About Walt Goodridge

The Short Version

The Long Version

Hi! My name is Walt F.J. Goodridge. For the last several years, I’ve been living what I call a "passionpreneur" and "nomadpreneur" lifestyle—earning money doing what I love while enjoying the freedom to travel the world!

Like I said, it wasn’t always this way. For years, I was a frustrated employee enduring the constraints of the corporate world. This is my story of how I went from an unhappy civil engineer to a fulfilled, free-living passionpreneur now based on the island of Saipan.

After graduating from Columbia University with a B.S. in Civil Engineering, I was destined for a career in a profession I didn’t truly choose. Like many, I followed the advice of a counselor (thanks, Ms. Charlotte Huey!) and became an engineer, despite not feeling any passion for it.

“Within the First Fifteen Minutes…”

Immediately after graduation, I accepted a job in the Design Division of the Port Authority Engineering Department on the 73rd floor of World Trade Center One. Within the first fifteen minutes of that first day of my first job in corporate America, I realized, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that I absolutely hated it!!!!

I saw the future in the eyes of several of my co-workers, and, let me tell you, the prospect of working a monotonous and restrictive nine-to-five job for the rest of my life, scared me to the core! I wanted freedom. I wanted the freedom to wake up when I'm finished sleeping (and not a minute before)! I wanted the freedom to go see movies in the middle of the afternoon! I wanted the freedom to see the world!!

Changing the Game

So, from that moment (the sixteenth minute on), I did everything I could to escape and create the freedom I desperately desired. Unfortunately, no one in my family could offer me any real solutions to that desire. And my friends? Most of my friends were in the same situation, themselves. I knew I wanted to do something that was my passion. But no one had ever asked me "what is your passion?" or "What do you love to do?" I had to ask those questions of myself. To find the answers, I thought back to my college days. I had been a radio deejay on WKCR-FM, and I loved music. So, I went in the direction of that passion and first did some graphic design for an album cover, then became an artist manager, then a record label owner, until, by a stroke of chance, I found my true calling for sharing information and wrote Change the Game . Through the success of that single book, I was able to match my civil engineering income and walk away from my career to become a full-time "passionpreneur"--a phrase I coined.

Curious how I did it? Ducks in a Row? shares the fears, thoughts and strategies I used to walk away from a "good" job and pursue my passion.

I continued writing books about the music industry, available at HipHopEntrepreneur.com.

Comes the Prophet

Readers and clients began seeking my advice to start their own passion-based ventures. I embraced my mission—“I share what I know so that others may grow”—and launched websites, books, coaching, workshops, and a weekly inspiration email list called Life Rhymes.

I developed a belief system—the "Passion Profit Philosophy and Formula"—that anyone can use to create a freedom-based lifestyle.

In 1999, I published Turn Your Passion into Profit. With annual updates, it’s consistently ranked among the top home-business books on Amazon.

(Also available as a six-CD audio set.)

To date, I’ve written 25+ books, 400+ articles, and 500+ motivational poems while managing dozens of websites. But there was one more escape I had to make...

Walt’s Escape From America

In 2006, inspired by a friend’s travels, I "discovered" the US commonwealth of Saipan, booked a one-way ticket, and began my nomadpreneur life in paradise!