June Money and McEnroe

I was lucky enough to have my lunch with John McEnroe yesterday as I was at Wimbledon (and yes I did see the Henman match), and rather than ask him about tennis I spoke to him about his approach to wealth creation.

Unsurprisingly, he adopts the straightforward multiple streams of income approach, so during Wimbledon fortnight he ships himself and most of his family over to the UK.

He works for the first week for the BBC and for the hospitality company that organised the lunch yesterday. For the second week he works for the BBC and the American TV company that covers Wimbledon (who also employ his eldest son as a runner). In addition to that he writes a daily column for the Telegraph and occasionally pops on to the tennis court to play in the over 45 men’s doubles. Every one he works with has to agree to him working with all the others in the loop and by the end of the fortnight he has had a two week holiday with his family, being in an environment he loves, talking about the subject he knows innately, whilst maximising all opportunities on the financial front.

I am not sure how much he might earn in this fortnight but just taking the men’s over 45 doubles, he will earn £5k if they get knocked out in the first round and £10k if they reach their seeding position of 2. He has everything timed to perfection and the whole McEnroe machine is honed to get him in the right place at the right time – a perfectly fluid business system with one product.

On a personal level I found John personable, quick witted, responsive, intelligent and communicative – particularly when talking about his kids. However, he is surprisingly thin and looked tired and a bit dishevelled (obviously they spruce him up for the tele), and the odd thing I noticed was that his shoes fastened with Velcro not laces -  odd for a grown man in this country but perhaps not odd for him.

So like all ‘famous’ people I have ever met he was just normal and ordinary and I was incredibly impressed.

Have a great weekend.

Comments

[Jacqueline]

You have just got to tell us how it is you came to be having lunch with John McEnroe in the first place - I am intrigued!