Gabriel Scheare: 0:01

Maybe it's not a matter of going to where you're least visible, but what if it's going where you can be most effective?

[Music]: 0:07

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James Evenson: 0:21

Welcome to the Global Investor Podcast. The goal of this podcast is to offer investors and entrepreneurs insights and practical advice to dramatically improve the kinds of deals you invest in, and the returns you get. My name is James Evenson. I'm one of the partners at Crown Private and our investor syndicate, Obris. Obris is about exceptional people, unique experiences and bespoke investment. Our membership and community are made up of like-minded, yet unique and adventurous individuals and family offices. We invest in a spectrum of deals from established companies to startups. We do so with a proven formula of due diligence, structuring, and management. I'm pleased today to interview Gabriel Scheare. Gabriel hails from a small farming community in central Canada. In 2013, he found himself at the forefront of the Bitcoin Gold Rush as a miner and equipment dealer. The following spring, he moved to Chile to participate in an entrepreneurship bootcamp before proceeding to intern at a real estate development project that had been marketed as the world's first community to sell land for Bitcoin. When the project went bust, this anarchist turned libertarian began pursuing his own dreams to build a community. I caught up with Gabriel as he resides in a riot-riddled, locked down Chile, where he can leave his home only twice weekly, with permission from the local police. Gabriel is optimistic about the future. His Ayn Randian values have been tested by a very real world to produce a man with a commitment to build communities. Hey, welcome, Gabriel. Where do we find you today?

Gabriel Scheare: 2:08

Oh, man, I am in Villarica, Chile.

James Evenson: 2:11

And where...whereabouts in Chile is that?

Gabriel Scheare: 2:14

It's down in what they call the South. It's it's not really that far south, it's not Patagonia, but it's like a nine hour drive south of the capital. So it's nice and sparsely populated by comparison.

James Evenson: 2:27

All right. All right. Well, we met, I believe it was about four years ago in Florianopolis, Brazil. So on your continent. I remember well our encounter. We were at an Exosphere lab. We were all... we were there independently, but really to observe what was going on with Exosphere. You know, I gave our viewers and listeners a brief bio for you. Certainly doesn't do justice. So why don't you tell us more about yourself, what you'd... what you'd like people to know.

Gabriel Scheare: 3:04

Just a crazy farm kid that ran off in search of greener pastures and had a little adventure, and he's ready to go home now.

James Evenson: 3:16

Uh...go a little further. We need to put into context, uh...your, your endeavors because, yeah, for people to make sense of why do you do what you do? Let's, let's go back to where is this coming from?

Gabriel Scheare: 3:31

It's funny, I found myself kind of, in the libertarian circles and stuff like that, just I think just because I grew up that way. And like, that was my normal for most of my childhood, like when you grow up on the farm in Saskatchewan, like, nobody asks you who's gonna build the roads without the state. Everyone knows who, your next door neighbor is gonna help you do it, because it has to get done. Like if you have to access a field somewhere and there's no road there, you call up anyone whose land touches it and you say, hey, let's go build the road. Okay, great. How's your schedule? Oh, how about the week? All right, let's go do it. You know, you just do it. Because it has to be done. You don't ask permission. I mean, I mean, technically, you're supposed to probably get permits and stuff, but who has time for that? So eventually, you know, you grow up in that atmosphere and as a kid, you don't have any perspective. You don't, you know, take you don't appreciate the pros. All you see is the cons. So I took off to the...well, to California first, I guess for a couple years and then to Vancouver for four years. And wow. I mean, yeah, it's fun. But I mean, it hits you all the things that you don't realize ahead of time, like whereas before we used to make an effort to visit our neighbors and reach out and do stuff together and whatever, in the city you spend that energy trying to keep everyone out. You're putting up blinds and fences and trying to keep people away because they're they're packed in so close to you. Just a completely different dynamic and then there's the anonymity compared to on the farm. Everyone knows everyone. Just, it was good for some perspective. And I guess it was around 2013 when Bitcoin really started to take off and I was involved in that scene. So I really got into mining and I started seeing these ads on YouTube for a real estate project down in Chile. That was offering land for Bitcoin. It was the first of its kind and I thought that was really cool. Obviously, this is where all the cool kids are gonna move, right? So I sold all my stuff and packed whatever was left into a suitcase and sold my mining rig and just figured I was gonna go run down and live in Galt's Gulch. And well, I sort of did, I guess, I mean, I showed up and Exosphere was going on at that time. So I spent a few months with them first, and then I went on to volunteer at Galt's Gulch. I said, I don't know what needs to be done around here, but just point to it, and I'll fit in somewhere. You know, I'm flexible, I'll learn, you know, just whatever has to get done, point me to it. And as chance would have it, there IT guy had just quit. And they didn't really have anyone around that could fill his shoes. So I could, and I did. And that gave me a front row seat to all of the very unhappy investors. So that was fun. Like straight into the the firing range basically.

James Evenson: 6:26

So it didn't go quite as as, they had intended. Did you know this when you landed there?

Gabriel Scheare: 6:28

Oh, man, I was there for, I think three months almost. And like, during that time, you know, the first few pissed off customers it was like, okay, maybe that's a fluke, or maybe you're just having a bad day or something. But they started stacking up, and everybody was telling the same story with the same concerns and stuff. And eventually, it did come to light that the property manager, I mean, he had this big map showing the subdivisions that everyone was supposedly buying, and it was bogus. It was a proposed map, but it wasn't approved, nor could it ever be No, of course not. approved, because the whole place was environmentally protected. So a whole lot of people were buying something that didn't exist. And...

