Join host Lorie Jones as she welcomes the unstoppable Lina Stock, co-founder of Divergent Travelers, to today’s episode!
Lina shares her inspiring journey from a successful finance career to traveling the globe, visiting over 30 countries and building a thriving travel-media business. With awards from National Geographic and a track record of breaking through the male-dominated travel-media industry, Lina’s story is a testament to following your passion despite the odds.
You will hear about her fearless choices, strategic insights, and the bold moves that made her dreams a reality. Tune in to discover how Lina Stock’s journey can inspire you to carve your own unique path as a fearless female leader!
Show Highlights:
- Gain lessons in pathmaking for unstoppable momentum. [00:04:44]
- Why corporate experience is invaluable in business. [11:39.7]
- Consider this if you haven’t digitalized your business yet. [00:13:12]
- The power of trusting your calling beyond lip service. [00:13:53]
- Is fearlessness the ultimate game-changer in life? [00:18:02]
- Avoid this mistake before forming business partnerships. [00:22:27]
- Discover financial wisdom to apply to a new venture. [00:27:57]
- How life partners can successfully work together. [00:33:34]
- Can women claim spaces in male-dominated travel media? [00:35:15]
- Find out how you can become a trailblazing Lina Stock. [00:38:58]
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review!
For more information about Lorie Jones, go to http://fearless-females.com/
00:01.37
loriejones7
Good morning. So we are here with Lena Stock. She is the owner of Divergent Travelers. um And I am so excited to chat with her today. like this is If I had to have an idol that wasn't finance, Lena would be my idol. She has my dream job, and I am so excited to get to talk to her today. Thank you so much, Lena, for coming. on
00:26.32
Lina Stock
Aw, that's so flattering. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here and share my story and hope I can inspire other women to kind of break from the mold and follow their dreams.
00:38.16
loriejones7
I love it. I love it. Well, let's get started with my favorite question, which is always, ah what's your favorite book?
00:46.62
Lina Stock
So I actually struggled with this question when you sent it over to me. I was like, uh, I don't know. I don't really have a favorite book. I like to watch shows. and I read everything but then I started thinking like what book has had like the most profound influence in my life and it became very clear that it was The Subtle Art of Not Giving an F by Mark Manson and as a type A ah very organized type individual I tend to give an F about everything and so that book really helped me kind of
01:20.29
Lina Stock
compartmentalize like what really matters and what you know, like what I should be giving my effort to and it's helped me a lot as a grow as a person and as a business owner and it's really just offered a lot of clarity. So I would say that that's my favorite book.
01:33.72
loriejones7
That's really interesting because I do think that, um, I, I had a person that I was speaking to just recently and she's like, I think you get the idea that it's just a spreadsheet, you know, she was like, in this scheme of things, like, is this really the, the be all and end all of like, is this really 20 years down the road, what you're going to remember, or is this just a spreadsheet?
01:57.59
Lina Stock
Yeah.
01:57.61
loriejones7
So I love that idea.
01:58.66
Lina Stock
Yeah. Yeah. It's, and that's, I kind of think back to like some of the concepts in the book, you know, as I'm approaching different things, you know, and he talks about an F jar. And so like, I always think like, okay, your F jar is full. I'm like, you don't give those out for free. Like you really got it. Like you have a limited amount of them. And so you really want to think about like how you're designating that type of passion and energy
02:17.03
loriejones7
huh
02:22.17
Lina Stock
throughout your day and your life and the things that you do. And so that's really helped me a lot to just like de-stress and declutter my life. And that's been really, I think monumental and you know being successful long-term as well.
02:33.88
loriejones7
Oh, that's so interesting. I'll have to look at that because I am one of those that scatters attention far and wide. And then I think you don't really focus in on exactly what
02:44.47
Lina Stock
Yeah.
02:44.80
loriejones7
builds you and brings you passion and makes a difference in this world. Well, thanks.
02:49.13
Lina Stock
Yeah.
02:49.26
loriejones7
Thank you for the suggestion.
02:50.19
Lina Stock
Yeah.
02:51.04
loriejones7
I'll have to look and a look at that.
02:51.41
Lina Stock
ah
02:53.07
loriejones7
So tell us a little bit about your journey. um What do you do? How did you get where you are today? Talk to us just a little bit about where you're at and how you got there.
03:02.36
Lina Stock
Sure. So I today, in today's sense, I would say that I am a business owner. I'm self-employed. My husband and I work together and we have created our own company. And we do professional media creation for companies in the travel industry. And we do photography and video. We also have a website where we share our travel stories. um and help people plan their own trips and as well as social media. So we we aim to inspire and above all get people out there traveling and to share our adventures and and to help people plan their their travels.
03:40.63
Lina Stock
um It's kind of a long story, but I'll make it brief as possible. Um, I actually have a degree in finance. Uh, when I graduated, I know, right. When I graduated from high school, I was like, what can I do?
03:52.77
loriejones7
Thanks.
03:54.56
Lina Stock
You know, like I want to do marketing, but I was just like, which I really should have done marketing 2020 hindsight. But I was like, I want to be able to like make money, you know? So finance was, was where I ended up. And, um, It wasn't my calling. Like, I don't regret that I did, but it wasn't.
04:13.76
loriejones7
I love it. Like I just I just told you I'm like, I love what I do.
