Podcast appearances and mentions of less everything

My guest today is my former teammate Vizi Andrei, founder of The Sovereign Artist program and author of Sovereign Artist: Meditations on Lifestyle Design. Vizi's journey has been anything but conventional. After dabbling in various creative projects, he realized that the internet offers a unique opportunity: the freedom to take countless small risks without catastrophic consequences. He built The Sovereign Artist program to help creators step away from the toxic hustle culture and build sustainable, meaningful lives rooted in creativity, deep work, and sacred leisure. His insights into Slow Living, the Sicilian Dream, and embracing experimentation over optimization can help one break free from comparison traps. He joins me to discuss the dangers of chasing unrealistic benchmarks of success, the myths of modern productivity, how to unlock creative freedom, and MUCH more! I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, “Hmm, that's interesting!”, check out our Substack. Important Links: Website Instagram The Sovereign Artist KronArête (Community) Gumroad X The Great Reshuffle Show Notes: Is procrastination a signal for something bigger? The Sicilian Dream: challenging the hustle culture The Pursuit of Busyness The rise of the pseudo-entrepreneur Are we taking the internet for granted? The outlier obsession can kill your creative potential Are your goals your own? or borrowed from prepackaged societal narratives? Drunk with too many choices Crossing the bridge of nihilism The art of boredom: slow living might just be the answer Knowledge is existential; energy is everything MORE! Books Mentioned: Sovereign Artist: Meditations on Lifestyle Design; by Vizi Andrei The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story for Work and Life; by Paul Millerd Status Anxiety; by Alain de Botton The Soul of the World; by Roger Scruton Escolios to an Implicit Text; by Nicolás Gómez Dávila Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder; by Nassim Taleb The Infinity of Lists; by Umberto Eco The Myth of the Eternal Return; by Mircea Eliade Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown

Text us about COMICS! Or about whatever. It's your life. Here we go Legion! It's time to close the Venom trilogy with Venom: The Last Dance. Let's talk about Tom Hardy, Tom Hardy, Tom Hardy, and more Tom Hardy! Oh, and symbiotes and Knull and stuff. It's podcast time!New Episodes Every Week, mostly!Support us on Patreon! Get exclusive content! https://www.patreon.com/legionofcc SUBSCRIBE HERE: https://bit.ly/LegionOCCBrett Garwood - Man Behind The Curtain: https://redbagmedia.com/Our totally rad intro music comes from: Alex at Chop.it.up.productionsListen to our Podcast - Legion of Comic Correction - on all major podcasting platforms!Legion Website: legionofcc.comLCC Twitter: twitter.com/legionofccLCC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LegionofCC LCC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legionofcc/Support the show

Send us a textHello, and welcome back to the latest episode of the Bulletproof Entrepreneur podcast. I'm your host, Alan Smith. In this episode, I speak with someone I've known for many years, and as you're about to discover, he's a force of nature!His name is Jason Butler, and although I've known him for a long time, I had no idea just how challenging his upbringing was.  People talk about a tough childhood and not having the same chances as other people from more privileged backgrounds, and Jason grew up in a house in south London with an outside toilet and a tin bath—almost Dickensian, as he says himself.He had a challenging childhood, living hand to mouth, trying to hide from debt collectors and avoid being beaten up at the tough school he went to.Yet he went on to build a leading financial services business, which he sold, bought back, and sold again.During the conversation, you'll learn how his early years taught him to be resilient when your back's against the wall—metaphorically and literally—and this proved useful in his later years in business.He shares the importance of creating a culture of continuous improvement and thinking about everything through the lens of your customers' experiences. He also explains the value of having a deep sense of purpose after a business sale, the importance of giving back when one no longer has financial worries, and how he took 18 months off after he sold his business to think and design the exact sort of life he wanted to live in the future.He also shares an incredible David and Goliath story about the time he took on the taxman over something he felt was unfair and won.These are a fraction of the valuable insights that Jason shares. It's a long episode because there was no way I was going to cut him short as he shared these nuggets of wisdom!Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mr Jason ButlerLinks:https://www.jason-butler.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonfbutler/ Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine: Amazon.co.uk: Brown, Derren: 9780593076194: BooksThe Antidote: From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Four Thousand Weeks eBook : Burkeman, OliverThis podcast is produced by GR Media Sponsored by Capital Asset Management

Gather around the fireplace, solar friends. Pull up a seat at the bar. On the next, Probably True Solar Stories, we're going to tell a solar fable. It's a fairytale. A hero's journey sort of thing. With a Texas accent. (Forgive me in advance.)It's about a young, ambitious solar installer who seeks her fortune to be the most successful solar installer in all the land.  And like many fables, our ambitious installer meets a wise guide--or in this case, a wise couple--who teaches her about The Solar Way, a solar-inspired guide to living life on The Solar Coaster. True Solar TakeawaysThis episode doesn't have many solar facts about the solar industry. The main takeaway is that the solar biz has many ups and downs and policy twists and turns that people have called it "The Solar Coaster." The people riding the solar coaster can get discouraged, including me. To help smooth out the ups and downs, I've read  some Taoism and Stoicism text and turned some of my  learnings into" The Solar Way":Be warm. Shine like the sun.Let go of broken solar panels. Be interconnected. The sun rises every day. Be as consistent.The sun sets every day. This too shall pass. If you're interested in learning more about Taoism and Stoicism, here are a  few audio and text resources:The Daily Stoic. Through his website, podcast, and books, Ryan Holiday offers modern insights through ancient Stoic wisdom. Although the Stoic philosophy is very old, Holiday keeps it simple and relevant to the way people live today.  Check out his free daily podcast and daily email. Of course, his books are a great resource, as well. The Tao of Daily Life by Derik Lin is a well-deserved bestseller. It teaches the principles of Taoism through the classic Taoist and Buddhist fables. Although the stories are still set in ancient China, Lin translates these stories in a way that is very accessible for our modern world. Then he cites a passage from the Tao te Ching and explains the wisdom behind each story. This book and other David Lin books are also available in audio and digital forms.Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine by Derren Brown. You may know Derren Brown as an international illusionist, but he's also a professed Stoic. Happy is his easy-to-read guide to happiness using examples from his shows, his illusions, and from his own life. He often cites Stoic texts, but it's not a book about Stoicism. Check out his many YouTube videos to see his stage performances and British TV shows. ----- Visit ProbablyTrueSolar.com to sign up for the newsletter to learn about new episodes and live solar storytelling events. Support the show by visiting the merch store and buying a tee shirt! Learn how sponsors can be a part of Probably True Solar Stories and tell their own creative stories. Follow @SolarFred and/or @ProbTrueSolar on Twitter to discuss episodes Don't forget to: Subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast streaming service Rate Review, and Share!

"Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine"

In this episode we catch up with an old friend, Allan Branch. Allan and his partner Steve were early adopters of rails and made a big splash in the tech community with their company LessEverything. They put on many conferences (LessConf), workshops, offered consulting services, created and sold a SaaS, displayed silly/witty marketing and shared a ton of what they've learned through social and open source projects, blogs and more. Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, Allan has taken concepts from his dad's car wash businesses (the "Jason Fried of car washes") applied them to software, and now is applying them to real estate, city development and breweries too. You don't want to miss this one, there's so much to learn. There's lots of great stories and even better advice. Links:Allan on TwitterCurrent tech company (they're looking to hire Elixir and Rails devs)Allan's link tree 

Infinite Loops Key Takeaways  Viewing life as a video game can help you increase your agency Don't look for meaning; look for useResourcefulness is the defining characteristic of a high-agency person “Pessimists sound smart, but optimists make money.” – Jim O'Shaughnessy The Luck Razor: If you are between two opportunities, choose the one that will give you the potential to experience the greater amount of luckThe alpha is in all the things that the media ignores, but historians will studyIf a person can extract all of your opinions based on just one of your opinions, then you might be a non-player character (NPC) No matter how smart a person is, they cannot create a list of things that will never occur to them Thinking that you are the genius in the midwit meme is the most midwit behavior possible Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWriter, marketer, entrepreneur, and master of mental models, George Mack, returns to discuss the top 0.1% of ideas he's ever come across, from treating life as a video game to spotting high-agency individuals. Important Links: George's Twitter The Lindy Library Roy: A Life Well Lived (Rick and Morty) How to Spot High Agency People The Mack Meditation What is ignored by the media — but will be studied by historians? The Early-Late Razor Show Notes: Treating Life as a Video Game Finding the Important Metrics Embrace Momentum; Embrace Constraints How to Spot High Agency People How to Increase Your Agency The Mack Meditation & Silence as Alpha Why Pessimism vs Optimism is the Wrong Debate The Future of Media What is Ignored by the Media but will be Studied by Historians? The Reddit to Facebook Continuum George's Most Midwit Opinion Randomness & Feeding the Algorithm How to Retain Curiosity George as Emperor of the World Books Mentioned: The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (a Little) Craziness and (a Lot Of) Success in America; by John Gartner Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy The Secret; by Rhonda Byrne Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid; by Douglas Hofstadter The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform the World; by David Deutsch

Infinite Loops Key Takeaways  Viewing life as a video game can help you increase your agency Don't look for meaning; look for useResourcefulness is the defining characteristic of a high-agency person “Pessimists sound smart, but optimists make money.” – Jim O'Shaughnessy The Luck Razor: If you are between two opportunities, choose the one that will give you the potential to experience the greater amount of luckThe alpha is in all the things that the media ignores, but historians will studyIf a person can extract all of your opinions based on just one of your opinions, then you might be a non-player character (NPC) No matter how smart a person is, they cannot create a list of things that will never occur to them Thinking that you are the genius in the midwit meme is the most midwit behavior possible Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgWriter, marketer, entrepreneur, and master of mental models, George Mack, returns to discuss the top 0.1% of ideas he's ever come across, from treating life as a video game to spotting high-agency individuals. Important Links: George's Twitter The Lindy Library Roy: A Life Well Lived (Rick and Morty) How to Spot High Agency People The Mack Meditation What is ignored by the media — but will be studied by historians? The Early-Late Razor Show Notes: Treating Life as a Video Game Finding the Important Metrics Embrace Momentum; Embrace Constraints How to Spot High Agency People How to Increase Your Agency The Mack Meditation & Silence as Alpha Why Pessimism vs Optimism is the Wrong Debate The Future of Media What is Ignored by the Media but will be Studied by Historians? The Reddit to Facebook Continuum George's Most Midwit Opinion Randomness & Feeding the Algorithm How to Retain Curiosity George as Emperor of the World Books Mentioned: The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (a Little) Craziness and (a Lot Of) Success in America; by John Gartner Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy The Secret; by Rhonda Byrne Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid; by Douglas Hofstadter The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform the World; by David Deutsch

Writer, marketer, entrepreneur, and master of mental models, George Mark, returns to discuss the top 0.1% of ideas he's ever come across, from treating life as a video game to spotting high-agency individuals. Important Links: George's Twitter The Lindy Library Roy: A Life Well Lived(Rick and Morty) How to Spot High Agency People The Mack Meditation What is ignored by the media — but will be studied by historians? The Early-Late Razor Show Notes: Treating Life as a Video Game Finding the Important Metrics Embrace Momentum; Embrace Constraints How to Spot High Agency People How to Increase Your Agency The Mack Meditation & Silence as Alpha Why Pessimism vs Optimism is the Wrong Debate The Future of Media What is Ignored by the Media but will be Studied by Historians? The Reddit to Facebook Continuum George's Most Midwit Opinion Randomness & Feeding the Algorithm How to Retain Curiosity George as Emperor of the World Books Mentioned: The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (a Little) Craziness and (a Lot Of) Success in America; by John Gartner Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy The Secret; by Rhonda Byrne Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid; by Douglas Hofstadter The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform the World; by David Deutsch

Will Schoder is a video essayist who explores a diverse range of topics including psychology, meaning, re-enchantment, metamodernism, mortality, and satire. Initially known for his short-form videos, his latest series is a trilogy of fascinating long-form deep dives into the nature, foundations, and secrets of happiness. Will joins the show to share his insights on the evolving significance of curation, the future of the creator economy, how to obtain deep happiness and MUCH more. Important Links: Will's YouTube Channel Will's Twitter Eight Books That Changed My Life Rick and Morty – Finding Meaning in Life David Foster Wallace – The Problem With Irony The Attention Economy – How They Addict Us Every Story Is The Same The Happiness Trilogy: Part 1: What is Happiness? Part 2: The Foundations of Happiness Part 3: The Secret to Happier The moral roots of liberals and conservatives; Jonathan Haidt The Thinker and The Prover Show Notes: Short-Form vs Long-Form Videos The Righteous Mind The Internet as Liberator; the Rise of Curation Pushback & Pop Culture YouTube & the Rise of the TikTok Style Navigating the Attention Economy The Future of the Creator Economy Will's Hero's Journey Finding Deep Happiness Compression, Genetics & Environment Education vs. Entertainment The Free Energy Principle Filter Failure Will as Emperor of the World MORE! Books Mentioned: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion; by Jonathan Haidt One Summer: America 1927; by Bill Bryson Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business; by Neil Postman The Shallows: How the Internet Is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember; by Nicholas Carr Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown Happiness: A Very Short Introduction; by Daniel M. Haybron The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being; by Daniel M. Haybron All The Light We Cannot See; by Anthony Doerr How To Change Your Mind; by Michael Pollan  

In this thought-provoking video, we dive deep into the realms of self-discovery, personal growth, and the world of inspiring literature. We'll also address a topic that's been bothering me recently — a specific supplement company that's raising some concerns.

Sam Harris speaks with Derren Brown about his work as a “psychological illusionist.” They discuss the power of hypnosis, the power of expectations, the usefulness of Stoic philosophy, and other topics. Derren Brown began his UK television career in December 2000 with a series of specials called Mind Control. In the UK his name is now pretty much synonymous with the art of psychological manipulation. Amongst a varied and notorious TV career, Derren has played Russian Roulette live, convinced middle-managers to commit armed robbery, led the nation in a séance, stuck viewers at home to their sofas, successfully predicted the National Lottery, motivated a shy man to land a packed passenger plane at 30,000 feet, hypnotized a man to assassinate Stephen Fry, and created a zombie apocalypse for an unsuspecting participant after seemingly ending the world. He has also written several best-selling books and – a first in the history of magic – has toured with eight sell-out one-man stage shows. The shows have garnered a record-breaking five Olivier Award nominations for Best Entertainment, and won twice. This means Derren has had the largest number of nominations and wins for one-person shows in the history of the Awards. His 2017 US debut show SECRET won the New York Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical experience and is planning a Broadway return in 2019. His Latest book is Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine. Website: http://derrenbrown.co.uk Twitter: @DerrenBrown Instagram: @derrenbrown   Episodes that have been re-released as part of the Best of Making Sense series may have been edited for relevance since their original airing.

***Watch out, one or two swear words in this one.*** Hello hello! #JustBloodyPostIt is back for Season 6...almost. Consider this a preview to the 'big podcast' which will be back with you any minute bringing the life, work and marketing wisdom of another fabulous group of guests. Post it notes are my audio diary. Where I share my small-biz-building experiences and thoughts on social media issues of the day. This one's a catch up on the results of a content subscription product I launched (quel désastre!), the mood I've set for the year (minimal) and what to expect from the upcoming series of conversations. Gorgeous to be back, Hx Get more good marketing advice and get it first in my emails: sign up here This is my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_helen_perry_/.

