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Women Who Went for It! is a bi-weekly podcast, hosted by Career Change Agent, Sara McArdle. The show features inspiring chats with successful industry changers who share how they found the clarity, courage and motivation to step into a deeper vocation and a life of meaning and fulfillment. We hope you'll see just how many before you have GONE for it—and they're eternally grateful that they took the risk!

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  2. Episode 013: From Saving Every Penny for Travel to Founding a Travel Company with Beth Whitman

Episode 013: From Saving Every Penny for Travel to Founding a Travel Company with Beth Whitman

May 27, 2018

Women Who Went for It Podcast: Beth Whitman
 
In this episode, Sara talks with Beth Whitman about working odd jobs and saving every penny to travel the world before taking the leap and founding her own travel company. Beth shares her views on "confidence" and talks about how to tune out the opinions of others and tap into one's own, inner guidance. Through her brands WanderTours, Wanderlust and Lipstick, and Be Bold, Beth writes travel books, leads trips and culinary adventures across the world, delivers public talks and hosts her own podcast.
 
Sara and Beth discuss:
  • Attending Kadampa Meditation Center in Seattle together
  • Beth starting out as a disc jockey after studying media & communications
  • Moving to Seattle from New Jersey
  • Working 2-3 jobs at a time to save money to travel
  • Deciding she should get a "real job"
  • Landing a tech startup job that paid more than she'd ever made before
  • Meeting her husband on the job
  • The company going under just after she'd started
  • Taking a sales job at a foreign language learning company
  • Making a six figure salary with only 2 weeks of vacation and no time to travel
  • Her husband convincing her to leave her "soul-sucking" job
  • Writing her first book, "Wanderlust and Lipstick: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo"
  • The story she'd told herself for years that kept her from pursuing her dreams
  • Writing her second book, "Wanderlust and Lipstick: For Women Traveling to India"
  • Gaining national attention in USA Today
  • Women asking her to lead tours
  • Giving in
  • The question she asks herself when she encounters mental road blocks
  • Her thoughts on "confidence"
  • Using meditation to look at possibilities from a new angle
  • Holding herself back for ten years because of comparison
  • People's fears about her riding a motorcycle from Seattle to Panama
  • A trick she plays on her brain to achieve her goals
  • How she narrows her focus
  • Her favorite part of owning her own business
  • How travel impacts her travelers' lives
  • Self-care on the road
  • Her support system
  • Learning from the guests on her "Be Bold" podcast
  • Getting inspired by books from Tony Robbins and Brené Brown
  • The messages we receive as women about what we should or shouldn't do
  • Others' silent lack of support
  • Meditation resources:
  • Sara's meditation recommendation: "Live Awake" podcast
  • How Beth navigated her career transition, financially
  • The idea that travel is "extravagant"
  • How to know yourself deeply and what you want from life
  • Journaling resource: The Artists Way by Julia Cameron
  • Resisting distractions like social media
  • Beth's life philosophy
  • Sara's mission
  • ...and more
Beth's full bio:
With nearly 30 years of travel under her belt, Beth Whitman has made a name for herself as a women’s travel expert. When she realized that not all women have the confidence or know-how to travel independently, Beth wrote "Wanderlust and Lipstick: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo" and, later, "Wanderlust and Lipstick: For Women Traveling to India". Through her company, WanderTours, Beth regularly leads trips to India, Papua New Guinea, Bhutan, Vietnam and Cambodia, Burma, Thailand and Laos, Bali and Java, Tanzania and Ireland. She also leads culinary tours through New Orleans, Santa Fe and her hometown, Seattle. Beth speaks regularly at events throughout the world, as well—all with the goal of inspiring would-be travelers into action to live a life that helps them become better versions of themselves. Beth Whitman is a true example of a woman who went for it, having completed the 25-day, 220-mile Snowman Trek in Bhutan—one of the most difficult treks in the world—not once, but twice. She has driven the AlCan Highway to Alaska twice, as well. She has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and reached the top at 19,341 feet. After telling herself she wasn't a runner, she ran her first marathon at age 50, completed five marathons that year, and then went on to run four back-to-back marathons over Thanksgiving weekend. That’s four marathons in four days in what's known as the Seattle Quadzilla. And last, but certainly not least, she has ridden a motorcycle solo from Seattle to Panama.