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After being laid off from my software development job last Friday, I’m now a problogger! The last time this happened, I was “unemployed.” Now, I’m a “problogger,” which sounds infinitely cooler.
I’ve never liked the fact that the term is defined by something you don’t do (have a job) instead of something you do do (reaching certain blog milestones). Hehe, I just said doodoo. 
I also find it interesting that people write it as one word because they’re used to it as a domain and blog name. You wouldn’t write “he’s a protennisplayer,” right? Anyway, the term problogger has caught on, so I’ll stick with it.
What does being a problogger mean for me? I’m looking at three options.
1. Go back to work immediately
For close to two months, I suspected I would be laid off on or shortly after October 3. And every time someone asked me how the job search was coming along, my answer was “I haven’t started yet.” That was still my answer on Friday after being laid off.
My boss looked at me like I was crazy, and said, “Well, you really need to get on the ball now. You need to decide what your specialty will be within .NET development, because there are lots of opportunities…” I didn’t want to tell him that I stopped caring a long time ago.
Anyway, I made it to the end, so I get severance pay. I didn’t want to accept another job before then and miss out on the severance, but now it would be reasonable to look for another job. Still, I don’t think I’m going to.
In A Year Without Paychecks, Part 2, Akemi Gaines wrote about her life shortly after quitting her admin job in Oregon:
“There were mornings I woke up and wondered what to do. Occasionally, I thought of looking for temp jobs. Then I thought why the heck would I get another admin job in Oregon – if that was what I wanted to do, I didn’t need to quit. Duh.”
I love that Duh at the end. And that’s exactly right. I’ve been looking forward to being laid off (even dropping hints that they didn’t need me) so I didn’t have to work anymore. If I went back to work right away, then what did I need to get laid off for? Duh. Besides, you’d have to be crazy to want a job.
2. Stay retired forever
The opposite extreme is staying retired forever. By “retired,” I don’t mean lying comatose under a pile of empty beer cans, just not having a 9-5. I’ll talk more about that in the next section.
Tina Su has recently ditched her day job, getting by mainly on the income from her blog’s 400,000 monthly page views. But I’m not close to that yet.
I’m going to be looking into some different options for making money, such as freelance blogging (which I already do some of), other kinds of writing or editing, tutoring kids in math, day trading (just kidding!), etc. (Not sure how much you’re allowed to do outside of blogging without endangering your problogger status.)
But I keep reminding myself that the goal isn’t just to make money. I have to be careful not to pursue paths that will involve doing things I don’t like too much, for not too much money. Even if it’s not a job, it could very well be worse than one. Which leads me to the option I’m leaning towards…
3. Have a mini-retirement
The concept of mini-retirements was popularized by Tim Ferriss of The 4-Hour Workweek. Most people are participants in the deferred life plan, where you work for decades and then get to enjoy your life just in time to die. The idea of mini-retirements is that you split up your work life by taking short stints of temporary retirement, such as by living in another country for a few months. Tim’s life is now basically one mini-retirement after another, funded by the proceeds of his nutritional supplement business that he works on for 4 hours a week (thanks to masterful delegation, elimination, and automation).
Tim previously made up to $70,000 a month in different business ventures, but was working himself to death. Now he’s basically retired and does everything he wants for less than $5,000 a month. He says he’s not a multi-millionaire, nor does he particularly care to be one.
After reading his book, people sometimes say something like, “That’s so great that he stopped chasing money, because he realized that all that matters is happiness.” But if they think that, they apparently didn’t understand the book very well.
The only reason he can do everything he does is because he makes enough money to pay for everything without working (OK fine, working 4 hours a week). He doesn’t have to be a multi-millionaire because he found a way to create the passive income of one. (Generating $5,000 a month in dividends from an S&P 500 index fund takes roughly $5 million. There are better ways of doing it, but this is just an example.)
Likewise, everyone seems to love the story of the Harvard MBA and the Mexican fisherman, and they think it’s a great example of how money doesn’t matter. Except they’re missing the fact that the fisherman can only do what he does because he makes enough money from his hobby that he doesn’t have to work. I invite you to go fishing and see if you can support your family that way.
