Thursday, December 28, 2017

best digital nomad books

Been reading a lot:
On page 107 of "Blogging for Dummies"
page 192 scanning "Book Yourself Solid"
Cd #7 of "Delivering Happiness"
and 87% through "The art of non-conformity"

I googled "Digital nomad books" to see which ones were recommended most often. Here are the results and how often they were recommended.
I have a recorded copy of 4-hour workweek, and have already heard it several times. My concern is that I often read all the books until I feel totally overwhelmed. LOL! :-)
Veterans Small business boot camp's next meeting is December 14, and homework is to finish 1-page business plan. Which is currently 9 pages long. lol! :-)
Also want to complete my 3-month editorial calendar and I want to start getting people to start reading my blog.   I have a PDF "How to build a blog with 10,000 subscribers" that I hope will show me how.


6   Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
5  The Art of Non-Conformity" by Chris Guilleabeu
5  The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
3 Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk
3 Josh Kaufman's The Personal MBA
3 'Delivering Happiness' by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh
3 Remote by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
3 Travel While You Work: The Ultimate Guide to Running a Business from Anywhere by Mish Slade
2 Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port




Thursday, December 21, 2017

Importance of Social Choice

Kenneth Arrow
Kenneth Arrow’s impossibility theorem is important. As I heard the story, Mr. Arrow set out to show how modern democracy met the five criteria proving rationality and reasonableness. But, after months of work finally he concluded that it was impossible.
His conclusions were nothing new. We all know that democracy is no great ship of state. We stand on a raft, often ankle deep in water. It is really a lousy form of government; just better than anything else we have found yet.
When I was younger, as county chair pro temp of a local Libertarian party, I got to stand at the back door of the great factory and watch the sausages being made, until the odor of the process made my stomach retch and I was forced to leave.
I have left meetings angry and confused with this many-headed monster. Once I went to a church retreat where we broke up into small groups and picked someone to represent us. I was amazed at how poorly I was represented in even this small incidence of representative democracy. 
But, making decisions in groups is hard as anyone who has been married can attest. Social Choice is an important field because, if in fact Social Choice is impossible, there is no solid theoretical ground for a satisfactory version of political democracy and also any possible version of economic democracy would likewise be invalidated.
Arrow states that there are essentially two means of making decisions in a capitalist democracy: voting and the market mechanism. Arrow shows just how superior a win/win decision making process like a market mechanism is to a win/lose decision making process like democracy.
This is important information that needs to be disseminated. What is really needed is a paradigm shift in the mind of the citizen. These two decision making processes are not equal.
All democracies are not equal. What is needed is a way to distinguish the Pareto optimal of differing decisions. I know I am probably not using that term correctly. A Pareto optimal solution is one that makes people better off without making anyone worse off.
Many political decisions make a few better off at the expense of the majority. Nearly everyone believes that murder, theft, kidnapping and slavery are wrong (life, liberty, and property) and that there should be laws against it.
Fewer people feel that it is important to study the mating habits of exotic toads. What is needed is a way for people to express those preferences so, that we can move from less optimal decisions to more optimal.

