• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

RandyJohnson.org

  • Blog
  • About
  • Projects
  • Tools
  • Contact

travel

How I Can Basically Work From Anywhere

January 29, 2019 - Randy

“That sounds awesome! But for real, when are you gonna get a real job?” -Most Humans

As I write this, I’m sitting on my red leather couch in my bedroom here in Ohio. Yes, leather. It’s probably real. Yes I’m vegan. Yes I see the irony, but I bought it seven years before I became vegan, therefore I will keep using it until I no longer get value from it. But that’s besides the point. It’s 4:10pm on a Monday, and I’m working from my bedroom, and I haven’t left the house yet today.

A week ago I was working from a local Starbucks. I actually worked from different Starbucks locations for a week or two. I didn’t purchase anything from any of them, and I’m not even a coffee drinker.

During the long Thanksgiving / Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend, I was working from my mom’s apartment and my sister’s apartment, both in Florida.

Before that, in October, I was updating my online shop’s inventory from my friend’s swanky condo in downtown New Orleans. It wasn’t his. His work paid for it for some sort of work conference. But I hung out and stole some WiFi for a couple days.

Good for you, but I can’t do that.

Well, you could. Several people have told me I’m lucky and they wish they could do what I do. I always tell them the same thing: you could. Most people won’t, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible for you.

I want this lifestyle more than you want a family, or a new car, or a big house, or fancy clothes, or a yacht, or nine dogs. All of those things are cool, but I don’t need them, and I don’t want them. At least not enough to give up this freedom that I’ve built.

You likely have a normal job. Nothing wrong with that. You might also have all of the things that I just listed too. Again, no issues there. But for the people that wish they could travel more, and work for themselves, and have more location independence, you might have to give most of those things up (ok, you don’t need to sell your kids on eBay).

We all have different priorities, but this is written for the people who don’t want the normal 9-5 career, and they don’t want to keep up with that crazy Jones family (or the Kardashian’s either), and they want to create their own version of the “American Dream,” instead of settling for the default.

So yes, you have the opportunity to work from wherever, if that’s what you honestly want. It won’t be easy, and it won’t happen overnight, but it is an option.

So what the hell do you even do for work?

I do several things. Some bring in money, some don’t. But I have scaled my life down a lot over the years, so I don’t need millions of dollars rolling in. And you don’t need seven or eight figures either, so if you’re looking for a get rich quick scheme, your mindset is broke.

Fix your mindset, then spend your life doing shit you enjoy, rather than stressing yourself out on the constant sprint towards more money.

As far as the work I spend most of my time on, it’s usually in one of these areas:

  • Web Design
  • Merch
  • Marketing
  • Writing
  • Photography
  • Podcasting
  • Online Courses

A lot of these areas are focused on my own projects, but I also do client work that falls into these areas too (typically web design).

And when I say work, again, I’m not just talking about income. I love all of these things, but I don’t force myself to make tons of money from them.

All seven items in that list are basically various forms of art. Maybe I’m an artist. Maybe I’m a designer, or a marketer, or a salesman, or just a content creator. I don’t know what my title is, and it doesn’t really matter.

Maybe I’m lucky for being interested (passionate maybe) in all of these things since they all relate to each other. Being a good photographer can help when it comes to making better looking websites. Learning to write better helps with marketing and podcasting. Being excited about marketing is good for basically all the other skills.

Some people will tell you to just pick one thing and go full steam ahead with that one thing. While I get that, and I mostly agree with it, there’s nothing wrong with having multiple disciplines (multipotentialite) if you’re the type of person that genuinely loves doing a variety of things (like me). Especially when they’re all intertwined.

Plus having this skill set is nice, because all of it can be done with a small amount of overhead. If you want to start a web design business, you really just need a computer and an internet connection (you could even use a library computer and their internet, allowing you to almost have zero overhead, even though that’s not ideal for most people).

Want to start a photography business? Purchase a small amount of used gear and shoot everything for months or years. Build up a portfolio shooting things for free, then start charging, then slowly increase your prices as you get better. You can take great photos with around $500 worth of gear, then upgrade as your business grows.

