For the last three years, I’ve been sharing our income report in some manner or another.

It started with a detailed breakdown of our household budget, debt, and where every dollar was being allocated. A year into this community, I began to consider the possibility of monetizing the website. When we made that decision, we started sharing monthly reports on any income generated along the way.

Recently, we’ve gotten away from the monthly reports for several reasons.

First, it’s a ton of work to publish the monthly reports. It takes away from other creative work that might be able to affect a wider percentage of the people who come to the blog in a much deeper way (not everyone benefits from these reports).

Second, there are half a dozen people involved in different ways behind the scenes. Some small, and now, some large. While I don’t mind disclosing my income, should I disclose theirs? I’ve not decided my position on this yet.

However, sharing the report in some way is still an important principle of this community.

Each and every one of you makes this journey possible. As a result, you deserve to know the inner working if you want to (in my opinion). Also, having a profitable community allows us to spread the core values and message in a way that we simply wouldn’t be able to do under any other scenario.

In short, I firmly believe that this *should* be public information. That there’s nothing wrong with it being public information. And the pursuit of a sustainable business ultimately means we help thousands and thousands more people.

Investing, Building, and Testing…

As I talked about throughout 2011, this year was all about investing and building.

I invested tens of thousands of dollars into creating courses and products (like You Vs. Debt), which haven’t yet returned the investment.

I also invested tens of thousands of dollars into building a team. A real, living, breathing team. With people I can trust… people who care about the business and the message themselves.

It’s far cheaper and less stressful to contract everything out – or to outsource recurring tasks to VAs based somewhere in Asia. For some businesses, this is an amazing route, but for mine I didn’t think it was a good fit.

I enjoy working with people, especially people who really do care about the business. And to accomplish our long-term vision, I’ll need to develop these relationships and learn to run a team (something I’m learning comes with lots of practice).

I’ve had several missteps. A couple of the first employees I thought would be a part of the team haven’t worked out in one way or another (much of the time this was my fault!). But I’ve learned an incredible amount and am starting to find the sweet spot.

The team in place today is the strongest, most passionate version we’ve had. I’m pumped.

2011 was also defined by testing.

We tested email services, shopping carts, affiliate systems, productivity systems, different team members, working on the road, working from an office, working as a team in person, working as a team remotely.

We spent a lot of time testing. We spent a TON of money testing.

Some of this was purely for business strategy. But most of it was for me personally.

Personally, I just didn’t know. I didn’t know what system I would enjoy. I didn’t know what environment I worked best in. I didn’t know what project management software I’d actually use.

I didn’t really even know what I wanted to be doing.

I didn’t know what my daily work would look like. I didn’t know what I wanted the hour-by-hour vision of my typical workflow to be.

Obviously, work isn’t going to be exactly replicated from day to day, but you’d be surprised how much your work routine, combined with the systems you use, can dramatically affect your creativity and productivity.

In 2011, we used the shotgun approach. We blasted a bunch of shrapnel and then went to see what actually hit.

I’m not suggesting this as an ultimate business strategy for you. I’m giving you an honest breakdown of what defined our 2011.

2011 By The Numbers…

All numbers are rounded. Income is rounded down. Expenses are rounded up.

This is how we teach people to budget, because it makes it easier to project, analyze, and envision what needs to be done (without needing an accounting degree).

Income from Products ($28,000)

• You Vs. Debt — $14,000
• Sell Your Crap – $12,500
• Unautomate Your Finances – $1,500

These are the products that I’ve produced, filmed and written and that we sell as part of the community here to help people with specific problems.

Unautomate Your Finances was our very first premium project and isn’t for sale any more. It’s been upgraded and replaced by the much more in-depth and impactful You Vs. Debt 6-week course.

Many online business people have a business model that relies on publishing a NEW product or course on a DIFFERENT topic every 6 months or so. While this may work for some, it’s not at all what our team wants.

We know there are a couple, very specific, and deeply tangible problems our community faces. We need to obliterate debt and we need to ditch our excess clutter and crap.

That’s not changing. Those issues affect almost everyone. There’s no reason for us to release new products from a slightly different angle every 6 months. We’ve got the solution right here.

So instead, we’re focusing on making the You Vs. Debt and Sell Your Crap courses the best available premium resources on those problems. It’s a 10-year product, not a 6-month product. Sure, we’ll improve them every few months – but most of what we do is focusing on how we can get amazing results for the people who get these resources in the future.

In 2011, we planned, shot, and edited You Vs. Debt TWICE. The first time was decent, but it wasn’t mind-blowing for people. We had our pioneers take the course and provide us with feedback needed to improve it.

We then completely went back to the drawing board and came up with a new approach (mostly the same content, just broken down more, and presented much better). We released the first version of this new course in the fall.

The second YvD version clicked! We had more than 100 people go through the course and in just the first few months, they’ve paid off more than $300,000 in combined debt; those that finished the course averaged nearly $1,400 in debt paid off in just those 6 weeks!

We didn’t take the shortest path, but ultimately our time and money invested paid off with amazing results. Our strategy in 2012 is to relaunch You Vs. Debt 3 to 4 times, improving and adding content each time.

We’ll ruthlessly track each and every individual to be able to analyze what makes the people who actually complete and succeed different from those who drop out at one point or another. It’s a huge project, but a worthwhile cause, and what I believe will be an amazing business venture as well.

Sell Your Crap was completely and utterly ignored in 2011. It continues to sell every week, but in the next few months will get an impressive overhaul. We’re strongly considering releasing a shorter, compact version of the “Main Guide” as a Kindle eBook.

This would allow us to move the more specific strategies (and technical tips) for eBay, Craigslist, garage sales, and Amazon to a new video course structure. We’ll be featuring more live examples and case studies than we did with the first version.

In summary, You Vs. Debt will continue to be a flagship product. We’ve found the right setup now and will have several classes in 2012. Sell Your Crap will receive a huge facelift, but will continue to help solve the same important issues.

*****

Income from Side Projects ($35,500)

• Only72.com — $29,000
• Hustle Project — $6,500

Many of you know that my friend Karol Gajda and I run a large sale twice per month over at Only72.com. We bring together online eBooks, courses, and apps and sell them for a short time at a large discount. We organize the sale, build the infrastructure, and take good care of the customers.

The sales really are a fantastic deal (if you are in the market for that training) and generated a large amount of sales. There are a whole host of income and expenses that are associated with just that side business; it would be too confusing to break this all down inside of the MvD income/expenses breakdown.

Once again, we did do more than $200,000 in revenue in 2011 (as we had the year before). After all was said and done, the portion the Man Vs. Debt team saw come in was around $29,000. Some of that will pay some of our expenses listed below, but much of that is profit from hosting the sales.

Overall, Only72 had another great year and two useful sales. I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you I expected it to do even larger numbers, though. Karol and I learned a lot from our most recent sale. As is the theme, we tested several new features and strategies that didn’t work as well as our initial one.

I feel blessed that I can experiment with different strategies and still have success with that side project. We have our own passionate community of people the enjoy those rare sales when they pop up.

The Hustle Project was another side project I took on with my good friend Corbett Barr. It was an attempt to offer something for those of you on the “Do What You Love” part of our journey here.

My favorite part of this whole process was getting to work alongside Corbett. He’s a fantastic guy with brilliant business savvy.

While I really enjoyed the webinars and the community of hustlers, I don’t think the format of bi-monthly webinars is a long-term solution for this particular problem. It would require a much more robust backend for users and several added features to be completely viable. Talking about business is profitable, but not quite where my heart is fully right now.

I want to focus on solving the debt and clutter issues first, before turning my focus to building and growing a business based on a cause you really love.

