“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’ve written a lot about our own journey to redefine freedom over the last few years. But this community is so powerful because it’s made up of thousands of stories of people chasing their own dreams.

We’ve shared some of these stories before – and I’m always ecstatic to shine the spotlight. I’ve got another great story for you today.

Dustin Koester (in the picture above) has been a long-time member of the Man Vs. Debt community. In fact, he’s been around longer than any of you!

You see, he was part of the community before it even started. Dustin’s a life-long friend of mine – and responsible for almost every graphic (including the very first logo) and design you see on Man Vs. Debt or our guides/courses.

Dustin’s great at graphic design and helping as a creative consultant on projects, but that’s not what he was born to do.

Dustin was born to play the drums.

In elementary and middle school, that’s an acceptable dream. All of us encourage it, foster it, and support it. You want to play drums? Great… go for it… do it!

So throughout this time, Dustin played in a band with his friends from middle school. Their parents helped fund the gear. They played after school all evening. They even recorded and burnt CDs of their first “album”. Dustin was widely known for his talent as a drummer amongst his peers and fellow students.

But as we get older, high school rolls around. In high school, playing drums in a band can be “cool,” but we’re slowly taught that it’s not realistic to try and play drums to make a living. There’s still a fading glimmer of hope left… the possibility of trying to get into a specialized college or program still exits.

Dustin continued to play in a band throughout High School and played drums in the marching band, jazz band, and show choir competitions. His talent was obvious for anyone to see, yet there was still an underlying force pushing Dustin away from drumming.

Society’s real message was clear: Keep playing drums for fun, but it’s time to find a career or job that’ll pay the bills.

As we graduate high school and move onto college, that message is pounded over and over to us. The dreams that were acceptable and encouraged as kids are now shoved to the back burner. “It’s the responsible thing to do,” we tell ourselves.

Dustin went along with everyone else to college (Indiana University to be exact). At college, Dustin struggled to find that “responsible career” he was suppose to be working towards. As he was pushed and pulled from one focus to another, there was one consistent factor in the chaos…

Drumming.

Dustin joined the respected “Big Red Basketball Band” and continued to play in a college rock band at the bars and clubs on the weekends. When life got hectic, scattered, or confusing… drumming was Dustin’s constant.

After college, Dustin did what everyone else does – tried to find a job. He worked several, from Barista to Graphic Designer, from Security System Installer to Substitute Teacher. He got an apartment, bought some things, and tried to “settle” in.

But something wasn’t right.

This life path he was on didn’t feel like his own. He was trying to do everything he was suppose to. Get decent grades. Go to college. Find a career. Get a steady job. He was doing his best, but none of this was what he really wanted to do.

He really wanted to drum.

It was a simple realization, but one that changed the course of his life.

Not too long after, a friend of a band he was playing in mentioned his brother was a talent agent who booked musicians for cruise ships. With a spark of interest, Dustin asked for more information – and two weeks later he was auditioning for his first gig.

Over the next few years, Dustin would travel the world doing what he loved… playing the drums. He lived and played on cruise ships with destinations all over the map:

• Italy
• France
• Greece
• Turkey
• Portugal
• Spain
• Egypt
• Tunisia
• Sicily
• Monaco
• Ukraine
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Malta
• Alaska
• Canada
• Mexico
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Panama
• Bahamas

All along the way he was housed (more on this later), fed, and paid to travel the world and perform.

It’s not an opportunity for everyone – Dustin’s the first to admit that. He had to get rid of a lot of his stuff and start focusing on his finances to make the shift possible. For him, he welcomed the added flexibility to chase his dreams.

In between cruise ships, Dustin also was given the opportunity to travel the US and fill in on the Jesus Christ Superstar Nat’l Tour. He’s met hundreds of fellow professional entertainers, musicians, and industry professionals along his travels.

His journey to chase his dreams and follow his passion for drumming is just getting started. But his mindset about what’s possible has completely changed.

More from Dustin’s Point of View…

How long have you been drumming?

I started playing drums in 5th grade when my dad bought himself a drum set. Although I played guitar at the time, drums quickly stole all my attention.

When did you realize drumming was your biggest passion?

Honestly, not until recently. It’s always been an interest of mine, but it’s taken a while to realize the severity of my involuntary dedication. There’s an indescribable feeling – It’s the only place in the world where I feel completely confident, and the notion of time just disappears. At the risk of sounding like a hippie…it’s like I’m in another dimension.

How did you get started with the Cruise Ship opportunity?

I was sitting in with a friend’s cover band and after the gig we were all hanging out & talking. A friend of the band mentioned that his brother was a talent agent who booked musicians for cruise ships. About 2 weeks later I got in touch with him, he got in touch with his brother, and I had an over-the-phone audition scheduled for the next week to join my first ship later that month.

What’s your favorite part of the process (traveling and drumming)?

I really enjoy the traveling aspect of the cruise gigs. It makes me feel on top of my game when I’ve got a company flying me from place to place and staying in hotels all around the world before joining the ships. It’s also part of that surreal period where I’m realizing ‘I’m about to live on a ship for X months…again.”

What’s your least favorite part of life on a Cruise Ship?

My least favorite part of the cruise life is the housing. The rooms are quite small, but that’s to be expected, I guess. In general, what goes on behind the scenes on a cruise ship would turn a lot of people off to the cruise industry. It’s like any of your large Vegas hotels – it’s all glitz and glamour on the floor, but behind the scenes it’s business as usual.

Would you recommend it to another entertainer/musician/crew member?

I would recommend it to anyone who has a passion for traveling…and not everyone does. It’s certainly a different lifestyle for a musician onboard a ship and some don’t prefer it, but if you want to see the world and get paid while doing so, cruise ships are a great introductory way to do that.

How would you suggest someone getting started… do you have any tips for someone wanting to do this?

The best way to get started is to audition with an agency. Mine is Landau Music, Inc. which operates out of Pasadena, California. Larger group auditions are usually held at Universities and sometimes auditions can be held over the phone. The best way to be prepared for an audition is to have your sight-reading skills to a point where you’re very confident going in, and to also be familiar with a lot different styles.

What made you submit to be in the Queen Extravaganza Contest?

The curiosity, really. It’s an ongoing internal conflict, wondering how you fare against other players…and I thought this would be a great contest to experiment with. I love Queen’s timeless music and my genre of choice to play has always been rock – big moves, heavy playing – its what has come most naturally to me over the years. So I thought…”What the hell. Let’s see where it takes me.”

4-Hour Workweek Giveaway…

Lastly, I have 5 more copies of Tim Ferris’ best-selling book The 4-Hour Workweek, Revised and Expanded Edition that have been sitting around for nearly a year.

It’s time to pass them along to those of you looking to chase your own dreams!

What dream have you been pushing to the back of your mind?

What passion have you been sacrificing?

What dream do you want to chase?

Leave a comment below!

*****

Yes, this headline is for real…

Last week, Courtney and I had the pleasure of crossing paths with another family on the road… The Denning Family.

Like us, the Dennings are on a road trip as a family.

Unlike us, they have 5 FREAKIN’ KIDS with them! Holy moly. And they aren’t just going around the U.S. – they are in route from Alaska (where they lived for a year) all the way down the west coast to… ARGENTINA.

To top it off, they are pulling this off in a veggie-powered truck (read: paying nothing for gas) and a rooftop tent to sleep in.

We were so impressed and inspired by our short time with the Denning family – I wanted to share their story with you.

Below, I sit down with Greg and Rachel – while Courtney wrangles 5 kids total (thanks honey!).

Additional information and video summary:

• Follow the Denning Family here: DiscoverShareInspire.com // Twitter // Facebook
• [00:00] - Introduction to Greg and Rachel
• [01:15] – Where the Dennings have been as a family (Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, India, Canada, Alaska…)
• [02:05] – Ages of their five kids that travel with them (All under 8!)
• [02:50] – I ask the Dennings if they’re crazy – and if the lifestyle feels “strange” to them.
• [03:35] – Details on the Veggie-Powered Truck they are using for their roadtrip.
• [05:55] – How the Dennings can afford to travel (different from what we do)!
• [08:00] – Rachel and Greg’s top parenting tips for managing 5 kids on the road.
• [10:40] – What is the primary goal for the road trip?

Full transcript of the entire interview…

Hey everyone. This is Baker from Man Vs. Debt, and I am honored to be joined today with Greg and Rachel Denning, who—we’ve met a lot of people while we’ve been traveling along this road trip. But maybe—these guys have maybe the most unique story of them all. So I wanted to get them on camera while we’re spending a few days here in Redding, California, or outside of Redding, and share their story and get some of their expertise for what they’re doing.

So before I let them talk, I’m going to do so more talking. And that is, we get a lot of people that email or message us and say, “Hey, with so many people that are traveling and young, we really appreciate that you guys share your travels as a family.”

And so we’re very flattered when we’re able to do that, and sort of help other families realize that it’s possible. But even we need inspiration, and when we turn for inspiration, these are the type of families and the type of people that we turn to.

They don’t have just one kid. Not two kids, not three kids, not four kids. But they are doing this with five kids.

A family of seven, with five kids. And I guess, Greg, if you would, give us a quick recap of the last few years. We’ve talked about it, but I want to hear in your own words of where you guys have been. Just the quick version.

We got excited about travel, and Rach and I had a quick trip to Mexico. We both went, “Wow, we want to do this.” And so after our fourth child was born, we drove from the States down to Costa Rica. Lived there for a year. Then we moved and lived in the Dominican Republic, out in the Caribbean, which was fantastic.

After that, we ended up in India, and just loved that experience. Flew back from India while Rachel was pregnant with our fifth, and drove from Atlanta, Georgia, up to Homer, Alaska, where we spent the last year. So now we’re on our next adventure, which is Alaska to Argentina, to Tierra Del Fuego.

Yeah. So that’s why I wanted to get them on camera, for that specific reason. With four kids through most of that, now with the fifth, little baby Atlas, who is so cute. And what are the ages now, Rachel? What’s the breakdown?

Our oldest is Kyah; she is 8. And then Parker’s 7. Kimbell is 5, almost 6. Aaliyah’s 4, and then Atlas is eight months.

8, 7, 5, 4, and eight months. Correct? Wow, that is—I guess the follow up question to that is, “Are you crazy?”

Yes.

Serious question. Do you get that a lot?

Sometimes.

Do people really ask you? Do they see you, hear about what you’re doing, and they really—Honestly, do they check in to see if you’re a little loony?

Yeah. I think people think we’re a little strange sometimes.

It’s just so unconventional.

Is it really that strange though? So let’s get into this, ’cause I want to talk about this. We have people ask us this question too, and it’s not even close to the same scale of what you guys are doing. Does it feel strange, in day to day life for you?

No. To us it’s just, you know, you get up in the morning. You have breakfast, you get dressed, you—Except for us. Then we go to the beach or we go to the Redwood Forest, or we—

To Mt. St. Helen’s, or Rainer. Or today, up to the lake.

And I think that we’ve run into that same thing too. And I keep telling people, with life in the RV, because I want to get into what you guys are doing this most recent tour in. But people ask us all the time, when they see the RV, is “Can you do this for a long period of time?” And I always tell them, “After the first month, it was just life. And you adapt, and you learn how to live and operate in a small space, like the RV.”

Or even a smaller space, because you guys are actually doing this in a truck that has benches in the back for the kids, and a rooftop tent. So picture this: a truck and a rooftop tent. We think we need the RV, which is 31.5′ with a slide-out, a bathroom, kitchen sink. And here they are, making it happen, all the way from Alaska to Argentina, in just the truck. And not only is this a truck with a rooftop tent, this is a veggie powered truck, right?

That’s right, yeah.

Tell us a little bit about that, Greg. What—How in the world—We’re spending $1,000 to $1,500 in gas. And we just went to Shell before we got here to meet you guys, and filled it up for whatever, $220. Tell the Man Vs. Debt readers where you guys went to get your fuel before you got here.

So yesterday before we got here, we stopped at a restaurant. I walked back to their veggie bin. They had over 300 gallons of veggie. I took what we needed and what we could carry.

Well, explain what the veggie is.

It’s waste vegetable oil. They take it out of their fryers after they’ve cooked the fries or the chicken, whatever they’re doing. They take the waste vegetable oil, they throw it in their bins, and then we recycle it, put it in the truck. It costs me zero, in dollars, to get that. There’s an exchange rate. I have to work a little bit for it. Took me a half hour to get 30 gallons. It was the slow way, but we—

We filled up for $220. You stopped by a restaurant with half an hour of work and did the exact same thing.

Right.

And a lot of people, I hear—I hear about this a lot. But it really—the vision, my mind comes up with two hippie-type people going around to restaurants. It doesn’t strike me as a family of seven actually pulling this off. Where’d you get the idea from? Or have you always been passionate about this issue? Or did you just jump into it?

