based on some full-timers I’ve talked with, this should drop fast once out of the cold.

We’ll still use a bit for cooking and running the refrigerator when not plugged in – but our propane usage should be drastically reduced.

Tolls/Parking: -$58.00

Again, most of this was a result of our trip up to NYC. We got caught on a highway that we didn’t realize was a toll and paid some hefty fees! I’m just glad we weren’t in the RV – it would have been nearly triple…

This is something we’ll try to budget $50/month for – and hope that we can save most of that when needed. Of course, if it’s a much shorter route – it’ll be smart for us to pay tolls given we only get 7 miles/gallon!

Repairs (Furnace): -$291.98

Another charge I blame on cold weather. Like I pointed out, our furnace ran nearly 100% of the time. Kicking on and off… on and off… trying to make up for single-digit temperatures at times.

Finally, it blew one night. We bought a temporary space heater to survive for a few days as we had to have it replaced. All said and done, I’m actually happy it came in under $300!

Have I mentioned I can’t wait to get to warmer weather?  :-)

*****

Overall, our non-gas expenses were *far* greater than we had wanted – and we are looking for ways to help control that.

Our gas expenses are directly related to a conscious lifestyle that we choose. We have to be well aware of our freedom of mobility and its actual cost.

Other expenses like food, grocery, household, etc… we’ll be tracking better in the coming months.

I will admit that, with our business meals included, we spent over $600 “eating out” in the month of January. That’s a record (by a longshot) for us and something we are looking to hit hard in the coming months.

It’s hard for us because the convenience of meeting readers, bloggers, and families at restaurants is very compelling. It’s also not fair to include “business” meals in the same vein as us just eating out because we are tired (or due to poor planning).

Nevertheless, I’m willing to face the facts. We spent way too much overall in January.  Somewhere just north of $3500+ for our personal lifestyle in the month.

Business plans moving forward…

My online business will be going through a shift in the coming month or two.

First, I’ll be taking Unautomate Your Finances off the market in February. It’ll have been nearly a year since it was released.

While I’m very proud of my first premium product ever, I’m moving onto bigger and better products. It’ll be replaced with a full course – not just an eBook.

In other words… “You Vs. Debt” is coming…

I’ve also decided to phase out my staff writing for other sites. In the past, I’ve written articles for Wisebread, Get Rich Slowly, and Amex Currency. While I enjoyed these experiences (and was paid for them), I know it’s time for me to ruthlessly focus on my creative work here.

I also don’t enjoy writing in large chunks – especially for other people. I love *creating* – just not writing a lot.  Sounds weird, I know, but it’s true!

Lastly, I’ll also be limiting my consulting. A large project I’m working on is winding down and while I sincerely love the half-dozen clients I’m currently working with – I want to maintain focus here as well.

If you read that correctly, I’m removing (or severely limiting) three decent income streams for myself. I may or may not end up regretting this move, but I honestly feel it’s right for my business.

I’ll be focusing on the Man Vs. Debt Road Tour (a full time job in itself) and on creating life-changing, impressive courses based on the problems I can help people solve. This is the best way to run my business long-term, and it’s the best way to positively affect the most people.

So that’s where I’m heading…

Who’s coming with me?

Xoxoxo,

-Baker

Each month I share the details of the income and expenses generated by this blog.  In this month’s recap, I also want to share my end-of-the-year goals – as well as a dozen or so recent updates I’ve made to the website in the past few weeks.

But first I want to talk about learning to leap. Or maybe being willing to leap.

Do you know what I’m talking about?

I’m talking about those moments in life where you are on the verge of something… big.

Something that feels right deep down – but wrong on the surface.

A life change, idea, job, decision, or relationship that has the potential to… change everything.

You with me, yet?

I’ve been leaping a lot recently. I’ve been leaping in my business (mostly behind the scenes) – and Courtney and I are getting ready to leap very soon in our everyday lives as well.

I’ve realized there’s a fine line between being frivolous and being caged.

Life these days seems to be about finding that line – and then taking a running jump over it.

What do you say… you ready to leap with me?

