Why I am leaving money on the table to pursue my passion

“I hope you understand,” I said quietly, fully knowing that even I did not entirely understand how big this one short sentence was.

We agreed to keep in touch and I hung up.

I had just refused a branding project, the kind I would usually be happy to take, but now things are changing. I am changing. Well, to be honest, my focus is changing. For the first time in over a decade, everything I do is directed toward a singular goal.

I have worked in sales and marketing. Started my own agency and worked with some of the biggest companies out there, like Microsoft, Unilever, e-Toro, and overwolf. I have had the pleasure of teaching marketing and branding in almost every college and university in Israel. I have taught and met founders in over 30 countries — but it was always about my journey, my search, finding my purpose.

It is a surreal experience to wake up and go for a 10Km run around the old city of Jaffa. It’s a city that has been there forever, a place that has some of the most interesting stories, the best tales that ever happened: conquests, ships, Muslims, Jews, Napoleon. If history is all about stories, Jaffa is the Mecca of stories for me (born and raised in Tel-Aviv, I run in Jaffa 3 times a week).

Standing there looking at the sea one day, it hit me: I want to tell stories. I love telling stories. When I teach, when I’m in the bar (I am a partner in two bars) or when I am writing my books (my third book is…