Ever think of taking time off your regular routine life, quitting that 9-5 job that constantly restricts you from living life or are you just looking for something more out of life.
Thinking of living your life uncoventionally. Check out my interview with Stephanie Yoder.

Hi Stephanie, How are you doing today?

I’m doing quite well! At the moment I’m on a plane from Hong Kong to Xi’an, China. Hoping I can knock out these questions before the plane starts landing!

Quickly give us some background information on what you were doing before travelling?

Before I left on this trip in September 2010, I spent two years working for a medical association, basically boring cubicle work. I already knew I wanted to travel but I didn’t have the means, so I spent that time living at home, saving my money and building my blogging business in my spare time.

Where are you currently and what are you doing?

After 7 straight months of travel I’m resting my feet in Xi’an, China. I was growing weary of constantly moving about and wanted to stay in one place for a little while and concentrate on my various projects. My boyfriend is teaching English in Xi’an, so it seemed like a good place to crash. Plus, I adore Chinese food!

What has been the most adventurous thing you have done on your travels?

It’s hard to pick a most daring thing! Flying a glider (engineless plane) in Suffolk, England was pretty crazy though. I still want to sky dive, but for some reason I have a paraylizing fear of scuba diving.

Why did you decide to travel? When did you catch the travel bug?

When I was in college I studied abroad in London and got my first real taste of travelling. When I graduated in 2007 I had no idea what I wanted to do career-wise so I figured I might as well see some of the world while I sorted things out. I knew I wasn’t done with Europe, so I headed back for another 9 months. The funny thing about travel though is the more places you go the more severe the addiction gets. Now I think I’ll probably need two or three lifetimes to visit all the places I’d like to see!

Tell us about your travel blog(20-Something Travel) and it’s purpose?

I think that, in America at least, we are conditioned to follow a set path in life: go to school, get a job, work hard and THEN, maybe if you do it well enough, you can travel when you retire. I think that’s stupid. Life is short, there are no guarantees and you should do the things you find fulfilling now, not later.

I started my blog specifically to encourage young people to travel. I think that your twenties are an ideal time for seeing the world. I aim both to provide inspiriation and to lead by example, showing people that it is in fact very do-able.

What would you say was the most challenging part of getting to where you are now?

I think that the hardest part of any big life change is trusting yourself enough to take that mental leap between wanting to do something and actually planning to do it. The day I bought my plane ticket to Japan my hands were shaking, but the rush was incredible.

Favorite tech gadget you take travelling with you?

I’m not a super high tech kind of girl, but I can’t imagine travelling without my Asus EEE netbook. It’s pretty light and compact but it’s the perfect tool for writing and running my business on the road. Even if I wasn’t a blogger I’d still love it for skyping home and watching movies on long bus rides.

Where have you traveled to so far?

Eeek, long list! Since graduating in 2007 I have been lucky enough to explore large swathes of the United States, the UK, Europe, East Asia, and Australia. Hopefully this fall I’ll be heading to Latin America.

What did you want to be as a kid growing up?

A writer actually! My mom is a novelist and as a kid I always dreamed of doing the same. I love that I get to write about travel now, but it’s still my dream to publish a novel someday.

How do you handle the negative judgments of people who think your lifestyle is lazy, irresponsible, or you’re not living in the real world?

I feel sad that they are so uncomfortable in their own life that they feel the need to comment on mine. I know that comes perilously close to saying “they’re just jealous,” but the truth is, if you are content with yourself you do not need to tear others down. Live and let live, that’s my philosophy.

I pay taxes, I travel ethically and I work hard for everything I have- no trust fund supporting me! Those people are wrong, plain and simple, so I try not to let it bother me.

Favorite International Food?

Tough, tough question. I’m a huge fan of Chinese food, Vietnamese food, Italian, Thai, I could go on and on… I love food, for me it’s one of the best things about travel.

Favourte place visited and why?

I loved Bosnia & Herzigovinia, its a beautiful country full of rich and sometimes heartbreaking history. Iceland has weird and amazing natural beauty like nowhere else on earth. And Vietnam and Cambodia have some of the most friendly people. It’s hard to pick a favorite!

What would you say has been your most valuable lessons learnt on your journey so far?

I touched on this before, but I think one of the greatest things I’ve learned, and am still learning, is the freedom that comes from not caring what other people think. It’s a lot easier said than done of course. No matter what you do, somebody is going to have an opinion on it, but it’s about following your own inner compass. In the end the only person you have to answer to is yourself.

What advice can you give to people who want to break out of the 9-5 lifestyle but are scared?

It’s okay to be scared, in fact it’s normal. If you weren’t scared that would be weird. The big challenge is in being scared and doing something anyways. Yes, changing your life dramatically is a risk, but in my mind at least it’s less of a risk than knowingly committing yourself to being safe, unhappy and always wondering what could have been.

Don’t forget to keep updated on her journey and stories around the world: http://twenty-somethingtravel.com/
Follow her on twitter: http://twitter.com/20sTravel

Check out this interview with Carlos Miceli, A Blogger @Owlsparks and Co-founder and Content Director @Untemplater, You should check out both Websites as they have amazing contents, i remember i once read through those sites for days whilst leaving their websites opened on my browser.

Hope you enjoy the interview.

Hey Carlos, how you doing?

I’m doing great, thank you for asking.

Can you quickly give us some quick background information, what you do?

I’m co-founder and Content Director of Untemplater, the guide to shatter the template lifestyle, and I’m the blogger behind OwlSparks, where I talk about a variety of topics like philosophy, marketing and education, to name a few.

How did Untemplater come about? What inspired you to start it?

It’s interesting that you ask this, because we always have the same talk with the team. We are not quite sure to be honest! I think our CEO Jun Loayza wrote a post one day on his blog about the possibility of many smart and capable Gen Y bloggers teaming up, and it just got a lot of us excited with the possibility. It kind of snowballed after that, everyone started pitching ideas, and before we knew it, we were already having meetings.

What is the main aim for starting, what are you trying to achieve?

The aim of the site is to help people realize that there’s more than one path in life. We are not trying to force any mindset into anyone, we just want to show how so many people are living unconventional and happy lives. And we want people to know that we as founders are also going through the hardships of choosing an unconventional lifestyle, that we are fighting and learning everyday just like them.
Of course, since this is a company and we put a lot of time into it, making some money wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world!

What is an average workday like for you?

I try to wake up early (although sometimes I fail because I stayed up working late), have a strong breakfast, then gym, lunch, shower, nap, and THEN I work. I also try to do offline networking as much as possible, so I go out at night often.
If I need to get a lot done, I work during night time. I’m very productive when everyone’s sleeping.

What are the most crucial things you have done to grow your business?

Spreading the word in our networks was possible the best thing we did. We are six mildly-popular bloggers, so when we each announced the project, our networks helped us a lot, word of mouth has been wonderful so far.

Also, having a free manifesto when we launched was a great move, kudos to our CMO Cody McKibben for coming up with the idea.

What plans do you have now to expand the site further?

So many! Live shows, Q&A features, Video Experts, giveaways, to name a few.

How do you market and create awareness for your website? What has been your most effective marketing tactic or technique?

This would be a better question for the other guys, honestly. I trust their marketing knowledge so much that I try not to get in the way. But like I said before, word of mouth thanks to our networks has worked wonders. Also, letting people submit articles has been a wonderful idea, courtesy of Adam Baker, our COO.

What advice can you give to anyone trying to create or grow their presence online?

Give it time. Impatience will destroy you. Some people would say that self-promotion is also a big move, but I’m not so sure about that. The most important thing is not to get too anxious and to be genuine.
Also, do your best when it comes to content. Not everyone can create truly amazing stuff, but everyone should TRY. Don’t settle.

What are your expectations for the future with Untemplater?

Personally, I have very high expectations, but it’s hard to define them in a concrete way. I want to focus in the near future in perfecting the systems and in getting everything running smoothly. We’ll see where we go after that.

How do you manage your time?

I focus on 3 to 5 things that I have to do each day. Once I’m done with that, I relax and analyze if I’m going to do something more long term focused, or if I’m just going to kick back and watch some House.

What other projects are you working on?

A personal manifesto and an ebook.

What do you think has been key for you in building your brand and business online?

Working very hard to create original content, my writing style, and my focus on building a limited number of very strong relationships.

What is the worst experience you’ve had as an entrepreneur?

You live it daily, and it’s the uncertainty. But it’s something you learn to accept and power through.

What are the biggest challenges you faced starting up and how did you overcome them?

I was at a corporate job at the time, so balancing my job, the company, my side projects and my social life was hard. I overcame them sleeping less for a relatively long period of my life!
Looking back, I have no regrets.

Who are your role models?

Famous role models? I don’t have any, except maybe Adam Carolla for the simple reason that he stands up for what he believes. I want to be that person, someone who is willing to choose failure before losing his integrity.

Online, people like Holly Hoffman, Jun Loayza, Andrew Norcross and Colin Wright are wise people and friends who push me to work harder every day.

What are your top 5 websites you visit for inspiration?

- Ben Casnocha: The Blog
- Sex, Drugs and Boredom
- Overcoming Bias
- Big Think
- And Untemplater of course!

Thanks for your time Carlos

Thank you very much for interviewing me, it was a pleasure!