So The Guru Says To The Native . . .
One day, a business guru took a vacation to a beautiful tropical island. While he was there, he met a native islander and the two started talking.
“What do you do around here?” asked the guru.
“Well, I lay around in my hammock for a while. Then I play with my kids. I drink coconut milk. And I fish on the beach to feed my family,” said the native.
“Really?” asked the guru. “How much time do you spend fishing?”
“About an hour a day,” said the native.
“And you’re able to feed your whole family that way? That’s great!” said the guru. “Well I can teach you how to build a very successful fishing business so you can be rich.”
“Really?” asked the native. “How could I do that?”
“Well, since you’re already catching so many fish working just an hour a day, you could work 6 hours a day instead. That way you’d catch enough fish to sell back to the mainland. And with the money you make from that, you could buy a boat, get your family to help out, and catch more fish. And with that money, you could buy another boat, hire some other natives to help out, and catch even MORE fish!” said the guru.
“That sounds great!” said the native. “Then what?”
“After 10 years of this, you’d have an established business and you could sell stock in your company for millions of dollars. With that investment money, you could buy more equipment and hire more help and grow your business even bigger!” The guru was really getting excited now.
“Boy! Millions of dollars, huh? Then what?” asked the native.
“In another 10 years you’d have the most successful fishing business in the region and you could sell your stock in the company for a 100 million dollars…” And at that, the guru stopped and looked a little embarrassed.
The native said, “Go on…then what would I do?”
“You’d take the 100 million dollars….”
“Yeah?”
“…and retire to a tropical island where you’d lay in a hammock, play with your grandkids, drink coconut milk and fish on the beach.”
The moral of the story is that the business you build shouldn’t be just another job. Build a business that you can have fun with every day, not just 20 years from now.
Enjoy The Journey!
- Daniel Joseph Moran
