How I Started Inside Study Abroad

Most people don't know that I started my first business in 2009 during the Great Recession.

I was working at the University of South Dakota and watching as so many of my friends were being laid off or struggling to find jobs in nearly every industry.

Even friends in higher education - an industry that seemed the most secure - were finding themselves jobless in a very scary time.

I realized quickly that no job or industry is ever truly secure. There's no "safe bet" or sure thing in work...or life.

Despite knowing this hard truth, I didn't really know how to secure my own future on my own terms.

I'd spent my entire life thinking about landing good jobs... with good benefits...with great titles...

What other options were there?

Then a good friend suggested I just start experimenting with a blog - and start writing about the one topic I knew better than anything: study abroad.

That’s when my first business baby was born - Inside Study Abroad.

I bought the domain for $1.99. Designed the first banner in PowerPoint and set up an account on Blogspot. (Remember that?)

It wasn't much at first. Just a tiny blog with no readers where I wrote (hopefully) for my peers in the international education field about topics I was passionate about - like how to land a job, financial aid challenges in education abroad, where the Harry Potter kids would study abroad if they could (true story).