The Untemplater Manifesto

Work where you want,
Live how you want,
Be what you want to be

The Untemplater
Manifesto

Six Real-World Untemplater Case Studies

Please feel free to share this free manifesto under the terms
of the creative commons attribution 3.0 license.
© 2009–2010 untemplater.com. Photography © N. Cody
McKibben.
Design & layout by Cody McKibben.

Table of Contents
Introduction to the Untemplate Lifestyle 04
Jun Loayza Untemplating Entrepreneurship 06
Monica OʼBrienUntemplating Career 14
Cody McKibben Untemplating Travel 18
Adam Baker Untemplating Family 26
Andrew Norcross Untemplating the Tools 34
Carlos Miceli Untemplating the Mind 38
The Untemplater Team 45

Work where you want, Live how you want, and Be what you want to be in 2010

Introduction to the Untemplate Lifestyle
Take a deep breath, look around you, and ask yourself this question, “Am I
doing the same thing as everyone around me?”

If you are, then chances are that you are on the path to the comfortable, stable 
“American dream.” You’ll spend your 20’s in a small cubicle grinding long hours to 
impress your boss, steadily and surely climb the corporate ladder, and retire a wealthy, 
65 year old man (or woman), Dinally able to enjoy life’s riches: time with family, 
travel, and the opportunity to pursue your passions as a full‐time gig. 

Is this the life you want to lead?

Cause the house always wins. Play long enough, 
you never change the stakes. The house takes you. 
Unless, when that perfect hand comes along, you 
bet and you bet big, then you take the house. 
- Danny Ocean, Oceanʼs Eleven


There are many blogs and books meant to teach and inspire you to leave your corporate 
existence in order to pursue a venture that you’re “passionate” about. Most of these 
sites mean well and are inspirational, but they’re written by gurus who’ve already 
“made it” and aren’t in touch with your reality, or they’re written by pure theorists—
people who haven’t actually put their lessons to action—they talk the talk but don’t 
walk the walk.

Untemplater, on the other hand, is composed of real people who are in the 
trenches, working hard to live the life that we want to live. It’s not easy, nor is it 
glamorous. Below are six real case studies from twentysomethings who’ve 
done it. You’ll see our pain, struggles, successes, and failures as we create an existence 
that we are proud of and enjoy 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. 
…work where you want 
to work, live how you  We are MBAs; we are husbands, wives, and fathers; we are scrappy entrepreneurs, 
want to live, and be who  authors, and freelancers. We live all over the globe, and we have come together to 
you want to be in 2010 show you how we’ve successfully broken the template lifestyle so that you can do it 
as well. 

This Manifesto is meant to inspire. Below you will >ind the stories of six different 
individuals each pursuing the untemplate lifestyle—each a founding member of 
the Untemplater team—describing in detail the ‘breaking point’ that made us want to 
build our own, unconventional lives, and what we’ve accomplished in a short 
amount of time. 

Remember this one thing: if we’ve been able to do it, then you can do it as well. Join 
us at Untemplater and learn how you can work where you want to work, live how 
you want to live, and be who you want to be in 2010.


Jun Loayza
Untemplating Entrepreneurship
Tick tock… tick tock… it was 5:00pm and I had another hour of grueling grunt work to 
get through before I could catch the train home. I was a Dinancial consultant at a top 50 
consulting Dirm making $55,000 my Dirst year after graduating college. In my friends’ 
eyes, I was leading a successful life and on my way to getting my MBA, working my 
way up the corporate ladder, and retiring at age 65 a wealthy and successful man.

But something just didn’t feel right. It wasn’t the 60‐hour workweeks, nor was it the fact 
that I could only hang out with my friends and girlfriend on the weekends; it was the fact 
that I was just another drone following the template lifestyle. If I stayed on my 
current path, I would die an ordinary person who followed the average “American 
Dream.”


The breaking point…
On a cloudy morning in November 2007, I dragged myself into work and sat in my four‐
walled prison. My Managing Director walked in an hour after me and dropped a 
towering stack of printed excel sheets on my desk: “Hey Jun, I’m in a real time crunch 
and I need you to QA these excel sheets for me by end of day. Thanks!”

Do you know what “QA” means? It meant that I had to take out my calculator, whip out 
…I was just another  my red pen, and individually check each excel equation by hand to make sure they were 
all correct!
drone following the 
template lifestyle
It was salt on an open wound. I stormed into the bathroom, looked in the mirror and 
asked myself this question: “Would I be happy living the life of my current Managing 
Director?”

The answer was clearly “No.”

That day I made the decision to leave my corporate haven and pursue my own
startup venture full-time.


The transition was anything but smooth…
Sometimes it seems so easy doesn’t it? If Mark Zuckerberg could build Facebook from 
his college dorm room, surely I could build my startup into a large empire and make 
millions. 

Little did I know that one of the prerequisites for entrepreneurship was sacri>ice:
One of the 
prerequisites for  1. I moved back home with my mom and brother to save on costs like food and rent
entrepreneurship is 
sacrifice.
2. I stopped investing in a 401K, lived off the money in my savings account, and 
only paid the minimum monthly payments on my student loans

3. I told my girlfriend that we had to signiDicantly cut back on movies, dinner, and 
that we had to postpone the vacation we were planning

Entrepreneurship is not glamorous.


Untemplate the entrepreneur
A signiDicant portion of the untemplate lifestyle is leaving what you HAVE to do for 
what you WANT to do. In my case, I broke my template by having the courage 
to leave my corporate job and pursue my startup dream.

But this is just the beginning.

