As James and I started getting more and more serious about this whole “take a year off and see the world” concept, I kept running in to a very real issue. Our budget seemed reasonable, and manageable, and realistic…and totally beyond my reality. Where the hell am I going to get $50,000? How am I going to make F I F T Y T H O U S A N D D O L L A R S?
Fortunately, I’ve been self-employed long enough to have run in to dozens of versions of this question over the years. And the answer for me is always the same. “There is no freaking way I can make $50,000! BUT I can definitely make Five Thousand Dollars. So I just have to figure out how to do that 10 times.”
We have some used kayaks behind the shop I can sell. I can put my car on Turo. I can pick up a couple of side hustles. Can I increase sales at Coastal Kayaks and / or SouthEast Expeditions? How do I make some money while I’m out on the road? Can the blog make a buck? Can I finance some of the trip so that I can use 3 or 4 years instead of 1 and a half to pay for it?
Once. Twice. Three times. OK, now we’re getting somewhere. Now there’s a start. A method to the madness. Take $10k. Play the market a little. Turn it into $11.5k. OK – now how about that Bitcoin game? Can you make more money there? (Turns out the answer is no – it was a great way to turn that $11.5K back in to 10. – oops)
By breaking the challenge down into achievable bites, I’m figuring out how to take it on without being totally overwhelmed and intimidated. I’m allowing myself to enjoy the successes and move past the failures of trying to make and save the money I’ll need to pull this somewhat ridiculous idea off. And while I may not quite have all of my ducks in a row, at least I’ve got a few ducks.