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Negative Environments. Travel & Entrepreneurship. Project Boulder 2.0

AndrewNC

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Do you feel stuck in a life that isn't right for you, needing an escape?

They say you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most of your time with. And not just the people. The media you consume, the culture you are in, and the environment as a whole. If you've been living one small town your entire life, you have no clue how the vibe and the culture of different cities can impact your energy levels, productivity, and happiness as a whole.

When I first joined the Fastlane forum, I was living in a small town of the East Coast that did not vibe well with me at all. People were always down and depressed when manufacturing plants kept closing down, people gossiping about small-town talk, politics, and waiting for the big thing to escape them. Fast food joints and deep fried cooking were the norm. Not a single hint of entrepreneurial spirit. I was living with my parents at the age of 25 who begged and screamed at me to get a job at Walmart...or the gas station down the road while mainstream news channels such as Fox News and MSNBC polluted the airwaves.

When I talked about my dreams of entrepreneurship, they told me I was crazy.

2012-2014: I had $250 to my name and packed my bags and drove to Scottsdale, Arizona. Eventually, in October 2013, I moved into a third story apartment with two other members from this forum called Project Scottsdale. Working a day job at the time of people talking my down from my entrepreneurial dreams, I came home to the mastermind accountability of likeminded Fastlaners, mentors, and positive encouraging people.
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After six months, the three of us made that transition from Employee to full-time entrepreneurs for the first time. I went on to build a digital magazine business that finally started earning me a steady online income.

While my two roommates moved to New Mexico, I needed a break from the heat after two years of living in the desert of Scottsdale, Arizona; so I packed my car once again and moved to Boulder, Colorado with another member of this forum.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR8a8TDBUDc


Needing to de-stress from the really high-paced lifestyle of Scottsdale (day job for years, nights and weekends trying to build my first business), I decided to slow my life down and spend my days hiking through the mountains, partying with the college crowd until the wee hours of the morning, and get into a lot of personal development, zen, Buddhism, and other energy/power of the universe type of stuff that is common for those who attend CU Boulder and Naropa University.
boulder1.jpg
Up until this point in my life, I've had few reference experiences of the cultures and vibes of different places:
  • Grew up 30 miles outside New York City - Bred for the slowlane 9-5 life.
  • Lived in a small rural town in the south - depressing and negative environment.
  • Scottsdale, Arizona - High-paced, positive, successful, and true Fastlane mentality.
  • Boulder, Colorado - Relaxed, peaceful, more laid back culture; with a small pocket of very successful Tech Entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists (which I didn't get to know on my first round there).
So I began to travel more, and spent most of 2015 driving in my Honda CR-v all across the country from the East Coast back west, San Diego, up the Pacific Coast Highway to Seattle.
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mount-shasta.jpg
Mount Shasta, California | September 2015

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PhD83gTu1M


After spending a few months living next to a State Park outside of Seattle, by the water, I traveled through Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, back to Colorado, and out to the East Coast for the Winter, before moving back to Boulder for the Spring trying to relive the days of Project Scottsdale, renting out a sublet with a rooftop balcony overlooking the mountains. We called it Project Boulder.

Screen Shot 2017-08-22 at 9.54.14 AM.png

Project Boulder quickly turned into an epic disaster, when the third room in this sublet was rented out by two high-school dropout ex-heroin addicts/potheads. They invited their other friends over to blast music, smoke weed, and party all the time; leaving myself having to buy a lock for my room so they wouldn't steal my stuff.

In this instance, I began to learn that it's not only the environment you surround yourself with, but the people that you surround yourself in that environment who impact your life as a whole.

After Project Boulder, I packed my bags and started traveling through Europe.

Malaga, Spain - Was full of traveling European college students, it had a seaport with cruise ships and was artificially touristy.
malaga1.jpg

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sn5mAvNJ6c


Milan Italy
was full of great food, but somehow the vibe of the city wasn't welcoming to stay there for long.

Geneva, Switzerland - Was very high end, expensive, and upscale. The vibe of the city was great but the prices were insane.
geneva2.jpg

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azFaInyPhJ0


After going through London, Manchester, Eindhoven, Amsterdam, and other parts of Europe...

I began to realize that different cities, different countries, different cultures, and the people you surround yourself within each makes a huge impact on your life, who you become, your productivity, and happiness.

