In the Spotlight with Trisha & Bruce Barnes

Oh, So YOU Want to Live the
"Laptop Lifestyle?"
This Dynamic Duo is DOIN' It!

Spotlight on...

"The Laptop Lifestyle!"

Contrary to what you are mislead to believe, all those Internet videos showing private jets, multi-million dollar mansions, and $250,000 sports cars - not to mention the photoshopped bank statements - are ALL fake! (I really, really hope you already knew that).

The true and genuine "Laptop Lifestyle" simply means living life on your own terms,
in the style that makes you content and at peace with yourself -
in short, a style that makes you HAPPY!

And Trisha and Bruce are DOIN' it!

But two people more at the complete opposite ends of the spectrum, you could not find: Before they met, Trisha was caught up in the stereotypical corporate lifestyle. Complete with the big house in the 'burbs, a white-collar, professional husband, 2.5 kids and a job as an executive secretary for a CEO, wearing dresses and high heels to her 9-to-5 job.

Bruce, on the other (extreme opposite) hand, lived the stereotype "surfer dude" lifestyle. In fact, for some time he lived in Key West, Florida! Yep - in Margaritaville, the land of Jimmy Buffett and cheeseburgers in paradise!

Eventually, though, they managed to "find" each other and discovered they had a mutual desire - an overwhelming PASSION, in fact - to travel the country and escape the humdrum, daily rat race. Their solution: Internet marketing! Marketing on the Internet gave them the means to earn income without being tied down to an office or a desk. They were free to live their dream of travel and adventure, in other words to truly live.....

"The Laptop Lifestyle!"

As Trisha says on their blog:

"With a smart phone and a laptop, you can work from anywhere like we do! We keep it simple so we can spend more time doing what we love, like taking a walk in the woods, cooking over a campfire, celebrating another sunset, hiking up a mountain to view a glorious waterfall, or just snuggling up with a good book or movie."

Fellow Big Dogs, I take great pleasure in introducing two dear friends (and yes, there IS a story behind their nicknames).....

Trisha ("the naked hippie"), and
Bruce ("bat outta hell") Barnes

You're gonna LOVE 'em!

Stan: "Hey, you crazy kids! Great to be chatting with you again. How about telling your fellow Big Dogs a little about yourselves?"

Trisha: "I just turned 62 and feel like I’m still 25 with a lot of life left to live! I entered the adult world right out of high school - got married and settled into my role as wife and then mother to four children."

"Years later, however - divorced and kids raised - , I knew I needed to prepare for my own future. I worked full time as an Executive Assistant to a CEO and absolutely loved the job because it provided an outlet for my creativity and writing skills as, among several other duties, the producer of a monthly corporate newsletter. "

"Then I met Bruce, and my whole world changed! Not only did he revive and refuel a dream of travel and freedom, but he also introduced me to the wonderful world of internet marketing."

Bruce: "I have had the entrepreneur blood coursing through my veins from the first time I saw an ad in the newspaper where I could make a bunch of money (don't laugh!) stuffing envelopes. I have pretty much done it all over the course of my lifetime, but until I met Trisha, nothing really worked as well as I hoped. I wasn’t sure how she would react when she learned I was an internet marketing junkie. I was thrilled she was eager and excited and ready to begin working together to create the means to fund our dream of living and traveling and working from the open road."

"Like Trisha, I was born in a small Missouri town and as soon as I graduated headed to Florida to attend school to escape the winter season. I served in the Coast Guard, worked on tug boats and private yachts, worked in the restaurant business for years in Branson, Missouri and Key West, Florida… but always with the yearning to work for no one but me."

"While I was living in Key West, I made a choice which led to one of the most transformational experiences in my life: A mentor of mine at the time asked me what I would do if time and money were no object and I thought about it and said, 'I’d take off on the road.' Since I had all the time in the world and little money I had the freedom to do just that. So....."

".....I took off on a six month bicycle trip, circumnavigating the Eastern half of the U.S!"

