Making money should be fun

Life is a fascinating journey, peppered with extremes.

For example, on the one side we have the frantically driven, deeply inspired, focused, people following their passion. The less life they have (and the more obviously successful they are) the more they become our icons – the Bill Gates’s, the Richard Branson’s, heck, even the Maggie Thatcher’s.

At the other extreme we have the serenely peaceful, deeply inspired, focused people following their passion. The more life they have (and the less materially successful they are) the more they become our icons – the Mother Theresa’s, Mahatma Gandhi’s, the Helen Keller’s.

It seems to me that they all share a common trait – a passion for something that transcends materialism – but which defines their lives. (This doesn’t mean that the driven folk ignore money – but rather that they see it as a measure of how well they’re doing the stuff that they want to do.)

Which brings me to the point. If you’re in your business just for the money, take a step back. It’s a bad reason. It’s a bit like being captain of your own ship, but you get seasick every time you set out to sea. That’s bad enough on a calm day when the southern breezes blow and the mermaids beckon. It’s a heck of a lot worse when Force 10 gales whip your sails into a frenzy and the parrot gets blown right off your shoulder me matey. And don’t even think about the Yo Ho Ho and the bottle of rum.

Every penny you earn will be hard work, because your business will be a demanding mistress, and you have won’t too much in the line of free time to go ballooning or launching InterGalactic airlines. The Bible even has a few words of value on this subject, and I have stretched the bounds of poetic licence to make my point: Better to live out in the desert than with a nagging, complaining wife/husband. (Good News Bible Proverbs 21:19 with some political correction.)

That’s how close each of us is to our business. We eat, sleep and drink it. Whenever you think we’re listening to you, we’re probably thinking about the technical problem we had earlier today. (We have learned to make appropriate noises whenever you stop for breath.) When we go to the movies to watch James Bond we’re either dreaming of how we can use all those cool gadgets to make our own stuff work better (those of us who’re in the driven, passionate fringe) or we’re wondering how we can use those same cool toys to eliminate all our really bad clients (those of us not enjoying the journey).

Of all the folk that I meet in business (and that would be quite a few) the most successful are either having so much fun that the money doesn’t matter. It’s about as meaningful as watching the Springboks play rugby. You can get distressed at the result of the day – but you have so much fun watching (or playing) that you’ll be back next week. (There is a vague chance that they might win against the English, after all, who have lost 7 in a row.)

There are some folk who are absolutely not having fun right now, and their solution is to prepare the beast for sale and get the heck out – and they usually do pretty well as well – because they have a focus.

But most of the folk I meet are doing something that they’d rather not do. They’re doing it ‘for the money’, and that’s a bad reason because this journey is not a dress rehearsal. This, my dear friend, is the live performance – without the benefit of a practive run. That’s what makes it so much fun. And that’s why you cannot afford to waste it just chasing money.

Do what you love, and enough money will flow to make it worthwhile. (That’s because no matter what you love doing – no matter how esoteric, weird, or extreme – the Internet will help you find enough like-minded souls to ensure that you’re never lonely. Nor hungry.)