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Gary and Thea Dunn: Getting a Life
With each subsequent trip, we
became more aware of the contrasts between our lives in an affluent
Connecticut suburb and life in the countries we visited in Africa and Asia.
After ten years in the corporate world, we were in our early 30's and
realized we were not content with the fast paced, materialistic lifestyles
of our colleagues and ourselves. With the goal of retiring before the age of
40, we put ourselves on an austerity budget. We kept all of our expenses
(save for our overseas trips and charitable donations) to a minimum. Our
mortgage was a fixed expense, of course, but other than that it was not at
all painful to cut back on many of the extras. Keeping to our austerity
budget was made easier because we had a goal in mind that we were working
toward. Some of our simple living philosophies are articulated in the
sequel to Your Money or Your Life (Joe Dominquez and Vicki Robin) called
Getting a Life, by Jacqueline Blix and David Heitmiller. We have also
been inspired by the writings and teachings of Gandhi as well as many of the
people we have met during our world travels who live simply and contentedly. Publishing The Caretaker Gazette, a home-based business, is consistent with our leaving the rat race and doing our own thing. It also follows our belief in helping other people. We have been world travelers for nearly 30 years, and publishing the Gazette has given us the luxury of time to continue our travels and volunteer work and to spend more time with one another. Publishing the Gazette also gave Thea the opportunity to return to graduate school to earn a Ph.D. and to return to the developing world to engage in research while we continue our volunteer work. Our business degrees and backgrounds have made it much easier to run our own business. We've often been able to draw upon our experiences in the corporate world. The circulation of The Caretaker Gazette has grown from 500 in 1993 when we purchased it, to over 10,000 today. One reason for this increase in our circulation is the large number of baby boomers and retirees who subscribe. They are able to live rent-free while caretaking a property and decide whether they would like to permanently relocate to a specific geographic area. Another reason for our circulation increase is the booming traffic to our new and improved website at www.caretaker.org and our blog at http://caretakergazette.blogspot.com Our subscribers include landowners who are looking for trustworthy, reliable people to watch over their property, "armchair" caretakers who dream about quitting their jobs and caretaking on a remote island, and subscribers who are actively looking for a property caretaking position. Over the years we've quadrupled the size of the Gazette and added many new features to the newsletter. We plan to continue to expand the number of opportunities that appear in each issue, and increase the networking that goes on between our subscribers and the landowners. Looking ahead, maintaining our
good health, financial independence, and Literacy Volunteers of America List For Vets http://listforvets.org/
10/09/2007 |
Career
Moves, Courses, Coaching for Your Next Life
Former
corporate fast-trackers, Gary and Thea Dunn, gave it all up to become
owner/publishers of The Caretaker Gazette, a publication that links
landowners with property caretakers, and enables other out-of-the-box
thinkers launch new lifestyles. Here is their remarkable story.