Let Freedom Ring

Today is my Independence Day.

Today was my last day of work. We can never predict the future, of course, but with luck this is the last job I will ever work.

Today is the culmination of a 23 year struggle for freedom from wage slavery. It began with my very first wage-slave job at Arby's (fast food) and has continued until this day. In that time, I worked many horrible jobs, a few tolerable ones... but always the yoke of wage-slavery weighed me down.

To escape, I radically simplified my life-- perhaps the most important step on this journey. I lived in a Toyota Corolla with my dog, I lived in a Van, I lived in Thailand. Year by year, I whittled away unnecessary expenses & distractions.... and then whittled down the hours I worked to pay for my remaining wants and needs.

The final push started 8 months ago... Halloween 2006... when I started my own micro-business. This little project started because of my love for teaching English and meeting international people, coupled with my loathing for work, bureaucracy, and bosses. It was never intended to make me rich... and it never will.

The goal was simple-- help English learners around the world enjoy English, learn it effectively, and gain independence from schools & teachers. While I sell lessons, what I'm really doing is teaching students a way to learn independently. At the end of my course, they should be able to keep going on their own, with no more need for textbooks or schools.

On my side the goal was equally simple-- make a decent living independently, doing something I love to do. Free myself from bosses, bureaucrats, wage slavery, etc.... and make enough to live an enjoyable and comfortable life. Since I live like a student and enjoy doing so, I didn't (and don't) need to make much.

I have achieved these goals. The students are happy and most seem to love the lessons. I'm happy to finally be free to live as I want. Win-win.

So what's next? For starters, I'm off to Mexico for a two week vacation. After that, I'll be taking a break from English-- to do some fun and interesting things I neglected during the past 8 months.

And then? Well, I'll continue to develop the English Club. I have some strict principles about this. The first is-- it will never grow large. Most of the evils of business that we are all familiar with come from big-business. Few of us hate our local coffee shop or Thai restaurant. Business at a human scale can be a force of good... a force for connecting people and providing helpful services.

But when a business gets too big, humanity is lost. It becomes a machine... a profit-making monster that destroys humanity and destroys human lives. How will I avoid this. Well, first of all I have no desire for riches, and to build a big business requires a high level of greed and drive.

Second, I have a strict no employee policy. I absolutely will not be another person's boss. I'm happy to partner with people, but will not employ them. This puts a strict limit on how big my micro-business can grow... there's only so much one person can do after all.

So there it is.

It has been a very long time coming. The reason I write this blog is to help others find their way to this point-- hopefully much faster and much easier than I have. If you read through the archives, starting with post #1 until this one... you will find my own personal road map to freedom from wage slavery. I hope some of these experiences will be helpful to you, in your quest for freedom, autonomy, and adventure.

I hope that some day soon, you will celebrate your own Independence Day.

Breath Held

by Skald

I got my first job at age 16. Arby's Fast Food Restaurant. After the first day, I knew. Work sucks. I knew. I knew that employment was inherently demeaning.

The past 23 years have only confirmed and strengthened that insight. I've had crap jobs, I've had "decent" jobs. I've had one cool boss. I've had loads of shitty ones.

But always the institution itself was a prison. Always the inherent hierarchy. Always the "never left high school" feeling. Maybe I'm more sensitive than most. But employment has always meant dread and misery for me.

That is the root source of my rage-- the rage I felt upon returning to America. Once again, I was in the American economic system-- a system of wage slavery... of just getting by... a society whose sole focus is money, money, money. Money & work dominate America like nowhere else in the world, save, perhaps, Japan.

I'd spent 2 wonderful years in Thailand. 2 years without money being the central worry of my life. 2 years to live. And then I came back.

Since returning, the need for money has dominated my life. During my first few months in San Francisco, I was dangerously close to INVOLUNTARY homelessness. For the next year, it was always a struggle to have enough... enough to cover rent, food, basic living... but not much left over for anything resembling fun.

I finally saw the light and started my own micro-business. In the beginning, it brought in a little, but not enough to live off. Meanwhile, I had to work both my job AND my little micro-business. Work consumed my life.

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This is why I have barely blogged during the past year and a half. What could I write? I was certainly not living the free Hobopoet life. Though teaching part time.. it was not a life of abundance and freedom.

But now.... a 23 year marathon nears its end. The goal-- freedom from wage slavery. Independent income. Financial freedom.

The micro-business is now making plenty for me to live off. It has surpassed my job income. Its generating enough to fund year-round travel.

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For the moment, I'm holding my breath. I want to shout and celebrate and dance like a maniac. But I'm waiting... waiting to be sure this will continue.

I plan to work my job through the end of this summer... to be sure the micro-business stays steady.

Meanwhile, I'll be saving the extra money. Saving..... waiting just a few more months...

For Independence Day. My Independence Day. The end of wage slavery. My declaration of independence from employment. The day I quit my LAST job.

And then, there will be shouting. And dancing. And a big fucking party.

..... After that, I'm hitting the road. Not sure where, when, or how. But I'd like to see some of California and the Western US first-- do some camping and hiking. And Im thinking of a short teaser trip to Mexico. And then a BIG tour of South and Central America-- learn Spanish, learn salsa, SCUBA dive,... wander.

....And when my Independence Day comes at last, I plan to revive this blog and share the experiences and strategies that led me to it.... and the adventures that follow.

Stay tuned. And for the dedicated few readers who have stuck with this blog-- Thanks!

Progress Update

The website continues to grow, allowing me to save money. That's important- because I'm eager to get on the road again. My goal is to hit the road before the end of this year. By that time, I'm hoping my website will be making enough money to cover my day to day travel and living expenses.

One thing you should know about doing your own micro-business-- there will be a lot of competition. It seems that every day, there is a new English teaching website or podcast. If I wanted to build a big successful business in a traditional way, this would be very stressful.

But being a hobopoet is a big advantage. My needs are small. I don't need to get rich. I don't need to build a huge company. I don't need (or want) employees. If my micro-business brings in 2000 a month, I'm set. At a 1000 a month, I can still live very well in Thailand or a similar country.

The hobopoet lifestyle has removed much of the pressure that entrepreneurs face. While most people who start their own business do so for the freedom, most that I have known end up as slaves to their business.

For example, I remember a guy named "John" in South Carolina. I worked at his new smoothie store when I first moved there. He had just opened. In the beginning, he was a lot of fun. He loved having his own business-- finally free from his corporate career.

But in the months that followed, he became increasingly stressed. To start his little store, he had to take out a big loan. He had rent to pay. He had to pay for a big inventory of products. He had to pay for advertising.

The result-- he was under tremendous pressure to make money. The fun attitude disappeared and he became more and more of a scrooge. However much he focused on money, he still couldn't make the business profitable. He became bitter and exhausted. After two years, the business failed, leaving him with a pile of debts. He returned to a corporate job.

When you look beyond the hope and hype, you find this is the normal situation for most entrepreneurs.

But not for hobopoet micropreneurs. While we may never grow rich (and don't want to), we can more easily enjoy the benefits of having our own vocation. Since we don't have huge expenses, we don't need to take out loans. Since we don't have big loans, we are under no pressure to make big bucks fast. Since we don't have that pressure, we can relax and enjoy the freedom and creativity of working for ourselves only.

We don't have to compromise our principles, or become slaves to our own businesses. We don't have to compete aggressively with bigger and richer companies. We can do what we want, how we want to do it. We can enjoy the process and the lifestyle.

Its unfortunate that so many people are caught in the spectacle of greed and riches. If they simplified their lives and reduced their material needs, they could easily find the freedom and ease they long for.

It doesn't matter whether you are an artist, an entrepreneur, or a discontented wage slave-- radical simplification of your life is the key to freedom, ease, and autonomy.