Sam Owens.
Have you heard of him?
I hadn’t either till last year when he started popping up all over my Facebook wall with his sponsored ads. He’s one of the hundreds of super-rich Ferrari wielding online entrepreneurs that bombards me with their try-hard seductive sales pitches.
They’re all the same really: a little bit douchey as they share videos of mansions and slicked back hair and promises of proven two-step formulas to wealth that they can’t possibly keep.
Is he happy? I’m guessing he probably is. He’s young, successful and in his element. The real question is, will he still be happy when he’s 80? For that only time can tell.
Over the last three years on my short entrepreneurial path I’ve given a ton of consideration to the “right” way to run my online business. It’s scary to be broke, and at first that fear drove me to near obsession by the fastest way to “get there”. Then I found myself asking, but where am I going?
The really scary truth
If you do your research (as I have done) you’ll discover the sobering truth: most people making good money online are doing so by teaching others how to make good money online. And most of those people hadn’t made any money online until they started teaching you to do it.
You see, It’s hard to sell a course on relaxation, or meditation, or yoga. Even though most people are stressed and unhappy, they won’t spend money on that. They will only spend money to learn how to make money. This drives new entrepreneurs like me to let go of what is truly of value and what they really love, to teach you how to make money instead (even if they haven’t made any themselves).
They use recycled information and the winning formula to sell you the dream of getting rich. This formula is usually the same: it’s a good heroes journey story (I used to be broke and depressed, but then I learned this one thing and now I’m loaded and blissful and if you buy my $1000 course I’ll give you my six step formula to be loaded too).
It’s a pyramid scheme
It’s a pyramid scheme and it works like this: Successful coaches make money by teaching others how to make money coaching. On-line course gurus make money by teaching you how to make money with online courses. Marketers make money teaching you how to market. Sam Owens gets rich by showing you how rich he is and selling you the dream of getting rich. Do you get it?
So what to do? If you can’t beat them join them, right?
Right?
Wrong.
It’s not for me, thanks
I’m smart. I know that if I made online courses about selling online courses they would sell much easier than my meditation course. I know exactly what I’d need to say, what I’d need to do. I know the winning formula and I’ve got a great story. Before long I could wield my own Ferrari, move into a big house and date a guy like Sam Owens.
And would I be happy?
I’d probably be okay, but there would always be something missing because I wouldn’t be sharing with you the stuff I really love: how to relax, how to be free, how to be happy.
What I learned as a paramedic
As a paramedic I had the great privilege of working amongst the elderly, of figuring out a very real truth: that the ability to grow old and die happy depends on one thing only: the consistently good choices you made over time. Were you kind? Honourable? Generous? Were you authentic?
Where will Sam be when he’s 80? Will he be at peace?
There’s not really any way to know. What is important is how will I end up happy? What good choices do I need to make consistently over time to take me to the place of my dreams? Authenticity in business is like that, it’s slow and steady. Authenticity takes time. It takes trust. It takes love.
The slow road
My point is that I’m taking the slow road. The one filled with connection and integrity. The one in which I share my gifts and tell you how I’ve found success so far. It hasn’t been through acquiring money, it’s been through connecting to my divine inner being and waking up to myself and to life as it really is. That’s what I will teach you.
I’m choosing to do this so that when I’m 80 there won’t be a single bit of regret to inhibit my joy. The buddha calls this the bliss of blamelessness: the inner freedom that results from having no unwholesome deeds to regret.
Our relationship of trust
In my business I will only share what I already know to be helpful and true. When you take a course, event, retreat or coaching package from me I promise it will be authentic and of value. You’ll hear my truth all along the way too because isn’t that what we really want to know?
Our relationship will be built on trust, not hype and controversy. When I listen to guys like Sam Owens I usually turn him off after a minute. Not because I’m disgusted, not because I’m judging, but because I’m simply not interested in his fancy car.
It’s boring.
I’d rather know what he has struggled with, what he struggles with now. What keeps him up at night? What does he long for? And I really really want to know, is he happy? Will he die happy? Is he free, not just on the outside but on the inside too?
True freedom is having it all
I know there are plenty of people that have it all and by all I mean abundance AND integrity. When I need inspiration I think of Bill Gates and Tony Robbins and Louise Hay. They’ve got integrity and wealth. They’ve got the clarity, the peace, the joy. The freedom that comes from a life well lived. The bliss of blamelessness.
Anyone can make a ton of money, right Sam? But who can do it with love in their heart?
Because that is true freedom, inside and out.
