The Older I Get, the Less I Measure Wealth in Dollars

Nino Mihilli on Entrepreneurship, Family, Faith, Time, and What It Really Means to Be Rich

I've spent most of my adult life in business.

So I understand money.

I understand why it matters.

Businesses need profit.

Employees need paychecks.

Families need security.

Ideas need capital.

Pretending money doesn't matter is easy when you have enough of it.

So this isn't one of those articles.

I want to build successful businesses.

I want to make good investments.

I want to create wealth.

But the older I get, the more I've realized something:

Money is only one form of wealth.

And some of the richest parts of my life have never appeared on a financial statement.

Time Is Wealth

When you're young, time feels unlimited.

Money feels scarce.

Then life slowly reverses the equation.

You begin understanding that money can sometimes be replaced.

Time can't.

That changes how you think.

An hour with someone you love has value.

A free afternoon has value.

The ability to decide what you do with your day has value.

I've become much more protective of my time—not because I want to do less, but because I understand what I'm spending.

Every yes costs part of a life I don't get back.

Health Is Wealth

You can have an incredible business and no energy to enjoy it.

You can have money and spend every waking hour stressed.

You can build something impressive while neglecting yourself completely.

Entrepreneurs are particularly good at convincing ourselves we'll deal with that later.

After the launch.

After the busy season.

After the next deal.

There's always another "after."

I've learned that taking care of yourself isn't something you earn once the work is finished.

The work is never finished.

A Peaceful Home Is Wealth

Success outside your home doesn't compensate for misery inside it.

I believe that more strongly today than I ever have.

There is tremendous wealth in being able to come home and feel peace.

To laugh.

To sit around a table.

To know the people closest to you don't only know the exhausted version of you that arrives after everyone else received your best.

No business accomplishment can replace that.

Good Relationships Are Wealth

There are people you can call when something goes wrong.

That's wealth.

People who celebrate when something goes right without secretly resenting you.

That's wealth.

People who tell you the truth when everyone else is telling you what you want to hear.

That's definitely wealth.

The older I get, the more I value genuine relationships.

I'd rather have a smaller circle of people I trust deeply than a giant network of people who only know my name.

A Good Reputation Is Wealth

You can't see reputation sitting in a bank account.

But try doing business without one.

Trust compounds.

So does distrust.

I've been in business long enough to understand that keeping your word has economic value, even if that's not why you should do it.

People remember.

They remember how you treated them when things were good.

They especially remember how you treated them when things went wrong.

A reputation takes years to build and surprisingly little time to destroy.

Protect it.

Knowledge Is Wealth

Nobody can take away what you've learned.

Businesses can fail.

Markets can fall.

Technology can make an entire industry look different almost overnight.

But experience travels with you.

My years in retail still influence how I think about staffing.

Staffing influences how I think about technology.

Building technology changes how I think about business.

Writing The Variable changed how I think about communication and creativity.

Every chapter adds something to the next.

That's a kind of compounding too.

The Ability to Start Again Is Wealth

This may be one of the most underrated forms.

Knowing that if everything changed tomorrow, you could figure something out.

You could learn.

Work.

Sell.

Build.

Adapt.

Start again.

That's freedom.

I've become much less interested in appearing successful and much more interested in remaining capable.

Things can disappear.

Capability travels with you.

Being Able to Help Someone Is Wealth

One of the best things money can do is become opportunity for someone else.

Create a job.

Help someone who is struggling.

Support a cause.

Give someone a chance.

Invest in an idea.

Take care of family.

That's when wealth becomes more than accumulation.

It becomes a tool.

And I think tools are meant to be used.

Faith Changed My Definition the Most

My faith ultimately changed the entire equation.

Jesus asked a question in Mark 8:36 that becomes more powerful the longer I live:

"What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?"

That's an uncomfortable verse for ambitious people.

And I am ambitious.

I don't think ambition is wrong.

But ambition needs an answer to a bigger question:

What am I unwilling to sacrifice to get where I'm going?

My faith?

No.

My family?

No.

My integrity?

No.

My soul?

Absolutely not.

Once you know what isn't for sale, success becomes much easier to define.

I Still Want to Build Wealth

I want to be clear about this.

I'm not suddenly against making money.

Quite the opposite.

I want the businesses I'm involved with to grow.

I want to make intelligent investments.

I want to build assets.

I want financial freedom for my family.

I want the ability to fund ideas and create opportunities.

Money is powerful.

But money makes a much better tool than it does a scoreboard.

If dollars are the only measurement, you can become incredibly rich while losing everything that made becoming rich worthwhile.

My Scoreboard Looks Different Now

So what does wealth look like to me today?

Enough financial security to make choices instead of living in fear.

Time with people I love.

A peaceful home.

Work that still excites me.

The ability to keep learning.

People I trust.

A reputation I'm proud to carry.

The freedom to build new things.

The ability to help someone else.

And a relationship with God that doesn't disappear when business gets busy.

Put all of that together?

That's a rich life.

Final Thoughts

I'll keep building.

I'll keep investing.

I'll keep trying to create successful companies.

There are still goals I want to reach.

Plenty of them.

But I'm trying to make sure I don't become so focused on accumulating one kind of wealth that I accidentally spend all the others.

Because someday the balance sheet won't matter very much.

The businesses will belong to someone else.

Someone else will sit in the office.

Someone else will chase the next opportunity.

What I'll have left is the life I actually lived.

The people I loved.

The people I helped.

The character I built.

And my relationship with God.

So yes, I still want to become wealthier.

I'm just much more careful now about how I define wealth.

— Nino Mihilli

Stay Connected with Nino Mihilli

🌐 Personal Website: https://www.ninomihilli.com

🏢 T47 Group: https://www.t47group.com

👷 Flat Staffing: https://www.flatstaffing.com

📖 Read Nino Mihilli's novel, The Variable, on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GX3783RG

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