No, I Don’t Want More Money, Actually
Rejecting the capitalist trap of always needing more.
I’m far from the only freelancer to find herself the target of business development managers promising to triple my client-base in six months. Despite now being on maternity leave, my LinkedIn inbox is full of free consultation session offers, free trials for client management apps or requests for a Zoom meeting to discuss “collaborative potential” — which here means me paying for services I don’t need.
It’s not that I don’t respect the growth and strategic management industry; they can and do work wonders for small businesses wanting to scale up to become profitable. I get that. No business can run in the red.
I struggle, however, with how this industry sees scaling up as an endless process that doesn’t cease even when my company is Amazon-sized and I’ve literally conquered the world. Quite honestly, I don’t have time for it, and neither should you.
That said, recognising the border between just enough and far too much isn’t easy. How much money do you need to live a fulfilled, healthy and secure life in the 2020s? Where can we draw the line?
It’s taken eight years abroad, three working for the Chinese government, four freelancing and one as a mother, but I think I’ve just about begun to…
