Oscar The Grouch
The inspiration for Clock Out! The Vicarious Life Podcast and Tracy’s life as a freelance writer and podcaster.
The term “Clock Out!” encourages listeners to give up the traditional way of thinking, and often times living, in lieu of a Vicarious Life. Someone living a “Vicarious Life” is living in alignment with their own unique and personal values, rather than in alignment with how society says they should live.
“Don't let the expectations and opinions of other people affect your decisions. It's your life, not theirs. Do what matters most to you; do what makes you feel alive and happy. Don't let the expectations and ideas of others limit who you are. If you let others tell you who you are, you are living their reality — not yours. There is more to life than pleasing people. There is much more to life than following others' prescribed path. There is so much more to life than what you experience right now. You need to decide who you are for yourself. Become a whole being. Adventure.”
― Roy T. Bennett
Your host, Tracy Miller, did just that! She gave up a half million dollar annual income in order live an authentic life of creativity and purpose. She values freedom, family, and time. She currently lives in Butte, MT, but travels frequently. After leaving real estate, Tracy put her focus on freelance writing. She loves deeply emotional, empowering and inspirational human interest pieces, as well as criminal psychology topics.
Published Work Samples:
Montana Woman Magazine November 2023
Montana Woman Magazine May 2023
Tracy is also a real estate investor and owns 14 doors with her very handsome husband, Brandon. Tracy chooses, finances, designs and manages the properties while Brandon and his construction company do the renovations and maintenance on the properties. Their investing company is called Adventure Properties, LLC. The construction company is Adventure Contracting LLC.
Arizona Airbnb
Tracy now lives off passive income from these properties, as well as income from her real estate brokerage, while writing and podcasting full time from anywhere in the world.
Tracy and Brandon are a Brady Bunch family and have 3 kids each. Five of them are adults and are out of the nest. They have one remaining 14 year old still at home. Grace is forced to tag along on adventures and mostly hates it. 😎 Tracy assures her she will grow to love it.
When not podcasting or writing, Tracy is wandering the mountains with her 3 beagles. She is an avid mountain biker, backpacker, hiker, yogi and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner. She loves floating, kayaking, and playing at the lake, but swims like a set of car keys, so would never brag about the water hobbies.
Brandon and Tracy adopted a 1976 Volkswagon Wesfalia in 2022, which was Tracy’s dream vehicle, the ultimate symbol of freedom, in her eyes. The “Westy” was the inspiration for the logo on Clock Out! The Vicarious Life podcast because it was Tracy’s definition of freedom in physical form, and represented the theme of the podcast perfectly! This bright green pile of crap was cranky and only ran intermittently (generally only from the safety of the garage). It broke down far more often than it took Brandon and Tracy to their desired locations, so in 2023, they upgraded to a Mercedes Benz Sprinter van, which is minimally built out to accommodate adventures. Gertie (Dirty Gertie after a long adventure) runs well and has already seen 12 states since living with Tracy and Brandon. The Westy gets preferred parking in the heated garage, while he takes up space and refuses to do anything to contribute the the family, or their adventures. Gertie sleeps outside, but is too happy to care.
Gertie posing in the deserts of Nevada
Dirty Gertie is our adventure vehicle that takes us from one inspiring experience to the next.
Tracy Has Been Featured As A Guest On The Podcasts Below
Tracy lives, plays, occasionally works, and podcasts in Southwest Montana. She is always looking for inspirational guests to appear on the podcast and will jump for joy at the opportunity to be a guest on other podcasts. Tracy loves presenting and speaking at corporate events, training sessions, and conferences. She is currently working on her first book and does freelance writing for some jingle.