Buying the future is usually cheaper than you think.
Alexander Graham Bell tried to sell the telephone to Western Union as soon as he got it working. They said no.
Today, there’s a phone in almost every pocket in the developed world. And in the poorest parts of the world, more people have phones than they have toilets.
Western Union used to be one of the biggest communication companies in the world. They boasted about owning a million miles of telegraph cables. Now you only hear about telegraphs in old-timey movies featuring Benedict Cumberbatch.
They held the future in their hands and had a chance to own it, but they took the opportunity for granted and paid the price many times over as their business dwindled.
In 1999, Larry Page and Sergey Brin wanted to sell Google to Excite for $1 million. They were rejected. They then considered selling for $750,000. They were rejected again. Excite was dead just two years later. Google, on the other hand, is now a verb, and one of the biggest companies on the planet, with a market cap in the trillions.
Jack Ma, the founder of Tencent, considered selling the business for $100,000 in 1999 but was rejected. Tencent is worth over $400 billion now.
In 2000, Netflix tried to sell itself to Blockbuster for $50 million. “They laughed at us,” says Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph. Netflix is now worth billions, and Blockbuster is dead.
In early 2005, MySpace was interested in acquiring Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg asked for $75 million. MySpace felt the price was too high. Facebook, now Meta, currently makes several billion dollars every month.
In 2008, Airbnb’s founders wanted to raise startup capital. They were seeking $150,000 in exchange for 10% of Airbnb. They emailed 7 prominent investors. 5 of them sent back rejections. The other 2 didn’t respond. Today, a 10% stake in Airbnb is worth more than $8 billion.
You can invest in the future right now—invest in your health and your habits. Invest wisely for your financial future.
Buy the future while it’s cheap. Read books. Eat well. Wake up on time. Exercise. Make smart decisions. Make friends. Save for a rainy day.
Invest in these things today, and you’ll reap the benefits as they compound over the rest of your life.
By the time you realise exactly how valuable they are, you'll only wish you invested sooner.
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