Do, Fail, Learn, Repeat

Since finishing Better Than College (a 2-year-long project) in June, I’ve been contemplating my next big thing.  I’m pretty sure I’m ready to start a school (i.e., a long-term, structured learning program): one of my long-held goals.

This summer I tossed around a number of different visions for this (un)school. I launched an opportunity network for grown unschoolers—a side project that will surely play a larger role at some point. I filled half a Moleskine, multiple private webpages, and a dozen Word documents with further sketches, plans, and secret notes to myself.

But I’m going in circles. The vision is incomplete. I’m missing something crucial.

This morning, I began to see what I’m lacking and where I might find it.

– – –

In Fall 2006, I began my second season at an outdoor science school in southern California. (You can still see a photo of me in the “Meet the Staff” box, lower right.)

By that time—almost two years into my many post-college service industry jobs—the entrepreneurial bug had bitten hard. I wanted to do my own thing. So I convinced the program director to let me work at the school half-time; I planned to spend the other time in San Diego starting an education consulting business called Catalyst Prep (you can still see the somewhat embarrassing archived website). Catalyst Prep was one of many business ideas that I had back in 2006-7, the result of lots of thinking (overthinking?) and brainstorming: much like I’m doing today in 2012.

What happened instead was: I abandoned the business, got fed up with working for other people (even very nice people), and had to get away. I left a hand-scrawled resignation letter underneath a rock on the program director’s front doorstep and started driving north.

I landed at my aunt’s house in Snohomish, Washington, where I spent the next few weeks attempting and failing to complete NaNoWriMo (a challenge to write 50,000 words of fiction in the month of November—no embarrassing manuscript available). I then decided that I needed to go really far away in order to clear my mind, so I hatched a plan to travel to South America, in what would become my first multi-month, self-planned, international backpacking trip.

I took that trip, and it changed my life.

The first month I was solo, bumming around the beaches and mountains of northern Peru. My friend Patrick joined me in Lima for the second month, and then our mutual friend Matt joined us for the third month in Argentina. Patrick and I wrote a shared blog about our adventures (part 1, part 2, part 3). I returned stateside that April reinvigorated, ready to start a new outdoor education job.

The new job didn’t last long. Again, I got fed up working for other people. But this time I had a direction to follow: the South America trip. It was that trip, combined with my experiences at Deer Crossing Camp and Not Back to School Camp—that eventually led me to start Unschool Adventures and lead its first trip to Argentina. I’ve been leading one, two, or three trips each year through Unschool Adventures ever since.

– – –

Now I’m 30, self-employed, and doing work that I love. But I also feel the need to try something big and different: to start a long-term structured learning program, quite unlike anything I’ve done before.

This morning, I realized that instead of thinking my way through this big new program, I need to personally experience it—like I did with South America—before attempting to teach it.

As Ghandi advised, I need to become the change I want to see in the world.

I’m not sure where that will take me—but that’s where I am.

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See all of my South America trip photos.

5 Reasons to Replace College With Travel and Self-Directed Learning

This is my second piece published by The Matador Network. As before, they slightly modified my article from its original version, which you’ll find below.


The idea of taking a gap year between high school and college is no longer controversial. The logic is simple: you’ve already spent twelve years in a classroom, so why not take a break before jumping back in? Pack that gap year full of travel, work, networking, reading, and writing, and you’ll undoubtedly make better use of your time in college.

The idea of skipping college altogether, however, is still highly controversial. Over the past few years, eloquent arguments have appeared almost weekly both for and against the proposal.

For budding entrepreneurs and techies, there are innovative programs like Enstitute, the Thiel Fellowship, and Dev Bootcamp. But for the rest of us—those who enter 4-year liberal arts programs with high hopes of gaining some direction, enlightenment, and new friends—the biggest problem is that there doesn’t seem to be any viable, worthwhile alternatives to the college experience.

This is where self-directed learning—the type of learning that a gap year emphasizes—offers a compelling opportunity.

When you do self-directed learning, you take a self-organized and self-motivated approach to education. You follow no pre-structured curriculum—therefore you possess the freedom to learn in a style that fits you, seek out the best mentors and courses you can find, and pursue your quirky, individual goals. And you’re not alone in the journey: a growing community of young people are taking the self-directed path.

Here are five reasons why the full-time self-directed learning (and a healthy dose of gap year-style travel) can offer a respectable alternative to four-year college.

1) You’ll learn how to manage money and stay out of debt.

You can do a whole lot of self-directed learning for the same amount of money that you’d spend on college. But most families don’t have that kind of cash on hand, and there are no student loans for self-directed learning.

This seemingly large obstacle is a blessing in disguise. Why? Because when you take the self-directed path, you directly observe the costs and results of many ways to educate yourself. This teaches you how to manage money and shows you that education is valuable but not priceless. Everything has a price. Colleges tend to hide this reality by lumping exorbitant dorm rooms, sports teams, and exercise facilities into their tuition price tags—all in the name of learning.

Perhaps most importantly, the self-directed path doesn’t lock you into $20,000, $50,000 or $100,000 worth of student loans: an incredible burden that shoehorns many young people into unsatisfying career paths when the world is supposed to be their oyster.

2) You’ll ramp up your self-motivation.

Self-directed learning (and independent world travel) demands—and quickly builds— your self-motivation. But what if you don’t think you’re motivated enough to begin this kind of learning in the first place? It’s a classic chicken-and-the-egg situation: you’ve got to jump into the deep end in order to begin.

Self-education stokes your senses of autonomy, mastery, and purpose: the key ingredients of self-motivation, as explained by Daniel Pink’s excellent book Drive. It also lets you pursue the “flow” state described by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi: another psychological state that reinforces self-motivation.

3) You can become successful without a degree.

The idea that fame and fortune can only be achieve by college graduates is a lie. The pay-off from a college degree is overhyped, and there are plenty of successful people who never finished college (or even high school). Unless you want to definitely become a professor, research scientist, or licensed professional, a college degree is not truly mandatory. The self-motivation that you develop as an independent learner will in fact become your greatest asset. As Seth Godin suggests: “A modern productive worker is someone who does a great job in figuring out what to do next.”

Yes, it’s more challenging for self-directed learners to get a human resources department to look at their résumés. But do you really need a résumé? Instead, build an online portfolio (like Vi Hart), tell your story in a compelling way (like Weezie Yancey-Siegel), demonstrate the value you’re capable of generating (like Logan McBroom), and then find a creative way to get noticed. Either you’ll get hired (without ever standing in the Craigslist breadline) or learn enough to start your own business.

4) You’ll build massive amounts of self-knowledge.

The Greeks got it right a long time ago: First, know thyself.

Self-knowledge is the skeleton key that unlocks the answers to a number of questions, such as: What are my deepest needs? In what environment do I work best? And how can I personally change the world for the better?

Short-term job experiments, long-term travel, extensive reading and writing, making new friends around the world, and other gap year-style activities can build self-knowledge much more quickly than the same time spent in college.

5) You’ll actually fulfill your travel dreams instead of waiting until age 60.

Don’t be the person whose first big adventure is taking a Carnival cruise at age 60. If you want to travel, do it now: when you’re young, broke, and free. Too many people defer their travel dreams, get caught up in a graduate school program, serious job, relationship, or family obligation, and then end up with one or two weeks free each year.  You can always go back to college as an adult—it’s a sensible option—but becomes more and more difficult travel like a young person can.

Let’s drop the false notion of college-for-all and start giving gap years, extended travel, and self-directed learning their proper due as educational options.

 

Blake Boles is the author of Better Than College: How to Build a Successful Life Without a Four-Year Degree and the director of Unschool Adventures, the travel company for self-directed young adults. 

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How (and When) to Crowdfund Your Next Big Adventure

Today I published my first piece for the online traveler’s community, The Matador Network. They modified the article from its original version, which you’ll find below.


Independent travelers are self-reliant: We don’t rely on tour guides to shuttle us around foreign lands, we blaze our own trails, and we pay our own way.

Unless we can’t pay our own way.

Most world travelers know the feeling of working hard for months (or years) to save up for the next big trip. This is an important part of the travel process, and one that makes the reward all the sweeter.

Many of us also know what it feels like to work hard toward a travel goal and remain utterly distant from it. This scenario is most present among young adults ages 16 to 23: those with the lowest wage-earning power yet the most freedom to travel. Think, for instance, of the 19-year-old working long hours in a climbing gym, or the underemployed recent college graduate making ends meet as a barista.

For the broke and travel-hungry, there are two clear options. The first: Travel more cheaply. Head to Central America instead of Europe; go for one month instead of two; use your parent’s beat-up old backpack instead of buying the glimmering new one in the outdoors store.

The second option: Don’t travel yet. Wait longer, work harder, and save more money.

Everyone should learn how to travel cheaply. But not everyone should defer their travel dreams.

Sometimes there are golden opportunities that deserve to be seized. Perhaps it’s the gap year that you take between high school and college: your one big chance to see the world before another 4, 6, or 8 years of school. Or the moment when two of your close friends can finally travel with you at the same time. Or when a rare educational opportunity suddenly appears: a multi-month apprenticeship with your favorite artist on the other side of the country, for example.

In moments like these, if you wait, you lose. This in when life demands a fast and creative fundraising solution. That’s where crowdfunding enters.

Crowdfunding Basics

You’re probably familiar with Kickstarter, the preeminent crowdfunding platform for creative projects like movies, music, gadgets, and games. The concept is simple: someone needs a lot of money to complete a project that’s can’t be easily fund on one’s own. Other people make contributions to the campaign—typically $15 to $150—in exchange for rewards related to the project, such as a copy of the final movie / album/ gadget / game. Campaigners also offer unique, one-time-only rewards in exchange for bigger contributions, such as behind-the-scenes peeks, personalized rewards, special recognition, and opportunities to meet the creators in person.

When you crowdfund for travel or educational opportunities, you apply the same basic concept—asking many people to contribute to a big goal in exchange for rewards—with a few crucial distinctions.

The first (minor) distinction is that, for travel fundraising, you can’t use Kickstarter, which only allows campaigns designed for tangible creative projects. Instead, use Indiegogo: a well-designed and popular crowdfunding platform that allows fundraising projects of all stripes. (Your campaign probably belongs in the “community” or “education” category.)

The second (very large) distinction is that, with travel fundraising, you’re asking people to fund an experience, not a product. This changes the game significantly.

Crowdfunding campaigns that involve creative projects are inherently entrepreneurial ventures that offer products for cash. That’s the power of crowdfunding—it’s not charity. When you fundraise for an experience, however, devising valuable goods and services to offer is not so simple.

Smart Rewards for Travel Fundraising

When you browse travel fundraising campaigns on Indiegogo, you’ll see lots of $15 thank-you postcards, $40 t-shirts, and other rewards that make a campaign feel more like a charity drive than an entrepreneurial venture. This is a problem.

To be clear, virtually every crowdfunding campaign—for travel, creative projects, or otherwise—involves some level of charitable philanthropy. Donors aren’t just paying for the rewards offered; they’re paying to bolster a cause, support an individual they admire, or participate in something bigger than themselves. In other words: They’re buying meaning. That’s why it’s not wrong to offer thank-you postcards for $15. But in order to reach a wider audience than your immediate friends and families (who are already sympathetic to your plight), you’ll need to do better.

