Broke Backpacker Will Hatton Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Will Hatton
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton is today’s guest joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast.
He is one of those guys that I love speaking to as when you first research them you think “They are a little bit mad”
And then when you see them describe themselves as “An amateur adventurer, digital nomad and travel addict. I like to get muddy, naked and painted.” you think yeah wasn’t far wrong.
But what makes this guy fascinating to me, is how very easily he could have been living the normal, humdrum lifestyle of so many of us if he had listened to the words of others.
How easily the broke backpacker might never have existed.
The First Glimmer Of A Travelling Life
As he says in his own words “I first started backpacking when I was eighteen and was instantly hooked by all the inspiring people I met whilst hitching, camping and couch-surfing around Europe.
Since then, I have lived in India for a year, worked on bars in Vietnam, herded goats in the Holy Land and conquered the highest navigable pass in the world armed with a poorly drawn map and a packet of ritz crackers.
I have survived knife-point robberies in Nepal, guerrilla encounters in Myanmar, motorbike crashes in Vietnam and numerous other mis-adventures.
In 2011, I came back to the UK and settled into a job (much to my parents delight!) working for a travel company;
I hoped I had found my true calling and the broke backpacker was born!
The Dots Joined Up For The Broke Backpacker Will Hatton
Sadly, I spent almost all of my time behind a desk and so I decided to throw it all in, start this blog, and hit the road.
And now with thousands of followers actively consuming the tales of adventure and madness everyday, it seems to me that he has now found his true calling.
So what was it about ritz crackers and the life on the open road that so appealed in the early days?
And by surviving on just $12 dollars a day for over two years, has this been the key to totally immersing yourself into this thing called Planet Earth, that so many of us rarely truly see?
Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only broke backpacker himself, Mr Will Hatton
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Will Hatton such as:
How he almost had a mental breakdown due to feeling so lost during a period of his life that he literally didn’t know which way to turn, whilst others seemed to know instinctively where they were heading.
How he almost lost his leg when trekking through the South American jungle, and what he learnt from the experience
Why a business built on passion like the broke backpacker, will always find the way to overcome the obstacles that will occur on the way.
How the entrepreneurial spirit that allows him to thrive could not have been as developed without the travel and adventure he has tackled.
And lastly…….
Why you can always create a plan b if you need one, but for gods sake don’t waste time trying to make everything safe and perfect if you never get going.
How To Connect With The Broke Backpacker
Return To The Top Of Broke Backpacker
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here– enjoy
Full Transcription Of Broke Backpacker Will Hatton
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph
David Ralph [0:25]
Yes Hello everybody and welcome to Join Up Dots you know the voice over man at the beginning that says you know you can make life what you want it you don’t know how good life can be when our bloody do because today is a good day because I’ve been looking forward to having this guy on because he’s one of those guys I love speaking to as when you first researched them you think there was a little bit mad, I think and then when you see them describe themselves as an amateur adventurer, digital nomad, travel addict. I like to get muddy, naked and painted. You think Yeah, I wasn’t far wrong. But what makes this guy fat writing to me is how very easily you could have been living the normal humdrum lifestyle of so many of us if he listened to the words of others. As he says in his own words, I first started backpacking when I was 18 and was instantly hooked by all the inspiring people I met whilst hitching camping and Couch Surfing around Europe. Since then, I’ve lived in India for a year worked on bars in Vietnam herded goats in the Holy Land, and conquered the highly honeys navigable pass it navigable people and I don’t know in the world armed with a poorly drawn map and a packet of Ritz crackers. I’ve survived knifepoint robberies in Nepal, Guido encounters motorbike crashes in Vietnam, and numerous other misadventures. Now, in 2001, he came back to the UK and settled into a job much to his parents delight and work for a travel company, and he hoped he’d found his true calling. Now sadly, he spent almost all of his time behind the desk, and so decided to throw it all in start a blog and hit the road and now with thousands of followers actively consuming the towels bencher in madness every day, it seems to me that he has found his true calling. So what was it about Ritz crackers and the life on the open road that’s so appealed in the early days and by surviving on just $12 a day, but over two years has this been the key to totally immersing yourself into this thing called planet earth but so many of us ready see Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Mr. Will Hatton How are you Will?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [2:26]
Hey, man, that is one hell of an introduction. Yeah, I’m very well, thank you. I’m currently just chilling out in Croatia a hitch down to split yesterday. So yeah, it’s a nice nice little town. The beer is cheap. The women are beautiful. What’s not to like?
David Ralph [2:41]
Is it better to have cheap beer and beautiful women or beautiful beer and cheap women? What What would you go for?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [2:47]
Ah, probably the first one. I tend to buy a lot of people beard and I’m drunk so at least that won’t cost too much.
David Ralph [2:53]
Are you one of these guys that actually lips for the moment, man when you’re in the bar, so our Drinks on me and all that kind of stuff.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [3:00]
Definitely all the time. It’s like, I’ll play some ping pong and I’ll be like, tell you what if you beat me at pool or buy a drink all night, and I am terrible at pool.
David Ralph [3:09]
So it’s a way that this is a key essence. And I was going to sort of delve into this later on. But the whole thing that came from the blog that I was reading, and I’ve been hooked on it over the last week, there’s some guests that come on the show, but I spend about an hour reading their blogs, yours, you could spend a lifetime because there’s so many interesting things. And it’s the kind of subtext but is the interesting thing once you start reading it, you kind of think this is very interesting, but why the hell is he doing this? So is it spontaneity but is forced by where you are? Or is it spontaneity forced because of where you were? Are you doing it because it was boring? Are you doing it because where you are?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [3:48]
I mean, I’m doing it because I kind of plan it like it is all very spontaneous, but I do decide, oh, for example, I want to go to the Philippines because I’ve heard there’s a woman there who’s 97 last person in the world that can do it. I tattoo so I kind of hear about these crazy stories. I’m like, I want to go check it out. I go and check it out. And I usually get stuck there for like a year just hanging out and exploring everything else there is to see.
