English / 29.01.2020 / 4904

The Final Life Purpose

Nikolay Mokhov, author from the Dark Side of Business

How do you find your purpose? This question torments the poor and the rich alike. And if someone thinks that once they earn millions and billions, they will no longer have to worry about it... I will run as fast as I can, fall, rub my knees (ouch!), and still keep running, just to make sure I'm there on time to disappoint the reader. The question of purpose weighs on anyone-regardless of the bank statement. And if the reader is curious, I'm going to tell a story about a very wealthy man.

He was someone who made a fortune in the IT industry. Millions and millions of dollars couldn't satisfy his soul.

- They pay me for nothing! I sell air. If the wind changes tomorrow, our company will blowdown. I should diversify the risks. One shouldn't keep all the eggs in one basket! We need to diversify the risks! You can't put your eggs in one basket!

The popular proverb about eggs led many businessmen to bankruptcy. The same can happen to our character. Because he started investing in the "real sector" like a madman. By "real sector" he meant big trucks, warehouses... In a word - European logistics. Anyone who has done business in Europe should know that it's a pain in the butt.
One of the reasons some Swiss banks give loans at low rates is that you can hardly earn high ones.

it is better to become a genius fraudster than a mediocre manager

Here the reader will have a logical question:

- Nick, why the hell are you telling me a story of some rich guy and European logistics? I have a family to provide for, the new government is trying to control the income of each citizen. Life is trying to drown us in troubles (or in something else)... And there is also this question, are we doing the right thing in life?

Now let me give a simple explanation. Look at this example of the guy going nuts about the logistics. He earns money in IT and they waists it in the “real sector”. Why does it happen? Because mom, dad, friends and other people around could keep convincing him since childhood:

- You are doing some nonsense...look at your classmate who bought a truck and now he is transporting prawns to other countries. That's a real business!

And who cares if our character has a truck full of money, while his classmate hardly has a thousand of Euros of savings. This is a question of acceptance by the people closest to him. And here this question of purpose pops up. We understand a lot about ourselves since childhood. When I was six, I could not read or write, but when someone asked me “what do you want to be when you grow up” I was very confident:

"A writer!

But I was told:

- Writers earn very little, and only a few make it...

Relatives and friends inclined:

- Maybe, you could become a programmer? Maybe an engineer?

I wasted energy, time and money to check my relatives' theories. And thank God, it didn't take too much time. 'Cause I know a story of a woman who got old and realized, that she had always dreamt of being a ballet dancer. But, as she said it herself:

— But it's hard to be a ballerina when you are sixty."...

From the heading

Brasileiro

His fingers were freezing from the cold. Gauntlets over the gloves, winter boots… None of this protected him from the harsh wind. The arctic ocean is nearby. Is that where the wind is blowing from?

— Brasileiro, why did you get distracted? Hook it up... — commanded the crew chief. He was making sure that the workers were quick at hanging the fish to dry.

Brasileiro looked at the cod with hatred. Cod, cod, cod... Those who never lived in northern Europe would not understand the significance of this fish. It would be shocking to find out that in the second half of the 20th century, there were three times when Iceland was ready to start a war with England over codfish.

Whetstone for attention

— So the secret to success is to be in the right place at the right time?" - Someone asked in the Dark Side chat. How can I comment on this? Let me tell you about a multi-million dollar deal I once made. I'm not telling the story to show off as the money was already spent for parties in the city a long time ago — there is nothing to brag about. I'm telling the story to illustrate one principle.

So, here is the story. At a restaurant in Moscow, there was this construction businessman, his PR guy, and me. I had already handed over a report on my work. I was having some coffee, meanwhile listening to them discussing the promotion of business operations abroad.

Babylonian Squabbles

Once again I wondered: why is it so difficult to understand other people? Recently, we had a heated discussion in our chat. One of our readers pondered: what motivates young people these days to join power structures where there is “no place for individualism”? Someone suggested they could be compared to Batman: “Being afraid of bats, he decided to become one of them. So did these people: being afraid of the authorities, they decided to become them.” Someone else had a counter question, “How successful would they be had they not decided to join these structures?”

How Fair Ladies Rule

“What is power? Who needs it?” a pretty girl asked me. It was a difficult question. Talking to a beautiful woman, you want to say something funny, something light-hearted. You want to tell a joke. But talking about power you’re one step away from seeming boring. Can I avoid this fate? I’m afraid no. I’ll have to write my answer, at the risk of being perceived as dull. Well, what else can I do? Maybe at least She’ll read it..?