Worth Fighting For!

What do you know about Elon Musk’s and his first major business, PayPal? Sure you may know that it made him $4 billion dollars when he sold it years back to eBay. But did you know that he did not have any real interest in PayPal except for the fact that he knew that one day it would fund his dream life style. If I was to ask you, would you do build a business like PayPal, even if you had no real passion for that type of business, I am sure that you would say yes. You’d say yes because the outcome, the $4 billion, is a nice little reward for all of the effort. But would you really do it?

Elon decided that the outcome (his reason Why) more important than the tedious, repetitive soul draining, boring work (the What), and he is now a very rich man. He had a visions that he was willing to achieve no matter what the current circumstances. Plus he is not the only one. Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have all done the same thing. They all worked at things that did not thrill them, but knew would give them the outcome they wanted. If only more people were like that.

When I talk to people about business, one of the things they say, in various ways is, I don't like it. Translated it means “I don't want to do the boring hard work that will make me financially free.”  The What before the Why. That absolutely floors me every time I hear it. It stuns me because the people who don't like what I do are the same people that don't like going to boring hard working job everyday that will never make them financially free.

Everyday all over the globe people head off to jobs that they don't like, to do things they don’t like with people they don't like over and over again. And they do it for a pittance. They spend hours commuting in heavy traffic or crowded public transport with little not no satisfaction of the whole process without being paid for it.  People sell their life, time and self control to a boss for a fraction, a small fraction, of what they could be earning. But why?

Why do people go to jobs year after year that they hate for a pittance? And why don't they like what I do, build businesses? We could argue that they have been trained by school and society to think that way, and that is partially true. However, what I found over the years is people continue to go to jobs because what I am really asking to do is not just start a business, but to take responsibility for their future instead of just living on hope.

One of the the most foolish things that people do for their entire working life is hope that their financial future will be taken care of by someone else or by luck. They hope that they will one day live the dream life. They hope that there will still be a pension . They hope that they will have enough saved in their superannuation . And of course the big one, they hope that they will win the lottery.

Let's burst a few little bubbles.

The old age pension, as from the 1st of January 2017 is available to people born after 1957 at the age of 67 and it will continue to go up. And it’s currently paying $916.30 for singles and $1,381.40 for couples per fortnight. Not a lot of money. I can't see anyone having a fantastic life on that type of income. Remember all of those dreams you had when you were working about great travel and seeing the world? Good luck on $400 per week.

But I will have my superannuation to compensate I hear you cry.

According to AMP the average amount of super most Australians have is $270,000 for men and $157,000 for women. Combined that is $427,000. That is not a lot of money. Take out a few trips, some medical bills and a new car, because that is what people do, then you have very little left over. Maybe another to go out for coffee each day, a movie once a week and see the grand-kids once a month. That’s the life your been dreaming of, right?

The biggest problem I see with the pension and superannuation is, you have to wait till your retire to be able to access them. I don’t know about you, but I want to live now, not in another 30 years. Who knows what will happen between now and then.

However, let’s not forget the last best hope that we have. Let’s not forget the lottery.

In NSW Lotto has been going 40 years this year. If someone won every week for the last 40 years then there would be a total of 2080 winners. That's it. Now, we all know that the lotteries don't go off every week, sometimes not for a few weeks so that number starts to shrink. Of course, the NSW Lotto is not the only game in town. Throw in all of the other state lotteries, Powerball and such, I bet the actual number of wins over the last 40 years would be between 10,000 to 12,000, or 0.00048% of the population. With number that small you don't just need hope to win, you need a miracle.  

But why do people gamble? Because if they win, they can claim responsibility for their success through luck, prowess and skill. If they don't win, then it's not their fault. There is no personal responsibility, they can blame the system, bad advice, the stars, the fact the God hates them and that they weren’t wearing their luck socks (the blue ones with pink polka dots).

Yet when I turn up and mention running a business the shit hits the fan. You see where the lottery is about luck, a business is all about responsibility. If the business fails the owner is responsible, and we know most people don't want responsibility, that is why they have jobs, which they hate. In a job they just hand the responsibility off to the boss. Then if things go wrong, again, it is not their fault. This is not an option in a business. That’s why gambling is so enticing.

