Interview with Colin Wright of Exile Lifestyle

This week I’m interviewing Colin from Exile Lifestyle. Colin is a lifestyle designer and traveller and he has a very interesting story to share. Enjoy.

Oscar: Hey Colin, thanks for giving me the opportunity to interview you. Can you talk a bit about you and your current lifestyle?

Colin: Hey Oscar; absolutely!

The short story is that I run a branding-focused design studio and move to a new country every 4 months, running my business and writing about what I’ve learned at Exile Lifestyle.

The slightly longer story is that I’m a bit of a serial entrepreneur (this is my 5th business) and started my first when I was 19 and in college. I’m originally from the San Francisco area, but moved to Missouri when I was 9, so I was able to live in very contrasting environments as a child, which really helped spur my interest in sociology and communication.

I use lifestyle design to increase the amount of time I have to myself while maintaining a strong level of quality for my clients. I focus on sustainability because it helps me and my clients save money while saving the environment. I’m a minimalist; I sold everything I owned before I left Los Angeles and now I own just under 70 things in the world. By the time I move to New Zealand (the next country my readers voted for me to go to), I hope to be down to 50. I’m also a voracious reader, an above-average yo-yoist, left-handed and what you might call a rational Stoic Humanist.

My lifestyle currently involves moving a lot, as I mentioned before, but there’s a bit more to it than just working from a different country from time to time.

What I’m trying to do is learn the things that I can’t pick up from books. You can learn a whole lot from reading, but you cannot have the kinds of experience that radically alter the way you look at the world or build new friendships with people who are an inspiration to you. I wanted to fill in the gaps, and the biggest gap in my education is one of worldly experience.

I spend a lot of my time just exploring the country I’m in. I make connections and build up my professional network, but most of the time I’m just doing my best to live like the locals do so that I’ll have a different lens to look at the world through.

Oscar: You are currently living in various part of the world based on your readers recommendations. How did you got such idea?

Colin: It was actually totally random, and I think it started out as a joke with my girlfriend at the time (same thing with the idea for our Breakup Party…we joked about it before realizing just how awesome it would be).

It’s perfect for me, though, because part of what I’m looking for in life is a challenge. To a degree, LA got too easy and being sent to who-knows-where, totally unprepared, has put me in situations where I’ve really been tested and puts me in a mindset where I can make lots of mistakes.

Mistakes are great, and I always learn best through trial-by-fire experiences.

Oscar: How were you able to develop this lifestyle?

It took a whole lot of rearranging and sacrifices!

I reduced my client load by passing some clients on to other designers and started to only take on projects that fit a very specific criteria: things that I could do relatively quickly, cost-effectively and with a nice profit margin. Branding specifically is something that comes very naturally to me, so branding packages and consulting are major parts of my workload these days.

At the same time I worked to create systems that would allow me to get more done in less time. Batching similar tasks together, figuring out more efficient ways of dealing with client requests and paperwork, etc. I knocked my weekly hours down from 80-100 to the current level of 4-8 and make about the same amount of money as I did previously. Traveling wouldn’t be much fun if I had no time to enjoy the places I move to!

I also streamlined socially, hanging out with some friends less and spending more time focusing on the ones with which I had a more balanced relationship (a more equal exchange of value, so to speak).

Finally, I sold everything I owned that wouldn’t fit into a carry-on bag. This significantly reduced the amount of ‘stuff’ I had to worry about and store, and gave me a nice chunk of starting out money to pay for the initial plane tickets and such.

The keyword here is optimization; in your work, in your life and in your possessions, if you want o do something like this it’s really a good idea to make sure you aren’t carrying any more than you need to (literally and figuratively).

Oscar: Can you offer some advices to those who wants to do develop a lifestyle similar to your?

Colin: Know what you want before you invest yourself too deeply into a project.

Don’t worry when other people tell you you’re being foolish; keep the advice in mind – there might be some gems from time to time – but generally just KNOW that them not being able to do it doesn’t mean that you can’t.

If you really want it, dedicate yourself to it until you achieve it and set a firm deadline. I gave myself 4 months from the moment I conceived the Exile Lifestyle plan until I left the country…a very firm deadline that was difficult to meet, but I did it because I had to. In that time I did little but focus on the next step and if I hadn’t, I doubt the transition would have gone so smoothly.

Figure out how you will make money. I know a few people who do really well just traveling around, picking up work where and when they can, living from paycheck to paycheck. I personally have a much better time traveling with more consistent money coming in (because I have an established business with a good reputation already). If you don’t know how you will make money, I would recommend getting something set up first, because once you leave you won’t want to focus on the misery that setting up a new business can be with so much new and exciting activity going on around you.

Be good to people. It seems like a really simple concept, but it’s amazing how many people aren’t. Give of yourself and others will do the same, and generally what you get back will be of greater value than the total of what you put out. I don’t know exactly how the math works, but in practice it certainly does. Don’t take advantage of others, don’t treat people like trash, don’t stab people in the back. Don’t be a dick.

Oscar: Who are/were your mentors? What books/tapes changed your life?

Colin: Ah, this is tricky, because I’ve never really had an official mentor.

I definitely learned a whole lot from my parents, who between them have a combination of creative and analytical chops, and both have great people and leadership skills.

I’ve had a series of employers that I’ve learned quite a bit from (some taught me how to run a business, and some taught me how NOT to run a business).

I read a whole heck of a lot of books. I’m constantly reading. 6-8 books a month, sometimes more. I’m working my way through the Personal MBA at the moment, and most of the books from that list are super-valuable. I’ve learned a lot from Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, Jared Diamond and Dr. Seuss, all about different topics.

My personal philosophies are also very important to me, and more than most Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand have really influenced my personal philosophies.

Writings by Stoics have also been valuable.

Talking to random people about random things; I’ve probably learned more from this than any book or philosopher.

Oscar: Thanks Colin for the interview. I wish you all the best for your and your business.

Colin: Thanks Oscar, same to you and your readers!

Posted on January 14 2010

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