Whenever I needed that upbeat high-end living and working on the typical Fastlane business - I moved to Scottsdale. When I needed to relax and unwind, I would move back to Boulder. But when I lived in Boulder the previous times, I surrounded myself with the wrong type of people for the goals that I have.

Even with that being said, it's the place I love living in the most...out of everywhere I've been. It took a few years of traveling before I found my "home", but this is it...

Project Boulder 2.0

So this time, another Fastlaner and myself will be in Boulder, Colorado for September and October being very specific with the type of people we surround ourselves with. The two other times I lived in Boulder, I never really surrounded myself with the tech startup and entrepreneurial communities there. This time, I'll be surrounding myself in these communities and getting mentors, friends, and people to help each other succeed.

There's a meetup group 20 miles called Startup Longmont where a group of entrepreneurs have coffee once a week, and pitch practice (pitching investors/public speaking) once or twice a month.

There are entrepreneurial meetups in Denver, Boulder, and the surrounding areas. There's a core group of Fastlaners already here, which I don't know if they still do regular meetups as I've been traveling.

Exercise/Fitness - I'll start my mornings every day by hiking up through one of the trails of the foothills of the rocky mountains, or mountain biking through any of the hundreds of miles of trails of the city..

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Writing my Books - Then, there is this coffee shop in town called Trident Coffee (owned by a man who is well known in the startup community), where I bring my laptop and write my books in the morning over a coffee and whatever that delicious thing is I keep eating
Screen Shot 2017-08-22 at 10.13.35 AM.png

After that, I'll spend my days working from home on my business, eventually getting a desk at one of the local working spaces; getting my first business ready for sale and off my hands in 2018, and increasing sales and revenue for my current business.

Afternoon/Evenings - I'll mix it up between more mountain biking, farmers markets, going out with friends, networking events, and just living life. Surrounding myself with people I want to be around, doing the things I want to do.

After my current sublet is over at the end of October, I'll either get a long-term one bedroom apartment rental and make Boulder my permanent home, or pack my bags again and travel somewhere else for the winter before returning in the spring.

Project Boulder 2.0.

The reason I made this thread is to share my experiences of how different cities hold different vibes to it. When I first joined these forum and never left my comfort zone, I was surrounded by negative people in a negative environment who were holding me back from living the dreams that I had deep down inside.

After experiencing all sorts of different places, I noticed that each city and country I visited had a unique feel and uniqueness to it. And just like dating, when you go around and meet different people, you can finally decide what type of person you want to be with; it takes seeing different places, going out into the world and trying new things to see what works for you.

Because one day I'm going to die. And whereas each and every time I make this big move, I feel that nervousness of what might happen if I do it; looking back from my deathbed - all those fears I once had no longer matter and at least I wouldn't listen to the wishes of other people; and look back on a life of regret.

@Valor and I will be in Boulder until (at least) the end of October.

boulder1.jpg

If anybody else is wanting a change of pace and surrounding yourself with likeminded entrepreneurs to really grow your network, you skills, your business, and your life...Project Boulder 2.0

This is not some official thing, just likeminded people moving together and individual sublets can be found on Craigslist.

If anybody else takes the leap - post on the thread here and we can meet up and form a mastermind of sorts when everyone is in town!
 
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AndrewNC

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Project Boulder 1.0 (2016) - Living with the wrong type of people...hippie passed out on the stairs to the rooftop balcony all day after walking barefoot through the mountains and eating dandelions that he picked from the side of the road..

Screen Shot 2017-08-22 at 10.28.45 AM.png
 

Olimac21

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Great post I really liked the overall idea and your story from an isolated negative environment to your new home now. I am curious, which place in Europe did you like the most if you had to choose for living long term?
 

AndrewNC

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Great post I really liked the overall idea and your story from an isolated negative environment to your new home now. I am curious, which place in Europe did you like the most if you had to choose for living long term?

I only spent one night in the city, but Eindhoven, Netherlands.

I was just struck by some amazing feeling as I got off the plane. theres nothing to logically explain it - but it just felt right.

I haven't explored Eastern Europe yet so I can't compare it to there.
 