Every loves to say that money doesn’t buy happiness. True, but it does buy freedom.
My mini-retirement
Fortunately, I have enough money to buy a little freedom, so it looks like I’ll be taking a mini-retirement. Most people associate mini-retirements with travel, but I won’t be going anywhere (or at least, that won’t be the focus). I’m just not that into travel, and I already went to Japan and Charleston, SC this year, so I don’t feel the need.
One common problem of having too much time on your hands is the high risk of boredom. Many people don’t know what to do with their newfound freedom, and need to go back to work just to have something to do. That seems like an awful solution to me.
Tim Ferriss talks about “filling the void.” You suddenly have a bunch of empty time, and you have to fill it with something. The goal is not to be idle all the time, but to be active doing what you want to do. If you can’t think of anything better to do with your time than running in the rat race, then exactly how are you better than a rat?
I’m sure it will be an adjustment, but I’m not worried about being bored. For one thing, even if I suck at this and end up craving a 9-5, (1) at least I’ll know that I need to figure out what’s wrong with me, and (2) I’ll be a lot more enthusiastic about working after a break.
Besides, I think I have plenty to keep me busy. Because I’ll have a lot more physical and mental energy, I’ll be able to take up interesting projects that I just wasn’t motivated enough to do before.
I haven’t even begun my first day of retirement yet (since I’d have the weekend off anyway), but already I’ve experimented with my first vegetarian meal. Of course, everyone has vegetarian meals all the time (I never have meat for breakfast), but I mean consciously choosing vegetarian when meat was readily available and would have been my normal choice, and real food, not like when I went to a restaurant a few years ago and had ice cream for dinner.
I had a vegetarian burrito at Chipotle, and it was good. I could have easily made it vegan too–I don’t think I would have missed the cheese and guacamole. It was pretty enormous, and there’s actually a Smaller Burrito at Chipotle Petition you can sign. I’d just as soon make it two meals though.
I’m not saying I’m trying to become a vegetarian, but I’ve heard enough that I was interested in doing some experiments, though I didn’t have the energy to try before, because I don’t really like vegetables. But now I know that rice and beans and such seem like normal food to me. It’s a first step.
This is just one example of something I’m trying. My next post will announce a really wacky personal growth experiment I’m going to be doing. I don’t know everything I’m going to be doing in my mini-retirement, but I know it will be interesting (for me at least). I’m sure I’ll be writing about some of it, but at the same time, this blog isn’t a personal journal.
Time management will be a challenge. It’s easy to manage your time when you don’t have any, or when all you want to do is unwind after a stressful day at work. It’s a lot harder to manage your time when you have all the time in the world. You become overconfident in your ability to get everything done, and then at the end of the day you find that you didn’t actually do anything. I’m going to be whipping up a new todoodlist or two to stay on track.
One trap I’m going to be sure to avoid is spending too much time blogging, meaning both reading and writing (yes, even as a “problogger”). I used to often have huge chunks of free time at work that I could spend reading blogs, sometimes the full eight hours. But now, I have to always be asking myself, “Is this the most important thing I could be doing?” Blogging will still be a very important part of my day, but I want to do a lot more.
I’ve always had a hard time justifying mini-retirements because the mathematician in me would think about compound interest, and all the money I’d really be losing by not working. On the other hand, I’ve always been putting aside money for retirement, and now I’m going to be doing exactly what I’m saving for. There will always be jobs available, but I think I have to take this time to enjoy life now.
Here I am writing this on a Sunday night, and for the first time in a long while, I’m not dreading tomorrow.
P.S. Assuming FeedBurner is working correctly, I hit 600 subscribers yesterday. I guess I’m like John Chow: “I gain subscribers by telling people how many subscribers I gain.”
Wow, good luck! That sounds like a great situation to be in, no wonder everyone else thought you were crazy – the rat race is such a ‘normal’ part of life these days. I’m looking forward to hearing more about how things turn out for you.