“It doesn’t work to leap a twenty-foot chasm in two ten foot jumps” -American Proverb

“Faith is a process of leaping into the abyss not on the basis of any certainty about where we shall land, but rather on the belief that we shall land.” -Carter Heyward

“The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.” -Agnes De Mille

“All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous, unpremeditated act without benefit of experience.” -Henry Miller

“I advise you to say your dream is possible and then overcome all inconveniences, ignore all the hassles and take a running leap through the hoop, even if it is in flames.” -Les Brown

“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.” -Henry David Thoreau

“When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap.” -Cynthia Heimel

*****

New Man Vs. Debt Site Changes…

So I’ve been a busy little bee behind the scenes recently. For the last few months, I’ve been wanting to do a little house-cleaning around here. I finally got around to knocking most of the to-do’s off the list!

If you look around, you may notice some of these changes:

• “5 Barriers to Freedom… (and how to destroy them)” Email Series - Now when you sign up for email updates for the blog (new graphic at top of the sidebar to the right), you’ll get access to a free email series I’ve put together. It’ll be delivered every couple of days straight to your inbox. You’ll also be the first to receive new blog content as it goes live.

• Email subscriptions delivered through Aweber – The “Militia” Newsletter is no more. Instead, I’m using Aweber to deliver full posts to subscribers (as well as the email series above). I’ll still be providing exclusive giveaways (as was the case with the newsletter), but they’ll be fewer and larger!

• Combined the “Store” and “Products I Love” pages – I’ve redone the Store page to highlight both the premium resources I’ve created as well as a few resources that I use and recommend. You’ll find “My Premium Guides”, “Unconventional Guides”, and “Man Vs. Debt Runs On” sections in the new condensed Store.

• New “Where Are We?” Page - By popular demand, I’ve added a page called Where Are We? This page not only displays our current location, but also provides a quick recap of our travels. I’ve also provided links to many of my “travel-based” posts – as well as past episodes of the Do What You Love Show.  Check it out to get caught up!

• Updates to “About MvD”, “Our Stuff”, and “Our Finances” Pages - I’ve updated a big portion of the beginning of our About page – mainly clarifying the “message” of the site.  For the “Our Stuff” we are working on getting a full up-to-date list of possessions as we speak.  ”Our Finances” has been updated with a list of these “income/expense” reports, as well as old links to post which contain personal budgeting transparency.

• Facelift to the Man Vs. Debt Facebook Page - The facebook page for Man Vs. Debt got a fancy new welcome graphic (thanks Dustin) and several updates. It’s a great time to join us over there!  :-)  I’ll be sharing more pictures and video in that space over the next few months.

• Full Archives – Also by popular demand, I’ve created a Archives Page with dates and links to every single content-based post I’ve published here on Man Vs. Debt.  It’s a great list to skim over if you are newer!

• “You May Have Seen Us In” Graphic - In the sidebar to the right you can see a new “You May Have Seen Us In” graphic that shows off some of the places we’ve been mentioned – both online and in print editions. It’s something I’m proud of and have been wanting to feature for a long time!

In other words, take a stroll around and let me know what you think about the new changes. They’ve taken up some of my time the last few weeks, but I’m glad to have the far majority complete and ready to go!

October’s income/expenses…

Net from UYF Sales:  $179.29

• Total Guides Sold (Oct):  17
• Income (less Paypal fees):  $258.68
• Affiliate Payments:  -$79.39

Net from SYC Sales:  $2752.79

• Total Guides Sold (all versions):  76
• Income (less Paypal fees):  $3271.16
• Affiliate Payments:  -$518.37

Additional Income:  $1850.45

• Freelance Writing:  $1564.86
• PocketSmith:  $209.80
• Unconventional Guides:  $65.28
• Amazon:  $10.51

Direct Expenses:  -$1249.51

• Blog World:  -$615.22
• Website tech work: -$270
• HostGator:  -$143.52
• Design:  -$55.48
• GoDaddy:  -$38.23
• Guides:  -$34.95
• Aweber:  -$29.00
• Skype:  -$18.00
• Shipping:  -$15.17
• E-junkie:  -$10.00
• DropBox:  -$9.99
• VodBurner:  -$9.95

Net (Income – Expenses):  $3533.02

Over the last 8 months of monetization, this brings average to: ~$2050/month

Note:  If you have any questions about the list above, leave them in the comments below and I’ll do my best to clarify them.  :-)

*****

Finishing 2010 With a Bang!

