Are you building to live?
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel has been on my reading list for a long time, and I was not disappointed when I finally got to it. It’s a series of short stories exploring the often strange ways people think about money and decisions we make around it.
Chapter 7, ‘Freedom’ is focused on the stance that ‘controlling your time is the highest dividend money pays’. Housel shares a story from the book 30 Lessons for Living where gerontologist Karl Pillemer interviewed a thousand elderly Americans to ask them about their most important life lessons.
- Not a single one said you should work as hard as you can to make money and buy things.
- Not a single one said it was important to be at least as wealthy as the people around you.
- Not a single one said you should choose your work based on your desired future earning power.
They valued quality friendships, being part of something bigger than themselves and quality time with their children. The advice essentially distilled down to: ’Your kids (if you choose to have them) don’t want your money (or what your money buys) anywhere near as much as they want you.”
That hit me in the heart.
And then it reminded me of something.
When I surveyed over 200 agency founders from my network earlier this year, asking them
“What is your personal definition of success?”, the answers were heartwarming and beautifully surprising.
“A well-balanced life where I have quality time to spend on family/friends, personal pursuits and professional ambitions, all without compromise.”
“Freedom to spend time with my kids, watch them grow up and support them as they develop into amazing people.”
“Profit but not at the expense of health or family. Being busy with projects that are both challenging and stimulating.”
“Creating a legacy – something meaningful that benefits others. Enjoying what you do and being able to generate an income that has a positive impact on your mental health. Never waking up at 2am or getting out of bed dreading the day ahead.”
“Joy, gratitude and contentment.”
“Having enough money to enjoy my life without having to stress about how I make that money.”
Beautifully surprising as not a single one of the 50 responses I received named ‘exit’ as their measure of success. They wanted to create something meaningful – a legacy, they want freedom and time with their friends or family.
Right now, none of my clients are striving for exit. They are all highly ambitious, have growth mindsets, but they’re focused on building to live – having a good life-work blend, earning a good, sustainable income and focusing on gaining quality time.
Gareth Hoyle didn’t build an agency with exit in mind. He didn’t build Marketing Signals and then try to retrospectively fit it around his life. He defined his Founder Success Criteria, then built a 20-person lifestyle agency. A fully remote team, working a four-day, 32-hour working week, turning over £2million.
You can listen to his story on the Lifestyle is a Plan podcast now.
Lifestyle agencies are modelled in a way they deliver you a continuous healthy salary, over underpaying yourself and reinvesting profits for growth. There’s absolutely a time and place for that strategy if you’re pushing for fast growth and exit, but the exit value needs to be pretty high to offset the years of sacrificed salary. And honestly, that day may never come – as according to Ali Newton-Temperley’s book Agency Exits 96% of agencies never sell.
So let me ask you a question: What are the things your life has to have, to make it the best it can be? And what is your personal definition of success?
Is it freedom?
Is it balance? (I prefer blend)
Is it legacy?
And if your answer is strikingly different from your reality?
Then it’s time to take action and make a big change.