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Don’t Strive to Be Rich
Posted by Scott on 19th October, 2007 | 64 commentsWith so many “make money online” blogs it seems that people are really into striking it rich and they think that getting rich will make them so very happy. Big houses, fast cars and all that. I did cash out in ‘99 when I sold my sites to EarthWeb, Inc., and got quite a windfall at the time, but most of that was eaten up by the dot com crash. I’ve done far better with my business since then than I did when I sold my site.
Flying from New York to San Francisco in EarthWeb’s chartered Gulfstream V (the flight cost EarthWeb $22,000 one way!) in Mid 1999 following the deal signing:
But, that sudden windfall gave me an amazing insight into quick wealth and its impact on a person. It was overwhelming and not in a good way. I found myself moving from a $700/mo apartment in Portland to a big $5,000/mo rental house in Sausalito, CA with a spectacular view of the SF Bay, but all that change all at once made me lose my sense of identity. I’d wake up every morning and not feel the same as I used to, I didn’t like the new me. But I did think that I was set for life. Then, the dot com crash came along and poof. I wasn’t poor, but I wasn’t retiring anytime soon, either. I say that getting sudden wealth and having it evaporate was the best thing that ever happened to me. It gave me a very healthy respect for money, it made me take stock of what’s important and what I really care about. And although it didn’t make me into a cheapskate, it did make me care about saving and investing.
Sunset View from my Sausalito, CA home in mid-1999:
Since then, I’ve earned money the old fashioned way (as old fashioned as owning an Internet business can be, anyway), working hard and slowly growing my business to produce seven figures in annual revenues. I live well but I save and invest as much as I can. I feel so much more proud of what I’ve built over the past 7 years than I do about selling my SysOpt.com site in ‘99. It’s not that I’m not proud of SysOpt or that I didn’t work hard to build that site, but the payout was just nuts and disproportional to what I had built. Now, I feel like I have built a very solid, profitable company, and I feel like I have earned every penny.
I see people striving to be rich though, striving for big houses, striving for fast cars and I feel sad for them because I know that none of those things will make them happy. I work every day from my home and always have. I don’t have an office and I don’t have a commute (well, I do have a 50 foot commute). I set my hours, decide when to work and when not to, I travel a lot, and I eat dinner out in nice restaurants several times a week. I have lots of time to spend with my friends and family. In my opinion, that’s the stuff of happiness. That’s the stuff that we should all be striving for. The freedom to do as we please, take risks in our businesses, pursue our passions and our dreams every single day of our very short lives, and not waste one minute taking orders from some pinhead corporate goon of a boss.
Saving money, investing (diversify!), doing well with your business, will build wealth that you can live on and retire on. It will get you closer to freedom. But striving to be rich so you can sit and do nothing, or striving to have a big house and a big car, just isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. When you get a BMW 3-series, you’ll want a 5 series. When you get a nice 2,000 sqft house with a neighborhood view, in a couple years you’ll want a 3,000 sqft house with a view of the mountains. That’s human nature: to never be content, always adapting, always wanting more. That’s not a bad thing as long as you realize that you’ll never satisfy your desire to want more, so don’t kid yourself. Wanting something and dreaming about it is so much more fun than actually getting it. And working, solving challenges every day and doing what you love, is so much more fun than sitting in front of the TV.
‘99 was Web 1.0 for sure, but look out, Web 2.0 promises to repeat history. If you find yourself faced with a sudden windfall, a buyout offer, do keep my thoughts in mind.
So go forth and prosper, but keep everything in perspective. If you love what you do and you keep at it, you’ll get there. Don’t let failure and setbacks derail you from your goals. If we never failed and we were always accustomed to success, then we would never be able to enjoy the contrast of success over failure. The Internet offers amazing opportunities for everyday people (like myself) to quit their day jobs and live well and with the right ideas and hard work, you’ll build an empire over time that will change your life. Through this blog, I hope to give you advice and tips every day, based on my 13 years of experience building and growing profitable websites, that you can put into action and help you reach your goals.
Related Reading:
- Why Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness [Newsweek]
- Curse of the Lottery Winners [ABC News]
- 8 Lottery Winners Who Lost Their Millions [MSN]
- Sudden Wealth Syndrome [The Boston Globe]
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Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 12:06 am and is filed under Web Business. If you like this post why not subscribe to my full text RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.



Quite interesting thoughts. Would be back to check out more of your inspirational posts
ditto. You’re blog is a breath of fresh air and is proof that quality posts is better than all those blogs that have a daily post ritual just for the sake of it.
