Interview with Everett Bogue: How to Pursue the Reality You Imagine Yourself Living

I’m super excited to bring you an interview with Everett Bouge. I stumbled across his blog sometime last year and was immediately impressed. So I emailed Everett to tell him how much I loved the content on his blog. Since then we’ve kept in touch via twitter and email. The internet is an amazing tool, especially when you’re able to develop new friendships.

I don’t think Everett knows this, but he is one of the people who prompted me to stop talking about my dreams and actually pursue them. Thanks to the tips and tools on his blog, I escaped my cubicle. I’ll be doing a more in-depth post about my career change on Friday. So stay tuned.

Thank you Everett for writing such amazing content!

I hope you enjoy the interview and subscribe to Everett’s blog. His posts are always helpful, inspiring and he goes the extra mile to help his readers.

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Tammy Strobel: Everett, leaving your day job was a big decision. What inspired you to leave your cubicle and start your own small business?

Everett Bogue: Hi Tammy! Thanks so much for this opportunity.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, because it’s been over six months since I left my job. The reality of just how much freer I am than I was a year ago is blowing my mind.

I was sitting out on my back little mini-deck in Brooklyn sunbathing today at 1 in the afternoon taking a refresher course on the 4 Hour Work Week. This time last year I would have been glancing out the windows longing to be out in the sun, but having no choice but to continue working under fluorescent lights.

I initially had major concerns about leaving — I had a pretty respectable job, as far as jobs go. I was a photo editor of New York Magazine’s blog network. I had been there three years, and things weren’t going as planned.

I was being paid barely above minimum wage, and the recession had hit nearly a year before. My creative abilities were being actively inhibited because the management just wanted to maintain the status-quo across the board on the site. That and editorially the site was aiming for the center — concentrating solely on celebrity fluff journalism (puke). No offense to my colleagues that are still there, it’s not working.

New York Magazine is NOT about celebrity fluff (puke), it’s about New York. They’re intent on alienating their audience for more hits by 3 second surfers from AOL.com. This approach is going to eventually put the site under. Seth Godin wrote about this method of drive-by culture this morning.

Matt Cheuvront likes to talk about epiphany moments, this was definitely mine. I woke up one morning and realized that I’d basically been “checked-out” at my job for a year.

I wasn’t going anywhere, I wasn’t going to be able to change anything.

So I just decided one day that it had to end. This far, no farther. The line must be drawn here. That kind of thing. I’d always wanted to go to Portland, so I booked a flight, quit my job, threw out all of my crap, and was out of there in a couple of weeks.

Tammy: What are the top 5 things you love about being location independent?

Everett: 1. Being able to work on the projects I want to choose, that make me feel fulfilled.

2. Being able to live in a new place, or travel, whenever I want.

3. Being able to move anywhere, whenever I want. In May I’m moving to SF Bay, probably Oakland, which is going to be awesome.

4. The prestige. This is very self-centered of me, but everyone’s like “Wow! You work anywhere and travel whenever you want?” There are so many people at this moment in time that aren’t happy with the jobs that they think they’re being forced to do that the location independent professional is the new success story. It’s true though.

5. Being able to set my own hours.

Tammy: You have post titled “How to Succeed by Being Completely Unrealistic ” which talks about success, passive income and following your dreams. Can you recommend two ways our readers can start to cultivate their dreams?

Everett: The whole idea behind that post was to point that stuff you think is impossible really is possible.

Tammy, to be honest, too many people are making the decision to settle for mediocrity. I say The decision, because it is that. The minute you step out of your comfort zone and start pursuing the reality that you imagine yourself living is the moment in which you start to feel alive again.

As I said before, I’ve been re-reading the 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss, and when I first read that book I thought that Timothy Ferriss was full of crap, that it was a scam that it’s possible to NOT trade time for money.

Two years later, I’m rereading his chapter on income automation, and I’ve realized that’s exactly what I’m doing. I wake up every morning and my Paypal account has paid for all of my day’s expenses. I’m rapidly heading towards making a low 6-figure income while working 4 hours a week.

