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Creating Your Own 4-Hour Workweek in 2010

January 3, 2010 in Books, Business, Career & Work, Entrepreneurship, Internet Marketing, Success with 24 Comments

Hey everyone, Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday season, but now it’s time to get back at it. I apologize for any typos or grammatical errors in advance, but I’m tired and fat from too many delicious treats over Christmas.

I’ve spent the last 4-5 days driving my wife totally bonkers. Why? Because I’ve been reading the 4-Hour Workweek again by Tim Ferris. I read the book when it was first introduced, and I immediately implemented some of Tim’s recommendations. But now Tim is back with an Expanded & Updated version of the book which was just released last month.  I believe 2010 is the year to truly put Tim’s methods into action. 4hour

So first things first – I’ve found that when I mention The 4-Hour Workweek (4HWW) it can instantly turn some people off just based on the title. My wife being one of them… She can’t imagine why I would only want to work 4 hours per week or how it would financially feasible to do so….So  we better get something out-of-the-way, right away…The 4HWW isn’t really about working 4 hours per week. On a deeper level it’s about living and creating the ultimate life for yourself during this very short time we have here.

Many people hear the title and react as if you’re holding some sort of scam or get rich quick scheme. Maybe the title is a little off… Tim suggested he tested the title of the book and I believe with some it turns them off and with others it invokes some serious curiousness.

There’s a whole lot more going on here and I want to briefly explain to you some of what you’ll find.

I also want to mention that the 4HWW is currently my #1 reading recommendation for everyone looking for a plan in 2010. I’ll be implementing various aspects of the teaching and documenting them along the way.

The newly expanded and updated version has 4 sections or steps that give you a guideline for achieving the 4-hour workweek.

  • Step 1: D is for Definition
  • Step 2: E is for Elimination
  • Step 3: A is for automation
  • Step 4: L is for Liberation

The DEAL is the core of what makes up Tim’s step-by-step training plan to living the life of the New Rich (NR).

Tim constantly refers to the NR as those who realize that there is more to life than materialist possessions and retirement planning or as I would say, working to  “buy stuff.” We all have so much “stuff.”

Here’s how we classify the NR versus Old Rich (OR)

To be considered NR you value

  1. time
  2. income
  3. mobility.

I’d put an emphasis on time because with all the money in the world and no time, the money really means diddlysquat.

“The NR are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: Time & Mobility” – TF

The OR spend a lifetime building wealth and buying things along the way with the hopes of living and experiencing only if and when enough money is acquired and they can finally retire (i.e. granting themselves time)

The NR understand that all three can be had right now. Just reading the above sentence and the OR sounds like such a backwards way of thinking.

Tim says “Retirement planning is worst-case scenario insurance.” Suggesting that we should view planning for retirement as the life insurance against the absolute worst-case scenario. Diligent savers and the OR will also scoff at such a suggestion.

But Tim isn’t suggesting not to save, (he’s maxing out his own retirement savings every year) rather he’s suggesting that a life of working with retirement as the end-goal is flawed and he gives three reasons why:

1)   It’s predicated on the assumption that you dislike what you are doing during the most physically capable years of your life.

2)   Most people won’t be able to maintain their current quality or standard of living.

3)   Most hardworking people get so bored one week into retirement they begin looking for a new job. Tim notes, “kinda defeats the purpose of waiting.”

Let’s break down each section of the book.

Step 1: D is for Definition

Definition is truly a great way to start the book. This chapter is about letting it all hang out. It’s about defining what your dream life looks like.

You’ll find similar aspects in various business books. Most goals in life will never come to fruition unless you can totally define exactly what it is you want in life.

Maybe it’s a Ferrari…

Maybe you want to spend 6 months of every year living in Patagonia fly fishing…

Maybe you want to learn new languages…or study the martial arts….or become a chef…

Whatever it is, this step is crucial for the NR. It’s about figuring out what it will cost to live your dream life. Tim does suggest a limit on material possessions when planning your dream life but it’s OK to include them if they are truly part of your dreams.

Tim wants you to nail it down, actually putting a dollar amount on it. He even suggests calculating it right down to the daily cost of living your dream life.

But aside from dreaming up your ultimate life, this chapter is also about defining your fears and nightmares or conquering pessimism in your life.

We’ve talked about fear of taking chances before. Tim wants you to define all your fears and challenges getting in the way of your dreamlining.

