Why do we impose limits on ourselves? Why do we assume “more” is for “other people”? Why do we settle?
As astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson puts it:
“We presume that balance is a good thing. When something is out of balance, you can get quite innovative in your attempts to resolve that fact. You don’t go to the amusement park roller coaster and say ‘I want to be balanced.’ No, you want to be as unbalanced as possible, because that’s the thrill ride.”
Yet at a certain point, we seek balance.
We settle.
We settle with the job we hold, or the industry we work in, or the house we have, or the amount of money we earn each year. We settle with the quantity and quality of our relationships, the size or impact of our network, and the impact we have on our family, friends, and community.
We settle because it’s easier than leveling up. We settle because we view the world through a lens that has been crafted for “most people.” Because we fail to consider “unreasonable” paths since the people around us are incapable of thinking about, let alone constructing and managing, a life that offers more.
Consider Jack or Elon or Andrew or Brent or Codie or Neil or Xavier or Alex or Michael or John or Kelcey (and many others you’ve never heard of) who are building wealth and compounding their impact by acquiring and growing multiple companies.
Paper Pursuits is for those who demand more from life, for those who know that freedom comes from properly evaluating risk and taking responsibility for their actions.
It is for those who choose to put their livelihood in their own hands, to constantly learn, to deploy capital, to lead and manage teams, and to deliver products and services to their customers.
It is for the driven, the doers, the owners, the operators, the creators of value and opportunity.
It is for people who see the world not for what it is, but for what it could be and have the perseverance to bring their vision to life.
It is for those who carry the belief that they can leave the world better than they found it and be rewarded by delivering value.
Paper Pursuits is for you – the “unreasonable” optimist – who understands (or is interested in learning about) capital, scale, leverage, business models, operations, recruiting, lead generation, sales, customer service, and the countless other facets of running a successful business.
Time Is All We Have
I am currently an executive at a technology company. I work mostly in the sales, marketing, and operations side of the house. Over the past 7 years, I have helped grow the business from around $5M in revenue to over nine figures. I am well compensated and have a good amount of equity in the company through stock options that were granted to me along the way.
We have hired well, operate in a fast-growing industry, and have a defensible moat. The company is at a scale and has a team that doesn’t require my day-to-day intervention.
As a result, a majority of my net worth is tied up in a highly-profitable, fast-growing company. This margin in my life has given me the opportunity to consider what I want next in life. Over the past month, I have been listening to podcasts, reading, learning, and meeting new people.
Through these conversations and my own experience, I have learned the following:
- Wealth is not made by trading time for money. Even the highest-paid lawyers and doctors are capped in their earning potential.
- Wealth is generated by creating value, owning assets, and compounding continuously over many years.
Accelerate Your Learning – and Your Life
This website – and eventually newsletter, podcast, courses, community, and more – will serve as the home for my learnings, ideas, analysis, and discoveries about profitable business opportunities.
Paper Pursuits is a hub for anyone who wants to own and run multiple successful businesses.
I don’t believe entrepreneurship is for a select few who attended top-tier universities. Press and social media publicize startups, funding rounds, newly-minted “unicorns,” and massive acquisitions that turn founders into multi-millionaires.
But don’t be fooled.
Most of the country’s businesses are started, run, bought, and sold in our backyards – literally.
They are the roofing, HVAC, and lawncare businesses. They are the corner convenience store, restaurant, and local retailer. They are the Shopify or Etsy shops that sell physical products. They are bootstrapped software companies serving niche business verticals. They are event organizers and small law firms and real estate agencies.
In fact, U.S.-based small businesses employ 47% of our population – not international technology companies or energy conglomerates. Over the next 10-15 years, a majority of these solid, cash flowing, Baby Boomer-owned businesses will be sold to the next wave of owners… or closed for good.
This is a long way of saying there are many paths to success in the game of entrepreneurship.
By understanding the principles of business, you increase the likelihood of building wealth, freedom, and purpose in your life.
In Pursuit of More
Maybe you are starting at the ground level. You’ve never dipped your toes into entrepreneurship. Perhaps you’ve worked a corporate job your whole life in a single function, but you’ve never considered owning a business yourself. Or maybe you already operate one business and want to learn how to grow your empire.
Regardless of where you’re starting from today, there is always more if you seek it out.
The older I get, the more it feels like I don’t know anything. This, of course, isn’t true. But I do believe there is always something new to explore. New techniques, new strategies, new business models, new ways to acquire customers, new ways to evaluate deals.
This is an infinite game, and today – no matter your starting point – is Day One.
I hope that in 10 years, you’ll look back on the beginning of this journey, like we will with this site, and be humbled by how far you’ve come – and realize how much better your life is because of the decision you made to start.