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Information Age

Within the next hundred years I expect movement from win/lose toward more win/win type decision-making processes in government. Democracy of course is a win/lose method. One candidate wins one loses.
A market mechanism is one example where everyone leaves with smile on their face. But there are other ways too. Check out Doyle and Strauss how to make your meetings work. This book really brought that fact home and changed the paradigm for me.
Nomadic Hunter Gatherers – Agricultural - Industrial
First people were nomadic hunter-gatherers, and then an agricultural revolution helped them settle down into farms. The industrial revolution brought a mass migration from country to city.
Information Revolution, Political Change
Agriculture brought with it Monarchy. The industrial revolution brought Democracy. What changes
Tocqueville
in the political structure will the information revolution bring?
Tocqueville, Progress, Democracy, and Equality
Tocqueville in his book "Democracy in America," talked about how freedom is inevitable, Tocqueville traced the history of France from the early middle ages when coercion existed as the sole mechanism of authority and concluded that every notable development during the interval had benefited equality.
Tocqueville inspected every generation since the middle ages in France and saw a dual revolution. The aristocracy falling within society while the lower groups rose. He felt cities had added a component of freedom to feudalism, publishing spreading equal information to all groups and America providing many fresh roads to wealth.
Tocqueville believed all persons had helped Democracy, some unknowingly some willingly. Tocqueville is describing the industrial revolution. His notion is that at that time everything had been progressing toward democracy and equality. I agree with him.  One of the great western ideas is the notion of progress, how history has progressed.
I have just finished the Rational Optimist and Ridley makes a good case. But has he really said anything new? Interesting to think of how Marx, Tocqueville, Toffler and Ridley all look at this issue. But more about Ridley later.

Thursday, December 7, 2017

PROPOSED STUDY PLAN

I never got my Master's degree. I did write the rough draft of a book back maybe around 1993. I have thought about going back to college to do a contract of independent study to complete the book and the degree. I started this blog in order to work on these ideas and hopefully get a little feedback. So I found this proposed study plan and will publish it for your consideration.



THESIS STATEMENT;
I will study progress by considering how change happens. I will inspect
democracy's political problems using the tools of public choice economics. Then look at some of the new consensual group tools and their possible effect on these concerns.
      In the Evolution and pattern transformation chapter I want to examine progress by researching the Tocqueville theory of how evolution occurs, then go over the relationship between paradigm shift and evolution.
 In the Economics and government chapter I will trace how political structure parallels economic structure and production methods parallel group processes by following the evolution of Monarchy during the agricultural revolution, and Democracy during the industrial revolution, then conclude with my thesis of consensual political development during information revolution.
Tocqueville
 In the Economics of information chapter I will entertain Kuhn’s theory of revolutions by contemplating how to identify key triggers of change and how they operate. Then I will study how society continuously adjusts to changing circumstances by drawing a parallel between an individual’s formation of unconscious knowledge and society’s unconscious operations.  
The chapter on Truth studies how Locke, Mill, and Hayek explained man’s experience of ignorance and concern for accurate information, then rephrases the case for freedom and tolerance.
Thomas Kuhn
The "What goes wrong?" chapter studies how inconsistencies in democratic theory cause problems in practice, and how these problems lead to externalities, then researches how these externalities can lead to a political business cycle. 
 In the "Calculus" chapter I explore the public choice school of economics by tracing its history and theory by looking at pioneers in the field, then apply Deming's contribution of total quality management tools to public choice economics.
      In the Win/win chapter I study natural law by looking at the problems of morality, coercion, and productivity as they bear on how Democracy is practiced.
       The "Consensus" chapter speculates about whether Democracy has failed to fulfill its promise of education and confidence
by looking at group psychology and dynamics. Then I trace the history of consensus and ponder whether small group processes are now able to overcome these problems.
       The "Government" chapter checks to see how interactive small group processes can be used in government, and looks at concerns expressed by opponents, then views tools that may be used to deal with these concerns.
      The "Stores" chapter looks at possible results from these changes, by examining more tools that may be developed, and studying how Politics, Economics, and Ecology are related. Then ends with checking the feasibility of a unified ecological world.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