Infinite Loops Podcast Notes Key Takeaways We are entering an exponential trajectory of technological progress and our antiquated minds cannot possibly keep up unless we change the stories, programming, and hardwareTechnological progress is like a snowball rolling down a hill, picking up more matter and evolving as it goes Today, we are operating on the programming that worked really well in caves and savannas but does not work quite as well in the massive groups that we find ourselves in now   Stories can help us overcome the deeply-rooted social wiring that does not always serve usNegative storytelling appeals to our base emotion of fear, especially novel fear regarding things that newThe heretics working on the leading edge of technology must reframe their innovation's impact with better stories  We may fall victim to a self-fulfilling prophecy of a tech dystopia if we do not get the stories right  Humans evolved during times of zero-sum conflict, so all of the stories we told around the campfire were zero-sum conflict-based storiesUpgrading the human operating system will not solve all the world's problems, but it will create new and better problems that can also be solved Humans control what pumps the gas or slams on the break for the AI, which are control measures that we barely have for ourselves Our current system is optimized for growing GDP, not human flourishing Reduce the flow of negative information into your mind and increase the volume of positive information in the worldTry to be optimistic about the future, and see yourself as a human on earth instead of being a member of a specific tribe Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgAuthor, CEO of VUDU Marketing and digital nomad Sam McRoberts returns for his second appearance on Infinite Loops. This week, Sam and Jim discuss Sam's latest book ‘The Grand Redesign'. Part science-fiction, part operating manual for upgrading human OS, ‘The Grand Redesign' touches on a number of recurring Infinite Loops themes, and is available for free online (see ‘Important Links' section below). Important Links: The Grand Redesign Sam's Twitter Sam's Substack The Thinker and The Prover Tinkered Thinking's winning entry to our ‘White Mirror' competition Show Notes: Why Sam wrote the book Is the Watcher a reliable narrator? Interfering with complex systems An overview of Social OS Why we need White Mirror The kindness pledge Incentives and the Cobra Effect How do we break the Shannon limit? Jim's movie idea Improving the political and legal system The opportunities of AI Optimising our system for flourishing Finding the hidden geniuses Sam's solutions; reaching the tipping point Sam's hopes for the book MUCH more! Books Mentioned: The Grand Redesign; by Sam McRoberts The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr Prometheus Rising; by Robert Anton Wilson House of Cards: Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth; by Robyn Dawes The Lessons of History: by Will Durant and Ariel Durant Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future; by Kevin Kelly

Infinite Loops: Read the notes at at podcastnotes.org. Don't forget to subscribe for free to our newsletter, the top 10 ideas of the week, every Monday --------- Author, CEO of VUDU Marketing and digital nomad Sam McRoberts returns for his second appearance on Infinite Loops. This week, Sam and Jim discuss Sam's latest book ‘The Grand Redesign'. Part science-fiction, part operating manual for upgrading human OS, ‘The Grand Redesign' touches on a number of recurring Infinite Loops themes, and is available for free online (see ‘Important Links' section below). Important Links: The Grand Redesign Sam's Twitter Sam's Substack The Thinker and The Prover Tinkered Thinking's winning entry to our ‘White Mirror' competition Show Notes: Why Sam wrote the book Is the Watcher a reliable narrator? Interfering with complex systems An overview of Social OS Why we need White Mirror The kindness pledge Incentives and the Cobra Effect How do we break the Shannon limit? Jim's movie idea Improving the political and legal system The opportunities of AI Optimising our system for flourishing Finding the hidden geniuses Sam's solutions; reaching the tipping point Sam's hopes for the book MUCH more! Books Mentioned: The Grand Redesign; by Sam McRoberts The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr Prometheus Rising; by Robert Anton Wilson House of Cards: Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth; by Robyn Dawes The Lessons of History: by Will Durant and Ariel Durant Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future; by Kevin Kelly

Author, CEO of VUDU Marketing and digital nomad Sam McRoberts returns for his second appearance on Infinite Loops. This week, Sam and Jim discuss Sam's latest book ‘The Grand Redesign'. Part science-fiction, part operating manual for upgrading human OS, ‘The Grand Redesign' touches on a number of recurring Infinite Loops themes, and is available for free online (see ‘Important Links' section below). Important Links: The Grand Redesign Sam's Twitter Sam's Substack The Thinker and The Prover Tinkered Thinking's winning entry to our ‘White Mirror' competition Show Notes: Why Sam wrote the book Is the Watcher a reliable narrator? Interfering with complex systems An overview of Social OS Why we need White Mirror The kindness pledge Incentives and the Cobra Effect How do we break the Shannon limit? Jim's movie idea Improving the political and legal system The opportunities of AI Optimising our system for flourishing Finding the hidden geniuses Sam's solutions; reaching the tipping point Sam's hopes for the book MUCH more! Books Mentioned: The Grand Redesign; by Sam McRoberts The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr Prometheus Rising; by Robert Anton Wilson House of Cards: Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth; by Robyn Dawes The Lessons of History: by Will Durant and Ariel Durant Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future; by Kevin Kelly

Gather around the fireplace, solar friends. Pull up a seat at the bar. On the next, Probably True Solar Stories, we're going to tell the first-ever solar fable. It's a fairytale. A hero's journey sort of thing. With a Texas accent. (Forgive me in advance.) This story may be a familiar one to people inside and outside the solar industry.  It's about a young, ambitious solar installer who seeks her fortune to be the most successful solar installer in all the land.  And like many fables, our ambitious installer meets a wise guide--or in this case, a wise couple--who teaches her about The Solar Way, a solar-inspired guide to living life on The Solar Coaster. Will our fable have a happy ending? Let's find out.True Solar TakeawaysThis episode doesn't have many solar facts about the solar industry. The main takeaway is that the solar biz is difficult. It has so many ups and downs and policy twists and turns that people have called it "The Solar Coaster." The people riding the solar coaster can get discouraged, including me. To help smooth out the ups and downs, I've read a lot of philosophies, but mostly Taoism and Stoicism. For this fable, I turned some of my philosophical learnings into "The Solar Way." The Solar Way's main points are:Be warm. Shine like the sun.Let go of broken solar panels. Be interconnected. The sun rises every day. Be as consistent.The sun sets every day. This too shall pass. If you're interested in learning more about Taoism and Stoicism, here are a  few audio and text resources:The Daily Stoic. Through his website, podcast, and books, Ryan Holiday offers modern insights through ancient Stoic wisdom. Although the Stoic philosophy is very old, Holiday keeps it simple and relevant to the way people live today.  Check out his free daily podcast and daily email. Of course, his books are a great resource, as well. The Tao of Daily Life by Derik Lin is a well-deserved bestseller. It teaches the principles of Taoism through the classic Taoist and Buddhist fables. Although the stories are still set in ancient China, Lin translates these stories in a way that is very accessible for our modern world. Then he cites a passage from the Tao te Ching and explains the wisdom behind each story. This book and other David Lin books are also available in audio and digital forms.Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine by Derren Brown. You may know Derren Brown as an international illusionist, but he's also a professed Stoic. Happy is his easy-to-read guide to happiness using examples from his shows, his illusions, and from his own life. He often cites S Visit ProbablyTrueSolar.com to sign up for the newsletter to learn about new episodes and live solar storytelling events. Support the show by visiting the merch store and buying a tee shirt! Learn how sponsors can be a part of Probably True Solar Stories and tell their own creative stories. Follow @SolarFred and/or @ProbTrueSolar on Twitter to discuss episodes Don't forget to: Subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast streaming service Rate Review, and Share!

