This is Blog # 125. And since it is a milestone, I asked my classmate and friend from childhood – Bharath Mahadevan to write it. You know that kid who seemed to be good at everything – academics, debating, quizzing, music, school magazine editorial team and frequent contributor to Times of India etc. Bharath was that kid in our class. Only Dr. Manmohan Singh’s academic excellence would rank higher.

When he got admitted into NTU Singapore, Times of India wrote an article on him! Much later in life, if he wanted, he could’ve been the CEO of one of the airline companies in India. But instead, he is far too busy enjoying his life. He is not a monk who sold his Ferrari. Instead he is the unhurried, unworried businessman who drives his Maybach.

In the blog below, he tell us why he has chosen the path that he has. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

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The story that has been the guiding light of my later life is the one about Mexican fishermen.

The story goes like this. A consultant comes to a fishing village in Mexico and asks the fishermen about their lifestyle. They say that they go out in the morning to catch the fish, come back for lunch, have an afternoon siesta, play with the kids and meet friends in the evening for dinner. He tells them that he can improve their lifestyle by getting them bigger boats so they can be out all day to catch more fish. The fishermen ask him, “Then what?“… The consultant says that they can get a loan from a bank, buy more boats and build an empire so they have a lot of money when they retire. The fishermen asks him “Then what?“. Frustrated, the consultant tells them that they can relax, nap in the afternoon, play with their kids and party in the evening with their friends. The fisherman tells him “That’s what I’m doing right now“.

This has been the guiding principle of my life after I started my business thirteen years ago. The aim at that point, though, was to grow the business, make more money and build more businesses. I didn’t hire too many people because the mindset of a self funded startup is to do everything on your own – Finance, HR, Operations, Sales, Marketing, Web Design, what have you.

But two to three years into this part of my life, I realized that starting off on my own gave me something that nothing else could – Time and freedom. More because we were in a business where there was activity only in certain months of the year and certain days. I could drop and pick up my son from school, meet friends for breakfast, lunch or dinner and, once the business started generating money to stick my head above water, I could travel on my own terms, and have lunches and dinners with my wife at will. 

Did I want to expand? Did I want more money? Of course. But not at the cost of time. So- I changed my mind and hired people to take care of the business for me, which a lot of bootstrapped entrepreneurs are reluctant to do. Today, I’m sitting and writing this blog on a remote island with no phone connectivity (okay that’s a lie, I’ve deliberately turned off my mobile network), because I have some excellent people in my team, running the business better than I can. I just started a business vertical three weeks ago, and got an old team member and a trusted lieutenant to take care of that. Will this strategy constrain my growth of the business? Depends on the luck, but that’s another blog post. But will it constrain my growth? Hell, no.

A disclaimer at this point – This is not a blog post about hiring people or about profitable businesses. This is a post about how to go back to our original vision of why we wanted to make money, and how we should be spending it. The Fisherman’s Story is what brings me back to my original goal when I stray from the path. What’s your story?

The endgame: Yes I would like revenues to grow, business verticals to expand, dabble in more verticals (and cut losses where I’m under water), and fund a better lifestyle. Most of us are doing this for money. And that’s what I want to emphasize – We need to go back to review our vision in the first place. When we started our careers, we wanted to make money for the traditional things. Money as means to an end – Getting married, buying a house, car, kids education. But once we crossed all that, we lost sight of what we’re making money for, because the conditioning kicked in. Save. 

But we need to use the money to play harder, bigger and better – The Play in this case being whatever gives you happiness. To me, in the larger sense money gives me time and freedom. To you, it could be a holiday. A snazzy car. A house (but not more than one – That’s a topic for Vikas’ 150th blog post though). Gold. But spend a part of the money that you’ve worked to earn and the money that is now working for you and growing. Before the kids grow up and you can’t buy them that toy car any more. Before you grow up and don’t want that two seater car any more. 

Before you grow old and it’s too late to realize that you grew all that money but you didn’t buy what the Mexican fishermen bought – Moments of happiness. 

Here’s to Vikas’ 125th post and looking forward to his next 125. (Thank you Bharath!)

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Cheers!