Return On Investment

Whether speculation or investment, stock market or real estate, we all are in search of the best return on investment. Whether we are investing time or money matters little. We want to have something to show for our capital outlay and our labors. The very success or failure of a given venture is often measured by the balance on the bank statement at the end of the day.

And when we are talking about financial independence, this sorta works. Our goals are well defined and our destination is clearly marked on the map. We inch closer and closer to financial freedom with every increase in W2 wages, every rent collected, and every dividend reinvested.

This is how we measure ourselves. This is the yardstick of our accomplishments.

My Foray Into Authorship

DiverseFI is my third blog. The first, a companion to my art website, was a spectacular failure. My second was a soliloquy. A one way conversation between myself and the world about medicine, parenting, and life. The success of that blog and the sheer volume of posts spurred to me to self publish two books.

The books were a hodgepodge of short stories, an amalgamation of blog posts. I won’t deceive you dear reader and say that I didn’t have economic hopes for these projects. There was a certain expectation of monetary return on investment. So much so that I was willing to spend a few thousand dollars for help editing and designing each book.

Writer but not Marketer

My grand accomplishment, the completion of the books, was short-lived. A writer I may be, but a marketer I am not. I had no taste for the self promotion, pounding the pavement, and all out hard work necessary to gain an audience.

I just didn’t have the stomach for it.

So I did a few interviews, scheduled a few readings, and generally let the project die a slow death. I still sell a few here and there, a trickle of royalties still come in.

But I was fairly content. I learned a great deal by self publishing. I now have hard copies for some of my best stories. It was a testament to all those years writing on my medical blog.

When comparing dollars and cents. I spent far more than I made. My return on investment was lousy.

Legacy

We have a few copies of the books floating around the house. My son and daughter both have a signed copy of each in their book shelves. Neither of them even a decade old on the day of publishing, they relished having a real life book their father wrote. The personal inscription on the inner jacket, sitting in their room collecting dust.

You see, some of the stories in the books were about them. They recognized not only their own history, but also their father’s thoughts, fears, and emotions wrapped up in these little anecdotes. A moment in time frozen and memorialized for them to come back to as they get older.

A Daughter’s Love

Last night my eleven year old daughter wandered down to the family room well after her bed time. Her eyes were large and glassy, and she came over and hugged me. She had been reading my book. She does this from time to time when she can’t sleep at night.

As she read through the stories about herself, she was in awe of how much she had grown in the last few years. She became emotional as she described her thoughts and memories about those precious moments described in the book.

The miracle of a daughter reflected through her father’s loving eyes.

An unmeasurable return on investment.

Your Money or Your Life

Not all wealth is measured in monetization. The worth of a venture is sometimes greater than the so called bottom line. Your failure will be like manure that fertilizes the soil. With a little bit of time and love, flowers will arise and embrace the ones that mean the most to you.

And that will be your greatest return on investment.