Nick Gillespie is the host of the Reason Interview and an editor at large at Reason. Nick is one of the most interesting libertarian thinkers in America, and has been described by the New York Times as being to libertarianism “what Lou Reed is to rock ‘n' roll, the quintessence of its outlaw spirit". Important Links: Nick's Substack Nick's Twitter Nick's Podcast Reason Show Notes: Is libertarianism dead? Saying what you think The case for rational optimism Labels and empathy President Nixon, the Great Reshuffle, Bitcoin Bureaucracy and responsiveness The rapidly changing world Prohibition and legalisation Why America does not have enough immigration The enfranchising power of social media Obscenity and moral panics Empathy with the dispossessed And MUCH more! Books Mentioned: The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America; by Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch The Rational Optimist; by Matt Ridley The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams The Population Bomb; by Paul Ehrlich The Beginning of Infinity; by David Deutsch Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy; by Joseph Schumpeter The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson The War on Alcohol; by Liza McGirr Immigration and Freedom; by Chandran Kukathas The Illuminatus! Trilogy; by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea What It Means to be a Libertarian: a Personal Interpretation; by Charles Murray Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society; by Tipper Gore Ulysses; by James Joyce The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown

All the 'P's this week as we talk about pensions, prayer, paradox, people, priests, providence, patience and perspective. We talk about how 'mystery' helps us rediscover practices we have previously rejected. And we discuss the stories we tell ourselves and the concept of learned helplessness. Also Nick has been to more old churches (some with very peculiar carvings) and we discover that we are all, basically, just confused at a higher level. Support the podcastContact the podcast through your email machineSheela-na-gig, Kilpeck ChurchTerrance Tiessen, Providence and PrayerDerren Brown, Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine

You can find out more about Scott’s work here: https://scottbarrykaufman.com/ Scott’s book, Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualisation: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/552566/transcend-by-scott-barry-kaufman-phd/9780143131205 Scott’s interview on Sam Harris’ Making Sense podcast: https://samharris.org/podcasts/209-a-good-life/ Scott’s interview with Sean Carroll: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2020/04/06/91-scott-barry-kaufman-on-the-psychology-of-transcendence/ Follow Scott on Twitter: @sbkaufman Further References The OCEAN personality test: https://www.psychometrictest.org.uk/big-five-personality/ Kim Stanley Robinson, Mars trilogy: Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars (1993) Derren Brown, Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine (2016) Sci fi series Salvation: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6170874/ P. D. James, The Children of Men (1992) Peter D. Ward, Robert Brownlee Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe (2000) George Eliot, Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life (1871–72) Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning (1943) John Keats, “Ode on Melancholy” (1819): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44478/ode-on-melancholy Timestamps 2:35 The pyramid image versus Scott’s sailboat metaphor 13:37 Ascetic orders, basic needs & transcendence. Can monks be self-actualizing? 21:19 My general assessment of Scott’s book 23:44 The D-realm (“deficiency” realm) 26:52 Scott’s interview with Sam Harris 29:15 Disagreeableness 30:44 Axes of human personality 31:51 Stability and plasticity 34:08 Introversion and extraversion 38:54 The B-realm (“being” realm) 42:59 How easy is to access the B-realm and to find transcendence? 53:34 Peak experiences, flow states, transcendence 1:01:05 Maslow’s discoveries at the end of his life 1:02:58 Demotivation and how to fight it 1:07:04 Attachment styles and other ways in which the D- and B-realms are inextricably intertwined

In this episode we discuss bias: what it means, why we all have it, and some of the different types that there are, including unconscious bias and stereotype threat. It can effect datasets and then lead to (at best) unexpected and (at worst) disastrous results. Would 'blind' pull requests be a good idea for dev teams, or an open source community such as Umbraco? Would anonymous contributions encourage more people, or reduce their motivation to contribute? We all did our homework before recording by taking Harvard's "Implicit Association Test" and recommend you have a go yourself (link below). If you have any feedback, comments or questions you can tweet us @candidcontribs, email hello@candidcontributions.com or join the Umbraco Community slack channel #candid-contributions LinksHarvard's Implicit Association Test - https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/uk/ Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11468377-thinking-fast-and-slow Russell McClain's TEDx Talk on Implicit Bias, Stereotype Threat and Higher Education - https://www.ted.com/talks/russell_mcclain_implicit_bias_stereotype_threat_and_higher_education Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine by Derren Brown - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30142270-happy Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41104077-invisible-women NY Times article on the importance of diverse teams - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/17/business/artificial-intelligence-bias-tech.html Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias by Pragya Agarwal - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49678279-sway Dr Denae Ford's research on pull request reviews - https://blog.denaeford.me/2019/07/01/how-programmers-really-look-at-pull-requests/ Mozilla's Blind Review Experiment - https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2018/03/08/gender-bias-code-reviews/

Massimo’s books include Phenotypic Plasticity: Beyond Nature and Nurture (Syntheses in Ecology and Evolution) (2001): https://www.amazon.com/Phenotypic-Plasticity-Syntheses-Evolution-2001-07-17/dp/B01K17YKGQ Making Sense of Evolution: The Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Biology, with co-author Jonathan Kaplan (2006): https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo4100801.html Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk (2010): https://www.amazon.com/Nonsense-Stilts-Tell-Science-Bunk-dp-0226667863/dp/0226667863/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid= and How to be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life (2017): https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Stoic-Ancient-Philosophy/dp/0465097952 He is the co-author, with Gregory Lopez of Live Like A Stoic: 52 Exercises for Cultivating a Good Life (2019): https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1116985/live-like-a-stoic/9781846045967.html He is the co-editor, with Maarten Boudry, of Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo15996988.html You can find Massimo’s Letter conversation with David Sloan Wilson here: https://letter.wiki/conversation/34 And my article about this conversation here: https://areomagazine.com/2019/07/10/human-cultural-evolution-a-letter-exchange You can find Massimo’s Letter conversaion with Philip Goff here: https://letter.wiki/conversation/277 For more on the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis: https://extendedevolutionarysynthesis.com/ On Stoic Week: https://modernstoicism.com/about-stoic-week/ Follow Massimo on Twitter: @mpigliucci Write to Open Letters at Letter here: https://letter.wiki/OpenLetters/conversations Write to me: https://letter.wiki/IonaItalia/conversations Further Notes Derren Brown, Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine (2016) My essay on Stoicism: https://areomagazine.com/2019/01/21/in-praise-of-stoicism-derren-browns-happy-book-review/ For Karl Popper on the demarcation problem see: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/popper/#ProbDema Larry Laudan on the demarcation problem: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-009-7055-7_6 For Wittgenstein on the definition of a game see: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wittgenstein/#LangGameFamiRese The SETI institute: https://www.seti.org/ Geoffrey Miller, The Mating Mind: How Sexual Selection Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature (2001): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/114577/the-mating-mind-by-geoffrey-miller/ Richard Lewontin, 1929– Lawrence Kraus, A Universe from Nothing (2012) Massimo, Maarten Boudry, Lawrence Krauss and Daniel Dennett on the Limits of Science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRzfCemXYLc For Wilfred Sellars on the stereoscopic vision of science see: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sellars/#8 Jorge Luis Borges, The Library of Babel (1941): https://maskofreason.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/the-library-of-babel-by-jorge-luis-borges.pdf Sam Harris, The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values (2010) Massimo’s review of The Moral Landscape: https://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/11-02-02/#feature Ayn Rand’s objectivism: https://aynrand.org/ideas/overview/ The Discourses of Epictetus: http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/discourses.html Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations: http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.html Seneca, Of Anger: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Of_Anger/Book_I For more on Chryssipus: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Chrysippus Timestamps 3:47 The demarcation problem, the difference between science and pseudoscience 17:26 What made Massimo change fields from biology to philosophy 21:45 What is the relationship between philosophy and science? 38:32 Science and ethics 45:59 The appeal of Stoicism 57:17 Stoic practices 1:11:31 The Stoic fork/dichotomy of control 1:23:11 Free will 1:34:00 The misrepresentation of Stoicism as repression of emotion 1:43:18 The lessons of the pandemic

The Boys are joined by another guest, and talk Chiefs football for the vast majority of the show. Also, a mailbag! 