James Evenson: 7:14

No, okay.

Gabriel Scheare: 7:15

No, we all just kind of learned it as things unfolded over those three months. And once it became clear, then I mean, the whole thing fell apart. And obviously I was faced with, do I go back home and just write this all off as some weird educational experience? Or like, what should I do now? And while I was there, I did actually like because I was thrust into the thick of it and I had my fingers in all parts of the project, essentially - well, most of it except for like the high financials - I was able to see how it worked. And it didn't seem that complicated, like in principle, like, this isn't that hard. If I just scale it down, I should be able to do something like this somewhere else and just do it right this time. So I mean, ignorance is kind of your friend in that case. If I knew everything that was involved, I might have been too scared to do it. But I was done. So yeah, I just went for it. And three friends that I had met in Exosphere, they had been kind of watching all of this transpire from a safe distance. And they saw me taking a lot of heat for this, because I was like the customer facing front person online handling the social media and stuff. So I was like, absorbing all of the bullets that were flying at the manager. So they saw me taking all the heat, and they called me up and they said, you know, looks like you could use a hand down there. So alright, they offered to come down and help me move and find a new place and start from scratch. And, and pursue this, this dream because there are a lot of people that had bought into this project that really didn't want to give up, you know, they still hung to the idea that we could all live together on a great big piece of dirt somewhere and have a proper town where we don't have to be in each other's business all the time and just behave like adults, you know. So we started down the path of starting from scratch and trying to build a gated community somewhere, essentially. And so it took a long time. We had no idea how long this was going to take or what what, what all was going to be involved. But and we didn't really have much in the way of startup capital. So we just had to use like a bootstrapping method where we just do as much as we can with what we have and try to attract people along the way to join in and invest, you know, pre sell whatever it is that we're offering, in this case, it's rooms in a big, shared building. And that did work, but it's a very slow way of doing things.

James Evenson: 9:51

Can I interject for just a sec because I'd like to give context - why Chile back then? And

Gabriel Scheare: 9:57

Chile was...

James Evenson: 9:59

What was...what made that an ideal environment. I know of multiple stories, blueberry farms and random plots and all sorts of projects. What What was the draw then?

Gabriel Scheare: 10:10

It depends who you ask. I mean, the guy who was marketing this particular project, he would cite things like, how free it is how few regulations, there are, how easy it is to start a new business, anyone can just jump off the plane and start a 7-Eleven because those don't exist here. And there's no rules and like he overinflated the sense of liberty and the lack of rules. And it's not like that at all. There are...

James Evenson: 10:35

We're going to get into that a little bit later here. Well, what... What were your ideals when you set up hop yourself?

Gabriel Scheare: 10:44

I was frustrated, having come from Canada. It's, well, specifically a big city in Canada. The socialized healthcare systems that like... too many rules, man, you know, and expensive, because being the libertarian type that I was at that time, I mean, I didn't, I didn't want to participate in the socialized system. I wanted to pay out of pocket, you know. So I mean, you can do that. They nail you to the wall for it, they they charge you a lot more than everyone else. So the story I always tell is just before leaving Canada, I wanted to get my blood type checked, because for some reason, I had never had it checked. I didn't know what my, my type was. So I figured, oh, that's probably simple, you know. And I knew that there were home test kits online. And in the US, they sell them so I jumped online to buy one on Amazon. Oh, what's this? There's a law in Canada says that you cannot import home test kits. Wow. Okay, so go to a clinic. I figured, oh, just a nurse or something can do this. It's simple. No, sorry. Rule say a doctor has to do it. Okay, make an appointment, go see the doctor. Doctor does it come back another time for your test results? Okay, I'll just call it surely they can just tell me a letter of the alphabet over the phone, right? No, Come out, come on and make an appointment, the doctor himself has to tell you to your face. So I do. And they charged me $180 for this doctor to recite to me the first letter of the alphabet. So I was pissed off with Canada. I was looking, I was looking for greener pastures, wide open meadows somewhere to run and frolic and feel alive. So I heard promises that Chile was the place to do that. And it was the most stable, developed of the South American countries and... And then of course, there are other things like oh, South America is great. It's far away from all the action in case some kind of global conflict breaks out and all that kind of stuff, you got your Doomsday people, and whatever. So all these things just swirled together and said, Alright, let's go check it out. So that was that.

James Evenson: 12:56

Gotcha, alright. So you then, after you'd been involved with the failed project, you chose an area in Chile that you felt would be a good spot for it. You felt like the government restrictions were minimal enough or balanced enough that you could create your, your gated community, who were the people that were drawn to this?

Gabriel Scheare: 13:24

The first project had done a lot of marketing and attracted a lot of attention. So there, there were already some eyeballs on us. Just from from that that crowd. So it was it was a very similar target market for the first while. It's funny, like I think back to the first versions of our website and stuff. We were very heavy on the Randian language and we were really appealing to that type. And over time, it changed because I think we changed a bit I think we softened up and we mellowed out and we we ended up appealing, we also realized too, that generally the wealthier, older people are not as flexible. And it's it's the younger people like me that are more whimsical and they're not tied down. They don't have roots, careers, kids and grandkids and suddenly that no, it's easier to get them physically down. So we were appealing to them to, young, budding entrepreneurs, digital nomads, that kind of stuff. And so we actually offered some of these very small rooms with them in mind, you know, just room enough for your desk and a bed overhead. You know...

James Evenson: 14:37

So you had your earlier self in mind...your younger self. I

Gabriel Scheare: 14:41

Yeah, that's all that's all. That's ultimately what it was. I just wanted the place that I wanted to live in. If somebody else had built it first, I would just move there. I wouldn't even bother. But it didn't exist. So I had to do it.

