30 Day Blog Challenge

I discovered the 30 Day Blog Challenge run by Natalie Sisson over at suitcaseentrepreneur.com in August, but it was a third of the way through. The concept of the challenge of creating freedom in business and adventure in life through location independence couldn’t have come at a better time as I was thinking about travel plans and looking for inspiration to revive my blog. So I started the challenge anyway with the intention of working through the challenge at my own pace.

My 9 point plan to creating a life on my own terms

The question for day 6 of The Suitcase Entrepreneur’s 30 day blog challenge is “What are my three priorities for the next 30 days that will move me closer towards living life on my own terms?”

My answer is written to the power of 3, with my 9 point plan:

Improve my health + physical fitness (I need to be strong if i’m going to be carting everything I own around the world with me)

1. Go to the gym at least 3 times per week (starting today, double session of LBT and yoga done!)
2. Record everything I eat on my fitness pal and stick to 1270 calories a day (starting today 1670 calories minus 501 in exercise = 1169 yay!)
3. Book appointments for Dr, dentist, physiotherapist and massage therapist

Improve my finances – I need to save an additional £2k to meet my minimum (and very frugal) travelling budget requirements by cutting down what I spend, earning more and selling my stuff.  

1. Switch energy providers and banks, following advice from the money saving expert to get the best rates 
2. Set up a catalogue of ebay items, including all my pretty dresses to sell in the run up to Christmas
3. Devise a plan to develop additional income streams – ok so this one needs some work, but I’ve got 30 days to come up with a plan …so watch this space!

Perfection

On day 5 we are asked “What does your perfect day look like?” 

And it’s taken me quite a few days to write this post in response.  I have really struggled with the concept of having a perfect day.  Right now all I can focus on is the fact that my ideal lifestyle would just be to not be sat in an office at a computer for 10 hours a day.

So I decided to read some of the resources and other blog posts from “today’s” challenge. (One of the benefits of being behind schedule is checking out what everyone else has posted for inspiration!) 

And I agree with Whitney from massifornia.com that part of having a perfect day is not having

Location Independence

Day 4 is all about location independence and what it means to us. To me it quite literally means having the freedom and independence to work from any location you want. I have never had a desire to run my own business, or work for myself but I have always wanted to work abroad, and travel the world. And now it seems the only way to make those dreams come true is to be able to work for myself and run my own business from wherever I want, even if that means coming back to the UK and working from my sofa in the future!  I don’t particularly want to travel indefinitely and part of me hopes that travelling the world will cure my itchy feet and I’ll find somewhere I want to make my home.

Natalie shares some Pros and Cons based on her experiences as The Suitcase Entrepreneur, these 3 I agree with:

Freedom & Adventure

Day 3 of the 30 Day Blog Challenge and we are asked “What’s your definition of freedom in business and adventure in life?” 

• Freedom to do what I want, when I want, how I want, where I want 
• Freedom to work enough hours to generate enough income* enough being a subjective amount
• Freedom to be rewarded monetary terms for the work I do not for the hours I work
• Freedom to pursue my passions and create a work life balance 

A Perfect Day

30 Day Bog Challenge - Day 2, The Suitcase Entrepreneur asks us “If you woke up tomorrow and were free to do anything you wanted with your life, what would you do and who would you be?”

My immediate answer was that I would like to sleep for the day, just relax and turn my mind off from work, from paying the bills, from doing the housework, from starting an online business, from trying to lose weight, from saving up to travel the world.

Its all so tiring.

Just writing this down makes me realise that I do not want to continue with this lifestyle or be this person however it doesn’t help me figure out what I actually want do with my life or who  want to be…

So I think about what I’d like to do when I wake up from an amazingly refreshing sleep, what would that day look like?

Getting my blog on

I’ve just discovered the 30 day blog challenge, which is being run by Natalie Sisson, the 

Suitcase Entrepreneur – as the title suggests Natalie quite literally runs her business ‘out of her suitcase’ whilst she travels the world. Unfortunately I discovered the programme on day 22, Natalie invited me join right along even at this stage, but on exploring the themes for day 1 & 2 I really think I need to work my way through from the beginning, it’s all really relevant as I am actually thinking about giving it all in and travelling the world, I’m worrying about everything from leaving my family behind, to funding the trip - how can I earn more money before I go, how can I earn money whilst travelling, how long do I want to go for? Will I want to come back, will I want to / can I become location independent? After being my own boss will I ever want to work in a stuffy office for someone else ever again????