No. We bumped into it. And our whole life has been like that. We just meet great people along the road, and new ideas. And once your mind’s expanded to a new idea, you grab hold of it. And we had been toying with this idea of a long road trip, and we kind of solidified it: “Hey, Alaska to Argentina.” And then the idea came across, if you can do this on veggie. We thought, that’s thousands and thousands of dollars.

Yeah, probably approaching at least $10,000.

Yeah, it’s going to be huge.

I don’t know. I’d like to see the math on that. But yeah, that’s a huge thing. So let’s do. Let’s talk more about the finances. ‘Cause one of the questions I get a lot is, how you guys afford this lifestyle. And I work, work way too much, as a lot of Man Vs. Debt readers—I go back and forth. But we’re working and living on the road. While you guys have a slightly different system of—Well, I’ll let you guys explain it. How are you affording this trip?

I think our main philosophy is that we eliminate everything that we can that’s not essential for us. So that we free up the time and the money to do what we really want to do. So—and that’s why we went with the rooftop tent option and everything, is because we’re eliminating rent, we’re eliminating accommodation expenses. We can basically—

Eliminating gas.

Right. Basically living in our truck, but it gives us the freedom to go all the way to Argentina.

Yeah. And so primarily I guess what you did is, you guys—stage one is just to be ultra frugal, and to realize what’s important to you guys, spend money on that. Which we’ve talked about as well. But also just to eliminate these sort of expenses that people think are necessities when they’re traveling.

Like I said, we’re spending almost $1,500 a month. And it had Courtney and I scratching our heads to be like, “Wow, maybe we should’ve thought more about this” or “Maybe there are more ways that we can stretch ourselves,” when we heard about your guys’ story.

See, and we love to ask that question: “Is there a better way?” And you start questioning—We take our living expenses, and we’re like, “Is this the bare minimum?” And then you figure out, no it’s not. You can squeeze it, squeeze it. And so you give up some luxuries, some comforts.

But for us, with our priority—Hey, the trip’s our priority. Family time’s our priority. I can skip a little bit of comfort, luxury, here and here. Personally, I can give that up in order to say—[CROSSTALK]—time and other things so we can do what we really want to do. So we’ve gone totally frugal. And so our living expenses are cheap. So now when you find a way to cover those expenses, you get to do what you want to do.

And that’s great. And I want to now dive into what you just said about the family time. Because honestly, we’ve encountered this again in both the positive and negative of traveling families. And I might offend some people here. But a lot of times when we have—when we meet home schooled families, or we meet a lot of traveling families, at times the kids can be less than social. Or the parents themselves can be less than social. There can be some barriers there that we’ve seen in different families, and that we help—we’re taking strides to make sure that we’re healthy in that aspect.

But your kids—Seriously. This is not just because you’re sitting here—are so curious and so well-behaved, and really just amazing kids. So Courtney and I are looking at you guys, looking for parental tips. How do you guys travel, live so close together, and give the—What are your top parenting tips, is what I’m trying to get at. Because I really look up to you guys in that instance.

I think that one thing I always try to focus on with the kids is just personal responsibility and being concerned about being the kind of person you want to be. So if there’s some type of issue, I really focus on, “Are you acting how you want to be? Are you doing the kinds of things that are going to make you the person you want to be? And how do you feel right now? Do you feel good when you’re fighting with your brother or”—That’s my area of focus, really.

And is there one that sticks out for you?

Yeah. Rachel and I are really passionate about personal development, and trying to be our best selves. We’re aware of the stigma of social retardation or whatever. “Oh, no, you won’t be social. You’ve got this recluse.” You imagine this person that can’t communicate. We’re on a quest together. We’re passionate about personal development, and trying to make the most of ourselves. So we go about it with passion, and the kids follow along.

I was just going to say that.

And we encourage them. We’re outgoing. We love to meet people from all cultures and places and backgrounds and ages. And be able to interact with all of them, and learn from them, and grow and learn in every situation. So we’re passionate about education. We’re passionate about being people of influence that can make a difference in the world and just try to be good people.

Model that for your kids. Lead by example.

And they follow along.

Yeah.

And obviously this is a softball. But you guys believe that travel enhances that in your kids? And enhances that in yourselves?

Undoubtedly.