I never expect that you will share this kind of experience. Initially I just thought that you will only share the way and tips to make money online. But this article suits my readers perfectly. I will link to this in my Sunday money tips column.
great post….it tells us about
1) how to live and what to strive for? (very true..)
2) The importance of saving..
3) The joy in earning the money the hard way..
4) freedom in being an entrepreneur..
Scott,this blog is really interesting to read…stumbling it…
Thanks on advice.
Hey Scott,
Excellent Article! This really helped me to start thinking about what’s truly important in life. I have found that the journey is the most exciting part of life. Keep up the great work Scott! I will be stopping by often.
Well I was never faced with a windfall, so I know about the dreaming part.

You remind us with your post of saving and investing for our old days, and to be happy with what we have now.
Only the fact of getting your main income from the internet is a dream come true for me, so becoming rich? I play lottery every week, yes.
Mate, I’m sure you’ll make all that back and more. Why you didn’t buy the house instead of rent it surprises me. Then again, it did take the dot com crash to alighten you to the world of saving and investing. I’m glad you’ve got it all in place now.
Good luck, this might just be a good blog to put on the rss!
–
Jerry Huang
We Finance Loans
I’ve find this on DIGG:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/43884/output/print
”
wealth increases human happiness when it lifts people out of abject poverty and into the middle class but that it does little to increase happiness thereafter.
“
Great article. I’m glad your taking this down a bit of a different path than the rest of the typical make money online sites.
This is a brilliant post and one that could only be written by someone who has seen success, the effects of it, and has the smarts to speak insightfully about it. You’re entirely right, it’s not about having money, it’s about having freedom.
Excellent article. You are exactly right. What we should strive for is the freedom that money provides, not the material things it can give us.
Great post, thanks for sharing your experiences with the world. I think most that read that in earnest, will say, yah, that is cool, I can do that once I have money, but we all hear time and time again that is doesn’t work like that.
We all have success and failures of one kind or another, but not all success is measured by money and not all failure is measured by the loss of it.
Sometimes success is what you make of it, not what others make of it. Great post, thanks. Scott
Good story. I think the biggest thing for me was the diversifying comment. Having multiple income sources is a great way to get some extra income by doing something interesting or fun. Trying to get rich is definitely the wrong attitude to take.
In the past couple years I have gone from having the sole full time job to keeping my job, having a rental house, starting up a blog, investing, and pursuing some other goals. It helps keep oneself well rounded and if you are bored with one area, then you can focus more of your attention with another.
Thanks for deciding to start this blog, I’ve benefited –in one way or another– from all of your posts so far, and I’m sure I’ll continue to do so in the future too.
Been watching your RSS subscription count, nice rising trend!
I really enjoyed this article. Thanks for posting it.
I have recently started developing a website, strictly as a hobby at first, but now I am beginning to look at it as a business. I have a steady “regular” job that allows me to enjoy a very nice quality of life. The challenge of making the site work and satisfaction I get when a user signs up or gives positive feedback is very rewarding. More rewarding than anything that I can output in my regular job doing work for someone else.
This is a great article. You can’t take money with you. I have been on both sides of the fence. I have had the quick money, and lost it all, and the slow money. I definitely agree with you it is much more rewarding the slow way. It is about the journey not the end.
Your point is well taken. I ‘ll do my best to handle the sudden wealth problem when it comes.
I think anything you feel you have truly earned is more rewarding than something you did not earn.
Great Post Scott! Your blog is off to a great start.
I look forward to hearing more given your experience in the industry.
Thank You
This is off topic, but how about some pics of your office?
“This is off topic, but how about some pics of your office?”
You would be very unimpressed :). Other than my dual monitor setup, it’s just a desk and a file cabinet in a room basically. See the pic in the top right corner of the page. I’m working on setting up a shoemoney style office, bigger room, that feels more work-like :). At that point I’ll post an evolution of my office post with photos of each.
Excellent perspective!
I do enjoy your site Scott. I think your doing a great service which I plan to emulate.
This was a good article!
Live life to the max - money or not! You can’t buy happiness for money!
As long as I feel free I’m happy….
Excellent post! It reminds me of those TV specials about people who have won millions in the lottery, bought the big house and fast cars, only to lead a miserable life and end up poor.
The only reason we are striving to be rich is to afford us the opportunities to do what we want, when we want. Our current 1900 square foot is just fine. 3000 square feet means just more to clean!