04:14.86
Lina Stock
right
04:17.56
loriejones7
I love finance. And you can see the look on your face. Like not everybody loves finance Lori. So I love I think that's hilarious.
04:25.41
Lina Stock
and But I'm grateful that I have that understanding. I think, you know, having that degree and then after I worked in banking and and um I also did a lot of advanced marketing stuff through high school and college and all of that kind of is like what put me in a position to where I could be where I am today and be a successful business owner. So it's kind of like there's no like one path. Like you have to have these little pieces that come together to get you where you're trying to go. At least that's what I really believe in. um But anyways, long story short, degree in finance, ended up working in banking, always loved to travel, always had an interest in photography, um was also into horses, so I used to really um show horses a lot. We used to own a horse farm, I used to work for Olympic riders, so that was something I was also very passionate about. But my other true love was travel.
05:11.92
Lina Stock
And so while working a full time job like I used to travel a lot like I had been to over 30 countries while working full time just squeaking out those long weekends and using all my PTO and
05:12.24
loriejones7
hu
05:23.31
Lina Stock
um My husband and I got married, and we went on our honeymoon in Southeast Asia, and it was our for my first time to Asia. And we were we did the dirty hostel thing.
05:30.71
loriejones7
Uh-huh.
05:33.22
Lina Stock
you know like And it wasn't because we couldn't afford something better.
05:34.18
loriejones7
Uh-huh.
05:35.94
Lina Stock
I just wanted that like gritty, true travel experience, and it just happened to be our honeymoon. So we were sitting in a hostel one night, and the community aspect of hostels is great, and you meet lots of people from all over the world. And there was these people sitting there talking about how they had taken a year off to travel, and I was like eavesdropping from across the room. I was like, can you believe what they're saying? They're traveling for a whole year. So it really piqued my interest. like Americans don't really, you know we don't know anything about gap years. It's not part of the plan. you know The American dream is that you graduate school, you go to college, you meet somebody, you know you get married, white picket fence, have kids, work until you retire, and then maybe there's time for travel if you've done everything right.
06:20.84
Lina Stock
So that was kind of the track that we were on and we hadn't really thought about anything other than just, sorry. using just harassing me. Sorry.
06:33.66
Lina Stock
um So that was kind of the track that we were on. And we didn't really think about anything else.
06:37.72
loriejones7
Mm
06:39.58
Lina Stock
And so that that really was that moment, there was that little spark. And so I jumped over there and just kind of started having this conversation.
06:46.16
loriejones7
hmm.
06:47.99
Lina Stock
And these people had like taken a year off to travel. And they were backpacking and had to save money and they were just doing their own thing and so I just basically became very obsessed with it and so we got home from our honeymoon and I just started googling and then I found out about travel blogs and the next thing you know I was like I gotta do this like it just it was a calling that that needed to be answered and
07:12.45
loriejones7
Mm hmm.
07:13.43
Lina Stock
You know, long story short, we ended up starting a website. We went to a conference, you know, and people at the conference. This is back when like having a website and kind of doing this as a job was very new. Like it wasn't even really a career and people were making career money out of it. They were just doing it with money they had saved or as a gap year.
07:28.71
loriejones7
Mm
07:31.38
Lina Stock
And so we went to a conference.
07:32.11
loriejones7
hmm.
07:34.31
Lina Stock
And people were figuring out ways to make money and they had they didn't have any business background. They didn't have the corporate experience that like David and I both had. And so we looked at each other and we're like, well, if they can figure it out, we should be able to take all of these years we've spent in corporate America and really be able to do something with this.
07:53.37
loriejones7
Mmhmm.
07:53.93
Lina Stock
So we kind of brought up a business plan and it wasn't the main idea, like the main idea was to go traveling. The business was just kind of like bycatch, if you will. And once we started traveling, we started figuring out how to make it a business and then we're like, okay, well, this is going to sustain us for traveling. And just one thing led to another and we started networking, going to conferences and building our portfolios and our client list and Here we are. I mean, we've been doing this full time for 11 years now.
08:25.24
Lina Stock
So yeah, it's funny how things ah work out that way.
08:25.30
loriejones7
Mm hmm.
08:30.44
loriejones7
I think, I think that something that I was told years ago that I thought was really interesting, because I was on that trajectory, always, you go to college, you get this, you know, you job, you work really hard, and then yeah, you retire. That's like the way we were taught, right?
08:45.90
Lina Stock
Absolutely.
08:47.23
loriejones7
And, and I had a friend that was like, you know, she was talking about different family members that had made a career out of the things that they loved their passion, what they love to do. And it was the first time I'd ever really kind of considered that you could make your love into something that you also loved doing. Luckily, I love finance, so that's great. But but um that I think that for maybe those that don't, that it's hard to think of like making art
09:22.95
loriejones7
into something that is is not only a passion, but a career too. So you don't have to dredge through your job all day and then go home to do what you really love to do.
09:28.78
Lina Stock
Yeah.
09:33.39
loriejones7
You get to do what you love all day long. I think that's amazing that you've managed to to figure that out.