Step 2: E is for Elimination

This chapter is about time management. Many of Tim’s suggestions on just about everything in life are summed up using the Pareto Principle of 80/20.

The Pareto Principle states that 80% of effects come from 20% of the causes.

Tim asks us to consider the following

1)   Which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness?

2)   Which 20% of sources are resulting in 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness?

One of the things I really enjoyed about this chapter was Tim’s look at 9-5 work. I worked 9-5 in an office environment for a few months and I totally get it. Tim suggests that society has agreed to shuffle papers between 9-5 and much of that time is wasted (80/20). Yet society has deemed this the time when things get done and we do somehow manage to accomplish all the required tasks during this time even if we’re only working 20% of the day. Tim believes the concept of 9-5 is a totally arbitrary one and I tend to agree.

The ultimate goal of elimination is to find the  80% of distractions and eliminate them.

We then take the 20% of sources and use various techniques to even further optimize our output and eliminate time required.

Step 3: A is for automation

This is where things start to get interesting.

Outsourcing life and taking advantage of Geoarbitrage.

The NR take advantage of outsourcing.

“Becoming part of the NR isn’t just about working smarter by applying the 80/20 rule, it’s about building a system to totally replace yourself.” TF

Think about all those lingering tasks that we constantly put off and procrastinate. Imagine you no longer had to worry about them because your personal assistant in India was handling them.

This chapter seems to get most people’s blood boiling the quickest. “How appalling,” some might say to the thought  of hiring a personal assistant in India, paying them far less than you’d pay someone in North America and having them do work for you.

But it’s really quite the contrary. The biggest companies in the world have been outsourcing everything for years and the NR have realized they can do so as well.

For example, if you believe Microsoft has been manufacturing and boxing up xbox’s to ship out, you’re dead wrong. They outsource and the NR apply the same techniques to both our personal lives and businesses.

Many will say, “why would I hire someone to do that when I can do it cheaper?” Tim confirms this…. “You can always do them cheaper but just because you can it doesn’t mean you should”

The book is chalk full of examples of how the NR are using outsourcing to improve their daily lives. I wanted to include a few here for enjoyment.

For the record I use outsourcing from a tech support company in India that handles the support of all the web-hosting clients I deal with. The support is professional and extremely fast. It costs me about $120 per month but frees up and unprecedented # of worry-free hours for me.

Examples of ways the NR have used outsourcing:

1)   Finding a parking spot for your car in another city before you make the trip

2)   Personal Chef for less than $5 a meal

3)   House repairs while you’re out of the country

4)   Charting a diet plan and ordering the groceries for you

5)   Apologizing to your spouse and sending flowers when you screw up

6)   Automatically sending flowers to your mother and spouse on the important days

7)   Scheduling interviews

8)   Personal daily wake up calls

9)   Research

10) Creation of reports, legal documents, graphic design, marketing

11)  Web development, SEO

12)  Travel Arrangements

Just about anything you can think of can be automated.

Outsourcing isn’t just about going overseas either. Just because you can get it done cheaper overseas doesn’t make it the right decision. There are certain language barriers that might not be as problematic if working with a Virtual Assistant in the USA or Canada. Either way, the 4HWW provides a ton of tips and strategies for finding appropriate outsourcing.

The main and ultimate goal is freeing up your free time to pursue your dream and dream life.

Relative VS Absolute Income

The NR are interested in relative income over absolute income.

Absolute income refers to the “Old Rich way of thinking” in that that the dollars made is what defines being rich. Your wage per year determines if you’re rich or not….

The NR value relative income and understand both money, time and mobility. The money you make per year is an arbitrary concept much like 9-5.

Here’s the example Tim provides.

Jane makes 100k per year
John makes 50k per year

In absolute terms Jane is wealthier than John. But take a closer look:

Jane works 50 weeks per year and makes 2k per week. She’s a workaholic and ends up spending about 80 hours per week in the office. She eats and sleeps with her blackberry.

In reality she makes $25 per hour.

John works 50 weeks per year and makes 1k per week. John is a member of the NR and works only 10 hours per week to provide 50k. In relative income terms , John is 4 times wealthier than Jane. John also earns $75 more than Jane per hour. Go figure… Yet our society would say Jane is richer.

You must keep in mind, 50K is all John needs to live his dream life he defined earlier. Your dream life will be different.