How about a podcast? Simple. Get a basic USB mic, a computer, editing software (there are free options), and get to work.

You don’t need a $200k loan from a bank to do any of these businesses. The merch option is the only one that might have a lot of costs involved with it, but they aren’t mandatory. There are several ways to run a low overhead clothing brand. It’s actually the only thing I’m doing that keeps me in one location most of the time. I could switch things up and have zero inventory, or I could pay someone to handle all the fulfillment, but I’m not worried about that just yet.

Anyways, most of the work I do can be done from pretty much anywhere in the world. I just need my laptop. WiFi is easy to find in most places, and if it’s not available, I can use my phone as a hotspot. And if my phone has no signal either, I can focus on doing work that doesn’t require the internet, like writing, podcasting, etc. And then finish my work when I’m back to civilization.

Again, that’s nice for you, but I can’t do those things.

No one said you have to be a clone of me. This is just what I enjoy and what I’m good at. There are plenty of people who work remotely or run businesses from their laptop that are different than what I do.

That reminds me, you don’t have to work for yourself either. A lot of people have a job, but they have the flexibility to do that job from wherever. As long as the work is getting done, the boss doesn’t care. I wish more jobs would understand this.

But if you want to have complete freedom, I suggest figuring out how to monetize your knowledge and skills. Don’t worry about trying to build the next Facebook or Uber, just find a skill or a problem that others have, and have people pay you for your services and/or products.

There was a time when I didn’t know how to do any of the things I’m doing. But each thing that I listed above, I just found a way to learn how to do each of them. Here’s how I figured out how to do what I do:

  • Web Design – I learned graphic design in college, and we briefly touched on websites. But I started to learn on my own after college through trial and error. Then I learned more at a couple jobs. Then I was ready to give up. Then a past classmate mentioned this new platform he was using. Then a coworker at my last job explained some tools. Then my curiosity went into overdrive and I spent a ton of time trying new things, watching tutorials, reading books, etc. Now I’ve been hired to do website work for clients all over the world.
  • Merch – I ordered a handful of shirts like a decade or so ago. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I asked a lot of questions. I watched YouTube videos, I searched Google for answers, I asked friends that were doing it already. Then I ordered more shirts. I kept repeating that process until I really understood what I was doing. My graphic design skills also helped a little bit in this area.
  • Marketing – We all use social media. At first it was just for fun, then when it came to selling myself and my products, I was already good at using the tools. I used to create catalogs and websites and business cards and ads at various jobs I had. I used to be in customer service at my first job. I trained customers at another job. I learned email marketing at my last job. I read tons of books. I went to conferences. I did a lot of trial and error on my own projects, as well as some client work.
  • Writing – Whether we realize it or not, we live in an age where we are writing all the time. Texts, emails, social media, etc. I’ve been doing those things for a long time. I used to write detailed instructions to customers, and now I do that with website clients. I’ve had various journals over the years, and I still do that often. Anytime I have ideas, I write them in my Notes app. I’ve been blogging on and off for almost ten years. I love writing. Just like anything else, you get better the more you do it. I read a lot, and I think that helps with writing too.
  • Photography – I used to work at a camera shop, but I was in the digital department where we focused on making photo gifts (mugs, tshirts, restorations, posters, etc). While there, I learned some good photo editing skills, that I still use to this day. I also got my first digital camera while working there. I loved taking photos, especially at truck shows. Then I saw the editors on one of my favorite websites was looking for freelance photographers, so I applied, and a couple people said I was good, so I was one of the people they chose. Then I upgraded from a point-and-shoot to a DSLR camera. Then I was shooting all sorts of things, mainly for fun. And I’ve been doing that for over ten years (seems like a lot of shit happened around 2009). Still learning, working with better gear, still shooting.
  • Podcasting – I started listening to podcasts while I was working at my last job in 2011/2012. Then a couple years later, it seemed like more and more people were doing them, and I was thinking I should share my knowledge and interview others. I didn’t know how to do it, but again, I downloaded eBooks, watched tutorials, and figured it out. Then I bought a cheap microphone. Then I bought a ticket to the largest podcasting conference in Texas. Then I was nervous to record my first episode, but I did it anyways. Then I was even more nervous to do my first interview, but I did it anyways. Then I launched the show in mid-2015 and just kept learning as I went. Even to this day I’m still tweaking things with it.
  • Online Courses – I’ve learned a lot of things as you can see. But I’m just one person, so I wanted to scale things up a bit, and help a lot more people. So I listened to successful online course creators for a couple years before finally creating my own course at the end of 2016. Then after I was finished I quickly jumped into planning out the next one (which is still in progress as we speak). But I just did my research and found the tools other people were using, and mixed in the other skills I already learned up until this point (audio recording, graphic design, marketing, web design, photography, etc). I plan to spend a lot more time on courses going forward, and whatever I don’t know right now, I’ll keep learning.