A significant portion  Untemplater is not just about breaking the corporate lifestyle; more importantly, it’s 
of the untemplate  about breaking every template lifestyle, including that of the entrepreneur. 
lifestyle is leaving 
what you have to do  The Template Entrepreneur:
for what you want 
to do. 1. There is no work/life balance

2. You must use social media to market your internet startup

3. Seek funding to get your startup off the ground

My team and I have successfully broken each of the 3 points of the Template 
Entrepreneur. Untemplater will show you how my team has done it so that you too can 
break out of the template‐entrepreneur lifestyle.


I am you…
You can accomplish everything that I have done and I will show you how to do it.

I have built a social media‐marketing agency from $0 in revenue to over $120,000 in 
revenue in fewer than 6 months. 
You can accomplish 
everything that I 
have done and I will  I’m the founder of an internet startup that has received angel funding, employs over 10 
show you how to  people, and supports an ofDice in San Francisco. 
do it.
I gathered a team of incredibly motivated, successful, and ambitious bloggers towards a 
uniDied goal to teach others how to break the template lifestyle. 

I do all of this and am still able to maintain an incredibly happy relationship with 
my girlfriend Kim Ear, which is proof that you are able to separate your work and life as 
an entrepreneur.


Break the Template Lifestyle in 2010
1. How do I run multiple startups at the same time?
I often get asked this question. A startup takes an immense amount of time and energy, 
so how in the world do I build multiple startups and not lose my mind in the process?

The answer is simple: Systems and Operations. 
The secret to my  The secret to my intense lifestyle as an entrepreneur is my ability to create systems and 
intense lifestyle as  operations for my companies that allow me to focus on the critically important. 
an entrepreneur is  Untemplater will in part focus on the type of systems that I have created and go into 
my ability to create  excruciating detail about the development, execution, and maintenance of these 
systems and 
operations for my  systems.
companies that allow 
me to focus on the  2. How am I able to maintain a happy relationship with my girlfriend as an
critically important. entrepreneur?
Three close friends of mine are hardcore entrepreneurs whose girlfriends left them 
because my friends did not devote enough time to their girlfriends. My friends fell 
victim to the template‐entrepreneur lifestyle and have suffered a girlfriendless startup 
lifestyle. 

Untemplater will show you how to Digure out if your girlfriend or boyfriend is the one 
for you, and if it turns out that she or he is the one for you, then Untemplater will show 
you how to maintain a happy relationship even with a busy startup lifestyle.


3. The concrete, personally-tested methods to succeed or fail with a startup
All advice that we give on Untemplater comes from actual experience. You will Dind no 
theories or untested advice here. We will cover the following topics in excruciating 
detail so that you can have a chance at building a successful startup:

1. How to test if your startup idea is viable
All advice that we  2. How to build your team
give on Untemplater 
comes from actual  3. Do you need a business model from the very beginning?
experience. 
4. How to drive traf>ic to your site

5. How to get funding

6. How and when should you incorporate your company

7. And much more…


The Untemplater philosophy
My fun comes from building companies and watching them successfully grow. I get a 
rush every time I build a new system and successfully implement it, cutting my work 
hours and improving my effectiveness. I love training my virtual assistant to do a new 
job that I previously had to do. 

Sounds kind of nerdy doesn’t it?

But to be honest, I wouldn’t be happy any other way. I don’t need to live the location 
…work where you want  independent lifestyle right now, nor do I need to get an MBA. I’ve realized that to lead 
to work, live how you  the Untemplater lifestyle, you need to learn how to say “No” to the things that can 
want to live, and be who  wait for later, and focus right now on the actions that will provide you with the greatest 
you want to be in 2010 personal ROI. 

Join us this 2010 and break your template!

Jun currently lives in Los Angeles, California – Find him at
JunLoayza.com and on Twitter


Monica OʼBrien
Untemplating Career
My journey on the untemplated path started in college. In the middle of my sophomore 
year, I decided I couldn’t be a physics major anymore.

You see, I wasn’t a quitter. And for some reason, I always felt that if I quit physics, I 
would be giving up on something I had started.

But it was time to make changes. I needed to stop doing what I thought others 
wanted. I needed to stop doing things just because I could and they would seem 
impressive, and start doing things I actually wanted. It was my life—I needed to 
start taking myself and my dreams seriously.

This is supposed to be the part where I tell you I changed majors and found the job of 
my dreams. It turns out that it’s very dif3icult to complete a degree in 4 years when you 
switch majors after two, and I would run out of scholarship money after 4 years.

I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life anyway. So I did the most logical 
thing at the time—I went through the degree catalog and found the majors I could Dinish 
in my remaining two years of school, and then picked the one that would pay the most 
after college. I Digured if I could just get a job that paid a lot of money, I would have 
the time and resources to explore my interests later.


Two years later I graduated with a degree in computer science, and started working in 
the tech department at a Fortune 500 company in the Chicagoland area. Not 
surprisingly, I hated my job—but every evening, I worked to Dind a new career. I 
explored photography and considered becoming a wedding photographer; I worked on 
art projects and researched how to sell art online; I considered fashion design and 
contemplated going back to school for it.

Finally, I realized I had a passion for business development. I wasn’t a particularly 
great artist, but I knew that if I had great art I could Digure out how to sell it. I started 
experimenting online with a number of my own blog projects. I also learned as much 
as I could about selling products on eBay and Amazon. It was clear to me that I someday 
wanted to start my own company, and it was also clear that I didn’t know a thing 
about business in order to do so.
It was my life—I needed 
to start taking myself  Having never taken a business class in college, I realized I wanted to immerse myself in 
and my dreams seriously.
the theory. I found an MBA program and started putting together my application. It was 
only right before I turned in my application that I realized the school I had chosen was 
one of the top 5 schools in the country, and you usually needed 5 years of 
professional experience to get accepted. I was only 22 years old, with less than a year 
of professional experience.

