The Richest Guy I Know

Hello from Seattle!

I’m here for the BarCamp Seattle conference, which took place this weekend. I had a great time, met some amazing people, had some enlightening discussions outdoors, by the water:

I also got to see a little more of the city, especially Fremont, took a tour of a distillery (and bought some bourbon of course)…

…hung out with some buskers:

…and caught up with old friends and generally got to do the sort of thing that most of us working stiffs don’t get to do.

Since joining Shopify, I’ve been to Boston to hang out with the MIT crowd, Minneapolis to discover that it’s the new hacker hipster startup Mecca, Portland to see that the dream of the nineties is still alive and Seattle (fourth time this year!) to get smarter, see old friends and enjoy that rarest of Pacific Northwest treats: a sunny day. Plus, I’m living in a nice bachelor pad in a new and different city (Ottawa) this summer, and I’m enjoying having a new and different place to call “home”.

Although I’m not rich — and hey, in switching jobs from a Fortune 50 colossus to a startup, I took a pay cut — I’m certainly living rich while not living beyond my means. To borrow a very wise quote from my friend Lee Dale, “Pay cut, but lifestyle win!”

I’m trying to see how much of the life that Ine and Catherine from Nomadz.nu, who talked about it at BarCamp Ghent in their session titled Don’t Be Rich, Live Rich. They’re doing it on a far grander scale than I, but hey, it’s inspiration, not a competition!

I’ve included their slides below:

 

At this moment, I’m the richest guy I know.