09:35.56
Lina Stock
yeah
09:39.93
Lina Stock
Yeah, and it's it's definitely been a learning curve you know because entering like as a blogger back then, and I do parentheses because blogging wasn't a thing. like People had blogs where they vented about things in their lives, but they it wasn't a business. And like coming into blogging and making a business, we were kind of coming into a world that already existed, and and we were labeled as new media. But it was kind of this confluence of professional photographers meets professional writers, like travel writers. like And we were here suddenly at this convergence between these two places that had already exist for print media and very in like digital media wasn't even really a thing like.
10:20.44
Lina Stock
And we were blowing it out of the water and all of a sudden there was this, this sector that was now competing on the photography side, but also on the the writing side, but we owned our own platforms.
10:30.20
loriejones7
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
10:31.44
Lina Stock
So we had full editorial control over everything. And I think that's why blogging has been elevated so much as part of this industry, because it's, it's this place where we can connect with people in a direct way and we don't have to go through hoops or, or have something that's just like one editorial track. Like we can put a personality behind it.
10:50.82
loriejones7
Yeah, I like that. Did you find that your your background in finance and your background in corporate America, did that help with this whole process as you were building that business?
11:02.75
Lina Stock
Oh, absolutely. Because that's, you know, going back to that reference of like travel photographers and and travel writers, it it was like very much used to be it about who you knew. And like you weren't necessarily the best photographer all the time or the best writer. I mean, don't get me wrong, a lot of a lot of them are great, but you didn't have to be if you had the right connections. We're having business sense wasn't something that was like, built into a lot of these people. And even today, like we meet a lot of the the older photographers that are still trying to, you know, stay in the print publication game, you know, and, and, and shoot for various publications, they they don't have the business sense.
11:41.23
Lina Stock
They don't have, they're they're always asking us like at conferences, like, how do you make this work?
11:45.26
loriejones7
Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
11:46.49
Lina Stock
How do you do this you guys are so successful you have so many clients here traveling all the time and how do you make it work i've been doing this for fifty years and i still haven't figured it out it's like well we we came from corporate america like. I don't know what it is, but it was having that mentality from the beginning shaping us into being a successful business owner. So we kind of always have that in the back of our mind of like, this is how it worked when we were in corporate America. And so we take that and we apply that to the successes, you know, the tracks in our own business. And that's what helps us be successful.
12:23.80
loriejones7
That's so interesting, like looking at um travel and your passion and blogging as a return on investment kind of i idea with, you know, like a profit margin and all those traditional business sort of things.
12:31.51
Lina Stock
Yeah.
12:36.66
loriejones7
That's so interesting because he kids you that would be pretty unique in that space too, I think.
12:36.78
Lina Stock
Yeah.
12:42.09
Lina Stock
Yeah, and and now, especially like with print publications essentially dying, a lot of the you know freelance travel writers come to us. you know How did I start a blog? How do I how do i do this? like how How can I be successful like you? Because all my old style avenues are drying up and I haven't built a business that circulates around my brand. So they're finding themselves you know struggling as the world adapts to digital media and people who have you know built really solid businesses. you know creating content in the travel space.
13:14.52
loriejones7
So, Lina, tell me if you could look back and say, I'm so glad I did this one thing. Like what is the best investment you've made in yourself through your journey?
13:26.36
Lina Stock
I would say it's 100% just trusting my instincts. I know that that's really cliche to say that, but like even all the way back to the beginning, trusting that that feeling that I had, just deep down, like like i I need to do this. like I remember approaching my husband and I was like, yeah want to quit our jobs and sell our house and travel the world for two years. And he was like, you're kidding. And I looked at him and I said, like, I need to do this. I don't want to do this. I need to do this.
13:57.03
Lina Stock
It was like this visceral calling that I had.
13:57.33
loriejones7
Mm hmm.
14:00.58
Lina Stock
I just, I couldn't think about anything else. I couldn't think about where my current life was going anymore. It was everything was just pointing towards
14:08.15
loriejones7
Mm
14:09.17
Lina Stock
This calling that I had and I think the biggest thing the biggest investment I made myself was to trust my instincts to just go with that and it was scary I mean liquidating your life and quitting your job and and Doing something that is completely Unconventional with everybody from every direction coming at you and being like you're wrong You're doing something stupid like you're throwing your life away like it was just endless and just being like nope
14:11.27
loriejones7
hmm.
14:38.03
Lina Stock
there's something here and just staying the course and 11 years later being like, no, I'm free. I get to call the shots of my own life.
14:49.20
loriejones7
How did you have the courage to trust those instincts back then because that because you're right. They're scary. I am not sure I could do it.
14:56.97
Lina Stock
I don't know. And that's like, people say that all the time. Like when we're, we meet people and we get to know them and we tell them our story. They're always like, wow, you guys were so brave. You know, that took a lot of courage and it It's hard to explain because it wasn't, it didn't really feel like that at the time.
15:12.78
loriejones7
Mm hmm.
15:13.84
Lina Stock
It's hard to explain when you just have this calling. It's, it just, it felt right. You know, so it really wasn't, I mean, there there were times when it was like, oh man, are we sure? You know, like when you're thinking about that last paycheck that comes, you know, and when you, when you're signing the papers on the house that you designed on a napkin in a Mexican restaurant and built yourself and you're selling it, you know, like,
15:24.12
loriejones7
Mm-hmm.
15:34.58
Lina Stock
They're like, okay, this is getting real. All along, it just, we never wavered. There wasn't one second at all that I doubted myself.
15:47.40
loriejones7
Oh, I love that idea. I really do. I think that that's that idea of being fearless. You know, it's it's not that you weren't scared to death.
15:53.41
Lina Stock
Yeah.
15:55.64
loriejones7
It's that you had the conviction that you knew this was where you were going and and you couldn't see one foot in front of your face as far as what it would look like.
15:56.04
Lina Stock
Yeah.
16:01.86
Lina Stock
yeah
16:06.86
loriejones7
And you do have a bunch of people telling you, hey, this is crazy. Are you crazy?
16:12.09
Lina Stock
Oh, yeah, and it was it was it was coming from everyone from my parents, his parents, our bosses, our co workers, our friends, they were just like, at first, they're like, Oh, yeah, that sounds so cool. And then we started selling stuff. They were like, Are you really doing that?
16:26.96
loriejones7
Yeah, that sounds cool.
16:27.97
Lina Stock
You're gonna that?
16:28.53
loriejones7
I'm very, but in actual practice, are we sure that's where we're headed? i I actually, as you're talking about that, it's just, it's really interesting to me, the parallels, because, you know, like in finance, finance is engender in general, it's a lot of older white man and there's not a lot that look like me and act like me and and coming at at finance with this authentic sort of you know, like I have kids and I I live in the real world and I I'm very open and authentic about that but but
17:04.78
loriejones7
you're told all the time, well, you can't do it unless you're you know in your three-piece suit and you behave this way and this is the way you sell and this is the way you talk. And and and they don't and and i I feel so strongly that I need to bring my whole self to this piece. So I i think that's really interesting, the the parallels that we have there, just that Maybe it'll give me the courage to be fearless and stand strong.
17:34.44
loriejones7
Girls can do fine.
17:34.51
Lina Stock
I hope so. That's right, girls can do it too.
17:39.08
loriejones7
So what about the worst advice that someone gave you? Can you think of a piece of advice that you're like, oh, that was really bad. And did you take the advice? Did you not take the advice? what
17:51.64
Lina Stock
I would say it was all the noise around our decision, ah you know just to to stay in the corporate world, to not sell the house, to just stay the course. you know like youre it just It was just constant. sin And people that we respect you know and people that we've taken advice from through all the years you know coming at us from different angles and trying to tell us that it was a mistake, yeah that that was the worst advice. you know it really
18:19.43
loriejones7
Mm
18:20.51
Lina Stock
people trying to tell me that what I was feeling was wrong and that I needed to sleep it off or just take a couple of weeks and go travel and come back. And absolutely didn't take the advice. I didn't take the advice. you know I was like, oh, heck no. you know And there's some moments like my job offered me more money. you know My husband's job offered him more money. And there was you know some sweet deals coming our way to try and disrupt it.
18:45.51
loriejones7
hmm.
18:48.58
Lina Stock
um And then later we found out that that they were betting against us like they literally had office fools going to see how soon we would be back.
18:55.32
loriejones7
ah wow
18:58.13
Lina Stock
Yeah. um So yeah, suffice to say, we did not take their advice. um And you you you learn who your friends are, you know, and And I mean, not, I don't expect people to understand, you know, like not everybody's wired to take chances or, or disrupt their lives or uproot, you know, everything they have.
19:15.57
loriejones7
Oh
19:20.13
Lina Stock
And it wasn't easy.
19:22.01
loriejones7
wow.
19:22.02
Lina Stock
And yeah, we didn't listen. I didn't listen.
19:28.12
loriejones7
So did you go back? I mean, did some of those people that were telling you don't do this, don't do this? How many how many years has it been now? like
19:36.70
Lina Stock
It's been, We've had the business for 11 years and we've been traveling for 10 years full time.
19:41.03
loriejones7
Yeah.
19:41.76
Lina Stock
um
19:42.60
loriejones7
So 10, 11 years on, have have some of those that have they come back and said, yeah, you were right or not?
19:51.65
Lina Stock
Um, no one's admitted that we were right. Even our parents, like we're both, we're both very close with our parents. I'm very close to my parents and they, they've never said, well, you were right. They're very supportive.
20:04.08
loriejones7
yeah
20:04.25
Lina Stock
Uh, I think they don't understand. They don't understand how it works. Um, how can you make money on the internet? You know, like, uh, so there's a lot of explaining and just trying to put references between like what we do and like something that's maybe familiar.
20:16.88
loriejones7
Yeah. Uh huh.
20:20.47
Lina Stock
or just explaining that like it's like any other business owner like we're like any other small business you know around we just don't have a brick and mortar we work from our computers and um but yeah nobody's been like oh yeah you were right like there's just a lot of people who just kind of disappeared in the void and
20:26.06
loriejones7
here
20:38.53
loriejones7
Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. but It really is interesting your idea about you kind of find out who your friends are. I think there are certain situations where you go through where you just, you you really find that bedrock of people that are on your side no matter what.
20:52.81
Lina Stock
Yeah. and And that's the thing. And like so many of the people in the corporate world that we spent so much time with all the, I mean, you work with people, you're with them 40 hours a week, you know, they're part, they're your family. I mean, your coworkers are your family one way or another, you know, whether it's toxic or it's great or whatever, they're still your family.
21:06.91
loriejones7
Yeah.