I was accepted to the school and started my MBA with a concentration in marketing 
part‐time. Meanwhile, I also started my blog and established a name for myself in the 
digital world by writing about my experiences and what I was learning. I was extremely 
vocal about wanting to leave the corporate world and start my own company. I 
concluded that the best way to do this was to >ind a job at a startup, where I could 
learn how to build a company from others. Within 4 months of blogging, I was offered a 
position at a startup with a well‐known A‐list blogger named Penelope Trunk.


I spent about 6 months at the startup, learning and absorbing everything I could. The 
focus of my job was still in tech though, and I wanted to make a career change into 
marketing. The founders of the startup also wanted me to choose between Dinishing my 
MBA and committing to eating, sleeping, and breathing the startup. It was a difDicult 
decision, and despite my yearning to start a company, I picked  >inishing my 
education over continuing with the hands‐on experience of a startup.

Once I quit my job at the startup, I was able to focus once again on my studies and my 
I picked  finishing my  goals of transitioning from a tech career to a marketing career. I started networking 
education over continuing  with other marketing professionals in Chicago and began consulting small companies 
with the hands-on  on how to use digital media to promote their businesses.
experience of a startup.
In 2009, I decided to fulDill another lifelong dream—I wanted to write a book. I 
found a market for the knowledge I had acquired over 3 long years in small businesses, 
like private practices, hair salons, and restaurants. I decided to write a book aimed at 
small businesses who wanted to use social media and digital marketing to 
promote themselves. Rather than get a traditional book contract, I opted to start my 
own publishing company and bring the product to market myself. The book was 
published in November 2009 and continues to show strong sales as it builds momentum 
in its Dirst year.


I also graduated with my MBA in December 2009, and am planning to take a job at a 
word of mouth agency in the new year.

Everyone will have their own de3inition of the untemplated life. Some will say that it 
means to quit your job and take the entrepreneurial path. For others, it’s to build your 
career online. Some might say it’s to get a formal education in a Dield you enjoy.

Self-knowledge is key,  For me, it’s been a mix of everything. I’ve gotten a traditional education, and I’ve also 
and most of the time,  used blogging and social media to learn, grow, network, and secure jobs. I’ve tried 
you just need to  the corporate lifestyle, the entrepreneurial lifestyle, and the freelance/consulting 
follow your heart. lifestyle, and found that there are upsides and downsides to all three. My hope for 
Untemplater is that we can help all types of people Dind their paths in life, no matter 
what that path is. Selfknowledge is key, and most of the time, you just need to 
follow your heart.

Monica currently lives in Chicago, Illinois – Find her at
MonicaObrien.com and on Twitter


Cody McKibben
Untemplating Travel

Going Through the Motions
When I applied to university, I had no idea what I wanted to study. I went because it 
was just what you do after high school—the next step in the ladder. Neither my dad 
nor my mom graduated from a four‐year university—because they'd become young 
parents instead—so you can bet, I was going to go straight to college and get my degree! 
I worked through college to pay for rent, food, and living expenses, and my dad, bless 
him, paid for a large portion of tuition and books, but the instant I went beyond the 
four‐year limit, I had to pay my own way.

College taught me plenty of valuable lessons—as did paying my own way. I'm deDinitely 
thankful to have parents who were willing and able to help me get my education, but the 
expectations (and consequences) that I was subject to demonstrate the prevailing 
middleclass Western mindset—the paradigm template lifestyle—that most 
of us are plugged into starting at birth.


College to Career Trial & Error
In retrospect, if I could go back I would have taken a year break to backpack around 
the world at that point, or even just to experiment at a junior college to discover what 
I was truly passionate about before going to university. But I played the game. I 
thought maybe I'd like to be a social studies professor and wanted to gain a deeper 
If I could go back I  understanding of different belief systems around the world, so I graduated with a 
would have taken a  degree in Humanities & Religious Studies and a minor in History.
year break to 
backpack around the 
world at that point,  After college, like many graduates, I promptly put my degree to absolutely no use! 
or even just to  Instead, a part‐time student job I had been doing with the College of Business at my 
experiment at a junior  university magically turned into a full‐time staff position. This, again, was really the 
college to discover  easy, boring path for me to take, and although the majority of my job duties were to 
what I was truly 
passionate about. simply be there from 9‐to‐5 to manage the Dean's ofDice every day, maintain his calendar, 
and push papers, I was exceptionally fortunate because working with the business 
professors is what turned me on to my true passion—entrepreneurship—and 
being assistant to the Dean of the College of Business came with some great beneDits. 
Serendipitously, I was able to meet and learn from CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, 
a Federal Reserve president, and people like Warren Buffett—the most skilled 
money‐manager and richest man in the world, and one of my heroes.


How Connecting with Like-Minded People
Empowered Me to Take Control of My Own Destiny
I learned a tremendous amount from the Dean and the College's experienced professors, 
and as my interest in business grew, I'd travel to Stanford's Graduate School of 
Business in my off‐time for Global Entrepreneurship Week and conferences with 
innovative green and social entrepreneurs. Two books changed my life: the Dirst one 
being Tom Peters' short but impactful Brand You, which opened my eyes to the 
emerging "free agent nation" where even as employees, we need to build and 
…even as employees,  maintain a great reputation and brand ourselves to stay competitive in a crap 
we need to build and  economy where job security no longer exists.
maintain a great 
reputation and brand 
ourselves to stay  In 2006, partly prompted by Peters' message about personal branding, I started 
publishing my own whacky thoughts online at ThrillingHeroics.com. Starting a blog 
competitive…
was probably the best decision of my life—I immediately started connecting with 
people around the globe. People like Ramit Sethi—a role model for me, as a Stanford 
grad, cofounder of a successful tech startup, and hugely successful personal Dinance 
blogger, just a few years older than me—Pamela Slim, who at the time ran a great blog 
and consulting company around EscapeFromCubicleNation.com, and now a 
successful author with a book out by the same title, and Rajesh Setty—a student of 
Tom Peters and Seth Godin and serial entrepreneur who is involved as a founder or 
executive for about 8 Silicon Valley companies at any given time. Raj become 
somewhat of a mentor to me, inspiring me with his book, blog, and personal 
encouragement, and sending tons of clients my way when I initially started up my own 
small side business.


