You may have heard through the grapevine that I have recently made an announcement! I am making a big lifestyle change. So many people are surprised and curious, I thought I would tell you the story behind this decision.
I started down this path when I quit my corporate job and opened my own business in April of 2012. The first two years were spent understanding how to run a business, getting all the proper licenses and insurance, and working out the details of my business. Towards the end of the second year one of my clients who had become a friend had been to so many Tony Robbins UPW events that she ended up joining his team. She started Skype coaching clients all over the world and having a blast! It sounded amazing to me and opened up a whole new world. I signed up with a Tony Robbins master coach and did a six month program with her.
Having read all these self help books and business development books, I was noticing that many of them said that I needed to get a clear, specific vision about what I wanted. Until that time I had no idea. I had general ideas, I wanted to be happy, I wanted schedule freedom, I wanted to help people, and I wanted to make enough money to live comfortably. But nothing really specific about exactly what that looked like. Once I learned about online coaching however, the vision started to come together.
I realized that moving my business online would give me a lot more freedom and flexibility. I absolutely love working with clients one on one in their homes, but it is physically demanding and I didn’t want to limit my options in case I couldn’t or didn’t want to work that way any more. So towards the end of year two I started looking into online options and expanding my social media profile.
During this time, working on developing my specific vision for my life and business, I had been toying with the idea of someday doing more conservation work and getting back into nature. I am exactly 50% city girl and 50% country girl. I love the city, being close to everything, and the variety of people you meet. But I was raised in a country setting with animals and gardens and nature and part of me misses that. So I was thinking, maybe in five to ten years I would buy a house with more land so I could garden or something.
A few things happened that sped up my timeline. In June I took a business trip to Scottsdale for a mastermind with my marketing coach. That trip changed my life in many ways, none of them what I expected (is a life change ever expected?) The trip was more expensive than I had thought it was going to be, so I wound up charging a credit card I had just managed to pay off. Also, we spent a lot of time discussing lifestyle. I came home and realized that I already had been living the lifestyle we had been discussing and that I was ready for the next step. I was ready to get out of debt and stay out of debt. Also, as I was pondering debt and money, I was sitting in my beautiful condo in Midtown Sacramento which I have thoroughly enjoyed thinking, I don’t need this much space!
Next I read the book “Everything That Remains: A Memoir by The Minimalists” by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. It is a beautifully written book describing how the author quit his corporate job and got rid of most of his possessions and now lives a minimalist life. I thought it was great but told myself I wasn’t a minimalist. Then I read “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert T. Kiyosaki and became even more determined to get and stay out of debt.
After that it kind of snowballed. It was a few days before I came to the conclusion that I was going to take that trip now instead of five to ten years from now.
So what does this mean? What is my plan? I don’t really have a specific plan as of yet. Since I am spatially oriented and an organizer, I started with my condo. I have spent the last week going through all my stuff systematically, deciding on what to keep and what to get rid of. It’s been a fascinating process. I take my clients through this process, so it is interesting to go through it myself. Probably by the end of this week I should be ready to put the condo on the market and decided where I want to go. I am going to spend some time (a few months perhaps) exploring, visiting various organic farms and eco-friendly housing communities. I have a general idea that I want to live somewhere in a temperate climate, grow some or all of my own food, maybe have some small livestock, and generally live off grid and reduce my cost of living drastically. I don’t know how much of that will survive my research or where I will end up. So I am going to keep blogging about it and if you like, you can come on my journey with me! I know it’s going to be an adventure and I can’t wait!
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