James Evenson: 14:54

Well, this is Fort Galt we're talking about,correct?

Gabriel Scheare: 14:56

Yep. Yep.

James Evenson: 14:57

Alright. What were the What were the HOA rules of Fort Galt?

Gabriel Scheare: 15:04

Right. So it took us a long time to find a suitable property. Lots of hunting like there's no MLS website with everything conveniently on it, you gotta go stomping through the mud for months on end. Eventually, we finally found this place right on the coast. And it already had some of the roadways cut through, it had power lines installed with overhead lamps, it had a water system in. The place was already subdivided into lots with water going to each one. So it's like a lot of the work had already been done. And the story was that somebody else had started something like this about 10 years previously, and then died halfway through. And so the project just kind of sat there doing nothing. Then we came along and explained like, oh, that, yeah, we're kind of trying to do the same thing here. And the landowner said, Oh, yeah, well just pick that ball up and run with it and just keep going. So we we struck a deal with him to become his exclusive brokers for these lots. And as we needed them to build on, we just bought them from him. And then we also listed them on our website to sell them. And he also appreciated that we could screen people, too. Like and make sure that we're attracting quality people. He didn't want to do all that work. And he wasn't really up to the challenge. So he was happy to just let us do all that. And so he did have a set of rules drawn up ahead of time that he made with this previous lady's mostly ecological concerns, like not disturbing the protected forest that was next to it and not building out on to the roadway, not interfering with the view of your neighbor, you know, all that kind of stuff. Not like your grass has to be a certain length or anything like that. But common things that you'll find. And dispute resolution clauses, things like that we had to come up for our own building, because it was sort of a unique set of circumstances, you know, it's not everyone has their own lot, it's everyone in a building together. So you got to run a tight ship. So we, we created our own rule set for the building that was in parallel to the larger rule set.

James Evenson: 17:14

That must have been a nice tension between your, as you refer to it, your Randian... Ayn Randian ideals. With uh, I live in a I live in a community that has a very strong HOA, and I feel those tensions all the time. I want to protect, I want to protect the value of my property as well as my ability to thrive in the community. But at the same time, I do like to have the freedom for those of us that are not cogs in the wheel to be able to define our our home environment.

Gabriel Scheare: 17:57

Right. And this is the beauty of keeping it small is that as you as you scale things up, you lose the ability to actually sit down with people when questions arise. And when conflicts arise to actually have the conversation and philosophically work through it with them and come to agreement, you know. It eventually gets to the point where you just need the rules written down, and you either follow them or you just go away, because you don't have time to deal with everyone. But in those early stages, when it is small, it is great, I enjoyed it, I found a lot of value in actually having to do the mental exercises to figure everything out and why it has to be the way it is. And I think most people don't ever have the opportunity or are pushed into having to do that. And so they miss out on that opportunity to grow and learn from it all. So, yeah, I enjoyed that process. And yeah, I mean, the rules that were in place before we showed up, we couldn't really do anything about. Once we sold enough lots, then we would have enough votes to then rewrite the rules. That was always the carrot that was kind of dangled in front of us, right? It's like, Oh, you have to sell more lots so that you can change the rules. But so that was fine, but as they were they did seem a bit too limiting, too strict at first. Because like sometimes you just want to cut a tree down because it's in the way right? Oh, hang on a second. Where is that tree? How close is it to that? You know, you got to be considerate you know, so...But hey, that's that just comes with the territory.

James Evenson: 19:38

Yeah. All right. So let's fast forward a bit. You developed the lots, you sold... you sold some lots. You built...do you call it the Lodge? What do you what do you call the actual building that has rooms and apartments? I remember you have on your website, you have layouts and photos and I believe even some video. What what is that entity? And who did you draw to that?

Gabriel Scheare: 20:06

That's a combination of different room sizes. It's a big...you could call it a clubhouse or residential building, but it's it's just a multifamily apartment building style. It's essentially a large hostel. If you've ever stayed at a hostel, you go in there, and they generally have a shared kitchen. They have a shared living room area, they have some shared bathrooms. And then they have some small rooms that people sleep in. That's essentially what this was except on, on both ends of it, we tacked on these larger rooms that had some of their own private bathrooms. And some of them had their own kitchens too, so that we could offer more of a variety of options. So in the main core of the building was where all the very small rooms are and where the shared facilities are. So that that would run more like a hostel, whereas the people that wanted to keep things for themselves and have more space and stuff. They had the two towers. So that was the logic behind that.

James Evenson: 21:07

All right, all right. Well, you've developed that, you sold lots, you sold some of the rooms and spaces. I shared with people in the intro that you're headed back to Canada. What has transpired in Chile that has affected your quest to develop this community?