How Breaking the Rules Lets Me Live the Lifestyle
of My Dreams

The second book that radically changed the way I look at life was Timothy Ferriss' 
The 4Hour Workweek. When I read Tim Ferriss’ lifestyle design bible, I learned that 
all the rules of traditional business had changed. Working 40‐ to 60‐hour weeks 
It doesn’t cost as  and waiting until retirement to do what you really want to do—what Ferriss calls the 
much as you might  “deferred life plan”—isn’t the only option.
think to live your ideal 
lifestyle or set about 
on on a jet set travel  It doesn’t cost as much as you might think to live your ideal lifestyle or set about on a 
journey around the  jet set travel journey around the world, and it really isn’t all about money anyways! 
world, and it really  Ferriss pointed out that we don’t really want to be millionaires, we want to 
isn’t all about money  experience what we think only millions can buy.
anyways! 
Tim noted that Southeast Asia and parts of South America are some of the world's best 
remaining paradise destinations where Americans can easily stretch their dollar. By 
bending the traditional rules we think apply to the world, and by leveraging geo
arbitrage for example—earning your pay in a strong currency like dollars, Euros, or 
British Pounds, while you live somewhere with a low cost‐of‐living—extended travel 
and living abroad can actually present some massive advantages.


So rather than waiting for retirement and dreaming about my ideal lifestyle, I decided to 
create my own Untemplater lifestyle where I could work and travel at the same time. I 
spent a year and a half building a business that I could run remotely from anywhere on the 
rather than waiting  globe—making my business "locationindependent" and becoming a digital nomad 
for retirement and  freelancer. And then I went for it! I left for Thailand in November 2008 with a oneway 
dreaming about my  ticket and no plans to return for at least a year.
ideal lifestyle, I 
decided to create my 
own Untemplater  Creating a business I could operate from anywhere has given me the freedom to choose 
lifestyle where I 
could work and  where I live, when I work, and it has enabled me to travel and free up more time to 
travel at the same  put into relationships, writing, volunteering, and other side projects that don't 
time. necessarily have to contribute to my income. Living this lifestyle teaches you that traveling 
is easier than you think: with a little resourcefulness, you’ll be amazed what sort of great 
experiences you can have for free or very cheap! You will see some incredible things that 
will change the way you think about the world.


10 Random Thoughts for Creating Your Own
Untemplater Lifestyle This Year:
1. Most people are content to live a comfortable lifestyle, doing something they're 
not all that passionate about in order to pay the bills and do what they like on 
the weekends. But, ask yourself if that's really what you want. Or do 
you want more? The Untemplater lifestyle means prioritizing your passion 
The Untemplater  over money, over status, even over creature comforts. 
lifestyle means 
prioritizing your 
passion over money,  2. Realize that nobody else is going to come along and magically Dix all your 
over status, even  problems and pay all your bills for you. That is a destructive Disney fantasy that 
over creature  isn't real. In the new economy, "job security" is an oxymoron. You've got to 
comforts.  establish a personal brand and maintain your reputation online even if you 
just want to remain employable. 

3. Remember what Tim Ferriss says in The 4Hour Workweek: we don't really want 
to be millionaires. Instead we want to experience things we think only 
millions can buy. But money isn't the only currency, and by bending the rules of 
your reality, it can frequently be easier, cheaper, or even free to accomplish the 
things you want.


4. Stop playing the game, stop trying to keep up with the Joneses. Embrace 
minimalism, detach your value from the things you own, and ignore others' 
expectations. When you accumulate stuff just for the sake of having possessions, 
they begin to own you. More likely than not, you can invest more time and 
money into the experiences you want to have—time with friends and family, 
philanthropy, travel—and live a much more ful>illed life. 

5. Just because everyone seems to do things one way doesn't mean you have to. 
And just because a majority of people seem to use a certain set of tools to get the 
job done doesn't necessarily mean they're the right tools for you. Seek 
unconventional solutions that will make the life you want possible. 
Stop playing the 
game, stop trying to  6. If you still want to discover what kind of work you're truly passionate about 
keep up with the  and excites you when you get out of bed in the morning, take a weekend retreat 
Joneses. to somewhere nearby where you can get away from your normal routine, 
consider a media hiatus (don't read the paper, watch the news on TV, or read 
your favorite blogs online for at least a few days) and do some selftalk and 
search in yourself for what you really care about. How can you provide real 
value to the world in a way that will return to you and allow you to earn a 
living?

7. With the increasing availability of free and cheap wiDi internet access all around 
the globe, it’s becoming increasingly possible for anyone to work from 
home, the coffee shop, or anywhere. Leverage the different purchasing power of 
currencies around the world, and you can vagabond your way around the globe 
while you do freelance work from your laptop!


8. Social media makes it much easier for anyone with enough motivation to share 
their ideas with a global audience and build a successful business online 
these days. 

9. If you choose to build an Untemplater lifestyle free of dependence on any one 
location, if you live abroad or go on extended travel, just by immersing 
yourself in the unfamiliar, you'll experience an increased rate of learning, 
creativity and resourcefulness that will serve to reinforce your 
abilities as a producer, rather than a passive consumer—sharing and adding 
something to the world, whether that's in the form of a business or something 
else. 
Your time here on this 
earth is a finite 
resource, precious  10.Even though everybody seems to do it, there is no law that says you have to 
play by the rules or follow the crowd. Your time here on this earth is a >inite 
short—how will you 
choose to spend it?  resource, precious short—how will you choose to spend it? 

