The average person with $100,000,000 would probably buy a yacht and travel the world, or sun themselves in the French Riviera every day. Yet, most A-list celebrities who have that kind of cash still churn out movie after movie. Over the holidays, a relative asked me what I would do with myself if I received an attractive offer to sell my business: the answer is, keep working, of course! Case in point:
- Tom Cruise earns $67M per film and is appearing in three films in 2008.
- Oprah Winfrey earns $225M per year (and is worth >$1B) and is on TV daily.
- Tiger Woods earns $90M/year and keeps playing.
There is a lot to learn from these exceptionally wealthy people. They contradict conventional wisdom about money. People think they will retire or stop working when they become “wealthy”, but in reality, few do.
So why keep working if you’ve already got $100M in the bank?
1) Ego and Competition: For movie stars and Internet business celebrities alike, staying active in a profession keeps the spotlight on them, which strokes the ego, and keeps them out there competing with their peers, which feeds everyone’s competitive nature.
2) Hey, $10M jets and $20M homes don’t pay for themselves. The more you make, the more you become accustomed to spending and the more glamorous your lifestyle becomes. It costs more and more to feed that lifestyle. You’ve watched cribs, right? A lot of those celebs take their cash, go buy a $10M house in Malibu, 5 cars, etc, and then need to do another movie because they’re broke. As an Internet business owner, you’re much more savvy than that, but the same concept applies.
3) Doing nothing is boring. Work really is fun and challenging afterall! If you are smart enough and business savvy enough to earn $100M in the first place, you’re not working as an admin assistant. Your job is probably a lot of fun, so you’re very likely to keep doing it.
So if we’re all working to earn that $1M, or $10M, or $100M, what’s the point if we still have to work when we get there? When you have $10k in the bank, work = survival and it’s pretty darn stressful. But if you have 100 times that much in the bank, you can literally afford to take risks and relax more. So I think work ultimately never ceases, but what used to be work becomes much more like play for those that have the big bucks.
Very well said Scott. Work is truly something a person should always do, as it exercises mind, and keeps them active.
I know if I won the lottery, or if I make a huge website sale, I would still work at my 9 – 5 for a little while longer. I couldn’t pass up that “free” money.
If I had a lot of money, and I didn’t need my job to survive, I would feel more at ease at work, and it would probably be a better experience.
Great post.
I believe the wealthy also keep working because they are extremely passionate about what they do. They can’t stop even if they try. Retirement for these people isn’t really retirement. Most of them may “retire”, but still cut deals and do work on the side.
That was an intresting post and I would have to agree with you 100%. Great post!
I would say that the true reason they keep working is because they are passionate about what they do.
I think it’s that hunger to achieve something that keep these people working no matter what kind of money that’s stored in the bank.
And they do get to do what many of us want to do if we had all that money….. Travel more, party more…..
I believe people are born with DRIVE or not.
I have always been very driven in my life, through school, University and my career.
- At high school I had a clear idea of what career I wanted and choose the right subjects to study to achieve it.
- At University I spent a year working in the real World to give myself a head start over my fellow students following graduation.
- Since starting my first job I have always focused on progressing my career and have worked up to a very good day job earning over $100,000 per year at age 31. I have moved companies 3 times in 7 years.
- I didn’t sell my first property when I bought my second one, I rent the first one out as an investment.
- I am learning every day how to become a better internet success as I know I have the DRIVE and brain to do so.
Whilst this sounds like a big bragging session it is just intended to explain that I could have settled for being an Average Joe, working a normal 9to5 in the same company for the last 7 years earning less, renting a place, just chalking up the years!
I am DRIVEN and I suspect it is exactly the same for any “successful” person whether they be a “celebrity” or not. Why did Bill Gates bother to keep going after his first $1Billion!
Thanks for an interesting thought provoking post Scott.
I was thinking a similar thing myself, about why successful entrepreneurs just keep working and adding money to their pile.
When I make that kind of money I will use it to do something amazing that will change the world, not just to support my more expensive lifestyle.
Good insight. Nice blog. I agree. Wish I had that much money.
Com’On! That Tom Cruise guy keeps on working in his film to promote his Dangerous Cult – Scientology.
Damn! Does Oprah earn THAT much? It’s unbelievable.
I agree with your points, especially 1 and 3. It is a natural need for those people get continuous exposure and attention. It is also horrible to be doing nothing. If I didn’t need to work for money, I’d rather go skiing and riding my bike. Anyhow, I guess I would work with something because work gives me goals and challenges which again give some kind of satisfaction.
You are so right! It seems if you retire and do nothing you don’t live very long. I think one has to have a reason to get up in the morning. If you have enought money so you don’t have to worry about the bills, you can be so much more productive and imaginative. I can think of many, many things I would do if I didn’t have to worry about making a living every day!
