• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

My relationship with money

Published: Monday, 25 February 2013

You don't need that much money.  Just enough to pay the rent, utilities and food.

My plan I created for myself post-uni when I was in 3rd year uni was to not get a job.  Live very simply.  Save my money.

The more money I saved, the bigger my runway to fail.  And then work my hardest to build a company.

Bury the ego.

I was born into a poor family, and I never had any luxuries.  So I trained myself from an early age not to care about what other people have or be affected by that.

You don't need all of life's little luxuries.  If you live cheaply, you'll have the time, headspace and energy to create your dream company.

When viewed in that context, none of life's luxuries can hold a candle to being able to do the work you love.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • American Australian Association: Next Generation Leadership Award

    I received an award in New York City from the American Australian Association:  the Next Generation Leadership Award.  As a result, they're planting a...

  • Regaining focus

    During my time at Robogals, towards the end of every year, I would lose focus. Why?  All my major projects for the year would have been wound up.  My...

  • Global Summit of Women in Tokyo

    I attended the Global Summit of Women in Tokyo, Japan 11-13 May and gave a presentation about aubot, then spoke on a panel.  It was live-translated...

  • No overnight success: Geoffrey Rush

    When I was touring schools with Geoffrey Rush and we were answering questions in front of hundreds of kids, lots of them said, "I really what to be...

  • Wow! I'm Young Australian of the Year!

    Wow!  What a huge honour!  I flew overseas in the wee hours of 27 January, and so the whole experience of being named Young Australian of the Year is...

  • Dividing time - most time spent on highest priority item

    If you're not spending most of your time working on your highest priority, then it's time to reevaluate what you're doing. My mum worked as a hotel room...

  • Phoenix, Arizona

    I love exploring new cities! So I was super thrilled to visit Phoenix in Arizona, and speak at ASQ’s Lean and Six Sigma Conference as their opening...

  • Manufacturing Leadership Summit, Grand Rapids Michigan

    After a long pandemic hiatus from giving speeches in person, I was invited to be the in-person keynote speaker at The Right Place’s Manufacturing...

  • Your work is never done

    When I started Robogals, I thought going to schools and teaching girls robotics should get more to choose physics, chemistry and advanced maths;...

  • Special Visitors

    During our summer working out of the Engineers Australia Victoria office, we had some special visitors. Minister Merlino, the Deputy Premier and...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top