David Ralph [4:10]
Did you know when you said the Philippines, and I thought it was gonna be a 97 year old woman and some ping pong balls? I thought that’s.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [4:18]
But no, no,
David Ralph [4:19]
we we’ve kept professional. So let’s go back in time, then before we sort of build up to the question that really is at the forefront of not just my mind, but probably every single person out there. How often do you get naked? So we’re going to build up to about one, but what was it about your life Ben, that was so so boring, really, that you needed to break free from in such a dramatic way? Because you’re not just, you know, hitching around the world. You’re kind of doing it in a way that really forces you to engage with the planet around you.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [4:52]
Yeah, I mean, for me, travelling is kind of all about meeting cool new people. And when I first went travelling, like you said, I met These guys were really inspiring really kind of seem to know what they wanted, or the ones that didn’t know what they wanted, they were kind of on the path to finding that. So being surrounded by so many cool people, it kind of made me think I’ve gotta up my game because everybody else I know at home, you know, was looking at getting engaged and mortgages and kids and stuff like that. And it all just scared the shit out of me because I kind of figured that you’ve got to work for like 50 years, right? Because if you hate your job, you’re going to work 50 years hating your job and then afterwards, you’re going to finish and maybe have some fun. Now, I don’t know about you, but in like 50 years time, I’ll be like, what? 76 I’m going to be totally ruined. I doubt I’ll be able to walk so I’d rather have more fun now. You’ll be one of those guys that I go
David Ralph [5:39]
Do you realise as a 76 year old guy who can hardly walk next visit you’re gonna have all these people flocking to you like a pilgrimage like a 97 year old lady with a ping pong balls.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [5:50]
I hope so man my eventual plan and we’re starting this in about five years time with me my prophet Rokni a commune. So that’s kind of the plan eventually.
David Ralph [5:58]
So is it This is interesting stuff. Is it planes that come to you whilst you’re experiencing life that couldn’t have possibly come to you beforehand? Or is it stuff that you’re building up to because of what you’ve seen?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [6:12]
I mean, I think it’s a mixture of both. Like, whilst I love travelling, I really do enjoy it. And I’ve been living out of a rucksack about seven years now. And the trip that I’m on now is about another sort of two and a half years. And at the end of that, that’ll be 10 years of pretty much solid backpacking. And I think I’m going to want to chill out for a bit but the problem is, I haven’t been able to find anywhere, right, be happy, chilling out and being surrounded by the kind of people I want to be surrounded by, which is why we’re kind of thinking we’re just gonna build it. We’re gonna buy some land somewhere. start from scratch and invite a whole bunch of people who we know have like the necessary skills to kind of create something great.
David Ralph [6:47]
So you are kind of eyes. Did you not feel part of UK anymore? Do you feel? It sounds like you’re basically gonna correct create your own kingdom. Get a load of people in there. Pick out the best looking ladies. Be yourself. Breathe like madly and create your own country and you’re live is king. This sounds like your your plan. Well,
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [7:06]
I mean, that kind of sounds like a cult. And that’s a word that I’m trying to veer away from at the moment. And it’s more going to be a commune because everybody is gonna have shares in how I’ve got a whole detail plan. I could run you through if you want, but it is quite complicated. And the whole point is we’re going to build it from scratch. I don’t know if you guys have heard of, like, organic natural building, but it’s basically built these awesome structures out of wood and mud. It sounds a bit weird, but they look awesome. That’s the kind of thing I want to get involved with.
David Ralph [7:33]
is fascinating. obvious, isn’t it? Because before I started doing this show I’d never heard of, well, the desert some festival in America called Burning Man. I don’t know. Oh, man.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [7:41]
Yeah, I really want to go to that looks awesome. No, it
David Ralph [7:44]
does look awesome. But it’s also total madness as well. But there’s a reason for the madness and the madness is escapism from normal life. It seems weird nowadays. Maybe if you went back far enough, and you was a prehistoric man. A Flintstones, you were probably dealing with madness on a daily basis because you were surviving. But because we’ve made our life so comfortable. Now, I totally understand why you want to do something that in many ways is a bit made, it kind of touches on our problem, human essence somehow.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [8:17]
Exactly. I mean, the trip that I’m doing at the moment is insane. It’s never been attempted before. And it’s going to be dangerous. And it’s going to be really out there. And I don’t really know what to expect at the moment. But the whole reason I’m doing that is because I love doing bad things. And I’ve kind of got to a point where I need to up my game because I’ve done quite a lot of Mad things. So it needs to be, you know, a greater challenge, but I’m going to continue to learn from it and continue to meet other people who are really inspiring and kind of push me forwards. I think when I was in the UK, that was one of the biggest problems really I wasn’t I didn’t know enough people who were inspiring to be completely honest. Everybody I knew kind of went from school to college, and then straight into a job and it’s just, it just didn’t work for me because you go straight in To a job from school and all you do so still kind of in that mindset of just doing whatever you’re told, and I just I just hate that I hate being told what to do.
David Ralph [9:08]
And Have you always been like that even the little will? Well,
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [9:14]
over time, I was a complete tear away I was, you know, teachers didn’t like teaching me, I got suspended quite a lot. I never went. My education is a joke. But luckily, I’ve managed to make it work.
David Ralph [9:27]
But that is interesting, isn’t it? Because we see this time and time again on this show that the kind of things when you was a kid, but almost be looked at as a failure actually turned out to be the strength later on in life. It doesn’t surprise me at all. But he was a bit sort of unruly tearaway when he was a small child because that’s your spirit, isn’t it? You were just being your authentic self.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [9:50]
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I was very lucky because my parents were quite supportive. They will always kind of have the attitude that as long as I do have a job and you know, I’m not gonna sit around smoking dope or whatever. It’s fine. And I can kind of do whatever I want. And I can kind of hate my job and be looking at all these crazy ideas to get away from it. But I always work. I had jobs when I was like 16. So I’ve got quite a strong work ethic. I just absolutely refuse to work for a company or a person I don’t believe in.
David Ralph [10:16]
Well, let’s take you back to that week before you decided to first go backpacking, you’re sitting well, before you, you decided to actually quit it and really sort of go for it. You’re working for a travel company, you’re sitting behind this desk, you go to the office every morning, you leave in the evening, and you know, the next day, you’ve got to do it again. Was it something that you just knew was going to be something you had to do? Or was it scary that were you building up to something that actually was terrifying?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [10:45]
I wouldn’t say I was scared. I would say that a lot of people when I told them that my plan was to try and have a crack at being professional blogger. People will watch the blogger. And then most people who did understand what a blogger was kind of only really knew about, like fashion bloggers. So the idea of a travel blogger, I mean, it’s still a very new thing. Obviously, the oldest child blogger around is nomadic Matt, but I think he’s only been going for 10 years. And before that there wasn’t really anybody doing it. So people just thought it was kind of a pipe dream. And then when I started selling my stuff, when I started getting published by like, Business Insider and the BBC and people like that everybody just for I have like, the most amazing kind of contact ever extends, because I kind of created a job for myself in like six months. But I mean, yeah, people, like my parents are like, very supportive, which really, really helps. And I think the scary bit was that at the time, I didn’t really know it was possible either, like starting travelogue, it did very much seemed like a shot in the dark where I might hopefully make some money out of it. And that probably after a year, it would all crumble to dust and I’d have to go and get another job.
David Ralph [11:50]
But the beauty of it all is but there’s people doing mad things left one centre if you delve into the internet, I do a training course a coaching course on one Other things that we say is get aware. Get aware of what you want to do in life, and then start looking around at other people spend your time googling, looking for things because you find people doing stuff you think. I can’t even imagine how he’s earning an income doing that. But he is and he looks like he’s loving it. So why can I do it? Once you get to that, that sort of thought of why can’t I? Is that a head start for most people to me?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [12:25]
Definitely. I mean, when I did finally make the decision to do it, I found a couple of travel blogs online who I liked their style and it wasn’t all like Oh, these are the top hotels to go to in Thailand. I just had snapped down knew but I didn’t want to do anything like that. I wanted to kind of write about whatever I wanted, you know, only write about sort of real adventures and that kind of stuff. I just didn’t know if there was any money in that but I found these bloggers and they had published their income per month and they were making like 5000 bucks a month. And I was like shit if they can do it, I can do it.
David Ralph [12:56]
And well, you have Avenue and and your blog. I’m looking Now, it’s extremely professional. And if anybody wants to go over there go over there www.as always broke backpacker I needed to Brokeback Mountain there for
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [13:10]
everyone nearly does that imagine how hard it is to get a.com and that was the one that was available.
David Ralph [13:15]
Yeah, no I could imagine and Brokeback Mountain would bring a totally different clientele to you, you know cowboys left, right and centre. But you go over to it. It’s it’s a great site to look at. There’s a lot of stuff on there. It’s a professional unit there. I bet it didn’t look like that at the beginning.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [13:31]
No, and I think this is probably one of the best lessons that I’ve learned and I learned it by reading Tim Ferriss four hour workweek. But basically, I designed the site myself, and it was shit. It was shockingly bad. You couldn’t even navigate around. But the content was good. And I started being able to sell a bit of the content and as soon as I could, as soon as I could make any money, I just poured it all back into outsourcing. So now I’ve got a web guy. I’ve got an SEO guy. I’ve got a PA I’ve got a ghostwriter. I’ve got people working for me, which means I can just take on more and more work. So I mean, I don’t make very much at the moment I just pay my people but it just means a thing can expand really fast.
David Ralph [14:11]
Tim Ferriss has got a lot to answer for, because I, I read that book, and it basically destroyed my life because well, it destroyed my life in a brilliant way. Because I was reasonably content in a nine to five job just thinking that is what’s what life is, until I read that book. And then by the time I got to page 44, I thought, hang on my life never gonna be the same again. Why am I in this office for eight hours a day when I can do it for three hours? Why can’t I be on the top of a mountain with a laptop doing the same job? And my mind just totally changed? Was that the kind of thing that you had? Or did you find that book because he was already on that path?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [14:49]
I think I was already aware that the internet is like a truly massive space and as long as you’ve got a passion, it isn’t particularly difficult to attract other people to your passion as well. And then you can monetize that. But what I wasn’t aware of is kind of how easy that is to do, I didn’t realise that you need, I assumed you needed, like all kinds of web based skills. I need some, but you can learn them pretty easily. And there’s so much great software out there that makes all of it very, very easy for you. So I think beforehand, before I read that book, I just wasn’t really aware that you could be you’d have to build something by yourself and you could instead kind of outsource to bits that are difficult. But I mean, I don’t I’ve always had this kind of idea that I just didn’t want to work on a desk for like eight hours a day. It just it’s my idea of hell honestly.
David Ralph [15:36]
Did you ever get time no travelling when you kind of got I’m just tired. My feet her actually just sitting in on a desk with a computer pretending that I’m doing something but I’m actually playing solitaire would be alright.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [15:50]
I mean, I definitely have a lot of difficult moments when I’m travelling. I’ve had some some pretty scary experiences. I had been hospitalised a couple of years. tires, bits and pieces like that? Well, yeah, you do just want to go home. But to be honest with you, if you don’t, if you do just kind of rise above it, you just get better and better at handling difficult situations. And I think that’s really applicable across like, every single element of your life. So I mean, I’m a pretty calm person, I’m pretty difficult to stress out. And I wasn’t like that when I first went travelling, I’d be really stressed about everything, but now I kind of just accept that things are gonna go wrong, you try your best to make sure they don’t. And you kind of roll with it, you know.
David Ralph [16:27]
Now I want all the listeners out there to really focus in on what will said that, by actually growing and developing yourself, you can overcome problems, which then aren’t going to be the same size problems. When you hit a game. You find new problems, bigger problems, but by growing yourself and developing yourself and taking that chance and those risks, the problem that was an eight becomes a five and then that becomes a five down to a two and then it’s not a problem anymore and you move through has there been anything that you’ve had will that you relate to It’s been a GameStop but you’ve looked at it and I just can’t deal with this on my own.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [17:05]
I had I did have when I first first ever went backpacking the first time I’ve when I was 1819, everything went horribly wrong. And in a nutshell, I ended up in hospital for two weeks, they wanted to amputate my leg and it knocked me out the game for about a year. I spent like a year recovering
David Ralph [17:21]
what went wrong then. So what went wrong then tell us what was
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [17:25]
basically I was trekking through the Costa Rican jungle and because Costa Rica is boarded by the Atlantic and I think the Pacific sea you can start at one cnn to the other sea, and I thought that sounds like a really cool idea. And it was going to be like a three week Trek, but about three or four days then something got into my leg and then died in there like some kind of little insects or whatever. And my whole leg just got like crazy infected and they got into tubes and the leg was like twice its size and the infection was like moving up my leg with these like Angry lines didn’t look good at all. So I was really really sick and imagined. To make it to this ranger station, which was like the hardest day of my life because I was literally like, crawling up this like muddy Hill in the rain with my pack on while hallucinating It was horrible. Anyway mate to the ranger station and they were like Jesus Christ buck are you doing out here? And they’ve got a helicopter out for me sent me to a hospital where nobody spoke English. And you know, I spoke a bit of Spanish, but I was hallucinating. So it wasn’t easy. And after a couple of days, I was a bit better and they moved me to a bigger, better hospital, which had an English doctor. And they were like, Oh, we think we need to amputate your leg. So then it got complicated because my surance company came in and said, No, don’t amputate his leg get him better enough to send back to the UK. So we did that they sent it back to the UK. And then I had to recover in the UK, which took a really long time.
David Ralph [18:49]
And while you’re sort of accepting of the fact that Yeah, okay, I’ve got to lose my leg or were you thinking No, no, I’m gonna go with the insurance company.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [18:56]
I mean, to be perfectly honest with you, I was so out of it and I was so young. This was the first big challenge I’ve ever had in my life. And I mean, you know, it was a big challenge as well, that I was pretty passive about the whole thing to be completely honest with you. Like, I would say, my, my mind kind of only came back into the equation when I got back to the UK, and had to had to work on getting better. That’s my sort of needs to harness the power of, yeah, we can do this. Come on, get on with it. Now,
David Ralph [19:24]
when you did recover, most people would go for that that was a close thing. But you were kind of went No, okay. It was a close thing, but it may not happen again. And if you win, it’s all about how it happened.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [19:35]
Yeah, pretty much. I mean, basically, I was always going to join the army. That was the plan. And then when I came back with this, this leg injury, they wouldn’t take me anymore. So I was like, you know, I had a bit of a mental breakdown, to be perfectly honest, if you could just didn’t know how to do it myself. And then I was like, You know what? I do like the idea for travelling and the week that I had in Costa Rica before I got sick was awesome. I’m just going to have another go. I think it’s kind of evolve or die. And if I don’t evolve, I’m just going to get stuck in the UK and I’m going to be so miserable, but it’s all just gonna go downhill really quickly. So I booked a one way flight to India. And that’s kind of where the real backpacking adventure started. And I was out in Asia for years. So
David Ralph [20:15]
this is the mental breakdown, I understand exactly what you’re saying, bear that feeling of being totally lost. At a certain age where other people have got their career planned already, and they seem to be settled. They seem to be going through the route that is expected of them. And you’re kind of just, as we say, in the United Kingdom rallying around, you just kind of don’t know what to do with yourself. Did you have anyone that could help you at that time? Or did you just have to fight through it yourself?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [20:43]
I pretty much had to fight through it myself, to be perfectly honest with you. Like I had a small friendship group at home. By the time we got back from Costa Rica. Everybody I knew had gone off to university or like to do something else or moved in with girlfriends or whatever. So I was pretty much on my own. Which I think is why when I went out to India and metal v Really cool people and kind of, you know, to be sitting around a campfire and my story would come out and I’d kind of get like people who would offer me advice on it or offer me advice on which direction I should take. I think that really, really helped because these are sort of strangers so I could kind of take or leave their advice without hurting anyone’s feelings and still get like, you know, a decent range of people to sound out ideas on
David Ralph [21:24]
Are you a spiritual person? Well,
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [21:27]
I’m not religious. I’m a no man spiritual sounds like such a cop out. So I do hate calling myself spiritual, but I suppose so. You know, I mean,
I definitely believe in like fate. But I also believe that you can kind of, you know, you need to choose your own destiny. And if you do that, maybe some kind of all seeing power might look out for you a bit better rather than if you just become a worker drone.
David Ralph [21:53]
Because I’m not religious at all. I don’t have any sort of religion in me at all. But I would say that I’m very spiritual, as in I believe in my own capabilities. And I believe that life is there to be lived. And I believe that by having wide open wonderment in my eyes, I can experience something that that feeds my spirit and makes me want to do it more and more. And when you were saying that you’re sitting in that Indian campfire, I was thinking, I’d love that. I’d love that. It’s like being in the Beatles when they went off to India. And so yeah, found themselves. I have that in me, but that kind of
Unknown Speaker [22:27]
what Who am
David Ralph [22:28]
I? What am I? Why am I here? There must be a reason for me being on this planet, other than just being a body vessel to walk around eating and watching James Bond films and all that kind of stuff. There’s got to be more to it than that. So I think you are very spiritual.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [22:42]
Yeah, complete. Have you just worded it significantly better than I did. But yeah, completely. I mean, yeah, I think it’s a huge waste. If people decide that they are just going to be consumers, and they’re not going to create anything. And I mean, I think a question which is kind of always on my mind, which is that when I’m gone, what will I have created, which was still We’ll be here and we’ll, you know, betterment of the planet or other people or a cause that I care about. And I think I think that is important. I think you’ve got to spend your life building something, which even if it only has a small impact does have some positive impact somewhere. Because otherwise, what’s the point in being here?
David Ralph [23:17]
Well, absolutely, I remember doing Episode 12 of Join Up Dots. And I probably mentioned this a few times. But this is how scary it was for me at the beginning of even starting this show. So starting the show, it was a big adventure. For me it was it was a scary thing. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to pull it off. But I was having this conversation with this guy, about Hadrian’s Wall, which for people who don’t know this, between Scotland and England, many, many years ago, the Romans built this brick wall that runs right across the country and some of its bare, quite intact and other bits of sort of rubble. And I had to go there with the school one day and it must have been about 1213. And we went off in a mini pass and it was all you know, a whole week of not washing basically and just being skanky. I remember looking at this wall one day thinking, My God, a Roman soldier put that down there, or Roman bricky put that down there, and it’s still there. What am I going to leave on this planet? And that’s quite aware for a 12 year old to think that but when I started this show, I, I thought in my heart apart, as long as the internet doesn’t die, this is my legacy. This is something that I’m going to be able to leave. Does it scare you then that thought of coming and going and not being here will happen? Because they say you die twice done, though. They say you die first when your body goes and then the last person that personally knows you dies. I mean, that’s it. You’ve gone.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [24:40]
Yeah, no, I totally understand what you’re saying. I mean, I think for me, what I’m doing is dangerous and there is always decent chance that I am going to die on one of these trips. This one in particular has got some bits that are pretty hairy. Um, if I do die, I think it would be a great shame because I haven’t finished yet while I’m in the process. Building. But if I do die, at least I was building something, at least I was in the process of making, you know, doing my bit making my kind of commitment to inspiring people to go travelling, show them that you know, you can do it without any money in it, you should push yourself through adventure to kind of get out of your comfort zone and just kind of grow as a person. That’s kind of what I’m all about when I’m doing that. Now. I’ve got plans to grow up much, much bigger, but at least Yeah, if I got killed at least I was doing something worth doing.
David Ralph [25:27]
Well, let’s play some words now. And then let’s delve into your adventure that’s coming up the scary the scary adventure. This is it was scammy. But this is Carrie This is Jim Carrey.
Jim Carrey [25:38]
My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail What you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
David Ralph [26:05]
Now with you, as with so many of my guests, the key question is, did you know at the beginning you were going to love it as much as you are? Or was it just something to do because you didn’t know what else to do?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [26:19]
I think I suspected that if I got really into it, I would really enjoy it. But with the original setting up, I had to learn a lot of skills that still don’t interest me, such as SEO and website coding and things like that. And I found that really, really boring, but I knew it was a necessary step in getting it to where I wanted to be. So I mean, I’m very glad that I’ve now got to a point where I don’t have to do the bits I hate particularly often. So I do just enjoy it because I absolutely love it.