After reading through all of that (especially that last line), you probably noticed a pattern. I just figured things out. No one is coming to hand you skills, you have to learn them on your own.

And if you hate learning new things, you should probably just stay at your job and get real comfortable there. The people that find success (define it however you want), they are students forever. The world is always changing, and if you think you already know it all today, you’re gonna be real sad next week when it all changes. You have to be able to pivot when needed. The companies that go out of business, they either sell a shitty product/service, or they ruined the relationship with their customers in one or more ways, or they had an ego and got too stubborn and didn’t want to change their ways (“but we’ve always done it this way”).

I used to build websites with Dreamweaver or Flash, now I build them with WordPress and other similar tools. I used to let friends know what I was doing via MySpace, now I use Facebook and Instagram (and my blogs and email lists). I used to use an Apple computer, now I use PCs and my iPhone. The tools are always changing, but it’s never too late to learn the fundamentals of whatever skills interest you.

Ok fine, I’ll learn some skills, but I can’t just quit my job, I need money.

We all have a different definition for “enough.” The amount of money that’s enough for me is probably less what’s enough for you. If I earn $30k a year, that’s enough for me to enjoy my life. You might need (different than want) $80k a year, or $100k, or maybe only $20k. We likely have different life circumstances. But whenever you figure out what your enough is, it makes it a lot easier to understand how you’ll get there.

I also don’t advise people to just quit their job tomorrow. That would be pretty dumb. Although, if you are debt-free, and you have very low monthly expenses, and you have little to no responsibilities, and you really hate your job… maybe you should quit your job tomorrow.

But for most people, I suggest a side hustle, or a second job that is focused on something you might want to do on your own someday. “Side hustle” is a common phrase these days, but it can be a path towards more freedom.

While working my last full-time job, I had a few projects on the side. I wasn’t getting rich off them, but the extra money was nice when it came in. I started doing more freelance website work in 2011, and when I lost my job in early 2012, I at least had some money coming in. But more importantly, I had several skills that I had been practicing for years.

You should figure out at least one thing you really enjoy doing. More if you want, but at least one. Websites is what I chose, and I built websites for fun, and then started offering my services to clients. For you it might be painting, or creating YouTube videos, or personal finance, or selling cars.

Whatever it is, you can spend your time outside of your main responsibilities learning everything about that skill. Learn, practice, repeat. After awhile you’ll get better at it. To the point where others will think of you when it comes to that skill, or when they have questions regarding something related to it.

But back to you needing money. If you quit your job tomorrow to start learning a new skill, you’re gonna be stressed out because you’re trying to make money from something you don’t understand. That’s why I think most people should keep a low-stress day job to pay their bills, then focus all their time outside of their job (also outside of eating and sleeping) on their “passion.”

If you are self-motivated, then read books, watch tutorials, and put that learning into action. Do all sorts of testing, build things on your own, work for free or cheap for friends, etc. Keep learning and creating.

Sorry, I need more structure than that.

You could find a company that’s somewhat related to what you’re interested in, and get paid to learn the skills, plus having a work schedule will keep you disciplined. Or find people who are where you want to be, and become their apprentice, or work for free just to learn how they do it.

Sure you could go to college, but in a lot of ways, that will just lead you to another job, that you’ll probably grow to resent. I think college is required if you want to be a doctor. College is fine for a graphic designer… if you want a normal desk job. That’s what it got me, until I increased my skills on my own, and created my own path.