Gabriel Scheare: 21:32

It ain't what it once was. In 2019, I guess towards the end of the year, it was October, I think October into November. Yeah, it was around Halloween when the riots broke out. Everything changed very, very quickly. The straw that broke the camel's back that ignited the whole tinderbox apparently was when the government in Santiago raised the fares on the metro tickets by like a couple cents. And that was just what triggered of this mass nationwide riot. And the metro system in Santiago was all burned out. Every station was burned out, the whole system shut down and it happened to coincide with the release of the Joker movie. So all these kids were like running out in the streets burning stuff, dancing around painting themselves up like clowns, and like it was just this acid trip come to life. But yeah, martial law declared, the constitution was suspended. It got really gnarly, really fast. And we figured, okay, this is a flash in the pan. This doesn't happen every day. Let's just ride this out, hunker down. But even though Santiago's like...we thought were far enough away that it's not going to touch us, not the case. Valdivia, the closest city to us, has five university campuses. Should have thought of that ahead of time. Apparently that's not a good idea to set up shop near a situation like that. Because all the crazy Commie kids, they are perpetual students that never grow up. They just live in the universities. And this was their opportunity to run out and throw a fit. So Valdivia got trashed pretty good. And it was an ongoing thing. It wasn't just one night, it was prolonged week after week after week after week. And where Fort Galt was there was like, we don't know for sure who they were. But there was this roaming gang of bandits. They ambushed us one night and robbed a bunch of our stuff, passports, money, drones, computers. So like all of a sudden, things like things had been very peaceful. We didn't worry about security issues. And then all of a sudden, we've had to start getting really serious about that stuff. And we had been marketing to places a family friendly place for young families to come down and have their kids and we can't be saying that now. That's silly. We have to hunker down and actually make this a fortress for a while. So we did. My brother came down, a couple other guys moved in, and we we like fortified the place, loaded up with hardware, put cameras everywhere, got some dogs and you know we we had to protect our investment. And of course, workers and stuff don't want to work while all that's going on. And there's checkpoints on all the roads blocking supply lines and the trucker. It's just everything goes to shit. Sorry, but and then. So eventually, that kind of pressure went on for long enough that the President finally caved in and said, Okay, fine. We'll give you what you want. Just stop. And what they were demanding was like it had escalated to that to the point where everybody with their own gripes, everyone with their little causes. They all got together and the movement had just become this hurricane by that point. And they were demanding that the constitution be thrown out and a new one written. And he went for it. He said, okay, we'll have a referendum. Everyone gets to vote. And if the majority says, Okay, we'll, we'll write a new one, then we'll write a new one. And by that time, the people were just so worn down and tired of all this, that I yeah, it was an easy vote, they, they weren't necessarily voting for a new constitution, they were just voting for shit to stop. So it was decided that they would take a year, and there would be this very convoluted process of delegates from different territories, and things all coming in and working on it together and stuff. And so that's been going on for the past year. And during that whole time, in Santiago, the rioters would keep up disturbances at like, they just found the sweet spot. They, they know that if you push too hard, then the cops fight back. But if they just like throw a molotov cocktail at a police car, once a day, maybe then they can get away with it without without sparking the cops to fight back hard. So they just kept the pressure, on just kept reminding everyone involved with the constitutional drafting process that if you don't toe the line, then everything goes back to chaos again.

Unknown: 26:19

[Both speakers talking over each other]

Gabriel Scheare: 26:23

Yeah, there's all kinds of theories, all kinds of theories. There's there were shipping containers intercepted at the port, supposedly full of guns coming from other communist Latin American countries. There's a lot of rumors about Cuba and Venezuela supporting the rioters, and that it's all a staged event to try to sweep through Latin America and turn it Communist. I don't know. This is there's, it's really easy to let your speculation run wild. But regardless of who's doing what and why it's... at the end of the day, it's just no longer feasible to keep operating here. And that was becoming evident early in 2020. And then guess what else happened early 2020. We got this lovely little seasonal flu on our doorstep. And the President loved that. Because that that gave the government a pretext to really clamp down on the riots in the name of public safety, because there's a virus now. So Chile has rolled out some of the most Draconian response measures I've seen anywhere. For all of 2020, I've essentially been under house arrest. Like, just to leave the house to go buy food at the grocery store, I have to go online first and apply for permission form from the police. And I can only apply for two of those per week. So it's pretty nutty. And now as of what is it yesterday, maybe they've officially banned international travel. So I'm kind of stuck here.

James Evenson: 28:02

Oh, even for those who want to leave the country permanently?

Unknown: 28:06

they've

Gabriel Scheare: 28:06

I checked. And if if it's a one way trip, they'll let you out. But they don't want you to go and come back.

James Evenson: 28:15

Now let's put it into context to you are not the the young, idealistic, free, free-living person that you were in 2013. You have a wife, you have a three year old, you have a life and you have assets as well, that that you're needing to that you're responsible for.

Gabriel Scheare: 28:39

Yeah, and I'm just tired of not being able to be productive too. I mean, how long can you just wait, especially if you have no idea how long you have to wait for? Like, at first. It was easy to tell ourselves, oh, this this could be over in a week and we'll get back to normal. Oh, it'll just be another month maybe? Yeah, but okay, it's a year and a half. How long do we keep saying that? At some point, you just have to go Alright, fine. Let's just bail. Because I know I can work normally in other places. Plenty of places in the US and Canada that I know I can work freely and so okay, after a while, just I started feeling pretty stupid being here. So that's how it goes.

James Evenson: 29:22

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's really sad that it's come to that. Now. One thing I know is that you haven't lost your idealism. You You have dreams you then you... I love that you. You start with ideals, and you turn those into realities. We've talked about Fort Galt, we have a couple more of your pursuits that we're going to talk about. One that I'd like to go into before we go into what's physically next, I want to you to share with our viewers and listeners. The app that you are developing right now. But before you do so give us some context. What is it that you want to achieve with this particular app?

