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WOW! My Interview With Entrepreneur Karol Gajda
Today I have a special interview from Karol Gajda of ridiculouslyextraordinary.com. As you all know, I spend a lot of time reading other blogs, and came across Karol’s by way of an interview he did on manvsdebt.com. I bookmarked his blog after reading this post on achieving goals, that has since been my daily motivator. I asked Karol to do an interview for Jinij and he agreed, to my surprise.
So, without further delay the first ever interview on jinij.com with Karol Gajda.
Jay: Hello Karol! Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview. How are you today and where are you today?
Karol: I’m awesome, thanks! I’m at my Parents’ house in Michigan before I depart on a one way ticket to India in 12 days.
Jay: Some of the readers on jinij do not know who you are, so please give them a brief history and a little on how you spend your time these days.
Karol: I am a lifelong entrepreneur and have worked for myself for almost 10 years. Last year I sold almost all of my possessions, packed everything up into a 32L backpack, and started traveling. I work while on the road, which is the beauty of having a Freedom business.
Jay: Please tell us a about Ridiculouslyextraordinary.com.
Karol: My goal with my Web site is to help 100 people achieve Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom. That involves not just the specifics of how to run a business, but also mindset and motivation.
Jay: On Ridiculously Extraordinary you encourage people to live their dreams now and stop putting it off. What was your encouragement to start living your dreams?
Karol: I achieved a level of success I thought I wanted (money, expensive car, house, etc) and then I got bored and depressed. I needed to make what I call a Drastic Life Change. And it’s more than just living your
dreams. It’s figuring out which dreams are the right dreams. That means figuring out what you truly want vs what you think you need.
Jay: You are on the move a lot, how do you keep track of your expenses?
Karol: My budgeting system has always been very simple. I don’t budget and I don’t track. The way I was raised we were naturally mindful of expenses. I got a checking account at a very young age (I think I was 10 or 11) and have always had an easy grasp of inflow vs outflow. I don’t spend recklessly and I travel using frequent flier miles, CouchSurfing, and hostels.
Jay: What do you think about mint.com an all the praise it has received?
Karol: Although I joined when it first came out I canceled my account a short time later. I’m a fan of technology and it seemed like a useful site for most people. But like I said, since I don’t need to budget, it was useless to me.
Jay: Many people find it hard to make sacrifices to build the lives they want, what are some of the sacrifices you made to build your business and were they worth it?
Karol: That’s a great question and a little bit difficult to answer because I sacrificed a lot in the early years of my business. I failed a lot and I basically went to school and worked. I had a girlfriend and went out with friends occasionally, but my social life was very inactive. In retrospect I know I overdid it.
Jay: Do you think you would have reached your goals without making those sacrifices?
Karol: That’s very difficult to speculate. Based on my confidence in myself I know I can do anything so I think I still would have reached my goals. The path to success would probably have been a little different.
Jay: Do you have any financial advice for travelers like yourself?
Karol: Yes, if you do have a budget, tack on an extra 30%. 
Everything seems to end up being a little bit more expensive than we first think it’s going to be.
Jay: Well, thank you again Karol and have a great time in India. We wish you save travels.
Karol: Thanks Jay! I appreciate you taking the time to e-mail me.
Follow Karol on Twitter and on his blog Ridiculously Extraordinary.
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