Acting authentically on your purpose will forever be the “ultimate flex”.
“Money isn’t the goal. There are miserable people with a lot of material.
(Complete) Freedom isn’t the goal. People with no obligations to themselves or others live miserable lives.
Fulfillment is the goal. Having a purpose and being in control of how you act on that purpose is the goal.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
I’ve been in the S&C business as an owner operator for 12 years. I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was 12 years old. I’ve never had a job in my life where I worked for somebody else. I’ve never had a schedule somebody gave me, and I’ve never not been in charge of my own income. I’ve never got to camp on the clock. Not one day of my whole life.
I say this not to brag, but because I understand my path, while not special and one I’d not recommend for many, is likely atypical. I recognize my situation may be different than yours, but I just aim to share what I’ve learned along the way in my own story.
There is a lot of excitement and positivity to entrepreneurship, but also a lot of stress, fear, and negatives.
Stress, fear, and negatives that to this day, have and never will go away. I call them entrepreneurial fuel.
From 18-25, I was all about making money & proving you wrong. This guy you “thought would never make it” is making it. That “little gym he’s got going?” I was ready to show you my life was way more successful and valuable than yours.
I did well, but then I figured out, nobody cares.
In my mid-20’s, I started getting burnt out. Working 100+ hour weeks on your own with no help will do that to you.
I was making money, investing, buying trucks, houses, and all the stuff (mind you, still below my means) but something was missing.
I wasn’t a business owner, I was a slave to my business, it owned me and I didn’t even know it.
Then I shifted to the polar opposite end of the spectrum, all I wanted was freedom. I was ready to move to a remote cabin in the woods, run online businesses and have limited in-person interaction.
Until a mentor shot me down and helped me unpack my confused brain.
You see it wasn’t money I was after. It wasn’t “complete freedom” I was after, either. I’d have been miserable 6 months into living like a recluse.
What I was really after was fulfillment and to be in control of my purpose. I just didn’t know it.
I learned that this was only possible by building a team around me and delegating tasks appropriately.
This didn’t remove hardship from my life, but it mitigated my burnout and increased my bandwidth to dive deeper into action on my purpose.
I found out, that’s the goal.
