I blew it all up.

On paper, my life looked f*cking fabulous.

But I was drowning.

What could I complain about?

I had a hugely successful career in real estate development, shaping the future of New York City’s most iconic landmarks.

I was doing meaningful work. I was respected. And I was making good money. I should have been grateful. 🤷

But every day of work felt like a new link in a chain that was tethering me to a singular career path. I was trapped in a lifestyle that was, frankly, suffocating me.

So I blew it all up. 😬

Let me explain…

Oh hi. I’m Kristin. I’m a proud solo female traveler and the creator of the most unfiltered business newsletter on the internet. 👇

My transformation began two years ago when I pounced on a spontaneous opportunity to spend a summer in southern Spain with a house full of strangers.

You might call it a “digital co-mad” experiment. We filled our (dirt cheap) villa with characters like:

📱 Nico from Argentina, who was finalizing the launch of a new mental health app.

🎬 Anne from Germany, who had just wrapped production on a badass documentary, and was doing press interviews from our laundry room where the internet happened to be the strongest.

🛠️ Kai from Switzerland, our resident scientist and inventor, who was working on projects ranging from medical devices to nautical navigation aids.

And there was me — 

🧠 Kristin from NYC, feverishly writing the business plan for a new assisted living concept to serve people suffering from dementia.

We all had our own individual work goals, but we gathered every evening for dinner on the terrace, and spent the weekends hopping around the hilltop towns and beach paradises of Andalusia. 😍

It was heaven.

But there was a catch.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit

The more I worked on my business plan, the more I realized how hugely consequential my dementia community project was.

This was more complex than all the other real estate projects I had ever worked on — and it would consume the next decade (or more) of my life.

Panic began to set in.

My summer in Spain had opened my eyes to the blissful freedom of working from a laptop, traveling on my own terms, and embracing impermanence.

And I didn’t want to give that up. 

I felt confident that I could hand off the plans for the dementia community to colleagues who could deliver on its important mission, but if I didn’t go home and get back to my career…

How would I earn a living?

My guess is that many of you fellow travelers have asked yourself a similar question. 

For me, the answer was to stop DOING and start SHARING.

I’m obviously generalizing here, but I’ve found that when it comes to sharing professional insights:

• Men talk more, having done less.

• Women do more, and talk about it less.

By this point, I had led a pretty interesting 20-year career. And I began to realize that my insights had just as much value as any work I could physically do.

So I started to build a life around monetizing my knowledge rather than my ability to get a job done.

👉I started saying “no” to managing projects, and “yes” to advising projects.

👉I built a mastermind for badass entrepreneurs to connect and share.

👉And I began publishing Drunk Business Advice.

This strategy has paid off in spades.

In the last 18 months, I’ve traveled to Morocco, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Monaco, Italy, France, and even made it back to the country that started it all — my beloved Spain. 😍

So why am I sharing this with y’all?

First, I love the SoFe community and want to share what’s possible for those who are dreaming of leaving their “stable” career behind to work from a laptop and a lounge chair in some faraway land.

And I was thrilled to sponsor the content creation team at the recent Joshua Tree retreat.

So the incredible Amanda (founder of SoFe, of course) offered to give me a place to tell my story.

We both hope that this has been inspiring, (or at least entertaining), and that you’ll consider connecting with me over at Drunk Business Advice! 

It’s totally free, and totally unhinged.

Cheers! 🍻

-Kristin :-)