*****

 Income from Affiliated Resources ($8,650)

• Travel Hacking Cartel — $5,200
• Unconventional Guides — $1,600
• Amazon.com — $450
• Thesis (My Theme) — $350
• HostGator — $300
• Nerd Fitness — $300
• PocketSmith — $180
• Aweber — $160
• Benny Lewis — $60
• FireStarter Sessions — $50

For those of you that don’t know, affiliate marketing is a huge source of income for many online websites and communities. What happens is instead of paying for traditional advertising, many product or service creators pay a certain amount of the price to trusted allies who refer sales.

In some cases, it’s extremely small. For example, Amazon pays me 4% of a sale if I link to a book I enjoy and you end up purchasing. In my case, that relationship made me $400 last year (linking books or gear I use, etc…)

In other cases, you may get something like 50-80% of the sale. If you click my recommendation for Chris Guillebeau’s great Unconventional Guide books, I get roughly 50% of that sale (in this particular case).

That said, I do almost no active affiliate marketing.

There was only one post I did in 2011 that was a direct recommendation to check out a specific product or resource that wasn’t my own (Travel Hacking Cartel). As it turns out, that was a pretty good choice as many of our community members here have decided to join and stayed as customers.

In this case (as you’ll see), Courtney and I are also customers of that program. In fact, we don’t affiliate with anything we don’t either use or have used extensively in the past. This is why I’ve never pushed affiliated resources that much.

Some of the other income is from tools I use to run my business. I list them for people, but don’t actively push Man Vs. Debt readers to buy hosting or web themes. This simply isn’t the concern of most of the readers. Those who do want to start websites can find the resources very easily.

However, in 2012, I do think we could actually do a better job of affiliate marketing.

For example, there are many services and products I simply can’t offer, don’t want to offer, or have no freakin’ idea what I’m talking about around.

I’ve been searching for a good online bank account to recommend for two years, but haven’t found one yet. I may try harder to test a few out.

I have no idea what I’m talking about when it comes to investing strategy. I simply haven’t studied (nor do I want to right now) that arena. However, there are some readers and fans on that part of their journey. What should they do? Once again, I could try harder to find a resource I trust and recommend.

Overall, I’m much more concerned with knocking our own solutions and products out of the park. After all, these are the topics I study and talk to people about every single day.

But there’s certainly room, from a business perspective, to increase the type of people we partner with to help a wider variety of people (with problems we can’t help them with ourselves).

We’ll keep our eyes open for genuine matches for this style of marketing.

*****

Sponsorship Income ($20,800)

Most of you know that at the beginning of 2011, we kicked off a 6-month RV tour of the U.S. We had a blast and met thousands of people along the way (by far the most rewarding part)!

Along the way we got to host many meetups, parties, and events in various cities. The intensity of our schedule and the hosting of these gathering was only made possible through a partnership with Adaptu on the tour.

We designed a bright orange wrap for the RV (many of you got to see it live!) and negotiated a very genuine, light-touch way to partner for the road trip.

Adaptu was a fantastic partner to have. Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for anything more. Even when we decided to come off the road (for reasons many of you know), Adaptu understood and allowed us the flexibility to do so. That meant a lot to us.

At the same time, I’m not sure I want to throw my hat into a “sponsorship” ring again. This particular RV tour was a perfect fit, but those kinds of arrangements are few and far between. Working with a large company presents its own challenges – and anything more than the tour itself could have easily caused a conflict of interest.

I don’t mind partnering, affiliating, or developing relationships with companies. Not at all. But there’s a fine line between finding a great match (which we did this time) and compromising your values or message for money reasons.

*****

Consulting Income ($9,800)

Consulting was something I offered more in the beginning of 2011. I worked with some larger companies and some individual entrepreneurs.

Within the first few months I phased this out though (at least actively having it offered). While extremely profitable and enjoyable, it still involves me actively trading my time for money.

I’m much more passionate about scaling our solutions to much bigger problems. And, in retrospect, I get much of the same personal fulfillment from speaking that I do from consulting with clients.

I don’t mind working with one or two people per month. In particular, I enjoy the deep friendship that is formed after working several months with a person. But I don’t foresee this being a public offering again, nor a huge part of our projected 2012 revenue.

*****

Other Income ($1,800)

This include a small amount of freelance writing I did earlier in the year (more than $1,000 of this), as well as some random income such a returned purchases, banking rewards, unclaimed affiliate payments, etc…

*****

TOTAL INCOME — $104,550

*****

Expenses Related to Sales (-$6,650)

• Man Vs. Debt Affiliates — $4,300
• Processing Fees — $1,400
• Refunds — $950

Overall, I’d love these expenses to be MUCH HIGHER in 2012 (these all go up with more sales).

We need to do a much better job of giving our own affiliates the tools to successfully recommend You Vs. Debt and Sell Your Crap. (By comparison, we paid out more than $100,000 this year to Only72.com affiliates.)

We know what needs to be done to help others share our message, we just need to step up and organize this better.

Processing fees are what they are. You pay them and move on.

Refunds are still only happening on a very small percentage of our sales. The far majority of these refunds are for “my personal situation has changed and I need the money” reasons.

Because we offer 100% lifetime guarantees (for any reason), sometimes that does pop back up to backfire on you. But the percentages are so low, and the trust we gain with customers is so high, that it’s not even a question of whether it’s worth it or not.

I wouldn’t feel right if people weren’t allowed to get refunded at any point for any reason. So we won’t be switching this any time soon.

*****

Team Member Expenses (-$49,880)

• Permanent Team Members — $41,200
• You Vs. Debt Film Crew — $6,400
• External Tech Help — $1,300
• External Design Help — $520
• Transcripts — $460

And BOOM, here comes the big whammy.

As I suggested, we tested a lot of different setups with team members in 2011. We’ve rotated among four different “permanent” team members, at different times for different purposes. Ultimately, we’ve settled on two moving forward for 2012 (we’re a three-person team now).

This small team can handle most of the operations – design, filming, editing and content production – we want to have in 2012. We’ll still need to contract out a few technical issues and smaller things like transcripts, etc.

We didn’t even come close to using our money efficiently in this area in 2011, but I was more than happy to invest (or even lose) money in trying to figure this out. The next few years will be so much better because of this investment.

I’ll introduce our current team more in the coming weeks!

*****

Operation Expenses (-$8,460)

• InfusionSoft — $2,750
• Email marketing, shopping cart, affiliate program, etc.
• PremiumWebCart — $375
• Former shopping cart, replaced by InfusionSoft
• Optimizely — $500
• Used for split-testing different version of a shopping cart or sales page
• Clothing — $475
• Purchased for filming You Vs Debt or public speaking events
• Aweber — $300
• Former primary email provider, replaced by InfusionSoft; might go back
• SnapEngage — $275
• Allows for live chat during launches or sales period (with potential customers)
• AppSumo — $275
• A “bundle package” that offered discounts on some different design packages, icons, etc.
• Employee Gifts — $350
• Self-explanatory
• Wufoo — $250
• Software we use to survey in You Vs. Debt (and Man Vs. Debt) and sort responses
• Travel Hacking Cartel — $300
• Program we use to earn miles and find discounts for business travel
• GoDaddy — $300
• Domain names. Some necessary. Many not!
• Wishlist — $300
• One-time plugin that we use to manage You Vs. Debt community membership
• Amazon s3 — $200
• Fast, easy hosting for many of our videos and our course content
• Wrike — $300
• Project management software we tested; replaced by free option
• Mailchimp — $200
• Another email option we tested; easy to use, but replaced by InfusionSoft
• iDev Affiliate — $250
• Old affiliate program, replaced by InfusionSoft
• HostGator — $180
• Hosting for Man Vs. Debt and You Vs. Debt communities
• Lynda.com — $150
• Training on editing, design, software for team
• iStockPhoto — $120
• Various images bought for Man Vs. Debt
• Dropbox — $120
• How we share and back up our files
• E-junkie — $120
• How we formerly sold Unautomate Your Finances
• Bank Fees — $100
• Fee to make 1-day ACH payments to contractors and employees; also, some wire fees
• Shipping — $90
• Mostly books we have given away to readers
• Misc. — $90
• Everything random that didn’t fit or was unknown
• Spotify — $50
• Listened to and used every single day in our at-home office
• GetClicky — $40
• Tested for use in real-time analytics and tracking; not used any more
• JewelBeat — $5
• Music for podcasting and programs

Whew.

