The Voluntary Life

This episode is about crowdfunding your startup. Kristov is one of the co-founders of Robber Baron Swag, an apparel startup that is using a kickstarter campaign to launch it's first t-shirt. In this interview, Kristov explains the origins of crowdfunding and talks about the benefits for entrepreneurs in financing their ventures using crowdfunding. Show Notes: Wiki page about Crowdfunding Kickstarter Robber Baron Swag's Kickstarter Page Podcast Episode

This episode is about how to diversify your investments for lower risk and higher return. The issues covered include: The problems with a simple "buy and hold" approach, whereby you invest all your money in your one favorite asset (be that stocks, gold or anything else).The problems with the "market timing" approach to investing and why it doesn't work.The benefits of diversifying your portfolioHow to properly diversify your portfolio by using different asset classes, rather than just different securities.How to use rebalancing bands to harvest volatility, increase your return and reduce risk.You can get more information about the concept of the permanent portfolio discussed in this episode in Harry Browne's book "Fail-Safe Investing" and in many of the previous Voluntary Life podcast episodes on investing. As always regarding investment, do your own research. I am not an advisor and this isn't advice of any kind, it's just my own opinions based on my experience. Podcast Episode

It has never been easier to live and work abroad. If you are self-employed and work online there is nothing to stop you. Why nor sublet your apartment for a few months and live abroad in a fascinating (and potentially cheap) destination? Here is a list of all the things that make long term travel super easy: Have your home post rerouted to friend (or commercial service) who scans it into a Dropbox account for you. If a friend does it, buy them a multi-page scanner for this.Get a professional agent to manage the sublet of your apartment back homeAirBnB for renting longer term accommodation (especially for whole apartments)TripAdvisor for short term hotel staysCloud services for file storage (e.g. dropbox, google drive)Clound services for backup (e.g. Crashplan or Backblaze)A small scanner app on your smartphone for scanning any paper you need to keep (receipts etc) when abroadGet your online banking set up for all the transaction types you will need to doGet your Credit/Debit cards set for use abroadA password manager (e.g. LastPass, 1Password) for your online passwordsAn E reader (e.g. a kindle, iPad) to enable you to read as many books as you want while you are awayA lightweight laptop for your workA Smartphone with a nice camera for taking pictures and getting onlineAn external encrypted drive for local storage/backupInternational plugs for all your devicesPlease do post your own ideas for things that make long term travel easy in the comments. Podcast Episode

Phoenix Zerin is the author of the blog Five Years Abroad. He left his country of origin (USA) in 2012 to experience living abroad for at least 5 years. In this interview he describes his experiences so far travelling in Colombia, Paraguay and Chile. Podcast Episode

An episode about how to use goals and visions to move forward in creating the life you want. Show Notes: Previous Episode on GTD Getting Things Done by David Allen Podcast Episode

This episode is about the concept of limited liability and it's role in entrepreneurship. The purpose of the limited liability principle is not to protect the entrepreneur as director or manager of a business, it is for the protection of investors.There is a big difference between this principle and how the actual law of limited liability works in practice. The law is messy and confusing, with strange concepts such as "corporate personhood" granted by the State. I argue that the principle of limited liability for investors could be implemented through contracts and that the whole messy legal implementation that we currently have is unnecessary to achieve investor protection.I argue that it makes sense for entrepreneurs to use contractual limits of liability wherever possible and to use insurance whenever you need to reduce risk in that way.The reality for small business entrepreneurs is that you will not be able to hide behind a shield of limited liability, for example you will be expected to personally underwrite loans.These are just my opinions. As always, you need to rely on your own due diligence and get your own legal advice. Podcast Episode

This episode discusses the question of risk in investment, speculation and entrepreneurship. When is it a good idea to take risk and when isn't it? I share my own personal opinion. Podcast Episode

An episode on how to scale and optimise your business to make more profit and enhance your competitive advantage. The issues covered include: Standardisation: making one version of what you doProceduralisation: making one version of how you do itOptimisation: speeding up and automating your proceduresKnowledge Capture: maintaining and growing your operation within the context of staff coming and goingOptimising at the level of the whole business: only doing the things that it makes sense to do Podcast Episode

