Making Lemonade is a series of conversations with young entrepreneurs who have overcome obstacles, embraced change, and turned lemons into lemonade.
My guest today is 3x “Survivor” castaway and producer of “Adulting” on Million Stories, Malcolm Freberg. From corporate real estate to teaching to competing on Survivor to writing and producing shows, Malcom knows a thing or two about pivoting.
Malcolm’s story of the road less traveled is one that so many Millennials can relate to: the opposite of “the path of least resistance.” After college and teaching abroad in Micronesia, the skills he had learned overseas both in education and in self reliance, in addition to becoming more financially independent, would all help in his ongoing role on the reality show, Survivor (where he nearly won the 1 million dollar prize). Those skills would also set him for success after he moved on from Survivor, where he would pursue various career paths and tackle miscellaneous career “pivots” along the way. One of his pivots would inevitably land him in a partnership with us at Million Stories, as he is the director of our series, Adulting with Richard Sherman.
How was he able to navigate those pivots? He knew the importance of being financially independent rather than relying on others, with a strong emergency fund at his back and a willingness to sacrifice certain comforts. He learned that he had to be very discerning, and frugal, about where his money went. He also shares one unique skill about toilet paper that amusingly served him from his time on Survivor through to recent events during COVID.
Ultimately, Malcolm Freberg’s career stories show us that learning how to save money is critical if you’re not working a “typical” job with stable income and that it’s possible to thrive if you’re willing to do the work.
“If you just work hard, you’re passionate, you do the things you love, and keep yourself solvent, then you’ll end up where you’e suppose to be.”
-Malcolm Freberg
