I will speak for myself first. More than once I had the opportunity to become a millionaire, but I was too afraid of failure and of success, so I never took those opportunities.
Investing in the stock market
The first time was when I decided to invest in the stock market. I offer some friends the service of managing their money. They accepted my offer. Between all my friends, I was managing $100,000. Yes, you might roll your eyes at the small amount. But please don’t forget that I was (and still am) an immigrant who didn’t have many friends and all my friends were from the working class. None of them were high earners, so to borrow $100,000 was a huge deal.
We had two amazing years. Due to my ignorance, I went into the sectors of the economy that were hot at that time and still had plenty of room to grow. At that time it was oil and natural resources exploration (because that’s where Canadians are experts).
The first year, my investor made 40%, the second year 20%, and the third year they lost 10%. That’s when I crumble in front of the responsibility, I gave the money back, and I never borrowed money again to invest in stocks.
I was too afraid of the responsibility
Investing in real estate
The second opportunity came when I discovered Airbnb.
I borrowed money to buy a condominium ($220,000) to rent through the Airbnb platform. I saw that I was doing good and I borrowed money to buy a second condominium. By this time, I was becoming uncomfortable with my debt and I didn’t borrow any more. I had the wind behind my back yet I was too afraid to borrow more money.
Five years later, I grew tired of the business, I closed everything, sold one of the properties to repay my debt and I still own one of the properties.
My friend Moise (a multimillionaire) asked me why don’t I stop playing around with odd properties and make some real money, why don’t I buy a small building?
I kept quiet, but the answer in my head was: “Because I am a coward, Moise, that’s why!”
Coronavirus is an opportunity for entrepreneurship that people are ignoring
Almost everyone I know doesn’t like their jobs or some aspect of their job. When Covid-19 arrived, many people lost their jobs. Their first instinct was to look for another job. They were willing to take anything.
Covid-19 was (is) an opportunity to reset, to start something of your own, to face your fears, and be your own boss.
But, most of us have been domesticated. We are addicted to the security of a paycheck and a person telling us what to do and how to do it. So we let the opportunity of being our own boss pass by and defer to the comfort of being told what to do.
Every billionaire borrows money
Look at all the billionaires. From Bill Gates, to Elon Musk, to Jeff Bezos. All of them 1. had a vision and 2. borrowed money.
I don’t think that finding investors for your idea is difficult. I think that the difficult thing is to have enough self-conviction in yourself to ask for the money. This my major hang-up. People want to give you money, but before they believe in you, you have to believe in yourself.
Why didn’t I borrow one million dollars to invest in the stock market?
Why didn’t I buy ten condos at the heights of my Airbnb activities?
Because I was too afraid. That’s why! I was afraid of success or failure. I saw the opportunities right there, in front of me, and I allowed them to march on by.
I believe we all do that. Many of us have trained ourselves NOT to see opportunities. That’s what other people do, they speculate. We want a steady paycheck and will not consider anything else. We are too AFRAID.
I am no longer afraid
I feel that I am no longer afraid. I am now putting all my chips in one place, on my podcasting career. I am not risking money, but I am investing all my mental energy and my time.
My goal is no longer to be a millionaire (although it would be nice to have at least one million). My main goal is to offer an amazing vehicle for my guest to spread their thoughts and for my listeners to have instructive and interesting information. I just want to be the middle man of this transaction. I am looking for something more valuable than money, I am looking for self-actualization.
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