The Flip Flop Lifestyle

A Little Bit About Me…

All right… where to start? My name is Steve Didier. I grew up in a very small town in Minnesota and some of my first memories are of watching TV at my Grandma’s house and wishing I lived someplace that had beaches and palm trees. I would watch everything I could about California or Hawaii and dream of the day I would be able to walk along the sun bathed beaches and hear the waves as they washed gently into the shore.

After graduating from high school, I attended college for about six weeks before I decided that wasn’t for me. I held several odd jobs before starting a house painting business with a good friend of mine. That went well until we both got tired of the cold miserable weather in Minnesota and struck out for the slightly warmer climates of Arizona. We continued our small painting and construction business there for a year or so before I got itchy feet once again and joined the US Army. Being the fact that Desert Storm had just ended, I figured that there was a good chance I would be able to travel a bit on Uncle Sam’s dime for a couple of years.

Sadly, I never made it out of the continental US. Stints in Oklahoma and Colorado further convinced me that I was made for warmer weather. After I got out of the Army in Colorado, I unsuccessfully tried a couple of businesses while attending college in Colorado Springs. I ended up bouncing and bartending at a nightclub while I finished my 2 year degree in Sports Medicine.

As soon as I finished, I threw two bags together, sold my car and headed for California on my motorcycle. I figured I’d stop off in Las Vegas and check it out for a couple weeks before going to Los Angeles. One thing led to another and I ended up staying in Vegas for 10 years. I held various bartending and bouncer jobs at some of the most popular nightclubs in the city before I got bored and started looking for something else.

Real Estate

Getting my real estate license seemed like a perfect fit. Las Vegas was the fastest growing city in the country and it seemed like there was no end in sight. Development was rampant and I had a great network of people from working in the nightclub industry so I hit it with a passion! I focused hard on learning sales from some of the best trainers in the world and became a top producer at my company in a very short period of time.

For four or so years everything was perfect - I was making money and living the life. I had met and married the woman of my dreams and it seemed like life couldn’t get any better. It was a lot of hard work, don’t get me wrong - but we were having a great time.

After five years, I really started to second guess things. It didn’t seem like there was an end in sight. Our lifestyle and bills had grown with our income and I was losing the passion that had carried me in the early years. I was growing more and more tired of the non-stop hustle and becoming more and more aware of the fact that I was trapped. With the amount of money we needed each month just to break even on our expenses, it was becoming increasing clear that there was no way I could stop doing real estate even if I wanted to.

Then, in 2007, the Las Vegas real estate market crashed hard. I was still doing ok despite the down market but it was becoming very apparent how vulnerable I was from a financial standpoint. I don’t think anyone predicted how hard the real estate market would be hit. With that realization and a little more free time on my hands, I really started doing some soul searching regarding what I was doing, how I was living my life and where I wanted to be 5 years down the road.

I had this gnawing vision of a life of freedom and relaxation. A life without financial constraints and a life lived on my terms without having to answer to anyone. A life of soaking up sunshine on beautiful beaches, with waves gently washing over my feet…

I began to formulate how I could achieve this life that I dreamed of. I knew that I had to make a transition from my current career to one that would allow me more freedom. After looking at my options, I decided that starting an internet business was the most logical first step in making this transition a reality. I figured that it would be something that would I could start in my free time and also something that would be relatively inexpensive to get started.

That is the path I followed to get where I am today. This marks the beginning of my journey to freedom… my journey to achieve the Flip Flop Lifestyle!