Adventures in Anony-Blogging

We've Been Outed

 

As you could tell from Mr. Wow's latest post, we are wandering again.  Because of this, today's post will be a short, but fun one.  It all happened a few months back.

 

Tales of Being an Anonymous Blogger

 

Like many others in this blogosphere, the Mr and I have chosen to remain anonymous.  While we don't have any one specific reason for maintaining our anonymity, we just haven't come around to blasting our names or faces on our blog yet.

But that doesn't mean that we have been hiding in a hole or walking around with bags over our heads either.

At the beginning of the year, we were asked to be guests on a few of our favorite podcasts: Bigger Pockets Money and the FIRE Drill Podcast.

Now, being the podcast junkie that I am, I couldn't resist the offer.  And let me tell you, it is an unbelievable experience to be an avid listener and then get the opportunity to be a guest on the show. So big thanks to Scott and Mindy, as well as J and Gwen!

 

"Hey, are you...?"

 

So a few days after our episode went live, I received an interesting message on Facebook Messenger.

I froze for a second.

I then immediately texted Mr.Wow.  And by immediately, I mean a few minutes later according to the time stamp.

For the sake of keeping my friend's identify hush-hush, I will refer to him as "Tyrone".

 

The Back Story

 

Tyrone and I had been friends for years and used to hang out all the time.  But then he moved and life got in the way.

We lost touch.

We had only seen each other once in the last couple of years and had barely talked.

 

Back to The Message

 

After I got over the initial "Oh shit! What is he going to think?", I immediately found myself smiling.

Why you ask?

Because being an anonymous blogger is tough.  I can't talk about blogging with my family; can't talk about it with my friends.  But it's such a big part of my life.

I lead a double life.

It's one reason that I have loved meeting other bloggers and people within the FIRE community at local meet ups, Chautauqua, and FinCon.

Actually at FinCon a bunch of us anony-bloggers confided in the fact that we finally felt like we could talk about our blog life, uncensored.  It was glorious!

 

Shout out to Tyrone if you are reading this!!

 

But now I had a friend IRL.  One who shared a similar mindset and now knew about my blog.

What a relief!

 

Everything Happens For a Reason

 

Following us being outed, we met up with Tyrone for dinner a few weeks later.  He mentioned that Joel, one of his co-workers (now ex co-worker, more on this in a minute), also wanted to meet us.

We had a wonderful dinner, talking about everything from investing to real estate, lifestyle changes to getting spouses on board... you know, the usual FIRE topics.

 

We then got to hear about Joel's fascinating story: how he wakes up at 5am everyday, how he's bought a bunch of investment properties, and how he had just given his notice.  Not gonna lie, Mr. Wow was way jealous. Not of the early wake up call or real estate part, but the whole quitting his job thing.

Since then, Joel has started an awesome blog where he shares his adventures in fun-employment, real estate, and his 5am email lists.  He's also become a regular in our ChoseFI local group and a friend.

 

All because of Tyrone's mad sleuth skills, my FIRE-minded community grew.   I reconnected with an old friend and gained a new, awesome buddy.

 

By the way, if you're looking for a new read from a really interesting and fun guy, be sure to check out Joel's blog:  5am Joel.  He has inspired me to start waking up earlier and has inspired Mr.Wow to start going commando.  Big thanks for my inspiration Joel, but WTF with the underwear.

 

For those of you who are anonymous, have you been outed yet?  How did it happen?