• Steven Smith, who founded Poundland, remembers sharing one portion of fish and chips between his family of four when he was growing up. The 63-year-old entrepreneur said his grandad's mantra, "if you don't work, you don't eat", has stuck with him throughout his life.

    Mr Smith and his wife Tracey owned the company for 16 years and employed more than 8,000 people but the pressure of running a multi-million pound business took its toll. "I used to get up in the morning, my daughter was asleep, I used to get back home and she was asleep, before I knew it she was 16," he said. "I remember my dad asking me, 'How much is enough?'".

    I found it mildly funny that this BBC article was about a £250 million empire built on the simple idea that everything is a pound and his sort of Rosebud moment is his Dad asking that.

  • There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village. As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish. The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?” The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.” “Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished. “This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said. The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?” The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”
    The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman. “I am a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”
    The fisherman continues, “And after that?” The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich.” The fisherman asks, “And after that?” The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!” The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”

  • Two years ago I was working a four day week and was very happy, I had enough money to live and enjoyed a three day weekend, it was perfect. Then I took an extra day and a half of work, when I saw an accountant she told me I had to buy a new car to offset my tax liability and save money. I thought this was a bit odd but went along with it.

    Now I'm working my self stoopid and chasing my tail every week to pay the bloody car off. I'll be going back to a four day week once the loan is paid. #csb

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