Charlie_B

Thanks for the feedback - you make some good points.

I started from the point of slavery mostly in response to other authors who describe the modern system of employee/employer as slavery, which I think is the wrong word, but it seems I didn't do quite a good enough job of making that clear.

It isn't that consumerism & 50 hour work weeks are inescapable, only that they are difficult to escape and remain in mainstream society at the same time. Looking at people who have chosen alternate lifestyles (Like ERE or being a bum as someone else pointed out) are often marginalized ans ostracized - the system does not seem to like that they challenge the basic assumptions of what is good about our society.

I personally have been trying to bootstrap a startup as a way to escape some of the control a 9-5 brings with it, but I don't see entrepreneurship as a catch-all solution. As another article I am working on will point out, Startups are better off in some areas but are also often forced to trade off in others. Depending on the structure, leading a startup may often be worse from a lifestyle design perspective than working for a corporation.

I don't have a general purpose "solution" to the problem of dis-satisfaction in modern society, but I do know that what we have going for us is sub-optimal, and I would like to find alternate ways of living and structuring society to address some of the issues I tried to bring to light.

Thanks for the feedback - I think perhaps I will expand on the areas you mention in the future to help make it more clear. I would appreciate your input :)

Those both sound very interesting. I'll see if there are any BBC archives available, but you're probably right that they no longer exist legally except at absurd price points.

There is a lot of literature around how consumerism and debt driven lifestyles detract from our ability to live life in a more meaningful way, but I find solutions lacking. It is my goal to eventually discover better ways of structuring our lives and perhaps society to improve the quality of life in the modern world, without eliminating the positive aspects of a competitive culture and technological progress.

Glad to see it on HN! Thanks for the positive feedback :)

That happened to me once from this site. It lead me to do the following (which also I happened to post today): http://www.bootstrappingindependence.com/technology/how-to-i...

Can't see what your running, but if you use WordPress, just install WP Super Cache instead of (or in addition to) everything in my article ;)

Thanks, those are good resources! I wish I had seen those earlier, but I'll comb through them and see if I can't find some more stuff to try for part 2 :)

Thanks. I agree, I think most of the real work comes in the months and years after launch, slowly building back links, improving your funnel, trying new advertising channels.

This blog is dedicated to my business strategy, what is working, and what is not working, so I'll be including the longer term marketing efforts as well over time. Where I focus initially will depend a lot on the launch reception and initial customer reactions.

Thanks! I plan on doing a follow up a couple of weeks after launch.

I am also not sure why Drupal isn't more used for startups - it's a powerful way to build a site. I can see that some startups want to build a lot of custom technology, but I didn't find anything Drupal couldn't do without a little tweaking in modules/themes. It also reduced my time to completion and test by a significant amount - not having to deal with a lot of the functionality most sites need anyway.

I'm sorry for your loss. People don't always understand, but losing a pet is losing a family member. I wish I had a quick fix for you, but I would recommend you take a couple of days off, try to find happy pictures you have of him, talk about the silly things he did with friends, and let yourself grieve. Covering up the feelings with work or activity may help in the short term, but there is nothing like taking the time to grieve. He sounds like a great dog, may he rest in peace.

Articles are interesting, but I have trouble trusting the author since there aren't a lot of links to supporting materials. Also, the statement identified by getonit immediately struck the BS chord with me. Someone who purports to scientific knowledge shouldn't use statements similar to "it can't be wrong because everyone believes it." right?

I'm a huge fan of his novels (I am currently working through his final trilogy now, which is a masterpiece), but this work seems like a money grab. The woman who wrote it was married to him for only 5 years and then "spen[t] the ensuing years seeking the man behind the disguise"?

In any case, he seemed to be an interesting man, so it is probably an interesting book. It sounds like it was edited well and includes a lot of the historical record on his life.

I am working on starting my own bootstrapped business also, and am in a similar position as yourself. Start by googling resources about how to bootstrap a startup. $150/week is plenty, although you'll have to save for some bigger purchases.

Firstly, you'll should plan on doing most/all the work yourself. This isn't strictly required, but I find it to be the most fun part of the job. Save the money for advertising, PR, link building, domain registration, company formation, accountants, etc.

Alternately, you can select a product you you want to build, save for a few months, and then just pay someone to do it for you. There was a good interview on Mixergy about exactly this method, where a $2k investment turned into $80k/month. http://mixergy.com/free-apps-interview/ I wouldn't expect to have the same kind of success, but it is something you could pursue.

If you are more interested in sitting back and investing in established companies, a lot of people will try to sell you hot stocks or whatever. Don't listen. In the long run (3-5 years) no one, save a very few people like Warren Buffet, beat the market. Roll some percentage of your money into an S&P index, and international index, and a bond index, then re-balance every year. The closer to retirement you are, the more money should become cash or CD's. The younger, typically the more in stock + international. It's boring, but it's the surest way to have your portfolio grow.

Personally, I prefer the startup route (but I do plenty of investing as well).

Good luck!

Is it just me, or do these businesses sound kind of boring? I read their pitches, and after the first sentence my eyes began to glaze over - I couldn't really tell what some of their businesses were all about. Loggly and zoombu (not a fan of the name) seem to be exceptions, since I knew exactly what they would do for me if I signed up.

There are some programs you can download to help reduce eye strain - they will remind you every so often (20-40 minutes) to do some eye exercises. I find this helps me if I am having sore eyes - especially looking a few inches above the monitor into the distance (20+feet).

I also find that if I am wearing glasses, going to contacts helps, and vice versa.

I don't know... All I could see in that picture was spiderman 2 :)

Plus, I think it will take a lot more than a laser to create fusion.. Haven't they been building a fusion plant in France for the past 10 years?