The Richest Person I Know | The Time Manifesto Ep. 8

The richest person I know drives a 10-year-old truck.

He hasn't missed one of his children's games in six years.

On Saturdays, he's unreachable.

Not because he's hiding.

Not because he's trying to escape his responsibilities.

Because he's built a business that doesn't need him every second of every day.

Twice a year, he takes a real vacation.

No laptop.

No checking emails.

No constant phone calls.

He could disappear for a month and his company would continue operating.

And here's the interesting part.

He's nowhere near the highest earner I know.

I know business owners making five times what he makes.

They have beautiful homes.

Expensive vehicles.

Incredible companies.

Revenue numbers that would impress almost anybody.

But they can't miss a phone call.

They can't take a real vacation.

Their kids plan activities around their availability.

Their businesses are bigger.

But their lives are smaller.

So who's actually wealthy?

That's the question we're getting into in Chapter 8 of The Time Manifesto: Build a Business That Gives You Your Life Back.

Because I believe most entrepreneurs are measuring success with the wrong scoreboard.

And that mistake is costing us something money can't replace.

Our time.

We're Using the Wrong Scoreboard

Think about how we measure success in business.

Revenue.

Profit.

Income.

The size of the company.

The number of employees.

The house.

The car.

The lifestyle.

Those are the things people can see.

They're easy to compare.

Easy to measure.

Easy to celebrate.

And from the moment we start building our careers, we're taught to compete on that scoreboard.

Make more money.

Grow the business.

Get the bigger house.

Buy the nicer vehicle.

Hit the next revenue milestone.

Then do it all over again.

I'm not against making money.

I love business.

I love building companies.

I love creating value and generating revenue.

But here's what took me years to understand.

Money is a tool. The purpose of that tool should be to create more options in your life.

What good is making $1 million a year if you can't take a Tuesday afternoon off?

What good is having a seven-figure business if you can't leave for two weeks without worrying that everything will collapse?

What good is building financial success if you're never available to enjoy the life that money was supposed to create?

At some point, we need to start measuring something besides income.

And that's what this chapter is about.

In This Episode, We Get Into:

• Why the highest earner isn't always the wealthiest person

• The difference between financial success and personal freedom

• Why entrepreneurs become trapped by the businesses they build

• How income can increase while personal freedom decreases

• Why time and options are better measures of wealth than status alone

• How to identify whether your business depends too heavily on you

• The five-question Options Audit every entrepreneur should complete

• Why having the ability to choose your clients matters

• How to determine whether you can afford to remove a bad client

• Why taking a Tuesday afternoon off is a real measure of business ownership

• How systems and delegation create additional freedom

• Why developing leaders increases the options available to you

• The difference between growing revenue and growing your quality of life

• How to create an Options Score for your business

• Why being available for your family is one of the greatest returns on business ownership

The Difference Between Income and Wealth

Here's something I want every entrepreneur to understand.

Income measures money flowing through your hands. Wealth should also reflect what you have the freedom to do with your life.

Those aren't the same thing.

You can have an incredible income and almost no control over your time.

You can be the highest-paid person in your company and still be the person with the least freedom.

You can have more revenue than you've ever had while simultaneously becoming more dependent on your business.

That's not necessarily financial freedom.

That's a business with a very expensive set of handcuffs.

And the worst part?

Sometimes we're the ones putting those handcuffs on ourselves.

Every time we refuse to delegate.

Every time we insist we're the only person who can handle something.

Every time we create a new process that requires our personal approval.

Every time we become the bottleneck.

We're trading away another option.

And those decisions compound.

That's why I want you to start measuring something different.

The Five-Question Options Audit

In this chapter, I introduce a simple exercise called the Options Audit.

Five questions.

One point for every yes.

A possible score of five.

And I want you to answer them honestly.

Question 1: Can You Leave for Two Weeks?

Not a vacation where you're checking email every morning.

Not a trip where your team calls you whenever something goes wrong.

I mean truly leave.

Phone silent.

Business operating.

Customers being served.

Decisions getting made.

Could you disappear for two weeks without the company falling apart?

If the answer is yes, give yourself one point.

Question 2: Can You Choose Your Clients?

Do you actually have the freedom to decide who you work with?

Or are you forced to take every opportunity because your pipeline isn't strong enough?

There's a major difference between choosing your customers and needing every customer who walks through the door.

When you have options, you can build a business around the people you genuinely want to serve.

If you can choose your clients without threatening the company's stability, that's another point.

Question 3: Can You Fire a Bad Client?

Think about the most difficult client you've worked with.

The one who constantly creates problems.

Demands more than they pay for.

Disrespects your team.

Consumes your time.

What would happen if you fired that client tomorrow?

Could your business absorb the financial impact?

Or would you have to continue tolerating the relationship because losing the revenue would create serious problems?

A business that cannot afford to walk away from bad clients has fewer options than it appears to have.

If you can make that decision without putting your household under financial strain, give yourself another point.

Question 4: Can You Take Tuesday Afternoon Off?

This Tuesday.

Not six months from now.

Not after you hit another revenue target.

Not once everything slows down.

Could you look at your calendar and decide to spend Tuesday afternoon with your family?

No asking permission.

No staying up until midnight trying to catch up.

No business emergency because you weren't available.

Just an afternoon that belongs to you.

If you can do that, add another point.

Question 5: Can You Actually Stop?

Here's the biggest one.

Could you take a genuine break from your company?

A sabbatical?

A month away?

An entire season?

And would the business continue functioning without you?

Not because you abandoned your responsibilities.

Because you've built the leadership, systems, and processes required for the company to operate independently.