Simon Goudies last blog post..The Language Diet
I was going to write, “Sorry about your layoff,” but it doesn’t sound like that would be appropriate. I hope “there will always be jobs” turns out to be true, and that the gap in your resume will be explainable if need be. Sounds like a very exciting step. I don’t think anyone (at least not anyone I know) spends their retirement sitting around and drinking beer. I hope blogging doesn’t become a “job” now that you’re a pro.
My layoff wasn’t so fortuitous, because it came out of the blue after 18 years. What it did do was wake me up to the fact that I didn’t really like working in IT, so I was able to go back to secretarial work with renewed enthusiasm and without the chip on my shoulder that I’d had for many years thinking, “I could do better than this.”
Dots last blog post..I’m Thinking of Someone
First off, Congratulations (um, not that you were “downsized”)!
I have been using blogging as a break from work, but I like the idea that eventually I could make something out of it. I have started my own mini-retirement however. I moved to Costa Rica about 6 months ago and have been just working remotely. And working very little, just enough to get by. Now this has given me time to work on other projects. In this free time I am opening a couple other businesses that I will enjoy working on, and be an owner.
If you have the ability to make money working from a computer over the internet, you can live anywhere and get anything done.
~ Jim
Jim Gaudets last blog post..World’s Heaviest Man Helps Another Obese Man Diet [Digg]
Hi, Hunter, and Congrats!
I warned you guys how dangerous blogging was in that post you linked, didn’t I!? It has a way to self-fulfill . . . you say “problogger” and boom, your employment goes away — with surprising accuracy ^_^
For me, the concept of “retirement” is totally obsolete. It sounds like some kind of crazy make-belief trick. If you are doing what you love, why the heck would you give it up just because you are older? I think it was invented as a way to force people do what they don’t want to do. Like promising race horses they’d get sugar if they run the race — knowing the race is so long and boring most horses would drop off before completion.
Akemi – Yes to Mes last blog post..Gratitude Friday, Edition 14, Gratitude For The Things I Don’t Like
Hi Hunter. I hear your roar loud and clear! I’ve been in the same boat as you for over a year now. For the first while it was hard and I struggled with whether or not to go back to 9-5. A 48-week self-employment program kept me busy for a while. Now I’m on my own and living off my retirement savings and working on a few business ideas. Who knows what the future holds, but I’m playing! Congrats on your new direction. ROAR!
Davinas last blog post..Creative Luny Landing In The Sand
@ Akeim – “If you are doing what you love, why the heck would you give it up just because you are older?” —I just love this quote, seriously.
Jim Gaudets last blog post..World’s Heaviest Man Helps Another Obese Man Diet [Digg]
Good luck, Hunter. I’m excited for you!
Vered – MomGrinds last blog post..Thanking My September Top Commentators
You watch, this will be one of the best things that ever happened to you.
Michael Martine – Remarkabloggers last blog post..Remarkanotes: A Different Kind of Email List
It’s true what you say about time management. When you have all the time in the world, nothing gets done! Atleast that’s how it was in the beginning when I became jobless. Wishing you luck. Hope things turn out as you like.
Avani-Mehtas last blog post..Anger Management Tips – Anger Management Series Part VI
Join the club!! You certainly have the qualities to succeed!
I definitely wish you all the best!
Evelyn
Hi Hunter: You sound so relieved! I guess your life took a sudden turn, albeit an expected and welcomed one. I think you were born to blog, you’re going to do great
@ Simon, as Lily Tomlin said, “The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.” Maybe it’s good to be a little crazy!
@ Dot, maybe they don’t drink beer necessarily, but I think a lot of people have inactive retirements. The president of my company said he didn’t understand the concept of retirement, wondering why people would want to just sit there. I don’t know why so many people think that work is life!
@ Jim, it’s not really downsizing because the company is down to a skeletal staff and preparing to go under. I was the last developer there, and now there are none left. That’s great that you’re enjoying your own mini-retirement, but it doesn’t sound very “mini” to me! Oh, and I love Akemi’s quote too.
@ Akemi, I agree about retirement. You have to do something with your life. If you’re doing what you’re supposed to do, you shouldn’t ever want to stop.
@ Davina, wow, that’s a very extended “mini” retirement! Can’t wait to see what happens for you!
@ Vered, thanks!
