I Want To Make A Lot of Money

When I started my business 8 years ago I would have told you that the number one reason I wanted to start my own business was to make a lot of money. It may sound shallow, but it is true. Over the years my feelings have changed. It's tough being an entreprenuer. Peaks and valleys, ups and downs. Good times and really hard times.

Owning a business is really hard. But I love it so much. I love the freedom of choosing how to spend my day, what I want to work on and being able to spend good quality time with my family. This is what I've come to love, but it hasn't always been easy. Holli would tell you that for the first 6 months or so of Caleb's life, I was always working. We were launching a new product and I was slammed. I don't really remember that because I was so focused on my work. I had a friend from Truth@Work recently remind me of this time of my life too and what it was like. Money comes and goes, but my family is something I can pour my life in to and I really do try to focus on that these days.

Those of you with small kids have maybe wondered in the past what it will be like when your kids are grown up and what the conversations will be like. I know I have thought about that before. Tonight I got a glimpse of that with Camden. Holli had MOPS tonight so I got to put the boys to bed. Caleb was so snuggly.

Anyway, Camden has been asking to come to work with me. I asked him if he would like to work with me when he gets bigger. He said yes that he wants to learn how to "program computers and build websites". I thought, "OK, this is cool". I told him one of the cool things that daddy gets to do is dream up great ideas for websites and then build them. I asked him if he had any cool ideas. He said yes and then went on to describe something like this (I'm paraphrasing):

"When I get bigger I want to work with you and we can build a website to make a lot of money. Then we will open our own bank and give all of the money to a teller. We'll tell lots of people about the bank and tell them if they have a need or don't have enough money, they can go to the bank and the teller will give them our money. The teller will say that a nice man gave them this money to use because God loves them."

WOW -- all that from a 5 year old. Obviously it wasn't that concise, but that was the jist of it. I told him that God gave him such a special heart and that He has big plans for his life.

After we had kids I have wondered from time to time if they would be interested in learning what I do and maybe one day work with me. Tonight was my first real glimpse at that. Very cool.