Author Topic: Building an MMM community in RVA  (Read 4530 times)

hybrid

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Building an MMM community in RVA
« on: October 03, 2014, 02:11:43 PM »
Last night TrulyStashin and I (along with our SO) met three more Mustachians from the forums at a local microbrew that overlooks the James River and Richmond skyline on a warm fall evening for a few beers and a few hours of great socializing as the sun went down. Sound idyllic? Yeah, it pretty much was.

Highlight of the evening for me was talking to Richmond Savers, who recently went to a financial bloggers convention in New Orleans and spent a little quality time with MMM and the Mad Fientist (the latter of which he is long term friends with). Richmond Savers has a pretty kick-ass travel rewards program here....

http://www.richmondsavers.com/

(Arebelspy has used it and highly endorsed it elsewhere on this blog)

There were a few very nice follow-up emails the next morning, this was mine, slightly edited for anonymity.

Thanks for the email (forum member), I had a great time and was so pleased that all of you were able to come out. I originally scheduled Thursday because (another forum member) said she was available that day but she had her calendar mixed up. Some thoughts...

I'm always amazed at how there isn't one particular template for badassery. All of us are in very different places in our journey. (One forum member) and I were perhaps the most alike and yet the basic concepts remain the same. Make good money, optimize your spending, value your time appropriately (after all, earlier retirement is just another way of saying buying time with your stash). I'm always impressed with folks like (two forum members) who figure it out sooner rather than later.

I thought being a hybrid of spender and saver would make me something of a misfit, but I realize now that damn few people can actually pull off MMM levels of frugality, or frankly, want to. Sometimes I just have to step back and realize how much I truly have pared back when I quite willingly throw down $30 for a great evening with friends. It's money very well spent. I think most of us are in the same boat to some degree. Retiring at the earliest possible moment may drive a lot of people on the blog, but retiring considerably earlier is a fine end unto itself.

(SO of forum member) seems like a very nice guy, and it must have been quite odd for him being surrounded by the MMM crowd instead of the other way around, which is what most of us live with day-to-day.

I'm excited about the budding MMM community in Richmond. Of all the forum cities out there, I think we have the potential to be one of the most badass places in the country. TrulyStashin gets a little of the credit there, I'm just following up on the seeds she planted. Richmond, like Longmont, is a pretty good place to be frugal and live a badass life. Too bad we can't do something about the humidity.


Would love to know how folks in other cities formed and maintain their MMM communities, please share your insights so RVA can continue to grow larger and better.


 

Richmond Savers

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Re: Building an MMM community in RVA
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2014, 12:47:29 PM »
Great post Hybrid and thanks for welcoming me into the MMM Richmond community!  I'm really excited to get to know the rest of the group over the coming months and years. 

It's so exciting to find like-minded people locally, and that meetup was such a fun time.  Looking forward to the get together at your place in a few weeks!

lauren_knows

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Re: Building an MMM community in RVA
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2014, 08:29:15 AM »
For whatever reason, I read the title of this post and thought "They're building an MMM commune-style community in Richmond? That sounds sweet!".

Great post nonetheless :)

hybrid

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Re: Building an MMM community in RVA
« Reply #3 on: October 08, 2014, 06:40:54 AM »
Thanks! A question I have been struggling with is now that MMMers have found each other in Richmond, how to bring value to that social circle. The thing is, most of us are already well entrenched in our lives and aren't looking to reinvent the wheel socially (I have a wealth of close friends and not enough time for them as is). So other than having shared interests in common, why get together in the first place?

The idea I am working with is MMM workshops. Most of us have something that we have dialed in that others can benefit from, and to have an occasional (quarterly?) potluck / adult beverage / workshop seems like time well spent. So I'm in the process of fleshing out ideas now.

JPinDC

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Re: Building an MMM community in RVA
« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2014, 07:02:37 AM »
For whatever reason, I read the title of this post and thought "They're building an MMM commune-style community in Richmond? That sounds sweet!".

That's what I thought too!

TrulyStashin

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Re: Building an MMM community in RVA
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2014, 07:52:46 AM »
I love the idea of in-person forums once a quarter or so.   Maybe we can entice Richmond Savers to give a presentation on his version of badassity -- hacking travel rewards?

The day might come when the rest of us will be saying "I knew him way back when.... and now his blog has catapulted him into MMM-level fame."  Get your autographs now, folks.

MandalayVA

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Re: Building an MMM community in RVA
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2014, 08:28:02 AM »
I had an awesome time and would definitely like to get together again.  I learned a ton!

pipercat

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Re: Building an MMM community in RVA
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2014, 03:30:55 PM »
Sounds like a great time!  I'd also be interested in workshops and such in the area.  I'm glad ya'll had such a good time!

Richmond Savers

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Re: Building an MMM community in RVA
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2014, 07:37:09 AM »
I love the idea of in-person forums once a quarter or so.   Maybe we can entice Richmond Savers to give a presentation on his version of badassity -- hacking travel rewards?

Great minds must think alike, because Hybrid already floated this idea by me and it is definitely a go!  I'm trying to put together a cohesive presentation now.  I think it will be a lot of fun to work with the whole group so everyone can learn to save some real money on travel.

We can even open it up a bit to friends, family, etc. and maybe this can help us entice some new members to join the RVA group and learn about Mustachianism...

hybrid

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Re: Building an MMM community in RVA
« Reply #9 on: October 14, 2014, 06:57:57 AM »
The date I am looking at is Saturday, January 17 (which is also part of a bizarre four day weekend in Richmond for State employees.) I will bring this up at the Richmond Mustachian Potluck at our home this Sunday.