21:10.03
Lina Stock
And it was just people like that who are just totally betting against you. And then when you don't come back, you know, to prove them right, then they just literally you never hear from him again. You're just like, wow. Okay.
21:22.76
loriejones7
Yeah, yeah, oh.
21:24.10
Lina Stock
Whatever. Yeah.
21:27.19
loriejones7
What about looking back? Is there a situation um that you would have handled differently, that you wish, if you knew what you know now, you would have gone back and handled that situation a little bit differently?
21:41.91
Lina Stock
Um, are you talking like business wise or like picking up and leaving wise or?
21:47.05
loriejones7
Justin? Yeah, just in your journey. like you You've had a professional journey here. You own your own business. you you know You do this blogging for a living, but is there something that you're like, you know knowing what I know now, I would go back and change the way I handled that or the way I did that that thing.
22:06.24
Lina Stock
Sure. ah ah There's There's been little things here and there. um We're pretty good. I'm pretty good at really feeling out a situation. Having clear goals defined I think is super important. And that kind of helps avoid
22:21.18
loriejones7
Some of those regrets.
22:23.02
Lina Stock
some of that. It's inevitable that you're going to get into into that. I mean, there's things that we've done, decisions we've made in our business that I don't want to say we've regret regretted. I'm a really a no regrets kind of person.
22:34.80
loriejones7
Uh-huh.
22:36.94
Lina Stock
um I try to make sure I have like good conviction behind my decisions and it's going to work out. Oh, it works out. You know, I'm a firm believer in that. But there's been little things, you know, in the beginning when we were growing we were doing a lot of collaborations with peers that were in the same space as us. And they you know like they didn't end they didn't end well. you know It's like where you you do your half and then they would just ghost you or they disappear.
22:57.34
loriejones7
Okay.
23:01.55
Lina Stock
you know it's Stuff like that. And it's it's essentially just like not doing your due diligence on people and just believing that everybody's in it for the right reasons, but then realizing later that they're not.
23:05.88
loriejones7
Mm
23:11.38
Lina Stock
you know like Stuff like that.
23:12.74
loriejones7
hmm.
23:13.12
Lina Stock
But that's that's just business. you know You learn that stuff. you kind of
23:18.77
loriejones7
yeah
23:19.72
Lina Stock
Yeah.
23:20.15
loriejones7
ah if you If you had to go back and do those situations over again, what how would you what did you learn from it that you would change and do differently than just do you like more due diligence? or
23:32.88
Lina Stock
Yeah, just doing more due diligence, especially like our community, like it's big, but it's small at the same time. You know, like our community is all over the world. We all work online, however, you know, and the network of, you know, clients and, and people who do this at the top level is, is small. Like we pretty much know everyone. And then the newcomers that are coming in, because it's, it's a, it's a low sum entry, you know, our industry, but it takes a lot to get to the top.
23:53.97
loriejones7
Mm hmm.
23:57.39
Lina Stock
Anyone can enter, but to be really successful, you gotta, you gotta know what you're doing.
23:57.39
loriejones7
Mm hmm.
24:02.13
Lina Stock
Um, I think it would just be doing, doing better due diligence, you know, doing some research, you know, finding out what people's motives are potentially, you know, checking in with other people that they've worked with and figuring out what their experiences were like. Cause a lot of times we would figure out after we'd had a bad experience that several other people had had those same bad experiences. And if we had a just asked around, we could have saved ourselves a headache, you know, so yeah.
24:27.04
loriejones7
Yeah, that's, ah that's really good advice that's pretty insightful and and works across like all sorts of different industries like, you know, a lot of times, you just don't, you don't know what you don't know but there are other people that do know if you just ask, right.
24:33.73
Lina Stock
Yeah.
24:39.41
Lina Stock
Yeah. Right. And I have this bad habit of just believing everybody's in it for the right reasons. And I want to believe that. that people are are good. you know And so i've I've learned my lesson through the years that as much as you want to believe that everyone's intentions are pure, that a lot of times they're not. So you learn those lessons and you know it kind of exploits your weaknesses in a way, but it helps you figure out you know where you really have to be on those types of situations. And like I said, do your due diligence and ask around to make sure that
25:16.82
Lina Stock
You know, the situation you're putting yourself in doesn't um hurt you or your business.
25:21.31
loriejones7
who But it sounds like you still maintained your fundamental belief in humankind, like it hasn't made you move into a...
25:31.80
Lina Stock
It depends on how long I've been in the airport or stuck on an airplane, but for the most part, yes. Ask me after a 30 hour flight.
25:42.62
loriejones7
Oh my gosh. ah
25:44.43
Lina Stock
For a 30-hour travel day, I mean.
25:46.42
loriejones7
Yeah, yeah.
25:47.35
Lina Stock
ah
25:47.58
loriejones7
i am I actually, I have, I've had a dream of Southeast Asia for years. I love traveling. And um so i I finally booked something and we're going in January. And then I looked at how long the flight is going to be.
26:00.58
Lina Stock
um Amazing.
26:02.46
loriejones7
And I'm like, hu yeah um
26:05.94
Lina Stock
Yeah, it's not a short travel day.
26:11.56
loriejones7
Yeah, so I yeah, I'm gearing myself up for a half a year out. So what about if you could go back and talk to your younger self, really, literally like, you know, your 20 year old self, your 21 year old self right at the beginning of your journey, when you were in finance in the corporate world, like, is there something you would tell her?
