One hour drive to work. Get to work. Boss can’t assign priorities. Hope his wife wasn’t mean to him before he got to the office. Yes sir, ok sir, right away sir. One hour drive home. 11 hours all in. 40K a year. That’s the reality of entry level white collar work, I’ve lived it, it sucks, but do not despair.
Great piece Mike! I upgraded to a paid subscriber just so I could comment on this excellent post. Sorry for the long comment, but just wanted to echo your advice here and share my experience.
The money line for me in this article is this: "[R]ead a lot of books, go to the gym, hike and THINK." Pascal is credited with saying that "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." It took me 50 years to figure out what he meant.
I grew up in a blue collar town. Worked my ass off to become a corporate lawyer, chasing money. I was miserable so I started a company. Grew it for five years, had some success and then burned out. My physical and spiritual health was a mess. Covid hit and I barely got out alive (not from Covid, but from all of the stress and anxiety of trying to save my business).
Back to practicing law. After more than 20 years helping other people build and sell their businesses - whether for a couple of million or tens of millions - I've learned one thing. Money truly will not make you happy. Who you are before you "hit it big" is who you will be as soon as the wire hits your account. If you haven't figured out who you are before then, look out.
I have four kids who are all teenagers now. Before my eldest turned 13 I wrote a book for my kids with all of the advice I wish someone would have given me when I turned 13 and started my path to becoming a man. I took each of them on a trip anywhere in the US....just the two of us. Nothing fancy. Just a few days away together to celebrate them and try to pour into them as they entered adulthood (and, by the way, 13 used to mark the beginning of adulthood in many cultures). Those trips probably cost me less than $25k - combined - over 6 years. Based on the way I grew up, that's a lot of money. But in the grand scheme of things? A drop in the bucket and something my kids and I will share forever.
Now I prioritize relationships, my health and experiences. I hike and lift every day. My wife and I are happier together than we've ever been. Our kids love hanging out with us and come to us for advice. We're pouring into them with everything we have, and our money is the least of it.
I live every day now pondering this Dallas Willard quote: "You are an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe." If you really chew on that for a while, you start to realize that money and everything that comes with it is fleeting. I woke up one day and realized I was missing the true gold right in front of me because I never learned to "sit quietly in a room alone, and think."
Young guys reading Mike's post....he's absolutely right. Focus on developing your character. Figure out who you are. The rest will follow and you'll be a much better man for it!
Well said, Mike! The part that really resonated with me is the one about deciding when enough is enough. Do you “lever up” or not? My husband and I had our first child in March. He’s also building an incredible business right now. I’m staying at home with our son, and I will stay at home with the future children we have. Yet he and I both agree that we are in what our business school mentor would call “the warrior years.” He wants to be done with this particular venture within five years because it’s been very grinding. We know it’s important to continue down this path for now. But there will be other opportunities to grow within this particular venture. The question is: what’s the opportunity cost of pursuing that growth? At what point is it not worth it to pursue those avenues when it means having less time to spend with our growing family? Life is certainly a game of opportunity costs. So much to consider from your post. Thanks for writing it!
"Mercenary" - Get the most money for the least effort. There are good and bad deals at all pay rates.
Being in tech, my friends went for the most prestigious and high paying jobs (eg FAANG). I took mid-market job. Thought I was being clever and would have more time for side biz.
2yr later I make half as much as them and really don't have any more free time. Some weeks I have less. Mistake
Thanks for the book recommendation Cerno. I have a 30-40 min commute currently and I just started a side hussle. I also just purchased the audio book you recommended so I’ll be putting that commute time to good use! Someday I’ll have my mountain too, with horses and a biodynamic farm.
I joined Teach For American out of college and have been working in public schools ever since. Being around kids is a buffer from the cruelty and insanity of the real world, and leads me to be more optimistic than I would be otherise. Top of most teacher's salary guides is around $100K which used to be something before Bidenflation. Sometimes I regret not scraping it out in the private sector, but mostly I'm content with the life I've led helping kids.
I own a staffing company and pay triple commission for the same work and I present this w numbers to prospects...."work here and make 100k more" type message. 99 pct stay put in the jail. I think people like to complain but have no interest in changing. It's a form of Stockholm Syndrome.
I turned 40 this year.... I do ok financially. I'm in an unusual position of having a fairly modest salary but extremely low outgoings (maybe spend $1000 per month, TOTAL). Still.... could've used this advice when I was younger.... I was a bit like the girl in the video... would work a bit... travel.... study... repeat...
Now I have a 2 year old boy.... my priorities have 180'd.... gotta make sure he suffers no traumas and this means gotta be financially stable..... save for this and that but, I gotta admit, I am a bit worried that its late in the game for me. I know I can do alright and he'll be ok.... but just wish I'd had this advice drilled into me earlier...
