In a room full of enthusiastic entrepreneurs, most of them young people who were looking for a space in the competitive economy, they listened attentively to the speech with the promise of being their own boss, of financial freedom, among other illusory chimeras.

The charismatic motivator, moved the crowd with his own story of upward success, among lights, his speech ended up inviting the crowd to repeat the phrases as the mantra that would lead them to success:

Money is my friend and money is my passage to freedom.

The crowd left the hall, full of enthusiasm and optimistic about the future to come, among them Armando, spent the night almost without sleep. It is five o'clock in the morning, the sky is dark and the air is cold, the city slowly begins its awakening from the silence to gradually give way to its noisy daily life. Still the bed of his studio-type apartment, Armando whispers the mantra that that salesman of illusions inoculated in his mind:

Money is my friend... money is my passage to freedom

With these phrases in mind, Armando began each day looking for opportunities that would make him prosper in life. His charismatic, eloquent personality would make it easy for him to enter the world of sales. He tried all kinds of sales: food, door-to-door sales of appliances, clothing, with modest results, he made some profit, which allowed him to take courses in marketing techniques.

He soon made his debut in the world of big sales, a used car sales business, his experience in this field trained him in the art of lying with the purpose of making money.

He stood out as a salesman, set records as salesman of the month, the first to sell a fleet of used cars to a transportation company, record for sales of motor homes; in short he stood out from the rest.

His closest competitor was Robert, he had more experience in that field, he had had good results until the arrival of Armando, and this meant a kind of rivalry, which benefited the business.

However, both salesmen became friends, they agreed regularly, to achieve the best sales, sometimes, they acted in coordination one of them played the role of the clumsy or careless salesman and the other of the lively one, who ended up taking over the sale, then they changed roles and thus in an almost perfect symbiosis they had managed to position themselves as the best salesmen of the place.

In the last quarter of the year, the manager of the establishment, summoned them, to compete for the prize of seller of the year, the challenge was to sell two vehicles with a lot of time in the depot, a silver convertible, European 1973, and a 1965 Buick, both of which were difficult to place.

The challenge was heavier than they expected, no customer, nor out of curiosity was he interested in either vehicle, but Armando, was not discouraged, so he put into practice a strategy, convinced an immigrant neighbor from the former Yugoslavia, to buy the convertible.

Armando leaned on the nostalgia of the old Europe and its automotive industry, despised in these latitudes, that and to furtively place inside the glove compartment of the convertible, a decal with the flag of the former Yugoslavia, along with a small medal with the effigy of Marshal Tito, which prompted the interest of the neighbor, who haggled over the price, but in the end went to the store and bought the car from Armando.

Robert was surprised, so he forged a bet with Armando, on the sale of the Buick, both sellers put a deadline of one week in which, one of them would make his greatest effort to sell the car, without the intervention of the other, to give more opportunity and justice to the competition; Armando, with suspicion, accepted the conditions of the bet.

That week an elderly man showed interest in the Buick, but that was Robert's week, he got excited and showed the vehicle to the elderly man, who remembered that his first vehicle was a model like that.

The old man talked for a long time about how he conquered his girlfriends, the great journeys, and his emotion was greater when he sounded the Buick's horn, and the sound was the original. The old man exclaimed:

I want it... how much is it going to cost me?

Roberto, not to seem desperate, invited him to see the engine, but the old man insisted

How much for the car?

Robert, convinced that he had made the sale, took him to the office, sat him down in the waiting room and went to get the papers. Robert passed by Armando, with a triumphant smile, sure of having won the bet.

Armando, behind Robert's back, approached the old man, congratulated him and said

Good choice my dear friend, this vehicle is a classic, with everything in its place; I just wanted to inform you, a good source told me, that next week this classic will cost 30% less, with six months of free service, but that offer is not for today... It's to think about it. Don't you think?

Armando said goodbye, smiling at the old man with some malice.

When Robert looked for the old man, he was reluctant to close the deal, he told the frustrated salesman:

Son, I'm sorry if I wasted your time, but I don't have enough money to close the deal today, maybe next week I'll get an advance on my pension, I'll come and buy it then.

The old man said goodbye to Robert, with the promise to buy the vehicle the following week. The salesman, who could not get over his amazement, looked at Armando, who was showing a car to a potential customer from the other side.

Robert was convinced that Armando had intervened in his almost closed sale, and angrily claimed him, thus scaring off the potential buyer. Armando heard Robert's claims, who was walking around, arguing that he was unscrupulous, unethical, and between disqualifications he went so far as, to have the business manager intervene.

Once the mood calmed down, Armando justified his action, in his mind the words of the seller of illusions stood out, in that seminar of motivation:

The purpose of this business is to sell cars, ours is to make money, those two old cars were already generating losses for the business, so any strategy to get out of them is valid, and it will surely suit everyone. I only facilitated the process, after all it is only money, and money, my dear Roberto, money is our friend and it is the way to our freedom

After that moment, the society and friendship of both was irremediably broken, Armando's success was built with lies, growing ego, lack of scruples, and a voracious attitude for money, which in the end was his only friend and gave him freedom from loneliness.

Money is... the complement to this sentence, marked the roadmap in life, of Armando who sought to improve his economic situation, even affected his personal relationships, and made him a lonely man in his niche of success with his friend money.