"I learned many valuable lessons on that trip, but most of all I experienced the miracles of generosity and protection when you have no one to rely on except yourself and the Universe. "

"After that wondrous and expansive bicycle trip, I knew I wanted to live a life of traveling the open road, but I decided that next time, it would be an RV with a few more comforts available. Every girl I dated was a potential travel partner, but no one was willing to make an RV a home and the open road the driveway … until I met Trisha. "

"Early on, she continued working the 9-5 while I worked from our living room. Then, when she got home from work, we’d spend the evening working together."

"I had searched all over the world for the perfect girl and found her in my own backyard! I found my travel partner, my business partner and a girl who loved everything about me. Sometimes, I still have to pinch myself because our life is so amazing - beyond what I ever imagined."

...and a wee bit more about us:

"We had a Hippie wedding in the woods and we’re celebrating ten years this year. From the first time we met, we talked about getting an RV and taking off - everyone knew of our dream."

"Now, we had always been avid campers and did that every weekend. Eventually, though, we took a huge leap of faith and decided to become the ULTIMATE 'minimalists:' We got rid of everything in our two bedroom condo, keeping only the absolute essentials we needed, and downsized to live in a tent in a large campground on the banks of the Missouri River for the summer."

"That bold leap brought us the most relaxing and rewarding summer ever!"

"The next year we acquired our RV and became campground managers at the same place we had lived in our tent the previous year. During that time, we had the prosperous opportunity to run a barbeque food stand every Sunday afternoon during a live Blues jam fest."

"Four years later, we knew it was time for another leap of faith … it was time to get the wheels moving on the RV. Trisha quit her 9-5 job and.....

".....we pulled away from our river home in November!"

"During our first year we traveled 18 states and 20,000 miles. from Missouri all the way to the west coast!"

"During all these years together, we have continually and consistently built and branded our business as The Naked Hippies, even the barbeque was promoted as The Naked Hippies Barbeque."

"Our office is usually the cab of our pickup as we travel on down the road or a camp chair pulled up to the campfire. We can work from anywhere there is WiFi service (which is surprisingly prevalent virtually everywhere these days). We always say, 'If these two ol’ laid back and happy hippies can do it, you can too!'”

Stan: "Trisha, we briefly mentioned your Amazon # 1 bestseller 'RV Living: The Naked Hippies Roadtrip.' I am proud and happy to say that you were generous enough to send me a hard copy of your book, and I gotta tell ya, it was an interesting and enlightening read. It almost reads like the screenplay for a movie! I even read it twice. Now, since your book tells the whole story of your physical, mental, and philosophical odyssey in becoming 'The Naked Hippies', as well as maintaining that lifestyle, could you side-track a little and tell us more about your book?"

Trisha: "Glad to, Stan. Has it been easy? Not at all. Building a business takes commitment to see it through no matter what. We’ve had epic success AND epic failures. But we kept going because we’re addicted to our freedom and know that we have everything we need, as long as we stay true to our commitment to do whatever it takes."

"It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been so worth it. So worth the freedom we have …freedom to answer to no one but ourselves, freedom to decide when and where we go, freedom to buckle down and work at something when necessary, and freedom to take the scenic routes whenever we desire. So worth it."

"Some will view our story as a true calling to fuel their own dream of travel freedom. Some have other dreams equally wondrous. That’s why I wrote and published my first book … (available at Amazon here: http://nakedhippiesbook.com) to tell our story of how our dream became reality, but most of all to inspire others to go for their dream, whatever it is, and to do it now. "

"We are proof that those leaps of faith provide access to miracles, gifts and resources that help us get a little farther, learn a little more and continue on the journey. Everything we needed has been provided … just as you, Stan, and Big Dogs came to us at the perfect time."

Stan: "Obviously, then, you guys are certainly not 'newbies' - you have considerable experience in Internet marketing. So just how long have you been marketing on the Internet, and what had your experience been previous to joining Big Dogs?"

Bruce: "Actually, Stan, I think you are gonna chuckle at this: I originally purchased Secrets of the Big Dogs over a decade ago... although I consistently used the principles you outline in the ebook - especially the Ten Secrets in Chapter Three - Trisha and I did not become Alpha Dogs for a full ten years!"