At least I can do my best to give my boy a fighting mindset....
Great piece Mike! I upgraded to a paid subscriber just so I could comment on this excellent post. Sorry for the long comment, but just wanted to echo your advice here and share my experience.
The money line for me in this article is this: "[R]ead a lot of books, go to the gym, hike and THINK." Pascal is credited with saying that "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." It took me 50 years to figure out what he meant.
I grew up in a blue collar town. Worked my ass off to become a corporate lawyer, chasing money. I was miserable so I started a company. Grew it for five years, had some success and then burned out. My physical and spiritual health was a mess. Covid hit and I barely got out alive (not from Covid, but from all of the stress and anxiety of trying to save my business).
Back to practicing law. After more than 20 years helping other people build and sell their businesses - whether for a couple of million or tens of millions - I've learned one thing. Money truly will not make you happy. Who you are before you "hit it big" is who you will be as soon as the wire hits your account. If you haven't figured out who you are before then, look out.
I have four kids who are all teenagers now. Before my eldest turned 13 I wrote a book for my kids with all of the advice I wish someone would have given me when I turned 13 and started my path to becoming a man. I took each of them on a trip anywhere in the US....just the two of us. Nothing fancy. Just a few days away together to celebrate them and try to pour into them as they entered adulthood (and, by the way, 13 used to mark the beginning of adulthood in many cultures). Those trips probably cost me less than $25k - combined - over 6 years. Based on the way I grew up, that's a lot of money. But in the grand scheme of things? A drop in the bucket and something my kids and I will share forever.
Now I prioritize relationships, my health and experiences. I hike and lift every day. My wife and I are happier together than we've ever been. Our kids love hanging out with us and come to us for advice. We're pouring into them with everything we have, and our money is the least of it.
I live every day now pondering this Dallas Willard quote: "You are an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe." If you really chew on that for a while, you start to realize that money and everything that comes with it is fleeting. I woke up one day and realized I was missing the true gold right in front of me because I never learned to "sit quietly in a room alone, and think."
Young guys reading Mike's post....he's absolutely right. Focus on developing your character. Figure out who you are. The rest will follow and you'll be a much better man for it!
Cerno, I am at my first soul sucking corporate job as I leave this comment. Thank you.
Well said, Mike! The part that really resonated with me is the one about deciding when enough is enough. Do you “lever up” or not? My husband and I had our first child in March. He’s also building an incredible business right now. I’m staying at home with our son, and I will stay at home with the future children we have. Yet he and I both agree that we are in what our business school mentor would call “the warrior years.” He wants to be done with this particular venture within five years because it’s been very grinding. We know it’s important to continue down this path for now. But there will be other opportunities to grow within this particular venture. The question is: what’s the opportunity cost of pursuing that growth? At what point is it not worth it to pursue those avenues when it means having less time to spend with our growing family? Life is certainly a game of opportunity costs. So much to consider from your post. Thanks for writing it!
"Mercenary" - Get the most money for the least effort. There are good and bad deals at all pay rates.
Being in tech, my friends went for the most prestigious and high paying jobs (eg FAANG). I took mid-market job. Thought I was being clever and would have more time for side biz.
2yr later I make half as much as them and really don't have any more free time. Some weeks I have less. Mistake
Thanks for the book recommendation Cerno. I have a 30-40 min commute currently and I just started a side hussle. I also just purchased the audio book you recommended so I’ll be putting that commute time to good use! Someday I’ll have my mountain too, with horses and a biodynamic farm.
How about this, make your money and credit work for you. Work smart not hard.
I joined Teach For American out of college and have been working in public schools ever since. Being around kids is a buffer from the cruelty and insanity of the real world, and leads me to be more optimistic than I would be otherise. Top of most teacher's salary guides is around $100K which used to be something before Bidenflation. Sometimes I regret not scraping it out in the private sector, but mostly I'm content with the life I've led helping kids.
I own a staffing company and pay triple commission for the same work and I present this w numbers to prospects...."work here and make 100k more" type message. 99 pct stay put in the jail. I think people like to complain but have no interest in changing. It's a form of Stockholm Syndrome.
I turned 40 this year.... I do ok financially. I'm in an unusual position of having a fairly modest salary but extremely low outgoings (maybe spend $1000 per month, TOTAL). Still.... could've used this advice when I was younger.... I was a bit like the girl in the video... would work a bit... travel.... study... repeat...
Now I have a 2 year old boy.... my priorities have 180'd.... gotta make sure he suffers no traumas and this means gotta be financially stable..... save for this and that but, I gotta admit, I am a bit worried that its late in the game for me. I know I can do alright and he'll be ok.... but just wish I'd had this advice drilled into me earlier...
At least I can do my best to give my boy a fighting mindset....
Cheers Mike