Gabriel Scheare: 30:09

Well, especially during the Trump administration, I think we all got sick and tired of everybody fighting over nonsense. Social media really exacerbated that. Twitter's the worst. I really just got to the point where I think cultural compatibility is the most important factor in terms of just having a peaceful life with good neighbors around. Like, Canada, Europe, so many of these developed progressive countries keep parroting this line, that diversity is our strength, but we look at them and they're all going to Hell . Diversity is not our strengths. Whether it's the worst, the workplace, or a city or whatever. Diversity is interesting. You can learn interesting stuff that way, when that's what you want to do. Like, if you want to learn about a bunch of different animals, then yeah, you go on a safari, you go to a place where there's diversity, because you're intentionally trying to study and learn and stuff, but you don't want to live in it. You don't want to sleep in it. If you're trying to be productive, you want to be working with people that you don't have to fight with all the time over cultural differences, or value differences and stuff like that. And, I mean, really, that's what we were trying to do with Fort Galt, is just attract people that were similar enough to us that we knew we could get along with them without, you know, fighting all the time over dumb stuff. And so really, I just figured that there are a few key things that most of us would probably qualify as being our most important values in terms of being compatible with others. So if you're very fervent about your religion, whatever that might be, maybe that's one of your key things. Like maybe you can only get along with people that share that. Maybe you're just a hardcore fan of a particular kind of music, and you can't possibly date someone who doesn't share that passion. I don't know what your things are. But everyone's got a thing, probably a few things. And so I figured this is probably the simplest way to sort ourselves out, you know. There's that book or the movie, Harry Potter, where they have the magical hat that they put on, and it reads their mind and tells them which house they should live in. Based on a brain scan, you know. I'm like, Well, I don't know how to build a brain scanner. But I think what we can do is just have sort of an introspective little app that prompts you to input those keywords, those things that are critical to you. And just match them up with everyone else that has those same keywords, and show you on a map where those matches are. So that if there's a couple of matches in your hometown, or something, hey, you send them a message, you go for coffee, you meet in the real world, and you make a good friend. The more of those I think we can make, the better. And that'll kind of help us get off of social media and stop fighting on Twitter and all that stuff.

James Evenson: 33:10

So it's Tinder for community building.

Gabriel Scheare: 33:13

Yeah, sure. And there's, there's no photos, there's no video, there's no visual aspect to it. So you're not judging people based on their skin color, or their appearances or anything like that. And there's no personal information that's gathered, you don't have to create an account, you don't have to give it your phone number or your email address anything like that. So there's no security risks, there's no privacy issues. It's just simple to just jump in, put in your keywords, it shows you where everyone else is that matches them. And you can you can send them a message and set up a meeting and that's about it.

James Evenson: 33:52

You realize, Gabriel, even within that you still will have significant diversity.A person identifies just what are their non-negotiables. And there's still a lot of negotiables. And yeah, I've thrived I spent my life surrounded by people that are different from me. I understand your point, though, is that we reached a point now where people who are different, either have to whitewash it all and just you know and squint their eyes or they can't get along. Where I see tremendous value in being able to find the people that are your community, but for me, it's gotta be there's gotta be other forms of diversity.

Gabriel Scheare: 34:36

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Like if it if it's a point of difference that's not a deal breaker, if it's not something that causes conflict, then it's not an issue. That's, that's just something that's like the spice of life. You know, it just keeps it interesting,

James Evenson: 34:51

Correct. Yep. Yeah.

Gabriel Scheare: 34:52

And eventually like, Apple is rolling out augmented reality glasses in a couple years and they're going to be fashionable types, not ones with stupid Google Glass cameras on them and stuff like that. So we are rolling in that direction. And the plan for the app is to make full use of that. So that rather than seeing your matches on on a map on your phone, you're seeing it in real time. People highly highlighted in your field of vision, whether they're compatible, or or not. So if you're on the subway, or walking down the street or something, maybe you'll just spot somebody like, Whoa, you're a perfect match. Dude, Hey, come here. You'll just strike up a conversation with a perfect stranger, you know, and I look forward to that, honestly.

James Evenson: 35:34

Hopefully, they'll also have glasses on because...

Gabriel Scheare: 35:37

That's the idea.

James Evenson: 35:39

So that's, that is the app. That is in process and, and then physically you, I, let's contradict ourselves. You are seriously looking at heading back to the land from which you came. To the prairies of Saskatchewan. What do you intend to do there? And who do you think will join you in that pursuit?

Gabriel Scheare: 36:08

It's funny, I haven't even made any formal announcements yet. I haven't put out a newsletter, I haven't made a press release. Nothing. I just made a couple of comments in threads on a couple of posts on Facebook in passing, and I'm getting dogpiled now. I'm getting stories from people with very similar paths that I that I took, but in different countries. For instance, one lady that I met once in Vancouver briefly back in like 2010, I went off to Chile, she went off to Poland. And we both started families and both integrated more or less into those countries. And but now she's saying the exact same things I am it's like, while when the pressure is on, people reveal their true colors, and they reassess their priorities. She used to want things like convenience, and like where are the best restaurants and freedoms of this and that and tax rates and whatever. But when the chips are down and the stress is on, it's no, I just I just need to know that my neighbors around me aren't going to rat me out, that they're on my side, that I can actually have a peaceful home environment for my kids, you know. And I know that I can have that back in the Redneck Woodlands of Saskatchewan, where I grew up. I know that that's normal there that that's never gonna go away because it's baked into the culture. So, like...

