The Voluntary Life

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45 Entrepreneurship Part 5: The Unexamined Business Is Not Worth Building Feb 27, 2012

Show notes

This episode is about the amazing value that comes from tracking your business. Whereas 'business plans' are really just 'business guesses' and can often be a waste of time, tracking the reality of your business is always incredibly useful. The data that you have about each aspect of your business (your sales opportunities, your contacts, your cash-flow and many other aspects) is the most valuable asset that you have.

44 Living And Parenting Free Of Religion: An Interview With Carisa Brewster Feb 20, 2012

Show notes

An interview with Carisa Brewster, author of the Cup of Curiosity blog. Carisa describes herself as a writer, mom and nappy chick with way too many interests. In this interview she talks about the experience of breaking free from religion and choosing to parent and unschool her children free from any religion. Her blog covers many diverse topics from books, natural hair, living in Oregon, interracial issues, breastfeeding/parenting and pop culture. She is also a (self-confessed) huge Star Wars and Star Trek geek, but only a moderate comic book geek.

43 Investing In Europe: An Interview With Marc De Mesel Feb 13, 2012

Show notes

This episode is about investing inside the Euro zone as an independent individual investor. It is an interview with Marc de Mesel, who runs a blog on investing in Europe in dutch and also an investing blog in english. Marc talks about his experience applying the Permanent Portfolio strategy in a European context. He also provides his thoughts on speculating in gold and other precious metals. The episode is provided as food for thought to encourage critical thinking and independent decision-making in regard to investment: it is opinion only and should not be considered any kind of financial advice. For more information about the concept of the permanent portfolio see Harry Browne's book "Fail-Safe Investing". You can also hear more about the Permanent Portfolio concept in this previous episode. The book that Marc mentions in the episode is "Tomorrow's Gold" by Mark Farber.

42 Author Interview: Paul Rosenberg on A Lodging of Wayfaring Men Part 2 Feb 06, 2012

Show notes

Part 2 of the interview with Paul Rosenberg about his novel "A Lodging of Wayfaring Men". Paul shares his thoughts on many of the other themes covered in the novel: sexuality, relationships, the unconscious mind and religion. He explains his view on intellectual property and why he chose to release the novel using the creative commons license. He also gives an insight into his upcoming books.

41 Author Interview: Paul Rosenberg on A Lodging of Wayfaring Men Part 1 Jan 31, 2012

Show notes

This Part 1 of an interview with Paul Rosenberg, author of "A Lodging of Wayfaring Men". Instantly named Freedom Book of The Month and a major influence in the Cyber-underground, A Lodging of Wayfaring Men is the story of freedom-seekers who create an alternative society on the Internet - a virtual society, with no possibility of oversight or control. It grows so fast that governments and "leaders" are terrified, and fight to co-opt this cyber-society before it undermines the power of the governing elite. In this interview Paul talks about his intellectual development, his influences and the background to writing the book. He discusses the parallels between the novel and recent developments in crypto-currency, such as Bitcoin. He shares his thoughts on the current state of the internet, prospects for liberty and the potential for developing communities of people with shared values.

40 Financial Independence from Parents Jan 27, 2012

Show notes

This episode is about the freedom in adult life that is gained by achieving financial independence from parents. Jake talks about some of the findings of the book "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas Stanley. Dr Stanley surveyed people in America who had become millionaires within one generation and collected data on many aspects of their lives. One finding that he identified was that adult-children who continue to receive economic subsidies from their parents tend to be much less successful in developing wealth within their own lives. Those who don't receive "economic out-patient care" end up wealthier and also have better relationships with their parents.

39 Entrepreneurship Part 4: Profit is Sanity Jan 16, 2012

Show notes

A podcast for entrepreneurs about getting your business to profitability and making it more and more profitable once you get there. The title of this podcast comes from the saying "turnover is vanity and profit is sanity". Some of the topics covered in the episode include:

The unjustly-bad reputation that profit has in our culture and it's origins
The other motives (unrelated to profit) that entrepreneurs have and the problems that they cause for their business
Profit as the truly rational measure of how healthy your business is
Two approaches cutting expenses to increase profit
The value of measuring profitability at the project or product level
The necessity of measuring all aspects of operations to find out where you make a profit and where you don't

38 Entrepreneurship Part 3: In Praise Of Selling Jan 11, 2012

Show notes

In this podcast, Jake talks about the most important responsibility you will ever have as an entrepreneur: selling. He talks about how to overcome the barriers to selling that most entrepreneurs face: the cultural prejudice against sales, ignorance about what selling really is and the psychological barrier to selling (the fear of rejection). Stages of Selling To Learn More About:

Prospecting
Contacting
Qualifying
Presentation
Handling Objections
Closing
Referrals

Checklist for New Entrepreneurs:

Have you started selling yet?
Are you setting aside specific time within each day or week devoted only to selling?
Are you measuring everything that you can measure about your selling activity?

Show Notes:

Glengarry Glen Ross (great movie, but also an example of how negative the representation of selling is in our culture)
How to Master the Art of Selling by Tom Hopkins (a recommended book).

37 Psychological Freedom: An Interview With Daniel Mackler Jan 02, 2012

Show notes

An interview with psychologist and filmmaker Daniel Mackler about the subject of psychological freedom. Daniel shares his thoughts on what psychological freedom means: the healing from past psychological traumas. He identifies the root of trauma in unhealthy parenting and talks about his own journey towards more psychological freedom.

36 Freedom From Politics Part 2 Dec 26, 2011

Show notes

Part 2 in a series of episodes on freedom from politics with special guest Stephanie Murphy, host of the Porc Therapy podcast. Show Notes:

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world" by Gandhi Penn Gillette on politics School Sucks Podcast on Ron Paul George Carlin on Not Voting Doug Stanhope on Democracy "If Voting Changed Anything They'd Make it Illegal" by Emma Goldman

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