Notes from the Road - Europe Edition

Well it’s been a few months (terrible to say outloud) since I’ve written here, but trust me I haven’t been sitting by idly waiting for the world to happen. In fact a Whole Hell of a Lot has changed recently. Here’s a short list:

1. We sold all of our stuff (minus what would fit in a small Uhaul trailer)
2. Left our home in Mandeville and stored what little remaining possessions we had
3. Quit my high income, high upward mobility job without any severance or payout
4. Started a multi month trip to Europe
5. Gave myself, Amanda, and our Kids the opportunity of a lifetime

I’m writing this post on a bus trip from Porto, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Today marks around the 3.5 week mark of our trip and thus far we’ve been to:

– Dublin, Ireland
– Galway, Ireland
– Madrid, Spain
– Lisbon, Portugal
– Porto, Portugal

The remainder of our trip that we have planned out are taking us to Santiago de Compostela, followed by Seville, then onto the south of France and provencial town of Aix en Provence. From there, who knows. Honestly we have no long term plan or agenda, which is at the same time very exciting and a bit scary.

We’re seriously considering staying in Spain for a year or two, and with some of the entrepeneur visa programs availalbe it seems like a viable option, but I don’t think we’re 100% sold on the idea yet. Giving the kids that opportunity would be amazing, and one neither Amanda or I (nor most of the world) had, so I tend to think it’s a good thing. But in the end as much as we try to pretend we’re truly independent there is a lot in the US that draws us back there. Family, culture, familiarity, citizenship, taxes, business, all tell me that’s where things ‘should’ be, but that’s really changing pretty quickly not just in my mind but for the populous in general.

As for work it’s really been going very well thus far. Working on the road has been met with it’s mix of trials. Bad wifi, small rooms to work in, noisy neighbors, and the time zone changes are a few of the challenges we’ve had along the way. But aside from the time zone difference these are all ‘objections’ that can be overcome once we get to our final destination and settle in a bit.

Originally we were planning only traveling for 2 week periods at a time. This ‘slow travel’ is a really great way to experience local culture and get a feel for what life is like in an area. We’re doing a bit of it, but not as much as we probably SHOULD be. Neither Amanda or I are ones to sit around and just chill out, so we’re probably driving things a bit too much, but that’s ok.

PodcastMotor continues to grow and the team continues to evolve. We’re up to 14 members now, mostly part time, and scattered all across the world. The demand for podcast services continues to grow, and we’re finding that more and more mainstream businesses are getting into the podcasting game. A rising tide lifts all ships.

Now that we’re setting into the trip a bit I’m going to begin ramping up our marketing and sales efforts. It’s been a while since I’ve actively recruited people for the PodcastMotor podcast, which I’ll be rebranding as “The Business of Podcasting”. It’s been a great tool for getting high end podcasters on the phone for a 30-60 minute chat, and let them hear what we’re all about and how much we know about podcasting. It’s also a really great way for me to get the latest and greatest marketing, content planning, and outreach techniques used by these top podcasters. I preach on every sales call how great having a podcast is for your business, I should at least walk the walk if I’m talking the talk.

I continue to have this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that the SaaS market is one that I need to enter. The scalability, recurring revenue, and profit margins are all extremely appealing with software, and Software as a Service in particular. I don’t have any ideas in mind or opportunities yet, but I’m kind of always on the lookout for something to acquire. Not being a programmer I know I can’t build something myself, and buying an existing tool is really appealing because you know they’ve solved the Product Market fit, and aged the tool with some level of early user experience.

So we’ll see if a bite the bullet and become yet another SaaShole. I think eventually I will, but the nice thing about it is that PodcastMotor is provding what we need from it, and I can take my time to be selective for the right opportunity.

I promise that it won’t be another few months before my next post. Now that the day job is in the rear view mirror it’s time to really get focused on PodcastMotor and my other businesses, and expand my knowledge and reach as an entrepreneur. Very exciting times indeed.