James Evenson: 37:37

And the climate's harsh enough that you're probably not going to draw,

Gabriel Scheare: 37:42

right? Yeah, exactly. It's not for everyone, man. But also, like, we were having this conversation the other day, where we were talking about Atlas Shrugged, right? I mean, I was, I was so seduced by that book. But I was looking at it again, wondering like, Okay, what if you pull the magic out of it? Okay, they've got this big cloaking device, hiding their, their, their town, from the state that would otherwise crush them. That cloaking device doesn't actually exist. It's magic. They also have a free energy device that as far as I know, doesn't exist, like, not the way that she describes it anyway. So that's kind of magic to. What if we pull those magical elements out of the story. Is shrugging out to a secret valley a viable strategy? I don't think it is. That's what I've been trying to do this whole time. And there's there's nowhere to go. So all right. Maybe it's not a matter of going to where you're least visible. But what if it's going where you can be most effective. I can't be effective down here. There's a cultural barrier that I will never overcome. There's a language barrier I don't want to overcome. Chile has awful, awful language. And even if I mastered the language and sounded like a local, even if I blended in and went to all of the company, all of the barbecues on the weekends, and I would always be the white guy, that's potentially a CIA plant. There's a history of distrust. There's reasons for it, there's...At the end of the day, it's not my people. It's not my country. I have no business trying to meddle with things here. But I can go back to Canada and kick butt. So I think I should.

James Evenson: 39:44

Well,so, you can take your values as they have developed. It's... you are going back to Canada, but you're also going to Canada, you're going forward to Canada.

Gabriel Scheare: 39:59

And I'm not even going there so much as one of them. I grew up around them as one of them, but then I left. And I think I'm returning as an outsider that just happens to fit in. Because I look like them. And I talk like them and I know their customs. I know everything. I'm, I have the perfect ability to blend in. But...

James Evenson: 40:21

you'll see, yeah, you will, Yes, you will blend in. And that's, that's, that's valuable. Because as I understand it, Gabriel you, you have passions, dreams that you are going to follow, that you are following. And you're taking out variables. They're not even variables, you're taking out obstacles. You know that they'll still be obstacles, no matter how you do it. And you are moving into a country that has rules and regulations. But you also know that by choosing a less populated area, an area that you're familiar with, you are, you know what the rules are much like when you bought your property in Chile , you know, you knew the rules. Now, it's different that you won't be able to change those rules. However, we both know that in gated communities that are somewhat isolated, you can shape your own rules, and you obviate the need for a lot of the resources that the government would otherwise provide. Those rules are still there, but you can set your own and then you you regulate those as well.

Gabriel Scheare: 41:32

And we can go way beyond that too. We're going to start a new town. And that's an important factor here. And like every province has their own set of criteria and rules and stuff. In Saskatchewan, for instance, when you have 300 people, and 150 houses you can incorporate as a village. And then once you have 500 people, you can upgrade that to a town. And like as you become a city, you can control a lot of your own reality. So you can retain control of your law enforcement, you can create your own police force, so that the national police aren't there. Because generally most most towns just don't bother creating their own police force. Because when they don't, the National cops come in and pick up the slack at the taxpayers cost, right. So most towns, don't bother, because it's cheaper not to and it's easier not to. But if you retain that responsibility, like I think you should, then you get to isolate yourself and create that level of insulation. So even if the Prime Minister Trudeau passes some crazy, tyrannical law tomorrow, like if your local cops are all on your own payroll, and you're all on the same page, selective enforcement, you know, you don't have to enforce every law that exists. So that's a big fight. And property taxes. It's the local level that levies property tax. So if you want to create a little demonstration of how libertarianism looks in practice, start on the small scale, you know, 0%, property tax, that'll attract a lot of high net worth people to build their mansions there. And you show people what it looks like when you're not charged taxes, but you do have to pay for the services voluntarily. So there's companies offering the same services, and you have to negotiate your prices and subscribe to them and all that kind of stuff. So ultimately, that's what I'm trying to do is just create a small scale laboratory demonstration to show these principles in action so that we don't have to keep arguing about who's going to build the roads. We have something to point at, and say we're just doing that.

James Evenson: 43:42

It's not you're not just creating something to live in. You also want to set an example. It's still an experiment, isn't it?

Gabriel Scheare: 43:50

Sure. Yeah.

James Evenson: 43:51

Who do you think will come? Give me a give me a give you scenarios of who might who might?

Gabriel Scheare: 43:58

At first, I pitched the idea of doing this right on like just outside the outskirts of Ottawa, which is the capital of Canada. The idea being...

James Evenson: 44:08

Hopefully our viewers and listeners know that Ottawa is the capitol.

Gabriel Scheare: 44:11

I assume you have a broad diverse audience that may not know that.

James Evenson: 44:16

They may not be able to find it on a map, but...

Gabriel Scheare: 44:18

Right. Or they might think that Toronto is the capitol because it's so much bigger.

James Evenson: 44:22

It's about halfway between Montreal and Toronto. And a little bit north. Yup.

Gabriel Scheare: 44:29

So in terms of being a center of political activism, and being a demonstration of how things should be right up in the face of the corrupt politicians and stuff like that. It's it sounds fun to do it in that fashion. But the more I talk to potential candidates, people don't want that. I mean, we might be able to do something like that later on down the road for funsies or as part of some revolutionary coup plot or something, but first, we need to set up a nice family friendly place where everyone can just feel safe and feel that peace of mind that we're all trying to get. So everyone kept telling me Alberta, okay, Alberta is preferable. Yes, it's also crazy expensive. Saskatchewan is just as good in terms of what we're going for here that that level of freedom and, and, you know, flexibility to stretch and, and the culture is still conservative there, you're not going to run into a bunch of Black Lives Matter rioters and stuff like that, you know. So I think because it's so much cheaper, like the land deals I'm finding in Saskatchewan are fantastic. So I think that's where it has to start. The first the first town starts there. Deal's not signed yet or anything but I did find like, the ideal location just north of Saskatoon along the main highway right by a lake, for, it's like 500 acres for 880 grand. So, I mean, that's, you're never gonna find anything remotely that good in Alberta, or British Columbia. So I think that's where we go. As soon as the loose ends down here in Chile are all tied up.

