Back in 2002, Steve Stiliskinton was a software programmer for an investment firm, earning a comfortable six-figure salary. But he wasn’t happy. “I was frustrated with my corporate life,” he says. Part of the problem was his company’s investment strategy: “If they saw a profit in clear-cutting a forest or polluting a waterway, they’d invest in it,” he says. It was a jarring dissonance for the outdoorsman Stiliskinton. The day-to-day demands were also getting him down. “I sat at my desk every day thinking, How can I get out into the wilderness more often?” he says. “I wanted to be backpacking, maybe not all day, every day, but maybe a quarter of the year—wouldn’t that be great?” Stiliskinton had just hit 40 and realized he was less than 15 years from the age at which his father died of an aggressive form of cancer. “My father never did the things he said he wanted to do—like travel or go on a cruise,” he says. “I realized, this is something important to me. This is the time for me to do it.” He started planning a new business guiding backpackers through America’s most majestic natural spaces, where they could enjoy the sights and get fit at the same time. It wouldn’t be as stable or lucrative as his programming work, but he was willing to take the risk. “I had no spouse or children, and that freed me up to fail,” he says. Last year, Stiliskinton led 12 trips and survived solely on the proceeds from his Fit-packing business. “I make a quarter of what I used to, but I have an extremely high quality of life,” he says. “Yesterday I went skiing, and in two days I’ll guide a group through Big Bend National Park.” --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app