Bilal Saeed is a sports enthusiast, entrepreneur, and general manager and co-owner of AFC Ann Arbor.
I’m competitive at heart and really want to do good. So I probably have a different mentality than most business owners since I’m not looking to expand and expand and grow and grow. I’m looking for contentment.
I guess contentment is knowing that I don’t ever have to cross any thresholds or boundaries that I’m not comfortable with, and that these things are attainable. I just think that we’re given so much. I don’t mean material things. I mean health, opportunity, love.
I think those are the things that we misvalue. We just don’t prioritize them the way they should be. This is a struggle I have. It’s not like I’ve figured out the magic formula. It’s just something I work toward—to continue to keep those things a high priority in my life.
I see my dad as a grandfather now and think he’s achieved his contentment. I don’t think there’s anything else in life he wants. It’s that simple. That’s what I’m looking for.
There are people I’ve looked up to a lot in my life. My grandfather was one of those people. When I was younger I thought he was everything, the most amazing person. He taught me about love, because in a grandfather-grandson relationship you don’t know what he was like when he was 18, you don’t know so much about his life, but you know all you need to know based on the fact that he's reached a point in his life at which he understands that love is the most important thing.