a

Thursday, November 30, 2017


I am working with Dominique Reese and her Veterans Small Business Boot Camp. Our first assignment was to complete this 1-Page Business Template.
1-Page Business Template
Use this template to get your business idea out of your head and onto paper! Focus
on writing what comes to your mind for each section. Once you are done, you can focus on each section and flush out each section with more details.
WHAT is your business idea? I want to be a blogger.
WHO will your business serve? Freedom loving poor people everywhere. They are poor, but frugal. They feel trapped in a system that isn’t meeting their needs. They see the need to take a risk, to make some changes. But they are also afraid. They are willing to work, but they need a structure to work under. And someone to show them the way.
WHEN is your customer/client most likely to buy your product/service? I
would assume they would buy when they have money. When they are given the choice to change their life or are forced to change their life. I guess I just need to collect information about them… collect all the information possible.
WHERE will you operate your business? Online, on the Internet, everywhere and nowhere. The freest countries and the poorest countries. The ones that are going through changes. Countries with a large independence movement. Those showing the most positive changes toward freedom and fastest growing economies.
WHY does it matter that you move forward with this business idea? I want to travel. I need something, a project to keep me busy, to keep me occupied. If I don’t have something to keep me occupied. I may get depressed, start drinking, doing drugs or chasing women. This is a problem that is close to my heart. The amount of violence and coercion in the world. When I think about leaving a contribution to this world, this is a contribution I would like to make.
HOW will you market and generate sales for your business?
I need to turn on the history in my web browsers. To keep track of everything that I search for. Then Blog about everything: go through everything I have ever written to see if it can be turned into a blog post. Go through my search histories to blog about all of those things also. My youtube history… etc. Just put it all out there and see what the response is. Then just try to write more of what is popular… what get’s the most hits, what gets the most comments. Then once I find an audience to
write for… look for products which that audience will buy.  Then try to create new similar products that will meet my audience’s needs better. I want to blog about Intentional communities, Social Choice, Public Choice, Conciliation, Facilitation, Mediation, Arbitration, online collaboration, dwelling port-ably, homesteading, seasteading, and alternative lifestyles, as well as all the issues I cover in my book. I also need to comment on blogs similar to my own and leave comments with a link to my blog post.

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Fatima Diaz works for Abco Technology, 11222 S La Cienega Blvd #588, Inglewood, CA 90304. She is the Director of Admissions. You can reach her at (310)-216-4311. They have a program called Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW).
I got this information from an email I was sent October 17, 2017. The program costs $5455. The entrance requirements are that you have a High School Diploma and pass an assessment interview with a school counselor.
The CIW program has a prerequisite “Intro to PC.” CIW students attend class 6 hours a day, 4 days a week, 8am-2pm, for 10 weeks. It starts 12/4/2017 and ends 3/30/18. This is a total of 10 weeks training, and 239 hours of instruction.
Students receive Certified Internet Webmaster certification upon completion of the training. Training cost includes tuition, registration, books and exams. No other materials or supplies are required for the training.

Students can apply for financial aid by visiting the Abco Technology office and applying online at www.fafsa.ed.gov. There is an instructor to student ratio of 8 to1. Each instructor has the certification and at least 3 years experience in the field.

The training program does not include an externship or internship. The school does have a full time Job Developer and offers job placement assistance. Stamps.com, Raytheon, AT&T, Boeing, Tesla, Google, and Broad PC have all recently hired graduates from this training program. This training program is I-Train compliant. 

