I just attended an amazing event called PopUp Business School:
I first learned of PopUp at the Ecuador Chautauqua where I met one of its founder, Alan Donegan. Alan is the most incredible public speaker I’ve ever seen. He could talk for an hour about paper clips and completely captivate the audience. He’s that good. Plus, he’s a great guy. I’m honored to call Alan a friend.
When I heard that Alan was coming to my neck of the woods to run PopUp, I knew that I had to see what it was about firsthand. Here are some quick facts about the school:
- Alan and his team teach how to start a business over the course of two weeks.
- The emphasis is launching in the most lightweight way possible (minimal money, quick and efficient). There are no 100 page business plans. The goal is to start making money in 2 weeks, not 2 years.
- The course is completely free. There are no up-sells of any sort. The class is funded through sponsors.
Attending PopUp was an amazing experience. Alan and his team (including Simon, Jack and Henry) taught marketing, sales, website building, SEO, networking, and confidence (I need this one). I’m a better person for having attended.
As amazing as the class was, the crowd was just as awesome. And I shouldn’t have been surprised.
Amazing People
I’m fortunate to have met some amazing people through various financial independence pursuits and events:
Mr. Money Mustache Tractor Beam: I live in Boulder County, home to MMM himself. The MMM Effect/Tractor Beam attracts like-minded folks to the area. They come out of the woodwork here in the same way I do for offers of free beer.
Gatherings: Building on the above, we have great, local meetups. Folks frequently open up their backyards, BBQ grills and beer supplies to random strangers. We have an awesome little community here in Northern Colorado. (shout out to Michael and the Fort Collins Meetup group [NoCo FI/RE Fighters]))
Ecuador: I met amazing people at the shindig that Jim Collins puts together. Many of these folks have become good friends.
And the PopUp Business School was no different.
During the day, Alan and his team taught efficient business. During breaks and in the evenings, we discussed anything and everything including:
Note: Pay special attention to the items in bold and the corresponding links. Most of those sites did not exist before PopUp. They were created in class. How cool is that?
- Amazing children’s book: Work Your Body, Grow Your Brain
- Beer:
- Bicycles:
- Blogging:
- Building
- Camping: Get outside!
- Coffee brewing: Stop with the $5 cups of coffee and brew at home!
- Dentistry: This is one I’m involved in. My friend M and I will provide resources for locum tenens dentists.
- Drumming: Take lessons with my friend Kale!
- Exercise (deadlifts, P90x, favorite bicycle routes)
- Feminine Financial Coaching: Hannah has found an awesome niche here!
- Financial Independence (duh!)
- Gluten free: Find gluten-free restaurants!
- Happiness
- Hypnosis: Need help with breaking bad habits? Give Lori a shout!
- Consulting: Need help with you nonprofit?
- Recipes: How awesome do these recipes look!?!
- Solar power:
- Sports: Support your favorite sports team with a crazy wig!
- Table tennis:
- Tacos
- Tiny homes
- Travel arbitrage
- VOIP consulting services: VOIP Service Guide
- Website tools
Oh yeah, we talked business too. During the first week, someone made a random comment that caused my business partner and I to change the direction of our project. We’re more excited than ever and will launch before end of year. When I’m not working on the blog or breaking up fights between the children, I’m thinking about use cases, Ruby on Rails and designing the database. But I digress…
Your Tribe?
Amazing things happen when folks in our community get together. I know that the PopUp Business School will become an inflection point for many of the attendees. I’ll let you know in a year if it was for me too.
And you don’t have to go to conferences or Ecuador or PopUp to discover your tribe. If you haven’t found your people yet, seek them out. The MMM Meetups forum is a great way to start building your own community.
Don’t be afraid to reach out. If an introverted weirdo like me can manage to find a couple of friends, you can too.
Join the 10s who have signed up already!
Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.
*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.
Sounds awesome. Lucky location. Will give a try to the forums (don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner), but as I see on the map my location is pretty empty yet. 🙁 Maybe I should consider a move? 😀 I’m curious about your projects. Ruby on Rails is not so common here, so haven’t worked with it yet, but I heard good things about.
Very cool!
I’m dying to find out what your doing with Rails. I’ve fiddled around with it, but I never built anything for release.
Mr. Freaky Frugal recently posted…Investing attitude
Rails! I’ll tell when it’s all done…
This is so cool! Isn’t it crazy what happens when you get a lot of bright minds in one room? 🙂
Mrs. Picky Pincher recently posted…My Favorite Money Bloggers, Part 4
All those links are going to seriously distract from my productivity today! Looking forward to exploring them.
PedalsforPennies recently posted…Have you ever restored something of value?
Thanks for including me here and it was great to meet you! What a FUN and SMART group of people we got to hang out with for two weeks! MMM was a fabulous host and I can totally see why you ended up in Longmont. It’s a great place and definitely has people who seek what many in FIRE want. The PopUP team was outstanding. True teachers – and so incredibly energetic and giving. I’ve already made changes to my blog and already had a comment that people didn’t realize I did coaching. Well… I never put that out clearly on the blog – so how would they know! Just one little thing I learned!
Vicki@MakeSmarterDecisions recently posted…Where Mustaches, Memories, and Making Money Meet – Part 1
Hey Vicki!
Yeah, that was a stellar two weeks (my head is still spinning) and I loved talking to you and yours! Let’s continue the conversations in Dallas!
How fun! Alan’s impromptu presentation was one of the highlights of the Chautauqua for more last year and it wasn’t even on the original agenda! So glad you guys had a blast. =)
Mrs PoP recently posted…Post Hurricane Irma Check-In
Finding your tribe is probably the most important thing to do after reaching FI. We’re social creatures!
Mr. PoP recently posted…Post Hurricane Irma Check-In
Yep, even curmudgeonly Charlie Munger acknowledges that humans need other humans. I’m so fortunate to have found my tribe; including you and the Mrs.!
It’s awesome that you have such a growing community in Colorado. I don’t know too many financial freedom bloggers here in Vancouver. It’s funny how one person (MMM) can change everything.
Money Miser recently posted…Live Within Your Means, Then Below Them, Then Expand Them
Looks like a bunch of fun! I only when to regular business school, but popup business school looks like a lot more fun.
Mr. Tako recently posted…Why I Don’t Share My Portfolio
I’m in regular business school and I’m doing a project on this, I’m so excited to get to speak with Alan. I think his venture really helps tons of people.
Alan is a wonderful person, one of the best. So are the rest of the folks in his crew. Good luck!
That’s pretty awesome. Was this at the new MMM HQ space?
And I’m so curious about this secret project of yours!
Yep, MMM HQ. And we can discuss the project next week!
I’ll give you the argument about being introverted. But weirdo? Nah. You’re no weirder than the rest of us! Looking forward to seeing the project when you two are done!
Ha ha, thanks for the vote of confidence (weirdness?).
I’m attending a MMM meetup on the 8th (houston!)
Financial Velociraptor recently posted…Stopped out General Motors (GM)
Man, now you tell me that I don’t have to go to Ecuador in order to find my tribe. Darn, well I’m already here. Guess I’ll give this Chautauqua thing a try. Heard good things about it! I’ll let you know how it goes…
Thanks a lot of for the cool story. It´s very impressing what Alan do. I never had heared about it. I think we have to do too here in Germany. But first I have too build my blog about financial freedom in german Language. 🙂
Kepp going on and greeting from Germany