Quincy Larson

Yeah, and I'll just tell you my own personal experience, which I've written about at length in my book, which is freely available. You got a book? Yeah, just Google Learn to Code Book, and it should be one of the first results. Yeah, I published that, and there's an audio book that's on my podcast feed if you want to hear me read it.

Yeah, and I'll just tell you my own personal experience, which I've written about at length in my book, which is freely available. You got a book? Yeah, just Google Learn to Code Book, and it should be one of the first results. Yeah, I published that, and there's an audio book that's on my podcast feed if you want to hear me read it.

If you want to listen to four hours, there's some kids banging on pianos in the background and stuff. But basically, my journey has very much been like I worked as a teacher and a school director for like 10 years, and I built up domain expertise in...

If you want to listen to four hours, there's some kids banging on pianos in the background and stuff. But basically, my journey has very much been like I worked as a teacher and a school director for like 10 years, and I built up domain expertise in...

adult education before i learned how to code and before i learned how to apply it and build something that people would actually use and found useful so that that is my journey but you may absolutely if you're listening to this you may just be one of those people that never had to work for somebody else and was always so resourceful that you could conjure money out of you know the wealthy people around you or something like that and then sustain yourself off of them or or you know maybe you did go progress from lemonade stand to like

adult education before i learned how to code and before i learned how to apply it and build something that people would actually use and found useful so that that is my journey but you may absolutely if you're listening to this you may just be one of those people that never had to work for somebody else and was always so resourceful that you could conjure money out of you know the wealthy people around you or something like that and then sustain yourself off of them or or you know maybe you did go progress from lemonade stand to like

you know, selling cell phones to like whatever the entrepreneurial journey was that, that took you to where you are. But I will say that, that I do think that that is for every person who succeeded at that, there are lots of people who have a lot of debt and are probably, you know, their family won't talk to them because they borrowed money from their family and like all this other stuff. Right.

you know, selling cell phones to like whatever the entrepreneurial journey was that, that took you to where you are. But I will say that, that I do think that that is for every person who succeeded at that, there are lots of people who have a lot of debt and are probably, you know, their family won't talk to them because they borrowed money from their family and like all this other stuff. Right.

Like I, I saved up about $150,000 working as a teacher, working as a school director, just putting money into index funds and waiting. Right. And, and I had that money. to call upon when I needed to sustain myself and provide for my family while we were going through the first few years of free cocaine. Like we had basically zero revenue for the first three years.

Like I, I saved up about $150,000 working as a teacher, working as a school director, just putting money into index funds and waiting. Right. And, and I had that money. to call upon when I needed to sustain myself and provide for my family while we were going through the first few years of free cocaine. Like we had basically zero revenue for the first three years.

We got tax exempt status from the IRS. And that, at that point we started accepting tax deductible donations from the community and that, and we just gradually built that up. And, uh, you know, now we have more than 11,000 people around the world who donate to free cocaine each month, like recurring monthly donations. Right. And that's how we sustain ourselves.

We got tax exempt status from the IRS. And that, at that point we started accepting tax deductible donations from the community and that, and we just gradually built that up. And, uh, you know, now we have more than 11,000 people around the world who donate to free cocaine each month, like recurring monthly donations. Right. And that's how we sustain ourselves.

And it took a lot of time and it took a lot of patient work. But now we have that freedom. We don't have like VCs calling us, asking us when we're going to raise another round or exit or trying to like sit, you know, we don't have like some board of directors that's like telling us what to do.

And it took a lot of time and it took a lot of patient work. But now we have that freedom. We don't have like VCs calling us, asking us when we're going to raise another round or exit or trying to like sit, you know, we don't have like some board of directors that's like telling us what to do.

We've got a couple of people that I knew before Free Code Camp started who were business people and like accountants and stuff like that who are on our board. And I just meet with them every three months and tell them what's going on. And they're like, cool. And we just keep doing it, right? But we've worked very hard to navigate into this position of independence.

We've got a couple of people that I knew before Free Code Camp started who were business people and like accountants and stuff like that who are on our board. And I just meet with them every three months and tell them what's going on. And they're like, cool. And we just keep doing it, right? But we've worked very hard to navigate into this position of independence.

And I've worked very hard to learn what I needed to learn to where I could be the person, I guess, at the top who's not accountable to a whole bunch of other people, but is rather accountable to a community around a community of peers rather than being accountable to some person above you. And I think that's what people... If you ask people why they go into entrepreneurship...

And I've worked very hard to learn what I needed to learn to where I could be the person, I guess, at the top who's not accountable to a whole bunch of other people, but is rather accountable to a community around a community of peers rather than being accountable to some person above you. And I think that's what people... If you ask people why they go into entrepreneurship...

Some people might be like, I want to be rich. You know, Rick James, right? But I think a lot of people just want to be free from all the nonsense that comes with having, you know, this big hierarchy above you. right? Like when I talk to people in the military, like that's the biggest complaint about people.

Some people might be like, I want to be rich. You know, Rick James, right? But I think a lot of people just want to be free from all the nonsense that comes with having, you know, this big hierarchy above you. right? Like when I talk to people in the military, like that's the biggest complaint about people.