Meet Quinn & Jon, Life Quest Adventurers

The story of Quinn & Jon’s perpetual vacation starts in the same place most of us find ourselves: in the midst of the desire for something more.

What’s amazing is where their perpetual vacation ends: in a town only 20 minutes away from where I’m currently trying to live my own version of awesome.

Stories like Quinn & Jon’s are the stories of legend — the awesome lives that we all strive for, composed of living outside the box.

Their journey hasn’t been easy, but it’s absolutely necessary to share. If you ever dreamed of a bigger life, you’ll identify with what eventually drove them to pick up their life and move it all down to a small town in Central America.

“Bottom line was: going after our dreams and failing was less of a risk to us than not going after them & never knowing what could have been.”

After months of hard work and inspired creativity, Quinn & Jon are living an awesome life in Masaya, Nicaragua where they work extremely hard to run their business. Through their online shop, Life Out of the Box, they sell local products and, at the same time, provide an underprivileged community with school supplies and materials they desperately need to realize their potential.

Holy social entrepreneurship, Batman, talk about creating a life full of meaning.

But how did they get there? How did they create this life full of awesome? Let’s find out.

The Quest Begins.

In May 2012, Quinn & Jon decided to give their dreams a shot and move to Masaya with the hopes of finding awesome products to sell and give awesome support to the local community.

Our drive came from us understanding what our ideal life was. Once we understood that, we wanted to travel the world and help others through education.

Making the jump was scary. But who’s afraid of a little fear?

A bit of fear wasn’t enough to stop these two from living each day awesomely — and did I mention saving the world at the same time? Because they totally are.

After we planned out how we could create a business and live in Nicaragua, we both felt like we were standing on the edge of a cliff and the only way to go after our dreams was to jump off. When we realized that not taking this leap to start our own business and live in a foreign country would be something we’d regret more than actually doing it, we knew that we had only one option — the unknown.

They had faith. There are times when decisions don’t make complete logical sense — but when they feel right, it’s time to jump.

We knew that everything would work out beautifully no matter what, even if we didn’t know how things were going to turn out. Bottom line was: going after our dreams and failing was less of a risk to us than not going after them and never knowing what could have been. 

Finding the drive to start a dream project — like moving to a new country to live a life of meaning — is sitting right within you.

The drive became a part of us. It doesn’t even feel like we’re working when we’re working because that’s exactly who we are.

Fighting Resistance — It was Time for Action

We all know there is a giant space between dreaming up a plan — and actually bringing it to life The tough got real tough, real fast, right?

The lowest point in our adventure was when Quinn got Dengue Fever. There was so much unknown at an early point in our adventure that when Quinn’s health was at risk, it was the scariest. Life comes into perspective very clearly when a loved one’s health is at risk — you realize how precious life truly is and that at any moment it could be cut short. This greatly impacted us and verified that what we were doing here was right. We had to work that much harder when she got better, but we were both just thankful to be healthy, living our ideal lives in this country and working on what we love.

That community in Masaya is lucky that Quinn & Jon kept on truckin’ — and are healthy as can be! When the going gets tough, where does motivation come from?

Our number one resource to stay motivated, by far, is each other. If one of us is hitting a low, then the other will pick up that person.

Entrepreneurship and running an online store isn’t one of the easiest ventures to kickstart — especially in a new country.

Starting a business of our own has been filled with highs and lows–a bit like a roller coaster where the highs are the best and the lows are the worst. Everything we’ve learned on that roller coaster has made us smarter, stronger, and overall has been the most rewarding experience of our lives so far.

Ah, the rewards! The wonderful benefits of entrepreneurship — the freedom, the problem-solving, the inherent satisfaction with trying. It’s all so important to living a perpetual vacation … but Quinn & Jon put their chips toward something even more inspirational: helping kids who need it.

Another major resource is seeing the look on a child’s face when we give them a tool (school supplies) to help them get closer to reach their greatest potential. Even the shy kids mean so much to us because we recognize that what we’re doing is not normal and we really cherish how unique this is. Education is a powerful tool, one that has changed both of our lives, and we’re grateful to be able to help kid’s use this tool early in life.

Living far away from home, the internet is a great tool to stay connected and motivated. Sharing their story on their blog is part of the great benefit Quinn & Jon have giving to the world.

Quotes from the people we look up to are also a major part of our journey as they’ve been words that have inspired us and motivated us during the hardest times. We appreciate them so much that every Sunday we take one of our favorite quotes that has made an impact on us, put it over a photo we’ve taken on our travels and post it on our site so that others can be inspired as well.

The Power of Being Yourself

The concept of living a perpetual vacation is not a dream — it’s a calling. They were ready & will to heed that call with all the will in the world. 

“We didn’t want to just travel two weeks out of the year — we wanted to travel every day of our lives. We wanted to wake up early every morning excited for what the day was going to bring, excited to be doing exactly what we wanted.”

What about all of this makes Quinn & Jon expert Life Quest Adventurers? First, because they’re awesome. Second, because they realize their lives are important to contribute. Third, because they’re awesome!

Being ourselves has been the biggest factor in helping us catapult our pursuits. The reason this whole thing started was because we asked ourselves who we actually are and decided to live the life that was 100% us. We are both passionate about travel, business, giving back and learning about new cultures — these are the things that we wanted to incorporate into our everyday life.

What’s life like now?

So now we wake up, in Nicaragua, excited to start our day because we know that we’re living our ideal life and working on the business that we created and giving back to the world.

Financially speaking, freefalling into the deep end of a completely new lifestyle is not the safest of moves. Quinn & Jon need to eat & pay for wifi, just like us. So how do they manage the risk?

It’s hard leaving a good job with a steady pay check coming in, but if the job isn’t allowing you to reach your fullest potential and it isn’t exactly what you want to do every day, then why do it? We believe the money will come if we’re doing something we love, so we don’t worry about the money and just focus on what we love to do.

Is there more lifestyle design in the cards for these two?

It would have been easy to just go down the path that had been engrained in us since we were kids, but the truth is that things are changing and the typical path that we grew up with doesn’t have to be our life. You can make it to be anything you want it to be.

Living Outside the Box — Why it Worked

If Quinn & Jon managed to drop everything and move to a small Nicaraguan town to find their true meaning, who says you can’t do it, too?!

1. Looking for More: Their lives were great — but they weren’t enough to fulfill these two adventurers. They recognized the value in the world outside the cubicle.
2. Desire to Contribute: The funds in their bank account weren’t the only number these two cared about. They cared about the number of lives they touched, so they set out to increase it.
3. Strategic Planning: Once they had a feeling for the vital pieces of their future life, they were strategic enough to put them all together into a business model and lifestyle that works wonders.
4. Nonstop Support: They have each other — hugs and encouraging words abound. The life of an entrepreneur is a rocky one, and generous support is priceless.

It’s Your Turn

Your dreams and projects will be different than Quinn & Jon’s. Their story, though, can serve as a starting point.

If you put your mind and heart to work, what’s out there for you?

If you have any questions for Quinn & Jon, leave them in the comments. They’ll be around to answer you!

For bonus points of awesome, visit their online store Life Out of the Box and order some Nicaraguan goodies. Some great kids will appreciate it.