Inquiring minds want to know: Yes, I’ve signed on for another year with Kaseya.
My role is not as an employee or in a leadership role (so all you LinkedIn “fans” can STOP prospecting me like it is); it’s limited to speaking at Producers Club, running the BFC Club with Paul Cissel, and staying available to members for one-on-one consultations — but I’m very grateful to Dan and Gary for allowing me to still be part of it.
Once word got out, I’ve been asked repeatedly: Why the heck are you still working?
The question mostly comes from people who can’t fathom continuing to work after selling and pocketing a “BFC” — a Big Fat Check (or, if we’re being honest, a different F-word). Sometimes it’s asked with suspicion, the person questioning if I’m as well-off as I claim. “I heard she needs the money.” Other times it’s a flat-out insult, insinuating I’m too old, dusty, and irrelevant. One person even suggested I “park it” and let somebody else have a turn.
Well, sorry to disappoint ya, darlin’ — I’m sharper and more lethal than ever.
The only people who’ve never once questioned why I’m still working are people who really know me, and other high-achieving entrepreneurs and executives — because they already know this truth about every high-achiever on the planet:
We’d all rather work than do most anything else.
I have zero interest in small talk with the neighbors about gas prices, how my kids are doing, and what I’m doing over the weekend. I love what I do, I’m good at it, and I get real satisfaction working with my MSP clients.
It’s not just about the money — if it were, trust me, I’ve turned down offers with more commas than this one.
Over the years, I’ve had the chance to meet with, and in some cases work alongside, other high achievers like Marcus Lemonis, Robert Herjavec, Mike Rowe, Gene Simmons, and Daymond John.
Back in 2019, when I got invited to watch Shark Tank being taped, I watched Kevin O’Leary work for an entire day. He was on set at 6:00 a.m. for prep, then filmed until after 8:00 p.m. that night. He took meetings on every break. Shot social videos on the breaks he didn’t have meetings. His assistant hovered nearby all day, feeding him urgent news, updates, and scheduling calls as he walked to the bathroom or got a quick bite to eat before getting back on set. Then he had a 9:00 p.m. dinner meeting that ran who-knows-how-late. Next morning? Same thing, all over again.
People ask: why, at his age, with all his money, does he keep grinding at that pace? What kind of insanity drives him to run and invest in over 80 companies? I know because it’s the same “insanity” that keeps me working.
He LOVES the art of investing, scaling businesses, marketing, negotiation, and growth. He has highly developed skills and is great at all of it. Like a real shark, he has to keep swimming forward, hunting his next big catch, or he dies.
You might call working this hard for this long “pathetic,” even sad. But the same people who diagnose it as a mental disorder — workaholism — would be outraged if you called poverty or low income an unhealthy “disease” instead of what it actually is: a choice.
If you choose leisure or a hobby or more free time over work, that’s fine by me. You do you. Just don’t sponge off the welfare system and expect my tax dollars to fund your choice. My choice of working vs. playing doesn’t hurt anyone other than my direct competition.
If you celebrate somebody for choosing a slower, less stressful, and less work-focused lifestyle, then you should also applaud somebody like me who is doing what I love as well. It’s my choice, and I’d rather do what I do over almost any other hobby on the planet.
If you’re like me, then keep signing the contracts. Keep showing up. Keep doing the work nobody’s forcing you to do. I can promise you this: someday, when you sell your business and get that BFC, you WILL miss it. Maybe not ALL of it, but even hobbies you love come with some annoyances that are overlooked and tolerated because you love the overall result and the process.
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