Many years ago my grandfather and I would play monopoly.  It started with him whooping me but eventually I got really good at it.  I was a greedy tycoon and dominated not only him but also any challengers
My grandfather was a very humble and hard working man. He grew up during the great depression and served in World War 2.
While I would be cocky after my Monopoly board game victories he would say, “Relax there. It all goes back in the box in the end and we start over next game“.
Now that happened when I was around 10-12 years old. I have never forgotten it for some reason. It wasn’t until recently I realized how important that statement would be to me.
Those of you who have been on my newsletter for months know my what has all happened to me since I turned 40 and had a pretty big awakening business wise on what I was doing and the changes I have made.
The most highlighted line from my book is “Having money isn’t everything, not having it is“. I have been on both sides of that. When I turned 30 I was unemployed and over 50k in debt.
Then one day I made a dollar on the Internet. For me, making my dollar on the Internet was one of the most thrilling and exciting things.
Just like in Monopoly I became obsessive. I got greedy.
By the time I turned 31 I had over a million dollars in the bank.
Over the next 9 years I expanded my skillset and had an amazing journey, earning over 10 million dollars from making money on the Internet.
Right before I turned 40, my wife and I had met with or accountant who told us we could easily never work again and maintain our current lifestyle.
As I said, when I turned 40 it was a huge awakening for me – After examining my current lifestyle both professionally and business wise and realized I wasn’t happy. I closed my downtown office and stopped doing the things that I didn’t like to do (long story short).
Then that saying my grandfather said 30 years ago – “it all goes back in the box” became clear to me.
When we die we are all equal. Whether we have 100 million dollars or nothing. We all are buried in a box (or an urn or whatever your belief) Â and all is reset.
I know what some of you are thinking, you can leave it to your kids and they will be set.
I have some personal experience with this. On my fathers side of the family – when my aunt died of cancer (I was like 14) she left her money to her children, Â in a trust. They fought over it for years and eventually it got very bitter and to this day they don’t talk.
On my mother’s side of the family – when my great grand father passed, he left my grandmother and her sister his land and money. This was before I was born but I was told it was a vicious dispute over who got what and they became enemies. It wasn’t until my grandmother died, a few months ago, that for the first time I met my great aunt.  I got to spend some time with her and she is a very nice woman.  I am bummed I never met her before.
Everyone seems to be so focused on making money. No matter what financial position they are in.
I fully understand that when you are barely getting by and all of your financial decisions on everything from going out to eat to if you can take a vacation are based primarily on money.
Then money is everything.
But when you have enough money to never have to work again then what really matters?
I have 2 daughters (6 and 8 as of now) and I wouldn’t say I have neglected them at all – but my work, at times, has taken priority on some extra curricular stuff. And I wasn’t even happy with what I was doing working wise.
The primary reason I moved back into my house from my downtown office was because it’s only a few blocks from my kid’s school. I get to go to lunch with them, take them to school, and do a ton of daytime activities with them. It’s pretty awesome.
I also changed a lot of what I do professionally focusing back on what I love doing and an ironic side effect of that is that I have profited more since working out of my basement in the last six months than I had in the last 3 years combined.
So with all of this said I would like to leave you with the following and I say it violating one of my primary beliefs (never tell people what to do, instead share your experiences and let them take from it what they will).
Take a look at yourself and see if what you are doing really matters. We have such a short life span and no matter how much money we have, in the end, it all goes back in the box.
Jeremy,
You really suck. But the article is good.
Why do you suck? Because you seem like an old geezer that is slow to the current state of internet marketing. Let me explain, you spend a great deal of time talking about past successes, but nearly no time what is working today. What do I mean by today? I mean like TODAY. How did you make money today!
All of us readers are happy about your box and your billions. But truthfully, let us decide how big or small we want our monopolies. I want the green and yellow corner. ‘With hotels. And I want them today. And perhaps I will build a pyramid for the afterlife.
Best wishes,
Emmett
Emmet thanks for the comment and I hope you come back to read this comment. I wont address your exaggerations cause it really doesn’t matter.
I often get asked the question how do I get started today. How can I make money today? What I did was buy books on programing and html and learned how to make an application of value. I never meant to make money online it was a side effect of making something of value that people enjoyed using. For free. Much like what I try to do with this blog.
I am guessing thats not the answer you are looking for though. You, like most, want the “magic bullet”. You didn’t leave your website, or probably your real email even, so I can’t see where you are at to even suggest to help you.
So what is working for me today?
First let me tell you what wasn’t working for me. Trying to be someone I am not. Trying to be Mr. CEO and have a huge office and big staff and waste a ton of money.
What IS working for me today is I am back to building websites of value for free. I am not in it for the money. But like before, and its been a long time since I have done that, its profited a lot more than I have in the last 3 years combined.
My advice, is as I always say, is to make something of REAL value. A blog, an application, whatever. Stop trying to look for the magic bullet. Did I game the system? Absolutely but what I did doesn’t work now and if you want to go down that road you will always be chasing it.
Again I don’t want to tell you what to do… But the most money I have ever made came from things that I never intended to make money from.
I will take what I am working on out of stealth mode soon enough and announce it on here. Don’t worry – I promote it down your throat soon enough =).
Best wishes to you,
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
This is answered SO skillfully, and the post you wrote is beyond genuine. I figure if you love what you’re doing and if you provide massive value to a targeted audience the sky’s the limit and you’ll freaking enjoy the ride. That’s the point, right? I love what I do, and the life that I live, and in the end, even if you do accumulate a massive amount of money it does go back in the box. The irony is the more you fall in love with what you do and the less you try to accumulate stuff the more money flows into your experience, because you’ll be detached, and not worrying about money, or trying to manipulate people or things.