I'm excited to launch Untemplater with my great co‐founders, and hope to provide 
guidance to all of you who are seeking more from life. If I can build a vast, strong 
professional network, sell my services online, and afford an adventurous, exciting life 
abroad, you can too. My personal mission in life is to encourage others to pursue 
freedom—the freedom to live and work anywhere, and to live life beyond borders 
and limitations. If I can do it, you can build an Untemplater lifestyle and reach your 
dreams too!

Cody currently lives in Bangkok, Thailand – Find him at
ThrillingHeroics.com and on Twitter


Adam Baker
Untemplating Family
I was good at Math and Science. I had high standardized test scores.

My path was clear…  Honors Engineering.

What else was there? That was the path. No one in particular forced me into it. My 
parents didn’t push me into it. My high school counselor didn’t push me into it (or do 
anything now that I think back).

Don’t get me wrong, somebody, or rather something was pushing me. I just couldn’t 
pinpoint the source of it.

It just seemed like that was what I was supposed to be doing. This was my next 
step. Why? Not because I chose it, but because it was the accepted path on my 
current life template.


Well, that lasted 3 semesters. Which I’d like to point out is one more than the minimum 
required to fail out (they let you go at least 2 semesters by default). So, I had that going 
for me.

I returned home and got to work. I picked up a job opening the local McDonalds in the 
morning and closing the local pizza parlor at night. After only a month, I was 
promoted to shift manager at both locations, but that didn’t change anything. I was 
working shit jobs.
I was blinded by the 
script that society had  And why? Why did I come home and immediately dive into 80+ hours of work? Why not 
written for my life. It  join the Peace Corps, join the Army, live in a selfsustaining community, hitchhike 
wasn’t a custom script.  to Alaska?
It was a copy of a copy 
of a copy. Sure I needed to pay to live, but there are thousands of options to do that. At 19 
years old, McDonalds was my plan B.

The sad truth was I couldn’t see any other options. There were no plan C, D, E, or F’s. 
I was blinded by the script that society had written for my life. It wasn’t a custom 
script. It was a copy of a copy of a copy. It’s the same one that’s passed down to every 
middle‐class, white, Midwestern kid in school (and many other demographics, although 
I can’t speak for them!)


Modeling the success of giants…
Flash forward a couple years. Managing fast food led to playing poker. Playing poker led 
to running local poker tournaments for hundreds of people. Running poker rooms led to 
real estate (well, the police dictated that one, but that’s another story).

Things certainly weren’t perfect, but I was starting to get a glimpse into plans C, D, E, 
and F.

I started reading personal development books (the exact same ones I made fun of 
There was a common  only a couple years previous). I started studying success stories and business 
bond between nearly  biographies.
every story I read. 
They were finding ways  I noticed that almost without exception, the people whose stories I was reading had 
to break the template  screwed up lives. They came from horrible childhoods in some cases. Almost all of 
life had dealt them.
them failed out of traditional education. They started in their parent’s garages or 
some desolate third world country. 

They worked day in and day out for years, without reward. But there was a reason 
they were sacriDicing. There was a common bond between nearly every story I read.

They were finding ways to break the template life had dealt them.

They weren’t simply playing the cards they were dealt. They were changing the game 
mid hand.


Debt, Marriage, & Kids: The lure of the template life.
Reading these stories was one thing. But making the jump to apply them to my life was 
another. I wasn’t quite ready.

I had just gotten engaged to my high school sweetheart.

Courtney was in the last few years of putting herself through college through a mixture 
of part‐time jobs and massive student loans. I brought several thousand dollars in 
credit card debt from my last few irresponsible years.

And life started happening. Quick.
It just seemed like  Our wedding was only 7 months away from the engagement. Courtney had a year left in 
each life event we went  college and I started a real estate company.
through had a ‘next  3 months after marriage, we were pregnant. 5 months after that, Courtney graduated 
logical step’. It was  college and starting working. At that time, I myself was working 80+ hours again in the 
real estate business and had just Dinanced an 8‐unit apartment building with no money 
like we were playing a  down (it sounded cool at the time).
board game.
Engaged, Married, Pregnant, Finishing college, Starting a business…
Student loans, credit cards, jewelry loans, car loans, and money borrowed from 
family. We weren’t behind, but we had a nice little collection of burdens that were 
growing.

In fact, the only thing that was missing was the white picket fence and the mortgage. 
And don’t let me fool you… we were house shopping.

Again…  why? We hadn’t really chosen this path. It just seemed like each life event 
we went through had a ‘next logical step’. It was like we were playing a board game. 
We were rolling the dice and trying to advance around the path just as quickly as we 
could.


But then it happened…
I’m convinced childbirth is God’s way of smacking people across the face. At least 
that’s what it felt like in our situation. We had started to clean up our >inances a little 
throughout the pregnancy, but bringing her home from the hospital took it to a whole 
new level.

We Dinally made the connection that we were fortunate to be granted an enormous 
We were paying  amount of freedom in life, but that we were giving big chunks of it back.
chunks of our 
freedom by trying to  We were paying chunks of our freedom in debt payments. We were paying chunks 
follow a path that  of our freedom by trying to follow a path that we hadn’t chosen (at least consciously).
we hadn’t chosen.
So we decided right then and there to take back control over our life. We weren’t 
sure we were making the right decision (whatever that means), but we were sure we 
wanted to test out some other paths.

We decided that over the next year we were going to aggressively attack our debt, sell 
everything we owned, and spend a couple years living and traveling overseas.

