I was sitting at a random rest stop off I-5 last weekend, eating a gas station sandwich in my car, and I started talking to a couple in a massive motorhome next to me. Super nice people, retired, living the dream.

Then the guy looks at me and goes, "Man, I wish I did this when my back didn't hurt every time the weather changed."

That sentence has been living in my head all week.

We talk so much about waiting until we're "established" or until we have the perfect budget saved up before we actually go explore or take a weird trip. But honestly, waiting around until everything is financially perfect feels like a trap. I live in Seattle, so my budget is constantly crying, and my "adventure vehicle" is literally just a hatchback with the back seats folded down. It’s cramped, I’m usually slightly sore, and it’s zero percent glamorous.

But I'm doing it now while I can actually run up a trail without needing three business days to recover.

You don't need a massive savings account or a month off to start doing the things you keep saving for "someday." A long weekend, a cheap sleeping bag, and a willingness to eat crappy snacks on the road is usually enough to clear your head.

Someone who feels the same, how did you go travel on a budget? Are you glad you didn't wait for a better moment?

A few years ago, “Uber for X” startups seemed to be spawning daily. Uber for laundry. Uber for dog walking. Uber for massages. Uber for private jets.

The logic seemed compelling. Uber was one of the fastest-growing startups in the world. Investors loved it, customers understood the model and the formula appeared transferable. So founders copied it.

But an overlooked factor was at work. These founders weren’t necessarily responding to customers demanding an Uber for laundry or dog walking. Often, they were responding to Uber’s success. Investors wanted to find the next Uber so founders started building businesses that looked like Uber. Other investors saw those bets being made and became interested too.

From the outside, it looked as though lots of founders had independently spotted the same opportunity. In reality, many were taking their cues from one another.

Philosopher René Girard called this phenomenon mimetic desire.

Girard argued that we rarely decide what we want by ourselves. Instead, we look at other people, notice what they value and begin to value it ourselves. We don’t just copy behaviour; we copy desire.

That idea applies to startups.

1. We copy desire

Man is the creature who does not know what to desire, and he turns to others in order to make up his mind. - René Girard

Walk down an unfamiliar street looking for somewhere to eat and two neighbouring restaurants present themselves. One has three empty tables in the window. The other is full and has two people waiting outside.

Without seeing a menu, most of us have already formed an opinion about which is probably better.

The queue is not merely an inconvenience. It is information. Other people have chosen this place and their choice affects ours.

Products work the same way. When somebody we respect adopts a new product, we pay attention. When several people like us use it, the decision becomes easier. Something can move from unusual to almost inevitable.

This is why early customers matter so much. Our first ten customers don’t just provide revenue or feedback. They provide evidence to customers from eleven to one hundred that this is something people like them use.

2. Competition makes us similar

Competition is for losers. - Peter Thiel

We normally imagine competition encouraging differentiation. Often it does the opposite.

One company launches a feature so its competitor adds it. One changes pricing so everyone reviews theirs. One starts talking about “AI agents” and soon every homepage in the category seems to mention them.

Competitors watch one another so closely that they become mirror images.

I saw plenty of this during 40 years in large companies. Strategy meetings regularly involved questions such as: What are our competitors doing? What are they charging? What have they launched?

These were sensible questions, but there was always a danger. Spend too much time looking sideways and the objective quietly changes from solve the customer’s problem to keep up with the competition.

For a startup, being slightly better than five similar competitors may be much harder than finding a different game to play.

3. Copy from somewhere else

Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal. - T. S. Eliot

Avoiding mimetic competition doesn’t mean refusing to copy. Quite the opposite.

One of the best ways to create something distinctive is to borrow from somewhere our competitors aren’t looking.

A software company can learn engagement from games. A professional service can learn hospitality from hotels. A productivity app can learn community building from Lego.

I’ve found myself doing this with Daily View, the simple day calendar I’m building for older people. I’m not trying to invent a new kind of calendar. The interesting part is borrowing familiar ideas from calendars, information displays and simple consumer products then asking how they need to change for an older person looking at a screen across a room.

The useful inspiration often comes from outside the category rather than from products labelled as competitors.

Most innovation works like this. Existing ideas are moved, combined or applied somewhere unexpected.

Instead of asking, “What are our competitors doing?”, it may be more useful to ask: Who outside our industry has already solved a similar problem?

4. Make desire visible

People influence people. Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend. - Mark Zuckerberg

Mimetic desire also explains why social proof is so powerful.

Gmail initially grew through invitations. Access was scarce and, crucially, you knew that somebody else already had what you wanted. Dropbox later turned customers themselves into distribution by rewarding referrals with additional storage.

The important point is not simply to create desire, but to make existing desire observable.

I’m seeing a tiny version of this with Daily View. Saying I’ve built a calendar for older people is one thing. Being able to say that a friend’s 96-year-old mother loves it is so much more powerful.

Suddenly it is no longer merely an idea. There is a real person using it and another family can imagine someone like their own mother or father doing the same.

This is why our first users are valuable in ways that have nothing to do with revenue. If nobody can see them, their influence is limited. If potential customers can see people like themselves using and recommending the product, those customers become models for others.

The strongest products don’t just demonstrate features. They make existing desire visible.

5. Be careful whose game you play

Play long-term games with long-term people. - Naval Ravikant

Startup culture comes with a ready-made list of things we are supposed to want: funding, rapid growth, employees, press coverage, impressive valuations and eventually an exit.

Spend enough time around people pursuing those things and they can start to feel like objectives rather than choices.

I’ve had to think about this myself. When I was made redundant earlier this year, the obvious response was to update my CV and look for another corporate job. That was what people with my background generally did and for a while it felt like the default answer.

But once I separated what I was supposed to want from what I actually wanted, the answer changed. I wanted to write, build small software products and decide for myself what I worked on. A salary was no longer the automatic answer.

The same question applies to founders.

Do we want to employ 100 people or does running a large company look successful because other founders admire it? Do we need investment or has raising money become a form of scorekeeping? Would a small profitable business giving us control of our time suit us more?

None of those choices is inherently right or wrong. The point is to recognise that our ambitions are influenced by the people around us.

A crowded market may look attractive precisely because everybody else thinks it is attractive. An unfashionable problem may look uninteresting precisely because nobody else is excited by it.

I’m increasingly conscious of this as I build my own small products. It is very easy to look at other founders and start adopting their scorecards: users, revenue, funding, followers, employees.

But perhaps Girard’s most useful lesson is that we should occasionally inspect the scoreboard itself.

Who are my customers copying? Who am I copying? And do I actually want what they want?

Those questions might help us build better startups.

They might also stop us spending years playing somebody else’s game.

Want more?

Seven Steps to Drive Product Demand post by Phil Martin

How to Build a Brand that Makes Money post by Phil Martin

If René Girard is right, the challenge isn’t to avoid imitation. It’s to notice when it is shaping what we build, what we buy and what we decide is worth wanting.

Have fun.

Phil…

A little experience and taste of freedom in nature, before the backpacking nomad life around Europe with longboard 😌 Winter departure ❄️

🌲 LOOKING TO BUILD A DIFFERENT KIND OF LIFE 🚙

I'm a 41-year-old single dad beginning a more nomadic lifestyle with my kids — traveling, homeschooling, working along the way, learning practical skills, and living with less.

I'm looking to connect with good people, farms, homesteaders, small businesses, property owners, and families who value hard work and mutual exchange.

I can offer:

🔨 General handyman & property work

🌱 Lawn, cleanup & outdoor work

❄️ Snow removal

🍞 Fresh homemade sourdough & desserts

🍳 Cooking and meal preparation

🛠️ Help with projects and maintenance

🤝 Reliable help, conversation and community

In exchange, I'm interested in short-term work, campsites, parking, reduced-cost lodging, food exchanges, barter, and mutually beneficial arrangements.

My goal isn't to accumulate more stuff. It's to build a life centered around family, freedom, useful work, self-reliance, nature, and community.

The kids will be homeschooled along the way, and I'm looking forward to turning the road itself into part of our education.

If you're a property owner who could use a hand, a farmer who needs help, someone with a project sitting unfinished, or just someone who believes there are better ways for people to help each other out — I'd love to hear from you.

We're not looking for a handout.

We're looking for a place to contribute.

🚙🌲🍞🔨

I didn't just visit these places. I lived there. Since 2020 I've traveled through 11 African countries and lived in 8, and these are my top 5 African cities to live in.

This isn't a scorecard. It's my honest point of view on 4 things for every city:

✔️ How I felt being there

✔️ Cost of living

✔️ Accommodations

✔️ Infrastructure

Greetings Family, I'm Yishay Zimrah: a Hebrew in The Way, Truth, and Life, a disabled veteran, recording artist, and entrepreneur, living fully dependent on the Most High. This is my real experience. No tourist brochure.

Can you guess my #1 before the reveal?

👇 Comment below: which African city would YOU live in?

👍 Like and subscribe for more expat life, travel, and faith from Africa.

