A businessman took a short vacation to a small Greek coastal village in Santorini. Unable to sleep he walked the pier. A small boat with just one fisherman had docked and inside the boat were several large tuna.

“How long did it take you to catch them?” he asked.

“Only a little while” the Greek fisherman replied.

“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” he asked.

“I have enough to support my family and give a few to friends,” the Greek fisherman said as he unloaded them into a basket.

“But …. What do you do with the rest of your time?”

The fisherman looked up and smiled” I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a nap with my wife and stroll into the village, where I sip wine and play guitar with my friends”.

The businessman laughed “Sir I am an Investment Banker from NW, I have and MBA from Harvard and can help you. You should fish more, and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. In no time you could have several boats with the increase haul. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Then instead of selling your catch to the middleman, you could sell directly to the consumers. You could control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal village and move to the city to run your expanding empire.”

The fisherman asked “But, sir, how long will all this take?”

“15- 20 years, 25 tops” said the businessman.

“But what then?” asked the fisherman.

The businessman laughed and said “That’s the best part, when the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions”.

“Millions? Then what?” asked the fisherman.

The businessman replied, “Then you could retire and move to a small coastal fishing village, where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a nap with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play guitar with your friends.”