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Renew
Online
You may now renew your annual membership dues online. Annual dues are $45.00.
By Stephen Ingle, Wordco
What is “freedom” and what is “work”? Let’s look at the following
story to give us a clue.
Once upon a time, a retired Fortune 500 CEO was traveling through
the Greek islands on vacation. In a picturesque village on one of
the smaller islands, overlooking the azure-blue sea, the CEO came
upon a couple of fishermen coming in to shore on their 15-foot boat,
with what was obviously a successful day’s catch.
“Excuse me,” said the CEO, “do you catch that many fish every day?”
“Oh yes,” responded the elder fisherman, “we only fish for two
hours; there’s a lot more fish where these came from.”
“Do you realize,” inquired the CEO, “if you fished for just six
hours a day, you could sell the extra fish you don’t need and put
the money aside. Eventually, you could buy a bigger boat and hire
another fisherman. With a bigger boat and crew, you could eventually
catch many, many more fish every day. By selling them, and investing
the profit, in a few years you could buy more boats, hire more
employees, and build an office on shore from which you could manage
your operation. Imagine, if you started spreading your business over
all the Greek islands, you could be making tons and tons of money.”
“Why do I need that money?,” responded the fisherman.
The CEO, sensing a lack of communication, responded: “Well, you’d be
able to retire at an early age, of course! Like me! You wouldn’t
have to work anymore. You would have the freedom to do what you
want. You could enjoy time with your family, you could spend a
couple of hours a day working if you so chose, and you could relax
every evening with your friends.”
“But that is exactly what I do now,” said the fisherman.
The CEO became confused and muttered something about “these people
will never get it,” before heading back to his hotel.
Obviously the CEO was right about one thing: there is a lack of
communication. In the CEO’s world, success is measured by “freedom”
(i.e., so-called “financial freedom”), but this freedom comes only
after years of struggling in the competitive jungle, emerging on top
with the biggest salary, pension plan, power title, or whatever,
before leaving the jungle to really enjoy your “freedom.” From the
fisherman’s point of view, he already had his freedom, and saw no
need to take the CEO’s convoluted path, simply to return to where he
started.
In a way, both are right. In the real world (Connecticut, 2004),
most of us have to “work” for a living and make money to survive.
The life of the fisherman may seem idyllic, but hardly possible for
most of us in this economy.
However, as individuals, we are naturally drawn to freedom. And as
small business owners, we have made a conscious choice to risk the
“comfort” of a guaranteed paycheck to enjoy the freedom of setting
our own goals and our own schedule. Most of us enjoy having this
kind of control, and we enjoy doing the kind of work that we choose
to do.
I would like to end this article with a few questions. How do you
strike a balance between freedom and financial success in your
business? What is your ultimate goal in your business and life? How
much “freedom” are you willing to sacrifice for success down the
road?
Let’s address these and other questions at our next meeting.