Shire bound, finally!

Hey everyone, my name is Britton. I’ve just completed a four year enlistment in the military and I’m finally making real plans to move. I could use some help! But first I’ll say a little about me. If you read Brian Doherty’s “Ron Paul Revolution”, I was the ‘van nomad’ he met in Iowa. I rarely meet anyone who can seriously challenge me in chess. I also love playing tennis and football as well as any other sport I can get into. I’m 30, was born in Florida, graduated high school in Ohio, and am currently living in Louisiana. I’m a strong introvert and I don’t do small talk very well, but I love deep conversations on philosophy, economics, politics, and human nature. I shamelessly use the Oxford comma.

I’m here because I’m committed to moving and I am looking for some practical guidance. Where should I look for employment and an affordable home? I qualify for the GI bill so I’m considering using it at a trade school because I can’t stand college. I’m leaning towards training to be an electrician, but I’m open to finding more lucrative opportunities. I heard about the Shire Society from the promos that play on FTL.

My time frame for moving is pretty loose, but I’m aiming for this summer. Until then, I’m thinking about visiting and looking around. I’d really appreciate any help in that area. Thanks!

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Welcome. It is fairly common for new movers land in the greater Manchester area and Manchester Community college has (I believe) an electrician program of study. Obviously of you listen to FTL you area also aware that plenty of new movers land in Keene. I don’t know that area as well so I can’t say (for example) of Keene state has a similar program of study.

As for visiting, if you can make it up in early Feb you could Liberty Forum and certainly if that works out I’d encourage it but honestly there are weekly and monthly smaller events all of the time so the best bet is to just give a shout with approximate times when you might visit and people can steer you toward the various meetups and other events.

Welcome, Britton! Obviously there are more jobs in the more populated areas. Manch, Nashua, Seacoast, Concord, Keene - probably in that order. Southern NH will have more opportunities than the North Country. If there isn’t a specific type of job you want, that means you can look everywhere and move to wherever is most attractive.

Please let us know how we can help. Every now and then we’ll post stuff here in the jobs forum, but we’re still trying to attract users from Fedbook. It’s hard. Thanks for being here! Hope to see you in the Shire soon.

I’m going to attempt to move soon as well. I’m from West Virginia. Will probably make the trip in February or March.

I’m always glad to meet new and potential movers. One of the most important things I feel one can do to contribute to liberty is to take that big step and actually move. Numbers make everything possible.

Moving was one of the best decisions of my life and I have other early movers to thank for making that moment palatable and within reach. If it wasn’t for those too impatient to wait this movement might not be what it is today! A success. We have the numbers to make a difference and now we just need to work toward getting more people here so that even bigger feats can be accomplished.

I would definitely consider Keene as a possible destination. One may or may not have much luck finding employment here depending on their particular abilities or lack there of. For the determined who want to move here there are probably quite a few options though.

I for example started a liberty-oriented business (technology, freedom, to regain personal control over ones devices, to gain some level of privacy and security, and independence of the 2nd government- corporations and monopolies) long before this movement was really up and running. I’m glad I did because it made things easier for me in some respects. I was determined though to have no one rule over me. I started a (two actually) business back in NJ (and closed one to move here). Getting it off the ground was a lot of work. The point is I took on a practically minimum wage job despite having a degree and job offers that were above typical for a graduate just so that I could work fewer hours such that I could get my own company off the ground. I realized even out of college its best not to have a state/employer/etc ruling over me. You might make less in the short term, but in the long term you’ll come out ahead. So that said if you are such a determined individual you may just take that minimal wage job in Keene- or take that risk with your savings and start a business. Or something similar. Then work 60 hours a week for a few years :slight_smile: until it’s up and running and profitable.

What I like about Keene is that it’s attracting the most passionate and radical peaceful activists. People who are willing to get up and take some risks. Without risk life is mundane and of lesser well being. People who take risks get farther ahead in life even if there are bigger ups and downs at times.

But also it is just big enough that there is access to shopping, food, and similar. I’m not having to drive 20-40 minutes or more to a bigger town/city to do my shopping. I have access to the shipping shack to take care of business for instance, multiple large grocery stores, hardware stores, clothing stores, a movie theare, etc.