Trisha & Bruce: "We have been marketing on the internet as 'The Naked Hippies' for over 8 years. Been in many different companies, have worked with many amazing people and learned so much along the way. Everything we have done, we see as a stepping stone to the next, then the next."

"Before joining Big Dogs, we had been in various MLMs and affiliate programs. What we learned through all our trials and errors was that traffic is key to building your business. We have used Facebook and YouTube primarily as our marketing platform to get The Naked Hippies in front of people."

"We’ve learned that being real and genuine and transparent is the attractor factor. Pretending to be something you’re not and/or boasting about unimaginable lifestyles of the rich and famous is not what attracts the kind of people you want to work with."

"And most importantly, we learned that helping people get what they want or need is how that turns into getting what we want and need. Promoting every little 'get rich' program is not the answer to truly helping people. Doing the research and getting to know the people behind the product or service is one of our first steps before we commit to promoting anything."

Stan: "What are your general thoughts about the 'Secrets of the Big Dogs' ebook and the Big Dogs program in particular?"

Trisha & Bruce: "Big Dogs aligned with what we knew worked really well … a funnel with an affordable 'get started' offer that over-delivers on value and naturally leads to further opportunities to make money."

"Traffic sources had always been a sort of risk for us. You just didn’t know what kind of traffic you were going to get. Plus, the offers for the 'best' traffic were totally out of our advertising budget."

"Big Dogs provided the answer we needed!"

"Not only did we receive a treasure of education and training from the Big Dogs book, but we had the opportunity to set up the additional income streams from the affiliate traffic sources. It was a win-win for us and we knew that it would be the same for so many others."

"One of the most valuable lessons we have learned through all the years of experience in this industry is to not put all your eggs in one basket - the principle of DIVERSIFICATION that you emphasize in 'Secrets of the Big Dogs.' Companies fail, commissions get blocked, policies change and if you are banking on just one source of income, you’ll have the rug pulled out from under you, leaving you sapped of motivation and desire to continue on."

"That is why we became like Walmart. You know how it is to go to Walmart …. you go in for one thing, and end up with a cart full of other stuff. That’s the same principle we follow. We have lined our shelves with products and tools and platforms that have helped us, but more importantly, that we can recommend to someone when we take the time to find out what their needs are, where they are struggling most in the industry. It’s not a one size fits all industry. People have different skill sets, unique situations and varying goals. If all you can offer them is one 'make money' platform, as if it is the only thing they will ever need, you will find that before long, they are off to another shiny new promise of income."

"But then, there’s Stan and Big Dogs … who has been around for years and years. This is the kind of company that deserves attention and serious respect. This is why Big Dogs continues to be available on our Naked Hippies shelves. It is part of our inventory. Again, it bears repeating that developing a relationship with people and finding out if there is any way you can help them is key to your success in this industry, and from our experience, Big Dogs has provided a simple and profitable solution to those who are struggling to get eyeballs on their offers."

Stan: "What methods of advertising are you currently using to promote Big Dogs"

Trisha & Bruce: "Currently, we promote Big Dogs on our blog under the Menu tab 'How We Do It On the Road:'

http://nakedhippiesroadtrip.us/mobile-business/trisha-hippies-traffic/"

"And, naturally, we have also promoted Big Dogs through the C.H.I.P. programs offered through the Big Dogs platform."

"Big Dogs is something we suggest when someone asks about traffic. In fact, even if someone doesn’t have an advertising budget readily available at first, we always strongly suggest they get the ebook to gain knowledge and understanding about traffic from the best … Stan!"

Stan: "Trisha & Bruce, you two eventually upgraded to Alpha Dog status, and in your first few weeks managed to pop eight ebook sales. Now, I realize that after a few months you guys 'moved on,' so to speak, to devote your time to your TRUE 'life vocation,' which we'll discuss in a moment, but while you were actively promoting 'Secrets of the Big Dogs,' what types of advertising did you use?"

