The Voluntary Life

This episode is about financial freedom and asking oneself the question "how much is enough?" Show Notes Episode 116 (about the 4% rule and financial freedom) Article: "My husband retired young and goofs off all day" Episode 119 (Todd Tressider Interview)  Listen to Podcast Episode 135

The biggest challenge to becoming an entrepreneur is overcoming your conditioning. It's never been a better time to start your own business, yet we are all conditioned to think like worker drones. This episode is about how to break your employee conditioning. Show Notes Episode 111 on Risk in Entrepreneurship The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley The Peter Principle Listen to Episode 134

An update on my experience of going minimalist. Topics covered: The benefits of minimalismHow it feels getting rid of stuffThe downside of minimalism?Some suggestions for going minimalistShow Notes It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Peter WalshFujitsu ScanSnap S1300iGetting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen Listen to Episode 133

Andrew is the founder and host of the Nomad Capitalist website and radio show. In this interview he describes his life as an expat entrepreneur, including: travels through South East AsiaBecoming a nomad capitalistdifferent opportunities for investment abroadDiversification: do you need it?Dealing with the practicalities of doing business on the roadperpetual travel: the good and the bad Show Notes "Passport to Freedom" Event In Las Vegas January 2014 Nomad Capitalist Website Listen to episode 132

David is an entrepreneur and perpetual traveller. He is the founder of a successful technology consultancy and has been travelling around the world with his family for many years. In this episode he shares his experience of perpetual travel and entrepreneurship, including: The idea that got David and his wife travelling.The influence that The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber had on himHow David turned an IT consultancy into a passive income businessExperiences of living in Argentina, Spain and ThailandThe benefits of minimalism and travelThe psychological rewards of travel: learning to live more freely and operating without the rulebook you were given.The challenges of travel and how they are part of the experienceShow Notes: The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber David's Company Family Kahn Blog Email David Listen To Episode 131

Pete Sisco is an entrepreneur, blogger and author of The Freedom App. In this interview, Pete talks about his life as a perpetual traveller including: Long term travel with a familySelf-publishingPassive income businessesWorking with people all over the worldDealing with bureaucracies when travellingPerpetual travel as the ultimate personal freedomShow Notes Pete's website and blog The Freedom App book Listen to Episode 130

An interview with Kevin Koskella, host of the Freedom Lovin' blog and podcast. Kevin talks about his life as a perpetual traveller. He explains his approach to funding a digital nomad lifestyle with online passive income businesses and shares some of the best and worst experiences of his permanent travel life! Listen to episode 129

This episode is an interview with strength trainer and youtube personality Elliott Hulse. In the interview Elliot talks about his approach to getting freedom by creating a non-job. Topics covered include: Growing up rebelliousWhat it means to have a non jobSharing your ideas, even though you suck at firstHow to finance the early days of your non jobPerseveranceWhat to do if there is not much demand for what you are passionate aboutBeing more expansive than your expertiseShow Notes Elliott's Youtube channel and Facebook Page Campaign For Non Jobs Website Previous TVL episodes on Unjobbing Listen to Episode 128

This episode is from a recent interview that I did for the Porc Therapy podcast. The interviewer is my friend Stephanie Murphy. We talk about different strategies to escape the rat race, including unjobbing, intensive saving, passive income businesses and selling a business. The discussion focusses on some questions about pursuing financial freedom, including: What is financial freedom?College- is it worth it?Does having kids make financial freedom impossible?How does becoming a stay-at-home parent fit into the idea of quitting the rat race?Is "voluntary poverty" a viable strategy for financial freedom?Do you have to be a sleaze to start a passive income business?What's the role of Bitcoin in an investment strategy like the Permanent Portfolio?Why doesn't the Permanent Portfolio contain silver?How do intensive savers do it? Show Notes: Episode 124 (Original Talk on Four Ways To Quit The Rat Race) Harry Browne's book on the Permanent Portfolio Early Retirement Extreme blog and book Mr Money Moustache Podcast Episode 127

This episode is a recent interview about Getting Things Done that I did on the School Sucks Podcast. The discussion is with Brett Veinotte and here is his summary: "This is the sixth and final (for now) installment in a series of shows inspired by my experience with and successes after reading the book, Getting Things Done by David Allen. Jake Desyllas joins me to discuss his experience with GTD, and to share his Eight Tools For A Freed Mind." Listen to Episode 126

The Question and Answer session from my talk about Four Ways To Quit The Rat Race. See Episode 124 for the main talk. Listen to Episode 125

Listen to Episode 124 Audio from a presentation given at the 2013 Libertopia conference. The talk explains how I quit the rat race aged 38 and what I have learned about different ways that other people have found to do so. There are four basic ways to quit the rat race presented in the talk: UnjobbingIntensive SavingPassive IncomeSelling A Business Show Notes: Michael Fogler's book Un-Jobbing Linda Breen Pierce's book Choosing Simplicity Elliot Hulse Your Money or Your Life Amy Dacyczyn's book The Complete Tightwad Gazette Early Retirement Extreme blog and book Mr Money Moustache Introduction to the Permanent Portfolio Smart Passive Income Tim Ferriss' blog and book The 4-Hour Workweek Laura Roeder Derek Sivers' book Anything You Want Podcast Episode 124

A Libertopia podcast mashup with Hannah Braime of Becoming Who You Are and Stephanie Murphy of Porc Therapy Listen to episode 123

An episode about making conscious choices as an entrepreneur. Listen to episode 122

Listen to Episode 121 Entrepreneurs have to make hundreds of decisions about their businesses every day. It is easy to lose sight of which decisions are the really big ones- the ones that have huge repercussions. The big decisions are also an opportunity to express your individuality and creativity as an entrepreneur: to make a conscious choice about the purpose and design of your business. This podcast provides an overview of what the big decisions are: 1. Choosing your own goals and motivesWhy am I an entrepreneur? What is my own motivation? What do I want? How do my motives for being an entrepreneur fit in with my vision for my life? I have found that being conscious about my own motivation is key to ensuring that I can gain fulfilment from being in business. 2.  Choosing the purpose of the businessWhy does my business exist? What's the purpose of the business? Deciding on a clear purpose for your business gives coherence to all your actions and decision. For me, that comes down to identifying what this business is going to do to provide value to others and make other people's lives better. 3 Choosing business partnersAm I going into business with others, or alone. Why? This choice has huge ramifications and it is extremely useful to be very conscious of why you are making any choices with regard to cofounders. 4. Choosing how to finance the ventureWhy do I want funding? What am I going to do with it? It's easy to assume you need as much money as possible to start, but you have many choices as to how to approach financing the venture. 5. Choosing how to sellHow am I going to make money? Why will customers give me money? There is an interplay in this decision, as we all learn from customers as we come to understand their reasons for buying. 6. Choosing the design of your operation How are we going to organise the work? Why are we working in this way? There is often a temptation to recreate the processes from your last job, however being a business owner gives you the opportunity to consciously design the workflow of your business. 7. Choosing your approach to profit How much profit do I aim to make? How am I going to do it? 8. Choosing your approach to growthHow big do I want this business to be, and why? It's easy to assume that you want growth, but bigger means more complex. 9. Choosing how you will exitHow do you plan to exit the business? Everyone has to exit someday. Many entrepreneurs want to sell, but even those who don't will have to plan for some kind of exit, either through a succession plan or simply ceasing to trade one day. I am currently writing a book about how to make these choices consciously as an entrepreneur.  I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback about this podcast and the subject as a whole! Podcast Episode 121