NFA Finance

I sat there thinking about it, trying to come up with some great answer.

Maybe I’d build cars. Maybe I’d travel the country making videos. Maybe I’d buy and sell real estate. Maybe I’d sit behind the wheel of something fast and figure out how to get paid for it.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I wouldn’t choose a job at all.

I’d still work for myself.

I’ve been self-employed for practically my entire adult life. Buying, selling, building, fixing, negotiating, creating—whatever the opportunity required. Some years were incredible. Other years beat the hell out of me. But even during the hardest stretches, I never seriously wished I had somebody else’s job.

Because the money was never the entire point.

Freedom was.

That doesn’t mean working for yourself is easy. Sometimes “freedom” means working seven days a week. It means there’s no guaranteed paycheck coming on Friday. Nobody hands you a schedule, a blueprint, or a list of exactly what needs to happen next.

When something goes wrong, it belongs to you.

But when something goes right, that belongs to you too.

You made the call. You took the risk. You found the opportunity. You created something that didn’t exist before.

That feeling is difficult to replace.

I don’t believe I was built to sit inside somebody else’s system and wait for permission. I need the ability to change direction when I see something others don’t. I need to be able to follow an idea, take a calculated risk, and find out whether I was right.

Sometimes I’m right.

Sometimes I’m wrong.

But even the failures are mine—and the lessons are worth something.

I love the car business because every vehicle presents a new puzzle. Can I buy it correctly? What does it need? How should it be positioned? Who is the right buyer? Where is the value everyone else missed?

I love creating content for the same reason. You start with an idea, turn on the camera, tell the truth as you see it, and put it into the world. One video might disappear. Another might reach someone you’ve never met and change the direction of their life—or yours.

I love building businesses because there is no ceiling except the one you accept.

So if every occupation came with exactly the same paycheck, I wouldn’t suddenly become a lawyer, a doctor, or the CEO of somebody else’s corporation.

I’d still be doing what I’m doing—just the fully realized version of it.

I’d build cars and businesses. I’d make videos. I’d travel. I’d tell stories. I’d look for overlooked opportunities and turn them into something valuable. I’d control my time and accept responsibility for the outcome.

Maybe that doesn’t fit neatly inside a job title.

That’s probably the point.

A lot of people choose their work by starting with the salary and working backward. What will pay the bills? What has benefits? What feels secure? Those are legitimate questions, especially when other people depend on you.

But this prompt removes the money from the decision.

Once every job pays the same, you’re forced to confront a much more important question:

How do you actually want to spend your life?

Your answer might reveal that you don’t hate working. You hate having no control over your work.

You might not need a permanent vacation. You might need ownership, purpose, or the freedom to build something that feels like yours.

That’s my answer.

If the salary were the same, I’d still work for myself.

I don’t think I was ever built for a job.

I was built to build.

—Nicholas Francis
Modern Day Dealer