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship

Erica Montoya works for DeVry University, 15301 Ventura Blvd D-100, Sherman Oaks, CA 91304.  She is an Admissions Adviser. You can reach her at 619-293-5436 or emontoya@devry.edu. They have a Bachelor’s Degree Program with a Specialization in
Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship. I talked to her November 2, 2017.
The BS degree costs $64,000. The entrance requirements are that you have a High School Diploma and pass Math and English assessments.The program consists of 124 credit units
Comprising 32-34 classes;
GENERAL EDUCATION COURSEWORK includes; Communication Skills; ENGL112 Composition, ENGL135 Advanced Composition, Humanities;
ETHC445 Principles of Ethics, LAS432 Technology, Society and Culture.
Social Sciences, ECON312 Principles of Economics, SOCS1851 Culture and Society, Mathematics and Natural Sciences; MATH114 Algebra for College Students, MATH221 Statistics for Decision-Making, SCI228 Nutrition, Health and Wellness with Lab.
Additional General Education Selection; SPCH275 Public Speaking Personal and Professional Development, CARD405 Career Development, and COLL148 Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving.
CORE-DEGREE COURSEWORK includes; Business, Management and Technology, ACCT212 Financial Accounting, BIS155 Data Analysis with Spreadsheets with Lab, BIS245 Database
Essentials for Business with Lab, BUSN115 Introduction to Business and Technology,
BUSN278 Budgeting and Forecasting, BUSN319 Marketing, CIS115 Logic and Design, CIS206 Architecture and Operating Systems with Lab, COMP100 Computer Applications for Business with Lab, MGMT303 Principles of Management MGMT404 Project Management, MGMT410 Human Resource Management,
Senior Project; BUSN460 Senior Project Analytics, BIAM300 Managerial Applications of Business Analytics, BIAM400 Applied Business Analytics, BIAM410 Database Concepts in Business Intelligence
You take 2 classes at a time for 16 weeks. A new class starts every 8 weeks. Students are expected to devote 20 hours a week per course. You can complete the program in 2 years 8 months if you take 2 classes at a time, 5 years if you take one class at a time.
Financial Aid is available, Erica recommends filing a FAFSA and talking to a school financial adviser. She said the ratio of instructor to students varies with each class.
Each instructor has a master’s degree as well as experience in the field.
The training program does not include an externship or internship but a Senior Project is required. The school does not have a full time Job Developer but does provide some career assistance through their career services department.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

DeVry

Bonnie Grant works for DeVry University, 2655 Camino Del Rio North in San Diego, California, 92108.  She is an Enrollment advisor. You can reach her at 619-293-5436. They have a Web Site Development Certificate. I talked to her November 2, 2017.

The certificate costs $20136. The entrance requirements are that you have a High School Diploma and pass an English assessment.The program consists of 38 credit units comprising 10 classes;
Web Graphic Design Classes include; WGD210 Digital Imaging Fundamentals, WGD229 Information Design, WGD232 Web Design, WGD242 Advanced Web Design, and WGD251 Responsive Web Design.
Web Development Classes include; CIS336 Introduction to Database with Lab, WBG310 Interactive Web Page Scripting with Lab, WBG340 Programming Multimedia for the Web with Lab, WBG410 Dynamic Website Development and Database Integration with Lab, and WDD420 Web Accessibility with Lab.
Each course lasts eight weeks. A new class starts every 8 weeks. Students are expected to devote 20 hours a week per course. You can complete the program in 1 to 2 years. Bonnie says that the certificate prepares you to take the Adobe Certified Associate exam.
Financial Aid is available, Bonnie recommends filing a FAFSA and talking to a school financial adviser. She said the ratio of instructor to students varies with each class. Each instructor has a master’s degree as well as experience in the field.

The training program does not include an externship or internship. The school does not have a full time Job Developer but does provide some career assistance.

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Wes Krebeck works for Northcentral University, 8667 E Hartford Drive, in Scottsdale, Arizona, 85255. He is an Enrollment advisor. You can reach him at (480) 253-3489. They have a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Entrepreneurship. I talked to him November 2, 2017.
The certificate costs $11,262. The only entrance requirement is that you have a
bachelor’s degree. It consists of four courses: ENT5000-8 - Innovation - The Entrepreneur and
Intrapreneur
, ENT500
1-8 - Strategic Market Assessments, ENT5002-8 - New Venture Formation, and ENT5004-8 - Sustainable Business Practices.
Each course lasts eight weeks. A new class starts every Monday. Students are expected to devote 20 hours a week per course. You can complete the program in 6 months or up to 2
years.
Financial Aid is available. Wes recommends filing a FAFSA and talking to a school financial advisor. He said the ratio of instructor to student is one to one. Each instructor has a doctoral degree as well as experience in the field.

The training program does not include an externship or internship. The school does not have a full time Job Developer. There is a 3rd party that helps with resume’ and job placement assistance.