Felix Dennis - Onetime billionaire

I came across a great interview from Forbes with Felix Dennis; a British magazine publisher, poet, and philanthropist. He owns Dennis Publishing, and I'm sure you've subscribed to some of his magazines at some point, and at the very least, read through one.

FORBES: "Is starting a company still the best way to get rich? Haven't hedge fund managers and bankers disproved that?"

Dennis: "Yes, ther eare certain professions, the financial sector being on eof them, where you are massively overpaid. But those days--I'm not saying they've ended, but those days are ending. Anybody who goes into college now and thinks, 'I'm going to join the equivalent of what Bear Stearns was, and I'm going to get rich just by loaning other people's money and taking huge plunges, and if I'm wrong I don't lose anything'--well, that might've worked in the 1990s, but it's not going to work now, brother. Those bankers you're talking about, they've not part of a virtuous circle. They are pond life. Whatever an entrepreneur is, she or he is not pond life. They have meaning. And without wishing to sound pompous, they are part of what made America great."

FORBES: "So much entrepreneurial activity revolves around technology, but you have a reputation as a Luddite."

Dennis: "I have never sent an e-mail and don't know how to do so, and I will never learn. About 70% of e-mails are ass-covering. People send them to one another so they can say, 'Oh, but I told you.' Nor do I own any portable communication devices. I don't want anyone to know where I am. It's none of their business."

FORBES: "Readers who know your biography--iconoclast, poet, polyamorist, ex-crack smoker--may be surprised by how conservative your advice is. There are chapters on frugality and dressing for success."

Dennis: "I'm willing to sacrifice anything on the altar. Later on they can walk around in negligees in the office, when they're hugely successful. Absolutely no one would care if Steve Jobs walked around the office in a negligee. That's a good thought, isn't it?"

Well, to sum it up, it appears Dennis is an ex-crack smoking genius. How often do you see that? I'm going to give his book, The Narrow Road, a good read through to see if there's as much substance in it as he says.

Side note: According to Wikipedia, Dennis also went on to squander over $100 million dollars on drugs and women through his crack cocaine addiction.