How To Become A Dreampreneur

Traci Bogan packed two suitcases and a few photo albums when she decided to travel the world on a two-year journey of self-discovery.

Along the way, she played charades to communicate when language failed. Her best friend abandoned her. And she was bitten by a spider that left her with three intestinal parasites and a six-month recovery.
In every country she visited, she adopted a school or village.

This month, Bogan will give back to the communities that shaped her – Racine, where she was raised, where her family still lives and where she still owns a home; and Kenosha, where she graduated from Bradford High School in 1988.

“This is my gift to my community while I’m here,” said Bogan, 41, who changed her life in 76 hours a decade ago when she decided her fast and glamorous life in Hawaii wasn’t the life she was meant to live.
She put her experiences into the book “The Backpack Diaries,” which includes photos from her travels and computer QR codes for access to hours of video online.

Bogan also has started on her next adventure: traveling to 100 countries. Later this month, she will leave the Racine area for Tibet, also known as country No. 44.

Patch writer Jessica Stephen did this Q&A with Bogan:

What made you decide to pack up and see the world?

I was living in Hawaii, working for a world-renowned plastic surgeon and hanging around all the movie stars and celebrities and going out eight days a week. I was living inside my ego. I thought I was hot stuff. That’s the truth. And it took me thinking I was having a heart attack with one of the worst hangovers I ever had in my life to look in the mirror and say, “I am more than this. What do I really want?” When I woke up the next morning and I didn’t die, I knew it was time to change my life. And my dream was to take this trip.

How did you prepare to leave your life while you were backpacking?

I called all of my friends in Hawaii and said, “Come to my house and, for free, take whatever you want. I lived in Hawaii for 10 years. I had a three-bedroom house. I left with the same two suitcases I had when I arrived, a few photo albums and some clothes.”

Where did you go?

I spent one year criss-crossing America, seeing the Marfa lights in Texas, eating Cajun food in New Orleans, seeing the (bombing) memorial in Oklahoma, going fishing on the Kenai peninsula in Alaska. From Alaska, I went to China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, India, which  was a big turning point sitting 40 days at a spiritual retreat. I went to 17 different countries in Africa. The final place I went in Africa was Egypt, and that was where I fell ill.

What was the most difficult part of your experience?

One of them was the language barrier. But I did find there is something about the human connection. Our blood is all the same color, and I was moved by the willingness of people to reach out. I was able to communicate by playing charades.

What did you learn about yourself?

The lessons are endless. One big lesson is the only way to fail is not to try and if you never act you never know for sure. That was the biggest one. And the other is tomorrow is promised to no one. That’s why it’s important to dream big and live our dreams today. I stepped over dead bodies in India; people who didn’t even have anyone to bury them. My eyes were just opened up to we live in the land of opportunity. We have no reason and no excuse not to put our dreams into play and live them.

How has this changed you? Your life?

I have transitioned into a professional speaker and an author and my mission is very specific. It’s to empower millions of people to achieve their goals, fulfill their dream and live a life of purpose and design, so they can do and be more than they think is possible in their lives and in business. I am a dreampreneur.

If You Go
What: Presentation by local author Traci Bogan, who traveled the world and is trying to visit 100 countries
When and where: 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 5 in Great Lakes Room 116 at Gateway Technical College in Racine; 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 13 in the Madrigrano Auditorium at Gateway Technical College in Kenosha.
Admission: Free
More information: www.tracibogan.com