We knew it wouldnʼt be easy, but we were eager to start living intentionally.


The first step: Dominating our finances.
We realized that the Dirst and most tangible obstacle was our mess of a >inancial life. 
We weren’t behind on payments or getting foreclosed on. But we certainly were on that 
path if we didn’t change something.

Over the next year, we struggled to adopt frugality, budgeting, and life without 
constant credit. We had lots of learning to do… some strategies worked great and 
others failed horribly. But we kept up the intensity until we slowly installed new habits.
We realized that the 
first and most  We slashed our lifestyle and sold everything we could (including our small business 
tangible obstacle  and rental property). The more small wins we began to have the more momentum it 
was our mess of a 
financial life.  seemed like we were building.

Finally, at the beginning of 2009, we had paid off everything but our student loans in 
full. We had cut up and canceled all of our credit cards and closed all of our old loan 
accounts. Most importantly (for us) we had also managed to save over $15,000 for 
our trip on one income.

We hadn’t fully funded retirement. Neither of us had signed a multi‐million dollar 
contract. But, we had taken the >irst step, and over 18 months had completely turned 
around our >inancial life.


Our overseas adventure…
Our next big step was learning how to travel. That kind of sounds funny, but people 
who have done it can relate I presume.

Our Dirst destination was Cairns, Australia. We had planned to Dind an apartment get a 
couple touristy jobs on the beach and just relax. Well…  It didn’t turn out that way.

We learned quickly that not knowing a single soul in the entire country was 
probably going to be our biggest hurdle. Over the next month, we worked our way down 
Australia’s eastern coast, meeting new friends and learning a little bit with each stop.

After learning of a shortage of teachers in New Zealand (Courtney’s a teacher), we 
decided one night to hop on a plane and head to Auckland, NZ. Once again we weren’t 
sure what the right decision was. We were just going with the >low.
We were driving the 
bus. We were the  There was one thing for sure, though. We were driving the bus. We were the ones in 
ones in control. control (for better or worse).

After a month or so in Auckland, Courtney found an elementary school willing to 
sponsor her for the remaining part of the year. It made a lot of sense both culturally and 
Dinancially, so we took the offer (and work permit).

We leased a tiny, one‐bedroom apartment in the heart of Auckland city and for the Dirst 
time got a small taste of downtown city living. Courtney took the train and a 20‐
minute walk to school each day, while I stayed home with Milligan and tried to get some 
writing done here and there.

As the end of the school year approached (in December), Courtney had the opportunity 
to make a year commitment and stay and teach. We elected against committing for a full 
year and instead decided do a bit more travel.

Currently, we are wrapping up a two week driving tour of the South Island of New 
Zealand, before we spend a week in Melbourne, and two months in Thailand.


Our future…
We have no idea what the future holds, which isn’t necessarily something we 
dislike.

There are always going to be ups and downs and we’ve had our fair share. Had we 
stuck to the template lifestyle we had in Indiana, we’d be farther “ahead” according to 
a lot of traditional deDinitions.
we are having a 
blast, learning a ton,  Once again, I can’t tell you what we did right or wrong. There’s a Dine balance between 
and growing more  active lifestyle design and recklessness!
than we had thought 
we could. All I can tell you is that we are having a blast, learning a ton, and growing more 
than we had thought we could.

For now, weʼll take that. For us, thatʼs what breaking the template is all about.

Baker is currently traveling through New Zealand,
Australia, and Thailand – Find him at ManVsDebt.com and
on Twitter


Andrew Norcross
Untemplating the Tools

Better Late Than Never
At the age of 17, I got a jump on my peers and got a foot into the corporate world. I was 
able to turn a high school internship into a fulltime entry level position at a well
known >inancial >irm at the age of 18. Putting college on the back‐burner, I worked 
my ass off and climbed up. Within 10 years, I had a vicepresident title (with the 
salary to match), an ofDice with a window, my own assistant, and managed quite a large 
sum of money with a high level of responsibility and prestige. 

And I couldnʼt have cared less.

Prestige doesn’t ful>ill the soul. Neither does money. Following your dreams 
does. I tried to maintain a bit of individuality, but the tattoos underneath the suit 
didn’t do much to help me stand out in a way I felt comfortable. The green spikes and 
mohawks from my teenage years had turned into a clean‐cut image and demeanor. The 
decision on where to place new tattoos involved how they’d appear at work. All of a 
sudden, ‘Norcross’ had a Mr. attached to the front of it, and people began calling me ‘sir’ 
without a hint of irony. 

And I slowly became miserable.
After the market crash in late 2008 and early 2009, I lost it. Watching folks who had 
toiled away at their jobs for 20, 30, even 40 years freaking out because they now had to 
postpone their retirement gave me a moment of clarity. My job and my lifestyle 
owned me. And if I didn’t do something about it soon, I’d be stuck.


How My Dreams Became My Lifestyle
Since I was a kid, computers and technology is what I did for ‘enjoyment’. What 
began as a hobby and being helpful to friends and family began to turn into a realistic 
career. By this time, however, I was married, had a 1yearold son, and a mountain of 
debt from my wife’s law school education. I had responsibilities. So my dreams took a 
backseat. I tinkered at night and on the weekends, but that was about it.

So in June 2009, after talking a lot with my wife and some close friends, I decided I was 
Prestige doesn’t  going to do it. I was going to follow my dreams. So I gave my boss a 5‐month 
fulfill the soul.  notice and began the process of breaking my corporate mindset and 
Neither does 
money. Following  untemplating my life, building a freelance design & development business, 
your dreams does.  while at the same time returning to school to Dinish that bachelor’s degree I never got 
around to Dinishing. Clients came in quicker than I ever imagined they would. What I 
thought would take 6–9 months happened in 6 weeks. I worked over 100 hours a week. 
I slept an average of 4 hours a night. I nearly disappeared from public.