The rest of this chapter deals with creating a business that can automate the task of making money. When I first read Tim’s book this section was a let down. Tim started a company that sold a supplement and he did extremely well. But he didn’t share much more beyond that and still doesn’t in the expanded and updated version. Tim includes some basics on Google Adwords and testing but otherwise I was a little let down by this chapter. I would have liked to see Tim really break down the process of his supplement company or at least expand on this section.

Many of you who I work with or that read my blog will be at skill levels far beyond what Tim is teaching and I’d consider that a huge advantage…. By implementing the rest of Tim’s training you’re already going to be way ahead. For those who’ve never developed a product to sell on the Internet, Tim’s training will provide a nice base and starting point for you.

Step 4: L is for Liberation

This chapter is really what it’s all about for me and probably the reason I drove my wife completely nuts over the past week or so.

This chapter is all about breaking away from the norms of traditional society and truly embracing the ideals of the NR.

This is about working from home or working anywhere else in the world for that matter. Tim suggests mini-retirements and experiencing the world rather than seeing sections of it in a short 1-2 week vacations. Tim wants us to remove the shackles of the expectations of Western life and develop the rules on our own terms.

For the employee it’s about escaping the office but maintaining your job.

You’ll find it extremely interesting to see the employees who’ve used Tim’s advice to arrange remote work arrangements. I find this chapter most fascinating for those who do actually love their jobs but are looking for more.

Finally, this chapter is about filling the void in your life after you eliminate work.

There is so much more in this chapter but I’ve really gone on long enough.

All in all, this is a really rough take on the 4HWW but I hope I’ve said enough to intrigue you to buy and read it. The book has been on the bestseller list for over 2 years so he must be doing something right.

2010  is a big year for me. I plan to implement many of the ideas in this book and hope to share my journey with you.

Over the past week I’ve been suggesting to my wife the following:

A summer in Tuscany in a rustic old apartment drinking wine (maybe some of which we’ll actually make)

Three months of skiing in the Swiss Alps

An apartment in Paris where we could fatten up on pastries and poutine

Sipping Vodka in Prague

A few months in wine country in Argentina where I could do some world-class fly fishing…

She isn’t convinced yet or sold on the idea but she’s starting to see the light…maybe…….

Once again, Happy New Year and I wish you all the best in the coming year.

Noah

P.S. Right now on Tim’s site he has 18 videos and case studies from people who’ve successfully implemented the techniques and strategies found within the 4HWW. I suggest watching them all.

What Matters Now

December 18, 2009 in Books, Business, Career & Work, E-Commerce, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Social Media, Success, Technology with 4 Comments

Looking for some direction in 2010?whatmatter2

Seth Godin has compiled a free eBook titled “What Matters Now” with a collection of ideas from over 70 “big thinkers” about the world in 2010.

You can download the eBook free directly by clicking the button below. WhatMatters

Here are a few of my favourite ideas, thoughts or quotes from the book.

Seth Godin – This year, you’ll certainly find that the more you give the more you get.

Chris Meyer writes about the evolution of capitalism but does so by comparing business to Darwin’s finches of the Galapagos Islands. Darwin observed that the finch’s beaks would evolve and change shape to match the form of the flowers which provided their food.

Chris suggests that businesses will need to evolve as capitalism changes in our new economy. Chris suggests that the game is changing and businesses in  developed countries will need evolve their beaks and learn the new rules of the game.

Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell’s story on “Bacon Salt” and how it’s our job to find the “one percenters.” The 1% of people deep in the trenches of a niche who become the roots of word of mouth marketing.  Many are looking for the masses right out of the gate. Focus on finding the one percent first and allow them to get the roots buried deep into the soil.

William Taylor suggests that in the past businesses found a feeling of comfort by staying in the middle of the road and today the middle of the road is the most unsafe place to be. Where is your business?

John Wood – “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”

Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos.com) – Everything Tony learned about business he learned from Poker. Here’s an example: The guy who never loses a hand is not the guy who makes the most money in the long run.

Guy Kawasaki on Evangelism. Guy’s message is usually pretty consistent. He is constantly hammering home what it takes to be successful. You think he’s trying to tell us something?

Dave Balter on “Dumb”

For example,

  • Putting a college Yearbook online was considered dumb..
  • Limiting small micro updates on the web to 140 characters was considered dumb.

“Recognize that your dumb idea may be tomorrow’s huge breakthrough.”

I remember when the iPod was first announced. It was considered “dumb.” Why would anyone want to carry all their music on a digital pocket device?