First and foremost, as you can tell, we learned a lot about what DIDN’T work in 2011.

Of this entire list, fewer than half are things we’ll be using moving forward in 2012. Many of the moving parts were condensed as we started using InfusionSoft to do multiple things.

That said, InfusionSoft is expensive – and I’m not sure we’ll keep it long-term. In theory, it treats each person as a real person (instead of just a name on another list). It allows you to segment people very specifically; you can customize the way you reach out to those who’ve clicked but didn’t buy in a different way than you might for people who are brand new, etc.

Ultimately, this would allow us to offer better solutions to different people. It would keep people from seeing messages that don’t apply to them. It would make for a better experience overall!

But in practice, it’s a clunky software and requires a ton of training to be able to properly use. We aren’t leveraging it anywhere NEAR its potential.

We’re sticking with it for now, because we’re slowly starting to squeeze our value out of it. But the bottom line is there is no “best” option for email marketing, shopping carts, sales, and customer management yet.

In fact, I know dozens and dozens of bloggers making their livings online – and not a single one of them is ecstatic about this part of the industry. I hope someone figures this out (and soon) to the benefit of everyone!

At the end of 2011, our team sat down and evaluated each expense and whether or not we were fully utilizing it. We cut 75% of them (even ones we were sort-of-kind-of using). Armed with our knowledge of the different options, we’re starting from a clean slate.

If you have any more specific questions about all these apps and software, ask in the comments. I’ll do my best to answer them.

*****

Hardware Expenses (-$10,350)

• Laptop Gear — $4,700
• Camera Gear — $3,900
• Podcasting Gear — $1,300
• Books/Courses — $450

In 2011, we invested in a wide variety of equipment that we’ll get years of use out of (but which cost us up front, out of pocket).

First and foremost, we bought two laptops. The first was purchased for as an “advance” for a team member who’ll be handling all the video editing, audio editing, and design work.

The second, unfortunately, was my own.

Why buy a new laptop, you ask?

Because mine was stolen from the dressing room of TEDx Asheville while I was giving my talk on stage.

Talk about a good way to ruin an otherwise amazing day!

I’ve traveled around the world and around the U.S. – I’ve worked in HUNDREDS of coffee shops and public spaces (not all the nicest of places) and never had anything stolen (at all). The one time I do get my laptop jacked is in Asheville, NC, at a TEDx conference. Oh, the irony.

TEDx didn’t have insurance. The theater didn’t have insurance. All right, whatever. Buy a new one and move on. I didn’t have to replace my MacBook with a MacBook, but I did. I love my MacBook (as expensive as they are) and work on it every day.

On the camera front, we invested in a Canon 5D Mark II to film the videos for the You Vs. Debt course, as well as the upcoming MvDTV Youtube videos. Along with tripod, lenses, bag, etc… it was a big investment.

Courtney is a photographer herself, so we are able to get dual business use from this. But for Man Vs. Debt, we’ll also use it to record speeches, events, and publish amazing video. It’s not even close to a necessity for what we need, but it does give us an amazing level of professionalism to live up to.

In December, we also invested in a professional podcasting microphone, mixer, and recorder to produce our new Man Vs. Debt podcast. In addition, I hired Cliff Ravenscraft of Podcast Answer Man for an hour of his valuable consulting time.

Cliff’s time and expertise saved me countless hours getting everything set-up, configured, and working. Essentially, we were able to focus right away on the content and the approach, which let us get the podcast out the door with almost no friction (a really big deal around here).

Once again, the professional microphone and setup will allow us to shoot better video, better interviews for different blogs, radio shows and other outlets – in addition to helping us to produce a great sounding podcast.

The podcast is going extremely well (off to a fast start) and we’re really excited about its potential in 2012!

*****

Communication Expenses (-$1,260)

• Cell Phone — $610
• Internet — $390
• Mobile Wifi — $200
• Coworking — $60

Not sure why I separate out this category, but I always have.

There’s nothing especially wonderful or helpful for me to explain here!

*****

Food / Eating Out Expenses (-$4,700)

No, that’s not a typo. We really did spend $4,700 on food in various business-related expenses in 2011.

Keep in mind that for the first half of 2011, we were traveling the country on a daily basis hosting meetups. Our sponsor helped pay for some of this cost, but not all of it. Several times, we bought the food for dozens and dozens of people at the meetup.

We also defaulted to connecting with people over food (we still do, although certainly not as much). In my mind, there are few things more powerful than sharing conversation and a meal.

This also accounts for all food bought or purchased during traveling for conference or speaking engagements, etc… Once again, this should go down in 2012 as we’re on a much slower travel schedule.

*****

Travel-Related Expenses (-$3,010)

• Airfare — $1,650
• Other Transportation — $690
• Hotels — $520
• Parking — $150

None of “these” travel expenses are related directly to the RV tour. Meaning, for example, that lodging isn’t counting campground fees. These expenses were related to non-RV travels to conferences (mostly).

2012 will likely see some of these go up, but hopefully so will the compensation for attending and speaking at various conferences.

*****

TOTAL EXPENSES — (-$84,310)

*****

Net Profit From Business in 2012…

$20,240.

Unfortunately, I’m not missing a zero.

After all the work, sweat, and tears I put into Man Vs. Debt this year, we took home around $20,000.

And even more sadly, this doesn’t account for ANY expenses we incurred as part of the RV tour (other than meetup food). So our taxes this year might even show a loss (or a break-even year)… we’ll leave that to the professional accountant.

But, it’s important to note, I’m not at all down about this number.

In fact, I’m proud.

Sure, we were wasteful in many parts. We focused too much on testing software and systems. I made mistakes in my initial team-building attempts. We bought equipment that wasn’t a bare necessity to deliver value.

On the flip side, look at everything we’ve accomplished:

1. I’ve found a great team and a fantastic set-up for 2012 (one of my biggest goals). It cost me, but I’m happy with the result.
2. We invested in a wide variety of gear that’ll help us increase our professionalism for years to come (on many projects).
3. We’ve honed You Vs. Debt to the point where it’s delivering results we’ve never been able to get (from anything else) before.
4. I’ve learned more about business this year than in all my previous years combined. School of hard knocks, anyone?
5. We prioritized making an impact and delivering long-term value over a quest for sheer dollars. It takes both to survive through the long haul, but I’m glad we didn’t give up to chase more money right away.

Trust me, folks. I want to make more than $20,000 a year when I’m dedicating this much of my life and effort to something. (If anyone tells you that this is *easy*, run the other way quickly!)

Courtney and I will have to net more than that in 2012 in order to live!

But I’m not discouraged. Nowhere close.

I’m excited for 2012.

I talked about this just a few weeks ago, but here’s the short summary of our agenda:

• Launch You Vs. Debt 3 to 4 more times. Make it the best course on attacking debt anywhere.
• Revisit Sell Your Crap and give it a nice facelift. Potentially create a Kindle eBook.
• Record 35 episodes of the new Man Vs. Debt podcast.
• Launch and routinely film MvDTV on YouTube.
• Redesign Man Vs. Debt.
• Record a documentary.
• Analyze the problems of our audience that we can’t solve and partner with genuine, trustworthy solutions.
• Explore developing our own budgeting software and app.
• Speak 12 times this year. Have travel expenses compensated (at minimum) for most of these appearances.