Trisha & Bruce: "The C.H.I.P. program is the first traffic program we have ever invested in and stayed committed to it for 6-12 months. In the past, we followed the hit-and-miss traffic opportunities. That’s the sad thing about all the traffic opportunities that people, especially those new to the industry fall prey to. They (and we have done this, too) chunk over a few hundred dollars for traffic - a one shot kind of “Hail Mary.” It just doesn’t work that way. The key was to add C.H.I.P. to our advertising budget and stay with it for at least six months."

"I use Facebook for advertising, but I don’t spend a dime. As I said previously, I just focus on being ME on Facebook. I care more about building relationships with people than vomiting links all over the place. Again, newbies are wrongly guided to the cut-and-paste, send this message to all your Facebook friends kind of marketing. It just doesn’t work. It’s SOCIAL media. It’s meant for building relationships and the time you invest in doing that results in more sales than the annoying boasts and claims and promises of “DO NOTHING AND THE MONEY ROLLS IN” kind of promotions."

"Even with the solo ads we used for Big Dogs, the first email that goes out is an introduction to the real Bruce and Trisha, the Naked Hippies. Not some slick, shiny gimmick to impress; rather, it’s a 'pull up a chair at the campfire' and let’s talk kind of conversation. Makes a huge difference. We’re always focused on being transparent and real … and available to talk."

Stan: "Now, before we 'put the finishing touches' on your Internet marketing strategies, tell us just a little about what I referred to as your TRUE 'life vocation' No doubt, the rest of your fellow Big Dogs are 'intrigued,' to say the least!"

Trisha: "How many self-help books have you read? How many 'positive affirmations' have you repeated over and over and over? How many methods - visualization, hypnosis, EFT, meditation, etc - have we all tried to change our limiting beliefs?"

"If you have been immersed in personal development for years, even decades, and you’ve seen some results, but still the struggles in life remain no matter how much effort and hard work you do; no matter how much you think positively, meditate and visualize your desires, you’ll be astonished at how quickly and effectively PSYCH-K - the unique method of unlimited personal development - just plain WORKS!"

"Looking back, Bruce and I definitely see results from all the years - all the work we have done to change our lives. We have experienced changes in our personal growth. BUT... it has been a long, arduous process."

"However, in just a few short months, using PSYCH-K, we have experienced phenomenal changes that far surpass what has taken years and years to accomplish."

"As a result, I have become a PSYCH-K Certified Facilitator, Stan, and now Bruce and I are assisting others to achieve their full potential"

Stan: "That IS awesome, guys - a truly worthy goal! In closing, Trisha & Bruce, if you could give just ONE piece of advice to beginning Internet marketers, what would it be?"

Trisha & Bruce: "Find a mentor(s) whose values and ideas and methods and yes, even lifestyle resonates with you. Learn continually from this mentor(s); duplicate what they are doing; and consistently keep on keeping on. Forget about the overnight success hype … you are building a long-range income stream. Hold fast to your commitment, keep learning, stay open to new ideas and opportunities, do something every day and take full responsibility for your results, and always remember to see each person you approach as a real person with needs and desires, rather than as a $ sign to fill your pockets."

Stan: "Trisha, Bruce, I would like to thank you both for a truly interesting and inspiring interview."

"I gotta admit, though. I'm a little jealous of you guys. Personally, I've lived the corporate, business-oriented lifestyle most of my life. Yeah, I've got the house and the cars and the toys, and, although I'm not the gazillionaire that all other Internet gurus are (chuckle), I'm, shall we say, 'comfortable.'"

"But one thing I've learned is that 'comfortable' doesn't necessarily equate with being 'at peace' and having that feeling of fulfillment. I've found that all the 'stuff ' one accumulates requires constant maintenance, cleaning, repair, renovation, updating, and so on and so on. Merely maintaining a lifestyle eventually requires a whole lotta WORK AND TIME!"

"There's a lot to be said for that line that Tyler Durden said in that classic movie 'Fight Club:"

"The stuff you OWN, ends up owning YOU!"

.....and, even more cogently, what the Buddha said:"

"If you own more than a rug, you own too much."