Burnout Expert: "I Became A Millionaire At 23 And Felt Nothing" | Ep. 444 with Brent Freeman

Brent Freeman (0:00)

Money does not make you happier.

If we knew how much pain being an entrepreneur actually was, we wouldn't do it. I had all the things, but I was empty. I was surrounded by people, but I was lonely. And my social media feed said I was crushing it.

Daniel (0:14)

Knighted by Italy's former royal family, 20 companies, over a billion dollars in revenue, founder of the number one Airbnb experience in the world, Brent Freeman built everything, and it nearly cost him everything.

Brent Freeman (0:28)

We have way more failures than success. The number one lie, we've been sold and told. Once I make money, it'll solve all my problems.

Daniel (0:36)

What you're doing is neuroscience-backed.

Brent Freeman (0:38)

Yeah. And I call it investing in joy because it is an investment of your time, your attention, and sometimes your money. But 99% of the time, it's...

Daniel (0:53)

So Brent, at 23, you closed a $10 million deal and became a millionaire on paper. However, though, you said that you felt emptier. Take me back to that moment and let me know, does money make you happier?

Brent Freeman (1:09)

Full stop, money does not make you happier.

23 years old, I had been working for almost two years on this deal, I was just fresh graduated from college, I had a quarter million dollars in debt, I put myself through college at USC, my parents helped where they could, I took out student loans and then when I graduated, I was like, oh my God, I gotta pay this back as quick as possible. And so we started a commodities import export business with the sole purpose of making as much money as fast as possible. And we had an office in Dubai and in LA and we were hustling and grinding, we finally closed a deal. These are large, long cycle deals. We finally closed a deal and it was my best friend and I as business partners at the time. And we go and celebrate, right? It's like we're at the Burj Al Arab and we have huge cocktails and a big five foot hookah and we're spending money and oh my God, we made it, we're rich, we did it. And I woke up the next morning, not just hungover, but I woke up emotionally hungover. And I was expecting to feel this feeling inside of my body of fulfillment, of gratitude, of appreciation. And all I did was feel empty. And I remember the feeling that I felt. My only goal in life when I was a kid, because I come from Italian heritage, was to go to Italy, meet my family and learn the language. And when I was a kid, we didn't have a lot of money. But I had a dream of going to Italy, and it was like pre-internet, you know, I was born in the 80s. And so like, it seemed so far away.

And I never thought that I would ever get there. And then fast forward to college, I study abroad there in Florence. And I remember arriving and landing and having the most joyful feeling emanate from inside. It was like a balloon of happiness and joy. It was just exploding inside. It was beautiful. And when I closed that deal in Dubai, I expected it to feel the same way. And man, I was so, so, so wrong. And it was the first time in my professional life that I really questioned the story and the program that we're told and sold, of make more money and money and success quote unquote will make you happy.

And then over the last 20 years, I've had the opportunity to learn that lesson again and again.

Daniel (3:25)

It's almost like you have to go into business wanting to make money.

Maybe you want to solve a problem. Maybe it excites you. But if you don't have money, the business won't run. And then if you don't have money, you can't really live maybe the life so that you want to live. How do you balance wanting to do something because you also need to make money and you want to be happy at the same time?

Brent Freeman (3:48)

Money is very important to society. It makes the world go round. It buys freedom, right? It gets food and shelter and all of that. It's very important. It's just as important as air and food and water, but it is not the only element. I think we put money up on a pedestal that if once we have enough quote unquote and that's a moving target for many people in a lot of ways, once we get this certain thing, we defer our joy, our happiness today for this elusive one day.