It’s kind of even better than I expected it was going to be
David Ralph [26:54]
and what’s the best bits because you are a solo traveller. So I imagine there’s a lot of time When you are experiencing stuff that you would love to be able to turn around and go, Ah, look at this, look at this. It’s why people travel with dogs and stuff, isn’t it? So they’ve got that kind of,
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [27:08]
man. I wish I had a dog with me. I really do. It’s just trying to I’ve looked into this in depth. I had a dog when I was in India, but I’m trying to get dogs across borders is it’s really complicated.
David Ralph [27:19]
And it’s kind of dragging your own food source around with you. Yeah, exactly. So So what happened to the dog in India, he becomes your best friend. Did you just say goodbye to him?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [27:29]
Well, basically, I was looking after this dog on a beach for a bit because it was literally just given to me by someone who then ran away because there are so many dogs in India. So I was looking after it for a bit and I was staying in this hostel on the beach, which was run by Tibet and farm and I got on with them really, really well. I stayed there for a couple of months came in a couple of adventures and then the time came to leave. So I arranged for them to look after I gave him some money to look after I made sure it would have like water and food every day and I just had to kind of trust my instincts on that one. I was looking at bringing it home, but I knew thought wouldn’t be at home for long, so it just wasn’t an option to bring it with me.
David Ralph [28:04]
You obviously grew up in the United Kingdom in the sort of 70s and 80s. Well, what What year were you born will? 89 Oh, You swine. Right. Okay, so you you’re a lot younger than I am. I thought we were exactly the same. But do remember that programme, the littlest hobo about his dog that used to sort of wander into towns and help people and then just wander off again.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [28:23]
I don’t but it sounds brilliant. It was a big
David Ralph [28:27]
German Shepherd or something. And it was a a dog that was just a hobo. And it used to go in and find someone. And it was always a kid who was unhappy or an old lady and it would be friend room until the point that it didn’t need to do its job was done. And nobody could sort of contain the littlest hobo. It used to just sort of off it goes and wanders into the sunset. Your little dog could be doing that. It could be channelling the spirit of will going around helping people will not be amazing. I hope so man. I mean, I’m actually going back to where I very much hope the dogs Still is at some point next year, so I’m hoping to see it again. And if you go there and it looks like it’s aged, it’s smoking and it’s got loads and loads of puppies and stuff you just notice, let yourself down.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [29:10]
Oh man, I just got loads of puppies. That’s different. That’s a whole different ballgame for me then.
David Ralph [29:16]
What What is it about you and the, as I’m doing those quality things with my fingers, the sort of standard route to life, university, mortgage, wife, kids and all that kind of stuff. What is it about you that fundamentally, that sends a shiver down your spine?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [29:33]
I just think it’s wrong. I mean, it’s just, it’s like being it kind of reminds me of battery farms. Hence, you know, it’s just I just, I don’t like the idea of being born into a situation where my whole life has been preordained by the government or society or whatever you want to put it but basically a bunch of individuals who I do not believe I’ve got my best interests at heart. So you know, I just don’t understand why I should buy money from the bank Why should build a house Why should have a wife have 2.4 kids so whatever it is have two cars, get insurance on the cars, and never have any money for anything that I really want. But instead to spend my money on things that I’ve been told that I need. I honestly, It baffles me. And maybe I’m a complete idiot and I’m going to end up 50 and penniless that I just don’t get it.
David Ralph [30:21]
I kind of get it in many ways. And I also don’t get it in many ways. I do wonder why when basically humans are animals that we do this mate for life business, I it makes me wonder why are swans and lobsters I suppose, are the ones that find one person, hopefully stay with them for the rest of our lives where everybody else, all the other animals all going around sniffing each other’s backsides and then getting on with it.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [30:45]
I mean, I’m not opposed to having a wife into having kids. I just don’t want to do it. You know, it’s it’s the job and the mortgage and working for someone else and the car insurance and the paying taxes. That’s the bit I’m just totally opposed to I mean, I will definitely like to start a family. But I want to do it in a place where I feel that we can do whatever we want, we can educate our kids in a way that I think will be better. And it’s just kind of away from external influences, which I just don’t think we’ve got our best interests at heart. But I mean, obviously, before that happens, I’ve got to find a girl who probably
David Ralph [31:19]
Oh, man, you never know. keep your options open. So when you build this commune, are you not ultimately going to be working for someone because you it’s your idea, you will be creating it for other people who in many ways will be led by you will not be your source of employment.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [31:39]
I mean, yeah, I suppose so. But it’s something that I’ve built myself rather than coming into somebody else’s idea, somebody else’s company. I’m working for them. And I think you know, that definitely are cool companies and cool ideas out there, which I might consider working for. But I think 99% of the individuals or stations that you can work for but just out to make a profit. That’s their, that’s their, you know, whole objective. And I just don’t think it should be about that.
David Ralph [32:08]
What What do you think it should be about man?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [32:11]
I think if you’ve got a company and you employ people, I think if you’re making a lot of money, it needs to be split. I think you’ve got a responsibility to make sure that everybody working with you take time a fair wage, and I’ve got I think you’ve got to make a commitment to making the world a better place by putting some of that profit towards, you know, community outreach programmes, which obviously, admittedly, it’s going to be significantly easier. When I’m living in a country such as Colombia or the Philippines. I can get involved with the local community and simply go and say, Look, what do you need? Do you need new school house? Fine, no worries we’re gonna build.
David Ralph [32:40]
You’re kind of like a communist somehow, aren’t you? You You believe an equal share is the right way of doing it.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [32:45]
I have been called a communist before.
David Ralph [32:48]
I’ll be honest, I’m a hypocritical communist. When I’ve got no money I think everybody should share and if I have a lot of money, I think Hang on, hang on. I’ve worked for this. I would struggle to share it out. Equally with
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [33:03]
equally, though, I mean, I think it’s more of a case of, of recognising the energy and effort that people have put in to a company or put into an idea. So if someone’s working for you, and they’re working their ass off, and you’re taking home a quarter of a million a year, and they’re taking home 18,000 pounds a year, that isn’t fair. And I’m not saying you should give them half of it, because obviously, their commitment might not be to the same level but yours is because you’re higher up and you’ve worked harder, but I just think low wages are shit. And I think it’s completely wrong with people to pay such terrible wages and people are working their asses off and the people at the top who often aren’t doing anything, I’ll take you home massive paychecks.