And it was worth it

On December 18th 2009, I left my job, the safety of the ofDice and started MY life. 
The one I chose for myself. At the age of 29, I Dinally started living my own life on my 
terms.


How Social Media Broke the Mold
I had long been active on sites like Twitter and BrazenCareerist.com. While I had been 
blogging for years, it was sporadic at best. I had more fun building and designing 
blogs than I ever did writing them. And as I connected with more and more people in 
the social media space, I realized that my skill for assisting folks with technology was 
a real gift. Like most folks, I learned by trial and error. I have always had a cynical look 
on the world of marketing and advertising (going back to my punkrock roots), but I 
couldn’t deny the real connections I had been making in social media. Not to mention 
client leads and wordofmouth recommendations that I began receiving. Seemingly 
from nowhere, I was becoming an authority, and expert even. Quite the jump from the 
I left my job, the  ‘geek’ I had always classiDied myself as.
safety of the office 
and started MY life. 
The one I chose  How to Use the Tools to Break the Template
for myself.
Lifestyle
I’ll be the Dirst to admit, I’m a gadget geek and a computer nerd. I had a computer in 
my home the day I was born, and began writing simple dBase+ and QBasic code at the 
age of 9. So I’m naturally inclined to use technology to make a task easier. So do it! 
Don’t just run out and buy a Mac because the commercials say they’re easier. Sit down, 
>igure out what you need your technology to do, then Dind out the best way to do it. 
After all, technology is simply a tool, a means to an end. And yes, get out there and 
begin to connect with likeminded folks. Don’t just turn your Twitter steam into 
another place to spit out your newest blog post, but really connect. Reply to people. 
Comment on posts you Dind interesting. Have a personality, not just a username.


Whatʼs Next?
I have no idea. And that’s a good thing. I’m expected to graduate in late 2011 with a 
degree in IT Management, and my freelance business could get to the point that I 
Sit down, figure out  never return to an of>ice. Only time will tell. But in the meantime, I get to be a better 
what you need your  father, husband, and friend. I get to be content with the work I am doing. And I get to 
technology to do,  be the tattooed nerd in jeans and a tshirt that I always knew I was.
then find out the 
best way to do it. 
Norcross lives in St. Petersburg, FL — Find him at
andrewnorcross.com and restlesslikeme.com, and on
Twitter


Carlos Miceli
Untemplating the Mind

The Untemplate Lifestyle Has Never Been More
Realistic
What an opportunity that we have ahead of us. I’m not sure everyone’s aware of the 
amazing time that we are living in.

Technology and globalization are giving us access to an impressive amount of tools 
and people that only 10 years ago were unimaginable. Really, what will escape from 
the realm of possibility for all of us in the 21st century, in 2010? Combine the tools of 
communication, productivity and automation with people’s desire to improve their 
lives and form strong relationships, and the opportunities are endless.

The untemplate lifestyle is knocking on your door. It’s here. And the reason why you 
should answer its call, it’s because the possibilities justify it.


Just to be clear, this is not a dreamy lifestyle.

It’s not an unrealistic lifestyle.

Technology and  It’s not a lifestyle without any money.
globalization are giving 
us access to an 
impressive amount of  It’s not the lifestyle for the immature.
tools and people that 
only 10 years ago 
were unimaginable. And I can assure you that it is deDinitely not an easy lifestyle.

It’s the lifestyle for people that are tired of society’s rules and barriers, that can see 
that there’s something better in the future, and that are willing to work hard 
enough to achieve it.


The End Of Standard Requirements And My
Personal Untemplater Story
To be serious about this path you have to realize, among other things, that there are no 
longer any “have to’s.” There is no clear decision, no safe choice, no stable life. The 
biggest consequence of all this innovation and globalization is a fast paced change, and 
the most important thing about it is that there’s no way to escape it. So if you think 
that you have to have a college degree or that you have to have a corporate job in 
order to have a safe life, you are in for a big surprise. The only thing you need to 
…you have to  have is independency of ideals. Since everyone can be affected by changes happening 
realize, among  in any place on Earth, you might as well take your life in your own hands and enjoy 
other things,  while you are at it.
that there are 
no longer any  That is what I realized not too long ago.
“have to’s.”
When you consider where I come from (Buenos Aires, Argentina), understanding that 
I could live life by my own set of rules was not simple. We are way behind the US in 
entrepreneurial spirit, dreams of professional freedom and de>iance of the status 
quo. But thanks to the internet, I was able to Dind information that taught me more than 
college ever did, and connected with amazing people that inspired me more than 
my family ever could.

Only a year ago I was studying Marketing at the best university in the country and 
was the youngest Sales Executive in B2B at one of the Top 5 Argentinean companies. I 
was constantly pampered, offered a great corporate future and a dreamy paycheck.


And I was miserable.

So, I had to change something, and just a couple of months ago, I did. I left my job, 
went into the startup and freelance world, and in June 2010 I’m going to move to 
Perth, Australia to study.

Needless to say, my life has never been better. Hey, we have to walk the talk, right?

Loving The Uncertainty Is The Only Way To Smile
Funny thing about  Now, let me explain to you something very important, maybe the key element of every 
untemplaters: they  untemplater: you have to live one day at the time. You have to trust that as long as you 
are all happy. bust your ass going after what you believe in, things will fall in place. The moment 
you start getting worried because you can’t see your future clearly is the moment where 
the claws of fear and boredom will get a hold of you again. In reality, no one can see 
the future clearly, but some think they can. Nobody knows what will happen, but the 
only difference is that untemplaters realize it, accept it, and make the best out of their 
time while believing in themselves and their vision. 

