My guest on the podcast is Nicholas Hutchison of BookThinkers, a fast-growing Instagram platform for book lovers. Nick is from Boston, Massachusetts, and works full-time as a sales professional.

We discovered on the podcast we have a lot in common. In addition to books, Nick and I share a passion for self-development & travel. We discuss the value of reading, traveling, and creating a path to financial freedom when you're young.

Nick's end-game is what he calls "total freedom." In this episode, he details how he plans to achieve total freedom.

A few books we discuss at length are The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss & Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. Other topics we discuss:

From Boston

• Nick lives in North Easton, Massachusetts (20 miles south of Boston)

• Spent 5 years in New Hampshire

• Living close to Fenway Park

• Benefits of living in small community + close to big city

Book Thinkers

• How BookThinkers started

• Has 30K followers on IG and growing

• Time-management

• Setting priorities

• Using a journal

Self-Development

• Software sales career

• Having flexibility in your job

• 80-20 rule (The Pareto principle)

• Self-assessment / activity tracker

• Multi-family real estate investing

• Learning to say "no"

• Setting life goals

Monetizing Instagram:

• Automating & scaling a business

• BookThinkers mobile app

• Creating a network

• Partnering with authors

• Keeping strict accounts

Public Speaking:

• Learning to speak confidently

• Overcoming anxiety

• Speaking tricks & tips

• Taking constructive criticism

Vagabonding:

• The value of traveling

• His first solo travel (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

• Travel as a spiritual experience

• The personal sacrifice involved in travel

• Experiencing different cultures of the past

• Traveling to places not possible 30 years ago

Fun Questions:

• Why does it feel so wrong to only read half a book?

• Do you think it's better to read (over the next two years) 100 books twice, or 200 books?

• Do you think books should be remade for modern audiences?

• Do you think new writers should write covers the way new musicians do covers?

• If someone dropped $1 million in your lap what would you do with it?

• If you were given an opportunity to shadow Xander Bogaerts for three days, would you pay $5,000 to do it?

• Would you pay $25,000 to shadow Tom Brady for three days?

• Which is the one book you wish everyone would read?

Questions for Brad:

• Questions for Brad: What is the number one book that you would recommend for someone just starting out in the self-development space?

• Question for Brad: What book has had the biggest impact on your life?