I don’t know about you but I’ve been preparing for a worldwide crisis of some sort since 2012, which is around the same time I found Agorism.  It was all largely in response to the fact that I saw some big event coming and I wanted to be ready for the day I should need to become self sufficient.  Now with the advent of Covid-19, those days could be upon us.  Or it’s just a big learning opportunity for everyone, which I’m honestly more hopeful of.

The point of this is to show the steps I went through that most agorists do to get to a point where you’re at least on the way to being self sufficient with an agorist lifestyle.   The biggest lesson I’ve learned over the last 8 years is that building a self sufficient life is extremely difficult especially in today’s growing world.  Traditionally lack of technology has somewhat aided agorists in the task of staying out of the government’s eye but with things like social media this is no longer as easy to do.   Add a global pandemic and travel restrictions to that and things are even worse.

The beauty in how agorists live and function lies in the adaptability of adopting this lifestyle.  Living this way actually protects us from the blowback of crises like this.  For many the concern is “what happens if the store runs out of food” and agorists have already been thinking of that likelihood for awhile so we at least have ideas of what to do when and if things truly hit the fan.

1) Understand Agorism and Decide:  The first step is to decide on this lifestyle.  For some the decision is easy, it was for me. But others in different life circumstances may not appreciate the uncertainty that can come from this lifestyle. Learn about agorism, the people who pushed it and the people who practice it today.  Learn their struggles, strengths, weaknesses ect.  An agorist lifestyle is currently considered very different from “having a real job” and the lack of stability can be enough for most people to say, no thanks.  Some (like myself) bask in variety so the revolving door of many different types of jobs is refreshing but I do have to keep up a sort of constant hustle effort to maintain that.  So take time and care to be sure you’re at least aware of possible struggles you may have before you commit.

2) Convert Wealth:  Start with any fiat savings you have and convert it to something that will still hold value in the event of a collapse. This also includes selling unused assets and buying crypto and valuables with that.  The best assets are likely in precious metals and cryptocurrency, but for specialized workers an asset could also be a tool to make life more efficient. The main point of this is to opt out of the government money.  Silver and gold are great for person to person interactions, as are things like labor. For online or international transactions, cryptocurrency is best because it can be spent without involving fiat currency at all.

3) Avoid Taxes Wherever Possible: This can look like different things for different people.  For some it means riding a bike instead of driving, to avoid gas tax.  For others it’s blatantly refusing to file tax return.  Build relationships with local services and stores to where you can pay for things in cash, tax free.  A lot of times businesses will spring for that sort of thing just saying they won’t give you a receipt so as far as they’re concerned, the transaction never happened.

4) Opt Out of Mainstream Media:  If you pay virtually any attention to the mainstream news, you’re wasting your time as an agorist.  Our lives are best spent learning skills, applying them and engaging in commerce to sell what we’ve made, not absorbing mainstream fear porn.  If there’s one thing I learned from my short stint paying attention to the news its that everything sucks, it’s never any different.  At least with agorism I can improve my own personal world.

5) Stand Up For Yourself. If your family is anything like mine they are going to freak out and fight back when you pursue this lifestyle.  You have two options, get them to understand or leave them behind. If you can get them to understand you see the risks fully, but want to do it anyway, hopefully they understand. But if they do things like say “get a real job” and call you lazy, its probably time to leave.  I will say it is possible to mend relationships with family after absence as I’ve learned recently. Not all family, but some just needed to have time to start to see me as something other than a child, something that is a common struggle for young agorists.

6) Consider OUT. This one isn’t stressed enough.  Especially in the states there’s a strong vibe of “you’re a pussy if you move to Mexico instead of staying and fighting for your country”.  First off no thanks on the nationalism, secondly a place like Mexico is actually an EXCELLENT place for agorists.  With the country wide adoration of hustle and free markets, there really isn’t a better place on this half of the globe for entreprenuers.   Don’t be so proud of your home country that you pass off something better because MURICA.  I’ve also heard a lot of really awesome things about South East Asia.  If you’ve got an online job, a tour of those places is actually relatively inexpensive.

7) Determine Desires.  Agorism is all about doing what you love to support yourself despite the existence of the state.  Some things you might be interested in are directly illegal, other things aren’t actually illegal but refusing to comply with tax laws is one way you could get in trouble. So determine what you love, what you’re most passionate about.  Really analyze if any possible risk is worth what you’d get out of it.  For some they’re willing to risk everything but that’s not the reality for most people, who have families and other things to consider in their decision making.

8) Learn Survival Skills.  Even if you have no intention of farming for food, its worthwhile to learn in the worst case scenario.  Likewise skills like starting a fire, building shelter ect are all really helpful before you’re stuck in a survival situation.  5 Years ago I moved off grid during the middle of one of the worst winters in 100 years. It was hard but I learned enough to where I know I can survive if I have to.  Also full immersion into off grid life gives you the opportunity to learn and do research on things you might not have the time for if you worked a regular job with regular hours.

Agorism is not for everyone, even if free markets are. Not everyone has what it takes to commit fully to this lifestyle and that’s fine.  The goal of this is not to convince anyone that they can be an agorist, but to give those flirting with this lifestyle a bit of direction on where to start when it comes to things like prepping for possible collapse.

As far as collapse is concerned, the people I’ve noticed with the least anxiety and the most ready for whats to come are agorists.  So even if the lifestyle can have its drawbacks, it does seem incredibly effective in preparing people for hard times.