Hello Misfit Nation! Welcome to another edition of "Lessons for Hannah!" Many years ago, I introduced a new format that alongside our regular episodes called “Lessons for Hannah.” Hannah is my daughter and one of the main inspirations for the Misfit Entrepreneur. I wanted to have a place where she could go and learn from her daddy and his Misfit friends throughout her life….even after I am gone. If you haven’t listened to the first episode of "Lessons for Hannah," I urge you to as it gives some more background and tells the amazing story of how Hannah came to be in our lives.
Lessons for Hannah are short, very useful, and sometimes comical lessons, that I want to share with you and give to Hannah to help in your lives. Because I want Hannah to have these for her life, I’m going to speak as though I am talking directly to her. These episodes are a lot of fun and if you think there is a lesson that we should include in these episodes, please don’t hesitate to send it over to us at support@misfitentrepreneur.com. We’d love to share it.
Hannah, Recently, I was reminded of two very important lessons in life. In fact, a lot of people around the world were. The first lesson is that you have to earn the right to reach high levels of success in anything you do. Nothing good comes easily if it is destined to last. The second thing is that there is one exception to that rule. Let’s start with the first lesson. You have to earn the right to reach high levels of lasting success. Recently, the world was reminded of this lesson in a big way. A major investment firm for cryptocurrency called FTX went bankrupt in the span of just a couple days losing billions of dollars of investors’ and clients’ money almost overnight. FTX was once considered a darling of the financial world with top financial pundits calling its founder and CEO, Sam Binkman-Fried, the next Jamie Dimon who is the famous and very well -respected CEO of Chase. FTX rose to prominence very quickly on a slick marketing strategy paying out millions to celebrities to hype it and also by donating a significant amount to politicians’ campaigns. As such, everything looked great, and the company bought itself some pull in Washington DC because of its donations. In fact, Sam Binkman-Fried, at just 30 years old, was the 2nd largest donor behind George Soros to the Democratic party. He also donated to Republicans.
Why am I telling you this? Because no one really got below the surface on FTX. All the major investors and even clients saw the celebrity endorsements and the support from politicians and just fell emotionally in love with the company’s story eloquently told by Sam Binkman-Friend when in reality, the company was a scam and in shambles. In fact, now as regulators are beginning to review the internals of the company and its entire setup, they are aghast at what they are finding and calling it maybe the worst they’ve ever seen. And now so many people who invested into the company and clients who put their trust in it have lost everything, It’s very sad. No one looked deeply under the hood on the company and when they finally did, those who saw how bad it was, quickly took everything out causing the collapse to accelerate. And it looks like Sam was taking funds of clients and funneling them to himself and other companies he owned without clients knowing. And incredibly, still to this day, no one, not even Sam, has been arrested.
The FTX scandal is a great example of not earning the right. While Sam Bankman-Fried found success for a short period of time, the house of cards everything was built on came crumbling down. There was no real foundation other than a great story, celebrity endorsements, and essentially buying off politicians to look the other way. Sadly, this happens a lot in all areas of life. People try to take the shortcut or fake their way to high levels of success. Sometimes they get there, but it doesn’t last because as they become more successful and get on a bigger stage, more people take notice, and eventually someone who is smart and has earned the right to their levels of successful figures it out and brings the truth to light.
Hannah, in anything you want to be great at. You must put in the work, the study, gain the experience, and earn the right to each level of success. And you must be willing to play the long game reaching those levels over time. As I noted earlier, this is true for everything worth doing in life except one thing – Getting into heaven. Wait, what? Stay with me for a few minutes…
The Apostle Paul once wrote: “It is by grace that you have been saved.”
What did he mean, by “grace.” He meant that you are saved by the grace of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. You see, not matter what you do, you can’t be good enough to get into heaven. You cannot get there through good works. Essentially, you cannot earn your way into heaven. Jesus spoke to this in the story of the rich man where he said it is easier for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle than to get into heaven. The rich man had kept asking Jesus what he could “do” or how he could “earn” his way to heaven. What the man did not realize, and Jesus was trying to tell him was that he couldn’t, no matter what he did. Remember, this was prior to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. And it was true. Prior to Jesus’ sacrifice, very few if anyone could get into heaven. That was the point of Jesus coming and for his sacrifice – that through him, by believing in him and accepting him as one’s savior, he became the vehicle, the vessel in which one could get into heaven.
Now, I realize that it is a big shift to go from a failed crypto exchange to the lord and savior, but I really wanted to give you a big contrast with which to understand this lesson. And to sum it up. First, realize that you cannot earn your way into heaven without truly accepting Christ as your savior. Yes, you still should do good works and follow God’s message and commandments, but without Jesus, heaven is not possible. In fact, without Jesus many things are not possible. At the same time, in your earthly pursuits, while you are here, you will do well to earn the right to your success and not try to fake it or look for the easy way which is sometimes the unethical way. Keep your principles, work hard and smart, and put in the time necessary to become great and you will be.
I love you,
Dad
Best Quote: You have to earn the right to reach high levels of success in anything you do. Nothing good comes easily if it is destined to last.
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