Our choice to invest so much this year was a conscious one.

This doesn’t mean we didn’t make plenty of mistakes, but we chose to go down that path consciously.

Now it’s time to show off what that investment can do.

And, for that, I’m honored to have you along for the ride.

Ask any questions in the comments. I’ll do my best to respond!

Xoxoxoxo,

-Baker

2011 was a crazy, crazy year for us.

It was full of ups and downs, twists and turns, and big lifestyle swings.

In case you’ve forgotten (or haven’t been around that long), here’s a short list of some of best, most intense, or most controversial posts of 2011.

Most Popular:  24 Quick Actions You Can Do Today That Can Change Your Financial Life Forever

The competition wasn’t even close this year for most popular post. In fact, the above “24 Action” post *nearly* beat out all other posts in 2011 combined. It was shared a staggering amount of times on Facebook and Twitter and inspired several other posts around the blogosphere. It’s one of the best places to start if you are new!

Most Important:  Thoughts on Losing an Unborn Child…

Within three days, this became the most commented post (300+) in Man Vs. Debt history. That meant a lot to us (still does). Writing the post was more therapeutic than anything else, but I’m really happy at the personal emails I’ve received from people it’s deeply helped through their own tough situations.

Most Pride Generated:  My TEDx Talk: “What Does Freedom Mean to You?”

I’m extremely proud of my recent TEDx Talk (I know I just posted it), because it sums up the experience we’ve been on over the last three years so well. If you are new to the community and haven’t invested the 19 minutes, please do. I think you’ll find it a fantastic overview of our message!

Most Discussed:  Do You Give to Panhandlers?

This generated over 230 comments on what turned out to be a fantastic discussion on principles, perception, and charity. The comments section contains great points made by both sides. The jury is still out for me!

Most Controversial:  The Cost of a Dead Osama Bin Laden

This is a short post that a few people provided some extremely harsh feedback on. The topic is obviously a bit polarizing, but I didn’t set out to make it controversial at all. Still goes to prove that you have to be very careful when navigating waters like these!

Most Facebook Likes:  [Infographic] Why Student Loans Suck…

Three posts this year broke the 1,000 Facebook Like mark, but this infographic I shared earlier in the year beat out even the “Most Popular” overall post with 1,300+ likes on facebook. Turns out everyone hates student loans!

Most Reminiscing:  10 Truths I’ve Learned on the Open Road… 

As most of you know, Courtney, Milli, and I spent the first 2/3 of the year traveling around the U.S. in our R.V. We met so many amazing people, learned so much about ourselves, and had a lot of fun. Of all the posts in 2011, this post made me smile the most as I reread it recently.

Most Bang For Your Buck:  It’s O.K. to Change Your Course

An extremely short and punchy post that cracked the top 5 this year in most metrics. If you are looking for the biggest impact in the shortest amount of time, this is likely your favorite of the year!

*****

Overall, Man Vs. Debt had close to 600,000 unique visitors to the site in 2011. These visitors viewed just under 1.4 million pages.

We didn’t quite hit all our “benchmarks” I had set early in the year (for goals like subscribers, pageviews, Facebook fans, etc…), but that’s OK. We made great progress toward all of them on what averaged out to be about 2 posts per month only!

What to Expect in 2012!…

I’m going to take a slightly different approach to goal-setting this year. Instead of measuring many of the traditional, larger metrics – I want to measure our creative output as a community.

One of my biggest goals for last year was to build a small team to help magnify what is possible for the community. It wasn’t easy or simple, but I believe I’ve found that mix now. Starting this month, you’ll get to know them more.

GOAL #1: Find a fun way to consistently produce valuable content.

My desire to consistently produce content went down in 2011. I actually don’t think I produced any LESS overall, but much of it was invested in to products like “You Vs. Debt”, speeches, etc… In other words, I didn’t produce as much free-to-the-masses value as I had wanted!

As a team, we want to up that to 8-10 creative content pieces per month! This involves me getting more into podcasting, video production, and other ways to deliver inspiring and impactful content without getting burned out (which happens when I write all the time).

For years, I’ve been the only voice on the website with only a couple guest posts per year. I may bring on an occasional fresh voice from time to time this year to spice things up and provide another unique perspective. We won’t do anything crazy, but in moderation this will really help our first goal.

GOAL #2: Be everywhere (inspired by Pat).

We just launched the new podcast and have set up the studio here at the house for regular video productions. My goal for 2012 is to finally expand into audio and video to complement the writing we do around here.

Specifically:

• Reach Episode 35 of the Man Vs. Debt Podcast.
• Reach Episode 26 of MvDTV (new).
• Get Youtube channel to 1,000,000 views (this includes other videos outside of MvDTV alone).
• Film and produce a documentary (this won’t be about MvD, but will be on a topic related to our message).

GOAL #3: Generate $250,000 in revenue

This is a purely business goal, but one that means we can pay for all our expenses, support our small team, and still have fantastic money left over. I firmly believe a healthy business side to the community will ensure that we can spread out message for many more years to come.

GOAL #4: 1,000 new You Vs. Debt alumni

In 2011, I invested tens of thousands of dollars (and what seemed like that many man hours) recording one of our two flagship courses. After completely scrapping the first version, we’ve finally struck gold with our second attempt. Students from the Fall 2011 class are doing phenomenal on average – and we plan to have 3-4 different classes in 2012.

Having 1,000 new people go through the course and graduate will make a huge impact, make the course even better than it is, and give our community hundreds of new success stories for inspiration.

What are your 2012 Goals?…

As you can see, I’ve moved away from tracking the “big” numbers as it pertains to the website (and even my personal life). But I’m interested to see how you approach reflecting on past years and planning for the new one.

In my personal life, I’m attempting to dedicate this year to fitness (and nearly fitness alone). Instead of having 10 different categories and 10 different sub-goals. I’m going to channel focus into fitness.

Last year was up and down in this area. Some good progress and then some setbacks. But I’ve never fully dedicated myself to this (I’ve always prioritized other commitments and projects over my health).

So this year is about prioritizing the habit of fitness over any other (even this community).

One focus. One vision.

We’ll see how it goes!

What are your goals for your business and life in 2012?

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

Today, I’m excited to announce the biggest news in Man Vs. Debt history…

We’re expecting our second child in early November!

We’ve known for a little while now, but with our lifestyle on the road – we wanted to make sure we were able to see a midwife/physician and double confirm everything is moving along healthy. So far, so good!

We’ve been sharing the news with people at the last few meetups (Courtney is showing much earlier this time around!) – and I wanted to take some time to answer some of the common questions that have been coming up.

Did you plan this?

Yes. Though it happened quickly!

What does this mean for life on the road?

We aren’t 100% sure. For now, we plan to continue everything at the very least into early August. We have a very full schedule still – and as long as Courtney’s health and energy allows it, we’ll likely keep going.

How does Courtney feel in the RV?

Overall, she’s feeling great. She’s much more tired on average than she remembers feeling the first time – and is showing more quickly than the first. I know little about pregnancy, but Courtney claims these are actually common for women their second time around!

Where will you have the baby?

We’re about 80% sure we’ll have the baby back in Indianapolis. We still have many family and friends there – and until we know that everyone is happy and healthy after the birth – we’ll likely spend that time with our support network. We are also considering home birth, which will be easier for us in our home town. As a bonus, this will also put us back for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

What will you do with the RV? Will you live in it after the baby is born?