@ Michael, I have no doubt about that!
@ Avani-Mehta, that’s the conventional wisdom I had always heard, but I guess now I’ll see how true it is in real life.
@ Evelyn, is there an actual club? I didn’t get an invite.
@ Marelisa, I guess I do sound relieved. All the anticipation was kind of driving me crazy. There was a rumor that my company was going to stay in business until November, but I couldn’t wait that long!
You certainly sound well prepared for your ‘new’ life, Hunter.
I’m glad that you kind of knew in advance that it was coming to allow you to get into the frame of mind you need to tackle the change.
Several years ago, I too had a spell of a few months when I was ‘between jobs’.
The key thing for me was to develop a new, alternative daily routine that didn’t involve the 9-5 one I was used to.
I get bored quite easily so it was important that I took on projects that kept me out of mischief!
So, I wish you the best with your new lifestyle- and enjoy your time spent away from the blogging.
Hi Hunter – From what you’ve written about your job, I’m guessing you’re still celebrating. It will be interesting to watch you as you move forward on your next journey. I’m guessing we’ll be seeing more ebooks ad more of those fabulous book reviews.
Hopefully you don’t get hooked on the soaps and start reviewing those.
I wish you all the best. Whatever you decide, you’ll do great.
Hi Hunter,
That’s the most postiive lay-off post I’ve ever read! Congrats on your new life … I’m sure you’ll be doing great.
Irene | Light Beckonss last blog post..Natalie Fights Back
Once again, Hunter… Congratulations!
I was wondering whether you were going to go back in to a full time job. But like you say, if you have the funds there to be flexible, why bother doing something you don’t enjoy?
When I first saw your Tweet about you becoming a full time blogger, my first thought was “Uh oh. This is where Hunter does the full time blogger thing of as many adverts as possible and, without realising it, changes his blogging model even though his current one is working”
However, it seems you have your head screwed on properly and you’re not going to do that. All I can say is, continue doing what you’re doing, because it’s obviously working.
Jamie
Jamie Harrops last blog post..Week 38 Link Love
I’m looking forward to 12th December.
Not exactly my layoff day, but it’s when I finally can get out of a 2 year compulsory service to my nation.
So for now, I’m still a semi-problogger. Haha. That’s just because I don’t have much time and energy to get the things done as how a problogger would go about doing. Oh wait, that’s just an excuse.
And way to go for you Hunter! Looks like you can get to have a new career in blogging and making a living from it while inspiring others along the way too.
Daniel Richards last blog post..4 Simple Ways To Let Your Blog Run RIOT
Cheers, Hunter. Good on you for taking a life event change positively. Most people seem to succumb to OMIGOD LIFE IS OVER and fall into depression. Silly, really. It’s just a freeing even that lets you explore various avenues.
Here’s what I’d do if I were you – oh, wait, I have done this, when I was “reorganized” and sent home from a downsizing company a decade or so ago.
Take a break. Seriously. Take three weeks to do sweet bugger all. If you have severance pay, you can afford it. Enjoy the vacation.
AFTER your break, think about what you like in life. Your perspective right now isn’t in the right area. After a break, you’ll have different views.
Plan. Plan solidly and don’t just start flinging yourself at various fads.
Be flexible. Something new comes along that wasn’t in the plan? Calculation shows it might be a better risk? Go for it.
I’m just getting started with blogging. But I am working on ideas to “downsize” my life and leave my day job (though I don’t hate it – I just crave time freedom).
Good luck with your problogging. It is inspiring to see so many others succeed.
After the Lion sold his lucrative catering business (pre knowing me), he took 2 years off. He was in his mid 30s. A mini-retirement. At the end of the two years, he landed a job COMPLETELY different from what he was doing, but one he is absolutely passionate about. Now, if I could only swing the same deal for myself. Enjoy! You never know what life will send your way.
Urban Panthers last blog post..Finally, the Panther talks about manjigglies!
Hi Hunter – I hope you don’t become too much like Chow and start blogging about all the food you eat.
Seriously – it sounds like this is the push of the fence you’ve needed. And you already took action well before you were laid off by writing your ebook – which is an amazing book I might add.
