The Price Of A Dream
If you are an executive earning $10k a month. You had a dream but you chose to give it up so you can keep earning $10k a month and more in future. That would be the price of your dream.
If you were a poly lecturer making $5k per month but you gave up the job to pursue your dream of being a volunteer to take care of the stray cats at a much reduced income. However, you are happier and derived satisfaction from the volunteer work. That would be the price of your dream.
If you have a dream but currently you are working in a job to earn enough savings for you to realise your dream, even though you may or may not enjoy what you are doing now but that is the price you are willing to pay to realise your dream.
What is the price you are willing to pay for your dream? What was the price I paid for my dream?
I was an engineer making $40k a year. I risked it to develop a product which I thought would benefit and bring convenience to my target audience. It took me 3 years before there was a sufficient revenue stream. So in terms of monetary value, the price I paid to pursue my dream was $120k. However, in actual fact, it may be more than that. My economic value as an engineer is potentially $2 million. If you were me, would you be willing to pay the price?
I was lucky. I wasn't intelligent as I didn't consider so many factors. I attribute it to the brashness of youth. I thought my idea was going to be a runaway success so I just ran (pun intended) with my idea. I was naive. On hindsight, it wasn't such a bad thing.
Maybe I was also stupidly stubborn. I didn't know when to give up. And I stupidly persevered for 3 years, so much so that I was almost unable to pay my bills. That was the price I was willing to pay.
After 6 years. Now. Looking back. Have I gained more or lost more? Does success have to be measured that way? I would rather choose to contemplate and be satisfied by what I've gained.
I've more time to spend with my family. I can spend more time with my wife. I'm able to see my children grow. I can be part of their childhood. I'm there for them when they need me. I can be more flexible with my time. Please do not be mistaken for a second that by doing your own thing, you have more freedom or more free time. On the contrary, you have less freedom and more stress as there is no moment when you are not worried about your venture. There isn't a moment in time where you stop thinking how you can do better and how to outrun your competitors. I work longer hours. Many a times, I only sleep for 4 to 6 hours.
It is also a fact that what I've achieved can be lost in a whim and through no fault of my own.
What made me do it then?
I just had to know. I just had to know for sure if I can make my idea work. I don't want to regret for the rest of life if someone had successfully implemented a similar idea and it wasn't me. I don't want to be plagued by what ifs? If I had tried and failed, at least I would be satisfied with the knowledge that I wasn't the better person to make it work. In that sense, I've also realised my dream, even though it was a failed dream. But at least, I've dreamt. I've lived.
Do not blame Singapore or the people around you if you dare not live for your dream. Do not blame the society that it does not tolerate failures. The truth is that you don't tolerate your own failure.
There is a price to every dream. The question is: Are you willing to pay the price?
25 comments:
so are u still chasing the idea or have u gone back to working life?
hi cobaltpaladin...
i think passion is an important factor. i dont want to be doing something that i dont like for long. i'd rather do something that i like and build something of my own. if u're willing to sacrifice for ur passion, there is no looking back.
I've been interviewing some local bosses who have taken their step to strive out on their own and their experiences are on my site.
www.markchoon.com
btw what biz are u in right now? I would like to know more.
contact me at mark@markchoon.com
thanks!
cobalt,
I came across your blog pretty much by mistake and i read your first post which led me to leave you that first comment.
rather than closing the window just like i do for all other blogs, i decided to take a brief look-sy at your blog. that so called "brief look-sy" ended up lasting almost an hour.
I read many of your stories and experiences that i thought was extremely inspiring. especially for a young brash naive boy like myself who has just started on the road less travelled, reading your blog was truly an eye opener.
i have always expected the experiences that you face. after reading many many books from entrepreneurs behind companies like virgin, starbucks, apple, topman and many more, i have learned that it is inevitable as an entrepreneur to have the bitter experience of having a door shut in his face. i know my time will come.
but hearing it from you... someone who is far further down the road less travelled than i am, and from someone who is so close to home was another thing altogether. i felt my heart crush just by reading your blog entry... i can only imagine how it would've been like sitting alone there that day in the park.
yet, i admire you. by your writings i can see that you are honest and very humble. sure, perhaps yahoo doesn't come around offering you the $2 million you wanted or more to sell your business. perhaps you are not listed on the sesdaq... but i admire you because you have courage and because you have built something and it doesn't matter if you're still in the red or not.
what matters is that you're still a going concern... amazon took 10 years to turn a profit... you're only 30% of the way there.
i have bookmarked your blog and i will be reading regularly from now on. i hope one day i might wake up in the morning to read on your blog an entry with the title
"Today is the day of my IPO"...
Good luck Cobalt.
Hi cobalt,
That you have a dream already put you miles ahead of most people.
And that you don't just dream but take the steps to try to realise it certainly differentiate you from most others.
Whilst others grumble and rant, blame society, govt, their unlucky stars, you just threw caution to the winds and did it!
What does it take for our people to have passion in their lives?
Passion ( and to me idealism) is sorely lacking in our little red dot. Also how often do we blame our smallness for all that we have not achieved?
Thanks for blazing the trail for us.
Cheers
Dr.Huang
Hi cobalt,
Nice to meet you, fellow entrepreneur. I give up my engineer job and started my own company last year april. Along the way, there were numerous setbacks and obstacles that made me seriously thought of ending my business and going back to a normal employee's life.
