Earlier this month, @lily-da-vine announced her intention to fork Anarchapulco. The idea is to provide alternative events and programming to both complement and extend the duration of the main Anarchapulco conference.
I thought this was a rad idea, and voiced my support, telling Lily I'd be down to help. Lily asked me to brainstorm ideas for the Great Forkening, and over the past couple of weeks, I've come up with a thing or two.
This post is about the most exciting (to me) possibilities I've brainstormed thus far:
The Anarchopreneurialism Track
The decentralized nature of the fork (longer duration, multiple locations, presumably fewer competing events happening concurrently) should allow for a deeper and more thorough focus on different interest areas or "disciplines" of anarchist living. One of these "disciplines" is something I'll call anarchopreneurialism.
If there's one thing Anarchapulco attendees have in spades, it's brilliant entrepreneurial ideas. I attended Anarchapulco 1 and Anarchapulco 3, and I lost count of how many awesome ideas for businesses I heard. Businesses that not only held a lot of profit potential, but that also could become a powerful force for disrupting statism. A lot of these ideas came from young folks who have tons of drive, but little in the way of resources or entrepreneurial experience. At the same time, there are many people at the conference who are already seasoned entrepreneurs with three or four successful startups under their belts.
So why not put these two groups together in a loosely organized setting, with the intention of nurturing some of those ideas, and see what happens?
While the main conference generally has good programming for entrepreneurial anarchists in the form of speakers and workshops, I think the Great Forkening can offer some unique opportunities in this realm.
For instance:
Mentorship Opportunities
- Budding anarchopreneurs submit a proposal of their business idea, including a business plan and an introductory video.
- A database is created.
- Seasoned anarchopreneurs select an individual or team whose project they are interested in, and a mentorship is formed.
- The mentors and mentees can meet with each other during their time in Acapulco, then exchange contact information and continue the mentorship when they return home.
Anarchopreneur Idol
- Budding anarchopreneurs develop a presentation for their business idea.
- A panel of seasoned anarchopreneurs is assembled to judge the contestants.
- Through a series of presentations and Q&A sessions with the judges, contestants are eliminated American Idol-style.
** Phase 1: A basic presentation of the business idea
** Phase 2: A presentation on how this business will aid in the disruption of statism
** Phase 3: An intense question and answer session in which contestants are grilled on their idea's profitability, their own entrepreneurial suitability, and any other questions the judges have. - The last anarchopreneur standing gets prize money to start their business. (The prize money can be collected through donations in cryptocurrency and/or fiat.)
How to Profit as an AnarchArtist
At this year's conference in February, @erikaharris and I gave a talk called Art Your Way to Anarchy. (Click the link if you want to read the text version of our speech.) In it, we discussed how creative expression can be integral to freeing the individual and freeing the world. We encouraged creators to go out and create!
What we didn't touch on is how difficult it can be to support even a modest lifestyle as an artist. The traditional wisdom in our culture is that artists either have to starve, or "sell-out" to become superstars. If this traditional wisdom ever was true, it has ceased to be so. Advancements in technology make it possible to make a comfortable living as an independent creator. No longer do artists have to be dependent upon the Music Industry, the New York Art Dealers, or the Big Five Publishing Houses for our careers and sustenance. But, as artists, many of us have been trained by our culture that "art isn't profitable". We've been admonished to "keep it at the hobby level" and "don't quit your day job."
I truly believe that the world suffers when talented artists forego creation to stay in unfulfilling day jobs. And this is doubly true if the artist in question happens to be an anarchist! The world needs our creative endeavors to aid in its awakening. In order for that to happen, AnarchArtists have to embrace the idea that Art Can Be Profitable. We need AnarchArtists to become Anarchopreneurs!
So for the Great Forkening, I think it would be amazing to have workshops and panels focused on how to make your art profitable. How to share your artistic message of emancipation--your novel, your comic, your short film, or whatever it is you're creating--with as many people as possible, and how to get PAID so that you can devote more of your time and energy to creating and sharing that message.
That's my vision for the Great Forkening. I'd love to hear yours!
I love you, Steemit!
Hi! I'm Leslie Starr O'Hara, but my friends call me Starr. I live in the mountains of North Carolina and I am a FULL TIME WRITER! I write humor, essays, and fiction here on Steemit and elsewhere.
Upvotes and ReSteems are amazing!
Great ideas, Starr. I love the idea of Anarchopreneurialism and creating wealth. Please continue to develop those ideas and let's see what kind of magic we can create.
The more wealth anarchists accumulate, the better our chances of decentralizing the world!
Absolutely! I like the way you think, Starr!
Looks awesome, thanks for sharing, will consider :)
There's definitely a benefit from liberty lovers networking together professionally. That's one of the purposes of the Liberty Professionals concept I came up with years ago.
I wanted liberty lovers to have a place like LinkedIn to network. It would connect employers with employees in addition to supporting mentorships. Why wouldn't we want to work with those who have the same voluntaryist principles?
I'd rather hire businesses that have similar ethics to mine as well, and I want to support fellow liberty lovers over those who are not. We definitely have a lot of advantages due to people thinking outside the box and being very creative.
We are always stronger as a group too. I want my friends to be successful as well, and doing what you and Lily have planned is a wonderful step in the right direction!
Speaking of mentoring, I'll gladly help those interested in getting into private security work either as a private investigator or similar. It is my primary passion in life of course, and I know there are others who would be naturals at the work.
We will create free market alternatives to the state monopolies!
(Thanks for the resteem, @lily-da-vine ! Followed and resteemed, @lesliestarrohara ! )
Wow, that's a very generous offer, @finnian. I think private security is one of the most important areas that voluntaryists can get into in order to accelerate the disruption of statism.
Thank you for the resteem!
Hey @Lesliestarrohara, I am starting a podcast where I interview other entrepreneurs, I would like to invite to the inaugural episodes.
The podcasts will be hosted on my youtube account: https://www.youtube.com/nantchev
We talk about what you are currently doing in life, your business as well as your journey and any lessons or advice you want the world to know.
A casual conversation about entrepreneurship, and about you.
Cool! I'd love to speak a bit on entrepreneurial artistry.
It will be audio only via Skype.
Please go here for and get the process started in picking a date and time: https://calendly.com/adriannantchev/entrepreneur-podcast
I love the ideas and feel they are very realistic. I am very interested to see what actually happens with this fork. There is a lot of great ideas and a mass amount of potential. Yet getting a cohesive group of people together is difficult.
The more we talk about it here on Steemit the more potential there is!
I plan to go next year
You definitely should. It's a blast!
Are the dates set yet? I'll go check... haha
I like the way you thinking, I will follow you, hope you will continue to develop those ideas.
that's a great post, first photo is amazing!
I just got on board with Steemit in December. Thusly, I didn't see this article. Fortunately Kenny's Kitchen linked it in his AnarchoForko plug and schedule. THIS is the most important thing which the forkers could possibly deal with. Please contact me at [email protected]. Anyone, anytime so we can discuss the potential of this further. Real estate development MUST come first. ...and how to deal with local government encroachments. I also want to develop a time-sharing business in and around Acapulco. There is no reason AnarchoForko couldn't sustain itself 51 weeks a year.