April 1, 2025
Throughout my professional journey – from actuary to strategy consultant to my current role in crypto – I’ve been driven by more than just career advancement.
Beneath the surface, I’ve been searching for something more profound: a purpose that aligns my skills, passions, and impact on the world.
This pursuit led me to the Japanese concept of ikigai, which has become a guiding framework for my entrepreneurial aspirations.
My Reason for Being
Ikigai roughly translates to “a reason for being” – a concept that encompasses purpose, meaning, and joy in life.
It represents the sweet spot where four elements intersect: what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.
When you find activities that satisfy all four criteria, you’ve discovered your ikigai.
Balancing Personal Fulfillment and External Value
What fascinates me about this concept is its balance between personal fulfillment and external value.
It’s not purely self-focused, nor is it entirely about sacrificing for others.
Instead, it encourages finding harmony between internal satisfaction and meaningful contribution to the world around you.
My Personal Ikigai Journey
In my entrepreneurial journey, I’ve been methodically exploring these four dimensions.
I’ve identified things I genuinely love doing and areas where I excel, particularly in analyzing complex problems and developing strategic solutions.
The more challenging aspects have been determining precisely what the world needs and how I can build a sustainable business model around these skills and passions.
The Entrepreneur’s Quest: Finding Novel Solutions
At the heart of my entrepreneurial spirit lies a fundamental drive: I love discovering challenging problems, dissecting them carefully, and crafting innovative solutions.
Throughout my career, I’ve been fascinated by understanding how businesses function at their core and spotting opportunities for improvement.
This analytical mindset leads me to constantly question the status quo. I find myself examining products, services, and systems, asking why they work the way they do and imagining how they might function better.
Whether I’m analyzing potential acquisitions at Kraken or evaluating properties for my real estate ventures, I’m always searching for that hidden opportunity – the angle others might have missed.
The entrepreneurial mindset isn’t just about launching businesses; it’s about approaching life with curiosity and creative problem-solving.
It’s seeing challenges as opportunities and believing in your ability to create something valuable where others see only obstacles.
Building Community Through Coaching and Mentorship
One element of my ikigai that has become increasingly clear is my passion for helping others grow.
Throughout university and my early career, I discovered I genuinely enjoy coaching and mentoring – initially focusing on career development within the actuarial community and later expanding to broader professional contexts.
Creating Impact Through Knowledge Sharing
I find immense satisfaction in helping people overcome challenges, develop their skills, and progress toward their goals.
This community-focused mindset has become central to how I envision my future entrepreneurial ventures.
Rather than pursuing purely profit-driven enterprises, I’m drawn to opportunities that combine business success with positive community impact.
The Financial Literacy Opportunity
Personal finance education is one area where I believe I could make a meaningful contribution.
Financial literacy is critically lacking in our society, yet it’s fundamental to individual well-being and success.
I see potential in creating coaching or advisory services that help people build stronger financial foundations – blending my analytical background with my passion for education and mentorship.
The Entrepreneurial Challenge: Monetization Without Compromise
The most challenging aspect of pursuing my ikigai has been developing viable business models around these passions.
It’s relatively straightforward to identify what I love and what I’m good at; transforming these elements into sustainable ventures that generate appropriate financial returns proves more difficult.
This is the entrepreneurial puzzle I’m currently working to solve.
How can I create offerings that deliver genuine value, leverage my unique skill set, fulfill my desire to help others, and generate sustainable income?
The answer likely exists at the intersection of education, coaching, financial expertise, and community building.
My real estate ventures represent one step in this direction – they’ve been financially successful while allowing me to apply my analytical skills to tangible problems.
However, they don’t fully capture my ikigai.
They’re more of a “side quest” that has proven valuable but doesn’t completely satisfy my desire for purpose-driven work.
Finding the Right Partners
One crucial lesson I’ve learned through my real estate ventures is the importance of partnership.
What began as a solo effort transformed dramatically when I found the right partners who brought complementary skills and shared values.
The right business partnerships create something greater than the sum of their parts.
When you combine individuals with different strengths but aligned values and vision, you can achieve far more than anyone could accomplish alone.
My most rewarding business experiences have come from collaborating with trustworthy partners who challenge me intellectually while sharing core principles.
For future entrepreneurial ventures, I’m placing increased emphasis on finding the right people.
I’ve learned that business isn’t just about the idea or the market – it’s fundamentally about the people executing the vision.
Working with individuals I trust, respect, and learn from makes the entrepreneurial journey not only more successful but infinitely more rewarding.
Looking Forward: The Entrepreneurial Journey Continues
While I haven’t yet found the perfect entrepreneurial expression of my ikigai, I’m approaching this as an ongoing journey rather than a destination.
Each experience – from my actuarial beginnings to management consulting, from crypto to real estate – has taught me valuable lessons about what energizes me and where I can create the most value.
Conclusion
As I consider future entrepreneurial ventures, I’m drawn to opportunities that let me apply my analytical skills to meaningful problems while helping others develop and grow.
This might take shape as financial coaching, educational initiatives, or community-building enterprises – the exact form is still evolving.
What remains clear is that the entrepreneurial path isn’t merely about building businesses – it’s about creating a life of purpose, meaning, and contribution.
I’m continuously refining my understanding of what I love, what I excel at, what the world needs, and what creates sustainable value.
This process is steadily guiding me toward my own unique ikigai—that sweet spot where passion, mission, profession, and vocation become one.