We don’t know. We have no plans to get rid of the RV, nor are we convinced that we will stop traveling and settle down. We may do just that, we may continue traveling. We may live in the RV for another year. In short, we are keeping our options open – but won’t make any big decision until the first of the year, after the birth.

Is it a boy or a girl?

As of now, we don’t plan on finding this out ahead of time. We’ll wait for the surprise.

Is Milligan excited?

She seems to understand the situation and is very excited. She’s taken a much bigger interest in babies now – and when people talk about them around her – she is very forthcoming with the fact that “Mommy has a baby in her tummy, TOO!”

Does this change your financial plans or goals?

It doesn’t really affect us drastically. The pregnancy will likely cost at least $4,000-$5,000 out-of-pocket. This is because we have high-deductible insurance (we knew this going into it).

Our primary goals of investing in our business and finishing our student loans will remain the same. We don’t anticipate a huge lifestyle switch (financially at least – mentally this is going to be an adventure!).

If anything, this makes me even more serious about getting the business to the point where I can take most of November and December off. I’d like to work maybe 5-10 hours per week during these months this year – and with some planning and savings this should be very possible.

*****

Thanks again for all your support. I say it often, but I mean it – I’m blessed to have a community to share events like this with openly!

xoxoxo,

-Baker, Courtney, Milli, and ProjectX

Each month, as part of an ongoing transparency project, I share the income, expenses, and master plans of my pursuit to earn a living online. This includes many of the expenses related to our RV lifestyle.

Personal finance 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 are!

April’s Business Income/Expenses…

Sell Your Crap income:  $1,261.64

You Vs. Debt income:  $5,107.60

Additional Income:  $1,368.89

• Travel Hacking Cartel:  $503.37
• Consulting (off the market):  $385.19
• Pocketsmith:  $183.80
• WhitePixel:  $82.07
• Unconventional Guides:  $80.58
• UYF Sales (off the market):  $47.50
• Amazon Affiliate: $37.63
• Language Hacking Guide: $33.50
• Bank Fee Refund: $15.25

Direct Expenses:  -$6,734.12

• YvD Launch Consulting:  -$4000.00
• WDS Conference Tickets: -$610.84
• YvD Graphics: -$501.25
• Affiliate Payments:  -$393.77
• Food/Meals: -$289.31
• Cell Phone (final): -$175.32
• Website tech work: -$130.00
• YvD Transcriptions: -$112.15
• AppSumo Deal: -$99.00
• Premium Web Cart: -$79.97
• Optimizely: -$79.00
• Aweber:  -$49.00
• Virgin Mobile: -$40.00
• Rebel Strength Guide: -$39.00
• Cloud Blogging Guide: -$37.00
• Wufoo: -$29.95
• Travel Hacking Cartel: -$25.00
• MailChimp:  -$15.00
• E-junkie:  -$10.00
• DropBox:  -$9.99
• Domain Name: -$8.57

Net (Income – Expenses):  $1,004.01

Over the last 13 months, this brings the average net to: ~$5500/month.

Want to know even more details? My friend Corbett Barr (from ThinkTraffic.net fame) and I will be hosting a live Q&A this coming Wednesday on “Building Momentum for Your Online Business”. We’ll leave no questions unanswered, but there are only 100 spots on the webinar. Here’s the link to save your spot if interested.

As you can see, we successfully launched the very first private “You Vs. Debt” course behind-the-scenes last month. We’re in the middle of the course now, tweaking and testing the content, gathering feedback, and helping people radically change their financial approach.

It’s thrilling to see the first group of people take the course, as I’ve never before approached my courses/eBooks in this manner. I can already see the impact it will have on the eventual public release (likely late next month).

Even still, there is a lot left to do – the grunt work is far from over as far as the course is concerned!

You may also notice a $4,000 payment to a team member. Keep in mind this actually represents several months of hard work – and is an investment in a piece of my team that I want to play a core role for years to come.

As always, I’ll answer any questions below!

RV Tour Updates… Keep Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’…

April saw us visiting and hosting meetups in the cities of Phoenix, San Diego, and L.A.

The Phoenix meetup was especially fun – as we had a BBQ out at a local park – and 30-35 people, including several families with kids were able to swing by. This was a welcome unique-twist to our normal gatherings!

In San Diego, I was interviewed and featured in the San Diego Union-Tribune (which was fun). Our meetup had a smaller, but very mighty turnout – featuring what ended up being mostly other entrepreneurs and bloggers!

We also had a great time while staying with friends in Hollywood, Los Angeles. We had a strong showing of personal finance industry folk and bloggers turn out and share some great tamales and stories at the meetup.

Let me pause here to share that at each step of the way our sponsor, Adaptu.com swooped in and bought free food for everyone – at each meetup.

To be clear, this isn’t something they are supposed to do. Nor is this something I’m required to talk about here. I’m just extremely fortunate to have found and created a really great relationship with the team over there.

They’ve been a fantastic company to work with – and offer a valuable service that is completely free. Thanks again to Adaptu for help making this tour a great experience for us so far!

Next stop: SAN FRANCISCO!

May brings us into San Francisco (where I’m writing this as of now), for the first couple of weeks.

In mid-May, we’ll spend a week driving through northern California and southern Oregon. We hear these areas are especially beautiful for driving.

Ultimately, we’ll pull into Portland, Oregon toward the end of the month – and are looking forward to a couple weeks with good friends and allies before the World Domination Summit in early June.

RV Expenses/Lifestyle Cost…

Speaking of the tour, here’s a glimpse at the expenses related to our RV lifestyle (for April).

Gas: $605.03 (-58%)

Whoo-hoo, down over half! While gas prices have continued to go up, up, up… we’ve driven less, less, less.

Essentially, we drove only two legs: from Phoenix to San Diego and from San Diego to L.A.

Campground Fees: $489.50 (-13%)

We stayed the far majority of the time at campgrounds this time, but did benefit a small amount from having cheaper parking with friends in the Los Angeles area at the end of the month.

As it seems moving forward, $500 appears to be a realistic and comfortable budget for us. We *could* do it on much smaller incomes, but we also could easily spend more as frequently as we are moving.

Hotel/Hostel/Lodging: $0 (0%)

Once again, we’ve avoided any extra cost from lodging outside the RV – making two months in a row now.

This isn’t much of a feat, but early on we had several circumstances that forced us into more expensive lodging.

Propane: $35.06 (+100%)

We only had to fill our propane tank once in April (after not filling it at all in March).

It appears as long as we stay out of cold weather, propane won’t add any significant pain to our budget. It’s actually fairly affordable.

Tolls/Parking: $0 (-100%)

April didn’t see any toll roads, parking garages, or miscellaneous fees that we encountered on the road.

We did get stopped along the Mexican/U.S. Border – but all they wanted to know was if I was a U.S. Citizen. Check.

Repairs: $ 55.25 (-40%)

As with last month, we only had one very minor problem with the RV or Jeep this month.

It came to our attention that we had the wrong size of “hitch ball” that we were towing the Jeep with. While it had still towed several thousand miles, it was starting to warp a bit – and wasn’t the most safe option.

In addition, the wiring jack that connects the RV lights to the Jeep lights when we were towing was shorted out (this is important so the brake lights and such work on the back of the Jeep when towing).

I’m proud to report, I fixed both problems myself with a trip to AutoZone. Now, these are the most simple problems in the world for anyone who works on… well, anything. But for me, splicing the wires and installing the proper trailer hitch are HUGE accomplishments!

I’m very happy with our expenses this month. We saw reductions in nearly every category. We live a VERY comfortable RV lifestyle (and a fairly mobile one) and our expenses are becoming much more controllable.

Hoping to keep it up!

*****

As always, I’m willing to tackle any questions you may have in the comments below.

I’m excited to have you along for the ride – and to have a community where I can share so openly.

