Hi, I’m Jason Townsend – an Aussie copywriter, entrepreneur, adventurer, minimalist, and avid traveller – with a small problem with accepting the status quo of society.

Founder of several personal business ventures including High Country Digital, The Copy Crusaders and Kickstart a Cause, I’ve got a passion for inspiring people like you to live a life of your own design, and the written word is my vehicle.

I’ve been a lot of places, i’ve done a lot of things, and i’ve learnt a lot of lessons, all of which have brought me to this point…

How did it all begin? (the short version)

My passion to help others find their purpose comes from a time in my life where I was depressed, and constantly questioning why life was the way it was.

I worked a corporate job from 9-5 in a cubicle of hundreds, living for the weekend, and feeling totally dissatisfied and unhappy working for ‘the man’. I was on a continual spiral of helplessness and forced acceptance.

One thing saved me – I was smart. I knew there was something more for me in life. The problem was at that stage, I lacked the courage to stand up, stand out, and find it. Rather than take action, I suppressed my entrepreneurial desires – to create my own purpose – and fell into a state of acceptance. I became one of “the Jones’s”, feeding my discontentment and unhappiness with material objects and new experiences.

After a while, I turned to the only thing that bought me happiness at the time – exercise and travel. That was my first 5 years out of university – I worked, got depressed, travelled the world as a confused young adult, and became really fit as a bi-product of my attempts to distract myself from my misery while at home and working.

Sounds interesting doesn’t it.

Don’t get me wrong, I had periods of immense enjoyment during my travels home and abroad, but I was constantly drained both emotionally and physically by an insufficient diet, and a lack of support from my social networks. It was during these early years of adulthood that I realised I was running a the hamster wheel – doing what I could to keep up with the expectations of others – which wasn’t taking me any closer to answering the question that was plaguing my every waking moment…

Who is Jason Townsend and what is he on this world to do?”

I knew there was a higher cause for my existence on this planet, so I set out on a crusade to find out what that was.

Fast-forward a couple of years and I was awakened to other possibilities for myself. I discovered (after much searching) more about my values, my beliefs, and who I really was. I was able to see that for the most part, my past decisions had me essentially living under a rock.

I got educated, found inspiration in others, and was able to look back at my experience with fresh eyes and a new perspective. I found that my experience wasn’t unique. In fact, there were many people facing the same difficulties arriving at a sense of self and purpose.

That’s where I now fit in.

I’m now in the early stages of a crusade to give clarity to those on a journey of self discovery, and have these wonderful aspiring world-changers realise their true cause in life sooner.

I’m juiced, and ready to kickstart a cause.

The more detailed version….

There’s more to every story, including mine.

I’ll begin at a time when I gained the ability to start making decisions that would affect the direction of my future – my sweet sixteens.

I can clearly remember it was then that I’d started wondering what to do with my life. I had to, as it was time for me to choose subjects that would have me gain points towards a university degree of my choice. To assist me, my school gave me sessions with a careers counsellor who studied my grades and suggested possible directions for me to take after leaving School. University was a hot topic, since I was really high achiever. I was good at math and science, and I couldn’t disagree with the prospect of earning good money.

I chose engineering, and off to university I went.

First year into study and I was finding it difficult and challenging, and I was also getting a feeling that it wasn’t something I really wanted to do after all. By second year, I knew that engineering wasn’t for me. But what else was I to do? I didn’t have the faintest idea, and since i’d spent lots of time and money, I couldn’t just give it up, right? I figured I may as well finish what I’d started. After all, I’d already spent $9,000, so why not stick it out and get a certificate.

So that’s exactly what I did.

The “honeymoon” period of my first engineering job lasted a number of weeks, after which I developed a strong dislike for work. This dislike grew to hate very quickly, and as a result, had me constantly complaining about my situation. This then had me lose contact with friends and loved ones, and I began a period of depression because of my helpless state. I was confused, discontented, and feeling increasingly alienated from the world. I wanted out. I needed an escape to clear my mind and do stuff that young people were supposed to do, not be all responsible and adult-like.

So I travelled.

I’d always wanted to explore Australia and Europe, so that’s exactly what I did for over 9 months in 2009. I took leave from work and decided to go on an adventure to see who Jason really was. It was the trip of a lifetime, but I still didn’t find any better guidance.

I travelled, had a blast, and returned to my job back home, hoping, wishing, praying that everything things would be different. They weren’t. Six months after returning, I decided enough was enough. Engineering had to go. A good friend of mine at the time had a personal trainer wife, and he suggested that I’d be really good at it. I listened, and without much research, agreed with him and proceeded to enroll in a course to become a fitness professional. The lure of this opportunity and the frustration with my engineering job was too great, so I left the job altogether. I snapped, cut the cord, and broke free to……. emptiness. I hadn’t finished my Personal Trainer certification, and I felt I needed a break to think things through. What to do?

Travel again of course.

Two months in south east Asia ensued, during which I met some really amazing people. One of those led me to convince myself that a career in personal training was in fact what I really wanted to do. After all, I was an exercise fanatic, I looked the part, and I got along really well with people. So why not?

I returned to Australia After my two months and totally crumbled. I had no income, I’d left my full time job before I left for Asia, and I couldn’t be a personal trainer because I hadn’t finished the training. What’s more, I looked at other personal trainers and thought to myself “I really don’t want to be like that!” My plans were flawed, so I crumbled and found myself in anxiety based depression. I literally sat in a corner for days – crying and brooding in feelings of sadness, loneliness and confusion. I even contemplated suicide. I was in deep. I saw a doctor, got medicated, saw a psychologist, and built the strength to make change. Part of this strength building saw me go back to the security of what I knew – and engineering job.

