Entrepreneurship Shall Continue Until Freedom Improves
In June I visited the gorgeous foothills of New Hampshire’s White Mountains. The occasion: Porcupine Freedom Festival.
This festival is unique in combining libertarian activism, education, entrepreneurship and debauchery.
You can come learn from professor David Friedman1. You can talk politics. You can do business in cash, gold or Monero. You can enjoy time away from the city.
There’s a popular bumper sticker saying that freedom isn’t free. Ronald Reagan2 phrased it this way:
Perhaps you and I have lived too long with this miracle to properly be appreciative. Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. And those in world history who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.
The charm of PorcFest is that almost everyone there is libertarian. Set aside a few journalists and federal informants.
People bring many different perspectives. Still we have a consensus to not hurt other people or take their stuff.
The liberty movement is a remnant of the American classical liberal tradition. Our movement includes businesses, political activists, non-profits like the Free State Project3, and volunteers.
Growing our movement requires extraordinary effort by activists. This type of support is called “goodwill” in business-speak4. We need to put in a lot of money and footwork to earn local people’s support.
Earlier in the month I stopped by Grand Old Day in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was also a fun festival, but stood in stark contrast to PorcFest.
Let’s set aside the ideology and alternative currencies. Grand Old Day had lots of great food and entertainment. I especially loved a performance by students at the School of Rock. They played a rad mix of classic hits and new releases.5
The beer gardens and recently legalized weed shops were bustling. Later I stopped by the Libertarian Party of Minnesota booth to help out. I felt like our message flopped with the crowd.6
The legislature has been cracking down on minor parties by requiring 2000 petition signatures to get our candidates on the ballot. We were running around with clipboards trying to get folks to sign the petition.
What are these elections about? What is the pitch for the festival goers to sign up?
Even as a party member I didn’t understand our pitch to the regular person.
I love the people of Minnesota. I love what the LP is trying to do. Politics as practiced is not accomplishing the goal of improving our freedom.
We need tremendous resources and goodwill to make the liberty movement thrive.
I want local businesses like the bars, food trucks, weed shops, and concert venues to sing our praises. I want us to kick ass at business. Then we can replicate our success at the polls.
Shift your Mindset from Scarcity to Abundance
Imagine you are driving through the concrete jungle of downtown Chicago. Massive sky-scrapers loom before you with thousands of glass windows.
As a regular person who works a job, you would look at these sky-scrapers and form your own opinion. You might consider them beautiful, ugly, or uninteresting. Likely you want to get back to your regular life away from the city.
Imagine you sell a window-washing service. Now you see sky-scrapers and sense opportunity.
This is the difference between the scarcity mindset, and the abundance mindset. Where is your head at? Do you want to live in scarcity or embrace abundance and entrepreneurship?
The esteemed French economist Jean-Baptiste Say coined the word entrepreneur. The literal translation means undertaker or adventurer. It means someone who takes on a new venture.7
The concept of an entrepreneur is differs from a capitalist or manager. The entrepreneur manages the risk of a novel venture.
The lifeblood of a business in any stage is cash-flow. That is the money coming in to pay bills, purchase needed assets, and operate the business to make profit.8
A business needs to have cash coming in to pay its expenses and the owners. The owner of a cash-flow negative business needs to face the decision to sell or shut down.
A key component to maintaining positive cash-flow is to keep sales coming in. My previous post touched on the ethics of sales. Sales is a service that you provide for the customer, not inflict to them.9
Sales is a cornerstone of every venture. Business owners want to maximize their profits by optimizing their sales process.
Non-profits and political campaigns similarly need to secure funding from their supporters. An engaged employee benefits from selling their contributions and negotiating for better compensation.
Failure is a Welcome Guest on the Road to Success
It’s always challenging to learn a new skill. Learning the art of sales and entrepreneurship is no exception.
What if you fail? It’s a scary thought. The reality is that nearly two-thirds of businesses fail within ten years.10
“What if?” is a great first question to ask to assess potential risk. The next question is “What are the chances that?”. Then ask “How can I improve my chances?”
Yes only one-third of businesses are successful after ten years. Yes you can take action to improve your odds of success. You can take action succeed as an employee, business owner, or investor.
When AirBnB was a young startup in 2008 the founders were struggling for cash-flow. They saw the political fervor around the ‘08 election and came up with marketing plan.
They redecorated cereal boxes as Obama O’s and Capn McCains. They auctioned off off 500 of these boxes on E-Bay for over $39 a pop. This helped them raise the cash they needed to keep the company going.11
How did they pull this off? They knew how to create a product, bring it to market rapidly, and make sales.
Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. You can prepare by learning the high-value skillset of sales and entrepreneurship.
Freedom is Learned, not Inherited
I want to tell you about someone I know who has already made this shift to change her life.
Her story speaks to the problems and questions I’ve experienced myself and heard from others in the liberty movement.
I get it – it’s difficult to know which direction to turn, or how to move forward in the world as it is today.
My friend Stephanie, was there, too, as a substitute teacher in the government schools.
Her story is your reminder that there is a way to patch this rigged system, and doing so is much simpler than you think. She started searching for answers when things didn’t smell right.
The insanity of school shutdowns, distance learning on Zoom, mandates, jab propaganda, and masking rituals spurred Stephanie to seek out answers.
She sought answers, and sought others in her area who were questioning the narrative. Through that search, she found her way into AUTONOMY.
After finishing the 12-week course, Steph had some new skills and options for making an income that she’d picked up or upgraded during the course.
The skills are a game-changer, but it was the mindset shift she experienced to which Stephanie attributes her transformation.
The realization of her potential increased her perception of the opportunities around her, which enabled her to quit working in the indoctrination centers, begin to educate her own son at home and work as a freelancer with location independence and a flexible schedule.
I know that right now, many of you are living in the world of 9-5 and feeling trapped in the struggle…
…This is your invitation to leave that world behind and take a new path.
Getting into AUTONOMY is simple but not easy.
They’re very intentional about their admission process. They want people who are liberty minded and seeking something better for themselves.
Like yourself.
Perhaps Stephanie’s story will inspire you to reach out for this opportunity (I hope so! You’re worth it, and you deserve it).
You’re only steps away from a transformational upgrade like Stephanie’s.
All you have to do is:
Check out AUTONOMY’s website. Pick up some free goodies like the Essential Skills Underground History of America.
Book your Blueprint Call with an AUTONOMY graduate to explore the opportunity further. (This is not a sales call. They will not take payment on this call. It’s to talk about a Blueprint for your future – with or without AUTONOMY.)
Get lifetime access to all the tools needed to level up your life (no matter your niche).
I would love to see some of you in my audience join the AUTONOMY community.
There are hundreds of professionals who have already followed this path…
And they’re waiting to support you on your way.
Check out AUTONOMY for yourself. Start building your own “system patch” for the broken statist system.
Season 12 is starting in fall of 2024. Pick up the early bird discount for 10% off!