Xoxoxo,

-Baker

Each month, as part of an ongoing transparency project, I share the income, expenses, and master plans of my pursuit to earn a living online. This includes many of the expenses related to our RV lifestyle.

Personal finance 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 are!

First, here’s a look back at March (by the numbers):

March’s Business Income/Expenses…

Unautomate Revenue (off the market):  $221.00

• Total Guides Sold:  13

Sell Your Crap Revenue:  $1318.40

• Total Guides Sold (all versions):  33

Additional Income:  $11,122.11

• Advertising/Sponsorship: $10,000.00
• Travel Hacking Cartel:  $503.37
• Consulting (off the market):  $397.00
• Amazon Affiliate: $78.91
• Thesis Affiliate: $77.55
• Unconventional Guides:  $65.28

Direct Expenses:  -$4994.48

• You Vs. Debt Filming:  -$1040.00
• Virtual Assistants: -$740.00
• Food & Drink: -$653.29
• Airfare:  -$646.20
• Sketch Graphics: -$400.00
• Website tech work: -$292.50
• Affiliate Payments:  -$274.88
• External HDs: -$213.44
• Shut Up & Hustle: -$175.00
• AppSumo Deal: -$99.00
• Team Member Gifts: -$75.00
• Paypal Fees: -$74.98
• Aweber:  -$49.00
• Basecamp (canceled): -$49.00
• Icon image package: -$49.00
• Virgin Mobile: -$40.00
• Wufoo: -$29.95
• Travel Hacking Cartel: -$25.00
• E-junkie:  -$10.00
• MailChimp:  -$10.00
• DropBox:  -$9.99
• Amazon S3: -$8.25

Net (Income – Expenses):  $7667.03

Over the last 12 months, this brings the average net to: ~$5860/month.

Like last month, this month was all about pumping more time, energy, and money into building my You Vs. Debt course.

I’ve cut down many of my past income streams to focus on building the absolute best training I can. I flew away from the RV for a week (to two different locations) to finish up video editing and course planning with other team members.

Much of the increase in hardware and software is going to help with the same cause. I’ll be the first to admit many of these expenses are high due to me testing different solutions. I’m testing VA’s, new software/accounts, graphics, etc… (in addition to the increased travel costs).

The good news is I’m starting to find the solutions and the workflow that works best for me (and the couple of people I’m working with). This will allow me to cut the fat in the coming months – and pump up the expenses that truly pay off.

Why am I’m spending so much time and money on You Vs. Debt?

I’ve been getting a great question (from several people) over the past few months.

Essentially, much of what I can do to generate income has *extremely* low overhead. In other words, my raw expenses to create just another eBook would be less than $1000 – even for a high-quality one.

Consulting expenses? Almost nothing. Same for freelance writing – nearly no direct expenses.

So if I’m able to generate a decent income with almost no overhead… why am I spending so much money to produce You Vs. Debt?

Simple answer: It’s the most in-depth creative endeavor I’ve ever attempted – one that has the potential to change the lives of tens of thousands of people.

There are hundreds of eBooks (many high-quality) just among bloggers I know alone. eBooks, however, can only go so far in their interaction and impact on the reader.

I can do better.

I have the power to go deeper.

I have the ability to build an interactive multimedia course – and to bring together a community that’ll help hold each other accountable.

Most importantly, I realized that stepping up my game would enable me to shift people’s relationship with money and debt on a level no eBook or blog post can.

Last week, I emailed out to the You Vs. Debt early adopters list and set up 8 phone calls with readers at all points in their financial journey. I simply wanted to hear what they were going through in their own words.

Those phone calls were mind-blowing. I knew they’d be helpful, but I never could have estimated how motivating it would be for me to talk 1-on-1 with others about their challenges. (I talk to people about these issues all the time on the road – but not back-to-back at that intensity!)

Talking with those readers reminded me that fighting back against your debt isn’t just a matter of knowing the step-by-step process.  Sure, it’s important to know the basic steps… but it doesn’t stop there.

You can’t fight debt with logic alone. A person’s environment, community, and mindset are the biggest factors in their long-term success!

Over the next couple weeks, I’ll be opening “You Vs. Debt” to a very small group of pioneer members. We’ll be gathering feedback from these early adopters to help shape future curriculum for the general public.

This initial batch of seats will only be sent to the members of the private notification list below (I won’t be making them available here on Man Vs. Debt):

West Coast here we come!…

Our RV Tour continues to motor along…

We had an amazing time meeting so many inspiring and fun people at SxSw in March. Austin seems like such a fun city – I’m not sure I’d want to live there – but I love having the chance to visit once per year.

On that note, thanks again to everyone who came out to the SxSw meetup. We had a packed house as Adaptu.com provided free coffee and breakfast to everyone!

I gave well over 15 RV tours, most with over 5 people coming through. It was a blast to pack so many people in such a short time (even if we were tired afterwards)!  I really do appreciate it!

Next up is Phoenix!

We’ve been here a week or so, but this Friday we are hosting a BBQ meetup with the amazing Pam Slim. If you are in the greater Phoenix area, we’d love to hang out!

Over the coming weekend, we’ll likely motor out to San Diego area. We’ll be spending at least a week in the area and hosting a San Diego meetup, as well!

The end of April will likely bring L.A. into focus – with the new potential of a quick plane trip to Panama to visit family!

The fun doesn’t stop!

RV Expenses/Lifestyle Cost…

Speaking of the tour, here’s a glimpse at the expenses related to our RV lifestyle (for March).

Gas: $1433.06 (+11%)

We hit the road in two big spurts this month – from Tampa to Austin – and from Austin out to Phoenix.

We made some stops along the way, but those two huge drives really put on the miles this month!

Campground Fees: $564.47 (+260%)

Our campground fees shot up to a much higher amount as we lost the benefit of staying with friends in Tampa.

Being in the Austin area for SxSw also brought along premiums that were a little higher than normal. All things considered, we didn’t do too poorly for paying nearly 100% of the nights.

Hotel/Hostel/Lodging: $0 (-100%)

Boom! Part of the uptick in campground fees was the fact that we didn’t stay anywhere outside of the RV this month. Honestly, I expect this to be the norm moving forward (we may stay at a special place once every couple of months).

Propane: $0 (-100%)

Boom, boom! I actually couldn’t believe we didn’t have any propane, but in the nicer weather we only use it for cooking. To be fair, we filled up at the end of February – and are in desperate need of another refill here in early April.

Tolls/Parking: $10 (+79%)

I don’t remember exactly where we had to splurge for parking (or tolls), but I’m not disappointed at only $5-10/month.

Repairs: $ 90.66 (-75%)

After back-to-back months of multiple small repairs, I’m happy to report we had only one minor problem this month.

Somehow the wiring that runs our propane became loose (or rusted) and quit operating the emergency panel that monitors propane. When this happens, the system effectively shuts down propane use (just in case there is a leak).

Good news, there was no leak – and we found the problem.  Bad news, the repair technician charges $90.66.

Once again, I’m not too disappointed in our RV expenses this month. Gas and campground fees notched up a bit, but the others fell as expected.

*****

As always, I’m willing to tackle any questions you may have in the comments below.

I’m excited to have you along for the ride – and to have a community where I can share so openly.

Xoxoxo,

-Baker

photo by gustaffo89

Each month, as part of an ongoing transparency project, I share the income, expenses, and master plans of my pursuit to earn a living online. This includes many of the expenses related to our RV lifestyle.

Personal finance 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 are!