Time management is tough at first – but you’ll get used to eat. Read Eat That Frog – it’s a great time management book and it doesn’t take a year to read like most of them do.
One last thing – I always laugh when I hear about folk venturing into self employment after being an employee and call it retirement. Take it from someone who has ran her own businesses for years – working for yourself is nothing like retirement. You’ll probably work a heap harder but it will be more enjoyable work.
Good look. I’m excited for you. Akemi would be a good mentor for you by the way, as she has recently experienced what you’re going to be going through over the next few months.
Cath Lawsons last blog post..Give Value If You Want To Survive
“I’ve always had a hard time justifying mini-retirements because the mathematician in me would think about compound interest, and all the money I’d really be losing by not working”
See, this is why I enjoy being terrible at math
That way, I just get excited whenever I have money. It’s like a nice little surprise!
But anyway, congrats on your mini-retirement. I constantly hear my mother lament that she’ll be working until the day she dies, so your little break give me hope that I’m not doomed to spend my adult life as a slave to the man.
“Here I am writing this on a Sunday night, and for the first time in a long while, I’m not dreading tomorrow. ”
I think that sums up everything, whether you know it or not. Enjoy the excitement of the unknown!!
Jim and Hunter,
Thank you for your kind words.
RL,
I’m not good at math, either. Maybe that is why I didn’t quite get so shocked letting go my paychecks . . .
I like what James had to say. Long time employment really affects our mental and physical integrity. As I wrote in my own posts, I went through a hibernation before starting to really work on my new venture.
Akemi – Yes to Mes last blog post..Inside Out Approach To Entrepreneurship, Part 2, Polish Your Niche
Way to go!
I think that you took the ideas of independence to heart and you will definitely be successful at whatever you put your heart and mind to.
And I totally know what you feel when someone says: “You need to start looking for your next job”, and you just think “nah…”.
Nathalie Lussier from Billionaire Womans last blog post..Aligned with Truth, Love, Power
@ Scott, it’s OK with me if you want to omit the quotes around “new.” It seems like a new life to me!
Yes, the advance notice was very helpful in making the transition less jarring. In fact, I was thinking about resigning a while back, then after my boss left I was pretty sure I would, and then they announced that there might be layoffs. I thought, “OK, let’s just see what happens.” In the end, I was getting a little tired of waiting!
@ Barbara, oh goodness, no soaps for me! Book reviews, yeah, there will probably be more of those, just because I’ll have more time to read the ones I’ve been putting off. Looking forward to the journey!
@ Irene, I hope you haven’t been reading too many depressing layoff posts! But yes, this one is almost irrationally positive. It will be very interesting to see what happens.
@ Jamie, I never even considered putting more ads on because of this change. For a long time I’ve resisted the urge to put a big AdSense block at the start of each post. It’s possible that I could do that at some point, but not anytime soon. I like having that space uncluttered, and until I have lots of search traffic, I figure it wouldn’t help much anyway.
@ Daniel, is that a military thing you’re talking about? If so, I can definitely understand wanting to get out. Hang in there–you’ve got just over 2 months to go!
@ James, I’m not sure if I know how to do “sweet bugger all!” I’ll try to give myself permission to take it easy though. I hope I know the difference between flinging and being flexible.
@ Mary, it’s good that you like your job, and just want something even better. You have something to keep you going while you work on your plan. Maybe you’ll be joining the club one day!
@ Panther, that’s interesting. I’ve wondered if I’m going to end up doing something completely different. I have no idea, and I guess that’s part of the fun!
@ Cath, I’m pretty sure I’ll never be too much like John Chow!
I know everyone has a different definition of retirement. I know someone who used to a have a team of servants, one whose sole purpose was to hold my friend’s soda can in between sips. I’m sure some people think if you have to hold your own soda can, you’re not retired!
@ RL, I guess being surprised when you have money is a better attitude to have. Hopefully I won’t miss the paychecks too much, but I did like them. I’m afraid your mother might be right about working until the day she dies, just like most of us will. I think the key is to find work you enjoy, so you don’t want to stop.
