I’ve built a lot of my business and brand around the premise of taking calculated risks – small leaps, that have the potential to greatly enhance your quality of life.
Uncertainty is an asset is what I’ve always preached.
Those who fear uncertainty will remain in a comfortable, albeit potentially unfulfilled life.
Those who embrace it will create great things, great stories, and help a lot of people in the process.
Yet despite talking about these concepts all the time, and taking numerous leaps over the years – I feel like in this moment, I’m a bit of a hypocrite.
When You’re Too Comfortable to Change
The seventh (!) anniversary of this site was just a couple weeks ago, and we’re coming up on FIVE years of Location Rebel here this summer.
It blows my mind how after all this time people are still tuning into read the site, and still joining and having success with Location Rebel. Not to mention that I haven’t had to go back to a day job.
Yet, even though I’ve been doing this for close to a decade, not a whole lot has changed.
Sure I update Location Rebel with new content, and post new articles on Location 180 – but by and large, I’m doing things exactly the same way now as I was five years ago.
That’s a problem.
We all know the old adage, “Don’t fix what ain’t broken.”
But there are just as many cliched quotes for not making forward progress. And to be honest? I’ve grown too comfortable.
It’s no different than someone who is in a cushy finance job pulling in $100k a year.
When you’re making that kind of money and have that kind of status, the thought of blowing it all up to pursue something different is terrifying – and most people will never do it, regardless of how good things could potentially be on the other side.
I’ve been doing the same thing.
I’ve made no major changes to my brand or approach to my business in the last few years because I’m afraid of messing with a good thing that’s working – even though I know it has the potential to be better, and help more people in the future.
So for that reason, I feel like a hypocrite.
I haven’t been taking leaps. I haven’t been embracing uncertainty. And I haven’t been constantly pushing the business forward.
Working for Work’s Sake
When you’re feeling reluctant to change, it’s easy to both make excuses, and trick yourself into thinking you’re being productive.
I recently did a 31 day, daily video blog experiment that I easily spent over a 100 hours on. Was it ever really going to do much for the business?
Probably not.
I spend a couple hours answering emails every day. I create social media posts and blog posts. Hop on interviews and podcasts.
It all feels busy, and at the end of the day I go to bed feeling productive.
But the reality is, more often than not, I didn’t do anything to truly push the business forward.
I maintained.
And once you get into maintenance mode, it’s a difficult place to get out of.
There’s always work to be done, but if you’re not doing the right work, you’ll never get anywhere.
Embracing the Next Steps
The realization that I haven’t been facing my fears, and been willing to make significant changes to Location 180 for the betterment of the business, it’s audience (you!), and my own life has been tough to accept – and even tougher to actually start taking action on.
But I’m finally there – and actively working towards the next version of what this site will become.
Don’t worry, the tone of this post may lead you to believe I’m packing it in and doing something totally drastic.
That’s not the case at all.
So. what does the future look like?
I’ll go into much more detail in a future post, but let me give you a few sneak peeks.
Location 180 Will Be No More
It’s terrifying to write this publicly. But for the sake of accountability I wanted to get it out there.
This summer, Location 180 will cease to exist in it’s current form.
Both Location 180 and Location Rebel have become significant brands on their own – and that’s the problem.
For new readers (and probably some old ones), there’s confusion between the two.
What’s the difference between them? Why are they on separate domains? Which email list am I on? I have to pay money for one of these, right?
When I do guest posts or go on podcasts, I never know which brand to promote.
Location 180 has also become less about me and my journey, but more about others and helping them on their journey
So this summer, everything from this site will be moving to Location Rebel – and that will be the brand moving forward.
We will still be blogging, shooting videos, creating products, and helping people leave their jobs to build businesses that allow them to travel.
We’ll just being doing it in a much more cohesive way, on one central site, that is much more robust than this one.
I mean c’mon, Location 180 isn’t even a responsive site. Unacceptable.