Some celebrities do fall out of the limelight because they have made enough money. I guess it’s the spenders and the egomaniacs who can’t resist another $10 million or $20 million paycheck.
Well said! Perhaps I’m not as driven as “PaidSurveys” is — but he’s so right.
Forget movie stars – what about Carly Fiorina, the HP CEO that was forced out of HP? She rec’d a severance of $21 million (freakin) dollars. Her annual salary at HP was a meager $1.4m — but look at what she rec’d by being “fired” or having “quit”.
Mo
It’s becomes less and less about the money and more and more about the reputation. Our pride is one of our most important things, and what gratifies it more than being in movies, being on ET, and being a big deal perpetually.
The thing here is, the aforementioned celebs actually LIKE what they do. So why stop doing it? Besides, the ones listed don’t actually do MUCH. Tiger Woods plays a game that most men PAY thousands of dollars to play. And he’s getting paid for it. He doesn’t even play every day, and when he does, it’s only for a couple of hours. It’s not even strenuous work..he has someone to CARRY his stuff for him! Acting isn’t much work, and yes, I’ve done a bit of that. A few long hours for a couple of months, and the rest of the year is free. He can pick the roles he gets, and most likely his co-stars. Oprah? Sits on a couch for an hour and talks to people. The money just rolls in. What work does she need to do when she has a team of researchers to do it all for her? Basically, you’re looking at people who get paid a lot for doing what they like, for a small amount of time.
So…when I win a few million dollars, I’ll quit my 12hr/day job and do something I like. Won’t be getting paid for it, I’m sure.
When you “win” a few million.. Already your mindset is setting you up to fail. How about when you launch and run a business that puts a few million into your pocket? That’s about a million times more likely to happen but it won’t happen if you just wait around to hit the jackpot.
As for Tiger Woods, actors, and Oprah, not working, that’s BS. I assure you that at one point they worked much harder and smarter than you to get to where they are now. People like you make it sound bad when someone like Oprah gets to where she is and has a team of people (which she assembled) doing most of the heavy lifting while she does the enjoyable part of the work.
It’s easy to say ‘launch and run a new business that will put a few million in your pocket’. Like it’s something simple that everyone can do. Everyone has a million dollar idea that will not work, and for every one who succeeds there’s a plethora of shattered dreams and broken lives.
But still, the topic was ‘why do celebs keep working’? Tiger Woods PLAYS golf. Not WORKS golf. And while he did work hard at it, I’m sure, when he was young and unknown now that he’s famous and the money is rolling in for something he enjoys doing and only has to do a few hours every couple of months, there really is no incentive to stop. Would he play golf if he quit the professional scene? Sure. So why not get paid for it?
Same for Oprah. She probably did work hard in the beginning. But now that she’s made it and has to do so much less now that she’s got a team…why quit?
As you say, she’s doing the most enjoyable part of the job, and getting billions for it.
Not to come across as arrogant, but every one of my web businesses has been a success: sysopt.com, resellerratings.com, dealighted.com, techimo.com, photopost.com and I started this serial string of companies as a freshman in high school 15 years ago. I am NOT a genius by any means — these are things that anyone can do if they have the interest, the ideas, they make the time, and they follow concepts like these:
http://www.wrevenue.com/2007/10/12/10-secrets-to-a-7-figure-website-income/
It’s not about having one single “million dollar idea” that may or may not succeed, it’s about having a bunch of good ideas, testing them all (which on the web, is cheap or free to do), having some ideas that succeed and having a whole lot of patience. Within each of my businesses, I have ideas that both succeed and fail daily but as I gain experience, I instinctively know what’s more likely to succeed. Entrepreneurs are die-hard optimists – you must test, fail, test, fail and ultimately you will succeed if your ideas are good.
High incomes are often made from multiple sources and built over time. Hoping to find one good idea that makes it big and solves all your woes is most likely to be found in a lottery ticket only.
To build a high income in a business, you have to create multiple revenue streams and it helps to diversify and have more than one business. Across my four main businesses, I have 12 distinct and significant revenue sources that are not interlinked and are not dependent on one another, meaning not one single idea or money maker.
Anyway, I guess the point of my original post here is that celebs keep working because as you earn more money, your lifestyle adjusts and you want it to continue, and/or the celeb likes the fame (stokes their ego) and/or they enjoy what they do too much to stop.
Well, I guess we agree that celebs keep working because they enjoy some aspect of it.
Either way, my goal isn’t to make tons of money…just to be happy. I applaud your business sense and acumen, and see that you’ve become successful, and I sincerely hope it’s because you’re doing something you enjoy. A life spent making money at a job you don’t love could well be a life wasted.
Another great post on blogging! Thanks so much for taking the time to share you information and wisdom with other bloggers.