Last Thursday morning, I read an article about a man who set an unusual world record.
Between December 2018 and August 2019, he traveled around the world by boat one-and-a-half times.
And in each of the world’s five oceans, including at Antarctica and somewhere close to the North Pole, he visited the deepest underwater point, in what are called “hadal” regions.
In order to become the first person to do this, Victor Vescovo, for that is the man’s name, had to build a custom-made submarine.
He had to retrofit a big ole ship, which he had bought from the U.S. Navy.
He had to hire a crew of engineers, scientists and support staff, all there to help him in his record-setting quest.
The whole enterprise cost a little less than $48 million, which Vescovo, who made that much and more in private equity, paid himself.
But don’t think this was a foolish waste of a rich man’s money.
According to the article, the U.S Navy has showed interest in buying Vescovo’s innovative submarine + blueprints, for a little over what Vescovo himself paid to develop and test it.
In other words, there’s a good chance that Vescovo will have somebody else foot the bill for his unique and quirky passion project of the past several years.
I don’t know about you, but this sounds pretty romantic to me. It’s the kind of life I would like to live.
Not that I’m interested in exploring ocean depths, or managing a big crew, or setting world records.
But I like the idea of having a sailboat of one, sailing to an unexplored island when the mood strikes me, writing up what I’ve learned along the way, and having others pay me to live this life.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be a real sailboat or real islands.
It could just be an unusual topic I get interested in and start researching. Kind of like being a tenured professor, but without the years of clawing up the academic hierarchy.
So why am I telling you this?
No reason. Odds are, you don’t share this same dream.
But on the small chance that you do, then I want to tell you there’s hope.
I was talking to fellow copywriter Will Ward about this idea today.
And Will pointed me to the blog of Gretchen McCulloch, someone who is very much living a life like this. Gretchen has even written up a series of posts about how she became one of The New Professors (my term, not hers), and perhaps, how you can too.
I’m reading these blog posts right now. It’s good for inspiration and maybe a bit of guidance. If you want to read them too and be inspired, here’s where to get started:
https://allthingslinguistic.com/post/189045267597/part-i-what-is-a-weird-internet-career