Look at the hilarious comments (especially the last one) left on CNET”s very first article about the iPod being introduced

“Naw …. wont take off”
“This will be the last thing from Apple ever, they’ll never be successful with this.”
“apple is going to go bankrupt with this new mp3 player thing. mp3s are going to be obsolete within the next couple years anyway”
“This is crazy. Next thing we know Apple will move all the Macs to Intel processors”

WOW. In case you don’t get why the last one is the funniest it’s because just a few years later Apple did switch to using the PC’s Intel Processor.

Gary Vaynerchuk and the “Thank You Economy.”

Gary is  right on the money and I’ve seen it in action. Two years ago if you made a video, posted an online petition and tweeted about Frito Lays not delivering enough Fritos to your restaurant, nobody cared.

Today, Frito’s headquarters calls you up and takes care of the situation personally. It’s an amazing world and the tools are here. How are you using them?

My father-in-law over at Quoteflections has done three awesome posts of his favorite quotes from the book. Check them out as well. #1 , #2 , #3

~Noah

Tag Team Champions – If you’re the Iron Sheik, do the world a favor and find Nikolai Volkoff.

November 8, 2009 in Business, Career & Work, Entrepreneurship with 10 Comments

If you’ve read my last two posts, you know I’ve been talking about Gary Vaynerchuk.

I’m going to continue today on one concept Gary has mentioned which I believe is a major game changer for those willing to embrace it – Tag Team Championsaxsmash

I’m also going to reference some of my favorite old school WWE Tag Teams. If you grew up in the 80′s with a grandfather who watched Wrestling non-stop, you’ll get the references…If not, read this anyways. You’ll get the overall picture.

A quick background first:

I have no doubt I can market and sell online. I really don’t.

I’ve been able to do so since the very early days of the Internet. I was very fortunate to have parents who allowed me to get online and explore things from a very early age. They were fantastic. They didn’t just toss the AOL CD that came to our door 3 times a week in the trash, they let me use it!

At one point my parents got a bill from AOL for me going way beyond the “free” 75 hours or so… I’m talking hundreds or maybe thousands of dollars.

But even before that, I was dabbling with dial-up modems and text-based BBS sites.

I think our first modem was running at a speed of 4800 bps. I remember the day my dad came home with a new computer and a 14.4 kbps modem. That’s when I knew I could kill it.  The text-based ascii graphics were just flying down the screen!

The ability to market and sell through the computer and over the phone lines was already happening at that point. I saw the potential from day one.

I was selling  and making money on those first BBS boards. There were a few occasions where my mother had to drive me to deliver goods I had sold. I was only about 14 years old at the time.

It was only a natural progression for me to find my way over to eBay  years later where I became a “PowerSeller.”

Then a few years after that I found Google Adsense and from there I made my way into Internet Marketing where I began showing other people how I was doing it.

The last few years however, while I’ve crushed it from a monetary standpoint, have been somewhat of a creative stalemate for me.

I lost that “excitement feeling” about the BIGGER opportunities being presented on the Internet.

Don’t get me wrong, I was excited about the things I’d been doing and the income I was making, but I wasn’t fulfilled. I missed that feeling.

Recently, I’ve got it back.

And it’s come back in a big way.

What the heck does this all have to do with Tag Team Champions?

Here it is.

The concept of tag team champions is simple: Find your Legion of Doom!

I’ve realized that I know quite a few people who have the personalities and DNA to crush it on a huge level.

I’m talking about experts with insane amounts of passion about some specific topic. The type of people with explosive and intoxicating personalities or the type of people who could talk non-stop about worms or miniature schnauzers.

But when I began to look more closely at these people, I realized that many of them were in that all too familiar position:  working at a job they didn’t like or stuck in a career that had hit a plateau 15 years ago.

This week I approached two of those people. I’ve known both them for a long time. One was more of a close friend and the other as a business acquaintance .

I had two casual meetings where I sat down and I gave a grander overall picture of what I believed this person could do and how I could help.

I explained how that by harnessing that passion, we could take things to a higher level. But I stressed that the main goal was for us both to be doing what we loved, not making a bundle of money.

As a Tag Team champion you need two people ready to partner up and battle for the title. Plain and Simple.

I’m passionate about building businesses and entrepreneurship but I’m not necessarily outgoing enough where I want to get in front of a camera or jump online and talk about it for days on end.

And on the other end of the spectrum there are people out there who are so insanely passionate about “miniature schnauzers” or “ant farms” but have no clue how to harness that excitement and tell the world on a grander scale. That’s where I come in.

This is the goal of Tag Team Champions.

Both meetings I had were exciting and both of these people were eager to move forward and take over the world.

I’ll share more about these people as things progress.

So if you’re a little like me, consider this:

You’ve got serious talents. Look for people & businesses where you could tag team and grow together. hartfoundation

I’ve begun to see other areas of opportunity all over the place.

If you’re Ax then look for Smash.

If you find Professor Tanaka, let them know that you’re Mr. Fuji!

Or perhaps you’ve got mega insane talent but you’re unsure about the marketing side of things or maybe the technical side of things, don’t be afraid to seek out a partner for your tag team.

Tag Teams and partnerships can work. Don’t worry too much that you’ve heard partnerships never work. Many partnerships fail because they aren’t Tag Team Champions. You need to find your perfect match.

Imagine Hawk teamed up with Brutus Beefcake… Or one of the Wild Samoans with The Quebecers… That should give you a clear idea of why most partnerships don’t work.

You need to find your true tag team partner.

If you’re Jim Neidhart, do the world a favor and find Bret Heart. You’ll win the title, I guarantee it.

Done.

Get Rich Off Worms – Are you Living Your Passion?

October 28, 2009 in Business, Career & Work, Entrepreneurship with 11 Comments

Are you truly living your passion?

On Sunday I sat down and read “Crush It – Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion” by Gary Vaynerchuck.”  crushit

I’ve been following Gary and his winelibrary.tv for about two years now. I’m a big fan of wine and Gary is spot on when it comes to the grape.

When I first heard about Gary’s business book, I’ve got to be honest, I wasn’t really sure.

I hadn’t followed much of the business side of Gary and even what I did know, I preferred to keep separate and maintain Gary as my go-to wine guy.

I wasn’t sure I was ready to put Gary on my office book shelf. Oh how I was wrong.

Then I read the book and everything changed. This book replaces nearly all the books on the shelf.

Crush It is exactly what the title says: A book about why NOW is the time to cash in on your passion. It’s quick and to the point. One chapter is only 1 word long. I’m serious.

Another blogger compared his frozen hamburger to the book which was about twice the size.

After a quick two-hour read I began to ponder and discuss the feelings I was having with my wife. (Who’s a real trooper by the way! She constantly has to listen to my wacky ideas and thoughts as I ponder life’s great mysteries)

Such as:

Am I really living my passion?

But more importantly, without truly knowing my passion, how in the world am I going to cash in on it.

And if I even have to question IF  I’m living my passion then obviously something is up right?

handfulofwormsGary even says that if you are passionate enough about worms – you can crush it and you can succeed….and I believe it.

So after reading the book I e-mailed Gary.

I explained to him how the book had hit me in a pretty powerful way. I think most people will be excited and pumped when they read the book but I think it hit me differently than most.

Maybe I’m wrong? I don’t know. The book will certainly make anyone who reads it think and go hmmm… “maybe I should be cashing in on my extensive knowledge of jelly beans or the fact that I know every episode of Star Trek word for word.”

It hit me a different way.

You see, I’m already making decent money and I do believe there have been areas and times in my life when I “crushed it.”

But what I really began to question was my passion.

You can financially crush it but are you living out your passion? And if not, is the money worth it?

Some would argue yes and some would argue no. I’ve heard people close to me say that the only thing that really matters in your adult business life is how much money you make.

I disagree.

But do I disagree only because I’m not faced with the stress of working 9-5 or if I’ll be able to put food on the table?

I spoke to one friend who suggested he wasn’t necessarily happy in his career, but taking a risk to focus on his passion with a mortgage and kids at home wasn’t going to happen.

That’s fair and I think one of the main reasons most people get stuck in a “job.” A job is certainly the safer route in life especially when the mortgage bills don’t stop and your kids need to eat.

I spoke to another friend who suggested that maybe with Gary the “wine” isn’t so much the passion as opposed to the feeling of living a life so deeply  “into something.” Maybe deep down that’s what we’re all searching for?

I’m not sure.  I’ve certainly got more questions and tomorrow I’m heading up to Toronto to see the man himself.

Gary is first giving a talk at the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management and then doing a tasting and taping of WineLibrary.tv with WineryToHome.com

I’ll be attending both and somehow hoping to  snag Gary for 10 minutes or so of face time. We’ll see….

