1500 Days to Freedom

Think different and escape the rat race.

Camp FI Minnesota (I Just Want To Be)

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What is Camp FI?

I just came back from a retreat called Camp FI. This is an event held at various places in the ‘States. Folks from all walks of life come to talk about money, drones, Warren Buffett, life, travel, cheese curds, credit cards, dinosaurs, real estate, hog calling, index funds, beer and books. I attended one earlier this year in Florida:

Fun at Camp FI, Florida edition

This edition of Camp FI took place near the St. Croix River in Minnesota and the setting couldn’t have been more beautiful:

The conference was three nights long and featured six guest speakers, impromptu break-out sessions and a whole lot of hanging out.

Saturday

The first speaker was the Physician on FIRE who talked about financial independence with children. I had never seen PoF give a talk before, but I knew he’d be good and he didn’t disappoint:

The next speaker was Chad (Coach Carson). Chad talked about real estate investing strategies and more:

I was surprised to see myself (humorously photoshopped) in part of Chad’s presentation. I’d get revenge the next day…

Cait Flanders was next. Cait talked about her struggles and living with less. It’s inspirational to hear a story of someone that made mistakes, realized it and pivoted to a better place so early in life. Many humans never figure it out.

And her talk was a reminder that I overcomplicate my own life. I heard rave reviews from more than one attendee about Cait’s book and plan to read it soon.

Sunday

The first speaker on Sunday was Anthony from Break the Twitch. I had never heard of Anthony or his blog before, but he delivered a message a whole lot of folks need to hear:

Stop looking at your phone and start living.

He said it much more eloquently, but you get the idea.

Next was Tanja from Our Next Life. Tanja is a pro and I knew she’d do a great job, but I didn’t expect her to open up about some of her personal struggles. I appreciated her honesty.

I was the last one to speak and took the opportunity to exact revenge on Chad. I knew Chad was a champion hog caller in college, so I scoured the internet for some old footage. I happened to find a video when things didn’t go quite right for Chad. Sometimes you call the hogs. Other times, well…

 

I Just Want To Be

On the first day of Camp FI, I met DocG from Diverse Fi. DocG is a pretty neat guy. Besides being a physician, he’s also a real estate investor, storyteller and philosopher.

On Sunday, DocG announced that he’d like to practice a presentation he’d be giving to a group of doctors later in the year. I wasn’t planning on attending because I thought he’d be talking about deep, doctor stuff. At the last second, I changed my mind. And I’m glad I did.

DocG’s talk was amazing. It wasn’t a typical powerpoint presentation. In fact, DocG didn’t use any visuals. It was just him talking. He intertwined stories with experiences to send the audience on an emotional roller coaster. Parts of the talk didn’t go in chronological order which made it more challenging, but ultimately more rewarding.

If you ever have a chance to listen to DocG speak, take it. If I wasn’t busy, I’d be heading down to the next Camp FI where he’s speaking again.

Later on Sunday, I was talking to DocG about slowing down after working very hard. At one point. DocG said this:

I just want to be.

Me:

Elaborate.

DocG:

I have spent so much time striving towards achievements or goals that I forgot how to sit in the moment and forget what comes next.

I just want to be. With a bunch of guys, joking around, drinking beers with no end point or goal.

I just want to be.

It was at that moment that I considered hurling my smartphone into the lake and heading into the woods for an undetermined, but lengthy amount of time. My wife wouldn’t like that and besides, I’m not ready to go full-on Thoreau right now, but a simpler life is a happy life. The right place to live is in the current moment. Thanks DocG for your wisdom.

 

I Got Dinosaured!

One of my favorite traditions is borrowing unattended phones for mischief. At Camp FI, this translates into taking unauthorized pictures of Frugalsaurus and Spendosaurus. At some point, the victim will look through the photos on their phone and wonder why the hell there are pictures of plastic dinosaurs.

Here, I got Erin from Reaching for FI:

And Miss Mazuma was the victim here:

The Financial Panther made the mistake of falling asleep on a couch:

The Financial Panther takes a cat-nap and gets dinosaured

 

Public Speaking Is A Superpower

In addition to giving my own talk, I also introduced Physician on FIRE, Chad and Tanja.

I knew I’d be introducing the Physician on FIRE about 24 hours ahead of time, so I had time to prepare. I thought carefully about what I would say and rehearsed my words in my mind.

I had about an hour of warning before I introduced Chad Carson, so this one was more spontaneous. It flowed well and I was happy with my work.

I thought my introductions were done, but about 2 minutes before Tanja was set to speak, the organizer asked me if I’d like to introduce her. My first thought was this:

OH SHIT!

Tanja is a powerhouse of a blogger and person. She deserved a good introduction and I almost said “no.” Then, I remembered a good story, so agreed to do it. The introduction was mostly spontaneous, but I think I pulled it off. What a relief.

At this point, you may be thinking this:

Introducing people? How hard is that? Come on now!

I used to be so nervous that I’d shake before speaking in public. I had that much fear. I couldn’t even bring myself to ask someone a question if I was in the audience. If you told me two years ago that I’d be speaking in front of 60 people, I would have said:

Hell no!

Amazingly, I look forward to speaking now. I still get some jitters, but every time, it gets a little easier. I have a couple more talks lined up this year that I can’t wait to do.

And I’m a better person for it. I’m more confident and assertive. People are less scary now. I’m so glad I pushed myself out of my comfort zone because public speaking is a superpower.

 

The People

Have you ever been to a conference and you say something like:

Oh yeah, let’s make plans to see each other in a couple of months!

But deep down, you know you’ll never see them again?

Not here.

The best part about these camps is the people. Despite the fact that we’re spread out all over the country, I know I’ll be crossing paths with many of these folks again. I already have plans with some of them.

Camp FI peeps! If you’re reading this, see y’all again in Minnesota next summer? And you better look me up when you make it to Colorado. Just guard your phone and camera. Or not*.

 

*Physician on FIRE, you should check your camera.

 

There is just one more Camp FI this year! Catch it here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/campfi-south-2018-sep-07-10-2018-tickets-43467206585

Join the 10s who have signed up already!

Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.

*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.

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Comments

  1. Awesome Carl, DocG and I have struck up a blogger-friendship and others are figuring out what I know, he’s an amazing dude with a really great perspective on things! I can’t wait to meet him at FINCON and “just be dudes”

    And be careful, Erin and Miss Mazuma just might prank you back, and if they do it might not be good 😉

    • You got me too! I’m just not on Twitter to share, haha. But I will forever have a photo of the dinos relaxing by the fire. I think that being able to steal someone’s phone also shows they are blissfully unaware/don’t care where it is, so thanks for also taking a pic that serves as a reminder of the convo I was having with Chad Carson 🙂 it was so great to see you, Carl! Until next time!

      • “I think that being able to steal someone’s phone also shows they are blissfully unaware/don’t care where it is, so thanks for also taking a pic that serves as a reminder of the convo I was having with Chad Carson.”

        Great point! Staring at your palm for 4 hours a day is no way to live life. Do you own the phone or does it own you?

        It was wonderful to finally meet you too. As I mentioned, I had tried to talk to you at least twice before at FinCons, but your crowd of admirers was thick and I’m impatient. I’m glad we finally had a chance to talk.

        Please don’t hesitate to ask if there is anything I can do for you.

        • Cait, I really enjoyed our conversation as well. I felt a lot more relaxed about everything I have going on with the book after our chat! And I have to admit I saw Carl sneaking away with your phone to take the dino pics. Lol.

          What a fun, inspiring weekend! Thank you for the recap Carl.

          And thank you for being a good sport with those old body-building photos I found of you. Would anyone else like to see those on a blog post? I think I need to exact some revenge for Carl putting my hog-calling up on the internet!!

  2. So bummed that I couldn’t make it to this one (or the other two this fall/late summer). Hopefully we’ll see you back in Florida in January though!

    • This was a really great one. I was so happy to be a part of it.

      And Florida! I will be around the first week of January. Is there a Camp FI Florida this year?

  5. Thanks for the ciders! I too have some dino photos on my phone that mysteriously appeared. It was a fantastic weekend! I’m exhausted, a little hungover, my voice is gone, but I couldn’t be happier. Camp FI was just what the Doc ordered (both PoF and DocG haha). See you in a few weeks in Florida!

  6. I have to admit, that was one of the best conferences I have ever gone to. So much great info… but the true joy is in the people.

    Your introductions were both humorous and thoughtful. You may just have earned yourself the title of experienced public speaker.

    Thanks for coming to my talk. It is a true pleasure to be heard.

    I walked away from this weekend with a new group of friends that I am excited about.

  8. It was great meeting you this weekend Carl! Loved your introductions and speech, and your sense of humor always gave me a laugh. It was an awesome time meeting new people, making new friends and learning new things. Hope to meet up again in the near future!

    • OK, now this is super weird because I have no idea who you were! Ummm…

      Well, I actually just looked through your blog and I’m pretty sure that I know who you were now. You should have said something!

      • Sorry about that!! Forgot to shout out my blog name during the intro (got really nervous for some reason) so I was mentioning it to people throughout afterwards and lost track of who I told it to! I’ll post it later to that contact file in the Facebook group if you want to confirm (trying to stay anon for now on the internet at least 🙂 )

  9. I got dinosaur’d and didn’t even know it! Those creatures have good taste in beer, I see. 🙂

    It was great to hang out with you once again. along with a few dozen more old and new friends. I’m looking forward to the next one!

    Cheers!
    -PoF

  11. It was very nice getting to know you. I was very impressed with your talk and all of the introductions that you did. All the speakers were great, and I was glad to be able to hear and learn from all of you.

    • Brandon, I really enjoyed all of our conversations. Meeting you was one of the best parts of my weekend. Please look me up next time you make it to Colorado.

  13. Sometimes the universe brings me what I need. I needed your run down on the introductions and your fear of public speaking right now. Thank you Carl!

  15. Hey Carl,

    Thanks so much for making the trip to the Twin Cities! I’ve been a reader for a long time, so it was fun to meet you and see the dinos IRL . We were bummed to leave early but hope to cross paths with you again, somewhere!

    Britt (& Adam)

    • Britt! It was fun meeting you and Adam, even if it was just for a moment.

      Please do look me up when you make it to Colorado and maybe I’ll see y’all again next summer in the Twin Cities.

  16. Great recap! Was that with beers? it was an awesome event and I finally got to meet you in person. See you soon.

    • Hey Lance! It was great meeting you and yours! And yeah, that’s what I love about these events. I will actually see you soon! We’re not one-time friends!