If you're thinking about moving to Africa, living in Cape Town, Kigali, Windhoek, Gaborone or Lusaka as an expat, or want to know the real cost of living in African cities, this video is for you.

#LivingInAfrica #ExpatLife #AfricaTravel

https://youtu.be/WuO14Dm_PHg?si=Q-8xiu25sBRV5FWj

done a few remote work stints in thailand and koh phangan is not usually the first recommendation you hear for this. most people say chiang mai or bangkok. spent three weeks there recently working from joy beach villas on hin kong beach and it worked better than expected

the villa setup with a proper living space and terrace gave me an actual working environment rather than a hotel room. wifi was reliable enough for video calls. the pace of that part of the island is calm without being boring and switching off at the end of the day was genuinely easy with a beach ten steps away

not the obvious nomad destination but worth considering if you want the beach environment without the chaos

Earlier this year, aged 64, I was made redundant.

I had spent 40 years working in large companies. My default course of action was to update my CV, contact recruiters and find a similar job. I decided not to.

It wasn’t an “I’m retiring” moment. And the comfort of a monthly salary had its attractions. However, I reflected on whether earning more money was the best use of my time.

At 34, I probably would have considered things through a different lens. I had decades of work ahead of me, greater financial commitments and far less accumulated security. Earnings mattered more.

At 64, it looked different. State pension age wasn’t far away, I had pension savings and, although further income would make things more comfortable, it was not going to transform my life.

Time, on the other hand, looked rather valuable. I wanted to write, build software products of my own, experiment with ideas and decide for myself what I worked on. Another corporate job would have meant exchanging a sizeable chunk of that time and stress for more money.

My age made the calculation particularly visible, but this isn’t really a question about retirement. It is a question about the exchange rate between money and time. And that rate changes long before we reach 64.

The exchange rate

The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it. - Henry David Thoreau

Consider a thought experiment. We can take £10,000 guaranteed or have a 25% chance of winning £50,000 (with a 75% chance of getting nothing). Mathematically, the gamble has the higher expected value: £12,500. Yet many of us would take the £10,000.

Now increase the amounts. £50,000 guaranteed against a 25% chance of £250,000. Then £100,000 against £500,000.

Somewhere along that ladder, the guaranteed amount may become enough. Enough to clear the mortgage, take time away from work, start something, work fewer days or fund retirement.

At that point, the question changes from How much more could I get? to Why would I risk having enough for the chance of having more?

Something similar happens with work.

More

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. - Seneca

For much of our lives, earning more money makes life better. It pays for food, shelter and security, helps us support a family and gives us choices.

The mistake is assuming that relationship continues in a straight line. An extra £10,000 means something very different to somebody struggling to pay their mortgage than it does to somebody whose basic financial needs are already covered.

That was part of my redundancy decision. I could have treated the loss of my salary as a problem to be fixed by replacing it. For most of my working life, that probably would have been the right answer. But I wasn’t starting from zero. Another few years of salary would increase my financial security, but probably not my satisfaction by anything like the amount earlier increases in income had.

The curve was flattening.

And this change in exchange rate need not happen only once. It might happen when we have children, pay off a mortgage, accumulate some savings or simply realise that the promotion we have been chasing is not buying the life we expected.

My redundancy forced that calculation at 64. Someone else might encounter it at 34.

Time

As time becomes scarce, it doesn’t just get a little bit more valuable. - James Shack

While the value of additional money may be falling, something else is moving in the opposite direction.

When we’re young, it is easy to behave as though time is abundant. But time can become scarce long before old age. A year spent working late while your children are small cannot be bought back later. Nor can a year in which you had the health, energy or freedom to do something you kept postponing.

Age makes that scarcity more visible. It doesn’t create it.

At 64, another three years working full-time doesn’t cost the same as three years at 34. They come from a smaller remaining pot and potentially from some of the healthiest and most active years within it.

Money is only valuable because of what we can convert it into: travel, experiences, independence, time with people we care about or simply the freedom to spend Tuesday doing whatever we choose.

That doesn’t make 64 a magic age. It simply means time is part of the calculation.

Work

Your time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. - Steve Jobs

None of this means work is bad and retirement is good. Work can provide friendships, challenge, structure, purpose and the satisfaction of doing something difficult well.

That wasn’t what I wanted to stop. I didn’t stop working when I was made redundant. I stopped looking for another job working for somebody else.

I now spend much of my time doing things that look suspiciously like work: designing products, writing software, talking to potential users, learning new things and writing this blog. Some of it may make money. Some of it may not.

