I wanted the first podcast episode of 2020 to be special. So I upgraded my equipment for an enhanced audio experience, flew to New York City and invited back on the show a listener-favorite. Joseph Wells’ first appearance, Buying Time-Freedom Before the 4% Rule with Joseph C. Wells, was very popular.
Since having Joe on in early 2019, he has become a prolific writer, developed an app called Blogcastr and was accepted into the Write of Passage Fellowship. Not to mention he’s completed a half-Iron Man and written a guest post for ManOverseas.com. How to Become the Richest Man in Babylon BY GUEST WRITER JOSEPH WELLS, is an excellent summary of the first book I read after finishing school—the book completely changed the way I think about money.
In this episode, I ask Joe about being robbed at gunpoint, we dive deeper into topics previously discussed and each of us shares how we would invest $10,000 tomorrow. (Disclaimer: Every person’s financial situation is different—do not make important investment decisions based on a Man Overseas podcast episode.) We also talk about two great articles written by our favorite online writer, Morgan Housel (linked below).
Topics we discuss:
- The story of Getting Robbed at Gunpoint
- Online people he’s met
- Upside of social media
- Write of Passage
- Blogcastr
- Importance of physical fitness
- Benefits of writing online
- Doing what you love
- Obtaining financial freedom
- Playing with FIRE Documentary
Days in the Life
- Exercise as a warm-up for mental workout
- Committed to publishing once a week
- Been writing over a year
- Has written over 50 articles
- Feels immense joy when he hits the publish button
- Improving his information collection system
- Joe’s relationship with Ashleigh (his girlfriend)
Benefits of online writing
- Writing opens a lot of doors
- Thinking through his ideas
- Clarifying his thinking
- Demonstrated work ethic
- Writing about courage
Meeting Online Friends
- Alex and Books (from Instagram)
- Meeting with David Perell (from Twitter)
- Biggest takeaway from meeting with David
- Deep thinking
- Paradox of specificity
The Questions
- Did you keep your job [after being robbed at gun point]?
- You must have friends that spend a lot of money [living/working in NYC]?
- Do you have any friends on the financial independence track?
- You avoid the news, correct?
- Are you conscious of the inter-relatedness of the body & mind?
- Do you think that physical activity has an impact on clear thinking?
- The dude you mentioned, David Perrel is a genius. I’m curious, what did you take away from that meeting?
- You have become prolific in your writing in recent months. What are you doing differently?
- Can you compare a runner’s high and flow state experience when writing? Is it similar [for you]?
- What has writing done for you?
- What are the advantages of writing online?
- Do you think blogs are becoming obsolete?.
- Do you have any thoughts on niching [your writing] down?
- Morgan Housel says the 5-day, 40-hour work week is outdated. Do you agree?
- Do you have a favorite biography?
- Are you gonna write a book at some point?
Fun questions
- If someone dropped $5,000 dollars in your lap, what would you do with it?
- If I forced you to invest $10,000 dollars tomorrow, how would you invest it?
- If you could meet anyone from twitter, who would it be?
- If you achieved financial independence and retired in March 2020, how would you spend the first 3 months in early retirement?
- What is your favorite book on writing?
Listen here:
Writing is just like a Shutterfly book, you get to see the trends in your thinking. — Joseph C. Wells
Connect with Joe:
- Twitter: @josephcwells
- Instagram: @jcwells12
- His blog: josephcwells.com
Articles Mentioned:
- Degrees of Confidence (Morgan Housel)
- The Advantage of Being a Little Underemployed (Morgan Housel)
- The Tail End (Tim Urban)
- Being Held Up at Gunpoint (Joseph Wells)
- Mindless Scrollers vs. Superhumans (Man Overseas)
