A boat is docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village.
A tourist complimented the local fishermen on the quality of their fish and wondered how long it took to catch them.
“Not very long,” the fishermen answered in unison.
“Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?”
The fishermen explained that their small catch of fish were sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.
“But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
“We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children, and take siestas with our wives. In the evenings, we go into the village with our friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing songs. We have a full life.”
The tourist interrupted,
“I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!
You should start by fishing longer every day.
You can then sell the extra fish you catch.
With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.”
“And after that?”
“With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant.
You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City!
From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.”
“How long would that take?”
“Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,” replied the tourist.
“And after that?”
“After that? Well my friends, that’s when it gets really interesting,” answered the tourist, laughing. “When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!”
“Millions? Really? And after that?” asked the fishermen.
“After that, you’ll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying with your friends.”
“With all due respect, Sir, that’s exactly what we are doing now. So what’s the point wasting twenty-five years?” asked the fishermen.
In September 2011, Malta and Iceland jointly issued a miniature sheet of postage stamps with the theme ‘Fishing Villages,’ capturing an important economic and cultural activity that is common to both the countries. The village of Húsavík has been chosen for the Icelandic miniature sheet while the village of Mgarr, Gozo, is depicted on the Maltese sheet. Image courtesy https://gozo.news/