Last month was a great month for me. Sell Your Crap rebounded from my launch blunders with steady sales throughout the month. It’s likely to slow down at least another 50%, but I’m extremely happy of the feedback/results that are being generated (and it’s ability to bounce back as a product).

I’ve been quick to share some of the lower income months over the past few, so I’ll take time to celebrate some of my recent wins. November has already passed the income levels of last month in just the first week thanks to a couple of early-month payments from affiliates and partners.

In October, I also began working with a couple new consulting clients – a few individuals and personal finance company, which means that December and January will be extremely solid months as well.

In all honesty, I had planned to roll out public consulting and speaking as part of these “site updates”. I wanted to have a space on the blog where I offer a couple packages for people looking to work closely with me. As it turns out, I’ve pushed it back – at least a little while – as my plate has just filled up really fast.

Consulting and speaking are two things I’m insanely passionate about right now. The process is really fulfilling for me. This is one area that I always wanted to pursue more, but didn’t feel like I was “ready for it” from a business perspective.

I’ve realized that’s complete bullshit. This is something I love doing and something individuals and companies have echoed that they receive enormous benefit from. People are coming to me and asking for it. I’d be a moron to not accept fulfilling work based on silly mental barriers.

So it’s time to leap… to step up and fill that role more – it really is a win-win.

In other words, don’t be surprised if I sneak in a “Work with Baker” page soon.  As soon as my schedule clears up, I may this emerging side of my business more readily available.  :-)

Other upcoming “Man Vs. Debt” events:

• My only “launch” for November won’t actually be through Man Vs. Debt itself. I’m joined forces with one of my closest online allies, Karol Gajda, to partner on a top-secret project. It’ll go live late in November – but will be separate from MvD.

• Announcement of the next “adventure” or chapter of our personal journey – if you will. As I mentioned, Courtney and I are working on a big leap in our personal life, as well. This is taking a lot our time right now – more details in a week or two.

• More killer content. As you may have realized, I’ve been pouring a lot of energy in the last few weeks into creating large, content-focused, resource posts. I want to continue this trend to close the year out with:  10,000 subscribers, 10,000 twitter followers, and 1,500 Facebook Fans.  These numbers are just benchmarks to help motivate more great content.  :-)

How can you close out 2010 with a bang?

Whether your working on personal or business goals… we have 8 weeks left in 2010. We’ll all set ambitious goals in a couple months for the new year – but what about right now.

Diet? Finances? Clutter? Time with family? Business?

Don’t wait for the New Year… let’s get some momentum now.

Leap with me…

photo by r’eyes

Since launching my Unautomate Your Finances back in March, I’ve been providing monthly income/expense reports in order to help promote financial transparency.

Last month, I missed posting any report for July, so as August wraps up here’s the “business” side of things around here.  I’m not going to lie and tell you that I’m o.k. with the last two months.  They are much, much lower than I wanted to be at this point!  Part of transparency is showing both good and bad month… both the set-up and the launches.  Here are the numbers:

July’s income/expenses:

Net from UYF Sales:  $330.99

• Total Guides Sold (June):  26
• Income (less Paypal fees):  $420.82
• Affiliate Payments:  -$89.83

Additional Income:  $1161.11

• Freelance Writing:  $200.00
• Thesis/ScribeSEO:  $234
• Unconventional Guides:  $612.51
• How to Live Anywhere:  $114.60
• Amazon:  $0

Direct Expenses:  -$364.74

• Hosting:  -$14.95
• Aweber:  -$29.00
• E-junkie:  -$5.00
• VodBurner:  -$9.95
• Domain Names: -$26.41
• iStock Photos: -$73.00
• Design Royalties: -$6.43
• Website Tech work: -$200

Net (Income – Expenses):  $1127.36

August’s income/expenses:

Net from UYF Sales:  $328.57

• Total Guides Sold (June):  27
• Income (less Paypal fees):  $436.52
• Affiliate Payments:  -$107.95

Additional Income:  $494.00

• Freelance Writing:  $200.00
• Thesis/ScribeSEO:  $0
• Unconventional Guides:  $238.68
• Language Hacking Guide:  $29.41
• Amazon:  $25.91

Direct Expenses:  -$154.19

• Hosting:  -$14.95
• Aweber:  -$29.00
• E-junkie:  -$5.00
• VodBurner:  -$9.95
• Domain Names: -$11.62
• Shipping: -$20.22
• Skype: -$10.00
• Techsmith Software: -$53.45

Net (Income – Expenses):  $660.67

Counting these two months, the average over the last 6 months of monetization: ~$1650/month

Keep in mind that by the nature of this business, most of the numbers above are from work (or lack of work) in the two months prior.  For example, I’ve done thousands in freelance work during August, which I will not see until October.  Also, the Sell Your Crap launch will create a spike of income, but will be from work put in over the last 4-5 months.  :-)

September Business Plans…

September will finally see the launch of the Sell Your Crap guide.  I know I’ve been saying that for months, but that is part of the transparency game.  I’d love for everything to line up perfectly… that’s not how it works!  :-)

The launch date is September 14th.  Ready or not, here it comes.  I have my own goals for launch it terms of business, traffic, and income.  While I won’t share my goals, I’ll be sure to continue the transparency at the end of next month!  :-)

Thanks for hanging with me as we get things back to normal.  The new Militia newsletter has been fired out over the last 3-4 weeks.  Blog posting has picked up and SYC is finally going to go live.

September is going to be a big month around here.  One that will define the direction of the site and business.  Thanks for all your support!

Xoxoxo,

-Baker

photo by restlessglobetrotter

A big part of this blog from the beginning has been financial transparency.  I’ve shifted from sharing the details of our daily spending (what we used to do), to sharing the details of the business side of the blog.  It seems many of you are most interested in this one segment of our financial journey.  :-)

May saw the lowest dip in income generated online, since the release of Unautomate Your Finances back in March.  This was expected and anticipated, although I did nothing to help it.  I had planned on guest posting and exposing new lists and audience to my first guide, as well as attempting to push forward the launch date of my forthcoming guide, Sell Your Crap.

Neither happened.

Instead, I posted only a few posts here, with absolutely no guest posts, no new exposure, no attempt at media mentions, and no additions, bonus, or specials on the first guide.  Not exactly a great business plan!  :-)

The only silver lining is that almost all of the income I received in May was very close to passive.  A far majority (as high as 90%) of the sales were initiated from old “evergreen” posts and content.

Here are the numbers for May:

Net from UYF Sales:  $481.81

• Total Guides Sold (April):  33
• Income (less Paypal fees):  $577.35
• Affiliate Payments:  -$95.54

Additional Income:  $525.97

• Freelance Writing:  $400.00
• Thesis/ScribeSEO:  $0.00 (under payout threshold)
• Unconventional Guides:  $125.97
• Amazon:  $0.oo (under payout threshold)

Direct Expenses:  -$110.90

• Hosting:  -$14.95
• Aweber:  -$29.00
• ScribeSEO:  -$27.00
• E-junkie:  -$5.00
• VodBurner:  -$9.95
• Kiva MasterMind: -$25.00

Net (Income – Expenses):  $896.88

A couple notes to highlight.  First, I had two new business products I affiliated with in May, but which technically paid the first few days of this month.  This is $1000+ dollars of income that was “earned” in May, but paid in “June”.  This helps prop up the month a bit.

I will also have a couple affiliate payments that didn’t meet thresholds and thus rolled over to June’s payout date.

This months brings the average of the last 3 months (since UYF release) down to:  ~$2100/month

While I’m not ecstatic about that number, it’s not terrible for a start.  The goal is to double it by the end of summer.

June’s Business Plans…

June will see the release of Sell Your Crap, my second premium guide.  This will have several modules, have extremely targeted value across different mediums, and will probably end up in the more traditional $30-$40 dollar range.