But most skills can be learned online, but college is always an option, except for that insane amount of debt that it usually comes with. Which can lead to more stress and cause you to work another bullshit job to pay off all that debt. What a vicious cycle.

I wish more people would take money out of the equation and spend their time doing more things that matter to them. There are people that hate their jobs, but they have a $500/mo car payment, a $1500/mo mortgage, Netflix, cable tv, Hulu, season tickets for their favorite football team, three closets full of clothes they don’t wear, and so much more. When they could lower or eliminate a lot of their debt and expenses, and make less money and be ok.

Most people don’t need to make more money, they just need to spend a lot less money.

You could live in a city that has a low cost of living, find a job that’s cool to work at that’s within walking/biking distance, eat simple meals at home, cancel all your tv & movie services, sell all the junk you don’t use, get rid of your car, read more books (at the library), etc. Basically live a very simple life, well below your means.

Maybe you’ll do that forever. But even if you live like that for a year or two, or maybe even three years, you should be debt-free and maybe even have a good amount of money saved up. If you were in that situation, then you can definitely afford to do your own thing with no excuses. I love this quote:

“Live a few years of your life like most people won’t, so you can live the rest of your life like most people can’t.”

Is it glamorous? In most cases no. My life isn’t glamorous at all. It would be very boring to you if you watched me 24/7 for a week or a month. But I don’t need it to be extravagant, I don’t desire all the luxuries like most celebrities. You know, the ones that you scroll past on Instagram and get depressed because they have the fancy watch or the exotic cars or they just bought a mansion on the island they also just bought.

If you pay attention to all of that and think you need that as well, you might never reach your “enough.” I’m not telling you to skip having big goals. You should do that too, but what you can skip is all the materialistic nonsense that just distracts you from having a happier life. Because those things won’t do much for you.

Tell me more about your specific situation.

Working for myself has been pretty amazing. Definitely stressful at times, periods of uncertainty, many highs, many lows, and everything in between. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The freedom and flexibility is too priceless. Back in the day, I didn’t even know this type of life was possible. Or maybe I thought it was, but reserved only for the elite. Now, I can barely remember what life was like in the 9-5 world. In just a few weeks, it will be seven years since my last real, normal, full-time job. Crazy!

It’s not a regret, but I wish I would have started sooner. If I could give one piece of advice, it would be to figure this out sooner than later. The longer you keep going down the wrong path, the harder it will be to escape it. Make the leap before you have to, or before you’re forced to.

Like I said before, almost everything I do can be done from anywhere with WiFi. I can just pack a small back of stuff (clothes, laptop, camera, phone, and maybe my passport), jump in my car or jump on a plane, go pretty much anywhere, and be able to do my work. It’s a badass feeling.

But… I do enjoy my time at home as well. Some days I’m in my room almost the entire day and I leave the house to only go to the gym. I’m the hardcore lone wolf, introvert type (INFJ). I love solitude and being alone. I love exploring new places, but I’m totally fine working away from the bed, or desk, or couch that are in my room.

I also enjoy being at home so it’s easier to stick to my daily routine and get caught up on things and strengthen my habits. When I’m not working on something, I’m reading, or sleeping, or doing some form of exercise, or eating vegan food, or finding more shit to get rid of. Maybe one day soon, everything I own will fit in a couple suitcases and I’ll become a full-time digital nomad for awhile. Hard telling with me.

When I need a break, I hit the road or the sky and just get away from everything. But I almost always have my tools with me so I can still get work done from a hotel or coffee shop or friend’s house. I enjoy my work, so it’s hard to go too long without creating something.

Anything else?

I really think more people should embrace the internet and utilize all of the online tools & platforms that are available to us. The people who hate cell phones, or don’t like computers, or can’t imagine learning anything new… they will likely be the ones who are stuck in the trap the longest. They might never get out.

If you’re always complaining about your job and money and other people, I think you need this more than others. Scale down your life, increase your skills, travel more if you want, say no to your friends more often (in the beginning), say yes to clients more often (also in the beginning), and just make it work. You’ll never have it all figured out when you start, but you’ll never start if you try to know it all ahead of time.