Which we do too. And again, I said that was a softball. But that’s sort of what Courtney and I keep coming back to, is I think that we think in general that travel is leading us, and then by in return Milligan, in the direction of where we want to grow as people.

Absolutely.

So that’s really great. So let’s talk a little bit of shop. Let’s talk a little bit about your guys’ site, ’cause I really like it, and that is discovershareinspire.com. Is that right? What is the goal now? Let me ask you this.

What’s the primary goal of your trip? Have you thought—That’s a tough question for us. What’s the primary goal of the trip from the West Coast, and literally the West Coast of the entire hemisphere, I guess. That’s what it is right?

The entire West Coast, yeah.

That’s awesome. What’s your guys’ primary goal?

It just started as what—we thought, “What do we want to do?” Based on the travel we’ve done, based on the experiences we’ve had, what are we really passionate about? And our thing is discovery. It’s really about that. We love going to new places and seeing what they have to offer and learning from it. But then we really tend to get bored after we’ve been there for too long. So we realized that we love that change. We love to—exploring new things. So when we thought about it, we were like, “Well, let’s just drive and keep driving”—

And just keep going south.

And keep going, yeah.

And share all the great things that the world has to offer. But if I can step back, it’s all priority. Our main focus is family closeness. We want a tight, close, growing, loving family that we become well-rounded, developed people and stay tight as a family. And so that priority’s important. That’s the basis of this discovery, sharing, and this travel. Hey, we’re going to do this trip, but the goal is just a solid family. So often, so many of us get distracted by work or other pursuits or hobbies or whatever it is. And so our main priority is that. How can we really do that and then tie in discovering, a desire to share. Always experience and then share it.

Yeah. So let’s take that. And Rachel, you’re I guess the primary writer, or the primary face of the website itself. How does that tie in? You guys have this personal message of family first and then evolving. Together as a family, evolving, is what I’m deciphering from you guys. How does the site tie in to that? How does the site—What’s your goal with the site?

With the site, I just like to share our experiences. So I’m writing about what we’re doing. I’m also offering tips and advice about how to do it. How to manage education and where to go and everything.

Sure. It’s almost like a megaphone for your guys’ experience. Get those out to other people that may be looking at, “Well, it’s nice if you want to travel, but I have three kids. I could never do that.”

Right.

Absolutely.

Emails I get all the time. People who say, “When you guys have your second child, things will change.”

We hear that all the time.

So when you guys have your sixth, it’s definitely going to be different. I love that, because I think that we need more megaphones from people who break down barriers, who break down excuses. And I think—I’m flattered that we get to do that for a very, very small group of people with one kid.

But it’s awesome to be able to share your guys’ story, to say, “Hey, there is almost no excuse. You can make it happen. You can be frugal. You can go with five kids. You can realize whatever is your priorities, and you can make those happen.” So that’s why I’ve enjoyed having you guys on and I enjoy sharing your story.

So I always finish up, wrap up these sort of interviews. And I haven’t told you guys this before. So this is a little bit of a surprise. But I want you guys to ask a question of the Man Vs. Debt readers. You guys have to come up with a question. You ask, and we’ll get the feedback from the readers. Either one of you can jump in, and I know it’s—I love surprising people with this question. If you could ask one thing, what would you ask?

Tough.

That is tough.

There are no wrong questions.

A question for your readers.

I would think, “What is it that holds people back?”

You’re on the same page. Go with it.

“What is it that holds people back from doing what they really want to do?”

If I—I may even be able to evolve that a little bit. ‘Cause I love this question. When it was asked to me one time, I think it literally changed my life. “What’s the #1 thing that’s holding you back?” Right now, what’s the #1 thing that’s holding you back?

And eliminate that, and then your next #1, and move that one.

Yeah, keep moving it on. If you guys can help all of us out by listing out what the #1 thing is holding you back, and again, Greg and Rachel, thanks for joining me today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And it’s an honor to be able to share your guys’ story and spend a couple days here with our families together.

Thanks.

The Dennings Ask: What’s the #1 barrier that’s holding you back from your own goals?

What a great question!

What’s the number one hurdle – right now – that’s keeping you from your own vision of the life you want to lead?

I hope you are as inspired by the Denning family as we were! Follow them here!

xoxoxo,

-Baker

One of the most common questions I get from people (when they find out we work/travel full-time in an RV right now) is… how?

