Go Hunt Life

Anthony Rigogliosi, Founder of Podcast Ninja, went from being homeless and living out of his car in New York to becoming a global podcast ninja. It began when he was a manager at Best Buy but went through a few massive changes in his personal life when he found himself homeless. He shares his struggles with alcohol, cookie dough and the realization that his decisions had gotten him into this so it was up to him to start making different decisions to get different results. "I have an opportunity of a lifetime that I have to take." A defining moment was when he read the book The 4-Hour Work Week. He also started embracing the simplicity of the minimalist lifestyle and not having a lot of material possessions weighing him down. He then wrote down on a piece of paper, Thailand, and developed a plan to pursue a new life living overseas. In this episode we discuss... Working at Best Buy during the day, working overnights at Target. Sleeping in his car in the parking lot. Reading The 4-Hour Work Week. Writing down o

Burton Cleveland has built a healthy food retail store for pets and a neighborhood resource for anyone wanting to keep their dogs and cats healthy with high-quality food and snacks that are all free of corn, soy, wheat or by-products but this is an entirely new career for him. A few years ago he was living the corporate sales life traveling 50% of the time and selling legal services to law firms and was trained as a paralegal. He reached a point in his career where he didn't think he was in control of his success and meeting his professional goals so he made the jump from employee to retail entrepreneur to take more control over his life and financial situation. He quit his job but didn't have a definitive plan on what to do next in his career and professional life. "You should just do it, you only live one time."  His first step was interviewing people that he respected and another entrepreneur, a book store owner, helped him fine-tune his decision. To make his jump into the pet store successful, he turned t

Ian Usher is a minimalist traveler living and traveling all over the world but a few years ago he was just like everyone else. He owned a house, a car, a jet ski, a motorcycle and his home was packed full of stuff that didn't need so he decided to put his entire life for sale on eBay. The global media jumped on the story after the bid reached $2.2 million dollars and his story took off. The problem was that the huge bid came from a 15 year old...that didn't have $2.2 million. Not a problem though, he went to the next highest bidders but it turns out they really weren't interested either. The auction closed and Ian didn't have any legitimate buyers for his life. Dejected and without the money that he expected, he set out anyway to accomplish his goal. Not just one goal though. Ian set out to check off of his bucket list 100 goals in 100 weeks all over the world.  6 months into his travels, his house eventually sold and then the big call came from an agent in Hollywood. Disney was interested in buying the right

Roz Savage is an environmental activist, author, world renowned speaker, a lecturer at Yale and is an Ocean Rower with 4 Guinness World Records but what makes her story even more remarkable is that she once had a seemingly normal life. Roz is from England and into her 30’s she was living a life of materialism chasing the big house and big money as a management consultant but she quit it all to pursue a life with purpose. Now, she is the first woman to row solo across 3 oceans, the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans and she did it in a 23 foot rowboat. in 2010 she was named Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic. We talk about endurance, perseverance, minimalism, facing death and letting go of a materialistic life and mindset to transcend self-imposed limits and build a platform for environmental activism. She’s now a lecturer at Yale University teaching a course titled: Courage in Theory & Practice. Buy Roz's book In this episode she answers… What did your life look like before you pulled the ripc

Andrew Townsend is 60 years old and he can outrun you and me but 6 years ago he couldn’t run a step. 6 years ago he was 70 pounds overweight, eating and drinking too much and bound to a desk. It had gotten so bad that he was labeled an ‘invalid’ because of his battle with arthritis. He had no one to blame but himself and how he had chosen to live his life up to that point so he made a choice to change. His life transformation started with one step. "I tried blaming everyone else but I had no one to blame but myself." This timeline is amazing. 2011 he couldn’t run a step and in 2016 he ran across the Spanish Pyrenees. They are the mountains in the Tour de France that look impossible. He ran over those for 525 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean with an elevation change of 100,000 feet. Imagine climbing Mt Everest 4 times and he did it in 27 days. So obviously a lot changed from 2011 and we get into all of it. When we recorded this conversation he had just gotten back to his home in Reading Engla

