Entrepreneurial Activism

Terrorist attacks. Natural disasters. Domestic crackdowns. Economic collapse. Riots. Wars. Disease. Starvation.

I just finished reading Neil Strauss’s new book titled, Emergency. Neil, who was best known as the New York Times bestseller of “The Game“, has done a complete 180 degree change from focusing on picking up women to now learning how to survive world crises.

Emergency is about Neil Strauss’s 3 year adventure where learned from the top survivalists, tax-dodgers, billionaire businessmen, and the government itself about how to survive when the system breaks down. The book is broken up into five parts:

1. Orientation
2. Five Steps
3. Escape
4. Survive
5. Rescue.

The half of the book set the stage by explaining why he thinks our society could break down at any moment, how this could happen (economic collapse, terrorist attacks, ecological damage, natural disasters, bank failures, etc), examples of how people act during these times, and why he and many others have lost faith in the system. The first two sections are Ok, not great, but it does lay out the reasons why Strauss is writing this book.

The second have of the book is where all of the good stuff comes in. Neil recounts his conversations with the top experts on how to acquire multiple passports, hiding and moving your assets, crossing borders, protect yourself from litigation, survival skills, and many more useful tactics.

Here is an excerpt from Emergency taken from Tim Ferriss’s, the author of Four Hour Work Week, blog.

Lesson 59 – Iceland is the New Caribbean

Maybe it was when Bear Stearns became the first brokerage house to be rescued by the government since the Great Depression.

Maybe it was when IndyMac became the fifth American bank to fail in recent months.

Maybe it was when the government gave customs agents authority to confiscate, copy, and analyze any laptop or data storage device brought across the border.
…

Maybe it was the unshakable sense that the worst was still to come.

But I was no longer alone.

It was a hot summer, and pessimism hung thick in the air. Most people I talked to felt as if they were inching closer to some darkness they couldn’t understand, because they’d never experienced it before and didn’t know what it held.
…

Even Spencer’s housemate Howard, who had once made fun of us for taking precautionary measures, was now looking into Caribbean islands. As it turned out, he would beat all of us there when his company collapsed and he had to hide from possible indictment.

“I’m so glad we started preparing ahead,” Spencer told me over dinner at the Chateau Marmont, where he was staying in Los Angeles.

Having struck out with the Swiss, I took Spencer’s advice and opened an account with a Canadian bank that had a branch in St. Kitts. Since both Canada and St. Kitts are part of the British Commonwealth, he’d explained, I would have easy access to my money if anything happened in America. Unfortunately, in the process, I discovered that keeping international accounts secret is now illegal: the IRS requires Americans with over $10,000 in foreign accounts to file an annual report disclosing not just the amount of money and the banks it’s kept in, but the account numbers.

Meanwhile, Spencer was moving forward with his ten-year plan. He started an Internet business in Singapore, enabling him to open a private banking account in the country, which he claimed was fast becoming the new Switzerland. Though he hadn’t gotten his St. Kitts passport yet either, Spencer had done more research into buying an island.

“I’m looking at islands in the north, around Iceland, because no one will think of looking for anyone there,” Spencer said, his thick lips spreading into a self-satisfied smile. “If I can get some other B people [billionaires] to go there with me, we can build underground homes and use geothermal energy.”

“What about your submarine?”

“It’s a great way to move between islands undetected, but we’re running out of time. We need to move faster. This is only the beginning.”

“How bad do you think it’s going to get?” Spencer seemed to understand the economy at a higher level than most people did, perhaps because he knew so many of the people who ran it.

“I don’t think the whole country’s going to collapse, but we’re looking at the worst economic disaster in America since the Great Depression. What I’m also concerned about is the increase in violent crime that’s going to accompany this.”

Everywhere I went that summer, the demon of Just in Case seemed to follow me, growling in my ear louder than it ever had, its jaws terrifyingly close to my jugular. I’d learned so much, changed so much, tested myself so much. It now was time to stop preparing, turn around, and face the demon-and my fears-head on.

And a musician would lead me there.

The book is fantastic and Strauss’s writing style uses the perfect amount of detail that gives a good insight on how he is preparing himself for a crisis but doesn’t overload you with facts to you figure it out the rest on your own and create your own personal path. My top five key takeaways from the book, in no particular order, are:

1. If there is a major disaster you cannot expect any assistance for at least 3 to 5 days, maybe longer. The government plans for this and the emergency agencies actually recommend learning basic survival skills.
2. The best way to hide your assets is by buying collectibles, watches, precious metals, or items that store value and can be easily transported to another location.
3. In addition to having an emergency plan in your current location, survivalists call this Bugging In, you need to have an emergency escape plan if the social contract totally breaks down, survivalists call this Bugging Out.
4. Fear is the driving force of most conspiracy theories, survivalists, police forces, government intervention, radicals, and fear feeds both side of people who install fear and combat fear. And the best way to eliminate fear is to be prepared and use this knowledge and experience for constructive purposes.
5. People actually cryogenically freeze themselves?! I always thought this was just a science fiction fantasy for movies but apparently not.

And my personal key action points after reading this book are

• Take an EMT class. Here is a class they offer in San Luis Obispo
• Learn more about surviving in the wilderness during my camping trip this week
• Take a firearm training and safety class. Here is an firearm organization in San Luis Obispo

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn how to become more prepared for emergency and crisis situations.