First, let’s look back at February (by the numbers):

February’s Business Income/Expenses…

Unautomate Revenue (off the market):  $272.00

• Total Guides Sold:  16

Sell Your Crap Revenue:  $1074.00

• Total Guides Sold (all versions):  22

Shut Up & Hustle Revenue:  $225.00

Additional Income:  $2154.50

• Consulting (off the market):  $1593.75
• Freelance Writing (off the market):  $226.05
• Unconventional Guides:  $186.15
• Amazon Affiliate: $69.05
• Host Gator Affiliate: $50.00
• Language Hacking Guide:  $29.50

Direct Expenses:  -$3145.00

• Food & Drink: -$521.79
• Virtual Assistant:  -$482.50
• You Vs. Debt Filming:  -$450.00
• Wishlist Plugin: -$297.00
• Affiliate Payments:  -$229.77
• Website tech work: -$240.00
• Cell Phone: -$175.59
• eSellerate Cart: -$99.00
• Products/Research:  -$96.25
• Domain Renewals: -$88.72
• Team Member Gifts: -$75.30
• You Vs. Debt Clothes: -$73.77
• Paypal Fees: -$65.31
• Aweber:  -$49.00
• Virgin Mobile: -$40.00
• Wufoo: -$29.95
• Travel Hacking Cartel: -$25.00
• Bank Fee: -$25.00
• iStock Photo: -$18.50
• Cab Ride: -$15.00
• E-junkie:  -$10.00
• MailChimp:  -$10.00
• DropBox:  -$9.99
• Paid Internet: -$9.89
• Domain Name: -$7.67

Net (Income – Expenses):  $580.50

Over the last 12 months of monetization, this brings the average to: ~$5500/month.

As you can see from the “net” and the numbers above – this month was about investing back into the machine. I spent thousands of dollars this month on building a team and investing in the next big project.

I’ve also invested my “time” and “energy” by manually choosing to cut off several income streams. The consulting and freelance writing trickled in from money that was owed (I took on no new clients or writing gigs).

At the beginning of the month, I had a team of four people converge on a single location to help strategize, film, and plan. I took care of meals, travel, etc… which inflated my expenses, but which I predict I’ll look back on and realize was the smartest money I’ve ever spent.

As most of you know, up until the last several weeks it’s been me (and only me) keeping the ship afloat. It’s scary to bring new people (and the expense) into the equation – but I know it’s right.

We’ll all make mistakes, but in the end – it’s going to rock. I feel it.

You Vs. Debt…

All of this extra time and investment is being poured into creating “You Vs. Debt” – the single most amazing premium resource on fighting back against debt.

Most of March will be spent organizing, writing, designing, compiling, and tweaking the course framework. This is no eBook launch – let’s put it that way. We want an environment that really pushes people to make the necessary shifts required.

Debt is emotional. It’s silly to pretend it isn’t. Environment, presentation, motivation, community… this stuff matters when you are digging yourself out of debt. I’m not going to leave any stone unturned.

In fact, I’ve just got the first rough edit back from the video we shot in February. It’s not polished enough to be public yet, but if you want to see a “sneak peak” of what one of these videos will look like, sign-up below and I’ll email you a link when I get it uploaded:

The Tour Rolls On…

Last, but not least (in terms of business updates) – our tour is not slowing down.

We’ll finish up this week in Florida, hopefully getting to spend some time with my brother and his fiance. Early next week our friend Norcross will hop in and we’ll all ride towards Austin, TX.

We’ll make small stops in New Orleans and Houston, but will make a strong pace to hit Austin in the middle of next week for the infamous SxSw conference.

If you are going to SxSw, mark the morning of March 14th on your calendar. I’m still waiting for 100% confirmation, but it looks like we’ll be having a morning meetup at a coffee shop – complete with RV tours, great conversation, and all the proceeds going to charity: water.

Whoo-hoo!  I’ll be sharing the exact details on Twitter and Facebook when they happen – but if you’re in the Austin area for SxSw stay tuned!

After Austin, we’ll be heading toward Phoenix via way of the Grand Canyon (with several stops along the way). We’ll likely finish out the month in that area somewhere.

If you’d like to meet us, fill out this quick form so we know where you are!

Speaking of touring…

RV Expenses/Lifestyle Cost…

Aside from the business, here’s a glimpse at the expenses related to our RV lifestyle (for February).

Note: Courtney and I use Adaptu.com to pull in our debit card spending and automatically separate the “RV Expenses” into our manual categories below.

Gas: $1289.39 (+137%)

As expected, our gas expense took off as we did. We covered a lot of ground in the first 3 weeks of February – and I expect that this will be a more average number in the months ahead.  Yikes!

Remember, we make an active choice to be mobile. If we wanted to spend several month in a location – we could seriously slash this down.

Campground Fees: $156.69 (-76%)

Also, as predicted, our campground fees shrank when we made it to a much warmer climate. We’ve ditched our $35 and $45-per-night winter campground in the Northeast for $10, $15, and $20 campgrounds here in the South.

We’ve also spent the last week with a friend here in Tampa – again lowering our costs.

Hotel/Hostel/Lodging: $268 (-23%)

At the very beginning of the month we stayed several nights at a AirBnB house while the RV wrapping was being finished. Since we’ve got the RV wrapped – we’ve yet to stay anywhere else. I’m planning for this number to be extremely low the rest of the trip.  :-)

Propane: $73.90 (-60%)

Another benefit of spending most of the month in warmer weather… no furnace running!  :-)

I expect that this will continue to drop even further, helping offset the other fuel costs (gas).

Tolls/Parking: $5.60 (-90%)

We only hit one little ‘ole toll road (here in Tampa) and had one small parking fee in Washington, D.C. Whoo-hoo!

Repairs: $358.59 (+23%)

We had two mechanical problems in the month of February – the first being that the circuit board that controls the RV turn signals, windshield wipers, etc… burnt out (well, first it shorted – then it burnt out).

It only took one time of driving 20 m.p.h. in the mountains of Tennessee without wipers in the snow to realize that this was going to be a top priority.

In addition, the driver’s side window in our Jeep fell into the door when Courtney tried to roll it down. We paid someone to take it apart and look at it – we eventually got it to stay up – but decided not to spend the additional $125+ to fix it right now!

The last three weeks of the month were uneventful – and we’re hoping for a month or two without minor repair costs (although, we are prepared to pay more).  :-)

*****

Overall, I’m not too disappointed in our RV expenses this month. Most of the categories went as we anticipated (the point of trying to budget) – and the majority of them did trend downward.

Time will tell whether we’ve adjusted our planning appropriately, but we feel ever-more-confident as we continue the journey.  :-)

The best is yet to come…

I told you there was a lot of transition coming – and I wasn’t joking.

As always, I’m willing to tackle any questions you may have in the comments below.

I’m excited to have you along for the ride – and to have a community where I can share so openly.

Xoxoxo,

-Baker

Finally!

Today I’m proud to announce that we’ve finished our RV Wrap and can finally share my excitement for our mission and sponsor!

Back in December, after buying our new-to-us RV, I put out a call to any like-minded companies or sponsors that may want to help get the word out on the tour. Several companies and/or organizations contacted me for more details, but one among all others stood out…

We’ve joined forces with the Adaptu.com team!…

Adaptu is a brand new personal finance community with dozens and dozens of resources on everything from paying down debt to saving for retirement. One of the neatest features is the ability to pull all of your financial accounts into one single profile.

This means not only can you see, control, and manage all of your accounts in one simple snapshot – but you can instantly access additional communities of like-minded people based around your interests, lifestyle, or financial questions.

The best part?  It’s free.

100% free.

When Adaptu first contacted me, I was super excited. Here’s a sponsor whose values are:

1. Community
2. Transparency (opening up the conversation on personal finance topics)
3. Bringing a fresh, exciting voice and message into the arena.

And their service is free?  Bingo!

You can see why I’m pumped about having a partner that fits so firmly with our values here.