Now there is nothing wrong with having a punt, but it should not be your sole retirement plan. Oh, I know it's not your sole retirement plan, it's the others person’s who is reading this article.

But I digress.

So you're probably reading this at work, at that job you hate, waiting, preying, hoping for something to come your way. Yet that is your biggest problem. When something finally does come your way, instead of looking at the big picture (the outcome) and seeing how it will help you achieve your dreams, you get so caught up on focusing solely on what you have to do and you ask yourself “Will like doing the work?”. The answer of course is, NO, YOU WILL HATE IT! However, you hate the work now that you are doing, so instead of doing that and hating it for the the next 50-60 years, do something you hate for 5 years, create an asset and have the rest of your life off.

That is what visionaries do. That is what entrepreneurs do. That is what everyone else who lives the life you are not, do.

Let’s face facts, success is simple, but not easy. Just find what works and do it over and over again until you reach your goal. And stop making the What more important than the Why. I don't care about what, as long as it is legal, moral and ethical. If the What gives me my Why then I don't care.  If it will give me the opportunity to live a better life, make a difference for my wife, children, their children and so then I will do it. Wouldn’t you? You could be the name changer of your family. Your work for the next few years will have a generational impact. You can build a legacy. You can pass on your business and other assets to you children on so on for centuries. Can you say the same thing about your job?

The truth is, no one ever created a legacy through a job.

All you need to do just find something that works, whether you like it or not and do it repeatedly until you have achieved your financial freedom. That's it, it’s not brain science or rocket surgery. All of your objections are just excuses and to be honest and blunt,they are pathetic.

For me I want to get out of work to spend time with my family. I chose to be with them. I didn't choose my work colleagues or my boss. Yet because of my need for money so that I can live, I end up spending more time with them. For now. Wouldn't you like to spend more time with the people you love, not your boss?

But if it makes you feel better, you can go to bed tonight with your cuddly teddy bear of excuses and wake up in the morning justifying why you are refusing to change. You can the get ready for that job and moan and bitch about it all day long. Sounds delightful, who wouldn't want to give that up?

Maybe, just maybe, you do like your job. “I love my job”, ‘my job fulfills me,” and my favorite, “money's not important”. Yeh, my 5 year old nephew says stupids things like that too. If money wasn't important I bet you would soon find your job no longer fulfills you and you don't love it as much. Plus next time you go to buy groceries just walk out with what you want without paying. When they complain, just tell them “money's not important”. I think the management may have a differing opinion.

Then there is the horrid truth people try to deny about their jobs. When push comes to shove and the business you are working for is not as profitable as before, the boss, owners and the investors will prioritize their wealth before yours. You will be out the door and they will not lose any sleep over it. Your boss will never care as much about your financial future as you do. But that’s OK, money's not important right? Love your job, but it will never lover you back.

So the choice. Work at something you don't like and do that for the rest of your life hoping that someone will save you. Or step up, take responsibility for your financial future, do something you have to for 5, maybe 10 years (still better than 40 to 50 years) that you do not like, then have the rest of your life to do what you want. And if that is to stay in a job, that's your choice. The things about financial freedom is you have more choices than what you currently have. Then maybe one day your name can sit alongside those of Musk, Bezos, Buffet and Gates. Or you can just be another worker who will be replaced, and forgotten, a week after they left.

Starting any business is hard and it is a fight, but I can guarantee that you will remember the fight for freedom for the rest of your life. You won't remember, however, any of the paperwork or all of the TV shows you watched last week. Oh, the other thing you will remember for the rest of your life is that one opportunity to change your, your partners and your children's lives for the better that came your way but never took. It's better known by another name, regret, and that I can also guarantee, you will never forget that feeling.

So what is it to be, to surrender and go quietly into the long dark night, or to fight? What’s that old say, “it’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees”. Life and success are a fight you take standing up. Are you going to fight for your future? Are you going to fight to make your partners life better? Are you willing and able to fight to make you children's lives the best that they can be? Surrender and die, or fight and live? I choose fight! Now, it your turn. I choose to………….