Some people ask me how I’ve been able to do this for so long. It’s just normal to me now. When I had two weeks of vacation time during my standard work career, it was like a tiny dose of freedom. Just enough to enjoy most of the beach trips, but in the back of my mind, I always knew I had that damn job to go back to.

But once I didn’t have a regular job anymore, the dose of freedom that I was injected with was something I had never experienced before. I had worked typical jobs from age 12 until I was halfway through age 29. I believe once you have that level of freedom, it’s too hard to ever go back to your old life. I can’t not have it.

Other people ask how I make this work, and I say, “whatever it takes.” Whatever it takes to not go back to another soul-crushing job. Whatever it takes to not be told what to do every minute. Whatever it takes to enjoy more of life.

Basically, I bet on myself. And right now, I’m still ahead on points. I hope you’ll head down this path one day too. I’ll help you anyway I can. I want this for you, and for anyone else out there that hates their current situation. Just remember this:

“You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.” -Chris Guillebeau

This photo was taken at my friends’ house in North Carolina, June 2018. They had an event that I was working at, and then I jumped on the laptop the next day while crashing at their place. Always working. They found this cat in Ohio like four years ago when they were up here for a similar event. I like to think we are both nomads and we have a connection.

Category: Business Tags: frugal, location independent, minimalism, nomad, solopreneur, travel

Breaking Even is Never a Failure

January 16, 2018 - Randy

Everybody talks about taking risks these days. Hell, I have “Risk Without Regret” tattooed across my chest.

When you really think about it, there are really only two outcomes when you take a risk: success or failure.

Risk isn’t always tied to money, but I think the majority of the time, money is involved. If money was removed from the equation, would that big risk you’re about to take really be risky? If you knew you weren’t going to lose money, would you go for it?

In my experiences, I think there’s a third outcome that isn’t talked about enough: breaking even.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but sometimes you break even. There are people that might consider breaking even as a waste of time or even a failure. But I look at it as a success.

So if there are three possible outcomes (failure, breaking even, success), and I see two of them as positives, then there’s a 66.7% chance that I’m going to win, in anything that I do.

I believe that breaking even is a success because I didn’t lose any money, and I gained a lot of experience in the process.

One of the stories that people bring up often is the time when I flew to California to buy a truck, then turned around and drove it all the way back to Ohio. That was one hell of a random solo roadtrip! Long story short…

  • I found a 1999 Chevy Tahoe on eBay for $8500
  • I messaged the guy back and forth for a week
  • We agreed on a price of $5999
  • I sent him a deposit through PayPal
  • I booked a one-way flight (that left 8 hours after I bought it) from Cincinnati to Los Angeles for $65
  • I took an Uber (use code “RANDYJ440UE” to get $5 off your first 4 rides) from the airport to meet him at a small beach cafe
  • We went back to his apartment and did the paperwork
  • I drove to Randy’s Donuts and hung out on the Venice Beach boardwalk for a few hours
  • I started the long drive back to Ohio and made it home a few days later

Random events like this are pretty common for me. It’s exciting to visit new places, travel last minute, explore the country, eat at new restaurants, grow as a person, etc.

But one of the main reasons I did all of this, was I needed a bigger vehicle to carry all of my vendor booth supplies and all of my Low Label merchandise. Cramming everything into my small Subaru car is doable, but that won’t work in every situation.

“But Randy, you could have found a 15-20 year old truck or SUV near you for at least half the price. You didn’t need to travel halfway across the world to get this exact one, and pay a lot more for it. I still don’t get why you did this.”

This is true. I didn’t need to do this. In fact, I don’t need to do anything. I chose to do it, for three reasons.

First, I love doing random things that cause normal people to think I’m insane. None of this is crazy to me, I’m so used to it by now. And so are all of my close family and friends. I’ve done enough random things over the years that they expect this kind of stuff from me.

Second, I really bought this one to resell it. I know the value of vehicles pretty well, after owning/selling 20+ cars and trucks over the past 20 years. I’m still deep in the custom auto world, but I still research vehicles all the time. I saw plenty of mint condition Tahoes selling for a lot of money (for what they are) on eBay and Craigslist and various Facebook groups.