James Evenson: 46:17

And by being near Saskatoon, you still have your... you have easy access to

Gabriel Scheare: 46:21

it's a great city

James Evenson: 46:22

airport. It was I think I was thinking also the airport because people do want to be able to leave

Gabriel Scheare: 46:29

Dude, with like 500 acres we can build our own airport. But yes, yes, it does help.

James Evenson: 46:35

You're describing the South Iland of New Zealand right now, with a little bit better climate then I don't mean to disparage got you on climate but the winter when I lived in Canada, I was in La La Land in... Oh, no, they don't what they call it loony is one of them Vancouver was was referred to in a disparaging way by the those from the from the east. But that was a wonderful temperate climate. So I was going to ask the next question of what what's next for you. But I think that's rather clear, Gabriel. So I'll just move on. I have two more questions I want to ask you, and then we'll wrap this up. The second to the last one is you have a three year old. What does the future hold for her? And how are you preparing her for that future?

Gabriel Scheare: 47:28

Man, I'm so jealous of her

James Evenson: 47:32

She'll never have to work...

Gabriel Scheare: 47:35

No, just having...well, having sane parents, if I'm allowed to say that makes a huge difference. I didn't have exactly that luxury. And also just like there's a school that we let her go and play out here near nearby. And she enjoys going. She likes playing with other kids. She likes learning things. She likes playing arts and crafts and stuff. And she's very curious. But never will I ever force her to go to any of these places Never will I care about her marks, anything, I will never make a chore or, or torture out of anything positive. So many things were ruined for me that way, like piano lessons and all that kind of stuff. I just got turned off of that so hard. And you know, school like grades were what determined whether or not I get beat up by my dad or something, you know, like, like it, this stuff was so heavy, and just so painted and dark. And like she doesn't have that. Like everything in life is just positive. Like, sure there's little small conflicts with other kids once in a while when they take your toy. But those are just opportunities to learn how to negotiate and problem solve and stuff. And I love to jump in and help facilitate those moments. And that is kind of a silver lining of this whole lockdown thing too. Like, if I hadn't been locked up in the house with her for a year, maybe I would have been working too hard on something else, maybe I would have missed something you know. So it has been nice to have all that extra time with her during these very formative years. But then just all the things she'll have access to, too. Like, actually, as soon as this app is finished, the next one was actually inspired by her sort of a, a tool aimed at kids, but I think adults will be able to use it to sort of a matchmaking for godparents, if that makes sense. You know, like, so many kids are born into less than desirable environments and communities and things like that. Maybe they don't have good role models and stuff. But there's plenty of good role models out there that are at that point in life where they would have enjoyed mentoring someone you know, and and like, just creating those kinds of connections. And when the kid gets to be like a young teenager, like I remember, I used to win awards for business plans when I was like 14, 15, 16. But I didn't have the ability to actually execute these plans for real because my dad couldn't cosign loans, I didn't have access to capital, all that kind of stuff. I couldn't even get a credit card yet. You know, like, there's so many barriers that kids have. But if there was a matchmaking service app that would let kids present their ideas and their what they have available to them and let let these long distance godparents chip in and help and stuff and, and maybe connect them with other people that they know that could help teach them new skills, and like, there's just endless possibilities for that kind of stuff.

James Evenson: 50:48

Can I just interject? A few weeks ago, I was down in Orange County, California, visiting very good friends. And I love the way that they're parenting their their kids. And their youngest is an entrepreneur. I was an entrepreneur, I had created little businesses, going back to junior high level. Well, their youngest is a horse person, she, she rides, she has lessons and she has created a company called Pony Snacks. And she makes treats for ponies. Well, where I'm getting to is her parents are quite accomplished in their careers. One is a therapist, and the other one is a senior pastor of a church. They don't have they don't have the expertise to coach her in her entrepreneurial endeavor. So I was, it was quite fascinating to me that while I was sitting in the dining room, having a glass of wine with the parents that the daughter came in to tell me her story, and the parents like, Oh, you really need to talk to James. James needs to be your, your, your coach in this. And, you know, they all got excited. But also, we were just able to talk about it and I think you're spot on that the parents can't be everything to their kids. You know, I have no idea what role I will have in that. But I love that there is a use for that this way to encourage this entrepreneur, I would have loved to have had more of that when I was a kid.

Gabriel Scheare: 52:29

Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

James Evenson: 52:31

So let's go back to your daughter. You are shaping a world where she is going to be self defined. You don't want her to be dependent upon all the external influences that we have to fight to retain our intrinsic strength. When we spoke several days ago, we talked about that as self rule or self actualization. Are you confident in that for your daughter? And what what does that look like for you?