David Ralph [33:39]
I know I agree with you totally. And I think that salary should be stopped and it should be based on results. I that’s how I would create my company. There’s a bloke called and Richard Sema car I think he is and he’s a Brazilian guy. And he created this company or he took over from his dad. He actually sacked his dad. It was his dad’s company. He stopped employed him. And then he said, Dad, you rubbish and sacked him and took over the company, and then almost had a heart attack one day. So he realised that what he needed to do was hand control of the company over to the people that knew it better than anyone. And it was the employees. And he said to them, you know, if you want to have 100 grand a year salary, you can have 100 grand, but at the end of the year, you’ve got to justify that you deserve that, you know, and they employ the right staff, it’d be fascinating to see it in the way that you’re operating to be able to do the same kind of thing.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [34:32]
Yeah, I mean, definitely, when it felt come out and check it out. I mean, it’s a relatively new idea. I’ve been working on it for about a year now, I’ve been kind of keeping my eye out for people who I think will be useful. But I mean, the way it’s gonna work is we’re going to build a couple of hospitals first, which we’re going to do onto the broke backpack and name I want about six of them. And then we’ll make it a franchise and all of the money from that will fund like a commune projects. So hopefully they’ve been money coming in, and I won’t have to ask people to make like financial controversial To be there, because I don’t want to do that. I just want to fill out with people who I think will be useful, you know, electricians, artists, solar experts, stuff like that. I want it to be kind of completely off the grid. No stamps nuts, by the way.
David Ralph [35:13]
Well, it sounds like the idea that the Beatles had for Apple many, many years ago, where it would just be a free place for creativity and people to get funding and, you know, to be inspired and motivated and they literally went broke doing it Does, does that not frighten, you
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [35:29]
know, because it’s not going to be the case of just anybody can turn up and wander in. I couldn’t write like that. That would be a really idiotic way to run it. I imagine they’ll only be about 30 people living there at time. And everybody’s going to have to be involved. To some extent they’re going to have to be doing something which helps to some extent. I mean, there’s still a lot to figure out obviously, but no, I couldn’t it wouldn’t just be the case at about 500 people turned up Letterman.
David Ralph [35:53]
Well, but if I turned on will
Unknown Speaker [35:54]
be on. I reckon I’d let you in with you. Yeah, why not?
David Ralph [35:59]
Cannot be a prince. If you want to King there’ll be a prince.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [36:01]
I don’t know if we’re gonna have titles. I mean, that’s the first I’ve heard of titles.
Yeah, we can make you something Don’t worry.
David Ralph [36:10]
You’re gonna be king. You’re gonna you’re gonna get them in and you’re gonna be like David Koresh, that bloke from Waco, Texas, I reckon,
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [36:19]
baby. I mean, it isn’t the final game plan. Like that’s, that’s what I want to do. I want to build that and i want i want to kind of live in it later on. But I also want to kind of get into public speaking a little bit because I think travel has been really really important to me and it’s it’s completely shaped who I am. And it’s given me a load of incredible opportunities of like personal growth, which I just wouldn’t have had through anything else. And I think it’s so important that people do give travelling a proper world like gap is a great but on gap years, most people only actually travel for three months. I think everybody should try and travel for longer than that and try and travel to more challenging countries, you know, places like India. And the thing is whenever people do give you their excuses of why they can’t try Have a like, Oh, I don’t have enough money or I haven’t got a friend to go with me or whatever I mean, by putting it off you’re just not doing yourself any favours you can always travel even if you’ve got very little money, you’ve just got to travel on a budget and yeah, it’s rough and it’s uncomfortable but it’s still an amazing experience.
David Ralph [37:13]
So would you have been as entrepreneurial if you was still in the travel business sitting behind a desk? Is it the experiences is it the travel is it the putting yourself out there but as actually fine tune your entrepreneurial spirit because what you’re doing it sounds amazing and the commune I wish you all the best of success. I think it’s a great idea. But could that have happened if you hadn’t travelled?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [37:35]
Oh, no way. No, no, I mean, like the travelling is my education, hands down for absolutely everything like my university education is worth nothing. My college education is worth nothing and I didn’t learn very much working behind a desk either. Probably the only good thing I learned with my desk job was I did learn how to pitch properly. So that’s been really useful when I’m like contacting newspapers and stuff like that, but everything else I’ve just Worked out on the road through trial and error. And through asking around I mean, a travel blogging network people are actually very friendly. So you can kind of ask around for advice and people will give it to you. And if you take advantage of that it’s possible to grow pretty quickly.
David Ralph [38:13]
I’ve had the fortune of having quite a few travel bloggers on Oh, yeah, I like the ones that aren’t just travelling they are, as you’ve done, kind of found themselves somehow doing it. And they all seem to be getting away from something. But then halfway through walking towards something, because it starts to make sense to them. You’re the same are you?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [38:34]
Definitely I mean, when I first when I first put my one way flight to India, that that was running away, that was hands down, I was running away from my problems and hoping that I might never have to return to them. And kind of, you know, halfway through that, I sort of healed and got over it. And now I just kind of find something I wanted to do, which was you know, at the end of the day, I just I just want to inspire people to travel because it is so so valuable and I want to inspire people to think Understand that you don’t have to go into a job straight from college and you don’t have to go into a job just because it is a safe bet, you know, kind of highlight what you’re saying earlier, really, it’s much better to take a risk on a dream than to go into something because it feels safe because if you hate it for 50 years, you’re just screwed.
David Ralph [39:20]
When you look back at everything, and you’ve, you’ve got a very good branding, this is the thing that I’m going to ask you now, the broke backpacker. Now you obviously travelled around the world on hardly anything $12 a day. Yeah. When you look back on that now, bear in mind, it’s not just a travel blog. It’s got a branding to it. Was that inspired? Was that one of those things? You go? Well, that was a complete fluke. I did it out of necessity, but God, yeah, it’s really given me a backbone to what I’m doing.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [39:48]
I think Yeah, definitely. I chose the name. And kind of on a whim I had about 10 different names and this is one of the ones I could get that was a.com but I always wanted it to be about budget. backpacking, so it just seemed it just seemed like the perfect name. As soon as I had it, you know, I messed around for about three months trying to work out exactly what direction I wanted to take it. But I am very, very lucky in a is a strong brand and it is a lot you can do with it. And I intend on using it more for the hospital chain in the future because ultimately my days as a broke backpacker are kind of numbered because I’m starting to make money now. That doesn’t mean I don’t still travel cheap because I do because what I’m doing at the moment is all the excess money I get it just going into the pot when we open the first hostels. But I mean, I don’t want to be I don’t want to be hitchhiking and sleeping rough and stuff when I’m like 40 years old, because I would have done it for like, well, if I was doing I was 40 we don’t have like 20 years, which is a bit too long. So I mean, I’ve got plans for how to expand the boat backpacker brand and I you know eventually what I’d quite like to do is to take on a kind of a couple of apprentices and send them off into the world and be like, right, you know, I’ll pay you $12 a day you’ve got to go and survive and write about it. So that’s something I’m kind of keen to move forwards in the next few years.