Take the Pledge!… Crush $1000 of your Debt!…

After we both realized what a great fit a partnership would be, the next item on the agenda was how to frame our fun, family road tour in a way that could help inspire others.

We wanted something simple… something nearly anyone could do… but something that would get people into action.

So we came up with a challenge.  A “pledge” if you will.

As we continue to tour around the country, we’re challenging people to pay off $1000 in debt by the end of our tour.

It can be any type of debt. You can choose, but we want to encourage people to actually *take action* and get started.

We’ll have a way for people who come meet us in person to sign the “pledge” and Adaptu has set up a fantastic web page that allows people to “sign” digitally (all it takes it your first name and zip code – simple & easy).

[Click here to join the cause to Crush $1000 of your Debt...]

Note: At the very least, check out the video I did for the landing page. I sound so much like a used car salesman it’s unreal! Haha, I’ll be rerecording it soon – so hop over and have a quick laugh before I replace it.  ;-)

It’s my hope that this simple, but fun challenge can help us grow our message and reach an audience that may be new to the personal finance journey. If you have any suggestions on how we can play off the “crushing debt” theme – let me know!  I’m always up for crushing random things!

Check out the new RV wrap! (Video below)…

One of the most fun parts of this process has been helping design, apply, and wrap our RV. I wanted it to show off Man Vs. Debt in a fun, creative way without being annoying, gaudy, or plastered with my face on it.

To give you a sneak peak to the process, here’s what happened:

• First, Courtney and I took a tape measure (by hand) and measured every conceivable length, width, and depth on the entire RV. I believe it was below freezing when we did this – and I know it was snowing. I’m also positive we made at least a dozen mistakes.
• The crude measurements were sent over to Adaptu’s creative team who put them into a template and proposed the first drafts of what the RV would look like.
• Several weeks of back and forth tweaking and editing were made on the design. Each iteration being hand-sketched.
• The final hand-sketch was turned into a vector (I think?) and sent to Jay Kelly at Signs By Tomorrow in Baltimore.
• Jay worked extra – over the weekend – to print over 20 different 10 foot tall panels.  I came in on Sunday to help him trim, cut, and package the panels for the installer.
• I drove the panels to Washington D.C. to a profesional installer – whom had never seen the design, was not included in the process, and talked to me for less than 30 seconds.
• I waited 3 days, closed my eyes, and prayed that somehow all of this would come together.
• It all came together. Somehow. It looks freakin’ awesome – despite my hours and hours of worrying.

I have no idea how something didn’t get messed up at one stage or another, but I’m so stoked at the final result.

Again, I owe a huge thanks to Jay Kelly from Signs By Tomorrow – who not only donated the printing, but lined up 3M to donate all the plastic for the project. He also worked overtime to secure a professional installer on short notice. I owe him big time!

In the end, we came out with this:

What do you think? Let me know below!

Once again, it’s big processes and events like this that make me realize how awesome it has to have a community of supporters online.

Sure, things were stressful – I worried too much about the outcome (as usual) – and we spent an extra month stuck in icy Baltimore working out the kinks.

But it’s done now. The RV is wrapped. We have a new mini-message to help spread. And we’ll be ramping up the miles as we drive to meet as many people as we possibly can.

This is just the start. Thanks for being on board for the ride!

And if you see a big orange RV driving next you… be sure to honk!!!!  ;-)

Xoxoxo,

-Baker

p.s. If you have an extra 5 seconds, please sign our new pledge. The more people we get to fill it out, the more we can leverage it to help the message spread. All it takes is your first name and zip. I’d really appreciate it.  :-)

Today’s post is a short, very specific one. Normally, I don’t send updates like this – but this is important!

As most of you know… Courtney, Milli, and I are on a year-long (maybe longer) RV tour of the United States.

We *finally* get to unveil our new RV design, our fun sponsor for the trip, and the message that we’ll be trying to spread.

But not yet…

We’re having our first big meetup in Washington D.C. *this* Friday!  (Yes, February 4th – as in really soon).

That means if you are in the Baltimore, D.C. or Virginia areas – you have a chance to be the first people to see the new RV. Everyone else will have to wait for me to share the videos next week!

Details for Washington D.C. Meetup!

We had some killer plans for fancy-dancy fireworks, explosions, and monster trucks – but a combination of timing and bad weather has derailed them for a bit.

Instead we are doing this old school. Dozens and dozens of like-minded bloggers, families, and readers will be converging at Front Page Grille off of Dupont Circle in downtown D.C.

Where?: Front Page Restaurant - 1333 New Hampshire Avenue NW - Washington, DC 20036

What?: Check out the location, food, drinks here:  http://www.frontpagerestaurant.com/

When?: Friday, February 4th – 6:30-8:30 (possibly later as well if people are interested)

Who?: Dozens of like-minded people, bloggers, and even companies – passionate about attacking their finances and living a passionate life.  (Sounds fun, right?)

Oh, by the way – food is being paid for by our awesome – soon to be revealed – sponsor of the tour!

So come out, grab a free meal or appetizer, and meet some awesome people. Drinks will be readily available too – but you are paying for your own alcohol!  :-)

Not in D.C.?  Doesn’t matter – we are coming to *YOU*…

Over the course of the next year, we’ll have the chance to meet thousands and thousands of people!

Some of these will be larger meetups of like-minded individuals (like D.C.), while others may be grabbing a quick meal or coffee as we come through town.

Long story, short – we’ll be holding meetups in most of the major cities we come through, but “official” meetup or not… we want to meet you and your family!

Click here to fill out a quick form to meet us!

Using the link above you can enter your name, location (pretty important), and any other details you would like.

When we enter into your region, you’ll be the first to know (I’ll personally email you)! We are looking for people to come to meet-ups, help with special events or activities, or even host our RV in their driveway!  :-)

Nothing is too big or small – and we hope you’ll take 5 minutes to fill out the form. This format is much easier for us to organize than email, blog comments, or Twitter!

Rough Schedule…

• February 4th – Washington D.C. – Front Page Grille – 6:30-8:30pm.
• February 5th – 10th – Wilmington, Ohio – Filming “You Vs. Debt” course.
• February 10th – 13th – Tennessee
• February week 3 – North Carolina, South Carolina (Asheville, Raleigh, Charleston)
• February week 4 – Florida (large meetup in Tampa, Florida)

• March week 1 – Driving from Florida to Texas (New Orleans, Houston)
• March week 2 & 3 – South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas
• March week 4 – Drive from Texas to Phoenix (Dallas, Flagstaff, etc…)

• April week 1 – Arizona/Grand Canyon (Big meetup in Phoenix)
• April week 2 – Drive toward California (Big meetup in San Diego)
• April week 3 – Los Angeles
• April week 4 – L.A. / Potentially Las Vegas or Reno

• May week 1 – San Francisco
• May week 2 – San Fran and surrounding California (drive north)
• May week 3 – Northern California
• May week 4 – Oregon – Arrive in Portland

• June week 1 – World Domination Summit in Portland
• June week 2 – Finish up Portland and surrounding area
• June week 3 – Seattle

Starting in the final week of June we have a couple options. We may head north to Alaska for a while – or down through Montana/Colorado. We are also considering jumping across the northern U.S./Canada quickly to hit the northeast in the Fall.

Stay tuned for more updates as our schedule starts to come together.

And no – don’t skip sending us a request just because your city doesn’t appear in the schedule!  Things will change – and we’ll be covering as much ground as we can in June, July, and beyond!

Don’t forget… Fill this out if you’d like us to visit *YOU*…

Click here to fill out a quick form to meet us!

We can’t know who is out there – and where – unless you give us the information. It’s quick, painless and I give free hugs to all!

See you soon!

Xoxoxo,

-Baker

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