You can find Colin’s Quillette article, “The New Evolution Deniers” here: https://quillette.com/2018/11/30/the-new-evolution-deniers/ And his article with William Malone and Julia Robinson, “No One is Born in the Wrong Body” here: https://quillette.com/2019/09/24/no-one-is-born-in-the-wrong-body/ Colin’s article with Emma Hilton, “The Dangerous Denial of Sex” can be found here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-dangerous-denial-of-sex-11581638089?mod=opinion_lead_pos5 You can find Colin’s academic work on social spiders, etc. here: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Y6HdvgcAAAAJ&hl=en Further References Radclyffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness (1928) Derren Brown, Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine (2016) I review Brown’s book for Areo magazine here: https://areomagazine.com/2019/01/21/in-praise-of-stoicism-derren-browns-happy-book-review/ My interview with intersex activist Claire Graham: https://soundcloud.com/user-761174326/36-claire-graham Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949) My interview with Steve Stewart-Williams: https://soundcloud.com/user-761174326/43-steve-stewart-williams-an-astonishing-ape Timestamps 3:04 Why study social insects? 4:50 Personality in insects and humans. 23:44 Is no one born in the wrong body? 29:05 Does everyone have a gender identity? 37:50 Sex and sexuality 47:45 Is transgenderism the new gay conversion therapy? 54:54 Why are so many people identifying as trans, even at very young ages? 57:59 How is trans activism affecting academia, science and wider society? 1:00:46 How Colin defines sex. 1:03:41 Non-binary; de Beauvoir’s idea that woman is born not made; gender free 1:06:58 The hatred faced by non-passing transwomen; intrasexual gender policing 1:24:29 How will things develop in the future?

Bonjour, what makes us happy, or what we think will make us happy? What does happiness means to us? How much money do you think you need to consider yourself happy? What type of car, what type of life, what type of holiday will give you this everlasting experience of being happy? It looks to me human, down to genetics and evolution are not program to be happy, we need to know where that big lion is so we can avoid it, we need to know where loud noise comes from to be sure we can be ready if something comes as an outside threat. Does success will bring us happiness, but then what success mean to you? A Big house, dream job, dream wife and beautiful kids, sportscar, private plane, is it fame? What if, all these things, which most are materials things when attained robes us from our lives and demand constant energy into the future and our goals to the detriment of living and experiencing the present moment? And Darren talk about positivity and positive thinking, in the mention the big scam that is the Secret book, which I too sadly, felt for a few years ago, thinking that by just thinking of a desire thing I wanted in my life, acting as if I already had it would be sufficient in the attainment of such desire good or lifestyle? As I read How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius by Donald Robertson, one thing reaffirmed my now changed belief that death is ok and not as scary as I thought. Death is part of life and is to me only a new beginning to another universe. We should practice losing the things we hold dear to us, to remind ourselves how grateful we are. We should be grateful for things we already have not and not stress over things we desire. Darren talks about phones, how much they have saved us when lost trying to find a location with a map app to get to someone’s wedding, and not be frustrated for the lack of battery because we forgot to plug it in. Darren mentioned something I read somewhere else. The first light build could actually last a very long time, and the manufacture got scared that people would not come back to buy more, so they made it last less. What I enjoy in the book is the honest truth that Darren shares and I think anyone will take something from it, even a little happiness too. What I would like to offer in guidelines in a bullet point from Darren’s book and my own experience (even a limited one so far) Don’t get upset on what is not within your control, Control your state of mind, the only thing human has full control of, Turn any negative into a positive with every situation, see the silver lining, Train yourself to the loss on what you hold dear so you can be grateful for it, You’ll never regret falling in love. Do so over and over again. Don’t think to get somewhere in life or buy something you desire will bring you fulfillment or happiness, Be grateful for what you have now, Plan for success. Prepare for failure. Become an active member of your society, join a community group, Find what you love doing and do it daily, If you experience an unhappy feeling, know that they will pass, do something like exercise, reading a book, going for a walk, meditate, watch a funny movie, play music, listening to your favorite track… Lasting sexual satisfaction is very hard to attain, trying to shag everything with a heartbeat, compulsive porn watching, or obsessive gambling is not the answer. Think before buying or engaging in an activity, is this going to fulfill my desires, or only temporary? When people insure you, try to understand what good or harm they thought would come of it? Don’t beat yourself up when you make a mistake or fail, you will learn something, Death is only part of life and is totally normal part of life, When you start your day, be prepared you may accounter plain idiots, rude and angry people, it’s ok don’t let it change the way you are feeling or acting today. To remain tranquil and comfortable would deny you your growth. To remain happy would stop you from flourishing. It’s all going to work out just fine, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Happy-More-Less-Everything-Absolutely/dp/0593076192 Please comment on facebook post below about what you makes you happy? Is it reading, doing sport, watching your kid grown, having great friends, working for your community? https://www.facebook.com/didershow/ A little shot to Dereck Shivers I got to know on The Tim Ferriss, Show, I emailed him and I got a lovely reply below: “So I hope we keep in touch, either way. You sound like a creative ambitious thinker.” I have now signed up for the Dereck Sivers mailing list because I really enjoy this writing, and I invite you to sign up totally for free, plus I only email you once a month, and I really appreciate that. Find out more about Dereck awesome writing here: https://sivers.org/ A little funny exercise for you this week, I was looking ways to get people to review other businesses for a fee, and I found this website: A testimonial Generator, oh boy did I had fun with that? Yes, sir. Give me your best shot: http://testimonial-generator.com/index.php Send me your best testis on the page below: https://www.facebook.com/didershow/ Thank you for reading or listing Didier SOULIER Listen on Itunes Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dider-podcast/id1141054508 Listen on Google Play: https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cDovL2RpZGllcnNvdWxpZXJzdWNjZXNzZnVsc3Rvcmllcy5wb2RvbWF0aWMuY29tL3JzczIueG1s The Dider Show FACEBOOK Page: https://www.facebook.com/didershow/ Listen on Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/didershow/dider-show?refid=stpr Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DidierjcSoulier Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/didiersoulier/ Support this Podcast and my music. Become my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/didiersoulier Support this podcast with Paypal: https://paypal.me/didierSoulier Volunteers environmental group I founded in France: https://www.facebook.com/TrashBustersFRANCE/ Subscribe on my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqEIlAdjKh-QT1OooRrA8sg? Subscribe on Radio Channel: https://player.fm/series/the-dider-show Listen to my own music: https://soundcloud.com/didier-soulier-497294456

4:06 Melissa’s Methodist upbringing in Singapore 8:49 Press censorship in Singapore; Singapore society in general 14:30 Why Melissa decided to come and study in the US; her studies in genetics (transcriptomics) 21:50 Her meeting with Faisal al Mutar 24:10 Their secular humanists Facebook page 27:55 On the right way to make tea 35:00 Melissa’s early work with Faisal 36:30 Ideas Beyond Borders 49:45 Literacy in the MENA region 51:55 Bringing a new Enlightenment to the Arab world 1:06:30 The books that most influenced us Find out more about Ideas Beyond Borders here: https://www.ideasbeyondborders.org/; Follow Melissa on Twitter @MsMelChen Other References S. Frederick Starr, Lost EnlightenmentCentral Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane (2015) Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (2018) Sam Harris, Lying (2011); The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values (2010) Deeyah Khan, documentary filmmaker: http://deeyah.com/ Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (2006) David Deutsch, The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform the World (2011) “Donald Trump” [Tony Schwartz] The Art of the Deal (1987) George Eliot, Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life (1871–2) Annika Harris, I Wonder (2013) Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene (1976) John Rawls, The Theory of Justice (1971) Derren Brown, Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine (2016) My review of Happy for Areo: https://areomagazine.com/2019/01/21/in-praise-of-stoicism-derren-browns-happy-book-review Letter Find out more about our new partners, Letter: https://letter.wiki I’ve written about it here: https://areomagazine.com/2019/07/12/lets-change-the-nature-of-public-debate-an-introduction-to-letter/ And I’ve written about one of our letter exchanges here: https://areomagazine.com/2019/07/10/human-cultural-evolution-a-letter-exchange/