This episode is about employing people as an entrepreneur. Topics covered include: The destructive legacy of the reward and punishment paradigm from schoolWhy pay isn't as important as you thinkThe importance purpose, mastery and autonomy in motivationThe problem with relying on interviews for hiring and alternative ways of finding great peopleThe value of freelancers or independent contractorsWhat employing people teaches you about taking responsibility for your side of a relationship and how it deepens your respect for individuality Show Notes: Dan Pink Talk on Motivation Discipline Without Punishment by Dick Grote Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type by Isabel Briggs Myers Podcast Episode

An episode about the problems with Intellectual Property, from the perspective of an entrepreneur. I started off thinking that IP is an integral and necessary part of entrepreneurship. I thought that it would be very important for my business.  I have now come to see IP law as something that: prevents innovation,is immoral,promotes conflict,diverts resources to unproductive usesand is ultimately unnecessary for making money from ideas. Show Notes: Against Intellectual Monopoly by Boldrin and Levine Article about the Shopping Cart case Against Intellectual Property by Kinsella Podcast Episode

Part 2 of an interview with entrepreneur Judd Weiss, talking about business relationships. In this episode Judd talks about: The pitfalls of employing peopleThe benefits of partnering or affiliate relationshipsHow to create awesome relationships with clients Podcast Episode

Part 1 of an interview with entrepreneur Judd Weiss, talking about business relationships. In this episode Judd shares his thoughts and experiences about how he approaches working relationships in general and what he thinks about  the question of going into business with others. Should friends go into business together?What makes a good business partnership?Why do so many business partnerships go so badly wrong?Find out in this episode. Podcast Episode

Part 2 in the short series of podcasts about The Voluntary Life. This episode is all about the podcast itself. The podcast comes out once per week and is a mix of solo-casts and interviews. Some topics are covered in more detail as a series, like the entrepreneurship series.The aim of the podcast is personal freedom empowerment: providing ideas for finding the maximum freedom in your own life, within an unfree world.The podcast always takes a constructive approach: the angle on any topic is- what can you do to maximise your freedom in this area of life? All the topics are about things that are actionable and personally relevant at an individual level.The podcast aims to explore the approach of living a free and voluntary life across all aspects of life (work, personal relationships, finances etc).We showcase examples of voluntary living through interviews with people who have maximised their freedom in a particular aspects of life.I'd love to hear your thoughts about what the opportunities are for expanding the show in the future. I'm interested in developing opportunities for listeners to connect with one another and create more of a community, perhaps online or perhaps with physical meet ups. I look forward to your thoughts! Podcast Episode

The first in a series of podcasts introducing The Voluntary Life, both as a concept and as a podcast. This episode explains the concept of living a 'voluntary life', which is a life lived according to the principle of free choice. The extent to which we have the freedom to make our own choices about our lives (and to respect the free choices of others) is the extent to which we are leading the voluntary life. This concept applies across aspects of life, as diverse as freedom at work, financial freedom, freedom in personal relationships and psychological freedom. The following principles underpin the concept of living a voluntary life: Voluntary living is the highest expression of individuation possible. The deepest experience of being alive comes from our ability to express our personality and individuality in our free choices. The more free you are, the more alive you are.Voluntary living is the only truly moral way to live. A voluntary life is one lived in accordance with the Non-Agression Principle, which is the fundamental moral framework from which all valid morality is derived.Voluntary interaction is responsible for all the greatest achievements of humanity. Peaceful co-operation of individuals through trade and entrepreneurship has given us all the enlightenment, technological progress, economic development and civilisation (in the best sense of the word) that we now enjoy.The voluntary life must start from the individual and his or her own choices. You have to be the change you want to see in the world. This is why the show is called "the voluntary life" and not "the voluntary society". Podcast Episode

A podcast about how to overcome indecision, paralysis and procrastination about entrepreneurship and JFDI (Just Fucking Do It). There are some objective hinderances to creating and running a business, especially if you have other major commitments in your life that you need to focus on first. However, often the battle is really an internal psychological one. How do you get into the mindset of being able to JFDI? This episode contains some suggestions about giving yourself permission: Permission to failPermission to be imperfectPermission to piss people offPermission to succeed Listen to the podcast to find out more. Podcast episode