David Ralph [40:59]
There’s probably programme called I’m a celebrity. Get me out of here. You basically kind of created a budget version of that, haven’t you?
Unknown Speaker [41:05]
Yeah, a little bit.
David Ralph [41:07]
When you look at it because I had a guy called Leo lager, foetus or something, I do apologise, Leo, if you’re listening, I’ve mispronounced your name. And he was a broker or summit in London, and he was walking across a bridge across London, Across the River Thames and just thought, I need to get away I need to do something. And he travelled from one side of America to the other on $5 a day, he did it even cheaper.
Unknown Speaker [41:33]
Actually,
David Ralph [41:34]
yeah. And he was an astonishing guy and the stories that he told me about how the poorest people were the most open and genuine and how he learned so much from sleeping rough in Philadelphia with a guy who just shared everything for him. And what he did, he kind of travelled across, but didn’t tell people that he had the money and if somebody showed him kindness, he would give him kindness back the next day. As unexpectedly as that struck you as a troop as well, when you’ve been travelling the world that the people that literally had nothing are the ones that will open their homes and help you out.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [42:11]
Hands down, man. Yeah, definitely. I mean, especially in Asia, in places like India and Nepal, Tibet, Iran, places like that people just will invite you into their homes because they see you’re looking a little bit lost like feed you and it will be getting dark and you’ll be like, Oh, I should find somewhere to sleep no below, just crash here. It’s fine. You can have our bedroom asleep on the floor. Just like obviously, you’re not going to kick someone out of their bed. So I never do. But it’s just like, you know, end up sleeping on the floor of this guy’s hearts. wake up the next morning and his wife’s already made me like a chai cup of tea. And like I can say like 10 words of Hindi and they can say like 10 words of English and we just get on and it’s just it’s real connections and it’s people. It’s human beings helping other human beings and that’s what it should all be about man and I think by travelling by travelling on the cheap, you Definitely have more of those interactions rather than insulating yourself from it by, you know, being on tourist buses or being in hostels and stuff like that, all of which is fun. But you’re not going to make those real connections with the locals, which you can only make by kind of being in the same shoes as the local. So basically not having much money wandering around seeing what you can find and chatting to random people.
David Ralph [43:22]
Because I used to travel around America a lot. And I remember being on a bench outside Boston, I think it was, and this guy came up, and I’ll be honest, he looked a bit rough. And I thought to myself, Oh, my God, we’re in trouble here What’s happening? And he sat down, and he was the nicest guy i think i’ve ever spoken to. Wow, he was so worldly. He knew the news. He was asking me questions about stuff that really I should have known but I didn’t have a clue about and he said, Oh, what I do, I sit outside this TV shop, and I watch the telly at night, reading the kind of the words that sort of float along on the bottom on sort of 24 hour news. And all that kind of stuff. And I realised at that moment that my appreciation for people was wrong. I was very much how they looked, instead of how they made me feel. And after that, it was a big wake up call that took guy and I can’t remember his name, but, you know, and I’m sure he’s not listening to this, but if he is listening, you know, I salute you changed my life. Has there been people like that? That has changed your life as well, but when they’ve come up to you, you think Oh my God, be careful. Keep my hands in your pockets. But actually, you realise about there. That’s the true connection.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [44:30]
Definitely. Yeah, I think it is way too much fear floating around, especially from people who wants to travel but don’t because they’re scared and some of the some of the people who give me the hardest time about travelling are like, Oh my god, you’re going to wherever you’re going to get killed, and like now I’ll be fine. And it always is fine. Um, and yeah, I mean, obviously when I first hit the road, you know, found myself in India laughing by myself. It was scary and people did kind of scared shit out of me. A couple of big lads following you down an alleyway it was it was concerning, but nothing ever happened. And people were always very, very friendly. And you kind of learned pretty quickly that the best way to deal with any situation is to smile and offer a handshake rather than to scowl and clench your fists. You know, it’s got a much better chance of going the way you want it to go if you just smile. And I think, you know, you get some incredible people out there who do look a little bit rough and on. I’m probably one of them to be honest, because when I’m on the road, I’m usually in like, you know, a torn tank top and covered in mud because I’ve been sleeping rough and whenever I do rock up at hostels, people always do look at me like I’m a little bit weird. So I’m kind of I’m kind of used to people thinking I’m a little bit rough as well. So I think you should definitely not judged by appearances,
David Ralph [45:43]
even if you’re naked and painted.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [45:46]
Well, when I’m naked and painted, I’m usually at like a UV rave somewhere. So everybody else is kind of up and you know, naked and painted as well hopefully, rather than just me being naked and paste and dancing by myself and like a large space in the dance floor. Oh, I think that’d
David Ralph [45:59]
be awesome. Nike painted with you the paint. It’d be like a be like a lightsaber when
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [46:05]
you got to try it, man,
David Ralph [46:07]
great party. I can imagine. I don’t want to go there. I really don’t want to go there. I’d be frightened from the moment I walked in. So when you’re doing the journey now, and you’re planning for it, and you’ve said, It’s scary, it could kill you. What is drawing you to do that? What what are you gonna gain from doing that?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [46:28]
No one’s done it before. And I think that is, so what is it? I’m travelling from England to Papua New Guinea. And I’m not allowed to take a single flight. So I’m doing it all by hitchhiking and local transport. So I’m taking trains across Europe. And then I’ll be hitchhiking up through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, into India, into Nepal, China, Tibet, then back to India, where I’m going to buy tooktook and I’m gonna drive it all over Southeast Asia before I get to Vietnam, and I’m going to build a boat and I’m going to sell the boat across the Philippines and Indonesia. Papua New Guinea. And then I’m going to try and cross Papua New Guinea by kayak, but it takes three months. So I need to do a little research into that.
David Ralph [47:07]
So how do you know that no one’s done this before.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [47:10]
I did quite a lot of research into it before I am because I had I had three big trips that I wanted to do. The other one was to get a motorbike and to take you from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. And the other one was to get a camp and try and do every country in Africa over two years. But basically, this one was works out for cheapest gotta have to buy a vehicle. And yeah, I mean, no one’s really attempted to build a boat and sail the Philippines and Indonesia, that hasn’t been done as far as I’m aware.
