Researching the latest newsletter article on “Getting Rich” – yes, these things really are researched – prompts the reflection that the road to riches often lies through poverty.

Make no mistake: becoming an entrepreneur is at best the postponement of enjoyment. It is working while others rest, investing while others spend, and, above all, taking the initiative while others go with the flow.

It is giving up present happiness in the hope of greater happiness in future. This is gambling, pure and simple, and, as with all gambling, there is no guarantee of success.

So frugality on its own is unlikely to make anyone rich – especially since life has a habit of sending the unexpected to show the folly of relying on the assumptions behind detailed budgets.

While frugality – or, at least, relative frugality – remains an inescapable part of the life of the entrepreneur – at least in the early days – it should not be mistaken for the whole of it.

Indeed, an entrepreneur may be a better entrepreneur for stopping from time to time in order to enjoy some of the fruits of his labours and remind himself why he is doing what he is doing.