I don’t expect sales for Unautomate Your Finances to dip in June actually.  In fact, they will probably go up due to promotion regarding Sell Your Crap. I’d like to see UYF net between $800-$1000 itself.  My goal for the second launch will depend on the final content included in the guide and the price point.

As you all know, 90% of my effort and content will remain 100% free.  I’ll continue to openly share our journey to eliminate our debt, our battle to avoid accumulating clutter, and the ups and downs as we attempt to pursue our passions!

For those of you on a journey to produce online income yourself, feel free to e-mail me any specific questions you may have!

Hope everyone has a fantastic June!

Xoxoxo,

-Baker

Over the course of this blog, I’ve shared the details of our debt, our income, and our spending.  Back in March, I took a big step in the business side of this site by releasing my first premium guide, Unautomate Your Finances.

As I continue to take steps to grow my business, I want it to remain open and transparent to the members of the community who help support it.  Last month, I gave a breakdown of March’s sales and income, as well as results from the product launch.

Every month moving forward (launch or not) I want to continue this habit of reviewing/sharing the past month and forecasting out the current month.  Here’s April’s numbers and my business plans for May…

Net from UYF Sales:  $1012.73

• Total Guides Sold (April):  83
• Income (less Paypal fees):  $1344.17
• Affiliate Payments:  -$331.44

Additional Income:  $746.24

• Freelance Writing:  $500.00
• Thesis/ScribeSEO:  $120.45
• Unconventional Guides:  $105.57
• Amazon:  $20.22

Direct Expenses:  -$185.90

• Hosting:  -$14.95
• Aweber:  -$29.00
• ScribeSEO:  -$27.00
• E-junkie:  -$5.00
• VodBurner:  -$9.95
• Tech Consulting:  -$100.00

Gross (Income – Expenses):  $1573.07

As anticipated, income in April is down from March (launch month).  Despite this, I’m not too disappointed in these numbers.  I wanted Unautomate Your Finances to hit the $1000 mark for the month and it just barely crossed right at the end.

May’s Business Plans…

I fully expect another 15-20% dip this month in passive sales of the guide.  With that in mind, I’ll be looking to help boost traffic and sales in order to try to keep income from UYF sales right around $1000 net.  This may include going after more interviews, reviews, and guest posting opportunities to achieve that.

I’ll also be sharing two business products this month from two of the people I respect most online.  As you can see from the above numbers, I am very careful about who I affiliate with or what content I share with everyone on this site.  Here are some reviews you can look forward to:

1. Danielle Laporte’s “Firestarter Sessions”.  Danielle’s hot new multimedia guide is coming out on the 12th and we already recorded an interview that I’ll be sharing with you.  Frankly, it’s one of the best interviews I’ve ever had the pleasure of giving. Danielle blogs over at WhiteHotTruth.com and is one of the most authentic and passionate bloggers I know.
2. Chris Guillebeau’s “Empire Building Kit”. Chris launched his Empire Building Kit last month, but only left it open for 24 hours!  Luckily, I was able to snag a copy and have been devouring it (tons of content, video interviews, and 365 daily e-mails over the course of a year).  On the 18th, he’s opening it up for another 24 hours and I’ll be affiliating with this second opening.  I’ll be doing a write-up of my experience so far, what I’m using the product for in this business, and a special bonus guide on what I learned from the first UYF guide launch.  It’s going to be a lot of fun for anyone interested in small business.

So from May 12th –> May 18th, we’ll just call it “blow up your business” week around here, as two of my favorite people finally share their expertise with the world! 

Sell Your Crap…

Last, but not least, I’ll be working heavily on my second guide, which will be titled “Sell Your Crap”.  I think it’s more realistic that it’ll be released in early June, however it could hit the digital shelves later this month!  Either way, it’ll be consuming a big part of the business side of things around here in May.

As you all know, 90% of my effort and content will remain 100% free.  I’ll continue to openly share our journey to eliminate our debt, our battle to avoid accumulating clutter, and the ups and downs as we attempt to pursue our passions!

I appreciate your support and am looking forward to an exciting May!