The Voluntary Life

George is a professional auditor who grew up in Greece and emigrated to the UK. In this episode, he provides a background to the current economic crisis in Greece. He shares his thoughts on what life is like for ordinary people during the economic deflation and what the prospects are for the future.

Podcast Episode

An interview with George, who emigrated from Greece to resettle in the UK. George provides many suggestions that will be relevant for anyone considering emigration, even if you are not in the EU. If you do live in the EU, it is very much worth considering the opportunities of doing what George has done and relocating to a place that might better suit your needs.

This episode is a recording of a talk given by Chris Guillebeau about his new book The 100 Dollar Startup. The talk took place in Shoreditch, London on 25th May 2012 and Chris kindly gave permission for me to record it for this podcast. In the talk, Chris shares some of the stories of the many "solopreneurs" and small business owners that he interviewed for the book, all of whom are using creative self-employment to give themselves more freedom in life.

This episode discusses ideas from the book "The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age"by James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg. "In The Sovereign Individual, Davidson and Rees-Mogg explore the greatest economic and political transition in centuries -- the shift from an industrial to an information-based society. This transition, which they have termed "the fourth stage of human society," will liberate individuals as never before, irrevocably altering the power of government."

How will you finance your startup? This episode presents some thoughts on the issue of financing for entrepreneurs based on my own experience, including:

• Why bootstrapping your business with revenue finance is the best way to fund your own startup, if you can do it
• The benefit of having some personal savings and no major financial commitments, if you want to start a business
• The role that loans can play in funding your venture and how taking out loans for business is a far better use of debt than taking out loans for consumption items
• Why selling equity in your company (taking investment from VC or others) is ultimately a very expensive way to fund your venture
• Why Business Development Grants are never "free money" and have serious drawbacks
• The importance of looking long and hard at whether you really need the money to get going. You probably don't need nearly as much as you think

Every entrepreneur will ultimately exit from their business, in one way or another. Unless you plan to just wind it down, one day you'll probably want to sell your company. In this podcast, Jake talks about his experience of selling a business and answers some key questions about the process, including:

• Why sell your business?
• How do you find a buyer?
• When is the right time to sell?
• How do you value your business?
• What happens in the negotiation process?
• How long does it take?
• What happens after the sale?

An interview with Laurette Lynn, author, speaker and host of the Unplugged Mom internet talk show. Laurette's work emphasizes the need for families to unplug from mainstream assumptions in learning and living, disconnect from the artificial process of life and discover the freedom and joy in learning and living more authentically. In the interview she talks about freedom from school for kids and families. Laurette explains the choice that she made not to send her kids to school "because they don't need it". She shares her thoughts on how you can raise your kids free from school too.

This episode is about negotiation for entrepreneurs. Some basic practical tips are provided about negotiating, such as:

• The benefits of writing everything down (even though it seems obvious)
• Why it's better to be explicit about how you want do business, such as with a simple set of standard terms
• Negotiating about all the terms and avoiding the pitfall of focussing narrowly on price

Some of the deeper principles underlying negotiation are also explained, such as:

• The concept of your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA) and how it determines the dynamic of the negotiation
• The value of appealing to objective standards and avoiding a "contest of wills"
• Why win-win negotiations are the only way to get any lasting agreement that will work
• Why it makes sense to adopt the premise that you'll never be able to rely on enforcing legal contracts

The excellent book on negotiation recommended in the podcast is "Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In" by Fischer and Ury.

An interview with Tarrin P. Lupo, about how he become a self-published author and how you could to. Tarrin is best known for being the author of the historical fiction series "Pirates of Savannah" and his children's book "Catch That Collie". He has successfully published thirteen eBooks and short stories. He is also a liberty activist who runs a news service called The Low Country Liberty Report and co-hosts the Wheels off Liberty podcast. He currently resides in Savannah Georgia and is a member of the Free State Project, spending time in New Hampshire promoting the ideas of Freedom and Liberty.

In the interview Tarrin explains the difference between self-publishing and traditional routes to publishing for authors. He talks about the business of self-publishing and provides guidance on how to successfully market your work. He shares his thoughts on the skill of writing and on what it takes to write commercially. He also provides his views about intellectual property and the publishing industry and his thoughts about where the industry is going.
Podcast Episode

This episode is an interview with Mike, one of the moderators and main contributors to the Permanent Portfolio discussion forum. Mike, or "Medium Tex" as he is known on the board, is an independent investor and co-author of an upcoming book on the permanent portfolio approach to investment. In the interview Mike explains a simple way of understanding all the different economic conditions we might face and how to be financially prepared for any of them as a private investor. You can get more information about the concept of the permanent portfolio in Harry Browne's book "Fail-Safe Investing", on the permanent portfolio forum.