How to Build Freedom – A Brief History of the Liberty Entrepreneurs Podcast

by Ashe Whitener

Short description:

Liberty Entrepreneurs Podcast is a weekly, interview podcast featuring liberty-oriented Entrepreneurs who are building a freer world. We dive deep into their stories to uncover wisdom from their successes, failures and experiences. Our goal is to provide you with the tools and mindset needed to create your own lifestyle of independence and flexibility. Nobody is going to build freedom for you, so it’s time for YOU to take action!

Longer description:

Hello to all my fellow friends in liberty! My name is Ashe Whitener, Founder and Host of the Liberty Entrepreneurs Podcast. I interview liberty-oriented entrepreneurs who are BUILDING a freer world. I come from the Libertarian movement and was an avid Ron Paul support in the 2007/8 election. I’ve handmade more r3VOLution signs than you can count and have spent plenty of time, energy, money and focus trying to change and shrink the government. I’m educated on and have gotten pissed off about fiat money, the Federal Reserve, the War on Drugs, random cop activities, the 10th Amendment, the “General Welfare” clause, I voted for Bob Barr in 2008 (ugh) and attended Ron Paul’s “R3volution March” on DC as well. I helped fund the Ron Paul blimp and was a delegate in 2008. I’ve watched more Mises.org lectures/videos than you can imagine. If you are from this community, I should also mention that I moved to the Caribbean to help Peter Schiff start his gold-backed offshore bank, Euro Pacific Bank. You could say that I’m experienced in the “mainstream liberty movement.”

In 2014 something occurred to me. Although I had amassed a wealth of knowledge on the Free Market, Austrian econ theory, a philosophical understanding of the Non-Aggression Principle and how Property Rights were the basis of a free society…I still didn’t feel free. I was still angry about what the US government was doing; even while living full time in Panama as a permanent resident. I remained in “theoretical land” and it wasn’t actually creating true, individual freedom in my own life.

How could this be?! I racked my brain for months. Not many understood Freedom to the extent that I did, yet it wasn’t translating to real world freedom. I could explain how the freaking roads could be managed in a “free society” and why “price gouging” was necessary to correctly allocate resources and why taxation was theft. Isn’t this the path? What was I doing wrong? I read the literature, studied Hayek, Mises and Rothbard and could repeat all of Tom Woods and Robert Murphy’s critiques of Keynesian economics and Paul Krugman, but how did it serve me?

It got me thinking, what in my life had actually created personal freedom. Where did I need to focus my attention and continue to develop? If I’m not personally free…how can I help others become free? The answer was simple, I couldn’t.

One night, while I was staying in a hostel at Playa Venao in Panama, it finally hit me. Becoming an ENTREPRENEUR had created more freedom in my life than politics, economic theory and complaining about the government combined. If only I were to focus on the things that I could actually control, then maybe I could make a difference (if only for me at first). Sign waving and political donations be damned, I was ready to build my own free and independent life. Nobody was going to give me the freedom that I wanted; I had to create it for myself.

That day, Liberty Entrepreneurs was born. I couldn’t sleep. I was ready to explore this new idea and see if becoming an entrepreneur actually DID create personal liberty. If my theory was correct, then and only then, could I help others achieve the same freedom.

My goal (and the theme for Liberty Entrepreneurs Podcast) is simple. It’s time that we take matters into our own hands, only try to control what we can and build the peaceful, free world that we all desire. Understanding “An-cap theory” is just fine, but without action it’s not worth much. Remember, everyone has a $1M idea, but it’s only worth about $1 until you act on it.

Time to Take Action!

I started recording in Oct 2015 and haven’t looked back since. I continue to release at least one new interview each week with an interesting guest who is both liberty-oriented, but also experienced as an entrepreneur. Everyone who I interview isn’t extremely successful or in complete support of the NAP, but they all have one thing in common…how being an entrepreneur opens doors, enables control and provides opportunities to accomplish things unknowable by the general public. It allows them to create their own schedules, become financially free and spend time with their loved ones when they want. Maybe they are a “digital nomad” and are able to travel the world (like me!) or perhaps they can drive their children to school or take a yoga class at 10:30am when everyone else “should be working”. Perhaps they aren’t successful yet, but still get to focus on their passions and build something for themselves. They can go to a conference and network with movers-n-shakers to learn from and help get ahead. Only attempting to control what you can is the key to being a successful entrepreneur, and the Liberty Entrepreneurs Podcast is your source to learn and develop this mindset.

So here we are. Will you join me in this peaceful quest to build the free world that we all want? What are your passions? What skills do you have? How could you build freedom in your OWN LIFE? A great place to start is by subscribing to my weekly newsletter at www.LibertyEntrepreneurs.com. Thank you for spending a few minutes with me today and I would really appreciate hearing from you. Feedback is a necessary part for anyone building a business and you can reach me on the social media links below.