This last week has me thinking a lot about: life, meaning, destiny, achievement, money, and purpose.

My thoughts are extraordinarily unique this week.  The reason for this is probably because my wife and I went on an epic road-trip.  We drove 3,000 miles from Minneapolis, MN; down to Dallas Texas; then to Austin, Texas; and then back to Minneapolis over 8 straight days.  Along the way, we met some of the most extraordinary people I have ever met in my life. This is the story of our adventure:

I won’t hide my ambitions with you.  We are friends. You should know what motivates me, and who I am trying to become with the writing I publish here.

I dream of being a star one day.  I want to create art with my words that are so powerful that it changes people’s lives.  I want to inspire people to become better human beings.  I want to be part of making a positive difference in a world that is changing at a crazy speed.  But rather than being lost in all the change, and dumbfounded by the insane speed of things, I want to make my mark simply by writing good articles and stories about life, wealth, and the pursuit of happiness.

What is the mark you dream of making?  I want to help you find that dream, and execute a plan to create it here.

My journey starts with me working my tail off every day.  But you are also part of my journey now.  We must work as a team.  As I get better, stronger, and smarter, and learn to write better articles, I hope you grow with me as you read my work.  That’s why you are so important to me:  If we remain alone, we can only accomplish the dreams we can accomplish on our own.  But if we work together, and grow as a team, we can accomplish all of the dreams in our collective brains and change the world as we go.

I believe one of the best ways to become a star, is to launch yourself into the galaxy where other stars have been created before you.  If you have the talent; work-ethic; and the ingredients to become a star already, then all you need is the energy from other stars to give your star (your dreams) life.

My motto in life is:  Be the best, until the best come around.  When the best come around, learn how to be even better.

So this past week, my wife and I drove from Minneapolis, to Dallas, to attend a financial writer’s/bloggers conference called Fincon.  For 3 days, I surrounded myself with other stars in this artistic galaxy of writers and thought-leaders.  Some of these stars have been working and growing for years, and are already famous in their solar systems.  While others in this 1,700 person conference, were like bright comets shooting around to find their places in this galaxy of dreams.

My motivation to travel to, Fincon, wasn’t to attend the many lectures and presentations that were held in the conference rooms during the day.  I was motivated to go so that I could meet other stars in this space, and begin building authentic friendships with other leaders who have already done what I am trying to do.

I realize one of the easiest ways to become a star, is to have other stars help you grow.  They have been there before you, and so they know what you should do.

I said the below quote in conversation this last week, and it bears repeating.   (It is why I drove over 3,000 miles, and spent around $1,000 of my hard-earned-money traveling all the way to Texas to meet these people.)  This is the quote:

“Everything great in my life has happened because I have involved myself with great people.  Meeting great people is the door to find greatness.”

Really, I think that above quote is the logic that has inspired every ounce of the success, happiness, and wealth I have achieved in the last five years.  It hasn’t been my education, or book smarts.  My success has directly stemmed from every time I took a risk to meet other awesome people, and make real friendships with them.  Friendships lead to opportunities to help each other.

I think the people I met there ⸺ the other stars I described above ⸺ can do a better job describing what the event was like, so I will let them describe it in their own words.  If you’d like to learn more about what Fincon was like, follow this link that my friend, Physcian On Fire, put together on his website:  FINCON 17 RECAP STORIES.

Ultimately, it felt like a 72-hour party where like-minded, inspiring, thought-leaders got together to talk about money, mentality, decision-making, meaning, and purpose in life.  It was worth every penny, and I already bought my ticket to go back next year in 2018.

Was it incredibly awesome?  Yes.  Was it life changing?  Not for me.  I went there already knowing what I wanted to become.  I just needed help getting there.  Inspiration is only helpful to get you off the couch, and awaken you to new possibilities in life.  But inspiration will fade if you don’t combine it with hard work.  I believe working really is the only thing that changes lives.

The conference didn’t change my vision of what I wanted to become.  But it helped me make friends with successful people who want to help me.  It reminded me of all the work I have ahead of me.  It’s going to take months, years, and decades of hard, brutal, painful, and meaningful work to get to where I want to go, but attending the conference was definitely a step in the right direction.  The invitations to write more guest-posts on huge blogs and podcast is still mind-boggling to me.  You’ll see me execute on all of those opportunities in the next year.  After the conference, I realized this is the year for Wealth Well Done to grow.  It’s infant stage is over.  Now it is time to seriously grow it.  And now I have the powerful friendships to help me.

After the conference, my wife and I drove down to Austin, TX, to where my childhood best-friend lives.  He occasionally makes appearances in this blog as a man named, Torque, as he was my original financial-independence/ early-retirement inspiration and role model.  I watched him make millions in business he started in his 20’s and 30’s, but rather than buying a bunch of Junk with that money, he stayed frugal and bought a bunch of real-estate instead.  He’s now 36, and lives a life of elite, supreme, and chill leisure in Austin, TX.

We stayed with him for 3 days, and explored Austin.  For instance, we went out to dinner at the famous Salt Lick, buffet BBQ:

Family style bbq buffet outside of Austin Texas. @SaltLickBBQ pic.twitter.com/M3ZQZMmIuW

— Wealth Well Done (@WealthWellDone) October 30, 2017

We Hiked part of the Greenway Trail that winds through the heart of the city:

And the adventures continue to Austin, Tx, hiking the Greenway trail. Back in Minneapolis on wednesday. pic.twitter.com/gOZFrimaxL

— Wealth Well Done (@WealthWellDone) October 29, 2017

And he gave us a tour of all the sights in Austin.  Here’s a picture from the tallest point in Austin that we hiked up to, called Mountain Bonnell. 

We ended our third night having a fancy dinner, out of a food truck, covered in art, at a picnic table in 80 degree weather.  Austin definitely is special and unique.  It’s motto is:  “Keep Austin Weird.”

Eventually, home was calling, so just yesterday we woke up at 4:30 AM and drove 18 hours back from Austin, TX, to our home in, Minneapolis, MN.  Along the way, we took off the t-shirts we wore in 80-degree sunshine, and put on winter jackets to protect us from the snow-storm we hit on the Missouri, Iowa border.   What a climate change in one day!

We finally pulled into our driveway at 10:30 PM on Tuesday after 8 days of traveling and 18 hours in the car.   We had made it across the country safely.  We were exhausted, but full of quality experiences.  We spent 8 days traveling across the middle-America landscape of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota, and we met some of the best minds America has to offer.

In conclusion, I dream every day of becoming a star in this galaxy of my dreams.  This trip was one of the steps that will help me get there.  The last year was to get this website started.  This is the year we will grow it.  Thank you for helping us do this.  I just hope I can offer you as much encouragement and confidence as you share with me.

If you see something that will take you toward your dreams, like traveling across the country to Fincon like me, don’t hesitate.  Just take it.  Learn, take adventures, and become the person you are supposed to become as you grow.  That’s all I am trying to do. It really is that simple.

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