During my escape, I met a lot of potential accomplice. Some of these people are ex-offenders, some are prisoners, the others are just wardens watching us prisoners, hoping to get a piece of the action. Today, I want to tell you a story about a particular ex-offender. He became my mentor in some ways. I almost decided to be under his tutelage, until I found out more about him. He owns more businesses and more properties than he has time for his health and family.
Tom* can be considered, by most measures of success, a successful businessman. A serial deal maker, he started off with a family business in one shop, and extended that into a chain of shops. During that time, he held down a day job as well, which he used as a platform to look for side deals. He helps move supplies from one country to another, brokering deals and arranging shipment. He knows his way around the legal culture in shipping, ports and customs of different countries. He has a good control of cost and makes a sizeable profit margin.
He is always on the look out for these deals. He is also always on the look out for potential partners. I became one potential.
As I looked for buyers for my business, I came across Tom. We talked about my business. We talked about his business. Of course, his business is more interesting and much more varied than mine. So I asked him plenty of things which I wouldn’t have found out in the normal course of my working day.
I remember one of our longer sessions. We were sitting in a cafe. After talking about all things business, I started noticing he was breathing heavily. He’s been doing this ever since we sat in the cafe, but initially, I thought it was because we might have walked too fast to the cafe. But no. He was breathing heavily throughout our conversation. He was also perspiring. We were in an air-conditioned cafe. There weren’t many people. It wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t hot either.
I began to ask him about his family. He is a Singaporean*. He said he has a property in Australia*. His wife and his kids stay there. He goes back once in a while, but because he’s always searching and brokering deals, he needs to travel often. He was telling me how good some of the places were to visit. How good some of the food were in these places. But his travel plans meant that he doesn’t spend as much time in Australia as he wanted. He then opened up his wallet and showed me a piece of his family – it was a photo of his daughter.
I began to wonder, if everything he’s doing is worth it. I began to wonder if he even realises if he wants to be with his family or not. I asked him if he misses them. He said yes. But he proceeded rather defensively to say that he only needs to find a few deals a year. And then he’ll be sorted for that year.
The big house. The big car. The good education for his kids. The overseas property. Just a few deals. And everything will be sorted.
I was interested in what he did. I was interested in the businesses that he does. The ideas that he came up with. It was exciting. There were plenty of things I didn’t know and I found them all interesting. It is also lucrative. But some things just didn’t add up. He was overweight. He was sweating in a cold room. He doesn’t see his family often. He ate plenty when he travels.
I realised money can come from anywhere. And I realised I don’t want to be like him getting those money.
Do you know where your money is coming from? Do you know the effect of those sources of money on you?
*(not his real identity or place of residence)
If you think this is worth sharing, do share it with your friends. Thank you for reading.
Related posts:
2 Comments
sounds like your ex-offender Tom is a slave to money, rather than the other way round ;p
yup. i believe he needs to admit to this “slavery” relationship before he can get out of it. most people enjoy being slaves, or sometimes, just don’t know they’re in a boiling pot.