You're a 22-year-old multi-millionaire who yearns to become a billionaire. Your salary and endorsements add up to nearly US$33 million a year. While I'm not a business major, a quick calculation says this 22-year-old would need to work 30 more years at his current rate of pay to earn a billion dollars. The problem is, this 22-year-old knows that due to the nature of his business he will only be able to earn a top salary for perhaps 15 more years. He has to make hay while the sun shines.
Now what would you do if you were him? Me, I would try to get by on my multi-millions, find a deserving charity, stock up the wine cellar and head out to the golf course for the rest of my life, thank you. But many of you big-moneyed boys and girls have a different idea of what to do with your time. Despite having enough money for 20 lifetimes, most of you like to 'stay in play'.
So you keep grinding away and you grind everybody around you and you stay in play and so do your ulcers. One day they get the best of you and all your money can't do a thing about it. But hey, you were a player.
It's called ambition. Some of us have it while some of us most certainly don't.
LeBron James definitely has it. His stated ambition is to become the first US billion-dollar athlete. At 22, he is one of the top players in the NBA and he has a new contract that will earn him US$20 million annually playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He has a number of endorsement deals as well, most notably with Nike, which helps to supplement his income even more.
Depending on whose numbers you believe, recently retired Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is already a billionaire and Tiger Woods should be soon. Regardless, James is so steadfast in becoming a billionaire that he sought out the advice of Warren Buffet, venture capitalist supreme and the second richest man in the world.
'He said to be patient and let the money grow,' James revealed after his lunch with Buffet. James also realised that billion-dollar aspirations need global perspective, most notably the populous climes of Asia and China. 'I say all the time, and I tell my friends and teammates, that you have to go global,' James said recently. 'In basketball and business.'