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My partner Joe and I working on the Fans League project. It's going smoothly...
Following the CISLink adventure, I was fortunate to enjoy 15 years of what I would qualify as a sabbatical. I saw the kids grow up, I controlled the time I spent on projects, learning, traveling, and living special adventures. We created amazing family memories all over the world to last a lifetime. This is something that my corporate life would never have been able to buy.
I also started a few projects with mitigated results. None was as successful as CISLink, some did fine, and others were failures. The overriding reason was that I was not willing to commit to another transition and instead hired CEOs to develop the projects. They were expensive and ran the businesses as employees when an entrepreneurial approach was required. I don't blame them. It was my mistake for letting it happen.
To manage my money I contracted a Swiss brokerage firm owned by a close friend. It was a conservative placement with decent returns and the risk was limited... until the broker decided to use my cash and that of all his clients for other purposes... He ended up in jail, and I ended up losing most of my wealth.
It was obviously an unexpected development that I had to quickly put behind me. The money was lost. The only solution forward was to go back to the drawing board now that the kids were out of the house. Wasn't it the initial plan all along anyways? 😅
In the last year, I have been working on a new exciting project called The Fans League. It follows exactly the same approach and logic that I have been describing in this narration.
The vision is the same. The business model is the same. I identified a novel idea in an expanding market (fantasy sports gaming). It can be transposed across geographies and sectors offering great scaling opportunities. The project relies on social media marketing, a field that I know quite well. It is purely digital and requires limited capital investment. And this time, I will personally run it through the transition period.
Will it lead to another great story? We won't know until it is done but there is no alternative to the journey. I am better prepared than I was then, and I fully intend to enjoy the process with no undue pressure now that the kids are independent and I have fewer responsibilities or financial burdens.
Young people do not realize the favorable position they are in. Do take risks, you have nothing to lose!
So can I do it again? Watch this space. I will update the Fans League progress as I embark on a new adventure, perhaps a pilgrimage around English football pubs... probably less taxing to the body but more to the head 😀
ZOOM CALL
If you have any questions about achieving financial freedom or the journey, please write a comment below or send me a message.