To create quality rewards, begin by surveying your talents and interests. Then ask yourself: What would someone who doesn’t know me actually pay me for? Can you illustrate? Throw pottery? Edit essays? Build websites? Provide evidence of these skills (photos, links, etc.) on your campaign website, and then offer them as personalized rewards to your contributors. For $100, offer to custom-design a website where you someone start blogging—a great reward for older, computer-phobic people. For $300, offer to tutor someone in music theory over Skype. For $50, craft a purse made from recycled plastic bags. If you have a skill that could be offered over Elance, Etsy, or Craigslist, you have a potential crowdfunding reward. (And if you think that you don’t have quality skills to offer, you’re probably wrong; ask a close friend or parent to help you identify them.)

After creating a solid foundation of skill-based rewards, add a few travel nostalgia rewards. Offer to bring back a souvenir—something only available in the place where you’re visiting—or create a short video of people you meet on your trip saying “thank you” in their native languages. Make sure that these types of rewards don’t feel cheap: Expensive rewards should genuinely require a bigger expenditure of your time and creative energy.

In your campaign description, remind visitors that they can always donate more than is required for a certain reward or without choosing a reward at all. This feature is important for super-inspired donors or a grandparent who just wants an easy way to support you.

Promoting Your Campaign

Consider the promotion of your fundraiser a part-time job for the entire length of the campaign. Post updates about your campaign on Facebook and Twitter, but don’t alienate your friends and followers by spamming them multiple times a day (unless it’s the very end of the campaign).

Your friends, family, face-to-face communities, and online communities (like blog readers) will be your biggest contributors; be careful not to start thinking of them as money trees to be shaken at regular intervals. If you or someone else has recently run a fundraiser that drew heavily from a specific community (such as your workplace, sports team, educational circle, or church), don’t run another immediately on its heels.

Showing Your Commitment

The most important and ethical way to get solicit donations for a travel fundraising campaign is to highlight the hard work that you’ve personally put into this goal. Did you work and save for months before this campaign? Do hundreds of hours of background research? Study a language for multiple years? These are the hard facts that will draw true crowdfunding energy. And if you haven’t put in this effort yet, perhaps it’s not time to run a fundraiser. Crowdfunding is a powerful tool that should be used sparingly.

When you ask people to help fund your next big adventure, make sure that you’re offering rewards that are creative and valuable, promoting it ethically, and demonstrating significant prior personal investment. Do these things well, and you’ll pave the way to a one-in-a-lifetime travel opportunity.

– – –

Further reading for getting started:

Indiegogo: Crowdfunding Tips for Campaigners

Indiegogo Blog: Insights

Kickstarter Tips from a Fan of Crowdfunding (applicable to Indiegogo)

 

Blake Boles is the author of Better Than College: How to Build a Successful Life Without a Four-Year Degree and the director of Unschool Adventures, the travel company for self-directed young adults.

This article is based on Blake’s upcoming e-book, The Unschool Adventures Guide to Online Travel Fundraising. You can pre-order the book through Blake’s crowdfunding campaign until November 14th.

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New book, new trip

Yesterday I announced my newest writing project: The Unschool Adventures Guide to Online Fundraising. This will be a shorter book than my previous ones, and it will be an e-book only. I’m doing a pre-sale fundraiser between now and November 15th with some neat perks—check it out on IndieGoGo.

On a related note, last week I launched the first-ever Unschool Adventures international trip that I won’t lead personally: a trip to Turkey in June 2013. We already have three applicants, and I’m considering as a student myself, because it looks so awesome.

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Adios, NBTSC 2012

I just finished my seventh season of Not Back to School Camp, where I serve as a teen advisor, workshop leader, and first aid guy. This was the longest series of NBTSC sessions ever: 5 weeks of camp spanned the end of July to early October (with 2-week breaks and staff training between). Three of the weeks happened in southwest Oregon, two weeks in Vermont.

As always, I had a blast working at camp, and I’m continually amazed that I get paid to do this. Below are a few photos from the various sessions.

Evan leading meeting – Vermont

My advisee group – Oregon Session 2

Dancing at “prom” (which I DJ’ed) – Oregon Session 1

My clothing, frozen into solid blocks: a prank courtesy of Oregon Session 2 campers.

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