Do you belong to the fabulous five percent? Do you know what it is? According to Lisa Johnson, business and success coach, 95% of new businesses failed on the first year, so where do you belong? In today’s episode, Leon chats with Lisa about how to turn your one to one business to one-to-many structure. She shared her story of going from owning a successful urban wedding planning company to a successful business coach. And what's more is Lisa dive deep on the topics of the importance of delegating your task to other team members to free up your time. Lisa also shared a series of “what to do now” so you can go from working hard to working smart. You are in for a treat, Elevation Nation, enjoy! Here are a few insights you’ll hear in today’s show…   How Lisa scaled her business model to a massive success Lisa’s big mistake and what she learned from it How to break through the income plateau The step by step process Lisa did to build a business that will run remotely Three key steps to build a successful passive income Success Quote Work smarter, not harder because I'm a massive believer not working harder to earn lots of money. You have to make big mistake to get it right. Failure is good. Resources The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine by Mike Michalowicz Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine by Derren Brown Connect with Lisa Website Instagram The Fabulous 5% Facebook Group

Sam Harris speaks with Derren Brown about his work as a “psychological illusionist.” They discuss the power of hypnosis, the power of expectations, the usefulness of Stoic philosophy, and other topics. Derren Brown began his UK television career in December 2000 with a series of specials called Mind Control. In the UK his name is now pretty much synonymous with the art of psychological manipulation. Amongst a varied and notorious TV career, Derren has played Russian Roulette live, convinced middle-managers to commit armed robbery, led the nation in a séance, stuck viewers at home to their sofas, successfully predicted the National Lottery, motivated a shy man to land a packed passenger plane at 30,000 feet, hypnotised a man to assassinate Stephen Fry, and created a zombie apocalypse for an unsuspecting participant after seemingly ending the world. He has also written several best-selling books and – a first in the history of magic – has toured with eight sell-out one-man stage shows. The shows have garnered a record-breaking five Olivier Award nominations for Best Entertainment, and won twice. This means Derren has had the largest number of nominations and wins for one-person shows in the history of the Awards. His 2017 US debut show SECRET won the New York Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical experience and is planning a Broadway return in 2019. His Latest book is Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine. Website: http://derrenbrown.co.uk Twitter: @DerrenBrown Instagram: @derrenbrown Episodes that have been re-released as part of the Best of Making Sense series may have been edited for relevance since their original airing.

Allan Branch is the co-founder of Less Everything (lesseverything.com) — along with a lot of other side ventures. He's done everything from software design to videography, to conferences and more. His early conferences included speakers like Jason Fried and Gary Vaynerchuk before they were "huge." In this episode we talk about the fact that business doesn't need to be whatever everyone else says, we talk about charting your own course and living a life that fits your dreams, not the dreams of others. Shortly after this was recorded, Allan's business partner, Steve Bristol, who was known by some as Steph, ended life on August 7th. When you hear Allan talk about his business partner on this podcast, it's even more heartbreaking to learn of the loss. After talking with Allan, we decided to launch this episode in memory and if you're interested in helping, please visit the You Caring page to help the children who are left behind along with their mother: https://www.youcaring.com/kimberlybristol-903877Support the show (http://buildingabusinessthatlasts.com)

In the age where Donald Trump is president, North Korea is soooo over us, and the MTA decides to stop BS-ing us, listening to More Life no longer soothes my anger (I know right, who can listen to passionfruit and still be stressin? This girl right here.) If you feel the same way, listen to Less Life. Less Everything. By yours truly.

Steven Bristol co-founded, built, marketed, supported and sold a multi-million dollar SaaS software product called LessAccounting. LessAccounting is an easy-to-use small business-accounting software that allows clients to easily track online invoices and carry out their bookkeeping tasks conveniently.   He is also the co-founder of LessEverything, a company that builds software for different clients, creates integrations between products, and improves companies' conversion rates. His program adventure started as a 9 year old writing BASIC. In the past 28 years he has written many languages, become a Ruby on Rails core contributor, and a 2007 Google Summer of Code Mentor.  He is a former motorcycle racer and has gone over 150 miles per hour with his knee on the ground. He is also a proud father of three.  Core Revenue streams  Steven jointly runs LessEverything, Inc. with his co-founder Allan Branch. They have two revenue streams with the first being offering consulting services to people who want to build successful businesses. He has been applying his talents and 10-year business experience in helping different SaaS products get to market and do better in the market.  Their second revenue stream is a business division called LessFilms.com which makes marketing videos for diverse clients.  Starting out in business  Never wanted to be an entrepreneur because from observing his entrepreneur parents, he felt it was too much work. He never really held a job for long and eventually felt formal employment was not for him. After he left his last job, he partnered up with Allan Branch to start working on LessAccounting. They also started the umbrella company LessEverything, Inc.  The viability of LessAccounting  He thinks they succeeded with the LessAccounting idea out of sheer arrogance and non-belief in failure. Their bar of success was also very low so they just needed the idea to generate enough money for them to sustain their company's operations and meet their personal financial obligations.   The tech world was not very saturated with similar products back then and therefore it was easier for them to market LessAccounting and secure enough users to generate considerable revenue.  Main competitor issues  QuickBooks, their biggest competitor, saw them as a threat, and being an established company, they had an upper hand in terms of marketing. With their limited marketing budget, Steven and Allan became the first Twitter trolls. They discovered that majority of the Twitter reviews related to QuickBooks were negative so they created a website called weallhatequickbooks.com to leverage on the negative reviews.  Steven believes that QuickBooks used to replicate some of the features on LessAccounting into their product.  Getting the first paying clients  Steven and Allan had a lot of friends on Twitter who were either in the tech world, offering consulting services or starting their own business. They leveraged on that by tweeting out that they had launched LessAccounting and people immediately signed up for the free trial. At that point, Steven had not even developed the billing code but built it within a month so that they could start charging people to use the software. At first, they had about 4 paying customers and that number grew steadily from month to month.  Growth strategy in the beginning  Never really had a growth strategy but concentrated more on building LessAccounting. Steven and Allan did consulting work in order to generate enough income to finance the development of LessAccounting.  They used a lot of word of mouth by attending conferences to make friends who would recommend them to clients. Steven used to speak at Ruby on Rails/tech conferences globally. That approach proved to be fruitful in terms of marketing.  Dealing with the accounting aspect of LessAccounting  The philosophy behind LessAccounting for Steven was to make software that didn't require users to have a...

Who owns you? Think about it. Who controls your time, your work, even your sense of self-worth? If someone else controls any of these things, you're neither free, nor powerful. But breaking those chains is a daunting challenge. For 50 Cent, this was a tale of crack hustling, escaping the vampiric embrace of the record industry, and seizing control of his art and image. But the dynamics at play in all these areas can be related directly – and often pointedly – to the rest of us, too. Making everything your own isn't simply about material possessions. This is about self-ownership and finding the fullest expression of yourself. In this episode, we explore how Robert taps directly into powerful wisdom that's been passed down through ancient philosophies and religions, but which most of us continue to ignore. In the end, we all die alone: we can't live our lives only calibrating our self-worth to the opinion of others. Unless we grow and develop, we stagnate, give up, and lose ourselves. Our uniqueness is our strength, yet we all scurry to fit into society's pigeon holes. We're not talking special snowflakes and being a self-righteous prick, though. Things are more nuanced and complex than that, as we explore. We challenge you to ask: What's the true worst-case scenario if you go All In, and is it really something you couldn't come back from after a few months? Plus: How to be honest with yourself – are you a follower or a creator? Whether pre-nups or start-ups, we explain why you have to make clear agreements and boundaries before you enter any relationship. And why, really, it's fear that stops us from striking out on our own and taking responsibility for what happens next. We unleash the idea of Brain Yoga to unify the body, mind and spirit and cut out the bickering and confusion in ourselves. Jon grapples with the fear of hurling himself out of all safety nets, and Dre opens up about the times he's accidentally ended up working himself to death trying to fulfil other people's dreams. And it's time to get excited for our brand new, fool-proof seduction one-liner... This Episode Includes: Avoiding the toxic effects of pity Personal sovereignty and how to cultivate it Turning Dead Time into Active Time Learned Helplessness and how to avoid it Owning your legacy Why you must be either the first or the best Mentioned in the Episode: Our Election Special episode The Go Pro founder's promise to an old friend Helicopter madness – 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand Derren Brown's excellent book, Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine Robert's excellent book, Mastery The terrifying ballad, My Cubicle The article Jon mentioned about Fernando Alonso at the Indy 500   Be Silly. Be Kind. Be Weird.

