Number One Dime

We all have something we value and cherish. It can be  something of sentimental value that can get us thinking of a neat experience in the past. Many business remember the first dollar they made and will frame it as a momento for their clients to see. This act is similar to Uncle Scrooge’s Number One Dime in the 90s cartoon series Duck Tales. But Uncle Scrooge’s Number One dime was placed inside a vault and highly protected. .

I remember as a kid wanting to swim in Money like Uncle Scrooge.  I was always worried when the bad guys (the Beagle Boys and Magica De Spell) got close to Uncle Scrooge’s Number One Dime. Years later I kind of kept focusing on making money and climbing the corporate ladder. Yes I would say I was making a bit more than most of my peers. Working for KPMG I did get many perks from moving around in car services in New York City, eating and drinking in some awesome restaurants, interacting with key players of large companies, and many other things that I thought had me on track to being Uncle Scrooge one day.

I was already looking for a location to keep my stash. Then I got tired of all the sacrifices I was making. I looked around me and I clearly saw many individuals focused on making money and doing almost anything towards reaching the top level. I caught myself waking up at 430 am to make it into the office at 7am with a 2+ hour commute one way and then leaving the office at 12am sleeping on the train or car service to get some rest so I could go at it the next day. Yes I did a lot of sleeping on the train like many. I have to say I was very privileged to working at KPMG and I had great people around me which made the experience a more pleasant one. My turning point was when I read Gene O’Kelley’s book Chasing Daylight: How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life (Amazon Affiliate Link). He really made me focus on enjoying life and keeping a balance in between reaching your professional goals and meeting personal goals. Gene left us at an early age and he clearly impacted many of us including me.

Although changing my lifestyle took some time I have to say I am extremely happy to be working on my dreams with the privilege of being able to wake up in morning and plan my day out with a lot of control on my life. I make sure I meet my commitments and I work harder than ever because I love what I do. In most occasions some of the projects I do are not even compensated with money (Papaheroes.com & Veglatino.com) but the fact that I am creating something that is useful for someone else is the best compensation I can get.

I work every day towards having people understand and protect what they most love. I work with small businesses which are struggling and do my best to help them keep afloat.

Projects that make it easy for me to be  successful are those where management or owners are focused on giving good customer service, great quality products, unique services, and for them making money is not a priority. For many there Number One Dime is their house (which I lost last year given Banco Popular’s shady loss mitigation practices. I am cooking up a post on that) in my case, my house was a place to live. That is why I easily handed it over to Banco Popular they seemed to want the house more than I did. My biggest challenge is with people that don’t want to lose something material to gain more important things. Many of those people I will not change and I work on those that are interested in working alongside me so we can all grow.

The biggest perk KPMG gave me was not wanting to go after the stash of cash. I have to say that for me my Number One Dime is not focusing on material things and following my dreams. I won’t let anyone take that away from me.

What is your number one dime? Are you willing to sacrifice your material things to find happiness long term?