There are lots of really nice parks and big parks, beautiful mountains (most hiked in north america if I’m not mistaken right here in this area), weather of all sorts (but we got snowplows and jackets so its actually a lot of fun even when its a bit cold out), skiing (ok- I have not skied in 17 years, but want to go at least once sometime in the near future), mom and pop stores, and just plain stuff to do (multiple meetups every week, social sunday, taco tuesday, bitcoin meetups, cop blocking or in other words police accountability, jury outreach, protests/rallies, court trials fighters to support, events in other cities nearby, etc). And none of this activist stuff would be stuff I’d be included to do if not for the great community we got going here. My activism historically was technological in nature, supporting causes financially, etc. Now I can do it all.

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Great news that you are moving to the Shire! This forum is a great place for you to crowdsource information about New Hampshire and its various regions. Better yet is to visit for a week and meet as many folks as you can around the state.

You might enjoy the info at www.nhrelocationguide.com and I’d be happy to chat with you by phone to answer questions about places in NH. I’m in the real estate biz and work with new movers all the time.

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Porcupine Realestate is awesome! I’d highly encourage you to use them. When I started looking at houses it was mostly out of curiosity as I had no intention on moving for a few more years. I think I had just signed the statement of intent to move at the time. I had been to a few Free State Project events including Porcfest and Liberty forum. Then thanks to Free Talk Live, Ian, and Porcupine Realestate advertising at the time on FTL I started checking out what homes were for sale in the area (of Keene) just out of curiosity. I was checking out how well Keene would work and it seemed “good enough” to meet my business needs. Then I came across the perfect house for me and my partner. I basically contacted Mark at Porcupine Realestate that very day and by the weekend I was up in NH looking at what appeared to be the perfect property for us (and having been here 10 months or so I can say it was). It was and about 1 month later we moved in. The short time frame that we moved in was absolutely crazy. It was the very day of the closing we moved in (house was in move in condition even though it still needs a little bit of work, minor plumbing issue, mice issue though we didn’t know that, and fire place issue, and a lack of AC issue, but some of that is now fixed). There were 20 people from around the area who helped us unload a 26 ft truck (the biggest you can drive without a commercial drivers license) that was packed to the ceiling! It was crazy.

It is by far one of the best decisions of my life. Go team Porcupine Realestate!

  • I’ve been in Keene, NH since March of 2016. Moved days after the FSP hit their 20,000 mover number. I was probably the first mover after the FSP hit the 20,000 number. I thought we might actually be “early movers”, but while we put the money down on the house prior to that the actual closing was after so we couldn’t quite move in.
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Hey, that’s a heck of a review! I’ve heard that Porcupine Real Estate jingle for years. Cringy as it is, it’s apparently very effective. Good to know that Mark’s business has been successful and has helped people like you move to the Free State.

Keene’s vibrant liberty community makes it hard to pass up. I’ll definitely try to find an apprenticeship in that area!

Occupational licensing rears its ugly head. To take the journeyman license exam, NH requires 8000 hours of work under a master electrician and 600 hours of classroom instruction. That’s over four years! And according to this thread, it’s subject to debate amongst those in the field, with its supporters main point that it increases wages and work quality, even when given the statistics that show they’re wrong and that sometimes the opposite is true.

Yea- the licensing situation is unfortunate. It’s basically guaranteeing slave labour for those higher up the chain. On the plus side it’s probably 4-5 years which is about the same as getting a college degree and you’ll make just as much if not more than a degree would when your done. I’d imagine those internships are also paid unlike college which will drain you financially. I’d investigate further, but going that route doesn’t seem like a bad move. It’ll probably provide long term job stability and self-employment. I’d imagine the downside is you have to get physical and might end up working in undesirable conditions at least some of the time (depending on the job). Of course on the plus side some level of physical work means your more likely to stay fit!

I’ve officially made the move! I’m in Fitzwilliam for the foreseeable future. Glad I could meet so many of you at Porcfest, hope to see you more often

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Awesome news