We hear from most career break dreamers that finances are the biggest hurdle in fulfilling their dream. Well, Dream Save Do is here to help.
Dream Save Do
Accepting change is hard. Most people don’t have a choice – when the world changes, they eventually have to change with it. But actually making change, creating it from your own idea or desire for an end product – that’s improbable for many. Creating changes in your life that aren’t dictated by society or a particular person can seem as challenging as climbing Mt. Everest or say… starting a career break movement in the US.
But change has to happen if you want to save money to accomplish your career break travel dreams, or any dream for that matter. Warren and Betsy Talbot know this.
They are experts at making change in order to achieve their own travel dreams. That’s why I was excited to hear that they wrote a book to teach others how to save enough money to travel. The ebook, Dream Save Do, is not simply about saving money for career break travel; it’s about saving money to accomplish whatever dream you have. It’s about how to make change in your life; how to take control of your finances & mindset in order to achieve goals.
We met Warren and Betsy in 2010 as they were preparing for their three-year career break and they agreed to be our inaugural Seattle Meet, Plan, Go! hosts. They have now been traveling for one year and have decided to turn their three-year planned career break into a location independent lifestyle. In Dream Save Do they took the processes they used to change their lives to create concrete steps that apply to everyone, so that others can do the same. And they continue to track every dollar spent on their travels at their Around the World Expenses Blog, which just shows they practice what they preach.
Saving money isn’t rocket science. It’s willpower and the ability to make change in your life. There is no way to get rich quick, just as there is no effective way to lose 20 pounds in a week and keep it off. The eBook provides concrete ways to save money, change your life, and provides you the inspiration you will need in order to follow through. They even have a guarantee or your money back offer! Woven among the concrete steps is their story of how they did it; the successes and the failures, the a-ha moments and the tears. It’s theory put into practice.
The Book Covers
Dream: Defining your Dream, Creating Dream Porn, Determining the cost of your Dream, and Setting a Date
Save: Create the Vault, Calculate Current Spending, Resolving Credit Card Debt, Creating your Phrase to Save, Cutting Expenses, Revising Spending Habits, Where to ‘Find’ Money, Performing a Monthly Review
Do: Publicizing your Dream, Screwing up and Getting Back on Track, Learn to Handle Peer Pressure, Planning Your Holiday Spending, Enjoying the Saving Success
Special Tools: Videos on Credit Card Debt Reduction from Man vs. Debt, How to Sell Your Junk To Make Cash, List of Online Resources
The Takeaway
My take away from the book was how to:
• Achieve goals
• Create change in your life that you and others can be excited about.
• Look at our consumption-based society differently
• Look at how we live differently
• Achieve goals (yes, I know I said it already, but it’s such a strong message in this book. If you don’t like to achieve goals, then don’t get the book – you will be disappointed.)
As I read through the guide, I highlighted things that really spoke to me such as:
• “We were trying to let money dictate our lifestyle instead of the other way around.”
• Focus your saving effort on a small but easily visualized segment of your overall figure. For travel goals – that can be the cost of a day on the road. Then use it as the ‘Phrase to Save’ – “Is that (insert item/service you want to buy) more important to you than a day on the road?”
• “There is never a perfect time to do anything in life, including a budget, and you have to be ready to make it the right time. This lifestyle requires action, and if you aren’t ready to commit to action it won’t do you any good to finish reading this guide. Be ruthless. This is what it takes to save large amounts of money in a short period of time. It is not a forever way to live, but it is a way to get ‘happily ever after’ sooner than ever imagined.”
• “A budget is limiting only in your spending. Your imagination has no limits.”
• “You’ll be disciplined, creative, and confident in your ability to reach your goals, and life will be an ever-evolving series of challenges and wins as you think better, dream bigger, and learn that money is a means to an end, not the end itself.”
Why Should You Buy This Book?
Because the first thing we hear from all ‘want-to-be’ career breakers is – “You have to be rich to take a career break – right?” And it’s normally followed by “How much does it cost?”
People’s biggest perceived hurdle to a career break is financial. Now we’ve just given you a way to shatter that perceived hurdle and understand how you personally can save money and take the career break you are dreaming of.
No more excuses.
What’s your dream you want to save for? Please share in the comments!
I stumbled upon 
, Lavinia Spalding offers advice on using your travel journal to help you through personal development, starting with even the most basic of steps: selecting the ideal journal and writing device for yourself.
