Sean and Heidi Marshall Launch the Family Rocketship

Sean and Heidi Marshall seemingly had it all. A nice home in Newport Beach, California. Two beautiful little girls. Sean worked a job he loved as a business development manager for a local non-profit organization.

There was only one thing missing: not enough time to travel and just have some fun!

That all changed when Sean Marshall received his pink slip in October 2010. Arriving home in the middle of the day, he reluctantly gave the bad news to his wife. Her response was not what he expected.

After a moment of reflection, Heidi Marshall enthusiastically told her husband: "This is it! You're not going to get another job. We're doing something drastic."

This, explained Heidi Marshall to her husband, was Sean's opportunity to do the things he always wanted to do. And, as a family, they were going to pursue his dreams together.

Soon the family jettisoned their restrictive 9 to 5, work-takes-precedence-over-life lifestyle, freeing themselves to hit the road '" literally. They began with the divestiture of nearly all their personal possessions. Selling everything they owned, with the exception of their clothes, a few books, and, of course, their laptops, the foursome loaded up in the family's Nissan and set out on a journey of exploration and excitement. They documented their travels on a blog they called Family Rocketship.

Considering themselves part-time vagabonds, they occasionally settle in for a while by renting a home, although the Marshalls seem to be equally content being homeless. Currently they are trekking much of the country's western region, but the plan is to ultimately embark on a 'round-the-world expedition.

Realizing they could live comfortably and contently without spending most of their waking hours inside a gray cubicle, the Marshalls expanded their mission to not only succeed in their own family's pursuit of happiness but to "free the masses from the insidious average life." Their website became more than a personal blog; it was now a platform to promote their new self-appointed profession as "advocates for awesome living."

"Awesome living means choosing everyday to live your perfect life," explains Sean. "It means going to bed excited for the next day. It means doing what's most meaningful to you. It includes learning and developing your talents and then sharing them to enrich the lives of others."

What is most meaningful for the Marshalls is exploring new places and experiencing life as a family.

"Too many people are stuck living a life that was planned for them without consciously choosing it themselves. Life is more than a job, bills, and a possible two week vacation once a year."

While they share their lifestyle secrets and tips for free on the Family Rocketship website, Sean makes a living for the family with his skills for online marketing and website creation at Social Rocketship. Sean is also a contributor to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

"I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit," says Sean. "And we decided that now was finally the time to start believing that we could actually accomplish our dreams. Fortunately, my skill set includes online marketing and, because of its mobile nature, it was a natural conclusion as a way for us to make money while still doing what we wanted to do."

While the Marshalls do miss living near family and friends, they acknowledge that technology has made it easy to keep in touch with old friends as well as new. With a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, communication is flowing both ways.

"We reply to every email we receive, we love making new friends online," says Sean. "And we try to help people the best we know how in the situations we can help with."

To that end, the Marshalls not only blog about their own explorations but introduce readers to other families who have embarked on similar unrestrained lifestyles. The biggest question seems to be how to fund such excursions.

Some families have saved specifically for what could be considered an extremely early retirement. Others find ways to earn money along the way, like the Marshalls, through online ventures. Foreign travelers have reported making money teaching English abroad. None seem to be overly concerned that their money will run out, including the Marshalls.

Perhaps one of the most important ingredients to their success is that Sean and Heidi have reset their priorities from tangible goods to the intangible.

"Freedom and fun are two of our highest values," Sean says. "We're very fortunate that we get to live them every day."