The Art of Minimalism

|6 Questions with Everett Bogue

Everett Bogue, minimalist blogger at "Far Beyond The Stars"

Everett Bogue represents a new generation of bloggers. Since October 2009, he’s been writing about living a minimalist lifestyle and working from anywhere. His popular blog, Far Beyond The Stars, has given him a strong platform to build his own automated minimalist business so he can work and live anywhere in the world and spend his time pursuing his passions.

Recently, I had the chance to ask him 6 questions about the minimalist lifestyle he lives, and the impact he thinks it can have:

AoM: Everett, what are the 5 best things about living a minimalist, location-independent lifestyle?

Everett: 1. I can live and work from anywhere. Right now I’m in San Francisco bay, but if I wanted to leave I could go anywhere. Living this way and building my business has opened up many possibilities.

2. Time. When you own less, you can work less too. I’m doing my best to work more these days, but my schedule is usually so open that I have time to hang out in the park when the sun is out in the afternoon and go to Yoga every day at 4pm.

3. I get to meet all sorts of interesting and crazy people who also live this way.

4. I can relentlessly pursue what is important to me. For example, lately I’m really into practicing Yoga, so I just signed up for Yoga teacher training in San Francisco. I can make that my focus for awhile without worrying about stuff I’d I had a job.

5. I’ve set up my business so it’s automated. This means I make money in my sleep. Super bonus!

AoM: What does your average day look like?

Everett: Oh wow, every day is very different for me. I always go to Yoga to the People in San Francisco at 4, that’s the only steady thing.

Yesterday I ran into Corbett Barr of Think Traffic on the street, wandered over to his house for a beer, then I called a friend of mine and we had a San Francisco adventure night. This morning I’m doing my best to answer all of the emails that my last blog post prompted, and doing this Interview! Every day is very different though, I just go in without any expectations anymore. Whatever happens is usually much more fun than planning anything.

AoM: How do you think minimalism is making the world a better place?

Everett: People are unhappy because they have way more than they ever needed and we’re simultaneously killing the planet. Minimalism tries to fix that one person at a time by showing them that by living with less they’ll both be happier, more successful, and free than they are now. The bonus is that when people radically cut down on consumption we might have a chance to save the human race from extinction. That’s a bonus!

AoM: What are your current goals that you’ve set for yourself?

Everett: In the last year I figured out how to live with less, and create a zero overhead online business. Recently I’ve decided that I need to help more people follow this path because it’s incredibly rewarding.

I’m also training to be a yoga teacher in San Francisco in the fall. Yoga will also save the world.

So yeah, basically trying to show everyone how to live a life they’d enjoy living.

AoM: Many people are stuck working at a job they hate. What advice would you give them?

Everett: Working at a job you hate is a waste of your life. I say quit. If you can’t afford to quit then you need to start taking a look at your life overhead. If it costs you $5,000 a month to survive, well of course you’re going to have to stay at that dead end job forever! What if you only needed $1,000 a month? That makes things much easier. Things that you don’t really need like houses and cars can really jack your life overhead up fast and make it impossible to pursue the life you’re living. So, sell your car! Move somewhere that has good public transport and grocery stores within walking distance (yes, these places exist, but we need more of them).

AoM: Is minimalism for everyone? Or is it a lifestyle better suited for certain types of people?

Everett: I know that everyone isn’t going to want to live this way. That’s fine! The simple fact is that living this way is much much easier than the old way. If you’re stressed and stuck, this is the way to get unstuck.

The bonus is that if more of us start living this way, we might even save the planet. I think it’s so awesome that there is actually a way to live that also is good for the Earth.

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