If you have a blog you know the joy of connecting with people on a subject you love, discussing the pros and cons of a variety of topics, and teaching each other things along the way. It is a pretty fantastic experience, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Strangely enough, though, we feel more connected to you all now after writing a book that you haven’t even read yet.
Let me explain.
We’ve been working on this secret project for almost six months now, and we’re excited to finally release it into the world next month. You’ve heard us mention it a time or two over the summer - this big guide we were working on - but until now we haven’t really spilled the beans on what is inside or why we’ve been doing it.
Today’s the day. (Feel free to share on Facebook.)
About the guide
The guide is called Dream.Save.Do and is a step-by-step guide for amassing the cash you need to live your dream. It is the same plan we followed to save a 5-year travel budget in just 25 months, and it includes all the “mental health” lessons we learned about ourselves, our friends and family, and how to live a life differently than what is expected of you. It is about 35,000 words, with pictures, videos, PDFs, and audio. We even have a special extra bonus on how to sell your junk to fund your dream (though you certainly don’t have to go to the extreme we did) as well as a video chapter contributed by Adam Baker of Man vs. Debt on credit card debt elimination. As a final perk, we’ve included 3 months of followup with emails, videos and encouragement for you to start saving for your big dream.
We know that a huge part of saving for your dream is the mental energy it takes just to be different from everyone else. We focused a lot of attention on the social and emotional aspects of saving for your dream and how that can be life-changing in itself (it certainly was for us), and we are really proud of the final product. (Check out my ambush interview from the “paparazzi” in Amsterdam below. Click here if you can’t see the video.)
Why we consider you all contributors
What’s been really great in this project is the fact that it has been a group effort from before it even became a project. From the comments you have posted on our blog over the past three years, to your personal emails, to the very insightful feedback several of you gave to us on the early drafts of the book (not only are you guys smart, you’re also very opinionated - and we like that). In fact, I don’t think there ever would have been a book without your frequent requests for the “inside scoop” or your emails requesting personal advice. So THANK YOU for pushing us to deliver something that we know a thing or two about to an audience that wants the information. You are the yin to our yang, and we love continuing this journey with you.
We’ve even been lucky enough to work with two readers professionally - Angela Barton is editing the book for all of our grammar mistakes, and Shea McGuier designed the cover, the interior layout, and the banner and graphics for the website. We’ve been lucky to meet Shea in person (at a train station in London as we were each going separate ways - you just never know how a brief meeting is going to impact your life) and we’ve gotten to know and love Angela online over the last 3 years as she documented her Year Without Spending. In fact, she was one of our very first readers.
The difference between blogging and writing
One thing we have learned is that writing a book is far different than writing a blog, and it has taken a lot more time and effort than we anticipated. From months of writing every morning at 6 a.m. so we could still fit in some sightseeing and travel, to learning how to take constructive criticism in two rounds of feedback, to letting go of our control issues to hand over our work to an editor and a designer to make it better, to learning how to sell our work for money for the first time.
In fact, we altered our travel plans and came back to Brussels at the kind invitation of Alison and Andrew of Cheeseweb to put in a solid week of work on the remaining tasks for the guide. There is still a lot to do in terms of promotion, final edit/layout changes, the back end of setting up the purchase/delivery, and all the guest posts/press releases/interviews, etc., that go along with a big launch.
(We’ll be writing much more about this after the launch - I think we can all learn a lesson or two about a big project that just keeps.getting.bigger and how to handle the stress and logistics of that. In the past, I usually just gave up. This time I had people pushing me to keep making it better and do more, and that has had a profound effect on my self-confidence and work ethic. Again, more to come on that subject.)
In short (one of my favorite phrases because it is never true for me), the difference between writing a blog and writing a book is huge. The blog gives us a daily infusion of feedback and connection with you, and writing a book is more of a gamble because we aren’t really sure what you’re going to think of it until it is done. Did we kick your ass too much? Were we inspiring enough? Are you going to take our advice and make big changes in your life? Are you going to store it on your computer and never even get around to reading it? Even though we don’t yet know the answers to those questions, we do feel closer to you now than ever before by reliving our experience with your needs in mind.
Will you help us?
The book is released on October 18, the same date as Meet, Plan, Go in cities all over North America. (You remember that we hosted one in Seattle last year.) But what is really profound to us is that we will finish the main work on the book on October 1, exactly one year to the day that we left Seattle on our big adventure to travel the world. Maybe we’re destined to do something terrifying and exciting every year at this time. We can only hope.
Something that would be a really big help to us as we gear up for the launch is if you would share the news of the guide with your friends and encourage them to visit the sales page. We have a signup form there for the launch date that will give people an early-bird discount, and we hope you and your friends will take advantage of it. You can share the news with your friends on Facebook by clicking here.