I made an educated guess that in a worst case scenario, I’d be able to sell it for at least $6000. So no matter what, I was confident that I could get rid of it for what I had invested in it.

And lastly, I would come out of this experience with a damn good story. More than one story actually. Anytime I do something like this, there are so many lessons learned that I could write a book based on every risk (or trip) I take. And the stories are priceless.

So if I knew that the worst possible outcome was breaking even, how could I lose?

There were other things I considered too. Like the guy who listed it didn’t do a good job of marketing it on eBay, and I knew I could do better. The truck was super clean, and those are hard to come by in the Midwest, where most vehicles that old are covered in rust. I have a big network of like-minded truck fans at my disposal through my personal relationships and my various brands/social media accounts. Plus, even if I kept it, it was badass and I wouldn’t be mad driving it daily.

I picked it up in September 2016, drove it until the snow/ice came, kept it in the garage, started driving it in the spring of 2017, and kept it listed for sale the whole time. I started out asking like $10,500, and I’d let someone talk me down to about $9,000-$10,000.

The best part of selling anything is to not be desperate. Being able to hold onto things until the market is right or the perfect buyer comes along is crucial.

I’m sure we’ve all seen people that are going through a divorce and have to pay outrageous lawyer fees. They are in such a bind that they have to sell everything quick, like today. So they’d try to sell this Tahoe at $8000 and make a profit, but no one buys, so they drop the price to $6000 to move it quick and break even, but no one buys, so they drop it to $4000 just to have some money coming in.

I never try to get into those situations. Desperation is a quick way to lose money. But hey, we all go through shit at some point, just try to minimize it the best you can when possible.

So in March of 2017, I had a guy that was interested in trading for his 1987 Chevy C10. I really just wanted to sell for cash, but sometimes a really good deal just presents itself.

C10 trucks are still selling like crazy these days, so I knew it would be way easier to sell this truck, and if I decided to keep it, it’s more of my type of vehicle. But I basically knew I could get rid of it quick if I had to, and still make a profit.

We met up and looked at each other’s vehicles, drove them, talked some more, then decided to do the deal. Straight up trade. We met a few days later and got the paperwork done and we went our separate ways.

It was a very emotional day, a lot of random things happened.

I got rid of a truck that I had some epic memories in, I picked up a new truck that seemed too good of a deal to pass up, and my oldest cat passed away (losing pets is seriously the worst thing I’ve ever dealt with).

When anything good or bad happens, I usually head to Chipotle. I don’t even know why anymore, just out of habit I think. Maybe it’s a comfort space. So that’s where I went.

While I was sitting there, thinking about my cat, staring out the window looking at this random truck trade I just did, I was thinking, “Life really is fucking short. Why am I not doing more shit that I want to do? I’m used to doing random things. It’s time to take it to the next level.”

So I randomly booked a trip to Iceland while I was in the middle of eating. (I’ll write several posts about this trip in the coming months, don’t worry.) Ok, back to the main story…

So now it’s January 2018 and I still have that truck. In total, I’m still in it for the initial $6000 investment from the California Tahoe. I have the C10 listed for $12,000 and I know I can get at least $9500 for it any day. So I’ve just been waiting on the right time.

Well I think the right time is coming very soon. A lot of people will be getting their taxes back, and normal people can’t wait to blow their tax return the day they get their refund.

My plan is to list it on eBay and push it hard on a few other online marketplaces. I’m pretty confident it will easily sell next month. Which will give me a nice $3,000-$6,000 profit. Not too shabby, for something that I got a lot of use out of, and essentially borrowed it to make money.

I basically got paid to drive a cool truck around. Can’t beat it! But even if I sold it for $6,000 or $6,500 and broke even, there are a lifetime of memories that I have between these two trucks that are worth way more than a few grand in the bank.

Anyways, that’s my story as to why I think you have nothing to lose and everything to gain when you take risks that will cause you to break even in the worst case scenario.

