Radical Personal Finance

My guest today is Ben Falk. Ben is a really incredible permaculture designer with a comprehensive focus.

Ben runs a planning firm called Whole Systems Design. Through this firm, he "identifies, designs, and develops human habitats - landscape and infrastructure systems - that yield perennial abundance and enduring value. These are adaptive, resilient and secure places in a future of peak oil, climate instability, and deepening economic insolvency."

They also "plan, develop, and manage land-based wealth preservation and security projects for those with the forethought to invest an abundance of present day resources to reduce their familly's vulnerability to future food, energy and other supply-chain disturbances, as well as peak-oil, climatic, economic and other events."

The interview covers a variety of topics, including:

• Ben's path from architecture to comprehensive design.
• How to approach personal lifestyle design from a systems mindset.
• How to prioritize needs and investment.
• How he heats his house, heats his water, cooks his food, and dries his clothes in Vermont with a very small amount of wood.
• How he grows 80 to 90% of his food intake.

My favorite quote from the interview: "Don't fight something that's wrong. Make a new system that makes the old system obsolete."

Enjoy!

Joshua

Links:

• Whole Systems Design
• The Resilient Farm and Homestead: An Innovative Permaculture and Whole Systems Design Approach by Ben Falk

I like the change of the calendar year. It's a convenient time to sit down and take an inventory of where things are and assess the plans for where things are going.

2014 was an awesome year. It was certainly one of the more challenging times of my life and was filled with change of all types. But it was awesome.

2015 will be transformative. This year, I'll be heavily focused on stepping up my game and making everything I do to be world class.

I have plenty of goals. But for me, the end result of achieving a goal is less important than who I become on the way.

Also, since there's no way for me to achieve a lofty goal without developing as a person, I tend to focus less on the goal or outcome and more on the plan of what I need to learn and who I need to become.

In today's show I share with you some of my areas of focus for 2015 and some of the plans I have for my personal development.

Here are three of my areas of focus for the coming year coupled with some of my action plans for development as an example with resources:

1. I am a world-class business owner.
   • In order to be a world-class business owner, I need to sharpen and hone my personal productivity skills.
     • Nozbe
       • Action: Complete their 10-part skills course and program training videos.
     • Evernote
       • Action: Work through Brett Kelly's Evernote Essentials Book again
     • Gleeo Time Tracker and Alarm Every 15 Minutes
       • Action: Add a careful review of my time usage to my weekly review. Look for items to delegate.
     • Rescue Time
       • Action: Check to see if it has been improved and if it will serve my needs.
   • In order to be a world-class business owner, I need to strenthen my habits in these areas:
     • Work from a list of prioritized importance.
     • Plan each day's work in advance.
     • Complete my weekly reviews, without exception.
     • Complete my comprehensive monthly reviews, without exception.
   • In order to be a world-class business owner, I need to establish new skills and a new comfort level with outsourcing and team building. I also need to focus on automation and systematization.
     • Chris Ducker
       • Read Virtual Freedom and implement/test ideas
       • Read his blog archives and implement/test ideas
       • Listen to his podcast archives and implement/test ideas
     • Sam Carpenter
       • Read Work the System again and implement/test ideas
       • Read his blog archives and implement/test ideas
     • Ari Meisel
       • Read Less Doing and implement/test ideas
       • Read his blog archives and implement/test ideas
       • Listen to his podcast archives and implement/test ideas
     • Tim Ferris
       • Read Four Hour Workweek, Four Hour Body, and Four Hour Chef again and implement/test ideas
       • Read his blog archives and implement/test ideas
       • Listen to his podcast archives and implement/test ideas
   • In order to be world-class business owner, I need to build new skills with Wordpress on my site and other aspects of internet business.
     • Wordpress
       • Look for Wordpress training and complete
     • Membership software
       • Look for membership software training and complete
     • Aweber
       • Look for Aweber training and complete
       • Look for email marketing training and complete
     • Screencasts and video production
       • Look for screencast solution and create presentations
2. I am a world-class podcast host.
3. Radical Personal Finance is a world-class financial education resource.
4. etc... (listen to the show!)

Enjoy!

Joshua

Today, I tell you the story of the Accidental Millionaire and a few lessons for both of us.

Enjoy!

Joshua

On today's Q&A show we cover:

• 1:32 Should I establish a Family Charitable Foundation for my young family?
• 16:50 How do I balance Career vs. Family in a potential job change?
• 31:00 My teenager was just diagnosed with Diabetes. How do I prep to keep her alive?
• 1:07:25 Why did Joshua disappear from Twitter?
• 1:17:27 Homeschoolin dad chat about reading level and effective teaching.

Enjoy!

Joshua

To join me next week, go here: https://patreon.com/radicalpersonalfinance

Enjoy the story of this family's quite radical approach to a family "vacation."

Joshua