podcast 406 – Mr. Slappy or Finding

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Paul and Jocelyn are on a road trip through rural Montana and start off the podcast with an overview of several hot springs they were able to visit, managing to visit one near Whitehall Montana, even though Jocelyn is in flip-flops, with a broken foot and not supposed to be walking on uneven ground.

Paul’s current Kickstarter managed to top out at an amazing $80,000 dollars on an initial funding request of $8,700 dollars. The Kickstarter occurred in the middle of Paul’s current PDC and Appropriate Technology Course, causing an energy drain on Paul. Jocelyn points out that sitting behind a computer is exhausting, more than some people realize. Paul discusses the difficulties of producing and generating the content for the Kickstarter at the same time as everything else.

Coincidentally Paul and Jocelyn’s Ten Year Anniversary (tin or aluminum in case you would like to send a gift or card) occurs just after the Kickstarter ends and that prompts the trip to the Hot Springs and the Lincoln, Montana Blackfoot Pathway’s Sculpture Art Park. Paul and Jocelyn talk about the expenses associated with a Kickstarter campaign, the actual costs associated with the Kickstarter and what else is involved in creating the stretch goals and other expenses that occur with every event and project.

Mr. Slappy (a new term that hasn’t come up previously during the over 400 podcasts) is a phrase that Paul remembers from his childhood but is unsure of the origin, but probably comes from a movie. Basically “Mr. Slappy” is a motivating person on each project who has to slap people around so they get with the program and understand that they need to “get shit done or we are all going to starve”. Without a “Mr. Slappy” nothing much ever seems to get done and nothing moves forward.

Paul would like to think many projects today would be going forward without someone taking the role of “Mr. Slappy” but it seems that there are not many self-starters currently working. Many people bail when things seem to be getting tough or might get tough without actually attempting a task and figuring it out even when things get bumpy. Jocelyn points out that we have to work with the material we have, not the material we want.

The conversation moves on to discussing that Wheaton Labs is looking for someone, preferably with experience, to take on the role of Rental/Event Manager. Paul is open to someone with no experience attempting the job but they would have to be open to transitioning out of the role if it proves to be a poor fit. It is pointed out that Montana has some challenges with rental locations because of the sheer distance between locations. Internet access can be an obstacle to people living at the lab if they don’t have a data plan or hotspot so a future manager would be wise to take that into account and have a plan to deal with that as part of the job requirement.

Paul and Jocelyn then turn to talking about the Rocket Oven Kickstarter occurring in parallel with the Peasant PDC, the Scientific PDC and the ATC events. Paul gives credit to Alan Booker for running an information intensive PDC, well organized and packed full of useful stuff. Jocelyn was very impressed with Alan’s knowledge and teaching prowess but found it a little overwhelming when all the men went into “engineer speak” and would really like to have more women come participate in events and activities at the lab (a point a future Event/Rental manager would be wise to explore). Kudos were also given to Chris “Uncle Mud” McClellan who ran the ATC this year, along with guest instructor James S. Juczak.

The podcast comes to a close with a brief discussion about Paul’s next Kickstarter that will be for his new book, probably occurring several months from now. The new book is in process of being written and edited at this time and Paul is also working on the PEP (Permaculture Experience according to Paul) courses. PEP courses will be a series of educational programs that are currently being defined. PEP1 currently is being worked out as a two week course, PEP2 is a three month program, PEP3 will be a one year program and PEP4 will be a three year program. A more in-depth discussion of PEP can be found at permies.com in the educational forum.

Credit: Eric Tolbert

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Relevant Threads

Steven Harris
Dan Ohmann (The Grass-Fed Homestead)
Rocket Oven Kickstarter
Wheaton Labs Appropriate Technology Course
Blackfoot Pathways Sculpture Park
PEP1
Wheaton Labs PDC
Permie’s Rental/Event Manger Position
Eldenbridge Institute (Alan Booker)
Chris “Uncle Mud” McClellan
James S. Juczak – The High Art and Subtle Science of Scrounging

Discussion

You can discuss this podcast on this thread at Permies.

This podcast was made possible thanks to:

Full Name
Bill Crim
wade L
James Tutor
Suleiman ALAQEL
Josh Phillips
Jocelyn Campbell
Jason Hower
Ash Jackson
thomas adams
Julia Mason
Dominic Crolius
David Ingraham
Miroslav Ultrama
Bill Erickson
Lisa Goodspeed
G Cooper
Wayne Fajkus
Eivind W. Bjoerkavaag
Keith Kuhnsman
Dylan Butler
Dana Martin
Cody W.

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