Always be taking risks, but do your research and make them calculated risks. I’m not telling people to walk across a busy highway while they are blindfolded, no one should take those kinds of risks. Just do your homework, try to succeed as best as you can, but if you are afraid of breaking even, don’t be. I guarantee you’ll end up with way more in the end.

If you’re interested in hearing more stuff like this, be sure to check out my podcast here. You can also find it on all of the popular podcast apps, just search for “Risk Without Regret.”

Category: Life Tags: investment, profit, random, risks, travel, trucks

Be Insane Until It Becomes Your Normal

January 7, 2017 - Randy

Be Insane Like Randy Johnson

Have you ever booked a random flight that leaves 8 hours from now?

How about eating Chipotle eight times in one week?

What about staying up til 8am because you couldn’t stop working on a new project?

Or running a 5K race in -20 degree weather?

These are just a few past experiences that popped into my head while writing this. I read through those things and nothing stands out as ridiculous or crazy. But that’s just me.

Your normal is too boring for me

Of course I do “normal” things from time to time, but for the most part, I try to keep my life weird and interesting.

Almost to the point where if people aren’t saying things like “what the fuck” or “are you kidding me” or “Jesus you are seriously insane” or “only you would do something like this,” it’s not as exciting to me.

Of course I’m not purposely trying to impress anyone, or do things just to get a rise out of people. I just think the things that sound cool to me coincidentally get mixed reactions from average people. Which usually makes me want to do it even more.

Oh that’s just what he does

At some point, the weird shit I do starts to become my normal. Sometimes that turns into a slight feeling of routine, and it loses a little bit of the excitement factor.

But routines build habits. So if I’m doing bizarre things so often that I’m creating a habit of it (as long as it’s legal and mostly safe), I think this is a good thing.

Like the first time I jumped on a plane to go meet someone in person for the first time, people thought that was insane. Now if I do it, people have already got used to it, so it’s my new normal.

Always be trying new things

So when some of the wow factor wears off of something, it sparks my curiosity. It makes me want to try something else that I haven’t done before.

Even when I wake up in the morning and want to post something on Instagram. If I start looking through my photos and can’t find anything cool to post, I literally say to myself, “wow, you’re becoming normal and boring, it’s time to go do something worth posting.”

I think we all have bucket lists, I might just be growing my list daily. Some people just want to visit all the continents before they die, or watch every top 100 movie, or eat at every Taco Bell location.

I even heard of an elderly woman that just wants to see the ocean in her lifetime. Wow. Her head would explode if she heard the things I’ve done.

Every day I’m learning about new things, reading stories from people that I think are cool, listening to inspiring podcasts, etc. All of these things and more keep me wanting less stuff and more experiences.

Which in turn has me intrigued by so many things, which makes my to-do list a mile long.

Do more epic shit

I remember reading a blog post titled this several years ago. Ever since then, I think I’ve always tried to up the bar. Again, not to impress anyone, but more to challenge myself, explore things that I have zero knowledge about, and find out what I really want to do with my life.

How can I know what I really want until I try as many things as I can? I’ll never meet everyone in the world or try everything, but the more amazing things I involve myself in, I get closer to knowing what I want and don’t want.

People ask me all the time what kind of business they should start. I ask what they’re into. They usually reply with 0-1 things. I always tell them this: do more shit.

Try everything, travel more, be random, meet new people, sell everything you don’t need, quit the job you hate, remove toxic people from your life, learn new technology, study people that are doing the things that you want to do, etc.

Live the life you want

It’s really not hard to do whatever you want. I’ve been doing it for almost five years.

People call me lucky, but that’s not really true. I may seem insane to some people, but I just wake up every day and do whatever I want.

I have bills just like everyone else, but I put in the time to learn new things that can generate income, whether that’s a service or a product.

Everything I’m doing, anyone could be doing. And there are tons of people doing it. You just have to decide what you want, what you don’t want, and take action.

It’s seems so simple, and it really is. It’s not easy, but it is simple.

So the next time you think about doing something that scares you or makes you nervous, you better do it. It’s better to live a life full of “oh well’s” than a life full of “what if’s.”

Category: Life Tags: confusion, spontaneous, stories, travel, weird

© 2023 Randy Johnson | Disclaimer