As such, the premium product and community currently known has “Location Rebel” will get a slight name change as well (let me know if you have ideas!) to help avoid confusion between the free content and the paid course.
And don’t worry, all of the content from Location 180 will still be available for free on Location Rebel!
This is the biggest change I’ve ever made to my business, and while it’s scary, it’s also incredibly exciting and I think it’s going to allow us to grow in ways where we were limited before.
A New Marketplace
Right now we more or less have one all or nothing product available in Location Rebel.
Location Rebel itself is fantastic. We have a great community there and a ton of content to help you with every aspect of creating a location independent business.
But what about the people who don’t need an all encompassing program, or just need one small aspect of it?
Right now, we’re not serving them well – even though we have content that could help them.
Location Rebel will still be the flagship product, and will actually get some changes to make it even better, but we’ll also be releasing a new Location Rebel Marketplace that has other courses designed to help you with more specific aspects of building a business.
This could be helping you craft better pitch emails, overcome your fears, or say, create a niche site.
The main goal is to have more solutions for people who are seeking out additional help with various aspects of their life and business.
More Targeted Marketing
Right now the marketing we do is pretty hands off. Location Rebel speaks for itself, and has built such a good reputation that we haven’t needed to push it very hard.
That said, we’re missing the boat on a big opportunity to be more useful.
Sales and marketing is often a touchy subject, where visions of used car salesmen are often what are associated with those words.
But it doesn’t have to be.
The people who are making the most money these days are the ones who are educating with their marketing – and not in a deceitful way.
I mean just being truly useful in the content they put out.
With marketing tools becoming more advanced it’s easier than ever to discover what people really want to know about and give them useful information in the process.
Then if they want even more help, you create a product to help them with that.
We’ll be expanding the marketing avenues we’re currently pursuing, but doing so in a way that is useful, without being sleazy or forceful – which I’m looking forward to.
One Big Takeaway for You
Those are just a few of the changes that will be occurring over the next few months, and I’ll make sure you know exactly what’s happening to help avoid confusion.
Aside from the updates the one big takeaway I want you to have from this post is the concept that maintaining is not growing.
It’s easy to convince yourself you’re making forward progress, even if you’re not.
So take a step back and truly evaluate where you’re spending your time, why you’re spending your time the way you are, and what needs to change to truly embrace the fear of uncertainty and move towards the life you really want.
Thank you again for reading this site, trusting in me to help you make big changes, and here’s to the next chapter!
Sean Ogle
Sean Ogle is the Founder of Location Rebel where he has spent the last 12+ years teaching people how to build online businesses that give them the freedom to do more of the things they like to do in life. When he's not in the coffee shops of Portland, or the beaches of Bali, he's probably sneaking into some other high-class establishment where he most certainly doesn't belong.Join over 40,000 people who have taken our 6 part freelance writing course. Sign up below and let’s do this together.
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These sound like really great changes. Especially having individual pieces of content to purchase. Ive always thought of them as one brand, but I’m looking forward to seeing one cohesive brand.
Thanks Tim, I’m really looking forward to seeing it as well 🙂
Congratulations! I can’t wait to see how things will grow for you with a condensed, focused brand.
Looking forward to it.
Me too, Josh! Thanks again for being such a valuable part of the Location Rebel community 🙂
Wow, Sean! I’ve been following you for about a year and half! You have really helped me think about how to brand myself and how to monetize the gifts that I have. In fact, how I’m branding myself I’m drawing from what you are doing. I’ll be checking out Location Rebel which to me so far is one of the best flagship programs out there and more bang for your buck I hope to be a part of one day as I navigate this terrain of setting up memberships, launching products and projects. I’ve done two projects (beta) already and those experiences has inspired me to take next steps. Totally will be looking to your products and services for direction. Look forward to the merger! Best, Lori
Thank you Lori! Would love to have you in the community, let me know if I can answer any questions! Congrats on the first two projects!
Sean…good on you man. Adapt or die! Looking forward to seeing what you have in store for Location Rebel.
