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In this episode, we talk to Kim Slade. Kim is Dad to Dexter and husband to Nicola. He runs Touch Video Academy and Unlost He's brave and he's honest and he's decided to do what he can, to. . . in his own words . . . lick the lid of life.
Like many of the people we've spoken to on this podcast, this is not a story of unadulterated success . . . yet.
It's a real story with highs and lows. From mountain adventures and desert islands to living on a leaky boat with nappies on the ceiling, grief and depression.
What I love about Kim is the clarity of his direction. He knows how he wants to spend his time and he also knows it's going to be a hard slog balancing that with the need to earn money.
He teaches us that asking for help and conversation are good ways to react to rock bottom and he teaches us that swapping thinking for action . . . in his case . . . restoring Barry the Campervan . . . is powerful therapy too.
I have very little doubt that Kim will succeed in the way he wants to . . . but there will be more peaks and troughs to come before he finds the balance he's looking for. Kim is one of life's adventurers who simply wants to avoid regrets and understands that discomfort is a necessary part of the process.
Show Notes
We talked to Kim about
- Studying the stoner's degree that is music technology
- Not feeling he could focus enough to become a professional singer-songwriter
- Swapping music tours for travelling
- Enjoying the creative process
- Going to the Happy Startup School Summercamp five years previously when first looking to leave employment
- On the travelling bug and finding the places that other people don't
- Having a Mum and Dad who encouraged adventure
- The importance of a 'Buddy' (Nicola in Kim's case) when stepping outside a comfort zone
- Wanting to be a pioneer
- Travelling to Central America not understanding that no one speaks English
- Almost leaving Central America because it was too daunting
- On the words of Warren who becomes Kim's Central American Mentor "don't be soft"
- The kindness of strangers
- The fine line between trusting and being wary of strangers
- The adventure of moving from Bognor Regis to Brighton
- Being a confident version of himself and getting his first career job in social media
- Becoming bored and selling everything to go on another adventure when life was perfectly comfortable
- His obsession with islands
- Finding the edge's of the territory in which he's just arrived
- Not wanting to miss out on an experience
- The moment he realised he wasn't going to get another job again
- Arriving back in the UK with no money
- Living on a leaky boat with nappies on the ceiling to collect the drips
- The need for resilience when making a transition (for Kim, from employment to self-employment)
- Starting the adventure company 'Unknown Epic'
- The importance of direction / a goal when trying to make decisions
- Becoming a coach to friends who struggle to step outside their comfort zone
- The extent to which we all grow is in direct proportion to the uncomfortableness we experience
- Getting married one day and losing his father-in-law the following morning
- Losing confidence, depression and letting his wife down
- The importance of noticing rock-bottom
- The importance of asking for help, talking and therapy
- How Barry the Van became Kim's therapist and allowed him to focus on something other than his depression
- The benefits of living on a shoestring
- Setting up Touch Video Academy and learning about business
- The difficulty of balancing adventure and the environment
- Founding Unlost
- The constant challenge of balancing the need for money with the need for adventure
Derek Sivers Ted Talk covering the Leaders & Followers
Unknown Epic - Forgotten Valleys
Touch Video Academy
Unlost
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What is LifeDoneDifferent.ly?
Do you wonder whether there’s another way?
Another, more creative, more meaningful approach to living your life. Well there is and there’s a growing movement of people from all kinds of walks of life who are proving that the way we end up doing what we do in life is often a side effect of external forces. Rather than a deliberate, conscious and authentic set of choices that have come from you and your unique needs. What are you chasing? Success? Safety? Fame? Fortune? Recognition?
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