But there's one thing I remembered that I said to my ex-boss on the day I tendered: "This decision (to quit my job and start a venture) may not be a correct one, but if I don't make this decision, I will definitely regret in the future."
If I had decided to stay within my comfort zone instead of venturing out, 20 years down the road, will I look back and regret not having the courage to pursue my dreams? So perhaps that will be the price of not pursuing your dreams.
Dude,
It's not brashness sir, it's guts. :-P Compared to you, most Singaporeans are whiny chickens. :-)
May your business grow big big and may you be featured on TV alongside Nanz Chong as a source of inspiration for our young. ;-P
Hey man, I love your this article.
It just speaks right out of me but with better articulated words and flow.
I been up and I been down. Left a BD job dealing with Palm Inc in States, run a HK office as country mgr, gave it all up and run own business in lost and found. Been there and still down there. Hahah!
The price of a dream is pricelss as the journey brought me through things that no one can duplicate or experience except myself. And I thank myself for all the right and wrong choices ever made that becomes me. :)
yes. the time is now.
"Life is a dream,
Love is a dream,
Half our lives wasted,
Just for one dream" - myself
The best thing to really tell yourself is that you are still sticking to your dream. Just like every morning I wake up, I feel that I need to do something that can bring me closer to that dream.
I recently wrote something about life being hard. To be a successful entrepreneur, one has to endure suffering and pain. That's part of the package, but if u succeed, you will be the first and you will make the day.
Hopefully, when u are famous and I invited u without knowing u are cobalt paladin, please accept it so that u can inspire all those students I am teaching.:)
I am glad you chased your dream instead of staying in your previous engineer job.
And you are fortunate that you have a lovely wife to support you fully! Behind every successful man, there is a woman ;p
Good post!
Hi Stewie,
Thanks for contributing a high increase of my pageviews on that day. :)
Yes, I'm still continuing what I'm doing. It is difficult but it is a choice that I've made. No regrets. Fear, yes. Regrets, no.
Good luck to your (ad)venture!
Hi Mark,
Thanks for reading my entry too. Yes, passion is important. It is passion and not money, that should be the driving force.
I'm sorry that I won't be revealing more about myself. As some may know, I guard my privacy so that I can blog with relish. :p
Appreciate your understanding. Thanks.
Hi NFS,
Acutally, we all need to see beyong our island's physical limitation. As the world gets more connected, our boundaries have expanded, if we choose to see it.
I believe as more and more people embrace their passion and dreams, it'll create an infectious momentum, encouraging more to take the route less travelled. I already see the younger (sigh, I'm now considered older) generation more daring to take a different route.
It will happen. I've faith.
Hi Denniz,
Yes, you've already led a more fulfilling life by pursuing your dream!
As I've said in my earlier comment, it will be a difficult path but a path I willingly take. No regrets even if I fail. Life is too short to have regrets. If we fall, just pick ourselves up again. We've done so many times in our lives. This is no different.
Good luck!
Hi KTM,
Thank you! :)
Hi Paddy,
Regardless the outcome, I know for sure that when we look back in time when we are older, maybe with grandkids running around, we would be contented.
Because we've lived the way we wanted!
Hi Bernard,
Haha! I look forward to the day when people find my story inspiring enough to invite me to give a talk. :)
Hi Lilmrst,
Yes, I'm fortunate to have married the love of my life! :)
Hi Calamity,
Yes, the time is now. There is no other time as there is no other life. :)
I'm a fellow Singaporean entrepreneur, and i've started my own journey since mid-Feb of this year, and after reading this post, I am reminded of why I took on this journey in the first place. Like you, I was an engineer (software for me), and I also said almost exactly the same thing to my boss(es) on the day of my resignation.
Thanks! Sometimes, I forget why i've quit a stable job for chasing this dream, so its nice to be reminded once in a while. :-)
This is the first time i've read your blog (followed a link from sgentrepreneurs.com) and many of your posts ring a bell in my head (especially your first year experience one of saving costs EVERYWHERE, meals, water, you name it.. i'm living that life now, hopefully, the life that you have left behind? :-)).
Anyway, good writing, and i'll be reading all of your posts from now on!
great read! i hope i have the same courage as you. I guess sometime it is also about really knowing what you want and somehow i might have lose that along the way as i go older.
anyway i strongly agree with what you say. A really down to earth post that reflect the reality of going down the less taken path.
all the best
Bless you for your courage, Cobalt! I think you inspire many Singaporeans to rethink their lives, and that's no easy trick here, where everyone feels so responsible to treat life like it's some sort of checklist.
Now if you can just get people to stop thinking that they desperately need as much money as they can possibly get. Yes, there is a price to be paid for every choice we make, but why is enough never enough?
Hi Joe,
Thanks for liking my entries. It will be a hard journey but take heart that it'll be a worthwhile one. :)
Hi Astroboy,
Thanks for dropping by too. Good luck to your pitstop cafe. I've been reading your blog too! It is heartening to know more and more young people (I so old, meh?) like yourselves to have the courage to dream. :)
Hi Venitha,
It means a lot when the comment is coming from you. I hope I'm able to do my small part in this socially still developing island country of mine. :)
WE need to redefine success in Singapore. WE need to change our mindset. There is more to life than just material gains.
Yes, indeed, why many others find that enough os never enough. What is missing in their lives?
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