26:36.12
Lina Stock
I love this question and I really think that I would say you're right where you need to be because I wouldn't be where I am if I wouldn't have done the things I did then and I feel like all of those things and decisions that I made then is what led me exactly to today.
26:49.75
loriejones7
Mm hmm.
26:59.52
Lina Stock
and And I know that's a little cliche and cheesy, but it's true. Like I don't have like i said, I don't live in in a regretful type mental state.
27:05.33
loriejones7
like
27:07.71
Lina Stock
And I feel like the the decisions that I made and the experiences that I had all shaped who I am and kind of set me up to be that person who could be like, I'm gonna go do this. And had I not done those things in my twenties, like when I was young, that I might not have like not i had the courage
27:20.21
loriejones7
yeah To do.
27:28.00
Lina Stock
to do it in my late honeys, really.
27:30.60
loriejones7
Yeah. That's so, that's so interesting because a lot of times, you know, you do look back and you're like, man, I would have told my 20 year old self to start traveling earlier or something like that. I love that you are looking back and saying, Hey, you know what? This is part of your journey. It's part of your path.
27:47.21
Lina Stock
yeah Yeah, I feel really strongly that had I not taken the steps that I did in that like
27:48.12
loriejones7
Stay where you're, you know, do these things, have these experiences.
27:57.87
Lina Stock
crucial time in my life that I would maybe would not even have gotten to, to that point.
28:02.14
loriejones7
Mm
28:03.18
Lina Stock
And it wasn't that many years either, like from 20 to 29, like we started traveling when I was 29 full time.
28:08.04
loriejones7
hmm.
28:11.18
Lina Stock
So we started our business and I was 28, which is young. It's young to start a business. So like, I can understand why people were like, you're screwing up your life.
28:21.27
loriejones7
but
28:21.45
Lina Stock
But when you know, you just know, I don't know.
28:26.33
loriejones7
So Lena, what scared you the most when you started out on your on your journey? And you so you can answer this from the point of view of like the 20-year-old, or you can answer it from like giving up the corporate world and going into this this new phase.
28:41.23
Lina Stock
Um... I will say hands down, it was leaving a reliable paycheck because we saved money. We liquidated all of our assets. We had made a lot of good decisions in our 20s, so we had you know we had real estate, we had lots of toys and you know vehicles and and whatnot, and had made good financial decisions, that finance degree. and we basically liquidated everything to fund our new life.
29:12.42
Lina Stock
you know And now I look back and it was just like, it was business startup money. you know like And it kind of has like that sweet ring to it where it's like, I liquidated my old life for my new life.
29:16.87
loriejones7
Mhm.
29:23.09
loriejones7
Mhm.
29:23.38
Lina Stock
um And had we not set ourselves up in a position for that, then we wouldn't have had the capital we needed to literally just set off and travel the world full time.
29:33.33
loriejones7
h
29:33.55
Lina Stock
And so I would say that From that moment, I had always had a paycheck every two weeks, you know, hit since I left high school I was working I had a paycheck every two weeks I had a cushy corporate job and, and reliable income. And so when that last paycheck came into my bank account, I was like, okay, it's real now. And we like we ah designed, I should say, I i designed the spreadsheets and we would track all of our finances. you know I had a daily budget set up for how much money we could spend each day because I was trying to maximize how many days we could be on the road.
30:12.16
Lina Stock
um For we planned our route to like do the expensive countries first before we got into the cheaper countries and then we did things like volunteering and health exchange and work exchange to kind of make the money last longer, because when the, the, reliable paycheck stuff coming like you could then watch the balance going down in the bank account.
30:33.62
loriejones7
Oh wow, that would scare me to death.
30:34.07
Lina Stock
yeah so Yeah. and It was, and we knew we had a plan, you know, but when you're watching that and you've always had money coming in, and I remember like the first month I was just like, still in the back of your mind, you're thinking to yourself, it's fine, I get paid in two weeks. And then you're like, no, not anymore.
30:55.35
loriejones7
you more
30:56.63
Lina Stock
Yeah.
30:57.80
loriejones7
So, um, when you started, were you planning on like, this is the rest of my life or were you planning on, Hey, we've got two years. I've got a budget for two years.
31:07.66
Lina Stock
So it started as one year and quickly became two years before we even left.
31:12.98
loriejones7
Okay.
31:13.13
Lina Stock
Um, and then it was going to be, I guess it was just going to be however it worked out, you know? And like we had started the website and we knew we were going to make a go at like doing some business stuff with it, but also like our first two years, we really wanted to make sure that it was a genuine experience for us. We didn't want it to just be built around building our business. We wanted to go out and actually see the world, experience the world. go where we wanted to go do the things we wanted to do. And, and I think having that big amount of money from liquidating all of our assets really is what is what led us to the place where we could fall in love with that lifestyle. And if we didn't hold back. We just, we traveled everywhere and did all the things we wanted to do. And we were honing our skills and, you know, writing and, and working on photography and video and
32:06.48
Lina Stock
Yeah, it just...
32:09.35
Lina Stock
and yeah So i did I did a lot of advanced marketing classes through high school and college also.
