2 months of your life for $75k?

It’s modern man’s ultimate conundrum isn’t it:

Money.

Or time.

And when I was a wee young lad I would’ve bitten your hand off faster than the dog goes for the peanut butter jar if you’d presented me that offer.

Yet, just 2 months ago, that’s the exactly what I turned down.

$75k I’m return for 2 months of my time.

And no - this isn’t one of those BS “I got robbed $500k” emails.

This is real.

It’s a decision I genuinely made.

And that’s the story I’m about to tell you in this email.

Now, to give you some context, being a creator on X hasn’t always been my full-time thing.

In fact, I’ve only actually been writing content online for 4 months (feels bloody mad saying that when I think about the journey it’s been so far…)

But up until a few months ago - before I fell in love with writing and realised it’s the key to the good life - I was in fact a humble software developer.

And, more specifically, I was a software developer at a hedge fund.

Which was awesome -

Cool programming tools.

Genuinely nice people (despite what you may have heard about hedge funds, they aren’t all full of wankers).

And, of course, very good pay.

And, on the topic of pay, if you know anything about working in finance, you’ll know that your pay typically doesn’t come in a regular stream of payments like it does in most jobs.

Instead, what you get is a regular stream of payments like everyone else, but then - normally at the end of the year - a potentially quite sizeable “bonus”.

Now, the size of this bonus varies based on a couple of things.

First, your own individual performance throughout the year.

But secondly, and often more importantly, your firm’s performance as a whole.

Your firm has a bad year? You get a much more “rationed” piece of the pie.

But your firm has a good year? You get paid a fat wedge.

(By the way - I’m acutely aware that alI this talk of bonuses is quite a sensitive subject for some - especially given that people who work in finance are hardly doing “god’s work” are we. And I’m onboard with you - I don’t think it’s right. But it is what it is. And I’m just using my own experience to share a perspective you might not have been exposed to before).

So, back to it.

Because in 2023, my firm had a VERY good year.

To the tune of making a nearly 25% return on its assets (which, if you’re unaware, is fucking outrageous).

And what did this mean for me?

It meant I was probably looking at a bonus of anywhere between $75k and $100k.

Except there was a catch.

Because bonuses don’t get paid as soon as December 31st rolls around.

They normally get paid in late feb / early march time to align with the end of the tax year in April.

And that was the problem.

Because as we hit the new year, I’d already fallen head over heels in love.

Not with a person, no.

But with writing.

With the creator economy.

With the one thing we all truly want: freedom.

And at this point, waking every day to don my work attire, put myself through 8 hours of work and build a future that wasn’t mine, I died a little more inside.

That might sound dramatic (boohoo poor millennial looking at a fat $75k payday), but it’s genuinely how I felt every time my alarm clock went off each morning.

And if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last few months it’s this:

We all want money.

We do.

Anyone that tells you otherwise is either delusional or an outright liar.

But what I think most people don’t appreciate (or maybe they do but they just forget), is the reason we want money in the first place:

To live a life with purpose.

To live a life feeling free.

To live a life that’s truly, 100%, authentically our own.

And that’s what I realised I wanted for myself.

Because despite all the things I could do with that money, what about the flip side of the equation?

What about all the things I could do with that TIME?

Build my business.

Expand my mind.

As soon as I switched my mindset and started thinking about the deal not in terms of the money I’d gain, but instead in terms of the time I’d lose, it became a no brainer.

Because, while it’s cliche as fuck, you do genuinely only get one life on this earth.

And I’ll be damned if I spend another second of it pursuing anything other than a life that’s entirely my own.

And that’s exactly why I turned down that offer.

Why I decided my time was more valuable than any amount of money.

Why I took that $75k for 2 months of my life offer, screwed it up into a little ball and yeeted it straight into the fucking River Thames hahah.

I’m sure lots of people think I’m an idiot.

That 2 months of time is nothing for that sort of money.

But frankly, I couldn’t give a shit.

Because it was to me.

And if you end up sacrificing your freedom in the pursuit of money just so you can go and buy that freedom back 20 years later then, my friend, you’ve got it all wrong haha.

You can be free - now.

You can live the life you want - now.

No one’s stopping you.

The choice is completely, and utterly yours.

Well.

Those are my ramblings for the day (I’ve been typing this out on the notes app on my phone between sets at the gym so apologies if it’s riddled with typos lol).

I hope you found it insightful.

Talk soon,

Harry

PS. If you are genuinely interested in building a brand that lets you live the life you always dreamed of, then I’d love to help.

And it’s exactly why I’m hosting my live workshop in just over a weeks’ time:

To help you build a 4-figure brand in the next 30 days.

To get you on the fasttrack to time and financial freedom.

Because I don’t know everything about business or building a brand - I never will.

But I do genuinely think I can help every single one of the 20+ people that have already signed up to hear my opinion on offers, branding and content.

And you’re more than welcome to join too.

All you gotta do is reply “Workshop” to this email and I’ll send you the full details.

I’ll see you there.