Live In A Cave
(photo by Mark Heithoff)

Details magazine has a story of a guy who decided to live in a cave so he could avoid all the headaches of work and money. If you’re intimidated by the effort that Mixergy entrepreneurs put into building their businesses, maybe you considered this kind of simple life for yourself.

I tried dropping out once (though not nearly as drastically) and I can tell you it’s pointless. Business is hard — much harder than the press and success gurus make it out to be — but if you suck it up, you can do something meaningful with your life.

Have you heard about the “cave man”?

In 2000, Daniel Suelo decided to stop using money.  “When I lived with money, I was always lacking,” he says. “Money represents lack. Money represents things in the past (debt) and things in the future (credit), but money never represents what is present.”

So he lives the simple life in a cave about an hour by foot from the desert town of Moab, Utah.

I considered dropping out. Haven’t you?

I actually tried living the simple life for a couple of years. After Bradford & Reed, I got rid of most of my stuff and started living with minimal expenses and distractions. I didn’t do it in a cave. I lived in hotels (and hostels) on the West Coast and Europe. Like I said, it was more comfortable than a cave, but it was so simple that I could have done it forever without worrying about money or work or anything.

Entrepreneurship is so risky and tiring that it’s tempting to just chuck it all and go live a simple life somewhere. I’m sure you’ve thought of doing that.

Do you know the problem with “the simple life”?

The simple life has NO IMPACT!

I came out of my simple life and decided to start Mixergy because I didn’t want my existence to be about pumping air in and out of my lungs for 90+ years. I wanted to leave a legacy that was worthy of the time I spend on Earth.

In the Details article, Daniel says that he wants to live and die as creatures have done for millions of years.

What’s the point of that? If you don’t change the world while you’re here, then why be here?

Why wake up? Why go through the trouble of surviving, eating, etc? Why do all that just to live?

Want to know an alternative?

The alternative is to SUCK IT UP and MAKE IT COUNT.

I spent years struggling to build Bradford & Reed. I kept worrying that I was a failure because every tech magazine I picked up seemed to have a picture of some pretty boy who built a zillion dollar business overnight. I’m glad I sucked it up and kept going.

The overnight success is PR crap. (See for yourself.) Building a business is hard. And if it’s hard, then make it count.

I asked Jimmy Wales about the failure of his first encyclopedia, Nupedia, so you could see that hardship is part of the process. I spent a lot of time talking about the success of his second try, Wikipedia, so you can see how all that hard work can change the world.

What do you think?

I asked Daniel what’s the point of his simple life. Turns out he has a blog, so I left my question in the comment of one of his posts.

But I’d like to hear what you think. If you’re here on Mixergy, you’re working on a big project. Is the pain worth it? Why do you think it’s worth it?