32:10.37
loriejones7
Did either of you have any like marketing or ah blogging or writing experience before this where you you you were finance? Did you have any
32:25.97
Lina Stock
And so it was something that I had a really good understanding on. Like I understand marketing for whatever reason, my brain computes that really well.
32:33.95
loriejones7
I'm glad you risked us.
32:35.39
Lina Stock
Yeah. Like I said, like I should have went into marketing, but I went into finance. And then ah my husband, he did sales. And so we kind of have this like perfect balance of you know marketing and finance and sales um that we bring to the business. And that balance we balance each other out really well, too, because salespeople like to spend money. you know Marketing people like to budget and make sure you're getting a good return on investment. And then you add the finance in. Um.
33:06.06
Lina Stock
And then like in terms of our skills, like I was always into photography always, even from a young age, like my mom had a really nice Pentax old style film camera.
33:10.45
loriejones7
Wow.
33:15.12
Lina Stock
And she used to buy me the little junky, you know, one shot ones. And I was always mad that her pictures were clearer. So from a very young age, I could kind of delineate between quality photography and non quality. And so I was always taking her camera. And so I kind of self taught myself on her Pentax and then just always did it as a hobby. Like I enjoyed photographing horses when I started traveling. um after I turned 18. I never left the country until I was 18. It has a small caveat. I started getting really into travel photography. I loved just taking pictures of everything around me and then I would come home and I would show people I was that annoying person, you know, like come over for myself, you know.
33:52.69
loriejones7
Yeah.
33:53.56
Lina Stock
ah Yeah, and so like the photography thing really came natural. um And the writing, like I was, I was, I started blogging, I think in 2007, just for myself. Like I was on one of the travel blogging, travel pod website, you know, where anybody could start an account and then you could write about your travels. And so I had started writing about all of our travels to like the thirties, some odd countries that we traveled to while we were working corporate life. And so that was just, I liked to write when it just evolved.
34:22.46
loriejones7
but's great it has dev developd That's great.
34:23.38
Lina Stock
Yeah.
34:24.72
loriejones7
That's great. um Just as a quick side note, how is it working with your husband?
34:30.77
Lina Stock
like
34:32.52
loriejones7
like is that does that Is that uniquely challenging? Or it it is bliss all the time? like that's That's a question inquiring minds want to know.
34:41.83
Lina Stock
ah people People ask all the time, like, how do you guys spend so much time together? Honestly, I don't know, because it just works.
34:51.08
loriejones7
who
34:51.12
Lina Stock
It's bizarre how it just works.
34:53.82
loriejones7
I love that.
34:53.94
Lina Stock
And it yeah, and and it's not that even like we're the same people, like we are very, very different people, but we're highly compatible. And we just we have this communication style in our relationship, you know, where we can talk about work and we can turn that off and not talk about work. And we're both just very passionate and we just both say everything all the time and it just works.
35:09.31
loriejones7
him
35:15.95
Lina Stock
And we do spend all of our time together, like all of our time together. We work from home together, we travel together, your business together. But I also will travel solo sometimes, but, but yes.
35:27.77
loriejones7
Yeah, ah I love that. I just um i just wondered if there, i I've interviewed other women who work with their husbands and they they just said there's like unique challenges there with that.
35:42.78
Lina Stock
Yes and no. I mean, it's, it's not any different than having coworkers, you know, like when we're working on work, we're working on work, you know, and both of us just have that understanding that like, when we're talking about work stuff, it's work stuff.
35:48.04
loriejones7
Mm-hmm.
35:55.21
Lina Stock
And we don't let that, or at least we try not to let that kind of come into our personal life, even though our work is our personal life. Like it's, there's, it's gray lines. It's a lot of gray lines. Like I won't lie, but we're pretty good about it. Like we've been doing it for 11 years now. So we kind of have a good dance and.
36:10.25
loriejones7
i think
36:12.56
loriejones7
yeah
36:12.69
Lina Stock
Yeah.
36:14.67
loriejones7
so So what about any unique challenges because you were a woman? Is there anything that you felt was unique? Or maybe there wasn't, and maybe it was just, i I've talked to women who are like, oh no, this was a true blessing.
36:32.82
Lina Stock
Well, the travel media landscape photography and writing is heavily dominated by men. It always has been. um And I think that just comes from the perspective of like, travel was always seen as something very exotic, challenging and hard, and women were not doing it. Women were not setting out and becoming professional photographers or travel journalists or, you know, going to foreign lands. And so even when we came in, it's it was still heavily dominated by men and so like for a woman like
37:04.00
Lina Stock
i i so I could say that I've done a lot to kind of like make my way in the industry. You know, I apply for a lot of awards. I make sure that I'm always speaking on panels and like putting myself out there to kind of give a more balanced view of like, look, I'm a woman, I'm a young woman, and I can do this too. And I have won a lot of photography awards in spaces that where historically men would always win.
37:31.56
loriejones7
Yeah.
37:31.89
Lina Stock
And so then I started entering my stuff and then all of a sudden my name starts popping up and they're all looking at each other like, well, who's that? You know, they're looking at all the guys in the room. It's like, Nalina's a woman's name. It's me.
