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Lesson, #8 – Appreciate now.
Well it’s coming up to 15 months since we landed back on New Zealand’s pristine shores. What can I say it’s been one hell of a ride. The business has continued to thrive, we have expanded and now trade in New Zealand as well as Australia. The key appointments I made in Australia have proved to be the lynch pin holding the delicate process of running a new company from afar together. We are now strong enough to continue uninterrupted even if those personnel were to break away.
Based on the 100 fastest growing companies published in Australia, we would rank in the top 20 which gives me a real sense of satisfaction.
I have kept true to my original business criteria and that is to maintain low overheads and startup costs, have a highly automated business that is easily scalable. The local version of Ebay here in New Zealand sold for $700m and they only had 50 staff. This is where I envision taking our group of companies. By industry standards which are in line with where I would value our company, puts its value in the 8 figures range, I will continue to chase that ninth digit.
We purchased what I think is an amazing $2m home on the water in a nice secluded area where we can enjoy all the trappings and space. I’ve been fortunate enough of course to realise a childhood dream and purchase a Lamborghini Murcielago with cash, flat to stack - paper pride. I have stayed away from finance as a personal preference after feeling the crippling weight of debt in the past. We still choose to live a relatively conservative lifestyle financially, and I still squirrel away money as a back up although it’s no longer six figures but seven.
The freedom to be able to live without the worry of money troubles has been a really great feeling, being able to help close family when their backs are against the wall. I am still with my girl and we will chalk up 10 years in June, that’s right let’s hear it…ooorrrrrrr
This has all been an amazing reward and I never lose the intensity of satisfaction or appreciation for this new lifestyle we can afford ourselves. I still on occasion just as I did from the day we moved in, stand in the middle of our home and without consciously preempting the action just put both my arms in the air as my own moment of victory.
Since being able to live a more financially abundant life I have found myself realising that money alone isn’t the holy grail that we sometimes think it is when we don’t have it. I guess it’s the fact that when we don’t have it and things in our lives aren’t going well it can easily turn into this perceived missing link that “if only we had money everything would be okâ€.
I’ve started to look around me and really notice that our quality of life is all relative. I encourage you to watch what I think is an amazing movie, it’s called The Castle and is a low budget Australian film. It’s about a guy who lives in a very small house right next to the airport, the planes land almost on his roof, it would be fair to say they are a basic family with a modest home.
This guy is just the happiest guy on earth, he loves his home and his family and nothing bothers him. Then on the other hand I see extremely wealthy businessmen and successful actors and performers who are miserable. One of the most successful stock brokers in Australia Renee Rifkin committed suicide when I was living in Australia. They have all the money they could spend and this is where they are. If the Father from the castle and any one of these extremely wealthy people died tomorrow and arrived at the pearly gates of heaven, who would have lived the most enjoyable, satisfying and fulfilling life?
I believe the key to our maintained enjoyment of life is our gratitude and appreciation for what we have, both possessions and relationships. I try to remember the past so I can appreciate the now and look forward to the future. Every time I drive my Murci I get a rush from every angle, the amazing rush from the car itself, the intense satisfaction of my journey to acquire it and the feeling of pride to be seen in it. I never want to lose that because that is the heart of my enjoyment, if I lose any of those elements I start to lose what is to me the real life value of the car, it then just becomes a car that sits in the garage that I show people and then try and desperately feed off their excitement hoping to regain what I once had but lost.
I’m not wanting to preach some self titled eternal wisdom here, this is just my final lesson in this stage of my life and if you’ve found value in my journey to this point I simply make the assumption that you may too find value in the distinctions I’ve made since achieving a degree of wealth. I’m sure everyone takes a different view of the world this is just mine.
I’m still relatively young at 28 years and certainly don’t have all the answers but maybe I have some. Be assured I’ve always got a lot more questions than I do answers. I’m happy to follow those that can teach and lead those that can listen.
I guess the point of where I’m going with this is that not everyone can be wealthy in a financial sense, but everyone can live an equally fulfilling, happy and enjoyable life.
Because people don’t have money I believe they don’t concentrate on being happy because they think that if they had money they would automatically live happily ever after and thus live their life on lotto tickets and if only’s.
But don’t get me wrong, wealth is a legitimate and worthy goal to pursue, and if you want it bad enough you will find it in even the darkest corners of hardship. Just don’t let it be a condition on your right to enjoy life now, because that is a right I believe we are all inherently bestowed.
I must also say thank you for your interest in my story. It has helped me recapture the focus that brought me to this point and I am excited to harness that again in the new chapters and the new lessons of my life. Of course everything till now has simply been an apprenticeship for me, it now gives me credibility in the business world, on the world stage of business I have only just begun, it is 9am on the Monday morning of potential and let me tell you that this is a working week I’ve been looking forward to all my life.
I’ve enjoyed the road to this point and every experience really has been a lesson in one form or another, I’m happy to help people with advise based on my experiences if someone asks me for it. I don’t often mention stories from where I have come, to be honest when people ask me what they need to do to achieve wealth, I sometimes wonder if they are really ready for the answer.
So now when I pull up in my Murcielago at a restaurant or café or even just to get gas and someone says with hope in their voice, “how can you afford that?â€
I just smile and with a curious smirk politely reply “where would I begin?â€
When looking back I have to admit that it isn’t a course of events that I would want to repeat anytime soon, but it’s an initiation than many of us will have to complete. I believe there is a natural law of selection when it comes to opening the treasure chest, while others can give you a map, everyone must go in search of their own key.
