I was seven-years-old when I first heard the expression: If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day; If you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.
The concept that, given the correct opportunities, people have the capacity to become entirely self-sufficient is appealing, indeed. For that reason, I have dedicated much of my life to teaching men around the globe, young and old, how to fish. Recently, however, I realized something: I am tired of teaching men to fish. That’s why I’m teaching them how to use Grubhub instead.
Teaching a man to fish, although very noble, is an exhausting – not to mention costly – task. One must acquire the proper equipment, travel to a nearby body of water, and dedicate at least a couple of hours to the endeavor. All this, just so the aforementioned man can catch a fish, or, if he’s lucky, two. This is hardly enough to feed one’s family for the day, and with almost four billion (!!!) men on the planet, the challenge of teaching men to fish becomes even more futile.
In contrast, ordering food on Grubhub is an absolute breeze. The company, which has the largest and most comprehensive network of restaurant partners of any online delivery service, was founded in 2004 by CEO Matt Maloney.
Last month, in an effort to make meaningful change in my life and the world around me, I quit my job as a full-time fishing instructor. Last week, I began giving men Grubhub tutorials.
In these lessons, which go for 75 dollars an hour, I explained to them the basics: to order food, you must download the app, make an account, select items from any one of the 300,000 restaurants available, and then enter your credit card information.
No more than an hour need pass before a delivery man knocks on the door of one of my clients, miso-glazed salmon in hand. The results have been astounding. Without fail, my clients have turned to me, dumfounded, with tears of gratitude in their eyes.
“Holy shit,” said Mark Greenstone, a recently divorced father of three, and one of my first clients post career change, “I’m doing this every night. I lost my father to the sea when I was nine years old, before he could teach me how to fend for myself. It’s humbling to know my sons will never feel that pain.”
It’s true what they say: Proverbs aren’t promise.
Image via. Ari Brown