@ Peter, that’s why I closed with that line–it does sum up everything, doesn’t it? Looking forward to exciting times.
@ Akemi, yes, when you take a break from the rat race, you have to forget how to be a rat, and it’s probably harder than it seems. I don’t want to hibernate too long though because I’d like some money to extend my mini-retirement as long as possible.
@ Nathalie, it was so funny seeing everyone’s reactions when they were all panicking and I was like “whatever.” Now, time to figure out what independence means!
Hunter – I wouldn’t want to be as retired as your friend – that would just feel freaky. I wonder what happens when he goes to the bathroom?
Congratulations Hunter! Welcome to the world of probloggers! It’s a great feeling to have so much freedom and flexibility. It’s true that getting your time management in order is necessary and can be tricky at first, but it doesn’t take long to find your groove. I’m so happy for you to now have more time to focus on what you like doing, instead of working for someone else’s endeavors.
@Akemi: I agree totally with your outlook on retirement. If you like what you’re doing, why would you stop just because you hit a magic number age?!
Homemaker Barbi (Danelle Ice)
Congratulations on your new start, Hunter! I’d echo James’s advice to take some time off if you can — I launched straight from full-time tech support into freelance writing (& editing & website creation), which was fantastic, but I do think having a bit more of a break would’ve given me more perspective.
I don’t reckon you’ll get bored. Be prepared to suddenly find yourself more productive; I used to have a fairly busy workday in the day job (how I wish I could’ve spent 8 hours a day reading blogs!) but I did check in on Google Reader and such in the slow spots between emails. I find I don’t even touch blogs till the evening now … too busy having fun writing
I’m looking forward to seeing what you get up to. Good luck again, and remember, you can go anywhere from here.
Ali
Ali Hale (from Alpha Student)s last blog post..Speaking up in class
“Every loves to say that money doesn’t buy happiness. True, but it does buy freedom.”
After reading your blog this morning, that line was stuck in my head all day during my classes.
I’ve never valued the economy very much. I tend to reject economy related things because I feel like too many people give it too much attention as it is. At the same time, part of me knows I should put more importance on the economy so it is in better balance with other things I care about. I think the line I quoted above really helped me find such a balance.
Congrats on your mini-retirement!
Sounds pretty awesome. I wish you the best of luck with your pro-blogging endeavor. I wish I had the balls to do it but I’m a slave to my other small business venture. I’ve been trying to trick my youngest sister into it for a while. She’s the best writer on our little blog.
Anyway, keep up the good work and be sure to let us all know how it goes.
Paunchinesss last blog post..Win an Apple® iPod® Shuffle
Hi Hunter – I’m just stopping by to see if your CommentLuv is working correctly. Hope it does.
Barbara Swaffords last blog post..A.S.K. Andy Bailey – What Was The Inspiration Behind The CommentLuv Plugin
Hi Hunter, just to let you know that the commentluv server got a change of IP address last night so there might be a delay while the DNS catches up and you heart info box starts working. Or it could be you don’t have file_get_contents access allowed on your hosting.
give it a day and see if it corrects itself. If it doesn’t, you can ask your host to allow fopen or file_get_contents access to commentluv.com or disable the heart option in the plugin settings page.
thanks for using CommentLuv!
Andy Baileys last blog post..I wanted to join Starfleet
Enjoy your retirement. I’ve been there for about half a year.
One tip if you haven’t done it yet: Enjoy your sleep whenever you feel like it.
Ari Herzogs last blog post..What’s the Objective of Facebook?
Hey Hunter, great post! Congratulations on your great mindset about losing your job, i’m sure it will be a great blessing in disguise!
BTW, there’s no friggin way Tim Ferriss is not a multi-millionaire
Keep up the great work here, your blog has become very successful!
This was a fantastic post. There aren’t any perfect or easy answers, but you’re definitely going in with your eyes open, and I respect that a lot. I hope a few blogging opportunities fall your way. To be honest, it wouldn’t surprise me. Life tends to work like that.
[...] mentioned before that I would start off my mini-retirement with a really wacky personal growth experiment. I originally got the idea from a series of [...]