Most couples when they get married, they go on their honeymoon and then settle into the married life and nest. My guests today are Sarah and Patrick Houston are not like “most couples” and they are not “nesting”. They are pursuing a minimalist lifestyle traveling through the Southeast US and Mexico on bicycles. As they were planning their wedding in early 2016, they were also planning their exit from their normal jobs, with comfortable salaries and a normal, predictable life to pursue their passion of water conservation and educating themselves and others on this fleeting resource. Making conservation a Wild Adventure. A few months after they got married, they had sold everything they owned, gave away what they couldn’t sell and got on bicycles to travel through the Southwest US and Mexico to raise awareness about the scarcity of water. If you want to know anything about water conservation and want to get really geeky about it, Sarah is your go to. She’s dedicated her life and career around this diminishing r

Bill Sycalik had the stark life re-evaluation when he said, "my lifestyle wasn't FEEDING me, it was feeding ON me." and needed a lifestyle reboot. He was living the New York City life. He was a successful management consultant living the experience riding the subway into Manhattan, working 12 hours a day then hitting happy hours, restaurants and live music. Bill quit his NY life in the summer of 2016 to go on a pursuit of self discovery through a transformational lifestyle reboot. He re-lives his feelings of being relieved to quit his job but also him being afraid of walking out on the only life that he had ever known. His comfort bubble was exploding and he was the one doing it. What the hell am I doing? His current profession? Chief Running Officer for his own initiative, the National Parks Marathon Project, where he is running a marathon in all 59 US national parks. His self supported and self funded quest to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the national parks service. How many parks has he run so far?  

Nancy Sathre-Vogel and her husband were career teachers when her two 10 year old boys came up with a plan. The family had always done bike rides together and even long bike rides but nothing like this cycling journey. They were on the pursuit of a cycling adventure and a modern day exploration of cultures and countries. This was their motto: "What would you do if you were not afraid?" - Nancy Sathre-Vogel: Author, Cyclist, Teacher and Mother. The family put a plan together for them to sell everything they owned, rent out their house and ride their bikes from Prudhoe Bay Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina, 17,285 miles. They were hoping to do it in 2 1/2 years, it took them 3. They camped most of the nights and also relied on friends and strangers for shelter and food. This conversation is unique for a few different reasons compared to most of my other guests because Nancy and her family had a definitive end point. The tip of Argentina. This dramatically changed the conversation when we discuss this part

Don Larson was a senior executive with The Hershey Corporation and had built a 25 year career in the food industry. This executive lifestyle of abundance had massive financial perks including a big house with a pool, tons of toys, luxury cars and even a hot air balloon but Don and his wife Terri decided to sell it all and invest their life savings into building a cashew company in Mozambique, Africa. They started The Sunshine Nut Company and dedicated their lives to helping others. Mozambique is one of the poorest countries in Africa but back in the 1970's it was home to one of the largest producing countries of cashews. Don has used his faith and his experience in the food industry to build a company with a "quadruple bottom line" adding transformational bottom line to the financial, environmental and social bottom lines of corporate social responsibility. In this episode we cover... Quitting a 25 year career in the food industry, mostly with The Hershey Company as a 'turn-around guy' and telling Campbell So

Rachel Mazza never wanted to be an employee. She has designed her digital marketing agency around her lifestyle and specializes in working with businesses to drive targeted traffic to their website through Search Engine Optimization tactics and Content Marketing. Her current lifestyle didn't just happen automatically. It started at her college graduation when she told her Dad... "Thanks for putting me through school but I don't think this job thing is for me." She tried to have real jobs in life and was working as a paralegal in Chicago but a friend asked her to move to Australia and help him start a nonprofit. Two years into her stay in Australia, she found herself working and normal sales job and that just didn't feel right. "I'm a location independent entrepreneur building a sustainable company." She ripcorded out of Australia with a friend and started building her freelance, side-hustle gig into a real business while also traveling and seeing the world. She's now been living abroad and building her own

