I was having a discussion with some people about what I do for a living and again the topic of whether I really work two hours per day came up.
I was interrupted mid sentence when I was about to explain that to make money from my blogs it takes about two hours per day, but I work much more than that, when someone who knows my working habits butted in and gave a good explanation of how I currently work. It went something along the lines of this…
“Yaro works really hard, way more than
two hours per day, but he’s working now so
he doesn’t have work too hard in the future.“
This got me thinking about how I, err, think, when deciding what I do with my time.
I have some basic criteria when it comes to what work I choose to do, they are:
- I have to like the work – that’s a given.
- It has to be flexible and not deadline driven – deadlines make me stressed.
- It has to make good money – I want there to be potential for exponential rewards not tied directly to labor in a linear relationship (i.e. – you don’t get paid based on how much time you put in). What I consider to be “good money” increases based on what I have earned in the past.
- It has to be something that has a beneficial exit strategy – either a nice profit from a sale, or I can leave the role when I no longer want to do it by putting other people or systems in my place and still make good money.
Building On Previous Results
Once you start down a path, and you enjoy some success, you usually don’t change paths because with most things there is a learning curve and a period where you have to pay your dues.
Internet marketers and bloggers know this well, people who actually make money took months or years to get where they are and they would prefer to build upon what they have already achieved, rather than start something new. That’s precisely why opportunity seekers who jump from one project to the next are usually beginners – they haven’t put in the time yet into any one project to get rewarded, so when something comes along promising instant riches, making the jump is an easier decision.
Often when you look back over a period when you have really stuck to something long enough to realize a result, you start to get faith in the process.
Having faith is quite important, especially if what you are doing right now has a time-delayed reward. If you don’t believe it will happen, then you may not work long enough for it to happen. Like many things in life, experience is usually necessary to create faith, and this holds true for business too.
Do Your Current Activities Lead To Riches Tomorrow?
Ask yourself – will what you are doing today contribute to something that will make money tomorrow without you being there?
This hearkens back to the principles of treading water and swimming forward. Will the tasks you do today impact your business and move you forward, rather than just maintain the status-quo?
A good example is writing to a blog. Each article you publish, in theory, should contribute to the growth of your blog. If you use your blog as an income source, either directly or indirectly, each article you write should take you closer to making money, or if you already do, should help you make more money.
During the early days of blogging for money, you have to faith since you don’t get paid, sometimes for years (but lets hope it’s just months). Eventually though, you build and build and build to the point where each article is compounding your results at a much greater rate than what your first few articles did.
Once you have traffic, thanks to network effects, it’s easier to bring in more traffic, thus make more money. Although each blog article might take you just as long to write, it’s pretty clear that the return on investment you get for publishing an article to a thriving blog is a lot higher than publishing it to a blog nobody reads that has just been launched.
Did I mention you have to pay your dues? 🙂
Blogging today is an activity that can make you money tomorrow, especially if you are working towards building a blog that is profitable without you.
Tim Ferriss would call these activities things you do to create a muse – an income source that grants you time freedom, which is the resource that we are all really after. If what you are doing today won’t translate into or contribute to a muse-like income stream tomorrow (well not exactly tomorrow – but in the future), then why are you doing it?
I Do Work Hard
I admit it, I do work pretty hard, but as I tell people, it’s not really work when I satisfy the four criteria I mentioned above, especially the first point about enjoying what you do.
When you build processes that exponentially magnify your results you can begin to see the real power in true business leverage.
When less work leads to more profits BECAUSE you worked hard previously to build up points of leverage, then you really begin to understand how each daily activity fits in to the big picture. Until you grasp this awareness, you run the risk of spending your days doing things that will not help you reach the point where work is a choice, not a mandatory activity in order to survive.
I hope you come to realize this one day soon if you have not already and more importantly, adjust what you do today so that you work towards building income sources for tomorrow.
Yaro
Leveraging Blog Articles
Yaro,
Thanks for this well written & insightful post full of great advice.
I wonder, what kind of negativity do you encounter from those who really are envious of your freedom based career?
Meg
In someway its also means that if everything is taken away from you, you can rebuild it from scratch with the same success.
I enjoyed reading this post! I’m just a beginner and this really helped me today to keep the faith! Though, it really helps that I’m enjoying my work too!
We are all working hard today to have a better future tomorrow.
Of all the things that I’m grateful from IM, is that I’m no longer has to cope with crazy over-confident deadlines.
That’s freedom.
Yaro, great post as usual. Thanks for the reminders and encouragement to stick with it for the long haul.
Love the post — it’s the overnight success that took years. 😉
I like to think of it as spending part of each day on short term money (income that will come in the next few months), and part of the day on long term money. The short term is selling products I already have to my list, and selling services. The long term is building my list (both my eZine and blog readership) and creating products to be sold later (writing a book, etc.) — may not pay off for years, but when it does, the payoff will be big. And that long term money can grow at expoential rates and be pretty hands-off, because all the work was done ahead of time.
Thanks,
Elizabeth
Yes, it is hard work, but rewarding. This is the first thing I have done that I have actually enjoyed. And your blog really helps me move forward when I get sidetracked into doom and gloom. Thanks for this post.
I believe the element of time is often foolishly dismissed. Great ventures require time to test their worth.
I’m still trying to find the time to finish Tim Ferriss’ book, but it’s funny that you mention his reference to muse….my blog is called entrepreMusings. 🙂
The entrepreMuse
Enjoying what you do for a living is a big key. Also is the opportunity to advance and challenge yourself in the workplace.
I’m currently enjoying my very first week of freedom having quit my day job last week. This is the key difference between trading your time for cash, which does absolutely nothing to enchance your future, vs building residual income streams.
In my business I have several projects on the go, some of which should earn money in the short term, and others which may prove profitable later on down the line. I always want to have a strategy both to keep things ticking over right now, and for enhancing my future.
Hi
This is my first time to visit your blog and I enjoyed reading your post. Those are well written advices.
I started blogging just 2 months ago and I hoping that I could actually earn from it. I know I have a lot of things to do to make sure that what I do now will eventually help me in the future.
I have to agree with you that you have to love what you’re doing because it really makes the whole process a lot easy.
Yes, it is true that hardworking will contribute to your future rewarding. However, it is not easy for many people. I want to be success too !
I totally agree, timing is everything in the business world. The combination of that and a quality product or service is what makes you money.
Meg – So far I haven’t really hit any negativity, but I do try and surround myself with positive people. They may not always be happy with what they do for a living, but they are not going to be negative towards me as a result – usually curious is the typical response.
Yaro,
This is probably the best article you wrote so far, and an honest one. I always thought it takes much more time than 2 hours a day to create good value, at least in the beggining. If that was the case web would thrive with multitude of milionaire bloggers, what so far does not happen.
And a fantastic insight in your 4 rules. I always had same ones, but never really called them out, and now there they are.