How to get rich from your ‘Big Idea’

To this day I can recall how dramatically that changed once I really got engaged in my dad’s agency. Sunday nights were as good as Friday nights. No, they were better. I couldn’t wait to get to work. My work was my play. It was fun for me. And that’s when I started getting successful. So, if Sunday night is your Friday night, you’re in the right place.

Our business tradition in this country is pretty stoic. As a society we still have trouble with the idea that happiness is consistent with success. That “no pain, no gain” philosophy has stuck to us like glue. The rubric is to work hard for forty years, then retire and enjoy yourself. What a messed-up plan! There are plenty of retirees on golf courses asking themselves, “Is that all there is?”

When people get it that work can be fun, it’s a huge revelation. I see a lot of transformation on my show. I hear the wildest stories. Only they’re not so wild when you see the results. I had a guy, Nathan Sawaya, a big corporate lawyer earning in the high six figures. One day he chucked it all to become a thirteen-dollar-an- hour LEGOs builder at LEGOLAND. It turns out that from the time he was four he loved LEGOs. I mean, passionately loved them. In college, he had LEGOs under the bed in his dorm. So, now he decided to go back to his first love. You can imagine what his family and friends thought of that idea! Think of the conversation: “Honey, I’m going to leave my corporate job and build LEGOs for a living.” But here’s the punch line. Today Nathan is one of the premiere LEGO artists in the world. He earns thousands of dollars for his original works of art. And why not? Nathan’s creations convey emotion, subtlety, and humor—all through this unexpected medium that most people would consider child’s play. He’s a happy guy.

Nathan hit on a very important secret to success. When people ask me how to go about finding their passion, I use Nathan as an example. Go back to your childhood, which was the purest time in your life. What did you love? What were your hobbies? We tend to divide our lives into work and play. Look at the play. I guarantee you’ll find an insight into what makes you happy today.

In fact, that’s how I got into television, The Big Idea ... and now this book!

In 2000, I sold our agency to an international holding company, Interpublic, for around three hundred million dollars. I was still the CEO, but I was less involved. By this point in my life, I knew myself pretty well, and I saw that the agency was no longer capturing my heart and soul as completely as it once had. I’d been doing this for too long. I’d walk into a meeting and figure out in the first five seconds what was going to happen. I loved the business, but the sense of great challenges was no longer there for me. I was feeling restless, not engaged one hundred percent. I knew what that meant. As is my nature, I started scouting around, looking for a new mountain to climb. I found it at CNBC.

Of course, it didn’t happen overnight. CNBC had always called on me over the years for commentary and opinions on marketing-related topics for their business shows. Whenever they wanted “the ad guy” they came to me, and I always enjoyed it. My agency was featured on Donald Trump’s The Apprentice, and that got a lot of attention. After I substituted as a host on Kudlow & Cramer, I said to myself, “Why not pitch an idea for a show?”

Video   Turn your idea into a business Jan. 7: CNBC’s Donny Deutsch and Michele Sipolt, a creator of the Send a Ball company, discuss ways to turn your entrepreneurial dreams into a reality. Today show

I’d noticed that every time I did TV I got a rush. I was pumped. The folks at CNBC noticed it, too. It didn’t matter that I had no real experience in television. This time I had enough business experience under my belt that I was confident I could add value.

I thought, “Why NOT me?” When I have met the most successful people, almost without exception they have that “Why NOT me?” sense of entitlement. You could line up thousands of other people with the same skills, but they have that extra bit of “Screw it, I should be doing it.” And that was my attitude.

It wasn’t easy, and it was a big emotional risk. Obviously, by that point I wasn’t going to the poorhouse if it didn’t work, but there was no guarantee that I could make it in TV. In fact, history proved that the odds would be against me. Only a small percentage of new talk shows make it. The first couple of years were tough. We had the name, The Big Idea, but we weren’t paying homage to it. It was basically an interview show, and, to be honest, I found it a little boring. We kept experimenting, and CNBC, led by its dynamic president, Mark Hoffman, gave us support, patience, and room to grow and change. And we finally found our big idea in the lives of remarkable people — not just celebrities, but ordinary folks who transformed themselves with guts and passion. Within a year we went from one night a week to five nights. Over time, we got the right formula, and today The Big Idea has become a real winner.

Once again, I had found an arena where my ten-mouth was a plus. And once again, I love my work. A friend recently tagged the show “Inspirational entertainment.” He hit the nail on the head. And I think I’m the guy who is most inspired by the people who come on my show. I really feel like a kid in a candy store.

How do you find what you love? It’s got to start at the gut level.

Listen to the little voice
Trusting your gut is a win-win situation. You might think, “What does my gut know?” A lot. That nagging little voice inside is telling you what you truly know, think, and believe. Hey, you could be wrong, but it’s real. It’s you. Listen to it. Take advantage of it.

You already know this is true in life. You probably trust your gut a hundred times a day and don’t even realize it. From the moment you roll out of bed and start preparing for the day, you’re bombarded by choices. Some just feel right. You wouldn’t be able to dress yourself if you didn’t trust your gut. And of course, we put a lot of store in the concept of chemistry when choosing a mate or a business partner. What is chemistry but a deep response from the gut?

This same gut-sense is important in business, too. Yet so many people ignore the inner voice and end up trudging through their professional lives feeling unfulfilled. Instead of tuning in to their hearts, they follow the cacophony of the chorus about what they’re supposed to be doing, or what is most prestigious, or what is the safest path. Well, I have news for you. Prestigious jobs can be boring and soul-deadening. And the safest, most conventional route doesn’t guarantee success, much less joy.

I had a great woman on the show named Taryn Rose. She is a gutsy lady who listened to her heart and won. Taryn was a self-described “good Vietnamese girl” who always did what her parents wanted. And what they wanted most was for their daughter to become a doctor, so she obediently went to medical school and became an orthopedic surgeon. She was a good one, too. The only problem was that she hated it. “It seemed like death,” she told me. “I could see myself for the rest of my life doing the same ten procedures.” She took a good look at her life and asked the critical question, “If I don’t love what I’m doing now, when do I think I will?”

MORE FROM TODAY BOOKS: MONEY

Jim Cramer: How to invest in current economy

Jim Cramer: How to invest in current economy Help! I'm buried in bills and my credit is bad Rules of dating can help you land a dream job   Young millionaires share their secrets High gas prices may be good for us, author says How ‘The Roof Caved’ on Wall Street ‘Gift to My Children’ teaches about money, life Reach financial goals in your 20s and 30s How to ‘Fight for Your Money’ Be savvy! 10 ways to save on groceries   Add Today Books: Money headlines to your news reader: