My wife says my relationship with work changed for the worse ever since I lost my personal assistant at the investment bank I worked for in my late 20s/early 30s. I had every little administrative matter handled. Booking flights/trains/cars, submitting expenses, letting people into the office for meetings, marketing, client organization and analysis, etc. Basically anything that wasn’t directly tied to revenue and could be done compliantly (i.e. without a FINRA registration) was handled. I rarely lifted a finger on those tasks… which let me focus 100% of my time and acuity on research/modeling/writing/client interaction. What makes having a personal assistant possible (professional, experienced, six-figure comp) is scale. Folks have asked why I don’t just scale my business. At this point in my life… this “season”… I don’t want scale because scale introduces complexity. I’m having the best year I’ve ever had so far on my self-employment journey… but another leg of growth would require people commit their time and effort to me, and me to them, with an indefinite or long-term understanding. I’ve hesitated to do this because I want to maintain maximum optionality… get up and go at any time.. no tethers or expectations. I can’t “close up shop” for weeks and travel with my family with little to no concerns about who might “check in” or need something. This is the “wealth in anonymity” I talked about yesterday in my Triad of Wealth graphic. It would therefore be counterintuitive and misleading to hire someone who would be expecting consistent long term work and income. I can’t do that to someone. And I’d only hire someone if they were to provide such a commitment.. no part time or overseas or fractional or “AI” services. Those are all half-ass replacements for true partnership. People have asked why I don’t “take over” my father’s construction business back home in the states.. or why I decided not to acquire an SMB. It’s because these require commitment to people who work at the company, subcontractors expecting steady work, customers digging in for months or years-long projects. I’m not in the season for such commitment… one day I will be. Today, my wife and I like to be kites… flying in the wind… no tethers. The downside is that we are on our own… no admin, assistants, HR folks to handle the little things. But the little things need to be done… they are extremely important… the hydraulic fluid in a crane or excavator… and they can be brutal and overwhelming…