Do you know your passion and if so are you living it?

Gary did respond to my email rather quickly.
He  said “Dude, this email means the world to me. I wrote “Crush It” for someone just like you…someone making cash but knowing there is way more.“

An Opportunity of a Lifetime – Work With Seth Godin.

December 3, 2008 in Business, Career & Work, Entrepreneurship with 2 Comments

I’m a big Seth Godin fan.

Years back I emailed Seth after reading a blog post of his and he actually replied, with a pretty awesome and in-depth answer. I can’t remember now what the question or email was about but I do remember him actually replying and that struck me as pretty cool. EDIT: I vaguely remember the email exchange was something about mustard and the branding of yellow mustard….

I’ve emailed other people I’ve respected, studied and learned from over the years but only two ever replied personally, Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki.

I’ve read most of Seth’s books but I haven’t read Tribes yet. I’ll be doing that over the Holidays.

Today however I saw some twittering going on about a pretty unique opportunity posted by Seth Godin. I’d be willing to say this is truly an opportunity of a lifetime for the chosen ones.

Seth has decided to offer the chance for some very lucky people to come work alongside him for the next six months in New York City.

Seth is calling it the Alternative MBA and frankly, this to me sounds a whole lot better than a real MBA. Did I mention it’s Free?

I’m not going to go on and on with details because I think you should read it for yourself. I also think this is the perfect opportunity for any entrepreneur. I can’t think of anything more worth a little time over the next ten days then applying for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Me? Applying? I wish. Sadly I don’t think my wife will take to well to me leaving for 6 months to live in New York City.

Honey, I’m moving to New York City to work with a fellow named Seth Godin.

Who??? Who’s Seth Godin?

You know that funny looking purple cow book on my bookshelf. Ya….. That guy…

I do all the cooking at our house. She’d be lost without me.

Check out this AMAZING opportunity HERE.

Let me know if you’re applying or if you have any creative ways to talk your spouse into allowing you to take on this opportunity!!

Noah

Sniff out the biggest bucks…

September 14, 2006 in Business, Career & Work, Misc, Success with 0 Comments

I was reading this morning at 5:45 AM and I read something interesting in a book called “Ballsy” by Karen Salmansohn. It’s a great little book and worth picking up. The book is filled with tons of great little motivational tips on business and life.

She writes for tip # 22..

“Work smarter hours, not longer hours. Sniff out the biggest bucks and aim yourself in that direction.

For example, if you’re  a writer keep in mind that a magazine articles quickly becomes vapor.

But a book can sell forever. And forever makes a lot more money than vapor.

In summary: stay determined not to waste your time on lesser money projects. Aim yourself where the biggest bucks are.”
How true this is! And it’s the same with selling products or services online. Sure you could spend time setting up websites for $300 bucks…. Or you could spend more time developing amazing websites, working with freelancers (much of the time not even doing the grunt work), tweaking copy, adding new features and make $999 bucks for that same website.

It’s the same principle! Point yourself in that direction and charge at it full steam ahead.

Cheers!

Business Lessons: How being a procrastinator can help you achieve success

May 26, 2006 in Career & Work, Entrepreneurship, Misc, Time & Money with 2 Comments

Today’s post stems from some thoughts I’ve been having over the past few days. This past week, I just couldn’t stay focused on the task at hand. Sure, I got some great blog posts done and yes I created some special offers for my email list, but  all week I procrastinated the tasks I actually needed to get done.

What I began to realize was that I was actually procrastinating in a way that was helping me achieve my business goals, even though I knew I was procrastinating. And the more I thought about it, I found that procrastination in this sense could actually be advantageous to the task at hand.

What does it mean to procrastinate? According to my handy F11 Mac Widget Dictionary, it means to “postpone or delay action.” Fair enough! During the past week, each morning when I woke up I would think about my day and create my list of 8 things to get done. I found myself avoiding the list of 8 things to-do. Instead, I began to do other things and find ways to avoid my to-do list.

As the week progressed I began to notice something about the issue that was currently plaguing me, and is one that constantly plagues entrepreneurs around the globe. Although I was procrastinating, I was constantly finding other and possibly more exciting things to do. But most importantly, I was always working! I can’t find one time where I procrastinated to do nothing productive. Well, OK that’s not entirely true! I forgot to mention the little jam session I had with my fender.

So if you’re not feeling like working on the task at hand, don’t procrastinate and sit in front of the TV all day, find a way to procrastinate productively. I found that by programming myself to procrastinate in a productive way, I could actually get quite a bit done. So if you find yourself procrastinating from doing your regular entrepreneurial tasks, find a new project to work on but keep working. I find that this is one of the greatest parts about being an entrepreneur, the chance to be working on various projects at one time and the ability to procrastinate successfully!

Chances are that if you’re reading this you’re procrastinating right now!

[tags] procrastination, procrastinating, time, wasting time, entrepreneurship, home business [/tags]

Why you shouldn’t start your own business!

May 17, 2006 in Business, Career & Work, E-Commerce, Entrepreneurship, Misc, Success, Time & Money with 14 Comments

Why you shouldn’t start your own business!

After all, over 90% of businesses fail so chances are if you’re reading this and pondering with the thought of starting your own business the statistics are in your favor that you will fail.

As I researched today’s post, I started with the best search query my brain could conjure up. The search term I came up with was “90% of businesses fail” The reason I chose this search query was because I had heard it so many times. You hear it from your friends when you tell them your ideas, your family members, your co-workers and, your current employers. They all do there best to reiterate to you that the statistics say you’re destined for failure.

So I hit submit,  and the almighty google gave me 50,700,000 results for “90% of businesses fail” in an astonishing .85 seconds. I quickly glanced at my first result. Sure enough, we find our first result referring us to a study that concludes the reason 90% of businesses fail is because of lack of knowledge and the skills required to properly run a business.

I believe this is utter nonsense, look around and I’m sure we can find some extremely dumb and non-intelligent people running extremely successful businesses. I don’t claim to be a genius or expert in anything. I only try my best and do whatever I can to achieve success.

There are plenty of other reasons why you shouldn’t start a business. Let me give you a few to make this article even more dismal. Don’t worry, that’s my sarcasm coming through! You’ll have to learn how to read me properly.

The other reasons why you shouldn’t start a business are listed below. I’ll comment on them after writing this list.

  1. You have no money.
  2. You aren’t creative.
  3. You can’t think of a business to start.
  4. You’re scared of failing.
  5. You’re disorganized.
  6. You are in debt up to your knees. Related to post #1
  7. Spouse won’t let you.
  8. You’re too busy.

Having no money is a very common reason why many people shouldn’t start a business. After all, I’ll be the first to tell you that if you have thousands of dollars in credit card debt or other bad debs (mortgages are good debt) than these may actually truly be good reasons NOT to start a business at this moment. And if you aren’t creative, or you can’t even think of a business to start then really, what’s the point? Besides the mess in your office, the piled up credit card bills, your nagging wife,  your 9-5 job, and the mounting self doubt what else could possibly be a reason not to start a business?

Oh yeah! I almost forgot, remember what we started with? Over 90% of businesses fail! So the stats say you’re screwed. What’s the point?

Many other writers, friends, family, co-workers and current employers would end the article right here. Your chances of success are pretty much none, zip, nada, goodbye. So why continue with this post?

Well because, I have something to tell you…. They are all wrong.

IN FACT, Your odds of becoming successful on your own terms are actually much better than you think. I’m not kidding. Sure things may be tough, but it’s more than possible to be wildly successful. Let me try and show you how.

Right off the bat, forget the 90% of businesses failing statistic.

Its garbage, its a sham, its hogwash, its jealously, but mostly its fear!

The majority of the times you hear this statement from other writers, friends, family, co-workers and current employers what you’re actually hearing is the sound of fear. I’m not kidding!

As funny as it sounds, most people including other writers, friends, family, co-workers and current employers are scared or jealous that you might actually make it! They are afraid that while you go on with a much greater chance of creating and controlling your own destiny, their own destiny will be created by an employer. So next time you are told the awful statistic when you tell someone you’re going to start your own business, look them strait in the eye and conjure up the biggest, saddest puppy dog eyes you can make and say “well I guess thats the chance I’ll have to take.”

Don’t break eye contact, be strong, and with your nose sniff like a dog. Then you’ll know what fear smells like. It’s their fear.

What about the rest of the reasons why you shouldn’t start your own business?

Well, they are all plausible and valid reasons. You may just have to rethink your strategy because they can all be overcome.

For example, if you have no money and are in debt up to your ears then it may not be wise to invest in a heavy capital intensive business from the gecko.

For example, if you’re heavily in debt but have a dream to start your own magazine, it may be wise to start online before investing 100k in a printing press. If you’re looking for the greatest opportunity for the lowest bang for your buck then I suggest starting a web business. This could be as simple as selling junk on eBay. In fact, if you haven’t tried selling on eBay you really should!

Just grab some junk from the garage, snap a photo and put it on eBay. I bet you’ll sell it. I’ve watched my father sell pieces of scrap metal. Yes, scrap metal. It’s hilarious and millions of people are making it huge every day on eBay selling the most bizarre items.

Would if you aren’t creative and can’t think of a business to start? C’mon! This is just a lame excuse! Start anything then!

We ALL have something we like. Start a blog about Gardening if you love gardening, put some Google Adsense on there and just write! Don’t worry about Search Engine Optimization or traffic for a while! Just forget about it and write. I can almost guarantee you’ll start to see some clicks here and there.

Don’t get caught up in the hoopla of trying to make millions of your website the first week. Just write good content. If you build it, they will come. This has never been more true than on the web. Except you can’t just build a field, forget about it and expect them to come. You’ve got to make an extraordinary field! Surrond it with corn stalks, build stands, install a scoreboard, hire popcorn vendors, get the best dirt you can find, and make it  a little better every day.

If you’re totally disorganized, starting a business can be the perfect way to teach you organization skills. There are so many unique tools and websites out there these days to help with the basic functions of running a business! They can also help you stay very organized. Even if your desk is a mess, you’ll at least look organized to your customers.

If you run into the situation where your spouse won’t let you start a business, chances are your spouse feels that way for a reason. It’s not that he/she doesnt think you’re smart enough.

For example, you may be asking if you can quit your job and try and start a web business. This is the wrong approach. You need to start your  business in your spare time and spend some time nourishing it, learning and teaching your spouse about what you’re doing. Eventually, you’ll start to make money and soon that money will turn into more money and soon you’re spouse will see the advantages of you running your business full-time.

I never recommend leaving a job, (even though it sucks and you’re miserable) until you have a decent plan and have started your venture on your own time.
I hoped you enjoyed today’s article and it motivated you a bit and showed you all the reasons why you SHOULD start a business.

[tags] success, money, entrepreneur, motivation, blogs, business [/tags]

Welcome to NoahFleming.com Online

May 8, 2006 in Business, Career & Work, E-Commerce, Entrepreneurship, Misc, Success, Technology, Time & Money with 12 Comments

My name is Noah Fleming. I am happily married and live in “beautiful” Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I love my wife, family and extended family. My theory on life, although while nothing groundbreaking, many of us will never put this thinking into action. Life is short so make the best of it. I always look at my parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles and think to myself, we potentially have about 80 years with these people, anywhere from 10-30 years with grandparents. Much of this is assuming we live normal lives that don’t end abruptly for any number of reasons. That being said, I knew very early on in life that I couldn’t spend my days doing something I didn’t absolutely love 250%.

I have been considered an entrepreneur for many years now, I’ve launched various successful small businesses, created websites in a few hours and late sold them as solid profit-making machines for tens of thousands of dollars. I have a strategy of always looking to create various sources of income. I am quite young and for most of my working life, my own personal income has nearly doubled, tripled or quadrupled that in which I made working various jobs. The jobs that made me realize I was bound to be an entrepreneur included things like, paper boy, video store rental clerk, metal stamping  (HELL), brick cleaner (yes, I cleaned mortar off of used bricks), lawn cutter, snow shovel’er, waiter, innkeeper, university teaching assistant, research assistant, catering assistant, non-profit organization communications officer and I’m sure I’ll add to this list when I remember…

Now, I focus primarily on my own businesses and websites. I also place a very strong focus on helping others. I no longer work for anyone except my customers and myself. My goals are simple, to teach as many as I can how they too can make a substantial income online.

I do all this because I believe so strongly with what I said in the first paragraph. I used to work in an office and I lasted 8 months. I can’t imagine anyone has unhappily worked in a position for 10,20,30 years. I just can’t imagine it. Life is too short and these days, opportunities are abundant.

Finally, as my first post concludes which is also the “about me,” I will say this. I don’t ever profess to be a genius at anything or know some mysterious secret about building wealth online. I learned the way we all should, through hard work and many, many, many countless hours up until three or four in the morning striving just to make a dollar or two online. I do however know many things that I plan to share with members of this paid blog.

Anyways, this is NoahFleming.com I hope you like it.

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