The End of Location Rebel (Well, Kind of)

July 26th, 2011 was one of the most memorable days of my life.

I sat down at a Starbucks on West Burnside St. in Portland, Oregon – and I waited patiently until 8am sharp, when I’d open the doors to Location Rebel Academy.

It was a beta launch. 20 spots to try it out and see if there was actually a demand for a course and community that teaches you the essentials of building an internet business.

I’d hoped to sell 10 of those spots at $297 over the course of a week.

Instead, I sold 24 spots in 48 minutes. I wasn’t able to shut the sales page down fast enough.

I made around $7,000 in less than an hour, and more importantly, helped many of those initial members to build something meaningful for themselves.

Since then over 5,000 people have joined the community, and we have hundreds of testimonials and success stories.

Well now, 4,945 days later it’s time to close the book on what’s been the single most fulfilling endeavor of my life.

I’m shutting down Location Rebel Academy.

Let me explain.

The Online World is Changing Has Changed

Let’s start with the why.

When I first created Location Rebel Academy, there was nothing else out there like it.

The idea?

Teach people all of the essential skills you needed to have success on the internet: how to build a website, SEO, copywriting, the essentials of design etc.

From there, I’d teach you how to take one of those skills and freelance, in order to build income and confidence.

When it launched, there was really nothing else out there like it.

Fast forward to now, and there’s a legitimately limitless number of places to learn how to do this.

Thousands of courses, YouTube videos, newsletters, short-form content – it’s an endless barrage.

Yes, there’s still value in two specific things we offer:

1. A system. Having a proven process tied up in a nice little bow, so you don’t have the search myriad different places for conflicting information.
2. Community and Support – A group of people and mentors who have been there, done that who can help you actually implement everything in the system.

But again, there are lots of places to find both of those things these days.

And the ones who are going to continue to thrive, are the ones that are going to yell the loudest.

I’m done yelling. Over the last 16 years I’ve published hundreds of videos and blog posts, I’ve sent hundreds of emails all with the goal to help you build your online business.

With so many voices, the only way to win is to be omnipresent. More content than ever, and more self-promotion than ever.

And that’s a grind that I’m just not willing to keep doing.

Perception is Everything: Freelance Writing is Dead

I want to make one thing very clear: freelance writing is not dead.

In fact, for the professional freelancer who is willing to adapt and learn, this may be one of the very best times in history to be a freelancer.

But in my experience, most new writers think freelancing is dead.

AI has completely changed the industry, and has certainly stolen jobs away from the lower end of the freelance market.

So to those people who are just thinking about starting a new freelance business? It’s a tough sell.

If you’re savvy and willing to test new ideas? AI tools like Chat GPT are the greatest gift you’ve ever been given as a freelancer. They allow you to supercharge your lead generation, workflow, research, and output in ways that simply weren’t fathomable 5 years ago.

But the majority of the people we set out to serve with Location Rebel don’t see it that way.

To most of them? Freelance writing is dead.

And perception is reality.

The (Real) Biggest Reason

As you’ve seen over 16 years of writing on Location Rebel, I’m a huge proponent of the lifestyle business.

I’m truly a solopreneur at heart.

I don’t need to scale, I don’t want a big team.

I simply want to build a business where I can help people, and have a wonderful lifestyle for myself.

To that end, my other website Breaking Eighty, has taken off over the last 5 years.

It’s lapped Location Rebel many times over in terms of traffic, influence, and revenue.

For years those around me have encouraged me to go all in on that.

I’ve resisted because I’m so passionate about this community, and helping others build a better future for themselves.

But the time has come. I need to focus on one thing, and that thing is Breaking Eighty.

What This Means for Members

The most important thing I want to make clear is that we’re not abandoning you!

We’re going to stop selling the Academy this week.

But Liz and I will still be here to support you via email and in the forums.

If you’re still actively going through the course and working through the content, we’ll be here as we always have been to support you.

In fact, for the motivated person, this might be the best thing that could happen. Because there aren’t new people coming in, it’s easier for us to provide feedback for the people who are actively working through the course.

The Academy site, the content, and the forums will all stay as they are, at least through the end of the year (and likely much longer).

So you have plenty of time to continue building your business.

And we’ve recently completely overhauled the Freelance Writing Blueprint, so it’s all up to date and still works.

You can still email us for support, and we’ll still help work through things in the forums.

This blog will also still be around, and we actually have some ideas for what new content might look like there.

YouTube…well, I don’t know what’s going to happen with the channel.

If you’ve joined in the last three months and this makes you angry or you feel like we’re not living up to expectations, just hit reply. I’m happy to send you a refund.

Two Important Thank Yous

First, I want to publicly say thank you to Liz Froment.

Liz joined Location Rebel as one of our inaugural members in 2011. By 2012 she’d taken everything she’d learned, quit her job, and became a full-time freelancer.

That year she came on board to help out with the Academy, and much to my amazement, she’s been with us ever since.

Now she’s got a sustainable six-figure freelance career and is one the savviest and smartest people I know.

She’s also given more to this community than you can possibly understand.

She’s spent countless hours in forums, responding to emails, and teaching everything she’s learned through her own freelance business to make things even easier on you.

She’s given so much to this community, and I know if you’ve had any contact with her over the years, you’ve seen this.

So Liz, thank you. Thank you for being the heart and soul of this community. More importantly, for being a wonderful friend all of these years.

Second, Thank YOU

We’ve had over 5,000 people join LRA in the last 14 years since I created the Academy.

There have been so many wonderful success stories that have come out of it.

One of those is mine.

If it weren’t for you, I have no idea where I’d be right now.

Certainly not able to do the type of work I’m fortunate enough to do.

You joining and trusting me to help you in this journey, whether it was 10 years ago, 10 months ago, or 10 days ago – is a gift I don’t take lightly.

So thank you.

I promise I’m not abandoning you, and I’m still here to help those who are still serious about going through the course.

Moving Forward

This has been my pride and joy for over a 1/3 of my life.

This decision wasn’t made lightly, it’s incredibly bittersweet, but it feels like the right thing at the moment.

I’m also not going to say this is goodbye forever. Who knows what will happen in the future, and I could certainly see a world where the Academy gets revived in one form or another.

But for now, it’s time to focus on some other projects.

If you have any thoughts, positive or negative, I’d love to hear from you.

Feel free to drop a comment or shoot me an email.

Thanks for being on this journey with me, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

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.