How do I work on the road?

What do I use for internet?

How can I stay up with my business?

What kind of gear or gadgets make this possible?

To be honest, it’s really not that complex. Over the years, I’ve refined the minimal amount of stuff that I need to carry around to ensure I can handle just about any work situation that may come up.

Everything I need is stored in my laptop bag at all times – which means within 30 seconds I can be packed up and on-the-go without worrying that I forgot something that I’ll need.

In the video, I go through every item in my simplified ready-to-go work bag.

For those of you that can’t watch it, here’s a quick list of every item (w/ amazon links) ranked by importance:

• Brenthaven Prostyle II-XF Laptop Case - This is the glue that holds it all together – or at least the bag that holds it all together. I really enjoy it.

• 15″ MacBook Pro – This is my primary weapon of choice. I love this computer. I also carry around the charger of course.

• (2) Moleskine notebook – All my ideas, concepts, blog posts, or projects start in these notebooks. It’s essentially what I use (in combination with gmail) as my productivity system. Again, I really enjoy these notebooks.

• Pilot G-2 Pen [3] - My favorite “everyday use” pens to jot down those amazing ideas.

• iPhone 4 Black – The amazing Chris Jourdan sent Courtney and I new iPhone 4s earlier in the year! I use the apps Yelp, Mailchimp, WordPress, Paypal, Chase, and Skype for business on the road all the time. The charger comes with me, too.

• Virgin Mobile MiFi - This gives us wireless internet anywhere we can get 3G. It’s $40/month with NO CONTRACT which is why we initially got it! Still works pretty well.

• iPhone headphones - Still stuck with the very basic headphones. Looking for an alternative that is more comfortable for multiple hours of use.

• Jawbone ICON bluetooth headset - I use this to take calls or do interview while driving in the RV. I’m not convinced it’s really that great, but I guess it does help reduce external noise a bit.

• Spare set of business cards – Just in case I meet someone who needs some more information!

• A Deck of Cards - Always need a deck of cards – you just never know.

• BodPod paperwork - I keep the “BodPod” bodyfat measurements paperwork I got at the beginning of my weight loss journey with me (as a reminder to stay focused).

That’s it! As always, I’m more than willing to answer specific questions in the comments below!

*****

I’ve told you *what* I use to work, but nothing about *how* I build my business while on the road. That would simply take too long to do in blog post format!

Which is why early next week, Corbett Barr and I are opening the doors on what we are calling “The Hustle Project”.

It’ll be a series of webinars (twice per month) with insights into the exact step-by-step tactics and strategies we used to build momentum in our online businesses. Along with live Q&A sections, audio downloads, full transcripts, and accountability profiles.

Here is our theory, boiled down into a simple formula:  Action + Accountability = Momentum

This project will only be for online entrepreneurs who are serious about building something sustainable, it’s not meant to be for hobbyists, people deep in debt, or casual businesses. Sorry!

If you are interested in the “do what you love” part of my message (and are serious about it), sign up here to be notified early. If you aren’t interested in building an online business, that’s cool too – back to regular programming next Thursday.

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!

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

A winding tunnel through a mountain in North Carolina…

Courtney, Milligan and I are rounding out our third full month living and traveling in our RV.

The first leg of our journey has been full of ups and downs, but for the most part – life seems normal. As normal as it can be driving thousands and thousands of miles across the country hosting meetups and visiting friends.  :-)

In the past, I’ve written extensive “travel updates” chronicling some of the day-to-day activities and sights. Instead of catching up on that for the entire East Coast, I’ve decided to share our journey in a different format.

Below are 10 truths that I’ve come to learn through our first few months on the open road. Embedded in between the truths are some of Courtney’s greatest photos from Tennessee, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, and Texas.

Note: Special thanks to our amazing sponsor Adaptu.com for their help making the first leg of the road tour a success. Stop by and take our “Crush $1000 in Debt” pledge.

*****

Milli rides behind as her great-grandmother bicycles in Venice, Florida…

Truth #1: Most things in life are way easier than you think.

With the exception of a few bigger things like weight loss, marriage, and parenthood – most things are super easy.  :-)

5 months ago, we knew nothing about RVs. We were still learning the difference between Class A and Class C – and whether diesel was better than gasoline engines.

We weren’t sure how or where we were going to find an RV – nor how to drive, operate, or live in one full-time.

