The Miserable Rich

by Nick Laight | Jun 22, 2026 | Blog | 0 comments

Congratulations – you’ve won the EuroMillions!

There’s £33 MILLION sitting in your bank account RIGHT NOW.

You can buy whatever you like… whenever you like…

Houses, cars, boats, gold toilet seats, you name it!

And you know what?

You NEVER have to feel sad or worried or bored EVER again!

Of course, that’s pure fantasy.

Well… I mean… obviously you haven’t actually won the lottery (apologies for my fiendish trickery!).

But also, it’s not true that a multi-million pound windfall would automatically make you happy.

People who’ve ‘been there and done it’ will attest to that…

Jane Park won £1 million on EuroMillions at 17, but later said the money failed to give her happiness. She felt that her life was empty and questioned what her purpose was.
Mark Brudenell won £916,915 on the Lottery in 1997 and gave up his job as a lorry driver. But after three years he was bored and realised that he’d lost his sense of direction. So he started a business.
Luke Pittard won £1.3 million in 2006 and left his job at McDonald’s. But after the holidays, shopping and moping about at home, he found his lifestyle repetitive. Eighteen months later, he returned to McDonald’s.
Neil Trotter, a mechanic who won £108 million in 2014, admitted that his experience was surprisingly dull. He spent much of his time watching television. So he took it upon himself to restore a large estate.

Even for NON-millionaires, life can feel pretty empty in the 21st Century.

We have so much at our fingertips…

If we’re hungry, we can click on an app like Deliveroo and in 30 minutes, food is on its way…
If we want to watch TV there are countless digital channels and streaming services…
If we want to hear a new album we can hop onto Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube…
If we want to share our thoughts, photos or videos with other people there’s Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok.
We can go online to watch the news, catch up on gossip, buy products, and get information any time of day or night, without even getting up from a chair.

There’s so much choice and so much we can access with a few clicks…

Something is Missing…

Many people in western civilisation feel overwhelmed, disconnected and lacking in direction.

According to the Office for National Statistics, almost one in four adults in the UK said they felt lonely often, always or some of the time at the beginning of 2026.

When asked whether the things they did in life felt worthwhile, almost one in ten reported a low score.

Then a World Happiness Report, published this year, concluded that most Western industrialised countries were less happy than they had been in 2005–2010.

In fact, 15 countries had experienced significant declines (yep, it will probably come as no surprise that the UK was one of them!)

So what’s going on?

The Frankl Factor

We humans are creatures with an irrepressible urge to seek meaning in life.

All our cultures have myths and legends about how the universe was created…

The planet is full of people who worship a god, or gods…

Even secular people devote themselves to scientific theories about the origins and destination of the universe… and the driving forces behind physics and biology.

We have a powerful desire to know who we are, why we are here, and where we are going.

This is as powerful a driver for our actions as the need to gain power, status and wealth… or to pursue pleasure.

Back in the 1940s, an Austrian psychiatrist named Viktor Frankl studied this phenomenon, and declared that:

“Man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life… that is, a desire to feel that our lives have purpose and significance.”

This sense of meaning could be found through creating something like a piece of art, doing worthwhile work, or caring deeply for another person.

In the 1970s, this idea was developed further by psychologists Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan into something known as…

Self-Determination Theory

They argued that people function best when three basic psychological needs are supported:

AUTONOMY – Feeling that your actions are self-directed
COMPETENCE – Feeling capable and effective
RELATEDNESS – Feeling connected to others

Later, the same psychologists began to distinguish between two kinds of happiness:

HEDONIC HAPPINESS – Feeling pleasure, comfort and excitement.
EUDAIMONIC WELLBEING – Feeling that your life matters, you are growing in wisdom, and have a purpose.

Money Can’t Be the Only Point

Your first temptation might be to go for the money.

After all, you probably want to earn a second income because you need more money in your life, and for any number of good reasons.

It might be that you have debts… struggle to pay the bills… don’t have a job (or one that pays enough)…or you’re stuck on an income that’s getting lower in value as living costs rise.

Or it could be that you’re worried that your pension won’t stretch… that you need to pay for care or medical problems.. or you want to help kids or grandkids through college or university.

It might even be that you want money for a nicer home, a better car, a few holidays or to retire early.

All are powerful, noble reasons to want to create a second income.

But for a home business to work long term enough to actually MAKE decent money for you to achieve these things, there has to be something else.

A sense of meaning.

By that I mean the project you embark on MUST give you that sense of eudaimonic wellbeing if you’re going to stick with it, and succeed.

Which means it should:

Give You A Sense Of Control

You decide what you do, how you do it, and when you do it.

It has to feel like this is something you have chosen, and where you have the power to direct the way you want it to go.

For example, an info publishing business based around your interests, where you choose what products to sell, and decide what topics to focus on.

Play To Your Natural Strengths

It should be a business where many of the tasks require good qualities that you already have, rather than one where you’re having to overcome lots of your weaknesses.

Let’s say you’ve got a great eye for a bargain and good with numbers, so you start a product flipping business on Amazon.

Or you’re naturally funny and creative, so you start a humorous mug and t-shirt Print-On-Demand business.

Give You Room To Grow

It should include elements where you can improve your skills, knowledge and experience, and get a sense of reward from your progress.

You could launch a Substack newsletter where you develop your knowledge about a niche subject, see your subscriber list grow, and learn skills in editing and AI.

Connect You To Others

It should give you a sense that you are helping people solve problems, reach goals, or feel entertained and enriched.

Whatever you do, even if it’s from behind a screen, it is benefiting someone else.

Consider running a subscription service that offers advice to people every week to help them improve their lives, where you get positive feedback and a sense that you’ve helped others.

Mean Something To You

The work should tap into something you care about… a subject you love, a problem you’d like to solve, a group of people you’d like to help.

Maybe you’ve experienced unemployment and financial hardship… and found a way to push through it… so now you’re sharing that with others who are in the same situation.

If there’s a business idea that ticks all those boxes, then I’d urge you to consider that a priority ABOVE a business that promises more money.

Because unless you find meaning in what you do, it’s unlikely that you’ll follow a business plan through.

And I can help you hit upon something that could do this, if you’re up for it?

How To Get Paid For Being Yourself

Tomorrow, I’m about to reveal a revolutionary new way to earn a recurring income based on your interests, experiences and personality.

So you can, effectively, get paid for being you!

It’s free to start, could be ready in 24 hours and it’s almost completely AUTOMATED!

No products. No advertising. No tech skills. No complicated marketing. No social media.