Well it’s coming up to 15 months since we landed back on New Zealand’s pristine shores. What can I say it’s been one hell of a ride. The business has continued to thrive, we have expanded and now trade in New Zealand as well as Australia. The key appointments I made in Australia have proved to be the lynch pin holding the delicate process of running a new company from afar together. We are now strong enough to continue uninterrupted even if those personnel were to break away.
Based on the 100 fastest growing companies published in Australia, we would rank in the top 20 which gives me a real sense of satisfaction.
I have kept true to my original business criteria and that is to maintain low overheads and startup costs, have a highly automated business that is easily scalable. The local version of Ebay here in New Zealand sold for $700m and they only had 50 staff. This is where I envision taking our group of companies. By industry standards which are in line with where I would value our company, puts its value in the 8 figures range, I will continue to chase that ninth digit.
We purchased what I think is an amazing $2m home on the water in a nice secluded area where we can enjoy all the trappings and space. I’ve been fortunate enough of course to realise a childhood dream and purchase a Lamborghini Murcielago with cash, flat to stack - paper pride. I have stayed away from finance as a personal preference after feeling the crippling weight of debt in the past. We still choose to live a relatively conservative lifestyle financially, and I still squirrel away money as a back up although it’s no longer six figures but seven.
The freedom to be able to live without the worry of money troubles has been a really great feeling, being able to help close family when their backs are against the wall. I am still with my girl and we will chalk up 10 years in June, that’s right let’s hear it…ooorrrrrrr
This has all been an amazing reward and I never lose the intensity of satisfaction or appreciation for this new lifestyle we can afford ourselves. I still on occasion just as I did from the day we moved in, stand in the middle of our home and without consciously preempting the action just put both my arms in the air as my own moment of victory.
Since being able to live a more financially abundant life I have found myself realising that money alone isn’t the holy grail that we sometimes think it is when we don’t have it. I guess it’s the fact that when we don’t have it and things in our lives aren’t going well it can easily turn into this perceived missing link that “if only we had money everything would be okâ€.
I’ve started to look around me and really notice that our quality of life is all relative. I encourage you to watch what I think is an amazing movie, it’s called The Castle and is a low budget Australian film. It’s about a guy who lives in a very small house right next to the airport, the planes land almost on his roof, it would be fair to say they are a basic family with a modest home.
This guy is just the happiest guy on earth, he loves his home and his family and nothing bothers him. Then on the other hand I see extremely wealthy businessmen and successful actors and performers who are miserable. One of the most successful stock brokers in Australia Renee Rifkin committed suicide when I was living in Australia. They have all the money they could spend and this is where they are. If the Father from the castle and any one of these extremely wealthy people died tomorrow and arrived at the pearly gates of heaven, who would have lived the most enjoyable, satisfying and fulfilling life?
I believe the key to our maintained enjoyment of life is our gratitude and appreciation for what we have, both possessions and relationships. I try to remember the past so I can appreciate the now and look forward to the future. Every time I drive my Murci I get a rush from every angle, the amazing rush from the car itself, the intense satisfaction of my journey to acquire it and the feeling of pride to be seen in it. I never want to lose that because that is the heart of my enjoyment, if I lose any of those elements I start to lose what is to me the real life value of the car, it then just becomes a car that sits in the garage that I show people and then try and desperately feed off their excitement hoping to regain what I once had but lost.
I’m not wanting to preach some self titled eternal wisdom here, this is just my final lesson in this stage of my life and if you’ve found value in my journey to this point I simply make the assumption that you may too find value in the distinctions I’ve made since achieving a degree of wealth. I’m sure everyone takes a different view of the world this is just mine.
I’m still relatively young at 28 years and certainly don’t have all the answers but maybe I have some. Be assured I’ve always got a lot more questions than I do answers. I’m happy to follow those that can teach and lead those that can listen.
I guess the point of where I’m going with this is that not everyone can be wealthy in a financial sense, but everyone can live an equally fulfilling, happy and enjoyable life.
Because people don’t have money I believe they don’t concentrate on being happy because they think that if they had money they would automatically live happily ever after and thus live their life on lotto tickets and if only’s.
But don’t get me wrong, wealth is a legitimate and worthy goal to pursue, and if you want it bad enough you will find it in even the darkest corners of hardship. Just don’t let it be a condition on your right to enjoy life now, because that is a right I believe we are all inherently bestowed.
I must also say thank you for your interest in my story. It has helped me recapture the focus that brought me to this point and I am excited to harness that again in the new chapters and the new lessons of my life. Of course everything till now has simply been an apprenticeship for me, it now gives me credibility in the business world, on the world stage of business I have only just begun, it is 9am on the Monday morning of potential and let me tell you that this is a working week I’ve been looking forward to all my life.
I’ve enjoyed the road to this point and every experience really has been a lesson in one form or another, I’m happy to help people with advise based on my experiences if someone asks me for it. I don’t often mention stories from where I have come, to be honest when people ask me what they need to do to achieve wealth, I sometimes wonder if they are really ready for the answer.
So now when I pull up in my Murcielago at a restaurant or café or even just to get gas and someone says with hope in their voice, “how can you afford that?â€
I just smile and with a curious smirk politely reply “where would I begin?â€
When looking back I have to admit that it isn’t a course of events that I would want to repeat anytime soon, but it’s an initiation than many of us will have to complete. I believe there is a natural law of selection when it comes to opening the treasure chest, while others can give you a map, everyone must go in search of their own key.