And now we do. Well, we know just enough to get by. All those months of worrying and stressing were wiped out when I bought the RV at auction, drove it home, and started asking questions. (Special thanks to Chris & Cherie at Technomadia for answering many of those!)

Look, I know that people go through incredibly tough times and overcome things I will never have to. But I also know that most of us make things way harder than they need to be.

If you want something – anything – bad enough, it’s usually not that hard to figure it out. You’ve just got to get out of your own way.

*****

Up close with the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania…

Truth #2: The United States is freakin’ huge.

Holy cow is this country big. You really don’t get it flying around in a plane. I’m convinced you can’t fully grasp it until you sit at 60 miles per hour for days upon days at a time.

My first longer-than-it-has-any-right-to-be drive was from Washington D.C. to Wilmington, Ohio. It really shouldn’t be that long… I’ve seen a map many times. They look fairly close… turns out there are some mountains in the way. Mount Negro to be exact.

Ever try to drive out of Tampa, Florida around the panhandle?  No?  Don’t.  Just trust me.

And don’t even get me started on Texas. Every place in Texas is 45 minutes away – even when it’s in the same city. And I swear it’s a 6 hour drive from any city in Texas to the next state. I know that seems impossible, but that’s how it feels.

Of course, our nation’s size is also one of its largest benefits. We are incredibly diverse in not only geography, but in people, community, climate, and values.

*****

Milligan runs through a stone cloister in New York City…

Truth #3: The ability to adapt is still the best currency in the world.

I’ve talked about this many times before – but it still rings true.

Nothing has gotten me farther in life than the ability to quickly adapt to a new situation. By default, we train ourselves *not* to adapt. We strive to build a situation that is static.

We design our work lives, financial lives, family lives, and every other part of our identity around this “stable” life.

But in doing this, we limit our ability to adapt. We restrict our flexibility when crap hits the fan. When we lose a job or someone close to us. When an once-in-a-lifetime really does appear, we aren’t trained to take it.

Learning how to dive into something head first – and adapt – is a universal currency. It’s worth millions and millions of dollars over the course of your lifetime – and even more than that in happiness.

I have no data to prove it – but I’m confident that happiness in life isn’t tied to stability or comfort nearly as much as it’s tied to the ability to quickly adapt to a new situation.

*****

The RV buried in snow outside of Baltimore, Maryland…

Truth #4: Weather changes everything.

I’ve never fully appreciated the changes in climate and weather as much as I do now.

Note:  As I’m editing this post to publish – it’s snowing here in ARIZONA of all places!  How fitting.

Weather doesn’t just cause changes to daily plans – but can deeply affect everything from your mood to your financial life. We’ve been exposed to weather our entire lives, so it’s easy to take its impact on our daily life for granted.

In the RV, if it’s cold at night – you feel it much more than you do in your home. If it’s muggy during the day – you feel that, too. Traveling full-time and living in a thinner shelter means we’re much more in tune with Mother Nature.

On a more positive note, our new lifestyle allows us to take much more advantage of the times where the weather does cooperate. It’s easy to stay cooped up in a 3,500 square foot house regardless of weather. In a 31ft RV, you welcome being forced out into the weather (on most days).

*****

Our first glimpse of the freshly wrapped RV inside a random warehouse in Washington D.C…

Truth #5: I want to “work” with people.

The hardest part of living on the road is finding the time and creative energy to “work”. Keeping up with email and daily tasks is hard enough – but by nature, I’m at my best when working on large, audacious projects.

These type of projects are complex enough when you have a designated work space and team in place. Try doing them in and out of random coffee shops and in an RV with your family running around beside you. It’s definitely a “first world problem” – but it’s a real problem nonetheless!

I used to pride myself on the ability to work from anywhere in the world at any time. And I still do enjoy that freedom.

But I’ve also matured to realize that I *want* to work surrounded by other people. And you know what? I wouldn’t mind an office. You know… a place where I go to work and come home when I’m done.

Also, I like having team members working on projects with me – it helps motivate me (and is much more fun).

So over the next few years, I see myself transitioning to a single top-secret location (with a passionate team in place) for intensive creative work periods – maybe one to three months – and then taking off to travel during the times in-between these large projects.

*****

Milligan outside of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World…

Truth #6: Food and drink connect everyone.

I’m going to share two secrets with you.

