I Chose This Over $5 Million

In 2023, my publisher offered me $5 million to write my next book.

From 2016 to 2022, I was in full-blown author mode. Writing, touring, promoting. It felt like one never-ending deadline—and by the end of it, I was completely burnt out.

By 2022, I felt drawn back to entrepreneurship. The creator space had changed dramatically. AI was emerging. Everything was moving fast—and writing a book all of a sudden felt like the slowest, least relevant thing I could do.

The problem was, I was still on the hook for another book. A big one. With a massive payday.

I had an impossible decision to make: Turn down the money and work on what I want? Or take the money and spend the next year or two cashing the checks?

My agent warned me: “If you don’t write this book, there’s a very good chance they’ll cancel the contract. You’ll lose the $5 million. And you’ll have to return the $1.25 million they already paid you.”

Let me tell you: It does not feel good to give $1.25 million back to somebody after they’ve given it to you.

But I knew the book wasn’t the move. By this point, I had learned the hard way: when you take money over meaning, you just burn yourself out and end up producing a worse result.

And eventually I started building what would become my new business: Purpose.

When you’re clear on what matters to you, decisions have a way of making themselves. And this was no different.

For me, that meant solving the problem I’d been obsessed with for years:

I’m sure I’ll write another book at some point. When it’s the right time. For the right reason. Hell—when I feel the purpose behind it.

But right now, building Purpose is what I actually give a sh*t about. And I can’t ignore that.

But I’ll also leave you with this question: What’s one opportunity you already know you need to walk away from, even if it costs you?