Funny thing about untemplaters: they are all happy. I am not kidding. When you meet 
them, you can tell that they enjoy their lives, they like what they do and grow doing 
it. You shake their hand, look them in the eyes, and it’s an immediate spiritual 
connection that only happens between two people that have decided to be different, 
to be better. There’s no denying that glow. Believe me, once you embrace the lifestyle, 
you’ll see it too. It’s just beautiful.


The Endless Dot Connection
I always quote Steve Jobs when trying to explain my decisions: “You can’t connect the 
dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards.” There’s always 
some dot, some activity, person or moment in your life that, had it not happened, you 
wouldn’t be where you are today.

The path is easier  It’s because I hated my job and university that I looked for intellectual growth on the 
than ever, you just  internet. It’s because of that that I started blogging, which led me to connect with all 
have to walk it. these amazing people who I’m launching Untemplater with. I don’t need to tell you 
that dot connecting can go very far in your past, but it doesn’t stop being truth.

Now, the real reason I like this quote so much is because nowadays the dots are 
endless. Think about it: how many dots can stumble into your life if you embrace 
globalization, technology and your dreams? The path is easier than ever, you 
just have to walk it. But when the whole world is your market and your home, walking 
it is absolutely thrilling.


In The End, Itʼs All You. But We Can Help!
Untemplater is not for everyone. You have to face your own fears. You have to 
WANT to have a better and more interesting life. Otherwise, all our advice will 
remain in the written word, and for you to accomplish your goals, you have to turn 
the words into action. But, if you actually do have that little voice whispering to you 
every time you go to the ofDice telling you that there has to be something more (which 
I’m betting that you do), then we want you to join us. We have all been there and want 
to help you break out of the template as well. You have no idea how good it feels.

One last thing: I don’t like cute dreamy visions of the world, optimism for optimism’s 
Untemplater is not  sake. I’m a very realistic person. I have a thing for philosophy and psychology, not a 
for everyone. You  thing for fantasy and utopia. I say this because we are serious about our proposal. We 
have to face your  want you to break the template lifestyle in a realistic way. We want you to 
own fears. You have  have the time and money you want to achieve your objectives, and the appropriate 
to want to have a  mentality to enjoy it. It’s easy to say things like “follow your passion”, but we will go far 
better and more  beyond that, we will tackle all the little things that make goals come true.
interesting life.
I am very passionate about Untemplater, not only because of the amazing people 
behind it, but because I can’t tell you how sad it is to realize that few people are 
smiling their way through life like we do. We need more company.

In 2010, we need your company.

Now, whereʼs that smile?!

Carlos currently lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina – Find
him at OwlSparks.com and on Twitter


Donʼt Stop There. Take Action!
We hope the stories of these six remarkable lives entertained and inspired you. 
We’re a small group of unconventional folks who hope to build a thriving community 
for anyone who ever sought more out of life—and we hope to help you learn how to 
sidestep the traditional life to Dind the career, relationships, and lifestyle that makes 
you come alive!

For concrete, actionable steps to live an unconventional lifestyle,
join us at Untemplater.com to work where you want to work, live
how you want to live, and be who you want to be in 2010.


The Untemplater Team

Adam Baker
Baker is a husband to Courtney, Dada to Milligan, and kickass blogger over at Man Vs. 
Debt. The Baker family philosophy is simple:  Sell your crap. Pay off your debt. Do what 
you love. They are currently trying to do just that somewhere in between New Zealand and 
Thailand.

Andrew Norcross
Norcross is a Wordpress ninja, freelance web developer, IT consultant, student, husband, 
father, and overall regular geekforhire. He currently lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, with 
his kickass wife and rock and roll son. Find him at AndrewNorcross.com.

Carlos Miceli
Carlos is an Argentinean blogger, freelancer and entrepreneur with a thing for philosophy, 
psychology and social media. He got tired of settling with the best Buenos Aires had to 
offer and is now pursuing the best the world has to offer. In 2010 he’ll move to Perth, 
Australia, looking for a deeper learning experience than just what a classroom brings. 
Read his continuous efforts to upset the established order at OwlSparks.

Cody McKibben
Cody is a nomadic entrepreneur, lifestyle designer, and traveler who writes at Thrilling 
Heroics. He provides nonproTits and innovative social entrepreneurs with web 
development and social media consulting services, and also serves as Advisor, Donor & 
Volunteer for In Search Of Sanuk.


Jun Loayza
Jun is the CoFounder and CMO of Viralogy and the President of 
SocialMediaMarketing.com. When he's not building his startup companies, you can Tind 
Jun doing cardio at the gym, optimizing his Tinances, or spending time with his girlfriend 
Kim Ear. Find him at JunLoayza.com.

Monica OʼBrien
Monica is a Marketing Consultant specializing in marketing strategy and consumer 
insights at the juncture of new media and traditional marketing. She is author of 
MonicaObrien.com and the recent book Social Pollination.

Dariane Nabor
Dariane is our incredibly helpful intern. She is currently an undergraduate student at 
UCLA, expecting to graduate in 2010 with a B.A. in Sociology.  Born and raised in Delano, a 
town in California’s central valley, she’s also the founder/editor of The Popcorn Kids, and 
a Independent Consultant for Scentsy, Inc


Did You Like this Free Manifesto?
Please spread the message! Email this book to all your friends who are 
stuck in deadend jobs they hate… send it to your relatives who recently got laid off 
when the economy tanked. Review it. Quote it. Remix it!

Whatever you do with it, it's time to start taking control of your life and your 
career! Anything is possible. But it's up to you to Digure out what you're passionate 
about and start taking ACTION towards making your dreams a reality.

Share this Manifesto generously and show your support for
our rebellion against the status quo on Facebook & Twitter!

The Untemplater Manifesto

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