And a fast car would be nice, but not necessary. Having a big wad of cash in the bank would really free us to do more of what we want, and that doesn’t necessarily include material possessions.
Good post! I have always been thinking about this question, freedom or cash? Now that I’m graduating, the need to decide is even more urgent.
Coming out from an engineering degree, a job would offer me more instant cash (that I ever have) than starting web ventures in the beginning. Yet somewhere deep under I really love the freedom of waking up whenever I want and relax.
Hope to see more posts on your experience in the industry and hopefully by the time I graduate I have enough information to make up my mind.
You have some excellent points about wealth and money. True, money doesn’t bring happiness and if you don’t know how to manage money in the first place, having more of it isn’t suddenly going to make you a financial genius.
For bloggers trying to make a living, I think it’s more important to concentrate on writing and not worry so much about the money. The money will come in due time.
I still work a full time job but like you I invest, I have a 401k that I keep tabs on monthly and in my spare time I blog, i game, I try to make myself a better person.
Concentrate on who you are, what you do and the rest is gravy.
what you have written is true but people never realize it in their conscious mind. great article.
Good post, most people are just too focused on getting rich quick and often forget about what they really want to have in life.
This post has set things straight for me in many ways. Thanks for the post and best of luck with the new blog !
Wow I never thought I would read a dont get rich on the internet post from anyone that knows John Chow. However, thanks for the insight. I look forward to using your tips when I get rich!
Wow, great advice. I’ll probably not end up rich, but still.
Scott brings up a very valid point in business and a overall perspective of life.
I’ve been in a similar situation when my capital from a mod chip ecommerce business started at $60,000 and steady business eventually bought it to $400,000 but it all went crashing down when I lost motivation to continue the business. I ended up selling the business for $12,000 on sitepoint to a local person and it eventually lead him into conflict with homeland security when Nintendo demanded a fierce mod chip business crack down.
BTW, the site was “allmodchip.com” and my previous partnership was with “modchipstore.com” until I went independent.
After your article, I think people should strive to live better instead of to be rich. I will probably do that since I want a better life and spend time with family and friends.
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Great post and I can’t agree more. It’s all about perspective. Sometimes achieving your goals on a SLOW but STEADY pace is the best way to make sure your maturity/psychic growth keeps pace with your net worth’s growth.
Fantastic insight and honestly spoken, it was great to …stumble upon it!
I remember during my years as an opera singer, having Gianni Agnelli, the boss of Fiat saying to me after a performance “that he would love to do what I do”. Her was man with everything money can buy but didn’t have the time for his real passion of art and music.
I always remember that and live by the philosophy that success is “to do what you really want when you want t do it”. I found that by having fun and getting as much joy as I can from every day that my punters want a piece of it.
Thanks for your thoughts. Nice one. The Baldchemist
Thanks for your thoughts, but money does indeed help with happiness. Maybe sudden wealth didn’t for you because you spent badly, but you’re making a lot now and loving it, aren’t you? So your message isn’t that money doesn’t lead to happiness, it’s that once you have it, spend wisely. Right?
I still believe money will solve all my problems and will continue to chase the almighty dollar. There’s very little it can’t solve.
“I still believe money will solve all my problems and will continue to chase the almighty dollar. There’s very little it can’t solve.”
There have been many studies that show that once a person makes enough money to get out of poverty and have enough to afford the bare essentials (food, water, safe shelter), such as getting into the middle class, more money beyond that does very little for peoples’ happiness:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/43884/output/print
Sudden wealth syndrome:
http://tinyurl.com/yt5d6j
You said that sudden wealth “didn’t make me happy because I spent badly. ” That’s not at all true. I spent very little compared to what I had.
You said, “but you’re making a lot now and loving it, aren’t you”. No! That’s my entire point. You’re mistaken if you think that you’ll have zero problems once you have money. Your old problems will be solved and you’ll find yourself with a new set of issues to deal with which can be even more overwhelming than your old problems. I’m content now, but it’s because I’ve come to terms with money and the issues that come with it.
With money comes a huge amount of responsibility: how to invest wisely, dealing with paying a large amount of taxes, paying for all kinds of advice/accountants/lawyers/insurance, dealing with friends and family wanting hand-outs and thinking of you differently (being envious, jealous, potentially having all your friends hate you now), getting caught up in buying the latest greatest thing only to begin to take it for granted eventually and need something even more lavish to satisfy yourself etc.
