How We Became The Venture Seekers (Our Origin Story)

Jake and I grew up as backyard neighbors. We didn't travel much as kids because our parents worked jobs that made it hard to take off any real amount of time, and honestly, we were really into sports. We had a pretty awesome '90s childhood. I wouldn't change it. But the truth is, instead of getting out and seeing different places or different perspectives, we were kind of boxed in to one small town. Everything we were told and everything we saw, we mostly assumed was just how it was everywhere.

When we got married, that started to shift. We wanted to see more. We wanted different perspectives. We wanted to try things that pulled us out of our comfort zone.

The trip that changed everything

Our honeymoon was St. Lucia. It was the very first time Jake had ever stepped on an airplane. Watching how excited he was, how much he loved every single piece of it, I knew right then that traveling had to become a priority for us. Not someday. Now.

The broke years (and they were really broke)

Coming home from that trip, reality hit hard. At the time, Jake was a mechanic at Harley Davidson and I had just graduated college as a registered dental hygienist. We were coming home with barely enough each week to get by. I remember sitting across from him one night, looking him right in the eyes, and asking, is this your passion? He said no. So I asked him, what do you really want to do with your life that can happen anywhere? And he said, electrician.

So that is what we did. For the next five years, Jake went to trade school while I picked up every extra hour I could, on top of becoming a mom. It was a hard season. Really hard. But this is something you will hear us say a lot around here. Some of the most beautiful things in life are grown in the hardest seasons.

When Jake finally became a journeyman electrician, everything shifted. The income from that trade is what let us start breathing again, knock out our debt, and eventually let me drop down to part time so I could homeschool the kids. None of what you see now would exist without those five years of grinding it out.

We made a decision early on that we were going to pay off our debt before we did anything else. No keeping up with the Joneses. No new cars. No big purchases. It took us about four years to clear school loans, car payments, all of it. We picked up extra jobs anywhere we could and threw every dollar at it. It was not glamorous, but every dollar had a job.

The framework that helped us the most in that season was Dave Ramsey's debt snowball method. We don't agree with everything he teaches, but for getting out of debt? It absolutely worked. If you're staring down a pile of payments and don't know where to start, that book is where we'd point you.

The character years (yes, really)

Right alongside trade school and the extra hours, we launched a family business with my mother where everyone in the family was involved, and we had so much fun. We dressed up as characters for events, fundraisers, parades, and birthday parties all over the state of Illinois. I was Elsa from Frozen for almost seven years, which is wild to even type out. Jake was Spiderman and Captain America. The two of us would do surprise Disney visits at peoples' homes as Jessie and Woody from Toy Story.

We were getting paid to have fun and make kids light up. It was such a blessing for our family, and we are forever grateful we got to be part of it. Our family ended up selling the business right before COVID hit, and let me tell you, the timing felt like a small miracle. Nobody was hiring random strangers in costumes to show up at their events in the middle of a pandemic.

Becoming parents in the middle of all of it

Somewhere in the middle of paying off debt, Jake working his way through trade school, and the four of us running the character business, we became parents. Aniston came first, then Noah, and everything shifted. We fell madly in love with our little carbon copies (I mean, seriously, look at them).

We slowed way down. Slow mornings. Naps. Just soaking up the little moments. We were not in a rush to get back out there, and honestly, that season was its own kind of magic.

When the kids were still really little, we started taking small trips with them. Nothing crazy at first. Just enough to plant the seed. Year after year, the trips got a little bigger, a little farther, a little more adventurous, until we ended up where we are today. Aniston and Noah have fallen in love with traveling the exact same way their parents did, and watching that happen in real time is one of our favorite things in the world.

How Venture Seekers actually started

As we traveled more as a family, people kept reaching out. Where is this place? How did you find it? This looks like so much fun, can you make me an itinerary? It kept happening, over and over.

I started to realize that maybe I see travel a little differently. I find spots that don't always show up on the lists, and I genuinely love making videos with my family. So I just started sharing more on our personal pages.

Here is the part I still can barely believe. About a year ago, I kept having these dreams while I was sleeping of exactly what you are looking at right now. Us, traveling, having fun, inspiring people, making you laugh, sharing our life, and actually getting paid to do it. I did not want to be an influencer. Neither did Jake. We had no idea what this could even look like. We just knew we had to try and be ourselves and see what came of it.

So a year ago, we started The Venture Seekers.

The beginning is the hardest part

I will be honest. The very beginning of starting anything is brutal, especially when you do not have much support around you. People think what you are doing is weird, or as the kids say now, cringe. But we have always taught our kids that you will never know unless you try.

We tried. And we are so grateful for where we are today. The brands that trust us, the people reading this, the families following along and rooting for us. We do not take a single piece of this for granted, and you will hear us say that a lot.

Why we do it

One of the biggest reasons we started this was to bring Jake home more. He used to work seven days a week, and our jobs were not the kind that could go remote. We wanted to take a passion we already had and turn it into something that actually let us be together as a family. That is the whole point.

Our vision is pretty simple. Seek adventure together. Share authentically. Only work with brands we genuinely trust. And build a life where our journey creates meaningful impact beyond just us.

Giving back is going to be a big part of this story. We do not just want to show up and share what we get to do. We want our kids to know that this life they have, homeschooling, traveling with their parents, getting to do these adventures, is not normal. We want them to be deeply grateful. Every trip is a learning lesson, and we weave it into how we homeschool.

What's coming next

We have so much more to share. How we homeschool. How we were able to travel on one income long before any of this was a business. What it actually looks like to live this lifestyle when groceries alone feel impossible in today's world. There has been a lot of sacrifice behind the scenes, and we want to be real about that.

Our lifestyle is not going to match up with everyone, and that is okay. Everyone is on their own journey. But if any of what we share helps your family, inspires a trip, or just makes you laugh on a hard day, that is the whole reason we are here.

Truly, thank you for being here. This is a dream come true for our family, and we will never, ever take it for granted.

If you want to follow along, the best spot is Instagram @the.ventureseekers. Welcome to the family.

-Brittany, The Venture Seekers