The Non-Billionaire Mindset
Learning about what really matters from tales of fishing in the tropics
Simon Trask
June 11, 2025
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There’s a story about a man on vacation in the tropics.
He sees a local fisherman. The man goes out in his humble boat every day, fishing, bringing in his catch, and selling it to a merchant. Then he returns to his shack on the beach.
The tourist talks to the fisherman. He says “I could grow this business, you know”. The well-meaning tourist goes on to explain how he could borrow a little money and buy another boat, hire a friend, double the catch, and make a little more cash than the man has. Then he can double again, and now he has a fleet and a crew.
The local replies with “why would you do that?”
The tourist, excited with his own inspiration, says “well you could eventually scale the business to a point that attracts private equity investors, who would buy the entire operation.”
The local fisherman asks again, “what would you do then?”
The vacationer says “well then I could do whatever I want – I would probably just live on the beach and fish whenever I feel like it.”
The fisherman simply says “that is what I already do.”
It’s easy to assume that billionaires all have different ambitions than you and I. But when it comes down to it, even the uber-rich simply want good health, amazing relationships, and enriching experiences. They want to live in peace. They just think billions is the path to accomplish all of that.
The great part about living in the first world is that we’re probably 95% of the way there already. We were born on third base, while most of the world is at the plate and down 0-2 in the count.
If you have protective shelter, clean water, abundant food, good health, and people in your life who really care about you: YOU ARE RICH!
(The type of rich that really matters.)
The rest is just window dressing.
 | Onward and upward, (I’m a small business owner, advisor, and advocate – learn more here) |
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