40 Young Bloggers Who Will Get You Excited to Shatter the Template Lifestyle

There are tons of incredible people out there living outside the “template”, creating their own remarkable lifestyles, living wherever they want, building careers they’re passionate about—like-minded rule-breakers like Chris Guillebeau and Tim Ferriss that are preaching similar nonconformity to us here at Untemplater. Those who wake up from the Matrix frequently enjoy sharing their journey with others and helping highlight the unconventional path for those who would follow in their footsteps.

Below are 40 bloggers around the globe—many that I’m really lucky to call friends, several contributors to our team here at Untemplater, some are just cool folks that I look up to for their helpful insight. They are travelers, writers, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, lifestyle designers, digital nomads, location independent freelancers, and otherwise cool people that are consciously living life on their own terms, and providing incredible value to the people around them.

If you need inspiration, motivation, and guidance to build a remarkable lifestyle of your own design, look to these extraordinary individuals:

1. The 9 to 5 Alternative—Alan Perlman grew up in Nashville, TN and now works as a cost-of-living surveyor, traveling to different cities around the world on a global scavenger hunt. He’s always got some incredible photography from each of the cities he visits too. Awesome post: 10 Ridiculously Offbeat Destinations
2. Adventures of A Barefoot Geek—David Turnbull is a Buddhist who writes about minimalist, laid-back life hacking for geeks, including how to achieve peace of mind, mobility and simplicity. Awesome post: Working on the Web and Having a Life: The Complete Guide to Being Free from Mindless Addictions, Busy Work and Procrastination
3. A Life In Translation—Jamie Varon is a 24-year-old who recently graduated from college, moved back home, quit a job in San Francisco after just two weeks, started her own web design company, then bought a one-way ticket to Italy. Awesome post: Rome is Totally NSFW
4. A Little Adrift—Shannon O’Donnell’s blog started with an 11-month solo backpacking trip around the world in 2008, from Australia, through Southeast Asia, India, Nepal, Eastern Europe, the UK, and Ireland. Awesome post: A Little Budget…What I Paid for Around the World Travel
5. Almost Fearless—Christine Gilbert left her job as a manager in a large Fortune 500 Company in July 2008 to become a freelance writer–traveling and working remotely from anywhere, being a digital nomad and homeless vagabond! Awesome post: 30 Ways in 30 Days to Redesign Your Life and Travel the World
6. Business Backpacker—Brooke Ferguson has led adventure travel groups across the US and traveled the world. She’s build a community for digital nomads and vagabond entrepreneurs, and loves to encourage others to create the business & lifestyle of their dreams! Awesome post: Overcoming Suffering and Achieving Lasting Happiness… Words from the Dalai Lama
7. Curious Living—By day, Jessica Stalley works at a 9-5 desk job, and by night she indulges her writing passions by sharing her thoughts on happiness, personal development, health and fitness, relationships and more. Awesome post: Plan of Attack
8. Drop of Change—Carl Nelson helps entrepreneurs, liberation artists, vagabonds and freelancers create change drop by drop in a mindful, sustainable and curious manner. Awesome post: How I Managed to Speak At A Conference When I’d Never Attended One Before
9. Exile Lifestyle—Colin Wright owns a boutique branding studio and has set out on the uncommon mobile lifestyle. He recently spent several months living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and will soon travel to his next destination. Awesome post: How to Have a Personal Renaissance
10. Explore Truth—Veron Graham is a thoughtful young guy from Florida who’s on a spiritual and personal development journey and dares you to critically examine the truth about your life, health, that job you love/hate, and the world around you. Awesome post: The Cure for Common Insanity
11. foXnoMad—Anil Polat is a travel enthusiast whose travel blog has evolved into a resting point to gather information on the best ways and gadgets vagabonds can use to stay in touch, save money, and make the most out of any vacation. Awesome post: Travel Bloggers Share Their Best Posts of 2009
12. Free Pursuits—One day, Corbett Barr realized he didn’t want to work a 9-5 for someone else for 40 years while waiting for retirement, and jumped into self-employment head-first with a 6-month sabbatical in Mexico with his wife. He shares about lifestyle design, travel, entrepreneurship, self-reliance, and balance on his blog. Awesome post: 10 Lessons Learned on a 6-month Sabbatical
13. From Whoa to Go—Caron Margarete is a cool young Aussie gal who’s traveling Asia searching for a way to work for herself and develop a location independent income stream that can support her travels around the world. Awesome post: From Overwhelmed to Online Business Developer
14. Illuminated Mind—Learn Jonathan Mead’s story of liberation and his journey to getting paid to be himself (by doing what he loves). Discover why the world needs you to do what you love and how to find the intersection between what you’re good at, what you’re passionate about, and what people will pay you to do. Awesome post: The Zero Hour Workweek: Get Paid to Be You
15. In Search Of Sanuk—Dwight Turner is a good-hearted guy from Atlanta who moved to Bangkok and built a grassroots volunteer organization to make a difference to the urban poor and refugees in Thailand. His blog challenges readers to create a lifestyle of fun and giving and ignite change in your own communities. Awesome post: 10 Crazy Ways I Changed the World in 2009
16. Jet Set Citizen—John Bardos is a Canadian expat who’s lived in Japan for 12 years, and will soon uproot to live elsewhere. He helps teach people how to be an entrepreneur, master technology and become an avid student of social media and marketing with his personal stories and great interviews with many experienced practitioners of the mobile lifestyle. Awesome post: Can You Retire on $500 per Month?
17. The Life Design Project—After reading The Four Hour Workweek, Robert Granholm started the Life Design Project to see if it was truly possible to create additional income while freeing up time to chase your dreams, and do an incredible job of empirically testing the popularized principles of lifestyle design. Awesome post: Freedom Business | How to: Initial Efforts & Research
18. Life Excursion—David Damron is a minimalist from Northern California, and has found himself all over this little blue planet—volunteering in Tasmania, traveling through Europe and Australia. His mission is to help you develop a lifestyle that is centered around your goals, dreams and passions in life. Awesome post: How to Go from 9-5 on Friday to Aussie Bum by Monday
19. Life of Justin—Justin Wright is a blogger and digital nomad that made an escape from the cubicle and makes a living blogging, writing, and helping others pursue their passions. He is the founder of ZoopMedia and another fan of minimalism. Awesome post: Introducing the Four Day Work Week
20. The Life Thing—Jonny Gibaud is a UK designer, entrepreneur, and writer who recently broke free of the rat race and quit his high-paying and lucrative project management job and left England to explore a more exciting life as a traveling entrepreneur. He recently spent 3 months living in Bangkok. Awesome post: 3 Months In The Life Of A Travelling Entrepreneur
21. Live Uncomfortably—Derek Johansen tries to help others do the unaccustomed every day, to break the cycle of routine and boredom, and push themselves outside their comfort zones to grow and develop. He’s found himself in many an interesting adventure and is also the author of The 007 Lifestyle: Live Like James Bond. Awesome post: 27 Things I’ve Learned While Traveling
22. Location 180—Sean Ogle left his job in October 2009 in pursuit of his dreams. He has an ever-evolving bucket list of the things he hopes to accomplish before he dies and is working hard at crossing items off the list. This year, he’ll be moving to Thailand and working on the Tropical MBA! Awesome post: How to Make an Extra $1,000 in a Month
23. Man Vs. Debt—Adam Baker has declared war on his debt and set out on a world travel adventure with wife Courtney and their 2-year-old daughter Milligan. Baker is one of Untemplater’s founders and he has some great nomad stories to tell from his travels in New Zealand and Australia so far. Awesome post: Travel Hacking for Noobs: How We Save Hundreds on Airfare, Get Free Accommodation, & Make Money while Overseas
24. The Middle Finger Project—Ashley Ambirge flips a cordial bird to all the “shoulds” in life and shares her thoughts on rejecting the status quo and rebelling against mediocrity! Awesome post: Dealt a bad hand in life? Learn How to Snub Your Circumstances & End Up With a Royal Flush
25. Migrationology—Mark Wiens is an Arizona kid that was raised in France, Congo, and Kenya. He got the travel bug and now he spends his time vagabonding throughout Asia trying all of its edible delights. Awesome post: How to Be A Millionaire for US $35.32
