GAFFL was just featured in some of the best news websites in the world, including Travel+ Leisure, Yahoo, and Lifehacker. The site helps adventurers find travel buddies to share costs and experiences around the world. With a user base from over 150 countries, we are growing every day. This whole journey started when we ditched our desk jobs and started building GAFFL.

From our experiences and stories from our users, we have curated these few steps you can take to ditch that desk job you don’t want to do.

1. Stop Buying Things You don’t Need: How many things have you purchased in the last 3 months that you barely use or have not used at all? Ask yourself. If you are buying too many things and building up that credit card loan, stop doing that. Start saving. We bootstrapped GAFFL from scratch to post-revenue with our savings. As you are making money, you are spending money too. Now, there are things you need to pay for like groceries, car insurance, etc. But when you buy things you do not need, your economical life becomes a leaky bucket. Every new unnecessary thing you are purchasing, you are taking one step away from independence.
2. Sell Unnecessary things: If you have too many things in your home that you do not use and other people are willing to pay for, sell them! I still feel super guilty when I see things I never use laying around in my place. There are tons of websites to sell things on. Use them!
3. Downgrade: If you are single and living in a big apartment or paying too much on your mortgage, downgrade! Rent out your unused space, have roommates or just sell it and move into a smaller cozy apartment. If you really start traveling and become a nomad, you will barely be at home anyway.
4. Look for remote work: There are lots of remote work options nowadays. I met an amazing user last month, who left her engineering position and now teaches English to kids in China. She makes less money but she is really happy about her life. She loved the fact that she could fly anywhere she wanted the next day and still work on her own time!
5. Try to eat at home: This is really important. By doing groceries and eating at home, you not only save a lot of money but also become much healthier. Even if you buy good quality groceries, eating at home can save you a lot of money. While traveling, you can always find Airbnbs and hostels with kitchens as well.
6. Have the courage to do that: This is the most important trait of all. Every day a lot of people think about leaving their jobs to become independent and travel the world. Most don’t do anything about it, wake up the next morning, and go back to the same old job they don’t want to do. You have to take that step. There are uncertainties ahead but the feeling of independence is unreal. At least try to find a job you will love!

As we meet more and more GAFFL users, we hear tons of inspiring stories about how a lot of our users have ditched their desk jobs to travel more and be independent. If you have an awesome story, feel free to share it with us. If you need advice on what to look for in a travel buddy check out this article we wrote. You can also find travel buddies around the world below.