In this remote Science Salon, Michael Shermer talks with Derren Brown, a British magician and writer. His TV show Derren Brown: Mind Control received immediate success after airing in 2000. His specials include Russian Roulette, Seance, The Heist, Hero at 30,000 Feet, How to Predict the Lottery, and Apocalypse. His live shows Something Wicked This Way Comes and Svengali have won him two Olivier Awards. He garnered the 2012 BAFTA for Best Entertainment for Derren Brown: The Experiments. He has also penned the books Tricks of the Mind and Confessions of a Conjuror, which have sold over 700,000 copies worldwide. His latest book is Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine. Derren is currently in the US for his off-Broadway show Secret (April 21st – June 25th, 2017), which has already sold out and has been extended with additional dates. Derren Brown makes his American theatrical debut in this world premiere production at Atlantic Theater Company. New York audiences can experience Derren’s unique blend of mind-reading, suggestion and psychological illusion in a brand new theatrical experience.  

This week we discuss Ultra HD standards, Airports and Touch Bars. Follow-up McLaren shareholders have rejected bids, not looking to sell | Reuters (http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-motorracing-mclaren-idUKKBN13D28N) Show Notes 2016 MacBook Pro Keyboard vs. Magic Keyboard vs. iPad Pro Smart Keyboard - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw4Ri7XQk_M) xkcd: Standards (https://xkcd.com/927/) Wide color gamut coverage of TVs: Rec.709, DCI-P3, Rec.2020 - Rtings (http://ca.rtings.com/tv/tests/picture-quality/wide-color-gamut-rec-709-dci-p3-rec-2020) iPhone 8 to Feature All-Glass Casing in Order to Support Wireless Charging - Mac Rumors (http://www.macrumors.com/2016/11/23/2017-iphone-all-glass-casing-wireless-charging/) Apple Abandons Development of Wireless Routers - Bloomberg (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-21/apple-said-to-abandon-development-of-wireless-routers-ivs0ssec) Apple - Frankie’s Holiday - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFPcsYGriEs&) Gravity Light: A 360 Degree Magnetic LED Lamp – Indiegogo (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gravity-light-a-360-degree-magnetic-led-lamp-design/x/2876714) TP-Link Powerline AC1750 Extender, AV1200 Powerline Edition Review (https://hipsterpixel.co/2016/11/22/tp-link-ac1750-wi-fi-extender-av1200-powerline-edition-review/)

02:06 - Steven Bristol Introduction Twitter Blog LessEverything LessAccounting LessFilms LessConf LessChurn 02:32 - “Churn” 03:08 - The Genesis of LessChurn 04:04 - How does it work? 06:45 - SaaS Products Benchmarks 09:41 - Steven’s Background Alan Branch 10:58 - The SaaS Path (Advice) The 37Signals Blog Bacon Biz Conf LaunchRocket 18:36 - Churn University 21:48 - Outbound 24:14 - Pricing 26:43 - Customer Trust 32:44 - The Psychology of Churn 34:54 - Zombie Revenue 36:28 - Keeping Customers Around Onboarding Mandatory Field Feedback Picks Why Johnny Can't Brand: Rediscovering the Lost Art of the Big Idea by Bill Schley (Philip) MOO (Jonathan) Tend (Steven) Free Will by Sam Harris (Steven) Peter Kirn: Alchemy synth is now a part of Logic Pro X; here’s what’s new (Steven) less_interactions (Steven) Contacts+ (Reuven)  

02:06 - Steven Bristol Introduction Twitter Blog LessEverything LessAccounting LessFilms LessConf LessChurn 02:32 - “Churn” 03:08 - The Genesis of LessChurn 04:04 - How does it work? 06:45 - SaaS Products Benchmarks 09:41 - Steven’s Background Alan Branch 10:58 - The SaaS Path (Advice) The 37Signals Blog Bacon Biz Conf LaunchRocket 18:36 - Churn University 21:48 - Outbound 24:14 - Pricing 26:43 - Customer Trust 32:44 - The Psychology of Churn 34:54 - Zombie Revenue 36:28 - Keeping Customers Around Onboarding Mandatory Field Feedback Picks Why Johnny Can't Brand: Rediscovering the Lost Art of the Big Idea by Bill Schley (Philip) MOO (Jonathan) Tend (Steven) Free Will by Sam Harris (Steven) Peter Kirn: Alchemy synth is now a part of Logic Pro X; here’s what’s new (Steven) less_interactions (Steven) Contacts+ (Reuven)  

Just because you're an adult doesn't mean that you should eat junk all the time. Eat less crap and boost your health. More info. The post [Adulting A005] Cheese Balls: Eat Less Crap (And Less Everything) appeared first on Adulting.

Allan is the co-founder of LessEverything which is the coolest company you've never heard of. They make amazing products like LessAccounting and LessFilms. He loves his family more than breathing. He also build cool lamps as a hobby MassalinaDrive.com

If you’ve dreamed about building your own product, you’re in the right place. This week the hilarious, talented, and honest Allan Branch joins us to talk about why he’s leaving LessConf behind to focus on LessAccounting. Sponsors This show wouldn't be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show! Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to  www.sprint.ly. Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off! Notable quotes "LessConf was a fun little hobby that started to take over." "With our app, we're still battling it out for users, and LessConf was becoming a distraction" "Notoriety in the startup community doesn't translate into users in the small business." "Notoriety and fame and all that bullshit feels good; it's a disease. It sucks you in… looking at Instagram likes, and who likes stuff, and re-tweets you. If startups aren't your target marketing, notoriety can be a distraction." "Running a conference is like being a bride at a wedding." "What about a social network to connect golfing buddies?" "We both took pay cuts to start LessEverything, because we wanted to build a nest-egg to build products" "Having a partner makes it better. Steve likes to make my ideas better." "A good partner will give you the courage to be more of yourself." "The ignorant user is your best customer." "There's no legacy in pixels." Show notes Allan on Twitter LessConf LessAccounting Allan and Steve's books Massalina Drive 