If the answer is yes, give yourself the final point.

What's Your Options Score?

Now add those answers together.

Zero to five.

I've seen seven-figure businesses score a one.

I've seen business owners with much smaller operations score a five.

And here's the argument I'll defend all day:

The person scoring a five has a form of wealth that the person scoring a one may not have, regardless of income.

Because when something happens in life, options matter.

When a family member needs you.

When your child has an important event.

When you want to take a vacation.

When an unexpected opportunity comes along.

When you simply need time to think, recover, or spend time with the people you love.

The person with options can respond.

The person without options has to figure out what the business will allow.

That's a completely different way to live.

Your Options Are Built Through Systems

Here's where this gets practical.

Options aren't something you have to sit around hoping you'll eventually earn.

You can build them.

Every system you implement can create another option.

Every process you document makes it easier for somebody else to handle that responsibility.

Every leader you develop increases your company's ability to operate without you.

Every decision you empower your team to make removes another dependency.

Think about that.

A documented process can eventually give you the ability to step away from an operational responsibility.

A trained manager can give you the ability to spend Tuesday afternoon with your daughter.

A stronger sales process can reduce the need for you to personally close every major deal.

A team capable of solving problems can make it possible for you to take a vacation without your phone ringing all day.

Those aren't just operational improvements.

Those are freedom-producing assets.

And every time you build one, you're investing in a different kind of wealth.

Every Decision Affects Two Balance Sheets

I want you to think about your business as having two separate balance sheets.

The first is the one everybody sees.

Revenue.

Expenses.

Profit.

Cash flow.

Assets.

Financial performance.

You probably spend a tremendous amount of time looking at those numbers.

And you should.

But there's another balance sheet most entrepreneurs never review.

Your Options Balance Sheet.

Can you take time off?

Can your team operate without you?

Can you choose the clients you serve?

Can you make decisions based on your priorities instead of desperation?

Can you respond to life when something important happens?

Every business decision affects one or both of those balance sheets.

You might accept a major client that increases revenue but consumes every available hour on your calendar.

Your financial balance sheet improves.

Your options balance sheet gets worse.

You might hire a manager who reduces short-term profit but allows you to stop personally overseeing every operational detail.

Your financial numbers might temporarily take a hit.

But your options increase.

The question isn't whether revenue matters.

Of course it matters.

The question is whether the revenue you're generating is purchasing more freedom or creating more dependence.

That's the distinction I want you to start making.

Stop Confusing Bigger With Better

I've watched entrepreneurs turn down opportunities that would've doubled their revenue.

And I've watched other business owners accept every opportunity they could possibly get.

Here's what I've learned.

Bigger isn't automatically better.

More locations don't automatically create more freedom.

More employees don't automatically create better systems.

More revenue doesn't automatically mean a better life.

Growth has to be intentional.

And if an opportunity requires you to sacrifice more of your personal freedom without a clear path to getting it back, you need to think carefully about what you're actually purchasing.

Are you buying growth?

Or are you buying another set of responsibilities that only you can handle?

Because those two things can look identical on a financial statement.

But they'll feel very different when you try to spend a Saturday with your family.

The Richest Person I Know

Let's go back to the man with the 10-year-old truck.

He could chase more revenue.

He could expand.

He could build a much larger company.

He's had opportunities to do exactly that.

But he's also recognized the cost.

He knows what those opportunities would require.

And he has the ability to say no.

That's wealth.

Not because money doesn't matter.

But because he's built enough financial stability, strong enough systems, and enough control over his business to choose how he spends his time.

His children don't know what his annual income is.

They know he's at their games.

They know he's available.

They know he's present.

And when I think about what we're all working so hard to build, I think that's a pretty powerful way to measure success.

Your kids won't remember your revenue numbers. They'll remember whether you were there.

Sometimes success looks like being home for dinner five nights a week.

Nobody posts that.

Maybe they should.

The Chapter 8 Challenge: Start Tracking Your Options

Here's what I want you to do after listening to this episode.

Complete the Options Audit.

Answer the five questions.

Give yourself a score.

Then identify the one thing preventing you from earning another point.

Maybe you need to document a process.

Maybe you need to train somebody.

Maybe you need to develop a manager.

Maybe you need to stop taking every client.

Maybe you need to create a business that doesn't require you to personally approve every decision.

Whatever it is, identify it.

Then create a plan to fix it.

Don't just track how much money your business makes.

Start tracking how much freedom your business creates.

Because that's what we're actually working toward.

Not just a bigger company.

Not just a better income.

Not just another impressive number.

A life where we have the freedom to make choices.

A life where we can respond when our families need us.

A life where we can take opportunities, enjoy experiences, and spend time with the people who matter most.

Build the business.

Make the money.

Create the systems.

Develop the people.

But don't lose sight of what that success is supposed to provide.

Peace is a better scoreboard than pressure.

Wealth isn't measured by income alone.

It's measured by options.

And Just Keep Reaching.

---

The Time Manifesto

Book One of the Manifesto Series

The Time Manifesto: Build a Business That Gives You Your Life Back

Episode 8 / Chapter 8: The Richest Person I Know

Chapter 8 Action Step: The Options Audit

Score yourself from 0 to 5.

• Can I leave for two weeks?

• Can I choose my clients?

• Can I fire a bad client?

• Can I take Tuesday afternoon off?

• Can I genuinely step away from the company?

Give yourself one point for every yes.

Your assignment: Identify one system, leadership change, or business decision that would increase your score by one point.

Then start building it.

Closing Question

What is your business actually buying you besides money?

Joe Rosner

Learn more at www.justkeepreaching.com