Think Rich
Achieving a wealthy state of mind
Business Start-Ups magazine - February 1999
By Elaine W. Teague

Can't get no satisfaction? You may be looking in the wrong place. If you're seeking emotional rewards from all the blood, sweat and tears you expend building your business, give up the search, says bestselling author Stephen M. Pollan.

Feel good on your own time, Pollan commands. Owning a business is about one, and only one, thing: making money. And if you narrow your business goals to that single-minded pursuit, feel good you will, Pollan promises.

"I'm not talking about making money just for the sake of making money," he clarifies. "There's a seamless relationship between money and happiness."

Contrary to how it may sound, Pollan isn't advocating a return to the greed-is-good '80s. Nor is he promoting a put-it-on-plastic, consumption-crazed lifestyle accessorized with the slickest Armani suit, the slimmest cell phone and the sleekest luxury car. Instead, the New York City financial planner and attorney urges entrepreneurs to take a clear-eyed look at how money contributes to creating a deeply fulfilling life.

Like his bestseller Die Broke (HarperBusiness, $14, 800-242-7737), Pollan's newest book, Live Rich (HarperBusiness, $25, 800-242-7737), shatters some long-held American myths about money. In particular, he demolishes the starry-eyed notion that work should be meaningful in and of itself. Our grandparents' generation understood it well, Pollan says: We work to make money, not to gain emotional fulfillment.

It's not about doing what you love and waiting for the money to follow--you could be in for a good, long wait, he warns. Below, Pollan shares the finer points of his contrarian approach to creating a cash cow--and the rich quality of life that can result.

1. Make money a priority in your life. "Starting a business isn't for fulfillment or fame. It's not even to be the best or the smartest," Pollan says. "Your most important goal in starting a business is recognizing that it should exist solely for the purpose of making you money." Sound mercenary? Absolutely. And that's a good thing, the author says.

2. Look for a business that can provide an income that enables you to live a rich life. "Money has the extraordinary ability to create a rich life for you," says Pollan. No, he's not talking about locking yourself in the vault and wallowing in greenbacks and gold coins like Scrooge McDuck. "I'm talking about making money so you can take wonderful trips, so you can get out of a bean-counting HMO, so you can do the things you'd like to."

3. Don't look for fulfillment in business, but where it belongs: in the rest of your life. Blame the baby boomers for carefully cultivating the romanticized notion that the workplace should provide emotional satisfaction, a social life and personal growth. Pollan sets the record straight: Meaning comes from your personal life, not from your work. "You're going to get fulfillment from your spouse, from your children, from museums and music," he says.

4. Just because you're out there making money doesn't make you a slave to money. To the contrary, "It makes you a slave to your own happiness," Pollan says. "The entrepreneur's goal is freedom, and making money [brings you that] freedom."

Not convinced? Consider Leif, a client Pollan cites in Live Rich, who struggled for years as a poorly-paid "minister for social action" at a New York City church. Not only was he poor, but his efforts to effect social change were constantly thwarted by church bureaucracy. With Pollan's help, Leif left the ministry and launched his own psychotherapy practice. Today, his income allows him to take time off to lead peace and immigration rights marches and participate in other social causes. He's finally making money . . . and making a difference.

That's what living rich really means, Pollan says. "We only pass through [life] once," he says. "That's why we should make the most of it."

Contact Source

Stephen M. Pollan, (212) 737-2717.

Thiago,

I think I understand what Mr. Pollan is implying. He seems to be saying you don’t have to love what you’re doing. Just be fixed on making money with whatever business you’re in.

Well, this seems to go counter to much that I’ve studied. For example, multimillionaire John Assaraf states there are 5 MUSTS to becoming wealthy. They are:

1-You must find something that stirs your soul
2-You must become excellent at it
3-You must understand how to earn money from it
4-You must recondition your mind to believe you can have it or achieve it.
5-You must take action

In other words, Mr. Assarag suggests starting with something you love. Then, becoming excellent at it. Then incorporating ‘making money’ with it, etc., etc.

In SOGR Wattles states that you don’t have to begin with doing something you love, but he encourages getting to that point. In part, he says:

“You will get rich most easily in terms of effort, if you do that for which you are best fitted, but you will get rich most satisfactorily if you do that which you WANT to do. Doing what you want to do is life, and there is no real satisfaction in living if we are compelled to be forever doing something which we do not like to do and can never do what we want to do.”

I think Mr. Pollan SUGGESTS a good point. Just because you love doing something doesn’t mean you’ll get rich doing it. It seems to me that, somehow or another, you need to make ‘making money’ a PART of doing what you love.

Let’s go back to his example of the poor preacher, a Mr. Leif. This is generally the case, for preachers to be poor, but it’s not always so. There are some RICH preachers. I recall, for example, while working at a top notch 5 star hotel, one of the regulars was a well known preacher. He not only did what he loved doing but he also figured out how to make a lot of money doing it. (At least enough to dine regularly at this fine hotel.)

What I see Mr. Leif doing is incorporating ‘making money’ with doing what he loved.

I think a major key is to tie MAKING MONEY with whatever it is you do. And then, to take ‘making money’ to more effective levels. (Or find or get associates who will do this, and you concentrate on the ‘doing what you love’ part.)

There is another reason why ‘doing what you love’ makes sense, even for making money. If you do what you love, you will naturally be drawn to doing it well. And it’s when we do something very well that it gains value.

Also, when you’re doing something you really love doing, you will be much less likely to give up or quit when the inevitable humps and difficulties come along. It’s soooo much easier to quit doing something when the ONLY thing you get out of it is money.

But suppose you love what you are doing AND you figure out how to make money with it? Wouldn’t that be a good combination?

Maybe, as Mr. Pollan says, it’s not necessary, but might it be nice? Eventually, it’s where you want to end up anyway.

Now, there are other things to consider. For example, let’s say you’re not doing something you’re particularly in love with. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find things about it you love. For example, let’s say you’re selling shoes and you don’t exactly love selling shoes. But let’s say you love helping people. Well, selling a person a good pair of shoes that fit them and their needs well is certainly helping them. So, instead of focusing on selling shoes you could focus on helping people, and this change of focus might help you enjoy this job a little more. It might even lead you to figuring out better ways to help people with ‘shoe problems.’ This is exactly what someone did when he started his own chain of discount shoe stores. (Do you see how love can play an important part in success? For one thing, love is a great motivator. It inspires us to action. It fuels us, when we feel like we’re ‘running on empty.’)

One point I will agree with Mr. Pollan on: If you want to have a lot of money, you need to make it a PRIORITY. Somehow or another, you need to make it important enough so that you will spend time on getting it and doing what you need to do. (Which, I think, is why John Assaraf included his step 4. “You must recondition your mind to believe you can have it or achieve it.” If you don’t believe you can have it, you won’t really put much effort into it.)

It’s interesting to me that the article you posted ended with Mr. Pollan saying, “We only pass through [life] once," he says. "That's why we should make the most of it.”

To me, making the most out of life is trying to do something you love AND make a lot of money,… amongst other things.

Something else you might want to consider. Mr. Pollan is a successful writer. And he apparently writes with the intent of helping people. Do you think he dislikes helping people, and is just doing it for the money? Or, is it possible he is also doing something he loves, using the vehicle of writing?

Just some thoughts.

Phil

Well said Phil.

I'd also add, rather simplistically, that one spends a high percentage of ones life at work, better then that you enjoy what you are doing in this time.

A lot of the fabously wealthy still spend a lot of time working, why, because they enjoy it. Further, If you have enough money to do exactly what you want when you wake up in the morning, are you going to do something you don't enjoy?

Adrian

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