Panel Steven Bristol (twitter blog) Reuven Lerner (twitter github blog) Curtis McHale (twitter github blog) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Jim Gay (twitter github blog) Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Ramp Up) Discussion 01:15 - Steven Bristol Introduction LessEverything LessAccounting LessFilms LessConf 02:11 - Bookkeeping Why it Sucks 06:04 - Analyzing Numbers Categorization Tagging 08:31 - Why Use LessAccounting? 12:07 - Looking at Your Books (Frequency) LessTimeSpent 14:38 - Steven's Accounting/Bookkeeping Background 16:42 - LessAccounting vs QuickBooks 19:54 - Building a SaaS Business 21:35 - Consulting 23:24 - Transitioning from Consulting to Product Work 26:34 - Marketing Niche Markets Blog Articles - LessEverything 31:32 - LessEverything Company Makeup Having Employees 34:27 - Building & Running a Business Picks MacBook Pro (Reuven) Relately (Jim) Capsule (Curtis) Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind (Eric) Software Indie Podcast: From Consultancy to a Product with Rob Rhyne (Eric) Nathan Barry: How To Launch Anything (Jeff) Daring Fireball: Markdown Syntax Documentation (Chuck) Readme Driven Development (Chuck) Dan Gilbert: The surprising science of happiness (Steven) Planscope (Steven) Couch to 5K (Steven) Book Club Getting Things Done with David Allen! He will join us for an episode to discuss the book on July 30th. The episode will air on August 7th. Next Week Recording Video Transcript CHUCK: Why can't those idiots who write software right software? [Hosting and bandwidth provided by the Blue Box Group. Check them out at bluebox.net.] [You're fantastic at code, but do you have an action plan to take it to the next level? The upcoming book, Next Level Freelance, will help you optimize your freelance business for happiness. The book is packed with actionable steps to make more money, case studies, tips to find more clients, and exercises for you to establish your desired lifestyle. Extras include: 9 interviews with freelancers who make great money while enjoying great work-life balance, videos on strategies to find quality subcontractors, and videos on making more free time by outsourcing your daily tasks. Check it out today at nextlevelfreelance.com!] CHUCK: Hey everybody and welcome to Episode 70 of The Freelancers' Show! This week on our panel, we have Reuven Lerner. REUVEN: Hello there! CHUCK: Curtis MacHale. CURTIS: Good day! CHUCK: Eric Davis. ERIC: Hi! CHUCK: Jeff Schoolcraft. JEFF: What's up! CHUCK: Jim Gay. JIM: Hello again! CHUCK: I'm Charles Max Wood from DevChat.tv. This week we have a special guest, and that is Steven Bristol. STEVEN: Hello! CHUCK: Getting started, Steven, do you want to introduce yourself? STEVEN: Sure! My name is Steven Bristol, I run a company called "LessEverything". We do a couple of things. The first thing we do is something called "LessAccounting.com", which is a bookkeeping accounting software we run up in the cloud geared towards small business owners and accountants that hate QuickBooks that hate difficult that want something finally easy in the world of accounting and bookkeeping. We've been doing that for about 6 years now. In addition to that, we have another company called "LessFilms", where we do small films animation, conference videos, that sort of thing for people. And we used to do a thing called "LessConf", which was the best conference in the world; just ask anybody. We started off as a consulting company and bootstrapped our way into a product company. So we've done a little bit of everything in the tech world. CHUCK: Nice. So between you and me and the other few people who might be listening to this -- STEVEN: Sure! CHUCK: Bookkeeping sucks! [Laughs]

Panel Steven Bristol (twitter blog) Reuven Lerner (twitter github blog) Curtis McHale (twitter github blog) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Jim Gay (twitter github blog) Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Ramp Up) Discussion 01:15 - Steven Bristol Introduction LessEverything LessAccounting LessFilms LessConf 02:11 - Bookkeeping Why it Sucks 06:04 - Analyzing Numbers Categorization Tagging 08:31 - Why Use LessAccounting? 12:07 - Looking at Your Books (Frequency) LessTimeSpent 14:38 - Steven’s Accounting/Bookkeeping Background 16:42 - LessAccounting vs QuickBooks 19:54 - Building a SaaS Business 21:35 - Consulting 23:24 - Transitioning from Consulting to Product Work 26:34 - Marketing Niche Markets Blog Articles - LessEverything 31:32 - LessEverything Company Makeup Having Employees 34:27 - Building & Running a Business Picks MacBook Pro (Reuven) Relately (Jim) Capsule (Curtis) Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind (Eric) Software Indie Podcast: From Consultancy to a Product with Rob Rhyne (Eric) Nathan Barry: How To Launch Anything (Jeff) Daring Fireball: Markdown Syntax Documentation (Chuck) Readme Driven Development (Chuck) Dan Gilbert: The surprising science of happiness (Steven) Planscope (Steven) Couch to 5K (Steven) Book Club Getting Things Done with David Allen! He will join us for an episode to discuss the book on July 30th. The episode will air on August 7th. Next Week Recording Video Transcript CHUCK: Why can't those idiots who write software right software? [Hosting and bandwidth provided by the Blue Box Group. Check them out at bluebox.net.] [You're fantastic at code, but do you have an action plan to take it to the next level? The upcoming book, Next Level Freelance, will help you optimize your freelance business for happiness. The book is packed with actionable steps to make more money, case studies, tips to find more clients, and exercises for you to establish your desired lifestyle. Extras include: 9 interviews with freelancers who make great money while enjoying great work-life balance, videos on strategies to find quality subcontractors, and videos on making more free time by outsourcing your daily tasks. Check it out today at nextlevelfreelance.com!] CHUCK: Hey everybody and welcome to Episode 70 of The Freelancers' Show! This week on our panel, we have Reuven Lerner. REUVEN: Hello there! CHUCK: Curtis MacHale. CURTIS: Good day! CHUCK: Eric Davis. ERIC: Hi! CHUCK: Jeff Schoolcraft. JEFF: What's up! CHUCK: Jim Gay. JIM: Hello again! CHUCK: I'm Charles Max Wood from DevChat.tv. This week we have a special guest, and that is Steven Bristol. STEVEN: Hello! CHUCK: Getting started, Steven, do you want to introduce yourself? STEVEN: Sure! My name is Steven Bristol, I run a company called "LessEverything". We do a couple of things. The first thing we do is something called "LessAccounting.com", which is a bookkeeping accounting software we run up in the cloud geared towards small business owners and accountants that hate QuickBooks that hate difficult that want something finally easy in the world of accounting and bookkeeping. We've been doing that for about 6 years now. In addition to that, we have another company called "LessFilms", where we do small films animation, conference videos, that sort of thing for people. And we used to do a thing called "LessConf", which was the best conference in the world; just ask anybody. We started off as a consulting company and bootstrapped our way into a product company. So we've done a little bit of everything in the tech world. CHUCK: Nice. So between you and me and the other few people who might be listening to this -- STEVEN: Sure! CHUCK: Bookkeeping sucks! [Laughs]

Clayton Lengel‑Zigich: Welcome to another episode of the Agile Weekly Podcast. My name is Clayton Lengel‑Zigich and joining me today is Steve Bristol. How are you doing, Steve?

Sarah Hatter the Founder of CoSupport, joins Adam for part 1 of 2 to share her passion for great customer support for web products, being a woman in a man filled industry, her thoughts and history with potentially selling her company and getting aqui-hired, how Allan and Steven of LessEverything have become partners in CoSupport - plus so much more.

Sarah Hatter the Founder of CoSupport, joins Adam for part 1 of 2 to share her passion for great customer support for web products, being a woman in a man filled industry, her thoughts and history with potentially selling her company and getting aqui-hired, how Allan and Steven of LessEverything have become partners in CoSupport - plus so much more.

Chris Matthieu sat down with Steven Bristol from LessEverything to chat about his upcoming involvement at the Madison Ruby Conference, 8/18/2011 - 8/20/2011. Steven will be moderating two panels: 1. Software as a Service (Note: I'll be on that panel) 2. Software Testing Steven is a real cool and accomplished guy but don't tell him that because it will go to his head :)

Attention code monkeys: We've been hacked and there's no turning back. Steven Bristol from LessEverything.com has joined Chris Matthieu as co-host of the Rubyology Show. It's only appropriate that we interview the new monkey master before allowing him to interview others. In this episode we cover LessEverything's products and services, RailsConf 2008 favs, and dive deep on Rails 2.1, Mod Apache, and other surprises. Show links include: http://www.luclatulippe.com/ http://ruby.gemstone.com/ http://b.lesseverything.com/2008/6/9/converting-tzinfo-from-rails-2-0-to-2-1 Let us know what you think at: chris [at] rubyology.com (chrismatthieu on twitter) steve [at] lesseverything.com (stevenbristol on twitter)