How Amber Hinds Made Her Dream a Reality & Took Her Life on the Road

Who Is Amber Hinds? (3:45)

At the time Amber Hinds and her husband Chris joined the Blueprint program in 2015, they had one goal in mind:

To hit the road for three months a year and explore different parts of the United States with their children.

Just a few years later, Amber and Chris aren’t working on that dream anymore. Their business, Road Warrior Creative, has enabled them to live that dream. Now, they pack the whole family into the RV (which has grown to five… with another on the way) and drive around the country all summer long.

But it wasn’t always easy.

Life Before the Blueprint (5:30)

Before the Blueprint, Amber worked as a solo freelancer while her husband worked for a restaurant.

It was the beginning of 2015 when Chris noticed that Amber hadn’t transferred any of her freelancing revenue into their bank account. Because she had been so wrapped up in work, she’d forgotten to send invoices to her clients for over a month… and so there wasn’t much money at all to transfer over.

That’s when Chris decided to start helping out. And when they made the decision to join the Blueprint. It was the only way they believed they could gain financial freedom so that Chris could leave his job and they could take time out of the business to travel.

How They Made the Transition (8:50)

Because it wasn’t just the two of them who would be affected by this decision, there were extra considerations and preparations that had to be made before becoming digital nomads:

1. How hard are we willing to work now to make this dream a reality?

2. How much money do we need to have in savings to do this?

3. How do we start sending proposals to prospects again?

4. Who are we going to target our business to?

5. How much should we charge our clients?

With help from the Blueprint, though, they were able to figure out what it was they really wanted to do and sort out the details that would get them there.

Life After the Blueprint (11:20)

Accomplishing their goals and living the dream didn’t happen without trepidation though.

Prior to the Blueprint, Amber worked on websites for lots of different clients and her generic website was a reflection of that. Of all the things she and Chris had to do to set their plan in motion, the biggest fear was rewriting the website so that it would speak only to their target audience.

And that’s exactly what they did. They changed up their website a year ago and revamped the portfolio to reflect their target niches.

“Sometimes you have to take a little bit of a risk.”

Making Road Warrior Creative a Reality (15:00)

Amber and her husband named their creative agency “Road Warrior” for obvious reasons. And they are certainly living proof that it’s possible to run a successful company while you travel.

One of the things Amber credits with being able to do this is the combination of Basecamp for project management and Zendesk for customer support. When she takes the day off to do things with her family, she no longer has to have her laptop by her side 24/7 or to bow out of activities when an emergency arises. She simply monitors the apps on her phone and gives her team a heads up if something requires urgent assistance.

The Dream Team (17:00)

And speaking of their team… Road Warrior Creative is powered by more than just Amber and Chris now.

While they put off hiring for a while, the growing size of their family ultimately prompted them to make their first hire. Amber also attributes her desire to interact more with clients (as opposed to building their sites) as another reason why she wanted to hire a developer.

Again, this big business decision didn’t come without fear. This time, it had to do with whether they could afford to pay an employee. But they did their due diligence and tested a number of contractors before eventually hiring the developer who has been with them for over two years.

Today, Amber recognises how valuable employees have been to their agency and can’t imagine her business without them. Not only have they allowed Amber and her family to actually be present and to enjoy their time together on the road, but they’ve enabled Road Warrior Creative to broaden their service offering.

Wrap-Up

Whether you’re dreaming of taking off to live the digital nomad life or you’re just trying to answer the question “What do I want to do?”, this is a fantastic podcast to listen to.

If you’re wondering how you can start running the kind of business you’ve always dreamed of, too, you’re in luck. The Blueprint training program is available again. Check out the sneak peek video here:

Or sign up now.