26. Muselife—David Walsh is a born entrepreneur, partner in the venture firm Dangerous Ambition, and creator of many services and products to help lifestyle designers with product creation, personal outsourcing, ultramobility and creating the new rich lifestyle. Awesome post: Ultramobility: Everything You Want To Know But Were Afraid To Ask
27. My Egg Noodles—Chris Osborne is a blogger from London who writes about his three biggest passions: food, working online, and travel. He’s currently building his web design company, Gut Shot Studios, while traveling throughout Asia. Awesome post: 2009 recap
28. Nerdy Nomad—Kirsty Henderson has been traveling since January 2008 living off earnings from the web. Follow her as she bums around Asia and beyond, getting up to mischief and working online as she gos. Awesome post: Life in Rural Indonesia Post Earthquake
29. Nomadic Matt’s Travel Site—Matt Kepnes is a twenty-something from Boston who decided to leave the rat race after a trip to Thailand in 2005, finished his MBA, quit his job, and has been vagabonding around the globe regularly since 2006. He shares his travel stories as well as insights on how to create recurring income on the web with his guide to Making Money with Your Travel Blog. Awesome post: One Skill Travel Has Really Taught Me
30. Nomadic Neil—Neil is a guitar player, world traveler, and aspiring internet entrepreneur who woke up one day and said: “F**k it”. He decided to move to Koh Lanta, Thailand, and dedicate himself to creating a sustainable location independent income through internet marketing and other online means. Awesome post: New Year’s Values
31. PluginID—Glen Allsop left the UK and lived in South Africa when he was 18, not knowing a single soul there. His goal is to help others “Plug into their Identity” and awaken, inspire, and motivate readers into seeing that they can be who they want to be and live the life they want to live. Awesome post: Problems are Memories: How to Become Present
32. The Professional Hobo—In 2006, Nora Dunn got rid of all of her belongings and sold he business in Toronto, Canada in order to free herself up for the adventure of a lifetime. Since then, she has been traveling with her boyfriend Kelly, both in their own country and abroad. Awesome post: My 3 Best Kept Travel Secrets
33. Rcthink—Ross Collicut is a cross between an adrenaline junkie and a geek that programs and loves tech toys, who was recently in Australia and New Zealand on a 4 month break from school and work. Awesome post: Creating the Life List
34. SEA|change Project—Brittany Sims is an Oregon girl who’s traveling Southeast Asia in the search for social entrepreneurs and innovative changemakers. She’s a gutsy solo traveler who recently spent a month living in Cambodia! Awesome post: This is Why I am in Asia
35. Tales from Technomadia—Chris Dunphy & Cherie Ve Ard are two gen-X geeks and digital nomads traveling, living, working and playing across the US in a small solar powered RV, embracing nomadic serendipity. Awesome post: Answers to Common Excuses not to Travel Full-Time
36. Thrilling Heroics—I had to include my site here! About 14 months ago, I sold everything I owned and moved to Thailand. Now I earn my income online, working for companies across the US, Europe, and around the world, and stretch my dollar living and traveling around Southeast Asia. Awesome post: My Christmas Update: Reflections After 1 Year Living Abroad
37. Two Backpacks—Pilates instructor, ealth blog writer, and traveling gypsy Amber Zuckswert decided to carry her life on her back one day, and now she’s traveling with two backpacks through Australia and sharing the mobile live/work lifestyle with you! Awesome post: Define Your Nomad Style
38. Upgrade Reality—Dirk “Diggy” de Bruin is a 22-year-old guy who was born in Amsterdam and raised in South Africa. His blog is all about helping you create the best world for you through personal development, self improvement and learning. Awesome post: Be True to Yourself – Tyler Durden Style
39. Voyagner—Dan Haneveer is an Australian who decided to take a voyage out of the normal life society says we should aspire to into the one that he actually cares about. Voyagner is his journalistic account of living, working, exploring, traveling and generally enjoying everything this wonderful world has to offer. Awesome post: My Plan to Move to South East Asia
40. Working Your Way Around the World—This site grew out of Thursday Bram’s own experiences working from places all over the globe. She has run her freelance writing business from a Georgian townhouse in Dublin, a motel off of I-70 somewhere in Indiana and all over the world. Awesome post: Traveling Without Choosing Digital: Consider Government