Moving the (million $) mountain

Arrived back in Maastricht on Monday, but immediately plunged into a week of work, prioritizing a few big jobs ahead of the social networks.  It’s paid some dividends, a couple of big jobs are done.

An elephant was the “Pitch and Prospectus” to raise money for a client. It’s the final push to get their product to market, and a clear and compelling presentation of the business prospects and needs is crucial.  They’ve agreed on the “80% draft”, a version that’s good enough for others to critique it, and I’ve transitioned from writing, illustrating, and formatting to making calls and sending e-mails to initiate the outside reviews among some VC friends.  We’ll see if we have a fundable proposition by next week.

I remember a business class where the instructor asked whether we would take his “Million Dollar Deal”.  Suppose he asked for a year of loyal servitude: on call 24/7, ready do whatever he needed (nothing illegal,  but hard work).  At the end of the year, he would pay out 1 million dollars.  Would you take it?

Absolutley.  He argued that it was a bad bargain: health, family, friendships, outside interests would all suffer.  But it’s a million dollars! Think, for one moment, of the real costs.  But…but…

I’m feeling a bit like that now: there are lots of payoffs implicit in getting the client’s company funded, completed, and exited.  But my real costs are also very high.  So, turning back to the New Year’s touchstone: keep it all in perspective, and life in balance.

And, as Felix Dennis notes, even a million dollars may only make people “comfortably poor” these days.