Start Small , Start Now !
TRISH : I think this one ’ s really important in the scoop . How do you define success ? Because if you have an old definition of success and you ’ re going after a travel adventure lifestyle , you might have an internal struggle . So have you had to redefine success ?
MARC : For sure . We ’ ve had to unplug from the previous definition of success that worked really well in suburbia because it ’ s so measurable . The measurables are so obvious . It ’ s a house , it ’ s a car , it ’ s clothes , it ’ s things . The game is played very simply . The more you have the better you ’ re doing . I think for us , we reached a point where we had played the game for long enough that we knew we would never want to stop playing the game . I mean , that ’ s what it was . It was like , wait a second . This is never going to do it . It wouldn ’ t take very long before we wanted something newer of something we previously wanted . The moment I was aware of that circumstance , the moment I realized this was just the newest version of what I wanted previously , that ’ s the moment the game became less fun to play .
Then on top of that awareness , I started feeling like , wait a second . Now I ’ m only trying to work to make more money to pay for these things that I ’ m already aware I value less . So that meant my work was less valuable . Now I was truly conflicted because I was growing a business . I ’ m sure people have heard this expression , but I was growing a business to make more money , to buy things that I don ’ t need to impress people that I don ’ t care about . It was very difficult to shift our mentality over to how do we become more sustainable and how do we spend the money that we would spend on things and start spending it on experiences ?
TRISH : We had a really good community around us and furthermore , we still have a good community . Our core group of friends , our core family supported us , was excited for us , and has been staying in contact with us . None of that has changed . It was that outside influence ; it was the “ they .”
MARC : It was not the smaller bubble for us . It was the medium to larger size bubble . The more of the business and associate community bubble .
TRISH : So , and all of that ultimately comes down to , in between your ears and you said it so well because it ’ s a game . When you realize you go around the board and you pass the get out of jail free and all that , you ’ re thinking , I know where I ’ m going next . You ’ re okay , I need something different .
MARC : Once we really clued into the idea of being sustainable , we wanted to create things that were going to last forever . I was less interested in spending money on things that were good for the season that we are in right now . I was more interested in creating something sustainable that we could do in our fifties and sixties and seventies . We weren ’ t interested in a bigger house because we knew that the kids were going to go to college and then that ’ s just something we had to get rid of . All of that was playing a factor .
TRISH : There were a lot of factors . I think that ’ s really huge , quieting that voice , staying motivated , staying inspired , and then also redefining what success looks like . So that you can say at the end of the night , when you ’ re watching a sunset – I can ’ t believe I ’ m here . I can ’ t believe I ’ m watching this . I can ’ t believe at the end of the day , I taught my kids X , Y , or Z , or we got to have a family experience that we wouldn ’ t have otherwise had .
MARC : For us , I think it ’ s that we want to contribute to other people . We want to make an impact . We also want to do that while we have the freedom to have the experiences that we want . We never want to retire because for us retiring would mean that you wouldn ’ t be contributing to people anymore , because businesses should be contributing to people . These are the businesses that we ’ re attracted to . We contribute to other people , we never want to retire . At the same time , I no longer subscribe to work and build and then stop working and then start having vacation . I think that ’ s so important . Our travel right now , is the way it is because of all of our ages and what we ’ re doing . We could do the same trip 10 years from now , it would be a different trip . And I want to do the trip 10 years from now .
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