The idea goes like this: people that own businesses that tend to do financially well, tend to score very, very high on what we call “the interestingness scale”. They live interesting lives. They travel to interesting places. They take interesting vacations. They drive interesting cars. They run interesting businesses. They have interesting investments. They have an interesting journey on their daily life with the work that they do, whether that’s in the legal field or not.
However, we look at those successful, interesting business owners and wonder what is their overall level of happiness?
Many of them admit that they're not necessarily happy, but they feel like they live interesting and full lives.
So, what is happiness?
The people that report being happiest tend to live very regular lives… they go to work from 9-5, they come home, they go to bowling leagues, they drink beer on Thursday or Friday night, they watch football, they spend time with the family, etc.
All these things are important and good and are not considered “bad” in any way, but they just don't own a business. They don't have employees. They don't travel a whole bunch. They maybe go to the Jersey Shore once a year for a vacation. And they spend an awful lot of time with family, with friends. They're not, they're not chasing financial freedom. They think about retirement from the purpose of social security, they don't think about financial independence. Very simple, basic lives. Great lives. Much like the lives I was raised with in Scranton, Pennsylvania. They tend to have a fairly high level of happiness, but they have a very low level of interestingness.
Because I'm so busy chasing interestingness, because I'm so busy running my business and chasing success, sometimes I sacrifice happiness. I was raised in a community that was focusing on happiness instead of chasing a lot of interestingness. Now, there isn't a right way or a wrong way. It just is.
There are seasons in your life when you should be chasing interestingness and there are seasons in your life when you should be chasing happiness. And it kind of depends on where you are and what your choices are.
As a business owner, you likely have employees, you have vendors, you have clients, and therefore you're going to have challenges. It means you're probably going to earn over time more money than the average Joe. You're probably going to have more investments, more vacations, and you're going to do more interesting things in the average Joe. This is typically just the path that business owners are on.
When you're younger and you don't have a family, that's the time to really leverage in on the interesting this scale. In my experience, as you have a family (younger kids specifically) it's nice to lean closer to the happiness scale.
Maria, my E.C.I.B. (East Coast Italian Bride) and I are at a point in our lives where we realized there are more interesting things we want to do, so we decided to start to lay out a plan. And of course, what did we do? We had ChatGPT start laying out a plan for us of what “interesting “ would look like for us based on the current factors of our life.
And voila, it gave us a plan for us to be able to walk through the entire year to 18 months, living in different places. So come December of this year, we'll be starting this digital nomad lifestyle to see if we like it. And because we still have the house, if for whatever reason we don't like it or we need a break, we can always come home.
Now we are leaning the scale towards interestingness, but when the day comes that Maria's parents move in and they need more of our care, we'll move back towards the happiness meter.
It's important for you as a law firm owner for you to recognize where you are.
If you're planning to build a multi-million-dollar law firm, your life if not going to be perfectly balanced. I've just never seen it happen. You have to have an assemblance of imbalance. At least until you learn and develop the skillsets, systems, and the people that can run those systems, so that you can start to grow your firm without your full-time involvement.
As you figure out how to go from that level one level ownership to the level four level ownership, if that's what you want, you're going to be low on the happiness scale and higher on the interestingness scale. That's just the reality.
But if you want to keep it small and keep it all, and you want to be higher on the happiness scale and lower on the interesting this scale… that's okay. Just make sure not enter “law firm ownership hell” at the management level because you're quickly going to leave happiness behind and not yet going be interesting. It's going to feel like hell.
Interestingness starts to really make sense when you know what you want and you know that you're willing to leave the happiness zone. It's important to recognize where you are, where you want to be, and what it is you're going to have to give up in order to get there.
Yes, there is something worthwhile waiting on the other side. But here’s the truth: there’s no path to Level 3 or Level 4 law firm ownership (where freedom and fulfillment live) without first walking through some version of hell. And part of that hell is a season where happiness feels low. I wish it weren’t that way. I wish there was an easier path. Every so often, I hear of people who seem to pull it off with perfect balance. But in my experience, that’s the exception, not the rule.
My suggestion to you is this: don’t assume you’re the exception. You’ll be much better off if you reset your expectations and recognize upfront that there’s going to be some pain. One of those pains is living with a lower level of happiness.
But here’s the tradeoff… what you lose in happiness, you gain in “interestingness.” That’s the clearest way I can frame it. You’re not going to be miserable, but you’re also not going to be consistently “happy” along the way. Instead, it’s going to be an interesting journey.
Now, if that doesn’t sound like a journey you want, that’s perfectly fine. Stay in Level One. Keep it small, keep it all. There’s nothing wrong with that. You’ll maximize for happiness, earn a higher-than-average income, and run a very profitable business. It won’t sell for a big payday later in life, but it will give you more than enough to save, retire comfortably, and enjoy the lifestyle you want.
But if you do want to play the bigger game, the “run and gun” path, just know you’re trading happiness for interestingness.
That’s where I am now and I am enjoying the journey.