Signing off from Bali. Thanks Jeremy!
Ryan
So how is the ShoeMoney Network going? Is that your big thing now?
Its coming along =). Shhh =P. I am reinvesting money back into it and making a lot more content and also going to rebrand it something other than ShoeMoney most likely. Not quite sure what yet. Maybe maybe not.
Great post shoe!
Thanks laurel!
Kids are important. I see your posts on Facebook your girls look adorable!
Its posts like these that keep me coming back to the ShoeMoney blog
Long time no see but the blog post which came was truly awesome.
Thanks I will be writing more. Been working on a new project =).
Good on you for rediscovering The Dot Com Lifestyle. 🙂
Those days of Shoemoney vs John Chow are over? Hope to see some more.
I second that! Great post though Jeremy, maybe it’s time to write your second book?
Nice one. Im on the other end of the monopoly board barely scraping by and obsessing over finances and money because I don’t have enough. Money has the power to enslave you and also free you to focus on the parts of life that matter most.
I have been reading your blog since John Reese interviewed you (maybe 2007-ish). When I saw your sweet office setup in your basement way back when, I always wondered why you’d want to deal with the hassle of having an office. Good to see you’re back to your roots.
Great post! The irony of increased income confirmed your decision was correct!
Great article Jeremy! I used to commute all the time to work for big brands in Online. The expenses were horrendous and the satisfaction was low. With kids in play it sometimes became a logistical nightmare to pull off both work and family responsibilities at the same time. To anyone who is considering working from home (for a company or for yourself), do it! It allows you to be better parent and more productive professionally. By wiping out 1-2 hours of commute per day you have REAL TIME to smell the roses and be successful.
Hi Jeremy, I know you from digitalpoint, almost since a decade now, I don’t remember if I ever posted on your blog, but this post made me comment, I agree 100% with your philosophy, no matter how we struggle or how amazing life we spend, at the end of the day its all dark, same for everyone. The only thing that matters is what good memories we have left for others, and done anything for humanity that others would benefit from after we depart.. You have realized it on the right time after spending 10 years of your successful life, Good luck for future..
Hey Jeremy, I can certainly relate to your story. While I didn’t have $10 Million in the bank, I came to a crossroads in my life 10 years ago where I had to decide what was more important, money or happiness. I chose the latter, and I couldn’t be happier. Well, I wouldn’t mind some extra money, but wouldn’t we all..
Glad to hear you’re in a happier place!
Great post Shoe. I’m going to share this with my teamwork right now!
I have NEVER left a message/ comment on your blog. I must say that this is one of the most passionate, well written, brutally honest, emotional articles I have ever read.
Whao!
It is ok, if you think I am “hyping” it. Yeah, you are entitled to your own opinion but for me, it is a fantastic one.
Remember the 80/20 rule? No ? Then may I suggest that you grab a copy.
It is heart warming, commendable, to know that People like you who are thought leaders in the internet marketing world are helping to reshape the industry.
It is fantastic to know that LIVING THE DOT COM LIFESTYLE is being redefined. I mean NOT focusing entirely on the almighty dollar alone.
BUT living a quality lifestyle. A life full of purpose, passion. May I dare say that living a life that glorify God.
Hey, after all, just like you said in your well articulated, well written article. I all come down to the “BOX” indeed.
Rich or poor! tall or short. No matter who you are. It all come down to that box bro.
Your article kind of help me to redefine a lot of things.
This article help me to put a lot of things in perspective.
It came at the right time bro.
What else can I say that you have not said in your well crafted article.
T-H-A-N-K M-A-N!!
thanks Jeremy for sharing your experinces withh us hank you again
I really enjoyed this post – great to see where your priorities are.
Thanks for this great post Jeremy, money isn’t everything but strangely the pursuits for more money to me, is the most enslaving factor against mankind. It seems that the more we have, the more insatiable we become! This article will help curb the obsession for money pursuit. I have already bookmarked this page.
Thanks for sharing your hard won wisdsom, I really appreciate it.
Good to see you writing something like this. A lot of us are in the same scenario, where we just get tired chasing the moolah. In the end, it’s your happiness and family that matters.
“They fought over it for years and eventually it got very bitter and to this day they don’t talk.” This is why I like things like the Give Back Promise (www.givebackpromise.com). A group of millionaires are giving the majority of their wealth to charity, not to their children. It’s not that they don’t love their children, they’ve just seen the problems that inheriting unearned wealth can create, like the family fights you mention.
Very well composed and balance article.
Thanks a lot for sharing this experience
Great post, good to rethink life and see that life is much more than money.
Interesting article. tnx for sharing.
wow I am shocked you closed your office and are now working from home. I currently work from home and now after reading this post I want to remain working from home.
Thanks Jeremy for sharing your experinces 😉
Hey Jeremy,
I’ve read your blog on and off since 2007 or 08, but this is one post I felt compelled to comment on.
I just turned 39 last month, so I understand where you are coming from. I’ve been through my shares of ups and downs in life as well, and as you get older, you think about the big picture in life. What is all this for if you’re not happy? Money ain’t shit once you’re gone. And, the whole inheritance thing – I get it. Money allows for an easier life, but it can also be the root of evil.
Don’t worship anything other than God because in the end, all this materialistic stuff goes away, and we are all left with just our souls.