CODA

 

The story about freedom and value doesn’t end in the Western world; these themes are just as important in helping people create opportunities for themselves wherever they are. In many parts of Africa and Asia, more people work as buyers and sellers in the informal economy than work as employees for someone else. They may not all be professional bloggers or mobile application developers (yet), but they earn their living through the principles outlined in this book.

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In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I met a tuk-tuk driver named Rhett. Tuk-tuks are the open-air taxis of Southeast Asia in which you can ride anywhere in the city for a dollar or two. Some tuk-tuk drivers, just like some cab drivers in other places around the world, are unreliable and dishonest. Rhett, however, is both reliable and honest, always arriving early to pick up a passenger and sometimes delivering regular customers to their destinations at no charge.

Most tuk-tuk drivers in Cambodia make just $2 to $5 a day, but Rhett earns up to $50 a day. He does this through a combination of hard work and careful strategy. The hard work comes by not sleeping or gambling the afternoon away as many of his colleagues do. The strategy lies in understanding that he is better off by serving regular clients instead of constantly roaming the streets looking for one-time fares. While I was in town visiting a friend, Rhett made it clear that he was at my service, giving me his mobile number and telling me to call him “day and night.”

After his core business model of serving regulars was established, Rhett created “multiple streams of income” by adding a sign for a popular bakery on the back of his tuk-tuk. The bakery pays him a fixed amount each month, plus a small commission for any business he brings in. He also regularly asks his customers for referrals and testimonials to increase his client base. If a customer needs help getting to a destination outside of Phnom Penh, Rhett will find a taxi or bus driver available for hire, making sure he is honest and then following up with the customer after the trip to confirm that all went well.

He does all of this while speaking only limited English (“I practice every day, but my tongue becomes tired,” he told me) and without any formal education at all. Some of the extra money he earns goes to a savings fund, a safety net almost no other tuk-tuk driver has. His daughter is now in college, the first in their family to finish high school.

As you work to improve your own circumstances, with freedom as the goal and value as the currency that gets you there, consider how these principles apply elsewhere. I like Rhett’s story because it shows that creativity and initiative will get you far, regardless of the starting point. In many parts of the world, however, the starting point is much farther away than it is for most readers of this book. Starting a business in the developing world is often a difficult, highly bureaucratic endeavor—which is why so many people like Rhett operate in the informal sector. In some of these places, millions of people still lack access to clean water and other basic needs.

In my own business and writing career, I invest at least 10 percent of all revenue with organizations that make better improvements around the world than I could make on my own. (This includes the royalties for this book, so if you’ve purchased it, thanks for the help.) I don’t consider this investment a charitable act; I consider it a natural response to the fact that I’ve been more fortunate than others.

While creating freedom for yourself, how can you be part of a global revolution to increase opportunity for everyone? If you’re not sure, you can join the $100 Startup community in our campaign for clean water in Ethiopia by visiting charitywater.org/aonc. You can also sign up with groups, such as Kiva.org and AcumenFund.org, that provide loans (usually very small ones) to help people start microbusinesses in their own communities.

Of course, these answers aren’t the only ones. If you have a better answer or just a different one, work on that instead. Pursue your dream of freedom wherever it leads … while also thinking about how it can intersect with creating more opportunities for people like Rhett.