Totally agree, Josh!
Wow Sean! You had me very worried for three quarters of the article! haha
Looking forward to being a part of the new and improved LR!
haha looking forward to having you a part of it as well!
Wow, what a nail-biting headline!
You told me about this change, but I still felt apprehension while the browser loaded.
Is my blogging hero packing up for good?
Whew. Nope.
Excited about the changes to Location 180/Rebel!
Would love to hear more about your marketing plans. Will you write a blog post on that too?
P.S. You mentioned that you’re brainstorming new names for the flagship product.Here is a great (and short) book on how to name stuff:
http://www.amazon.com/Hello-My-Name-Awesome-Create/dp/1626561869
haha nope, just trying to improve the experience as much as I can for you guys!
And thanks for the recommendation, will check it out!
Spreading around your Amazon affiliate links, again? Haven’t we talked about this? 😉 You’re commenting everywhere. From BBT to the highly coveted Location 180. Talk to you tomorrow, Bro.
Sean’s a blogging champ. His consistency kicks butt. Will he turn Location 180 into a financial modeling site? Only time will tell.
Definitely the right move. Makes total sense.
Great headline, and a brave move. Good luck with it. I will be watching with interest, and, of course, following you to your new home, whatever you end up calling it.
Hi Sean — I’ve been an on-and-off follower for years. I totally get your point about brand confusion. But I was also wondering — is part of closing down “Location 180” related to wanting to reclaim your personal name (seanogle.com) and use it for a broader portfolio?
I feel like a lot of early lifestyle-design writers created a program/brand, and then became well-known themselves. Enough so that they could decouple from their brand and stand on their own. As someone who’s just starting out, though, I don’t know if I should build my own name-as-writer or a “project.” (I own both my-name.com and the website linked in my comments, for example.)
If you were to do it over again, would you do it the same way? Thanks!
Once again, absolutely STELLAR post, Sean…
And a great takeaway for all of us–if you’re only maintaining, you’re not growing. Really resonates with moi.
And blending the two sites? Yes, yes, and YES!
Count me as another who was a bit concerned when I first saw the headline in my email. I’ve been following you for several years now and while I’ve only recently joined LR, I have always thought of both sites as two halves of the same entity. Glad to see you taking risks and moving forward again. Can’t wait to see the new site(s)!!
Does this mean seanogle.com will be something funny from now on?!
Nice post – looking forward to what comes next.
Sounds great! Though admittedly, I never even realized they were two different ‘brands’. They were both you, so I never noticed…
I am so excited about the upcoming changes and can’t wait to be apart of the final vision.
Sean – this rocks and it takes cajones to realize need for self-change. I’m literally the $100K+ finance guy you mention but decided to shake it up and start an LI business because my wife and I are travel fiends. We sold the house and leave Denver for London for a one-year RTW trip this Saturday. We’ll hit much of Europe, Cyprus, India, Thailand, Australia and Hawaii before ending in San Francisco. Thanks to LR/Loc180 along with other 2014 Paradise Pack members, we were able to see how we could make this happen. PS thanks for the Punch Bowl Social mixer you threw at WDS last summer! And, thanks for inspiring change.
Sounds exciting Sean, am sure it’ll be a great new chapter 🙂
I am in denial that I’ve been reading your site for nearly 7 years. Where did that time go? Congrats on this move – sounds like its the right one!
You scared me a bit when I first read the title!
I think this is a great idea, but what about the backlinks you’ve built for Location 180? Aren’t you concerned about losing them?
Totally concerned haha. But as long as the 301 redirects are setup properly, it should all be ok, and actually make the site stronger because we’ll be combining LR + L180 link profiles.
Well then I wish you smooth transition. That’d be pretty sweet if the two combined.
Very smart move. Give a shout out if you need any help with anything from us readers.
Wow, Sean, mind-boggling news there! But, really, when I think more, it makes sense. You’ve had these 2 “brands” — your flagship Location Rebel and Location 180, and my impression was always that Location Rebel represented the “paid” service you’ve been marketing for years now. And one that I hope to finally find myself in a position to join this year!