SaulPaul, a Musician With a Message, is an Entrepreneur, Story Teller and Life Re-inventor with a purpose. He’s performed at venues from Google Headquarters and the Super Bowl to universities and grade schools all over the country. He’s a rapper, singer, guitar player and story teller and his life is a series of inventions with one massive ripcord moment. "I was born on purpose, with a purpose." He went from having 4 felonies and sitting in prison to graduating from the University of Texas with a 4.0 and being an global ambassador for the city of Austin. In this episode we discuss... The ripcord moment, sitting in prison, when he realized he was born on purpose, with a purpose. Going from having 4 felonies to graduating from the University of Texas with a 4.0 GPA Blazing an entrepreneurial path. The 'Order of Operation' described in his TEDx Youth Talk. The motivation behind writing his book, 'Living in 3D' ‘Musician with a Message’ life style that all starts with writing a song that evolves into an album, st

Dave Weiner was the CEO of an international software company and his technology career had been cranking for over a decade. He was flying all over the country, meeting with clients and he had built the business up to 285 employees. So what he do? He pulled the ripcord on his life as a technology CEO and quit, and he founded a bicycle company. And not just any bicycle company. A commuter bike company. He set out to produce bikes that were comfortable and dependable, that didn’t require a lot of the normal maintenance and rarely got flat tires. Dave wanted to validate his idea and see what the market thought so he turned to Kickstarter. He set a goal of $30,000 and in less than 30 days, he’d raised $550,000. His idea was officially validated and he launched Priority Bicycles. "I wanted to make low maintenance bicycles. I wanted them to be beautiful and I wanted them to be affordable." Now almost 3 years into it, he’s cranking, literally. He’s still a CEO but he’s the CEO of Priority Bicycles based in New York C

Urban Farmer Alejandra Rodriguez Boughton was climbing the corporate ladder in investment banking when she had the stark realization right after a promotion that she didn’t want her boss’s job or any of her boss’s jobs so she decided to quit and get her MBA but that didn’t solve her passion to pursue the road less traveled so a few weeks after she graduated, she began cultivating her dream of building an Urban Farm in Austin Texas and it all started, in her kitchen. “Spend time doing things that make time fly by in the best way.” We discuss her transition for a safe career and planned career path to being an entrepreneur starting a business that is completely reliant upon the help and camaradarie of other urban farmers. It’s a tight community of passionate people helping each other to build sustainable businesses that positively impact their local communities and the environment. In this episode we discuss… How she reached the stark realization of, “my heart was beckoning for the road less traveled.” At that

If you’ve ever been let go from a job and walked out the door wondering, oh man what am I going to do now, Thom’s been there. On April 1st 2009 he was caught in a not-so-funny April Fools Reality when 50% of the employees at his company were laid off and he was one of them. The recession had hit and he called his wife that day and said, “Honey, I’m out of a job.” He used this turn of events to pursue a dream. A dream of being a Professional Speaker and added in being a Professional Podcaster. “If you ever feel like you are in a rut, go interview 50 successful people." His profession is a unique one to say the least. Walk into a company conference where everyone there knows each other and be the Master of Ceremonies, the Conference Catalyst and the life of the party. He brings enthusiasm, wit and humor to events from 12 people to thousands and he’s proven since that fateful day on April 1st, he’s pretty good at it. We discuss his journey to being a professional speaker and his recommendations to others that ha

Mike Lewis had a life changing phone call. He had read an article about Evelyn Stevens who had quit her career on Wall Street to pursue a dream of being a professional cyclist and eventually made it to the London Olympics in 2012. He searched her out, found her number and cold called her unannounced and Evelyn answered. The advice she gave him changed his life. It was Mike’s, as he puts it, ‘When to Jump’ moment. “If I got hit by a bus today, how would I feel about the life that I had lived” Mike quit his job as a Growth Equity Investor for a Venture Capital firm and joined the professional squash tour. He documented his story and the stories of others along the way that had made similar decisions to leave a job that they had, to pursue a life that they wanted. Mike is now telling those stories in an upcoming book detailing the 10,000 unsexy steps behind making a jump. In this episode we discuss… That fateful phone call with Evelyn Stevens. Wall Street to the Olympics. What steps he took to quit his career as

