Puff Daddy once said about his succes, that most people, if they knew what it entailed, would not want it. Being away from home for weeks, working 14-18 hour days, to dealing with laywers, CEO’s, accountants, artists, managers etc..
It struck me as some cliche rich folks tell. Turns out he was right. Kind of. I just could not see it. Blinded by the lights, as the song goes.
We see him party, spend money, carry bling and have all the girls. All wish to be him. But..not the entire him. Just the guy on the red carpet. Sexy money.
Which brings me to…me…and you.
Sexy or money. Time to choose.
Going after the first could mean you will have some great experiences, read great stuff, end up discussing the future of businesses, even may mean you will advice companies, go to Cannes to collect some awards and party like rockstars.
Scoping it out, it may mean you get to go to TED to listen to great men of action, dance at presidential inaugurations, participate in celebrity telethons for humanitarian causes.
Going after money means the opposite. Accepting accolades, being sworn in, speaking at TED, being the face of a cause. Only after you have achieved something. Or failing without anybody ever noticing, or worse: failing in the public eye.
I guess most of us want sexy money. We humans are like that. But if we admit that, let’s admit something else: It is not going to happen, until we choose to be/get money first. To make things happen, earn that success. Until we go out and do shit.
So…there is this idea for a business. Getting more and more concrete. Operational progress is being made. Commercial success lurks around the corner. Might be good, might not.
Only one way to find out.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Rob @ Cynic // Mar 1, 2010 at 10:57 am
I love this post … don’t know if I agree with all of it, but it’s certainly true of people in certain industries – often the ones with the least commercially minded people in it, ha!
2 niko // Mar 1, 2010 at 11:25 am
it is not just about being commercial minded, it is about being action orientated.
Brainstorming is sexy money. Money is going out and proving your idea makes sense/cents.
As for you agreeing with me, hell…freeze…over
3 Age // Mar 2, 2010 at 12:01 am
Nice post.
Friends of mine were actually talking about something similar recently; that when you’re young and in highschool there comes a time when you grow up and realise that life is fucking hard, and some of those aspirations you may of had (naivity) about success dont come as easy as maybe you’d hoped. You start wondering how the hell your parents did it, or why there are so few Ferrari’s driving around the street.
A few of my friends still think (more hope) it’s possible to get rich easy, but that’s just not true. Everyone that makes that cash works hard for that cash. At least for me, once I saw this, I realised that maybe having all that dough and sacrificing so many other things just isn’t as aspirational as it once seemed. I guess in the end you just want a “good” life, it ain’t sexy, but there is nothing wrong with good.
4 niko // Mar 2, 2010 at 12:43 am
Age, people want to look sexy while they do something AND get the money at the end.
Call it Dutch football syndrome. Gotta play with flair and win. Or as Gullit called it, sexy footbal..
That only happens once in a blue moon (Brazil 1970)…mostly the Dutch fail..in style. Where as the Italians, Germans and even Brazilians just settle for the trophy..
And you are right, nothing wrong with “good life”, just be honest about it. Makes living easier…
But most of all, try. Really give it a go. Who knows, it might just work out after all..
If I had told this skinny Italian kid 45 years he was gonna live a good life in Australia and raise a family that did not endure his poverty and struggle, I bet he would not have believed me.
Guess what Age….
5 Age // Mar 2, 2010 at 4:46 am
Too true.
I guess what I’ll add is I agree that it’s important to try, but it’s also equally important to understand that the sexy money is not always the “best” kinda money. To keep the football analogy going, it’s like when Italy won the World Cup in 06… they fucking tried, forgetting about sexy, and it was enough to bring them glory. I guess in the end, if I know i gave it a red hot go and could say the good times outweighed the bad, then I dont need the sexy money. Sick post dude.
6 Rob Mortimer // Mar 6, 2010 at 3:31 pm
I guess people often muddle up sexy money with easy money. I dont object to people going after either, it takes all of us to make the world! Nice post.
7 eaon // Mar 15, 2010 at 3:22 pm
there’s a bit in hugh macleods book about this.
he says theres some work you do for money, some you do for ’sex’.
Not confusing one with the other is the trick.
And doing a bit of both.
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