When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Sources

How I Kissed Goodbye To My Dream Of Becoming A Millionaire

The author contemplating Corsican mountains
The author contemplating Corsican mountains
Rémi Le Calvez

-Essay-

I recently turned 30, so the math tells me I've already lived through one third of my life. That also means I still have at least 20,000 days to make all of my dreams come true. Speaking of dreams, it's strange how they change as we grow older. When I was 25, I had one dream, one goal I wanted to fulfill by my 30th birthday: I wanted to become a millionaire!

Let me end the suspense right away: I'm not even close. To be precise, I can claim to have accumulated no more than 2% of that sum. What's more, I haven't worked in two years and my bank account is starting to run low. I failed to achieve my dream — or at least, that's what some will say — and I couldn't care less.

I long ago gave up on my dream of having millions. Not that I think it's impossible (everything is possible), but I came to understand that more than money, what I really wanted was to BE FREE!

Back when I was determined to earn millions, the most logical way to get there was the following: to create a startup and sell it. In 2011, I created my first company together with my associate, Michael. It's called Etudinfo and it was the first platform where students could rate their university. The site was a huge success, it got half-a-million visits per month. I was over the moon. I was my own boss and running the business while still able to travel. I was a digital nomad before that even meant anything.

But I still had one goal that I had to reach: growth. That urge to always do better was crucial at the beginning, we had to be able to live off that website. It took two years until we earned a minimum monthly wage. We were far from being rich, but boy were we proud to see our "baby" grow and to be able to live off the fruits of our labor. The website had such potential, and we wanted to do more, always more, to dedicate all our energy to this project, and this project only.

We stopped traveling to focus entirely on making our company grow. Once we were back in Paris, we sought the help of coaches, we looked for a place to establish our headquarters, our first clients, our first interns, and finally, our first employees. There were about 10 of us. Business was booming and my head was spinning.

I'd gone from roaming entrepreneur to office boss. I'd become the slave of my own company. Going to the office had become a chore, I didn't feel happy about getting up in the morning anymore. I'd reproduced the model I was trying to avoid. And yet, nobody was forcing me to do it.

That's the thing about wanting to earn a lot of money: You enter a neverending whirlwind where days go by so quickly you don't even notice. You always want more so you always work more. I would spend my weekends letting off steam — drinking like a fish — to start working again come Sunday evening. This wasn't making any sense anymore. For two years I'd been traveling the roads of the world, but now I couldn't even go on holiday anymore.

But still, we had a clear plan: We'd continue for two years and, according to our infallible killer business plan, the company would be worth somewhere around 1,000,000 euros! Bingo! Everything was lined up to fall into place; we'd just forgotten one thing along the way: the desire.

That desire to have and earn more was gone. I was living very decently with my net monthly income of 1,800 euros. In fact, I didn't even know what to do with all the money. I'd grown so accustomed to leading a minimalist life, far from consumerism, that earning more just seemed like arrogance. What we longed for wasn't more money, but more time. The solution was self-evident, yet it took us some time to accept it. We needed to move on.

We managed to find a buyer in less than 6 months. I was 28 and I was selling my first business. From one day to another, I found myself free of all constraints and with 50,000 euros ($55,000) on my bank account.

What would you do with that kind of money? You're never short of ideas: invest in real estate, buy a new car, take a fancy trip.

I decided instead to be free, totally free. People say you can't buy time, but with that money, I've bought five years of my life, five years that will allow me to construct and deconstruct myself, to have a different perspective on society, to understand myself and what I long for a little bit better. I think there can be no greater investment than to invest in yourself. I have time to read, to improve myself, to talk, to travel, to learn, to create, to write... And the list goes on.

I'm 30 years old now. I've never been so alive as I am now. I'm not a millionaire, but I am free.



Rémi Le Calvez is now traveling around the world, writing his adventures on his blog Capitaine Rémi.

This is Worldcrunch"s international collection of essays, both original pieces written in English and others translated from the world's best writers in any language. The name for this collection, Rue Amelot, is a nod to the humble address in eastern Paris we call home. Send ideas and suggestions at info@worldcrunch.com.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Future

Livestream Shopping Is Huge In China — Will It Fly Elsewhere?

Streaming video channels of people shopping has been booming in China, and is beginning to win over customers abroad as a cheap and cheerful way of selling products to millions of consumers glued to the screen.

A A female volunteer promotes spring tea products via on-line live streaming on a pretty mountain surrounded by tea plants.

In Beijing, selling spring tea products via on-line live streaming.

Xinhua / ZUMA
Gwendolyn Ledger

SANTIAGOTikTok, owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance, has spent more than $500 million to break into online retailing. The app, best known for its short, comical videos, launched TikTok Shop in August, aiming to sell Chinese products in the U.S. and compete with other Chinese firms like Shein and Temu.

Tik Tok Shop will have three sections, including a live or livestream shopping channel, allowing users to buy while watching influencers promote a product.

This choice was strategic: in the past year, live shopping has become a significant trend in online retailing both in the U.S. and Latin America. While still an evolving technology, in principle, it promises good returns and lower costs.

Chilean Carlos O'Rian Herrera, co-founder of Fira Onlive, an online sales consultancy, told América Economía that live shopping has a much higher catchment rate than standard website retailing. If traditional e-commerce has a rate of one or two purchases per 100 visits to your site, live shopping can hike the ratio to 19%.

Live shopping has thrived in China and the recent purchases of shopping platforms in some Latin American countries suggests firms are taking an interest. In the United States, live shopping generated some $20 billion in sales revenues in 2022, according to consultants McKinsey. This constituted 2% of all online sales, but the firm believes the ratio may become 20% by 2026.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest