When I was a kid I was a mini entrepreneur. I remember
buying a bag of Jolly Rancher lollipops for three bucks. It came with about 15
lollipops. I kept the bag in my backpack throughout the day, and between
classes I would sell them to my friends for 75 cents apiece. It didn’t take me
long to realize I was making just over eight dollars profit per bag, and kids
were buying these things like crazy. I was far too straight edge to deal drugs,
but I’ll be damned if I didn’t have a better understanding of the people who
did. I got to a point where I was selling three bags a day. I was the only 13
year old that was buying his own video games. Around that time, Pokémon was a
huge deal, every kid in the neighborhood carried around their Gameboys ready to
trade Pokémon on their quest to “catch them all”. I myself had caught all 150
of them, but wasn’t going to be satisfied until I got that 151st and
one-upped all of my friends. So I went to Wal-mart and purchased a Gameshark. I
promptly used it to get my coveted Mew and mercilessly taunt my friends with
it. Then I had an epiphany. I could give anyone any Pokémon they wanted. So I
made a list, or a menu as it was. I put every Pokémon on it and set a price
next to its name. At an additional charge, I’d even level it up for you. The
neighborhood kids flocked to my house, allowances in hand. I made over three
hundred dollars selling digital goods with something that I bought at Wal-mart for
thirty bucks. I was also early on the CD burning fad. I made about two-hundred
dollars selling mixed CDs before it became a common household technology and no
longer a commodity. I’m not sure what happened to that entrepreneurial streak
as I got older. I suppose like most teenage boys, I got distracted by girls. Still,
I wasn’t afraid of a little hard work. My friend Michael and I used to cut
grass around the neighborhood for extra money. After buying gas for the
lawnmowers and weed eaters, it wasn’t nearly as profitable as selling Pokémon,
but we did it anyway.
The funny part about looking back and thinking of all these
little money making ventures of mine, is I can’t for the life of me tell you
what I spent it on. It couldn’t have just been video games. I wasn’t old enough
to drive yet, so I had yet to discover the joys of wasting money to impress
girls. I just know I was spending it about as fast as I was making it; Likely
on junk food and comic books. I do remember that I was eager to get a real job.
I loved the idea of a steady, constant paycheck. I started working as soon as I
was sixteen. I stuck with the job for quite some time, but I remember hating
it. At sixteen years old, none of my friends had money with the exception of
ten to twenty dollars a week from their allowances, and here I was getting a
paycheck, but I didn’t have any free time with my friends. I was sixteen years
old when I first realized that I needed money to do all the things I want to
do, but don’t have the time to do them if I’m busy working for that money. That
never changed as I got older. Younger me was onto something I think. He worked
smart, not hard. He did stuff he enjoyed and made money doing it, and while he
didn’t have any desires bigger than going to the movies or playing video games,
he was able to do all the things he wanted to do. I’ve been a big fan of Frank Turner lately
since discovering his music, and to quote him here: “No one’s yet explained to
me exactly what’s so great about slaving fifty years away on something that you
hate; about meekly shoving down the path of mediocrity. If that’s your road then
take it, but it’s not the road for me.” Despite how it sounds, I think hard work is
crucial in getting all of the things you want out of life. Short of that
winning lottery ticket, I don’t believe there is an easy button you can press
that will get you where you want to go. I think the challenge we all have is in
finding out where to focus that hard work, so that you’re not just spinning
your wheels every day, but actually moving forward. The answer to that is
different for everyone, and those who have it figured out are the truly happy
ones.
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