Hunter:
YOU ROCK! Consider yourself Dugg and Stumbled. I just jumped off the cliff last week and gave notice at my 9-5 slave labor gig.
I can’t wait for my last day.
Thanks for showing us the courage. Thanks for the confirmation. Thanks for being so forward and up front in your post.
Cheers!
George
Tumblemooses last blog post..Top Ten Reasons to Blog Your Business Site
@ Cath, it’s a she, and I’m not sure what happens in the bathroom!
@ Danelle, thanks! I think the freedom and flexibility will be priceless. Of course, I have to figure out how to put them to good use, but that’s where the fun is!
@ Ali, I’m sure I’ll get plenty of time off, seeing as how I don’t have a plan. And even though everyone says they get bored in retirement, I have a very hard time seeing how that could happen. There are so many possibilities!
@ Jeremy, glad that line resonated with you. It’s something that I’ve often thought about, and I think it shows money’s rightful place between being everything and being nothing.
@ Barbara, thanks, I’m seeing the hearts now. As you can see, Andy provided more information below.
@ Andy, you might be the first famous plugin creator to visit my blog! Thanks for the info; I’ll give it a bit more time and see what happens.
@ Ari, definitely–the ability to get enough sleep is one of the best parts of this deal!
@ Conrad, you’re back! I see your blog is in maintenance mode, so I guess you’re up to something. As for Tim Ferriss being a multi-millionaire, I could see it either way, so I’ll just go by what he says. Steve Pavlina said that he was not even a millionaire after many years of having a six-figure income, because he spent a lot of his profits to avoid financing government stupidity.
@ Sara, unfortunately, no, there aren’t an easy answers. It would sure be easier if there were! I’ll be on the lookout for opportunities–they’re bound to be out there.
@ George, thanks for the social media boost! I think you showed more courage then me though, since you willingly jumped off the cliff. Good luck!
Hunter, I had the same situation about 6 years ago. It was awesome. My one regret is that I wasted much of my mini-retirement and didn’t get what I trully wanted to do finished. Be careful not to let that happen.
Chad @ sentient money´s last blog post..Debt and Santa Claus
@ Chad, I can see how that could easily happen. I’ll try to stay on track with doing the things I really want to do.
Hunter,
Your candid writing is truly inspiring. Please blog on your experiences, and you’ll be contributing and touching the lives of many of us.
Good luck, I wish all the best to you!
Enjoy the ride!
Luciano Passuello´s last blog post..Overcoming Procrastination Instantly Using Self Talk
@ Luciano, thanks for your support! Let’s hope that my posts will do what you say they can!
[...] Nuttall recently said, in his post on becoming a problogger, “one trap I’m going to be sure to avoid is spending too much time blogging, meaning both [...]
Good luck on your mini retirement and your budding career as a problogger (one word!
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I doubt you’ll get bored. I think it’s part of the introvert makeup to be able to find projects to fill one’s days without much need for outside intervention. It is easy, however, to fill a day with stuff and then look back and realize you didn’t accomplish anything. I usually give myself one major task, and when I get that done I can work on other things or just mess around, but I always know that I got something done.
Lindsay
P.S. I know it’s all the socially conscious thing now to be vegetarian, but you might want to read Paleo Diet and the related books before taking the plunge. Something I learned (in the process of finding out gluten was giving me a wide assortment of health problems) is that people aren’t really designed to eat grains. As much as some may hate it, we’ve been eating meat, fish, veggies, and berries for our entire evolution as a species, and it’s what we’re designed best to digest. A lot of the “diseases of civilization” didn’t start cropping up until we became an agrarian society. Just some food for thought!
Lindsay´s last blog post..First Time Ebook Author Makes $5,000 His First Month
@ Lindsay, I’m not bored at all. In fact, I’m really short on time! I’ve heard that about grains, but it’s a separate issue from being vegetarian, right? A meat eater might eat grains, and a vegetarian might not.
[...] Layoffs at Hunter Nuttall’s workplace have finally enabled him to become a professional blogger. [...]
[...] is a follow-up to I Am Problogger, Hear Me Roar, where I announced that I was going on a mini-retirement to become a full time [...]