I Built a $300M Company... But Lost My Daughter (I'm 76 and Alone)

Richard's Story: I Built a $300 Million Company and Lost Everything That Actually Mattered

At 76 years old, Richard shares the brutal truth about building a business empire while destroying his family. He constructed a company valued at $300 million, had the executive suite, corporate jet, and oceanfront estate. Financial publications featured him. Aspiring entrepreneurs wanted his formula for success. But while building that empire, he demolished the only things that genuinely mattered.

Richard started his business in 1979 at age 30, working 80-90 hour weeks. He missed his daughter Olivia's birth in 1984 because he was in a strategy meeting. He missed her first steps, first day of kindergarten, dance recitals, and high school graduation. When she was seven, she brought him a drawing that said "I love you, Daddy, even though you're always busy." By 1996, the company was worth $60 million, but his wife Jennifer had built a life without him and daughter Olivia barely acknowledged him.

In 2002, after 23 years of marriage, Jennifer requested divorce. She'd been alone in their marriage for two decades while Richard was married to his company. The company grew to $300 million and he appeared on the Fortune cover, but at 61 he had a heart attack with nobody to call. He sold the company in 2013 for a massive payout, then had to figure out what life looked like with more money than he could spend and nobody to spend it with.

At Olivia's wedding four years ago, she thanked him for coming—like a guest, not her father. Her speech praised Jennifer for being there for everything while Richard got five seconds. Now he'd trade every penny for one more day with seven-year-old Olivia or one more evening with Jennifer before he pushed her away.

His warning: work will always be there, but your children won't always be children and your spouse won't always wait. The finish line keeps moving, and meanwhile your family disappears. Success means nothing if you're alone.

What would you sacrifice for success? Share in the comments.

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