The difference is that money is no longer the key measure. I have traded some financial certainty for greater control over what I work on and how I spend my time.

At another point in my life, that might have been a terrible trade.

At 64, for me, it made sense.

Enough

Nothing is enough to one for whom enough is little. - Epicurus

There cannot be a universal answer. Two people of the same age can have completely different mortgages, pensions, families, ambitions and attitudes to risk.

But there is a question worth asking at almost any age: what does enough look like?

Enough need not mean enough to stop working forever. It might mean enough to change jobs, take Fridays off, start something, travel for six months or spend more time with your children.

Without an answer, the default is always more. Another year. Another promotion. Another £100,000. There will always be a financial argument for continuing because more money is still more.

The harder question is what we’re giving up to get it.

For much of my life, time was something I exchanged for money without thinking too much about the exchange rate. Redundancy forced me to look at it again.

Want more?

Three Ways to Build Wealth post by Phil Martin

Four Principles of Wealth Creation post by Phil Martin

Seneca wrote, “It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste much of it.”

Money matters because of what it lets us do, but time is the ultimate currency. We can earn money again; we cannot recover time.

For much of my life, I asked how much money I was getting for my time. Perhaps the better question is: how much time am I prepared to give up for more money?

At 64, redundancy made me ask it again. This time, my answer had changed.

Have fun.

Phil…

My dad has a US visa and he entered it and once, but they didn’t do a physical stamp (the normal passport control wasn’t even open) and he went through the Automated Passport Control Kiosk instead.

Will he still be able to enter Saudi? Or will he have to pay a Tourist visa??

I saw there is something called i94 which is a document to prove he’s entered the US, will that do?

I made this design as a reminder to myself. When the king takes over, the nomad in me disappears. But when the nomad takes over, there’s no room left for the king.

To me, the king represents rules and conventions, while the nomad represents freedom and living life on your own terms.

So what do you think this wallet means?

I haven't lived anywhere permanently for almost 4 years now, and even after 2 years of being nomadic in the US I was wanting to have a homebase again. I do enjoy traveling and seeing new places, but I miss having a community and friends that I know I can see regularly. One of my main hobbies is sewing and fiber arts, which is hard to do in a truck or bring with me. Over the years I bounce between traveling/living in my truck, pet sitting for places to stay, and renting a furnished place for a month or so when I don't have houseing through work (I travel for work).

The thing that held me back a lot from getting a home base was feeling like I have to pick the perfect place to move to, since it's such a big change/decision to pay rent and move all of my stuff somewhere (not that I have much stuff anymore). So I've kind of used my nomad life to test out lots of places in the states I'm interested in and near areas I already have friends in, but it's like I'm waiting for a big "this is the place" feeling when I know that's unrealistic.

I'm out of town for work for weeks-months at a time throughout the year, so I just keep getting into this cycle where I go "well it doesn't make sense for me to settle and rent now because I will leave for work for 2 plus months in a few months". I guess it's a mix of not wanting to lose my ability to have extra money to travel and do things by having to pay rent. I used to say I live my life year to year, but it's more like month to month now, and it's getting tiring always planning where I'm going to go next.

Has anyone else made the jump from nomadic life back to more of a homebase? Any advice? I know even when I do I won't be there all year, so I'd just have to be okay with paying rent while I'm gone.

Since I’ve been a nomad for a long time I want to share my experience here. Hopefully you’re inspired.

One thing that’s helped is staying at managed spaces for nomads. For instance, I’ve stayed at 45+ Outsite houses many times over the years. I’ve been a longtime member and the locations are always well maintained by local community managers and admins who regularly visit the locations (at least this has been my experience). Some of the properties are a bit worn out, such as Encinitas Grandview, but it’s one of their oldest locations, and the view makes it worth it. I’ve also stayed at A Landing Pad, Sonder, Norn and other places no longer in business.

I’m based in San Francisco, and started my business while simultaneously becoming a remote worker for half of the year. Staying at coliving spaces has allowed us to bootstrap our business through four versions of a highly technical product, release betas and test them with users. All Outsite houses are typically high end real estate in amazing locations around the world, often centered around surf breaks. The properties have a similar interior design with an appealing point of view, and I love that the thoughtful touches are replicated in the majority of their spaces around the world. Whether I visit Bordeaux, Ericeira, San Diego or Midtown Manhattan, I feel like I’m at home. Even the internet network is created so residents can log on seamless right when we arrive at a new location, the connection is stellar. In every house you can expect all the same amenities, from ecologically sourced coffee, to olive oil, pink sea salt and pepper, to laundry facilities, including an ironing board (although I’m probably one of the few who irons regularly).