Everyone eats. Everyone drinks.

As we visit different parts of the country and meet new people, sometimes we have a lot in common – and sometimes we have very little.

But the one surefire path to a passionate conversation is to talk about food. What food do you like? What do you enjoy cooking?  Do you cook? What is your favorite restaurant?  Favorite meal?  Favorite dessert?

Everyone really does eat. And many people and cultures identify a part of who they are in the food they prepare, share, and consume. The same is true for different forms of drinks, too.

And it’s tough to find a more powerful (and neutral) meeting opportunity than sharing a meal or a cup of coffee. Like it or not, food plays an essential role in our existence as humans.  

Food is an incredibly powerful way to connect with other people.

*****

Thousands of bats fly into the night from under a bridge in Austin, Texas…

Truth #7: You consume and produce a lot of resources.

Another benefit of living in an RV – your consumption habits are put into the limelight.

Suddenly you start noticing how much water you use when you have to pump it into the tank every time it runs dry. You notice how much energy you are using when you live a few consecutive days on batteries.

And I promise you are much more conscious of the gasoline you use when you get 7.2 miles per gallon of gas.

Want to get even more personal?

Try realizing just how much waste comes out of your body over the course of a week. Or think about what happens when you use too much waste water before dumping your tanks (hint: it comes up into the shower).

Consumption of all forms – like the weather – is something that is difficult to be conscious of. I’m not sure what changes lie ahead for us in this area, but I’m glad to have had the opportunity to tangibly see and measure the amount of energy we consume and produce.

*****

Me helping Milli find a walking stick on a hike through the Carolinas…

Truth #8: I do not miss television. Not one bit.

I occasionally miss things about having a single location, but I’ve never once missed having our television. Not once.

Even when I wanted to watch the Green Bay Packers dominate the playoffs this past season – I actually appreciated having to go out to watch the game. I watched one game at a local restaurant – and three others along-side friends in different cities.

And I may be the most excited person on the planet for the upcoming HBO series “Game of Thrones” – but once a week I’m sure I’ll be fine taking a break to watch from my computer (without missing a 60-inch television every night of the week).

Look I won’t beat this one into the ground – I’m just making a personal observation for my life. I don’t miss it!

For more on this, check out: 11 Reasons to Ditch Your Television.

*****

The hustle and bustle of Times Square in New York City…

Truth #9: The faster you travel, the more it sucks.

Nothing new on this one, but we’ve continued to confirm it over the last few months.

We are traveling slower than we did through Australia and Thailand – but we’re still keeping a decent pace. It’s tough to find a good balance. Travel too quickly and you’ll burn out and miss out on many amazing things. Travel too slowly and you can limit some of the people you can meet and events you can take part in.

Ultimately, we’re still trending to slower and slower travel times. Over the next leg of our trip, we’ll be spending multiple weeks in most of the major locations as we’ll have a bit more flexibility and time.

Even still, I believe we’ll shift to a model of staying in one location for 3-month or 6-month blocks of time as we continue. We aren’t ruling out having a single home-location either – it’s all part of the exploration of what we want.

Remember, there are no “nomadic rules”. The point of building a home, growing into a community, or traveling across the world is to live consciously – to choose deliberately what you want to do and where you want to live.

Right now our journey is taking us to slower and slower forms of travel.

*****

Milligan runs the catwalk outside of the Men With Pens house in Austin, Texas…

Truth #10: Your life swells to the parameters you allow.

When you buy a large house – your life will swell to fill it.

When you sell everything you own, start from scratch, and limit yourself to two backpacks – your life will fill the backpacks – but no more.

When you decide to live in a 31 foot RV, your life will fit inside the walls.

For better or worse, our natural tendency is to fill the boundaries that we give ourselves. The trick seems to be that most of us live based on the boundaries that are provided by our culture. We choose the default life of our peers – whether or not that truly reflects our values.

My takeaway from this is that we can really live within whatever world we desire if we are willing to immerse ourselves in it. I have no doubts we could live our life in a backpack, in a mansion, in an RV, in a sailboat, in a third world country, or on a tropical island.

It all starts by tearing down the default walls that have been put up around us – and then putting up our own restraints based on values, needs, and wants.

*****

Thanks for joining us on our journey!

If you enjoyed this post, please share it on Facebook or Twitter below:

West coast here we come!

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, 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.  :-)

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

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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