Cameron Herold sold his homes and cars to travel 60 countries in four years, arguing entrepreneurs chase freedom, not just money. He made more in one year than his 18 high school teachers combined earned in their careers. He and his wife built a 120-item bucket list and crossed off adventures like swimming with whales in Tonga.
Chapters
I was lucky enough that my dad taught me that being an entrepreneur was about having the free time. It was about doing what I wanted, when I wanted, how I wanted, not reporting to somebody else. And the money would come later. But I think often entrepreneurs get stuck in this trap. I just think that they're missing the point. None of this matters. I got a tattoo last year in Italy and it's in Hindi, but it's the Ram Dass quote, walking each other home. And it's just to remind me that none of this really matters. We are just walking each other home. We're just here with each other on our journey and to care about each other's journeys and care about each other because this is just what we're doing to make money, right? What really matters is time with our friends, with ourself, with our spouse, with our hobbies, with our community. There's just some really cool stuff to see out there because we're traveling. And I mean traveling. Like we've been in about 60 countries in the last 3 years and 9 months. Sold our home in Canada, sold our home in the US, sold our cars, sold our furniture. Everything's gone. We've been full nomads. Every day I'm taking pictures. Every day at a new coffee shop or a new yoga studio or a new gym or in a new neighborhood. You know, even where I'm staying right now in Vancouver, where I used to live for 25 years, I'm here for 10 days. I'm staying in a neighborhood I've never lived in, and I know where it was, but I'm, I'm walking to the beach and I'm exploring new coffee shops that I never went to because it was 10 minutes away from where I used to live. I'm aware of wonder right now, which I think is really beautiful. If you want more leadership tips and systems from me. They're free at YouTube forward slash @CameronHerold, and that's H-E-R-O-L-D. You can kind of explore yourself with these ideas of bucket lists. So my wife and I each wrote about 120 things that we wanted to do or achieve or try or experience or explore around the world, and we're crossing off those bucket list items. We're heading to Tonga this random country near Fiji when we're going to go swimming with humpback whales and blue whales. Just super random. We just went paragliding 2 weeks ago in Cape Town. We're really crossing off all these bucket list ideas of just being able to go explore. We only start our law firm or our company for 1 of 3 reasons. Number 1 is to have that feeling of accomplishment. Like I did it. For many students who struggled in the school system, it's the only time we've ever really got that praise is because we finally prove that we've done it. I remember going back to my 25th high school reunion where I was always told I was going to fail. I wasn't successful. I wasn't going to do well. Pay attention. You're not trying hard enough. And I looked around and realized, and I did the math in my head, that if I added up every teacher and professor I'd ever had over 18 years and added up their approximate annual compensation, I made more money in profit in that one year than all of my 18 years of teachers and professors combined. And I was like, yeah, I did it. I had that flag in the ground. Number 2 is to get to have money, to create a vehicle and a flywheel to give us money. But at some point you have enough money. And then number 3 is to give yourself the free time and a life to do whatever you want. I was lucky enough that my dad taught me that being an entrepreneur was about having the free time. It was about doing what I wanted, when I wanted, how I wanted, not reporting to somebody else. And the money would come later. But I think often entrepreneurs get stuck in this trap that they forget to get off that flywheel. They forget to enjoy what they're building. And I just think that they're, they're missing the point.