And that’s another thing I wanted to mention — please don’t take away the Location Rebel brand. I meant the name as well. I love it! It sends exactly the message we location-independent types want hammered into us daily: We want to be free to live and work wherever we wish, at any time. Now, the term “location independent” itself was coined elsewhere, so while you can’t use that as a title, I absolutely love your own term “Location Rebel.” Why not keep it?
I’ve been with you as a subscriber for several years. I can’t wait to join up “for real.” 🙂
All the best!
Great decision Sean. I’ve always wondered about the difference in branding between the two sites. Been a LR member for a few years now and was a bit scared about your announcement so I rushed to read the post (loved the video in it too!). I find it awesome that you don’t rest on your success and keep on growing. All the best with the merger. I’ll still be there!
Location 180 has been an asset for me, so I hope I remain on your mailing list. Your move makes sense to me, though. I like the ring of “Location Rebel”, however. I’m not sure if something like “Location Activist” would have the same impact.
Hey Sean,
I have to say, your headline really got my attention! It must have been a few years now since I first found your “niche site” post. The funny thing is that when I first found that post I told my husband, “Honey, I heard of something new on this Sea Nogle website.”
I literally remember wondering what is a Sea Nogle?
Anyway, I’m glad I came back the next day to find out (: congratulations on the big move! Your journey is very inspiring and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.
Warm regards,
Brooklyn
Consolidation is always a good idea.
I used to be all about having different domain names for different things (I owned a ridiculous 100 domain names at one stage). These days I think it’s a bad idea.
As long as you set up redirection correctly and don’t lose the juice.
Moving to a single emtity also gives you the opportunity to clean up. You might come across content you think is not worth as much and redirect it to some more valuable content.
It’s all about branding these days. I hate saying that. Can’t stand these modern terms ad agencies and SEOs and whoever else spit and spin, but it seems that’s what Google and the rest are looking for.
Sterkte (read strength; I don’t believe in luck) with the move. Many blessings.
Good luck with all your exciting plans Sean
How exciting! Congratulations on taking this big, though scary, step! I’m looking forward to seeing it all, and I’m curious to learn about the new courses/products you’ll be offering. Good luck, and I hope you have a lot of fun with it!
My meandering mind had a random thought. I don’t know if you would like it, or not, but, I just thought I’d throw it out there, anyway. How about “Location Rogue”?
Great decision Sean! I actually thought about this when I first found you (I now realize it was 4 years ago wow!). I never understood why you had 2 sites which were ultimately working towards the same goal..
Anyways! Great choice and I believe the smaller products is be a great move as well, you will serve ppl better and will for sure see a boost in income 🙂
Cheers!
Pulling the trigger!
Question – why not just combine the sites but keep the branding?
You could pretty easily setup location rebel at rebel.location180.com by just pointing the DNS. I like the branding as it is right now because “180” pulls in people looking to change & you do that with content, while “rebel” signifies people who have jumped on board with commitment of sorts.
I think moving it off of “seanogle.com” is a good long term move, but confused on why you wouldn’t just change the URL and update the theme to make it responsive.
Been reading since the beginning. Strange to see Location 180 going by the wayside. Thinking about L180 closing down is making me nostalgic and remember the various places I’ve been in my life while reading different articles on L180. Where does the time go?!
I haven’t checked back in a long while because I’ve been working so hard (or hardly working) but this post caught my eye. I am sure it’ll all work out great but nonetheless, Im still interested in seeing how it goes. I was talking to my bestie about this too for my business. She suggested putting everything under one name but I shot it down. Now seeing this, I might rethink it. Thanks for sharing Sean and stay awesome as always!
Hi Sean,
Even though I just found your blog recently, your journey is very inspiring.
I wish I had found it earlier, but I am going through your blogs one at a time.
Congrats to your success. I look forward to following you on Location Rebel