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Hey Reader,

I want to make an obscene amount of money.

Did you just gasp in horror at my gaucheness? Recoil from my unseemly greed? Wonder if this is the same person who often writes about how much better the world could be if capitalism didn’t reward cruelty?

Same.

But I’m done pretending.

When we’re asked, “Why did you start your business?” we’re supposed to cite all the high-thinking, worthy reasons for doing so. And I did that for years.

I’d say: because I want more people whose voices have been sidelined to be able to use those voices.

I’d say: because when we’re seen and heard, we feel part of something, and less alone, and that’s healthy.

I’d say: because books are magical and they can start movements.

And all of that is true.

But I started my business to pay the bills because my life as an employee worked out badly multiple times.

I started my business to make money. The problem, though, is that for a very long time it didn’t make much money because I was pretending not to want much money.

“Oh, I just want enough,” I’d say. “I want to make a difference.”

And that was true. I did and do want to make a difference.

To truly make a difference in this world, however, we need a boatload of cash.

We will never be poor enough to help poor people, as my friend Yinka says. So we may as well be rich.

The only model of wealth we tend to see is grotesque: Bezos building a dick-shaped rocket and shouldering his way into space for no other purpose than to wave his tiny rocket around so people can admire it. Or taking over the whole of Venice in an environmental catastrophe. Or Thiel and his ilk building data centres that suck the life out of the planet in a bid to create more AI slop to keep us anaesthetised and compliant.

But that’s not the only model of wealth.

There’s Dolly Parton, who gives away so much money it’s unfathomable. She’d be a billionaire if she horded it like the techbros, but instead she creates reading programmes for disadavantaged kids.

There’s Michael Sheen, who’s a not-for-profit actor and gave away most of his wealth to his local area too.

There’s Mackenzie Scott, who last year gave away more money in one year than her ex-husband and his billionaire buddies have done in their entire lives.

We can’t build the things we want to build without the cash to do so.

I would love to live in a Star Trek-style post-money utopia, but we don’t. We live in this timeline and we have to work with what we have.

So, I want to make an obscene amount of money because my goodness, I could do a lot of cool stuff with it. Local business support for my local town, which struggles enormously with poverty and social challenges. Literacy and creative programmes for local kids. Support for lonely people to bring generations together. A publishing house specifically for people who would never be able to publish otherwise.

And, yes, a bloody nice life with all the books I want and regular surfing adventures and more flippin’ sleep.

I want that for you. I want that for everyone. And it is possible. But we need resources to make it happen. And I’m done pretending otherwise.

Because when we downplay what we want for fear of what others might think, the chances of us ever getting what we want diminish.

We may as well be rich, don’t you think?

So, here’s something for you to ponder: what have you been pretending you don’t want?

What might happen if you said it out loud, then took the first step towards it?

TTFN,

Vicky 🫡

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