He said his success cost his hair and first marriage—and it was worth it

The other day we had Scott Galloway on our podcast MoneyWise.

He said something that I’ve been thinking a lot about and think you should think about, too.

Because what he said is a bit frame-breaking.

And just so you know about Scott, he started 3 companies:

• The first sold for $33m, he netted $2-$3m.
• The second got big, somewhere around $100m. He was worth $30-$40m on paper, then it crashed and burned. He went to negative net worth.
• And the third sold for $160m.

Now he’s known for his quick-witted takes via his blog and podcasts.

We got on the subject of committing to working hard.

Here’s what he said:

"Young people talk about wanting balance in their lives and it's like, okay, well then you don't want to be rich...I have a lot of balance now because I didn't have much when I was young, so you can have it all. You just can't have it all at once."

This line in particular hit me: "You can have it all. You just can't have it all at once.” 

I agree with Scott.

I think we can have it all. But early on, before you’ve made it, whatever that means, I think focus and blunt force is necessary.

Whether you’re an axe, a saw, or a sledgehammer…you’ve got to break through to whatever side you want to be on.

And that, like it or not, requires time. Many weeks, months, and years of long hours.

Now, I’m not sure what you define as “breaking through” or hitting that point where you can have it all at once.

But one of the things I’ve learned within Hampton is that early stage CEOs and founders, let’s say that’s anything below $10 million in revenue, have to grind.

And I think that’s good.

After that threshold, which I think $10m/year is fair, 40 hours a week, along with a handful of hard weeks throughout the year, can absolutely be possible when it comes to building a large (let’s call large above $100m/year) company.

Hiring capable leadership is the unlock. That takes some money, hence the $10m/year mark.

Anyway, just wanted to share a cool quote from the podcast.

And if you’re interested:

1. MoneyWise podcast: MoneyWise is our podcast where high networth people breakdown their net worth, income, portfolio, and expenses. We release those episodes weekly. I think its the only place on the internet where wealthy people share their numbers and issues they’re having.
2. Wealth Survey: We did a survey last year on how much time founders in Hampton spend working. You can find it here.