The year was 2011 and I’d just started my new role with a promising mining company in Townsville. It wasn’t long before I realised that I had again put myself in a place I didn’t want to be. I looked around and saw other people accepting the mediocrity of the work though, so I thought “why did it trouble me?” Rather than finding a solution, I opted to lower my standards, ignore my values and beliefs, and become one of the crowd. I decided to focus on the things society expected me to have – a successful career, a wife, a house, children, and all those things that a respectable, responsible adult should have. I was surrounded by “the Jones’s”, and I thought I should attempt to join them.

Fast forward to 2012 and I had done much of what society expected from me. I found myself with loaads of debt, a house, a nice car on a loan, and a professional career, and still no personal satisfaction with what I was doing with my life. I was lost. I didn’t know what I was doing, where I was going, or why I even existed.

The financial stress at the time was crippling for me. Buying food was a struggle. The stress of the situation led me to be resourceful, and this resourcefulness created a tipping point for me. I realised my circumstances were my own creation, so I started talking about it in order to seek alternative help – not medical help. This single step – being open and honest with myself and my close friends – changed my life forever.

As part of my ‘reaching out’, one friend suggested I have a look at and a course online by Scott Dinsmore of Live Your Legend. I invested $120 to purchase a self-help tool kit and found the content really got my brain juices flowing. I was starting to see other possibilities outside of a 9-5 existence, working for “the man”, and how it was possible to turn a passion into a profitable business. Could it really be? Was it possible that I had a passion and that I could make it a profitable business? I was super curious.

My curiosity of ‘passions’ and online business led to a period where I would ‘try on many hats’ in an attempt to explore ideas of passion. I attempted a part time job as a personal trainer, did volunteer work, and spent time exploring many facets of online business, including making companies to sell tea and toothbrushes online. Unfortunately, these endeavours failed. Why?  They weren’t my true passion.

So what was my passion? What was my purpose? What cause was there for me to contribute towards?

It was then that a good friend directed me to Tony Robbins, who became a mentor for me. His audio programs were life changing. It was his words that started opening my mind to an alternative way of thinking, and just how much my emotions controlled outcomes in my life. Most importantly, I was taught the concept of self-control, and awareness of the destructive thoughts that we going through my mind. I discovered that I was able to shift the way I felt – that my emotional state was a choice I made, not a result of the actions of others. It was exactly what I needed to start making massive change.

I used the momentum of the shift that was going on and started really focusing on some key areas of my life that were not serving me positively – my relationships, my health and wellness, and my emotional stability. I was an exercise freak at the time. I was using exercise as an outlet for my frustration at life and my depression, which was better than alcohol and drugs, but it was draining my energy and my time. I made big changes. I slowed down, got more efficient and effective with exercise, and changed my diet after learning about alkalinity of the body and the importance of limiting dairy and caffeine intake.

The focus on these key areas – my physiological and psychological wellness – provided me with the clarity and energy required to make even bigger life changes that would come.

Over the next 2 years, I spent a lot of time on myself – refining my wellness, creating empowering relationships with select people, and started taking action to reduce the burden of material objects in my life. This began to build freedom, mobility, and my sense of courage in my ability, and so a sense of purpose started manifesting. I realised this purpose didn’t involve many things in my life. I needed to take action. I quit my corporate 9-5 job, sold my unit at a loss, and found myself in a ‘gap year’ – taking a break from everything that I had made myself. This time it was different. I was relaxed, comfortable with where I was heading, and my financial stress was much more controlled. What’s more, I met a girl, fell in love, went to Bali, and created this blog to write about my interests.

I was finally using time to explore myself.

Then I met Rik.

Actually, I found out about a free event called the Breakthrough, hosted by Rik Schnabel of Life Beyond Limits, then met Rik. It was during his life-changing weekend that I discovered what my purpose was, and the cause which I wanted to take out into the world. I discovered my desire to help people who want to achieve clarity of their higher purpose. To do this, I teach them that mastery of their physical and psychological wellbeing is the single most important step to get clear on a purposeful direction for their lives – realisation that took me over 10 years of haphazard trial and error to realise. If I could give people the opportunity to to use their precious time and energy more effectively and find out what they really want to do in 100th of the time it took me, I could prevent many of the “burn out’s” experienced due to repeated failures, and inspire future generations with a sense of enthusiasm and hope.

Kickstart a Cause was born.

That’s where I find myself now – I’m in the early start-up phase of creating a vehicle for me to harness my passion to help future generations of world-changers to kick greater goals and live a life they’ve dreamed of. Mine came as a result of 10 years of searching and at a cost of many, many 1,000’s of dollars in undirected ideas. I want to give people the opportunity to learn what I now know to kickstart their progress, accelerating them to a life of purpose with clarity, focus, enthusiasm and the skills necessary to make their dreams come true.

That’s my story.

So who am I?

I’m a Pisces, an adventurer, an entrepreneur, and a free spirited Aussie. I come to you with a diverse background of skills including qualifications in Personal Training, Engineering, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Life Coaching, Barista (coffee making), which make me an interesting addition to the dinner table. I started out young having my own lawn mowing business, investing in the stock market, and have experimented with property investing and online business development. All in all, I love learning and trying new things. I’m a do-er, and I have satisfaction when I get things done.

I am at the beginning of my exciting new journey, following my new cause of having others do the same. There are big things to come and I hope you’ll join for the ride. This is me on a crusade to pursue my cause, and I want to encourage you to chase yours.

Thank you so much for being here – it means a lot.

I promise this is just the beginning. Stay tuned for more epic crusades……

~Jason