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Thanks to you all for being with us on this journey and for inspiring the guide in the first place. Our lives are so much better with you in them, and we can’t wait to see what kind of great and fun things we’re all going to do in the future.
About Betsy
We are so excited to be even more inspired by you guys through this book! We know it’s going to kick-ass because you two kick-ass!
Many thanks to you and Andrew for many things, but most of all for putting us up this week in Brussels and feeding us such good food while we work away on the final details. We love having friends who support us and understand what we’re doing…mainly because you guys are doing a lot of the same thing.
Speaking of books, if you guys are interested in photography books (Alison is an excellent photographer) check out her latest coffee table book on Belgium at http://www.cheeseweb.eu
Perfect timing.. The 18th is the day Iafter I return from my trip, all full of travel thoughts.
Looking forward to the book. I already sold a copy for you based on what I’ve seen so far.
Thanks so much for your feedback, Rob. We loved getting your perspective. And hey, if you thought that draft was good enough to sell a copy, you’re going to LOVE the final version!
Congratulations on the pending launch!
Dream. Save. Do.
Thanks for your support, nrhatch! We are really excited about this.
Congratulations!!! So great that you’ve truly fulfilled your dream by traveling and living in the world while also finding a great way to contribute to others following their dream. And can you believe it’s been almost 1 year already?!
Looking forward to seeing the finished product. It looks fantastic.
Cheers
R
Thank you so much for your feedback, Rhonda. We loved having the help from you and can’t wait for you to see the final product!
Great news about the book
I have to ask though (guess my age is showing) but it’s an e-book, right? Is there a hard copy version? I work in a library and I know e-books are increasing but guess I’m still old-school (and there are those who can’t afford e-readers, let alone a computer, but rely on borrowing books…then again, they might not be your target audience). Anyway, I think it’s awesome you guys wrote and finished a book. It’s no easy task…enjoy!!
Hi, Joanna. We’re putting it out as an ebook because we have video, PDFs, and a 3-month email followup program that comes with purchase, and that’s hard to do with a hard copy book. That being said…we are in talks to have it published old-school as well. But I’m not saying anything else about that until we have something definite.
The good news is that Kindle provides a FREE e-reader application for any computer, and you can also download the book as a PDF and read it straight from your computer on the free version of Adobe Reader that almost every one already has (or print it out if you like). We are also going to make an audio book. Really, there is no way you can’t consume this book (no excuses for not chasing your dreams!).
This is such an incredible and amazing accomplishment - a HUGE congratulations to you both (from us both)!
Wonderful news. I’m looking forward to the release with anticipation. Congratulations.
I am so excited for you guys! Congratulations! Love that you’re launching it on the same day as Meet Plan Go. That’s so perfect! You’re living the dream and I can’t wait to read the book.
Wonderful news, congratulations!
This is amazing - congrats on writing your first book! After my master’s thesis I swore I’d never write anything more intense than a blog post again (over-dramatic much?), so I have major respect for published authors.
Can’t wait for its release!
Christy, a thesis is no small thing! Congrats to you for getting it done, and I know exactly what you mean by swearing off writing after a big project. It is exhausting! Though I have to admit I already have notes for my next book project ready to start on October 19. It must be a sickness. Definitely a sickness.
Thanks to all of you for your great words of support and encouragement!
Wishing you the VERY best of luck with this. We’re behind you!
Hey, with a team like that, how can we go wrong? Thanks for the encouragement, guys!
So excited to be a small part of your big project!
Small part? I don’t think so. You are going to make us sound as smart as we are passionate. We are very excited to be working with you on this.
You guys are the ultimate multitaskers! Not only are you travelling around the world, keeping up the blog, entertaining us all with your stories, now you’ve gone and written a book as well! Awesome job, guys!
Did we mention we have a cool new ezine called Try Something New, too?
You can sign up in the right sidebar.
You all continue to inspire us to share the mission of living the good life in as many ways as we possibly can. Thanks for the encouragement, Judy.
Congrats you guys, that is certainly a big accomplishment. I love the way you write and can’t wait to read your insights. You continue to be an inspiration.
I am so proud of you both! I know just a little of how hard you both have worked both before you left and since you left. I can’t speak for most but the hard part for me would be to figure out what the dream is - what it is that I would so passionate about that I would work as hard as you did to make that dream come true. And then to want to share your knowledge with others is simply amazing! My heart just swells with love and pride. Congratulations Baby Girl! Mamacita loves you very much!
Aw, you’re so sweet, Mamacita. One thing we address in the book is that very subject - what if you don’t have a specific dream? We were there before, too, and we what we chose to do to regain some happiness was to eliminate the big negatives in our lives. (That’s when we changed jobs and moved from the ‘burbs to the city to take away the long commute and heavy business travel schedule.) As you do that, you free up more mental space to think about a dream.