It’s a good feeling to sit out on the back mini-deck, in the sun and not worry about money anymore.

1. Realize that what you think is impossible is probably possible. If your dream is to become a painter, there is probably some way to monetize that so you can get out of working at Starbucks. Don’t settle for less than the best, everyone else is. If you start to reach for some ambitious goal you’ll clear the crowd in a matter of months.

2. Figure out what you’re actually good at. So many people I know are trying to be good at everything, and end up being good at nothing. It’s not their fault, school teaches you to be balanced, but what they don’t teach you is once you’re done with school, you need to quit being balanced. The only thing I do right now is write, it’s the only thing I’m good at.

I’m not trying to be a designer, photographer, writer, marketer, consultant, photo-editor and illustrator all at the same time. I might HAVE those skills, but that doesn’t mean I need to focus equally on being good at all of them.

Pick a niche and do it well, you’ll kill it when you do.

Tammy: Reading is an amazing way to discover life changing ideas. What books have made a significant impact on your life and career?

Everett: I’ve been reading a lot of books over the last six months. When I got to Portland, I had no idea what I was doing. Then I checked myself into Powell’s public not-library in downtown Portland and started reading.

I read every Seth Godin book in a week, he is a must read for anyone who’s trying to strike out on your own. If you’re afraid of selling yourself, which I know many people are, Seth Godin will explain to you that you’re not selling yourself, instead, you’re being yourself. Start with Tribes first, then read Purple Cow and Linchpin.

Escape from Cubicle Nation was a good one that I read recently, though a little on the safe side. I don’t line ducks in rows before I jump, but Pam explains how to do that, if you want to.

Vagabonding by Rolf Potts was awesome. The book claims to be about long-term world travel, but they lied, it’s really about how to live you life every single day.

Rework by 37Signals came out last week, that’s a must read for anyone who’s interested in supporting themselves from their own business.

I have a full list of what I’ve read this year up at my blog, feel free to check it out.

Tammy: You’re going to be moving soon, right? Can you tell us a little bit about where you’ll be heading and what you’re looking forward to?

Everett: Yeah! I’m moving to the San Francisco Bay area. Probably Oakland, because I hear that’s where all of the cool people are. My girlfriend and I are going stuff at cat in a car and drive across the country in May.

I’ve never been to San Francisco, so I’m really excited to explore a new city and meet new people. I’ll have a new home base for awhile, which will be nice. I ended up back in Brooklyn because my girlfriend had to get through the last legs of her job, but now it’s time to be free from this location again. I can’t wait.

Tammy: How has being minimalist helped you achieve everything you have so far?

Everett: The truth is, I wouldn’t be here without the minimalist ideas that I’ve applied to my entire life.

I spent three months in Portland without making a single dollar, but through minimalism I was able to stretch the $3,000 that I’d saved up while working my job to last until the end of the year. By that time I was generating enough cash-flow to get where I am today.

When I say anything is possible, I do not mean anything is possible when you’re living above and beyond your means. If you’re blowing through your paychecks every single month because your expenses are through the roof, no wonder you can’t get anything done.

Sadly, this it the state that most Americans face every day. They’ve built this unsustainable lifestyles that are:

1. Destroying the planet.

2. Making it impossible for them to change their lives.

3. Not making them happy.

It’s important to recognize that it’s not their fault though. We’ve just descended from the TV-Industrial complex, and things are bound to be a little screwed up for a bit.

The important thing is to recognize that buying stuff will NOT make you happy, living your life will.

Yourself, Colin Wright, Leo Babauta, Karol Gajda, and anyone else who I haven’t mentioned proves that you can reasonably expect in this day in age to survive with less than 100 possessions. I’m aiming for 50 items by the time I move to San Francisco, because I’m just tired of hauling around a backpacker bag.

Stop consuming and start manifesting the reality that you always dreamed was possible. Because it is possible, once you make it so.

Thanks again for this opportunity Tammy!

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Don’t forget to check out Far Beyond the Stars and The Art of Being Minimalist. You’ll find awesome tips and tools that will help you change your life and the world.

 

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