In 2008, I quit my corporate job, sold off everything I owned and moved overseas with my husband Drew. Since then we've traveled around the world, started our careers over as creative types and nurtured our love of sleeping in late. Oh and we had a baby. Cole, our almost 2 year old has been traveling since he was four months old and probably knows more Thai than me (not that he brags).
Almost Fearless: The Documentary (and the $9,830 Challenge)
When I started this journey in 2008, I thought I was alone. I always knew I wanted to travel, but I didn’t know people who made it happen over the long term. The closest I would hear about was someone taking an extended break (maybe a year) to backpack around the globe, but at the end of the trip it was back to the office, the “real world” and 2 week rushcations.
Now I know better. There’s a huge community of people, all over the world, living, working and traveling where they please. The internet and wifi has made it possible to work from anywhere. They’re called digital nomads.
Since I’ve started my own family, I’ve realized that this isn’t just about travel… it’s about being able to do absolutely anything. For us that means in addition to being able to live anywhere and to travel as we please, we also have the flexibility to pursue projects that interest us and most recently to start a family. In a time when having one parent stay home is a luxury, we’re able to both be home with the baby, tag-teaming child care and making life with a newborn a breeze. Being wireless doesn’t just change where you work, it changes how you live.
The Documentary
This summer, we’re traveling to Bulgaria as our home base in Europe and we’ll begin (my husband and I) a project I feel very passionate about. We’ll begin primary shooting for a documentary on the digital nomad lifestyle.
We’ll be interviewing and following other digital nomads as they show what their lives really look like. It’s like the 4-Hour Workweek Movie or A Map for Saturday: Digital Nomad Edition. Throughout, we’ll be exploring the different ways folks are able to make long term travel work:
- Where do they live?
- How do they make money?
- Where do their kids go to school?
- What is the “digital nomad” lifestyle really like?
- What are the pitfalls?
- How can I apply these things to my life, even if I don’t want to travel abroad?
Why I’m Telling You This
Originally, there was a part of me that wanted to keep this project under wraps. After all, it’s a huge undertaking and announcing my intentions up front also puts some pressure on me. If I fail, it’s public. But after thinking about it, I realized that this is exactly the kind of thing I need to be transparent about. What better way to illustrate the process of going from having an idea to executing it? I had the faith to begin this journey and to document it publicly, so I can’t become complacent now and start shielding myself from risk.
The $9,830 Challenge
We’re funding this project completely out of pocket. And it’s not going to be cheap. We need a professional grade camera, a microphone, lighting, a Mac Book Pro, editing software (Final Cut Pro), and portable storage (think terabytes). The total cost for these things? $9,830. And I have to raise it before I leave the US on July 1st.
That gives me about 2.5 months to raise nearly $10K out of thin air.
In the spirit of transparency, I’m starting this challenge to raise the cash and to share my steps (and mis-steps) as I go.
The rules are simple:
- It has to be money I raised. I can’t siphon off my current income, I need that to live.
- I can do whatever it takes to make the money. I can use this website. I can get a job at 7-11. I can start street performing for donations. I can even sell the clothes off my back if that’s what it takes.
Every Sunday I’ll be posting about my progress with updates on the totals raised, and what I’m planning for that week. I’m hoping it’ll be interesting to see the process, especially since $10K is about the amount that would get most people on the road and traveling, if they wanted. It’s not about how I raise the money, as much as the concept of putting yourself out there and making things happen. I like to think that if you declare it, it will come. So far, that’s worked for me.
Support this project
To get things started, instead of finding one well-financed angel investor to help fund this documentary, I’m looking for partners who can make a micro-payment today, in order to support a film they want to see. Any donation amount will get you a mention in the credits, but I’ll also be reaching out to the folks who donated for when I have cool stuff to share (think sneak peaks, events etc).
Also you can pre-order a copy of the DVD for $25 (includes S&H). When the DVD comes out, it will automatically be shipped to you.
Pick your option (donate or pre-order) from the drop-down below:
Get Involved
If you’d like to participate in this project, you can! I’m always looking for folks with an interesting story, a good contact or even looking to roll up their sleeves and jump in. If that’s you, tell me about it.
Pic: blhphotography