I know you don’t always understand what I’m doing or why, but I love it that you always support me no matter what. It is easier to do big things in life with unconditional love like that.
Having had just a sneak-peak at an earlier draft of Dream. Save. Do. sans all the videos, etc. I already know that everybody is going to love this book. What I loved about it, is its a book about taking action! It definitely should not sit collecting virtual dust on your hard drive!
As readers of MWL we all love and admire Betsy and Warren; their warmth, openness, courage and the ability to work together to actually take the actions necessary to bring their Vision(s) into fruition are truly inspiring. Plus-let’s not forget-they’re now internationally known fine connoisseurs of beer.
And after getting to know them just a little, one thing that I am sure about them is I know they truly would want all of us to experience the “Do” part of Dream. Save. Do. Sure this book will entertain and inspire you-but its true value is in its implementation!
One big “take-away” I get from my observations and interactions with this awesome couple is that not only do they work together as a team, but they also spend the time connecting and enlisting others! As a “lone-wolf” kind of a creator I certainly see the limitations of not reaching out to others to infuse their expertise into your project! Not only is a lonely, but it drastically reduces the impact you can have on the world.
Thanks once again Warren & Betsy!
Be Present. Expect Success. Live with Passion!
T
Now, Tranque. Why do you have to do that? The NEXT post is about enlisting the help of others to make your projects better…you spilled the beans!
This is actually a new lesson we’re learning, and we’re excited to share our progress with all of you. It’s not easy to let go of the control and open yourself up to feedback, but the end result is much better than what you can do alone in many cases.
I’m thrilled to support you and help spread the word. Thanks for sharing this with the world and can’t wait for October 18!
I can’t quite come up with the right word here to describe how I feel about this huge accomplishment! Thrilled, excited, awed. I knew it was coming at some point but man you guys work fast. I guess that is part of living the dream isn’t it? Energy follows attention/intention which means getting the right stuff done!
You are both so inspiring to me and I appreciate your virtual, loving kicks in the butt to live my dream. I miss you, and yet, I wouldn’t want you to be anywhere other than where you are right now.
Big hugs!
Jules
I’ve been following you guys on the finges now for a bit of time. Warren, I knew you from work however, oddly enough, it seems like I know you more / better than I did then! Both of you appear to have SO much zest for life! It brings a smile to my face everytime I read an entry or watch your videos (I LOVE the Dream.Save.Do video outtake video!). You guys have inspired me to get out of the technology rat race (not totally but Warren will understand where I’m coming from) to jump off the cliff into one of my passions: coffee. Life is too short not to have fun and do what we REALLY want to! Now, I’m not jumping off the cliff out of the gate… planning (DREAM) takes time as with the saving. However, I just got your book, hot off the virtual press (and CONGRATS!)… I’m comitting to my journey starting now! Thanks you guys!
Chris, we’re really excited to hear more about your new venture. I LOVE hearing these stories. See, it’s not all about long-term travel. It’s about harnessing your focus and money toward what you really want in life. And you’re doing it - congrats!
Congratulations on the completion of such a big and wonderful project. It comes at the time when doors are opening for our very big dream of several years…and the sudden fear that comes with the realization that we are standing on cliff of the unknown future. May you have much success with your book and may it be a blessing to many others.
Thank you, Carmen. I clicked on your latest blog post after reading the headline. It is always tough to turn your fear into fuel, but once you make the switch…bam! I’m struggling right now with launching into the next big project - scared to start, but knowing I need to, and calling in reinforcements along the way. It’s time to start writing again, and even though I’m excited I’m also scared to death because I don’t know how it will turn out. Standing on a cliff, for sure. Thanks for weighing in on this, and I appreciate your good wishes.
Congratulations on your new book. Good luck with it.
Very keen to purchase your e-book, but PayPal will not let me enter Hong Kong as city, NT (New Territories) for zip code or my Hong Kong phone number. Is the book only available for people with a US address? That seems like irony for a global blog like yours ;-p How to proceed / purchase?
Lars
Hi, Lars. The system that processes payments is Paypal, which is international. I had another reader with the same problem and she just forgot to select her country in the dropdown list at the top, which is why she kept getting an error message when submitting. I just tried it and there is a Hong Kong entry, along with a phone field that starts with prefix 852. If that doesn’t work for you please email me at btalbot (at) marriedwithluggage (dot) com and I’ll help you personally get it processed.
We’ve had purchases from all over the world - the most surprising was probably Tonga! So I think Hong Kong should definitely work. Let me know if you continue to have problems, Lars.