Corey Smith and Emily King have been living the modern nomad VanLife for the last 4 years. They’ve been living out of a 1987 Volkswagon Vanagon and their brand is WheresMyOfficeNow. In the VanLife and modern nomad world, they are rock star status with 131,000 Instagram followers and officially social media influencers. Of course they didn’t always have this life, they created it one mile at a time. I’ve been curious about the constant traveling nomadic life, what are the unique challenges that they face, how do they make money and where do they take a shower. Their journey began as them doing web development work from the road while they explored the US from coast to coast but they’ve transitioned into monetizing their journey through sponsors and YouTube views. They are documenting the other modern nomads that have chosen this life by creating mini-documentaries on these people living the vanlife. They now view this as their duty to help others by sharing what they’ve learned. If you’ve ever fantasized about

In the early 2000’s, Chad Latham was an entrepreneur running his own technology company working as a Computer Technician serving local businesses in Tacoma, WA. He had been into computers since the 3rd grade and was following his passion helping companies with their technology challenges. That was his day job. At night, he was growing and selling marijuana. Living a double life as he puts it. One night he was caught moving over 2000 marijuana plants and growing equipment, and was arrested. His case was handed over to the DEA. He took a plea deal to serve 15 years in federal prison in order to avoid a potential life sentence if his case was put before a judge. He left behind his wife and 9 year old son. “I realized that this was an entirely different stage of my life from this day forward. That nothing would ever be the same again.” – Chad Latham Chad was horrified at the thought of wasting his time doing nothing behind bars so he focused on education and poured himself into learning everything he could about

Jeremy Gabrisch and his wife Christina had always dreamed of living abroad. He was an ER Physician in Austin TX when he and his wife visited Ethiopia to pick up their newly adopted son. They returned home to Austin, sold everything they owned and jumped back on another flight to move there permanently. After 3 ½ years of living abroad, they’ve moved back to Austin to disrupt the home health care market and reinvent the Doctor’s house call with their healthcare and technology startup, Remedy Urgent Care. We landed in Ethopia on their Christmas Day. There was no one on the streets, everything was closed and our new home was locked up. In this episode we discuss the move to Ethiopia... The life of an ER Physician in the U.S. What lead up to them selling everything they owned to move abroad and reinvent their personal lives. Their bumpy arrival when they land on the country’s Christmas day to find everything closed and their new home locked up. Why they chose Ethiopia and the stark differences in a simple visit

This is a story of an average family of 4 that sold everything, bought a boat and went to sea for a complete family and lifestyle change. I speak with Justin and Emmy Brown originally from Philadelphia and parents to two young kids. 2 years ago they were living the normal life working a ton of hours each week, never seeing each other, had a baby sitter to help shuffle the kids and it all came together one night when they had a much needed ‘date night’. They asked each other the simple question. “Are you all together happy?" Both of their answers, no. Over the next 60 days they sold their house, bought a sail boat and moved the family on-board. I catch up to them from Merrit Island, Florida were they give me a behind the scenes view of what it’s really like and the immense challenges, the extreme emotional situations as Justin put it, that they’ve gone through over the last 2 years raising a family of four on a 200 square foot boat. In this episode we cover… How they worked themselves into the typical, adult a

Theresa Gage was a Media and Entertainment Executive in Malibu California and had an incredibly successful career going when she made a career and life path pivot. Theresa had been climbing the corporate ladder for major companies like Pandora and Live Nation but she reached a breaking point. She quit her corporate job to travel full-time and write about it on her blog, chasingthefullmoon.com. She isn’t permanently ripcording out of the corporate life but her plan right now is to take a year away from work to travel, absorb all that goes into that and write about what it’s really like, not just post glamorous pictures on Instagram that look perfect. Midway through the conversation she says something that’s stuck with me. She was inspired by her mom that worked her entire life and saved for retirement only to pass away shortly after she finally retired. Theresa didn’t want that to happen to her so she’s pulled the ripcord on her executive life to get some clarity on what to do next. In this episode we cover...