Tuesday, September 21, 2010

What we do

After running this blog for nearly two years, I think it’s about time there was an “about us” part of the blog. I get the feeling sometimes that people think we’re irresponsible and up to our ears in debt in order to fund our travels. (We travel debt-free.) Or at the very least, that we’re barely scraping by and avoiding reality which we’ll finally have to face when we get home and have to get a real job.

This is not the case.

Jacob and I met at the foreign language housing at BYU in Provo, Utah. You can read our how we met story here.

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In the first few months of our engagement and marriage, Jacob wrote and began to sell a book called The Jump Manual. It’s a vertical jump training program to help athletes to jump higher. I was finishing school at the time and didn’t really pay much attention to it. We were living with his parents as he worked on the computer, building up the business. Meanwhile, I got a job in Germany as an editor.

This job was a catastrophe—that’s a story for another day. But when it didn’t pan out, Jacob and I were left to decide what we wanted to do next. We decided to visit his brother Luke in Macedonia. And then our friend Scott in Israel. And the traveling just continued and evolved, and the business continued to grow. I became involved with it as well when it finally hit me that this was better than any job I could find.

When we travel, we usually stay in a hostel until we find a satisfactory apartment. Then we set down roots for 1-2 months. The lifestyle we live in foreign countries is very laid-back. It involves spending several hours on the computer, going to the gym, meeting locals, trying exotic food, sleeping in, and seeing some touristy things…occasionally.

It’s similar to Timothy Feriss’s The Four Hour Workweek. The difference is, we don’t have a home base. We don’t take mini-retirements. We are permanently on the move. It can be really confusing when filling out a form and getting to the part that says, “Address.”

Although we are making about three or four times what we were making when Jacob was working full time in sales and I was a piano teacher, we only spend combined several hours a day working. We can live where we want and visit whom we want. We don’t ever plan on settling down to get a '”real job.” The question remains—will we ever settle down at all? More important than money, it is freedom that we truly feel blessed with. This is the miracle of internet business.

We are passionate about health—nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle, the LDS Church, and traveling.

We are also passionate about internet business and helping others to live with more time and more money. We sell an ebook software so people can do what we did—write an ebook and sell it online.  And we have a CRM for home based businesses.

We are kept very busy doing what we love! Life couldn’t be better. Please feel welcome to comment or ask questions or to meet up with us!

3 comments:

Astyn said...

Hey Jacob and Kalli. Interesting to see how this life has evolved for you. It must be very exciting and full of adventure. If and/or when you decide to have any children will you take them on the road too? That would be truly impressive. I have friends who live abroad and love it, but they are settled in one place and do not move around every few months. I wonder about these things because I have 3 little ones and I don't think I have enough gumption to do that kind of thing. We can barely make it to Grandma's house all in one piece! But there are people out there who have far more talent than I do- and you two probably do.
Good luck in your future travels and adventures. It is fun to see what you are up to.

Jacob and Kalli Hiller said...

Hi Astyn,

Well, it's hard to say because we have never traveled with kids, but it's safe to say we're hoping to pioneer the lifestyle :) Guess that's one of those things that we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it.

LJBohman said...

I truly admire you guys! You have got to know that. I love all the issues you discuss, the things you find interesting and the courage you have to do what you want. Not many people do that because it is not main stream but it really is possible!! There is an awesome book I read about how to do it all while getting an education and/or with a family. The author has four daughters. I think it is an awesome idea and plan on implementing quite a bit of her ideas and actions in the lives of our family. The book is:

The New Global Student by Maya Frost

Check it out! I loved the book and think you would really really like it. It was inspiring, encouraging, emboldening and liberating. I am working on language study online again because of it and have a renewed and reaffirmed passion for travel.

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