Despite the constant barrage of advertisers telling us where we need to spend all of our hard earned money, the American pursuit of happiness is not achieved through wealth so much as it is through freedom!

Look at the living standards of most Americans today. As a collective society, we have more things than anyone in the history of the world and we’re still not happy. Could it have anything to do with having to work longer and harder than any other culture on Earth and spending less time with our family? If yes, then we lack freedom more than money in our pursuit of happiness. 

I learned at a young age in a farm-town turned boomtown – Avon Lake, Ohio – that happiness was derived from freedom more than money. It was by observing my grandfather that I learned this lesson. Unfortunately, after serving in the Army and graduating at the University of Toledo, I lost that concept as I ambitiously fought my way up the corporate ladder. I’ll tell you how I threw myself off the top of the heap to rediscover happiness. But first, I want to share the real-world example of happiness by way of freedom, not money.  

My Grandpa Cliff and Grandma Joan raised five kids in Cleveland, Ohio. My Grandma wasn’t employed and my Grandpa worked out of his garage re-treading tires. This family of seven took plenty of time traveling the country vacationing. It was all done on the income of a man that scavenged the Cleveland-Akron area for worn tires to add new tread for resale. People flocked to his garage (as in behind the house) to get a good deal on tires. These cheap tires didn’t last long – at least not for me when I was 16. But I went back for “rubber all around” as my Grandpa used to say. It was too cheap not too – even though I was there every 6-12 months. By the way, I was a master at changing a flat! 

Anyway, I stopped by for tires one very cold and snowy January morning. Grandpa was still reading the newspaper and sipping coffee when he yelled out, “Jo, it’s sunny and warm in Miami today. Let's pack our bags!” Within an hour they were southbound on I-77. The only thing he did was hang a sign on the garage door, “Gone to Florida. Come back next week.” 

The business would be there when he got back. And he had no employees. He tried a real brick and mortar business, once, retailing tires, but went back to his solo operation. It wasn’t because he couldn’t make it, but because he lost his freedom! He spent his days with employee issues and record keeping and when he wanted to head to Miami on a whim, or Texas or California, he couldn’t because he had to do more than hand-write and hang a sign on the door.   

You say that’s a romantic tale of a generation past and that it can’t be done today. Well, let me tell you my story and you’ll see it’s not only possible but within reach.
 

First, there are always naysayers, and to be honest, with good reason. It is true that 90 percent of all new businesses fail to stay in business for more than five years.  

I had my naysayers before I took the entrepreneurial plunge. But first, I tested the waters on the side for a few years.  

It all started with knowing my employer was going to downsize and relocate or terminate everyone in its Cleveland-Akron offices. I knew this because I was the Director of Public Relations. So I brushed up my resume and sought to acquire some new skills like learning to build a web site. Once the web site was built, my father-in-law in Greenville, Ohio near Dayton joked, “If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it, does it make noise?” Translation: If you build a web site and nobody knows about it, will anyone visit? So with that, I put my PR savvy to work.  

I couldn’t afford advertising, so I created homemade bumper stickers, which lasted until the first rain. Then, living on a very busy, former country road in Strongsville, Ohio, I created a homemade billboard for my front yard. Neighbors loved it I’m sure. People started visiting the site, albeit a few. Then, I got creative – or quirky – and out came Spot-The-Rock.  

Spot-The-Rock was a throwback to the pet-rock of the 1970s but weighed about 20 pounds, had reggae-looking hair, a face and could talk when his body (formerly Elmo’s) was squeezed. Spot became a sensation and was booked across Ohio to make appearances. This brought fame without fortune. After several other gimmicks and modest news coverage, I discovered a part of the web site was fast becoming a favorite – free places to travel around Ohio.

By now I was out of work and also interested in free Ohio fun to entertain a family of four. I found so many free things to do and places to go in the state I decided to write a book about free Ohio fun. Then, I channeled the entire site to promote it. But before the book was printed (I self-published it after numerous rejections), I had a job-offer in Cincinnati and went through the pains of relocating my family and selling our home.

Eighteen months later, book sales produced a little nest egg. But more importantly, the web site, remaining static that whole time, had acquired a very large audience. Go figure. This prompted the biggest sales presentation of my life. Not to corporate leaders, not to angel investors, but to my wife! 

I asked her to just give me six months to make something happen. If it didn't work, I’d have time to find a new job, albeit not much time. But to do this right and have a chance, I needed to go at it full-time. She reluctantly agreed to risk our entire savings on this venture.  

This is when the current version of the web site was introduced – OhioTraveler.com. It offered unique family attractions across the state and not just the freebies. But this was merely a tool to develop a public relations practice that helped those that the larger firms ignored – organizations with little to no budgets. My first client was a non-profit in the poorest county in Ohio, smack in the foothills of Appalachia.  
 

The road I chose to travel had its share of bumps and moments of fearing failure. It was a roller coaster. The most difficult part was not having a routine paycheck. I can’t tell you how many times we robbed Peter to pay Paul in the beginning and how many nights I thought I’d pee blood. But, I stuck with it and my wife stuck with me whispering confidence in me when I needed it most.  

We had no money to do anything extra. Renting videos was a budgeted expense and don’t even mention ordering a pizza. We learned just how much excess income middle-class America was used to spending. It’s funny how our culture makes it feel like it's necessary spending and puts a stigma on alternative ways to getting something you want or need besides buying all the marketing, advertising and packaging that comes wrapped with just about anything these days.  
 

What it taught us was how to appreciate what we have and savor what new things we acquired rather than show it off and then seek the next thing to toot our horn about. We could feel richness growing on our human interior instead of showing on the exterior.  

But what I rediscovered most was what had been long-lost – personal freedom! I work from home in Liberty Township, Ohio now and my wife is a special education teacher in Lebanon, Ohio. I actually get to eat breakfast and dinner with my family, something I rarely did before. On Sundays, it’s all about family. Once upon a time in America and not all that long ago, nobody worked on Sundays. This downtime, formerly known as spare-time, a concept all but extinct now, is essential to the mind of an entrepreneur. Without it, I probably wouldn’t have had a relaxed enough frame-of-mind to think of the innovations that truly make OhioTraveler.com a distinct entity online, catapulting it to the top. In fact, while visiting the Cincinnati Museum Center with my kids, I took video and still pictures, later thinking this would be a well-received new dimension of my free online publication. Now I’m flooded with new subscriptions daily. And no advertising was ever done so it’s a word-of-mouth, or shall we call it “word-of-mouse” phenomenon. It’s refreshing and rewarding to pursue a dream and succeed on your terms, persevering through self-doubt and growing pains.  
 

Although side-tracked for a decade, I really believe now more than ever that Americans should pursue their dreams and seek a profession that they enjoy and the money will come because the opposite – seeking money and enjoyment will follow – is like chasing a mirage.  
 

To me, being an entrepreneur isn’t about the Initial Public Offering of stock, it’s about the freedom to decide to go to Orlando while sipping my morning coffee and being there with the whole family for dinner at Epcot. And having just enough money (and time) to pull it off.    

By Frank R. Satullo, The OhioTraveler