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scottmsul

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I live in Boulder!!! Could we organize a weekly meetup on Saturday or Sunday? I have a day job so I can't make the Startup Longmont coffee on Tuesdays.
 

AllenCrawley

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I only spent one night in the city, but Eindhoven, Netherlands.

I was just struck by some amazing feeling as I got off the plane. theres nothing to logically explain it - but it just felt right.

I haven't explored Eastern Europe yet so I can't compare it to there.
I thought you were moving to the Netherlands? Didn't you make a FB post about 9 months ago about how it felt like home and were moving there?
 

AndrewNC

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I live in Boulder!!! Could we organize a weekly meetup on Saturday or Sunday? I have a day job so I can't make the Startup Longmont coffee on Tuesdays.
For sure! We could start something perhaps the second weekend of September. I have one friend who is a non-forum member who lives in Boulder and she's interested in doing a Meetup group too starting around that time!
 
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AndrewNC

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I thought you were moving to the Netherlands? Didn't you make a FB post about 9 months ago about how it felt like home and were moving there?

Netherlands definitely feels like home. Almost pulled the trigger on moving there in February, but...

There's a woman I can't get over for the life of me since abruptly parting ways 14 months ago...need to see if there's any future with that or if there's some type of closure I need before moving on.
 

AmericanSpartan

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@AndrewNC

Do you feel that you only started attracting the right people into your life once you made a correct mental change first?

I've heard that you can take a person out of an environment, but because they are taking their same thoughts with them, they will attract the same types of individuals and experiences as before. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this. (I may already know the answer if it involves LoA style thinking ;) )

All the best,

A.S.
 

AndrewNC

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@AndrewNC

Do you feel that you only started attracting the right people into your life once you made a correct mental change first?

I've heard that you can take a person out of an environment, but because they are taking their same thoughts with them, they will attract the same types of individuals and experiences as before. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this. (I may already know the answer if it involves LoA style thinking ;) )

All the best,

A.S.
You are the universe because the universe is inside you and what you see is only you.
 

Azure

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I moved on my own from my tiny backwater town back when I was 17, and can honestly say its been fundamentally life changing.

I can just imagine how stagnant I would be had I lived there my entire life.
 

AndrewNC

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This place is amazing: 22 Days into Project Boulder 2.0

Yesterday, we were on the back lawn area doing some type of white magic ceremony.
  • Raffi, a late-30's advertiser,
  • Jocelyn, a 29 year old world traveling hippie business owner, and
  • Myself
Were sitting on the grass, drinking some type of drink with melted cacao and some random plant herb root things from South America. We were burning incense from Costa Rica and melting some type of stones, while sitting around a thing of magical healing crystals, while doing this white-magic ceremony.

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There is another women who lives in the house, Carlie - who owns that dog - Quinn.

This place is absolutely amazing...

So the purpose of this ceremony she learned from traveling somewhere in the world is meant to bring something into your life or release something in some type of spiritual level.

For me, I decided to release an attachment to a women I fell for 18 months ago.

While looking into the crystal ball, I imagined some type of smoke emptying out of my heart chakra, symbolizing the release of the attachment, and opening my heart up as a beacon of light.

None of us were on any drugs...

After the morning with the hippies (who happen to also be killing it in business - a rare breed), and doing the ceremony with them...

I decided to tip the scales in the other direction....

I went hiking in Golden, Colorado with two other Fastlane forum members. Giving feedback on eachother's businesses, sales, marketing, etc.

IMG_8157.JPG
A hike I took the next morning, back in Boulder...
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So far, I can really tell a night and day difference between my change in environment.

So much happier, so much more productive, I've lost a lot of weight in the 3 weeks since I've been back...

And that white-magic crystal ball incense ceremony opened up my heart and released the attachment to that one girl by the next morning. And I decided to make plans to take a road trip out to Washington in October to meet a girl I'm interested in now.

But it's late, I'm about to fall asleep, and have a two hour drive up into the mountains because one of the girls from the house invited me to a wedding as a last-minute wedding date tomorrow night. Up and early to buy dress shoes from Target.

Just posting this update and the pictures as inspiration for anyone who is stuck in a negative environment...

You have no clue how different life will be when you're in a place that you love!
 
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Azure

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Yeah, I took some LSD one time and tripped out pretty hard.

I understand how you feel Andrew.
 

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