David Ralph [47:36]
And I imagine you’d have issues with pirates and stuff in those waters, won’t you?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [47:40]
Oh, maybe. I mean, I’m hoping that when they see that I haven’t got any money and what I’m doing is kind of cool. And just let me go.
David Ralph [47:47]
I suppose that is a key point, isn’t it? What What would a pirate want with you that they’re gonna go for something that they could take something from and if you’ve got nothing other than a UV painted genitalia, they’re not going to go for it. Um, I
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [48:00]
mean, I’ve got my GoPro, but I keep it hidden. So hopefully it’ll be alright. I mean, I don’t know, like,
I think in a lot of these countries that I go to places like, one of the places I am concerned about is Pakistan. Because when I cross from Iran to Pakistan, I’ve got like 1300 kilometres between me and like, the nearest safe city, and you’ve got to go through that land with a military escort, which I haven’t managed to arrange yet. So it’s, you know, bits like that are kind of hairy, but I think they’re worth it. Because they haven’t been done before or when they have been done. They haven’t been done for a couple of years. You know, they’re not commonly done routes. And I think the stories that I’ll get out of that, and more importantly, the people that I’m going to meet out there and the interviews that I’m going to be able to conduct and kind of a snapshot of daily life in these regions of the world that people don’t know anything about. I think it will be so worth the risk.
David Ralph [48:49]
Well, I’ve got total trust that you will come through this with plain sailing. So I’m inviting you back on the show Mr. Hatton once you once you get at the end and you’re on your kayak Will you come back on the show?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [49:01]
That would be great. I’d absolutely
David Ralph [49:02]
love to definitely. Well, we’ll have you back on as we would have this guy back on. But unfortunately, he’s never going to come on the show. But he’s words live on. These are the words that Steve Jobs said back in 2005 and have become the theme of the whole show. This is Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs [49:16]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path and that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [49:52]
Well, you really off the well worn path, but when you look back over everything, what would be your big.as he says you you Look back, and you can only connect the dots but we’ll be the big dots that sort of led you to where you are,
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [50:05]
I think probably getting injured in Costa Rica. And you know, no longer having the option to go into the one kind of career that did kind of appeal to me, meant that I had to kind of shake things up, do something different, and get out into the world to kind of play around with experiment and find different passions before I could choose a passion that I was willing to put my energy behind.
David Ralph [50:29]
And is it a true thing, but it’s easier for success if you haven’t got a plan B.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [50:36]
I mean, there’s always a plan B man, but I think the thing with plant bees you can come up with by afternoon, so I’m not sure it’s worth wasting time on a plan B, I think you should be putting all of your energy into the thing that really gets you going.
David Ralph [50:49]
And what does get you going. If you could name it in maybe three words.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [50:57]
Inspiring alternative lifestyles is probably If I had to do it in three words, that’s what I’d go for, you know, just really giving people the knowledge that they need to arm themselves with so that they can see that it is possible to do anything they want. And they don’t necessarily have to slot into these pre Assigned Roles that have been given to them from college. They can they can go out there, they can travel, and they can discover what is their passion, and then they can just roll with it
David Ralph [51:25]
inspired alternative lifestyles, I was convinced you were gonna go with drunken painted nudity.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [51:31]
I want to keep it classy for you, man.
David Ralph [51:33]
You have you’ve kept it a high level when I could go with Well, this is the end of the show. We’ll and this is the part where we’re going to send you on another journey. This time. It’s going back in time to speak to your younger self. And if you could go back in time, what age will would you choose and what advice would you give? Well, we’re gonna find out because we’re gonna play the theme tune and when it fades, you’re up. This is the Sermon on the mic.
Unknown Speaker [52:00]
Here we go with the best bit of the show, sir man, my man.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [52:18]
Okay, so I think I’ll probably go back to age 18 just come out of college and my advice to myself would be not to wait. Don’t waste time looking into you know, going into a kind of traditional role going and unloading lorries, which is what I did for a year. Don’t do that. Instead, start now experimenting with different things which might interest you. Get out of that into the world, find your passion, embrace it, interact with inspiring people. I think it’s really, really important to surround yourself with people who are further along than you are more evolved than you can give you the knowledge and the skills and the confidence to pursue your dreams. And all you’ve really got to do is find which dream is that is the one that you want to pursue and then throw all of the energy behind it because if you do that you probably won’t fail. Really, it’s just a case of having some direction and then going for it
David Ralph [53:15]
will what’s the number one best way our audience can connect with you, sir?
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [53:20]
If you just go on to the broke backpacker website, which is WWE broke backpacker, calm, you’ve got all of my social media icons there. I’m on Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, all of them. Just come follow me along. And it’s going to be a hell of a two years so I can guarantee some interesting stories to keep you entertained.
David Ralph [53:37]
And it certainly is a great website if you’re interested in travel, or just sort of inspirational adventure. It is more than travel this website go across because you will be sitting there for hours like I did, reading all the kind of weird stuff that’s going on and there wasn’t one bit in it that I didn’t think I wouldn’t want to do that. It all seemed to be stuff that was for the common man somehow Is that how you trying to go for it well, but no,
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [54:02]
definitely. I mean, I’m like, I get a lot of people who send me messages. And they’re like, oh, how do you do this? And it’s just like, well, any, any anybody can do I do. That’s the whole point. I’m not particularly special at all. I’m just going out and doing whatever I want. And I’m recording the experiences. And anyone can do that. So if you’d like a story on my site, just go and do it, repeat it. It’s fantastic. It’s well worth putting in the energy.
David Ralph [54:24]
Absolutely. Well, well, thank you so much for spending time with us today, joining up those dots. And please come back again, when you have more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Mr. Weil Hatton, thank you so much.
Broke Backpacker Will Hatton [54:39]
Thank you very much, man. That was great. Cheers.
David Ralph [54:44]
I love that one. Really, really love that one will happen is one of those guys who has found he’s been but he’s only found it by delving into himself and trying stuff and that’s what you all can do every single one of you out there and if you struggle as we keep I’m saying, then drop us an email, Join Up dots@gmail.com. And join on with us as we launch our dream starters project on January 2016. This is where you will be out to find the thing that you want to do in life. Even if it’s something that you’re not aware at the moment you should be doing with your life. It’s out there for you. You can go for it just the same as well has, as always, thank you so much for supporting the show. Thank you so much for listening. This is David Ralph. This was Join Up Dots. And we’ll see you again soon. Cheers,
Outro [55:32]
bye. David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self viewer wants to become so he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.
