lifeoutside the lines

I was chatting to a guy who reminded me of me 8 years ago. He is studying Entrepreneurship at Uni. I asked him why he was studying business and he said ‘because he wanted to be financially free’.

I told him he was wasting his time, and that financial freedom was a total myth.

The look on his face was hilarious, I wish you could have been there.

I said ‘look, you’re a smart guy, so I will go to the other end of the spectrum to make my point.’

I continued, ‘Take Bill Gates. Lot’s of cash yeah? Do you think he has freedom from his money? Do you think that having a mountain of cash comes without great responsibility? Could you possibly fathom the daily challenges and issues he has to deal with, simply because he has money? Ergo, do you think he has more or less financial freedom than say, someone with no money?’

Of course, I didn’t really say ‘ergo’, but he got the point. He realised he was chasing an idea that wasn’t real.
I suggested he outgrow the juvenile concept of sitting on a beach sipping mojitos as the cash rolled in and start thinking about how he can add real value to the world. Value that he would be committed to giving regardless of the degree of support of challenge (financial or otherwise) he faced on the journey.

I mentioned some iconic entrepreneurs and reminded him how they all faced massive obstacles that would have overwhelmed them enough to quit had they only been in it for the money.

He said ‘… so chasing the fantasy of financial freedom actually binds people to financial servitude’.

I asked him what he was going to do with this new perspective.

He said ‘I have to go tell my dad…’

Food for thought. And be careful what you wish for.

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Cheers,