Gabriel Scheare: 53:03

I remember so vividly being a young kid. I remember I called into a radio station once when they were having this contest to win a fishing rod, you know, and I won the fishing rod. That was so great. And I was accumulating through a little creative means this, this bag of tackle and tools and life jack all these things that I knew I would need when I can finally run away. Because we lived out, you know, the woods, there was a lake, I knew that if I just had the right bag of gear, I could do it. I could totally survive on my own and I wanted to. And that was I was seven years old. Yeah. So I'm not saying she'll be like that, because she probably won't have a lot of reason to be. I did, I had a lot of sticks kicking me out and there looked like there were some nice carrots out there. So maybe she won't be driven the same way that I was, but just through osmosis, I'm sure I'll rub off on her a bit. You know, and I want her to have the ability to actualize whenever she feels like she's ready to. Most kids really don't have that. For some reason, we have this arbitrary rule that says you're not an adult until you're 18. And up until that point, there's so many restrictions on you. Like I would love for there not to be this huge like event where you're a completely controlled dependent kid, and then all of a sudden, you're kicked out to go to another city to college or something. What if there was more of a graduated process here? Where like, maybe you hit a point when you're 12 or something and you You know what, this house just isn't big enough for the two of us. Maybe you should have a house next door, you know? So you can go make your mess in there, you can go learn how to keep it through trial and error and you know. And just graduate the process. So I still own it, maybe I rent it to you or something, or it's like part of the allowance deal, you know, we'll figure something out. But just have a way to let the kid grow in a natural progression instead of these weird, arbitrary rites of passage and moments and stuff.

James Evenson: 55:20

No, I don't think that's quite the modern parenting that I hear about here. And that is the one where, you know, let little Joey, if little Joey wants to cross the freeway on foot, then he'll learn his lesson. That's what I see way too much of that. I don't have kids, so I can...I'm an expert on these things.

Gabriel Scheare: 55:43

Oh, this is the other thing too is like being in the libertarian world and stuff you're, you're always dealing with whether or not a particular action violates the non aggression principle, right? So part of self actualization is learning how to deal with other people and their policies. So that was actually a pretty big moment for me when I, I shared the idea of rights. I realized rights are just thoughts. Thoughts only exist in our heads, they're not out there. They're, they're nothing out there that's objectively real. They're policies, they're glorified policies, they're policies that we think everybody should have and adhere to. Not everyone does, obviously. You go from different country to different country, and various different cultures have different rights, or things that they believe should be rights, and ultimately, those come from their values. Cultures generally share similar sets of values. So then we come back to the app, and it's like, Okay, well, if policies or, or if rights are just policies, and those are what makeup cultures and those makeup nations, this app eventually logically becomes a nation builder. So the nations of the future might not be affixed to pieces of dirt. They might just be subscriptions or, or floating, ever changing groups of people that find each other organically by using technology. And then they create their own policies that they all share. And then out of convenience, they happen to gather physically and move into the same town or start a new town or whatever. I just want to see this unfold in an organic fashion, because they have the ability to do it. No one has to force a thing.

James Evenson: 57:33

Right. I think that we could think there we have a lot of technologies now that could facilitate that well. Just the the core of blockchain technology could you help facilitate that.

Gabriel Scheare: 57:46

Definitely.

James Evenson: 57:47

Wow. Well, you know, I'm looking forward to having another conversation on this in a few years and in a few years time further as your your you continue to implement these...I don't want to call them visions, but they're, you know, practical applications of what you value and what you believe and who you are. And I'm looking forward to having our first Saskatchewan meetup when you have the... have a thriving community that we can go experience. It'll probably be late spring or early fall because a lot of our folks, particularly those in warmer climates, I don't know how they would do with the extreme heat of excuse me, extreme cold of winter. Hey, I've just have one last question for you, Gabriel. If someone wants to follow you to learn more about Fort Galt, learn more about what's ahead. Where can they find you?

Gabriel Scheare: 58:48

Well, consider Fort Galt suspended. Let's Let's not go there now. I'm easy to find on Facebook or just look up my last name, Scheare. S-C-H-E-A-R-E or you can email me gabrielscheare@gmail.com. I'm on all of the platforms. I'm I try to make myself easy, easy to find. So I'm on Keybase and Telegram and Signal and all that stuff. So you'll find me. It's easy.

James Evenson: 59:20

Okay, so Gabriel, S-C-H-E-A-R-E, we'll put that into the bio as well. So, hey, thanks very much for your time today and for sharing your story with our viewers and listeners. I know that there are a lot of people in our world that have similar values of wanting to well, as we say at Obris is... one of one of my dear friends in Obris refers to Obris as her country club. Its a country club without walls. It's a group of people who gathered together because we want to and we have similar values. And you know, we have cobbled together those values and figured out what we share. And at the same time, we're able to fully be ourselves in that environment. I love that you are bringing your own perspective of that and that you are building, building a city, as well as a virtual city through your app where people can actually find community. So all the best you and thanks very much.

Gabriel Scheare: 1:00:29

Thanks. It was fun.

James Evenson: 1:00:31

Shortly after we recorded this podcast, Gabriel closed on a piece of property in Saskatchewan that will become the future home of his company town, Frenly Park. To learn more about Frenly Park, please visit frenlypark.com. That is F-R-E-N-L-Y-P-A-R-K.com. Thanks for joining us for the Global Investor Podcast. If you like what you've heard, we have much more to offer you. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel or to the podcast itself. Obris is an investor syndicate. We are defined by people, places, and deals. Our members and guests are an amazing group of self made and accomplished investors and entrepreneurs. We come from 15 different countries and a wide variety of professions. We share the common pursuits of surrounding ourselves with great people and great places, while gaining significant returns in investing. Please head over to our website, ObrisInvest.com,where you can learn more about Obris, our members, investing with us, and our world class events. That's O-B-R-I-S-I-N-V-E-S-T.com. We also invite you to sign up for our free Global Investor newsletter. You'll have access to our weekly insights as well as deep dives into specific industries and global markets. And be sure to come to an Obris event. There is no better way to get to know us than through our events. We are currently working on our next live in person event. Check out our website for details. My partners and I created Obris to facilitate freedom, wealth, adventure and connection. With Obris you will experience a whole new world of investing.