One of the foudational tenets of worker-capitalism and self-sufficiency is that one should pull one's own weight first. While trying to have everyone buy a plot of land, build their own shanty, and create a fully self-sufficient homestead is impractical in modern society, the underlying principle of providing as much for yourself, on your own, is certainly useful.

Okay, I am currently living out of my RV(semi-homeless), making $8.50/hr in a job I do not want to be doing for the next ten years. Not that it is a bad place to work. My co-workers are great; I enjoy working there, but I simply have goals that this job can't satisfy. That will become clear as you read and watch the content on this site. My current job will serve as a means to those ends, but that is all. To achieve those goals will require some consistent, focused effort from me. In the words of Hanibal Smith, I need a plan.

Sorry for there not being a video yet. The sound on my laptop chose this week to start acting up and not work right. I am scrounging for a solution.

For now, here is a list of the software you'll need to follow along with the video series.

First, some basic assumptions:

Announcing Lua for FXCM

OK, this is my current level of economic self-sufficiency: basically zero. The details are:

Income:

$8.50/hr, avg. 25 hours per week at a coffee shop/bakery is my primary income.

Consulting: I was a computer repair and networking instructor and counsultant prior to losing my job in 2008. I still get occasional consulting jobs, but I treat it as extra pocket money. It averaged about $45/month in 2012.

Becoming self-sufficient is a process more than an event. There are varying degrees of self-sufficiency. We are each free to rely on ourselves as much or as little as we wish. The primary requirement for self-sufficiency is to insist on pulling your own weight first. You don't need to rush out and start a homestead in your garden. Most people will find it more realistic to start by learning to live more frugally to get their living expensses down, reducing debt, and setting up an independent source of income.

Technology enables one to generate surpluses. Those surpluses can be traded for the things you can't make yourself. This creates an incentive to get really good at providing a few things people want in abundance and trade them for the things others make really well. Since no one person can be equally good at everything and may not have the necessary resources even if he was, everyone benefits. Eventually, when surpluses get so large that trade by barter becomes impractical or must be conducted over long distances, a more easily transportable medium of exchange is created.

First, let's be really clear on what we mean by self-sufficiency, particularly economic self-sufficiency. The term self-sufficiency is often associated with back-to-the-land communal living , survivalism/preparedness/off-grid living, and green/sustainability/homesteading. This is what you might call material self-sufficiency, the ability to obtain or create anything you need to survive and prosper entirely from local resources. This is not what is meant on this site by economic self-sufficiency. Galt's Gulch is a fictional example of this.

What is a Worker-capitalist?

A worker-capitalist is working person, either entrepreneur or wage earner, whose primary form of property ownership is a liquid capital base.