37:44.67
loriejones7
yeah
37:45.65
Lina Stock
So yeah, it's just, um, it's something that I am acutely aware of. And so eight in the name of all women who want to be in this space, I am constantly and trailblazing and putting myself out there and trying to work with the big dogs and network in the big arenas and and just make a name for myself as a woman because there's so few of us that have been able to do that, you know forge a path in this type of industry and and make a name for themselves.
38:12.16
loriejones7
I guess I didn't realize that it was so male dominated, but it makes sense that it would be.
38:17.27
Lina Stock
Yeah, and you know and and I'm talking about conventional like travel photography and writing. you know Not influencers, modern day influencing on social media.
38:21.38
loriejones7
um mean
38:25.17
Lina Stock
you know That's a completely different ballgame. I'm talking about like true accolades, like being featured in National Geographic and you know those types of bylines. And like that's stuff that we really strive for in our business. and And my husband is great. He supports me 100%. And there's times where people will bypass me to talk to him, even though it's the same business. And he's like, she's the boss and he'll just walk away and i'm like yeah that's right i'm the boss so yeah i mean we're both we're both committed to forging ahead and and making way for for more women in this industry
38:47.82
loriejones7
me
39:03.15
loriejones7
I love it, yeah. i I have that sweet spot in mine as well. i I want more women in finance and and i keep I keep trying to convince them it's super fun. so
39:17.21
Lina Stock
Good luck.
39:21.61
loriejones7
Lena, what are you the most proud of?
39:26.05
Lina Stock
Oh, I would say that I had the courage to start, you know, that I followed that little, that little voice inside of me, and took it seriously that I wasn't just like, Oh, yeah, well, everybody dreams of doing something different with their life. You know, like, I'm very proud of the fact that I, I stuck with it, that I actually did it and saw it through, and that I'm successful, you know, that now I have everything I ever had in corporate America and more, you know, plus my time and freedom, you know, to do what I want with my life. I think that's what I'm most proud of. I mean, all the accolades and recognitions and and stages and places I've been, I mean, like, that's all just, that's all just
40:09.15
Lina Stock
nothing really when it comes to the fact that I ah trusted myself.
40:13.73
loriejones7
Oh, I love that. You had faith and you invested in you. You were trusting.
40:18.04
Lina Stock
yeah
40:18.47
loriejones7
Yeah, I love that. What, um, any advice for a young woman? So if you're talking to someone who wants to go down this journey, you're already super successful at it is, and, and, you know, with the idea of that it is fairly male dominated and you want more women in that space, what would you tell her?
40:39.77
Lina Stock
Just trust your gut. Trust your gut and don't be afraid to pursue it. If it's truly what you want to do and you're passionate about it, trust yourself, you know, and and be there to prop yourself up. You know, don't let the naysayers tell you, you can't do it because you absolutely can do it.
40:58.01
Lina Stock
A quick and dirty, you know, but I i mean, i I try to encourage people in in that way.
40:58.20
loriejones7
Believe in yourself.
41:04.25
Lina Stock
And that's, that's what I say. It's like, trust yourself. Be your own biggest cheerleader. You know, even if there's others that are trying to tell you you can't do it or you can't be as good as somebody else, you know, know yourself, be confident in yourself and and you'll get where you want to go.
41:21.72
loriejones7
Is there something like there are days when I am super confident myself and I, you are kind, you are beautiful, you are special, you know, all that sort of stuff. And there are days when I'm like, how are you so dumb today?
41:33.80
Lina Stock
ah
41:34.36
loriejones7
Like, is there anything that you do that kind of helps you with those confidence on those low days?
41:41.92
Lina Stock
just remember just remember why I do what I do you know because I definitely have those days too I have days where I'm just like why can't I get anything done you know or like you send out some pitches and it's like you get nothing back but nose and you're like why what is it like is my photos bad or you know and like you start to doubt yourself but then you realize that none of that has anything to do with you you know and you really have to You really have to be comfortable with who you are as a person, who you are in your, in your work and, and be confident in your skills and, and really take to heart that most of the time, the stuff going on around you has nothing to do with you.
42:20.72
Lina Stock
And that's kind of how, you know, that's how I get through, you know, the rough patches and being a business owner is to just know that I'm fine.
42:20.82
loriejones7
Yeah.
42:30.54
Lina Stock
I'm doing I'm right where I need to be. I'm doing what I need to do. You know, my work is up to par. And I mean, it's not about me. It's about them.
42:41.35
loriejones7
I love that. That's a really good, that's really something important to remember is that sometimes that ah it isn't about you and and you've got to trust your process and trust what you're doing is the right thing to do.
42:49.62
Lina Stock
Yeah.
42:54.17
loriejones7
so
42:55.14
Lina Stock
Yeah.
42:55.23
loriejones7
Well, ah Lena, thank you so much for spending some time with us today and and going through your journey and just talking about it. You've completely inspired me. um I'm not sure I'm quite ready to quit my day job yet. But maybe I will be a little bit more fearless in my travel and and ah and be a little bit more fearless in my life. So tell me if I've got someone, one of my listeners that wants to connect with you, how does she get a hold of you?
43:26.88
Lina Stock
Sure, so you can hop on our website at divergenttravelers.com. And we're also on all the social medias, Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, at Divergent Travelers.
43:41.77
Lina Stock
That's the best way to find us.
43:41.92
loriejones7
Perfect. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your time and thank you for your experience and thank you for sharing.
43:49.42
Lina Stock
My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.