The point of my article is that money can buy happiness if you define happiness as freedom and choice: the ability to set your own hours, work on what you want to, ability to take risks in your business, ability to have more free time and travel, spend time with friends/family etc. But money most certainly will not buy happiness if you define it as big houses, fast cars, and an opulent lifestyle because you will quickly adapt to those things and want more, eventually going broke to keep up with your ever advancing desires. Moral of the story: you will probably be more happy if you have money and you don’t blow it on crap, you use it to buy choice and freedom, but you will still have to deal with all the stressors of having money, so all in all you may find yourself feeling overwhelmed and less happy having a lot of money than not.
I think getting rich slowly is definitely a better way to go than sudden wealth. It gives you time to adapt and learn good money habits like saving, which you will definitely need later when you have a lot of money saved. If you go overnight from being broke with bad habits to rich with bad habits, you will more than likely find yourself poor again:
http://tinyurl.com/ovmkq
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Becoming rich to me is not really a goal. My goal is becoming a successful internet marketer. If I can do that, then I will be happy with my life.
Hi Scott,
Very true thoughts. While I’ve never had a house overlooking the SF Bay, I am finally getting to the point in my life where the money I make “should” be enough. But, that old saying about the more you make, the more you spend really does tend to apply. Bummer.
Chin up :). Having money is a good thing. Gives you more choices in life. Sure, you spend more as you make more, but you’re making choices to spend more. You could, if you wanted, take a look at where all your money is going and decide to spend it on other things.
I think the most important thing though is savings. People think of savings as money they only touch when their 65 and decrepit but it is much more important than that in two ways: 1) savings gives you a safety net, a backup plan for when your life goes into the crapper (i.e. you can’t work anymore, get hurt, etc), and 2) invested wisely, the money you’ve saved can work for you, producing enough income eventually for you to never have to work.
very insipirational.
Interesting article Sir. But I might add that striving to be rich is ok from a certain point of view. For Example BO Sanchez teaches that he wants people to be blessed with riches so that they can bless others.
Sure, striving for wealth in order to help others is a noble goal, but that’s not why most people strive for wealth. Most people think that getting rich will make them happy because it will solve all their problems, get them big houses, fast cars etc but my post explains why all of that is flawed thinking..
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I think the proper emphasis is on what money allows us to do. Instead of striving for money as the sole object, we should strive for the freedom that money gives us. That freedom, in turn, will help us do what we want, and give the world the value and uniqueness we all have.
Money is not Life, but is a part of life.
One shouldn’t devote his complete life on making and mushrooming money, instead, there are other things also.
Superb post!
-SpyBuster
Love this article. People always think that when the money appears they will be happy and life will be fanastic but you demonstrated that you don’t need wealth to be happy right now.
I went through a similar experience of nearly losing it all through credit card debt and it does put wealth into perspective!
Look forward to reading more
Diane
I just posted an article related to spending habits earlier tonight and how choices we make can lead anyone to debt. Most lottery winners are broke after only 5 years. Why do you think that is?
Very interesting post that reminds me of an article I read about a couple that had a windfall in the way of a very large inheritance. Both husband and wife quit their jobs to manage the windfall. It wasn’t entirely cash, but cash, investments, real estate and other such items. They went on to detail how much time it takes them to manage their finances as they did not want to hand over the day-to-day stuff to an advisor who would probably charge fees.
They also had to adjust the way they lived, as they had growing children who may now feel that they can get anything they want without working.
Though I’m sure anyone would want to be in that situation, money will not buy happiness - as one other poster said “having money may resolve old problems, but you will now be faced with newer problems”.
Regards,
Mo
Interesting thoughts on lifestyle inflation. Mo’s right - gotta tackle old problems otherwise the problems snowball. There’s an excellent book that’s out of print but you can get on Amazon used called “Napkin Notes: On the Art of Living” which is an excellent read on the subject.
I wanna become rich. I wanna do everything that I want and have money. Why shouldn’t I strive to be rich???
That’s a Gulfstream 2, not a Gulfstream V. They made the 2 from 1966 to about 1980. I don’t think the V was even made in 1999.
nice
I am glad you realised how easy it is to spend money and go broke… how otherwise can you explain the highly paid sportstars going bankrupt…or someone like MC Hammer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MC_Hammer)…Mike Tyson… there are several examples.
Money can give you a luxurious bed but it cannot give you sound sleep. The satisfaction comes from within…one cannot buy it.
Felix Dennis in his book “How to get rich?” specifically points out that - “I can tell you how to get rich but that does not mean you will be happy or satisfied because I would only tell you how to get rich and not how to get happy?” They are not the same and a lot of people forget the difference…