What is phroogal? An origin story.

[I am auditing old posts on the website and came upon this from 2013. I wanted to share it here because I can't believe it's been over 10 years. And I know many of you don't know the story. Here's a little snippet of how the name came about.]

What’s in a name? A name means a lot. It conveys an expected experience.

phroogal was founded to help a generation access financial knowledge, products, and services and connect a community with a shared philosophy: experiential and purposeful living through sound financial decision-making.

I frequently talk about how people can live a rich life, frugally.

However, frugal living can easily be associated with “cheapness” and a not-so-appealing lifestyle of bare-bones living.

I had a different understanding of the word.

Frugality wasn’t about being cheap. It was a way of living that spent every dollar with intention.

So how did I choose phroogal as the namesake of my purpose?

I had just finished an event for my credit union, speaking to employees about financial wellness. That evening, while driving on a desolate Texas road, the word frugal came into my mind.

So, I stopped and pulled the car over on the side of the road.

I wanted to register for frugal.com, but to my "non" surprise, it had already been taken. So, I decided to be clever. And registered phroogal.com. I thought it was genius.

However, I didn’t do much with the domain.

It wasn’t until after quitting my job and going on my backpacking trip that I began to make the connection between money and pursuing my dreams.

Since family and friends wanted to know how I could "afford" quitting a job and traveling the world, I began blogging on the domain in 2012, sharing my very frugal global adventure. I mostly wrote about mindset and behaviors.

[phroogal has evolved from a fast-growing blog to a failed attempt at being a startup to a community platform to a growing financial marketplace. Although the offerings have changed, the missions continue to be the same. I have continued to refine, change, and transform with the times.]

Recently, I had a conversation with a friend who asked me why I chose to spell phroogal with an “al” versus a “le.”

My response: “I understand we’ve grown accustomed to seeing how Google is spelled. But Google itself is a play on the word googol. So I’ve chosen phroogal as a play on the word frugal.”

[Who would have thought that years later (okay, a decade later), we've become a go-to place where people search for the very products they need to live their best financial lives?]

Here's an image from 12 years ago I got a kick at seeing again:

Hi, I'm Jason, author, storyteller, wellness advocate and small-business owner. Learn more about me on jasonvitug.com and subscribe to my Substack newsletter. Get my books here.