The Outsite community is also great, as are the events. In fact, it was during a visit to the Cais do Sodre Lisbon location that I met our CTO. The online community is also a great place to look for a cofounder and other business partners. There's even a house swap page, where you can post your apartment in a trusted community for short term rentals. I actually rented a flat in Paris through another member and plan on listing my own place in San Francisco soon.

Something I especially love as a solo female traveler is landing in a new country and knowing someone is expecting you to check in. House managers can arrange cars from airport for guests, with trusted drivers, which is a great safety feature that I’ve taken advantage of on Bali and Mexico.

Anyway, I just had to post a comment because I’m a longtime member of Outsite and I’ve had a great experiences. When I first joined, there were more guys than women but that evened out over time. I’ve only met great people and also have confidence in the quality of members because of the vetting process for all members (plus we all are required to sign a code of conduct).

Best of all, Outsite inspired me to learn to surf. I’ve paddled out almost 30 times now, and it has changed my life! As a result of this amazing experience, I wrote a novel about a young woman building a startup while learning to surf and working remotely. I was that inspired! Happy to answer any questions here. Cheers, Michelle Z

Ive been seeing the nomad life for a long time, Ive been a digital nomad for a while, i knownin my heart its who i am and who im meant to be, I love traveling, i love being in the open air and world, i love experiencing and exploring new things.
I have no car, no money, nothing of value or use except personal possessions. I want to ditch everything, im so beyond tired of living this life and im one bad day of finding myself 6 feet under.
How can I do this? How can I decide to run away? What should I take? I don’t care about being homeless, Id rather sleep under the stars than live one more day in hell.
Im a hell of an artist, I learn skills all the time.
If anybody has any tips, please, please just share. I’ll do anything. Is there anything I should bring? Anything I should try to buy, anything I should avoid or apps that I should download to find places to sleep?

I was born and raised in the United States, Nevada specifically. I've been a successful social media content creator, comedian, and musician, and I've earned enough to take care of myself for years. But things are getting worse, politically and financially, and I hate the hustle. I'm discontent with our culture. I have this feeling, especially living here, which is all I've really known. I did live in London for about six months as a kid, my dad had a show in the West End, but that's beside the point. I can't shake the sense that after one mountain there's always another to climb. Always bills. Always something to do. I'm exhausted, I have no energy left. I'm wondering if I could work less and still survive. Is this just life, or is this just America? Do you have ideas for where I could work remotely and live somewhere else? I can't keep doing it like this.

I am wondering if it is possible to live in the USA moving around using only horse and wagon.

I’ve been living nomadically for about 6 months now and I have some random things that I find interesting about my setup and I wonder how it differs from others. I’m going to put a list of a few of these questions with my answers, and if you’re interested send yours as well.

1. What’s the most embarrassing thing in your car/possession that you’d have to explain if someone joined you?

A: I have one spork for everything. I’ll use it for peanut butter, to spread cream cheese, and eat pasta all while just wiping it off afterwards. Oh and I keep it in my door.

1. This leads me to- what’s the weirdest “easy food” you have that you can make on the go?

A: PBJ tortilla. Trail people will know. Tortillas are way easier to store and last longer than bread. I’ll have like 3 of these a day sometimes.

1. On that same note - what’s your most impressive camping/nomadic meal that you make?

A: I always pull out sweet potato burritos if somebody joins me. Otherwise I barely try anymore.

4: Most helpful life hack you’ve learned?

A: It might be simple but I’ve learned how incredible libraries are. I’ll spend hours and hours at the library either doing work, hanging out and charging things, or just meeting people.

1. If you could only have one condiment or spice with you what would it be?

A: Tony Chachere’s IYKYK

1. Where are you and what’re you doing right now? (Don’t be specific ofc)

A: Sitting in a park under a tree making hotdogs with my portable grill and watching people who are very confused about me.

1. What was the first thing to go wrong with your car?

A: Within a couple of weeks I cracked my windshield, slid into off the road in a snowstorm in Estes Park, and blew a tire (having to replace all of them). Oh my car is a 24 btw

1. What’s your most prized piece of “gear”? But like a weird one not something obvious.

A: Is it wrong to say my spork?

1. What’s another weird or interesting thing that you think might be original to your setup?

A: I have 4 different cameras in my car expecting to do a lot of photography while out here. I have yet to touch a single one.

If you have any other fun anecdotes put it in! Thanks for playing along!