Last week, Piers Morgan in his show “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” hosted OnlyFans Influencer, Elle Brooke and the conversation left me in deep thoughts.
Here’s the part that caught my attention.
Piers Morgan: Tell me more about yourself. What were you before you did this?
Elle: I was a law student.
Piers Morgan: Did you graduate?
Elle: No. I dropped out to do Only Fans because I was making a lot of money so I was like, why I’m I just reading?
Piers: What made you get into it?
Elle: Because I saw how much money other people were making and I was thinking, hey, I can do this too and then it turns out I’m pretty good at getting my clothes off.
Piers: I’ve got nothing against you. I’m not taking a moral view here. You can do the hell you want. You are legal. I’m just disappointed that someone like you who obviously has a great brain, training to be a law student at the university, decides to pack it all in to just take your clothes off for perfect strangers on Only Fans. Why?
Elle: Because I wouldn’t have made loads of money as a solicitor anyway. I would have earned money, yes, but I earn that in two weeks.
Piers: What does your family think of you?
Elle: My dad is dead and my mum is on my payroll.
Piers: How would you feel when you wanna have kids yourself?
Elle: I don’t really want kids right now
Piers: But you will. How old are you right now?
Elle: 25
Piers: But you will do at some point probably. When you do, are you going to be proud that you have your little ones and they look at you and go “didn’t you want to become a lawyer mommy? What happened? You go, “yeah, look at all my stuff.”
Elle: They can cry in a Ferrari
Shadow Careers
This interview reminded me of a line in Nat Elliason’s article, “When The Money is Just Damn Good.”
He writes, “Be careful what you do to pay the bills. You might just succeed at it.”
Simply put, whatever you do to do for a living, with money as the incentive, you will always find better ways of being better at it so that you can make more money.”
Why Making More Money Won’t Make You Feel Rich
I know this as an example is an extreme one, but it goes far to help us see how human beings are willing to sacrifice their lives just to make more money. And optimizing to make more money is an illusion since we will never feel like we have enough regardless of how much we make.
If you don’t believe me. Here’s the story of Lloyd Blankfein, Ex Goldman Sachs CEO. In an interview with the Financial Times in 2020, he claimed that he couldn’t even consider himself rich.
In his exact words, “I can’t even say rich. I don’t feel that way. I don’t believe that way. If I bought a Ferrari, I’d be worried about getting it scratched.
Llyod Blankfein was worth an estimated $1.1B in 2015. He’s probably in the top 0.01% of the wealthiest people in the world but still doesn’t consider himself rich.
What Really Makes A Good Career?
There are many criteria to judge a career, but I think one of the best questions that can help you know the kind of career you are leading would be. “If money wasn’t a problem. Would you still be doing what you do?”
If the answer is yes, then that shows that there are other reasons other than monetary compensation that push you to do what you do.
I know for most people, this question doesn’t apply since they are in jobs they don’t like because they still have to put food on their tables and they don’t have the luxury to choose or switch careers to work on things they love.
The Values That Really Matter in Life
Over the past few years, I have worked with hundreds of people trying to help them manage their money better and build wealth through investments. And one thing I have realized is that how people spend money shows you what really matters to them and what they care about in life.
Similarly, how people make money shows you what they are willing to sacrifice just to support their lifestyles financially. It shows you the values they embrace and what they stand for in life.
You can do anything to make money, but if it doesn’t align with your inner self, you will always spend your nights thinking hard about your life decisions and if it’s really worth it.
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose himself in the process?