Transcript for:
Lecture Notes: The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris

welcome fellow book enthusiasts to the captivating realm of reader mind the YouTube channel that unravels the essence of books without compromising their true Essence today I'll tell you all about a book called The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris it's about changing your life completely whether you dream of traveling the world making a lot of money without working too much or just having more free time this book shows you how it teaches you how to increase your income hire virtual assistance from other countries to help you for a low price and have the freedom to do what you want let's get started with the summary first and foremost is lifestyle design right for you it probably is let's address some common concerns before you dive into this new Rich lifestyle one do I have to quit my job or hate it no not at all there are ways to tweak your current job like learning how to efficiently manage your time or even starting a side business that fits your comfort level two do I need to take big risks nope you can take small steps towards your goals without diving into risky Ventures three do I have to be young and single absolutely not this lifestyle is for anyone tired of waiting to enjoy life from young people living it up with fancy cars to single parents traveling with their kids there's room for everyone four do do I have to travel while travel is an option it's not a requirement the goal is to have the freedom to choose how you spend your time five do I need to be born rich or attend a top university no way many successful people in this lifestyle come from Modest backgrounds or didn't attend prestigious schools this book shows you alternatives to the traditional path of endless work and stress my story and why you need this book my Palms were sweaty again I looked down at the floor to avoid the bright lights above me even though people said I was one of the best in the world I couldn't believe it my partner Alicia and I were standing in line with nine other couples picked from over 1,000 competitors from all over the world it was the final day of the Tango World Championship semi-finals the other couples had been dancing together for an average of 15 years for us it was the result of 5 months of practicing non stop for 6 hours a day finally it was our turn to perform in front of the judges cameras and cheering crowds Alicia who was a professional dancer asked me how I was feeling in her distinct Argentine Spanish I feel great let's just focus on the music and forget about the crowd I said trying to sound confident but that wasn't entirely true it was hard to believe that there were 50,000 people in La rural the biggest exhibition Hall in bu Iris the thick Haze of cigarette smoke made it difficult to see the huge crowd except for the small space in the Middle where we were supposed to dance I adjusted my suit nervously trying to calm my nerves are you nervous Alicia asked no I'm excited I'm just going to have fun and see what happens I replied number 152 you're up the chaperon called out and it was our turn to perform as we stepped onto the stage I whis whispered a joke to Alicia to lighten the mood she laughed and for a moment I forgot about everything else but then I wondered what would I be doing right now if I hadn't left my job and the us over a year ago the announcer's voice interrupted my thoughts as he introduced us to the crowd we were on and I couldn't help but smile people often ask me what I do and these days it's a hard question to answer depending on where I am and when you ask I might be rais ing motorcycles in Europe scuba diving in Panama relaxing on a beach in Thailand or dancing Tango in Buenos Iris the truth is I'm not a multimillionaire and I don't really want to be one I used to find it difficult to answer this question because it seemed like my job to find who I was but now I simply joke that I'm a drug dealer which usually ends the conversation but that's only half true the reality is much more complicated I've discovered a group of grp of people called the new Rich who live life differently the new rich don't follow the traditional path of working hard for decades to enjoy life later instead they create luxurious Lifestyles Now using time and freedom as currency this LIF style design is both an art and a science I've spent the last few years learning from these people and experiencing things I never thought possible and now I'm going to share their secrets with you life doesn't have to be hard and you you don't have to wait until retirement to enjoy it with the right mindset and approach you can live your dream life now it all starts with understanding what you really want out of life most people don't want to be millionaires they want the freedom and experiences that they think only millionaires can afford but there are ways to achieve that lifestyle without having a million dollars in the bank in this book I'll show you how I separated income from time and created my ideal lifestyle I'll share my journey from working long hours for little pay to enjoying the best that life has to offer while working just a few hours a week it All Began in a class of future investment bankers where I questioned the traditional notion of success and happiness so if you're tired of the traditional 9to 5 grind and want to live life on your own terms this book is for you I'll give you the tools you need to design the life you've always wanted starting now what if you couldn't retire what if you could take a break from work to enjoy life before waiting 40 years for retirement do you really have to work like crazy to live a luxurious life these questions led me on an Unexpected Journey I realized that the rules were taught to follow in the real world aren't always as solid as they seem this book will show you how to see and take advantage of opportunities others Miss what makes this book different first I won't dwell on the problem I'll assume your feeling short of on time stressed or stuck in a job that doesn't fulfill you second I won't tell you to save every penny for a distant future I believe you can enjoy life now while still securing your financial future third I won't focus on finding your dream job instead I'll show you how to have more free time and automate your income I start each lesson by stressing The Importance of Being a dealmaker this means understanding that reality is negotiable and you can bend the rulle without being unethical the deal method is the key to becoming a member of the new Rich it works whether you're an employee or an entrepreneur you might not be able to do everything I've done with a boss but you can use the same principles to improve your income work fewer hours or take more vacation time here's the step-by-step process you will follow to transform your life D for definition this section introduces the rules of the new game and explains concept conepts like relative wealth and stress it lays out the fundamentals of Lifestyle design e for elimination forget traditional time management techniques learn how to maximize your results in minimal time and ignore distractions this section gives you the gift of time for automation put your income on autopilot using strategies like Outsourcing and Geographic Arbitrage this section gives you the power to generate income without constant effort L for Liberation discover the freedom of many retirements and how to work remotely this section gives you the ability to live and work anywhere in the world if you're staying in your current job focus on creating location Freedom before cutting your work hours even if you've never considered being an entrepreneur this process will turn you into one in the truest sense of the word some of my suggestions may seem impossible or go against common sense but I encourage you to test them out and see where they lead once you do you'll never look back so take a deep breath and let me show you my world and remember to stay calm it's time to have fun and let the rest follow Tim Ferris chronology of a pathology this book will teach you the exact principles I've used to achieve the following guest lecturer in high-tech entrepreneurship at Princeton University first American to hold a Guinness world world record in Tango adviser to over 30 world record holders in sports named greatest self-promoter of 2008 by Wired Magazine National Chinese kickboxing champion horseback archer in Japan researcher and activist for political Asylum MTV break dancer in Taiwan competitor in hurling in Ireland actor in a hit TV series in China and Hong Kong but my journey to this point wasn't always glamorous born 6 weeks premature with a low chance of survival in 1977 struggled with learning the alphabet in kindergarten in 1983 fired from my first job at an ice cream parlor after 3 days in 1991 volunteered for an exchange program in Japan in 1993 and experienced culture shock managed to get into Princeton despite low SAT scores in 1996 created an Audi book in 1997 that didn't sell started a speed reading seminar at Princeton in 1998 and sold out spots but got bored and closed it quit school temporarily in 1998 due to a thesis dispute and fear of becoming an investment banker took on various jobs and challenges including winning the national kickboxing championship in 1999 returned to Princeton in 2000 and graduated then struggled to find a job in California worked in sales at a tech company in 2001 but didn't enjoy it started my own Sports Nutrition Company in 2001 and eventually made good money but worked long hours and became unhappy took a break and traveled to Europe in 2004 which led to insights about work life balance and lifestyle design returned to the US in 2006 with a new perspective on life and work through all these experiences I've learned valuable lessons about success happiness and living life on your own terms this book will share those lessons with you step i d is for definition part one cautions and comparisons how to burn dollar 1000,000 a night it was 1 hour in the morning high above Las Vegas and everyone else in first class was passed out drunk just me and Mark were awake he reached out to shake my hand and I couldn't miss the gigantic diamond ring on his finger Mark was a big shot involved in gas stations stores and gambling in South Carolina he casually mentioned that on a typical trip to Las Vegas he and his Pals could lose between1 500,000 to1 1000,000 each impressive right as we chatted I asked him which of his businesses he enjoyed the most without hesitation he said none of them he had spent over 30 years working with people he didn't like buying stuff he did didn't really need his life was full of flashy things like fancy cars and trophy wives but it all felt empty Mark felt like he was just going through the motions like he was one of the Living Dead that's exactly where none of us want to end up apples and oranges a comparison so what's the difference between the new Rich who have lots of choices and the defer who save everything for later only to realize they've missed out on life it all starts with their goals which show their priorities and life philosophies for example defers want to work for themselves while the new Rich want others to work for them defers aim to work whenever they want while the new Rich aim to do as little work as possible for the best results defer hope to retire early but the new Rich prefer to take breaks and go on adventures regularly throughout their lives defers focus on buying everything they want but the new Rich Focus on doing everything they want and becoming who they want to be defers want to be in charge but the new Rich prefer to be owners and have others handle the day-to-day tasks defers aim to make a lot of money without clear reasons while the new Rich set specific goals and steps to achieve them defer want more things while the new Rich prefer quality over quantity and less clutter defer look forward to a big payday while the new Rich focus on consist cash flow both want freedom from doing things they dislike but the new Rich also want the freedom to pursue their dreams without getting stuck in meaningless work so instead of just avoiding the bad stuff the new Rich actively seek out the best experiences and pursue their passions getting off the wrong train enough is enough we're not following the crowd anymore chasing money blindly is a waste of time I've done some amazing things like flying over the Andes in private PLS skiing on topnotch slopes and living luxuriously by private pools and guess what it all costs less than renting a place in the US when you have control over your time and location your money goes much further it's not about currency rates being rich and living like a millionaire are different money becomes more valuable when you control what you do when you do it where you do it and who you do it with I call this the the freedom multiplier let's compare an investment banker working crazy hours for big bucks isn't as powerful as someone working a fraction of the time for less money but has total freedom when we look at their Lifestyles the Banker's big salary might be worth less than the other person's smaller one having options the ability to choose is true power this book is all about showing you how to create those options with less effort and cost and here's the the kicker you can actually make more money by doing less than you are right now so who are the NR here are some examples an employee who changes his work schedule and arranges to work remotely achieving 90% of his usual results in just one tenth of the time this frees him up to spend time with his family going on CrossCountry skiing trips and road trips for 2 weeks every month a business owner who gets rid of her least profitable customers and projects outsources all of her operations and travels around the world collecting rare documents she does all of this while working remotely on a website to Showcase her own illustrations a student who takes a big risk to start an online video rental service for blu-ray enthusiasts even though it's just a 2hour per week side project it brings in1 5,000 per month this allows him to work full-time as an animal rights lobbyist the possib abilities are endless but they all start with the same First Step challenging assumptions to join this movement you'll need to learn a new way of thinking and adjust your direction using a compass tailored for this unusual World from shifting responsibilities to rethinking what it means to be successful we need to rewrite the rules new players for a new game Global and unrestricted in Terin Italy Dale beg Smith made history by winning a gold medal in mogul skiing at the Winter Olympics unlike other athletes Dale didn't have to worry about going back to a boring job after his win at just 21 years old he was already driving a fancy black Lamborghini Dale wasn't just a talented skier he was also a successful businessman he started an IT company with his brother Jason when he was just 13 years old the company was created to support their dream of becoming Olympic Champions surprised L within 2 years it became one of the biggest companies of its kind in the world while his teammates were busy practicing on the slopes Dale was often traveling for his business some coaches thought he was spending too much time on his business instead of training but Dale didn't want to choose between skiing and his business instead he found a way to balance both in 2002 Dale and his brother moved to Australia where the skiing team was smaller and more flexible 3 years later Dale became an Australian Citizen and won a gold medal at the Olympics since then Dale has become famous even having his face on postage stamps his story shows that there are always other options besides the ones people expect in new calonia Julie and Mark sold their sailboat after sailing 15,000 miles around the world their goal wasn't just to make money it was to come back with the same number of children they had left with their Journey which cost less than living in Paris was a dream they had put off for years but Julie realized that if they didn't do it now they might never do it so they spent a year preparing and then set sail with their three boys traveling with children wasn't easy but it taught them patience and brought them closer together as a family now Julie is already thinking about their next adventure skiing in the mountains all year round funded by a sale rigging Workshop once you've done something like this once you can't wait to do it again lifestyle design in action I was tired of rushing across town to pick up my son from daycare only to struggle driving back to work on icy roads with him so I decided to take a break from work and went on a mini retirement with him we moved to an alternative boarding school in a beautiful forest in Florida where there were other Creative Kids and staff the school had a pond and lots of Sunshine if you're interested you can look for similar schools that might accept your children too these alternative schools are often like supportive communities and are very welcoming you might even find a job opportunity at one of these schools where you can experience a new environment with your child Deb Tim your book and blog have motivated me to quit my job write two ebooks go skydiving backpack through South America sell all the unnecessary stuff in my life and organize an annual convention for the world's top dating instructors which is now in its third year and guess what I'm not even old enough to buy a drink yet thank you so much buddy Anthony part two rules that change the rules everything popular is wrong I can't promise you a guaranteed way to succeed but I can tell you a guaranteed way to fail by trying to make everyone happy all the time Herbert Bayard Swope American editor and journalist first person to receive the Pitzer prize everything that's widely liked or accepted is often incorrect Oscar wilda The Importance of Being Earnest beating the game not playing the game in 1999 after quitting my second dissatisfying job and feeling down I surprisingly won the gold medal at the Chinese kickboxing Sanu national championships I didn't win because I was a great fighter far from it it was more like a there and I only had 4 weeks to prepare plus my head is quite big making it an easy target I won by finding two opportunities others missed one weighin were the day before the fights using tricks to lose water weight I dropped 28 lbs in 18 hours weighed and lighter and then quickly regained the weight it made it tough for opponents from lighter weight classes to fight me two there was a rule that if someone fell off the El elevated platform three times in one round they'd lose so I made pushing people off my main strategy it wasn't the most popular move with the judges but it worked I won all my fights this way and became National Champion something most Fighters with years of experience hadn't done some might say pushing people out of the ring is unfair but it's all about working within the rules not breaking them take the example of Dick Fosbury who introduced The fosberry Flop technique in high jumping at the 1968 Olympics it was different from the usual way but within the rules and it changed the sport the techniques I used are now common in Sandu competitions I didn't start a trend I just saw it coming and acted on it the same applies to life things change when we challenge old ideas and try new approaches challenging the status quo vs being stupid most people walk down the street using their legs do I walk down the street on my hands no I usually don't I also don't wear my underwear outside of my pants just to stand out walking on my legs and keeping my underwear hidden has been working fine for me if it's not broken why fix it being different is only better when it's more effective or more fun when everyone's approach to a problem isn't working well that's the time to think differently don't stick to a plan that isn't giving good results it's like having a bad recipe no matter how good you are at cooking it won't taste good for example when I was in sales I noticed that most of my cold calls weren't getting through because of Gatekeepers so I changed my strategy instead of calling all day I made my calls only during specific times when The Gatekeepers weren't around this helped me book more meetings in less time compared to others who called all day no matter where you are in the world whether you're a single mom traveling the globe or a rich race car driver the basic rules for Success are pretty similar they're different from what most people are doing these rules are what we'll focus on in this book one retirement is worst case scenario Insurance retirement planning is like having insurance for the worst case scenario in life it's there to help you if you become unable to work and need money to survive but thinking of retirement as your ultimate goal has some big laws one it assumes that you don't like what you're doing while you're still physically capable sacrificing your enjoyment for years just to retire later doesn't make sense two for many people even saving a lot of money might not be enough to live comfortably when they retire with inflation reducing the value of money over time even a million dollars might not last for a long retirement three if you do manage to save enough for retirement you you might find yourself feeling bored and unfulfilled once you stop working you might end up wanting to go back to work or start something new which defeats the purpose of waiting to retire it's important to plan for the worst case scenario but don't think of retirement as the ultimate goal save money for it but also focus on enjoying your life and work in the present two interest and energy are cyclical think about it this way if someone offered you a ton of money to to work non-stop for 15 years without a break would you do it probably not it's just not sustainable but that's what many people do with their careers they work crazy hours until they're burnt out or have enough money to retire ever noticed how some of your friends seem to age way faster than they should it's because they're working too hard and not taking care of themselves taking breaks and resting is super important for staying healthy and happy your energy and interest in things go up and down over time so it's important to plan your life around that instead of waiting until you're old to enjoy life the new Rich NR take many retirements throughout life they work hard when they're at their best and take breaks to travel or learn new things it's like having The Best of Both Worlds being productive and enjoying life for example I like to work for a couple of months and then take a month off to travel or learn something new three less is is not laziness doing less pointless work to focus on what really matters to you isn't laziness it's actually smart but many people struggle with this idea because our society Praises sacrificing personal time for work a lot of folks don't really measure how effective their work is so they just equate more time spent working with being more valuable but the new Rich andr are different even though they spend less time working they achieve way more meaningful results than others who work long hours instead of seeing laziness as just sitting around doing nothing let's see it differently laziness could mean living a life that's not what you really want letting others control your life or just going through the motions Without Really living and no amount of money or time spent on unimportant stuff can change that so focus on being productive not just busy it's about making the most out of your time and energy four the timing is never right deciding when to do important things like having a baby or making big changes in your life is never easy my mom once told me that when she had me she didn't wait for the perfect time because there never is one and she's right for all the big stuff there's never a perfect moment waiting for everything to be just right before making a move is like waiting for all the traffic lights to turn green at once it rarely happens life doesn't set up everything perfectly ly for you putting things off with someday is like a disease that stops you from Reaching Your Dreams making lists of pros and cons isn't much better if something's important to you and you keep saying I'll do it eventually it's better to just go for it you can figure out the details as you go along five ask for forgiveness not permission if what your planning won't seriously hurt others go ahead and do it without waiting for permission sometimes times people like parents Partners or bosses might say no because they're unsure or afraid but once you've done it and they see it's not so bad they might accept it if the potential harm isn't too bad and can be fixed don't give people the chance to say no upfront many people will try to stop you before you even start but they might not interfere once you're already moving learn to take a little risk and apologize if things go wrong six emphasize strengths don't fix weaknesses most people are really good at a few things but not so great at most others for example I'm really good at creating products and marketing them but I'm not so good at many other tasks for a long time I ignored this fact I tried swimming and looked silly and basketball made me seem clumsy but when I started fighting I excelled instead of trying to fix all the things we're not good at it's better to focus on what we're already good at that it's more profitable and enjoyable to use our strengths to get better results rather than spending all our time fixing our weaknesses which might only make us average at best so focus on making the most of what you're already good at seven things in excess become their opposite having too much of a good thing can turn it into a bad thing when you have an excess of something it often takes on the opposite characteristics for example people who promote peace might become aggressive those who Fighting For Freedom can become oppressive what was once a blessing can feel like a curse even help can start to hurt and having more might lead to having less having too much of what you desire can sometimes lead to undesired outcomes this applies not just to possessions but also to time lifestyle design isn't about having lots of free time doing nothing which can be harmful but about using your free time in a positive and fulfilling way doing what you want instead of what you feel you have to do eight money alone is not the solution having more money isn't always the solution to our problems even though we might wish it were often we use the idea of needing more money as an excuse to avoid facing the real issues in our lives instead of taking the time to figure out what truly makes us happy and fulfilled we bury ourselves in work and convince ourselves that money will fix everything we get caught caught up in the routine of making money using it as a distraction from facing the deeper questions about our lives we tell ourselves we're too busy with work to think about what really matters but deep down we know that this mindset is Just an Illusion money alone can't solve all our problems nine relative income is more important than absolute income let's break down income like a fifth grade math problem imagine two people chap a and chap B are walking towards each other Chapa Works 80 hours a week while chap B only works 10 hours a week both make $150,000 a year who will be richer when they meet if you guess chap B you're right this shows the difference between absolute and relative income absolute income looks only at the raw dollar amount earned for example Jane makes $100,000 a year while Jon makes $150,000 so Jane seems twice as Rich right but relative income considers both money and time Jane Works 80 hours a week and earns about $125 per hour meanwhile Jon Works only 10 hours a week and earns about100 per hour in relative income Jon is actually four times richer however relative income needs to cover all your needs if someone makes a lot per hour but works very few hours it might be hard for them to afford their dreams so while Absolut income sets a minimum relative income shows how wealthy someone truly is the top new Rich earners make at least dollar 5,000 per hour starting out I made around1 five per hour I'll show you how to move closer to the big earners 10 distress is bad ustus is good not all stress is bad the new Rich understand this well there are two kinds of stress distress and ustus distress is the bad kind of stress it weakens you makes you less confident and less capable it's like when someone criticizes you in a hurtful way or when you have a mean boss or when you hurt yourself but there's also ustus which is the good kind of stress you might not have heard of it before the EU part comes from Greek and means healthy like in the word Euphoria ustus is the kind of stress that helps you grow it's like when you have someone who inspires you to do better or or when you exercise to get in shape or when you take risks to expand your comfort zone avoiding all criticism isn't a good idea we need some feedback to improve what we should avoid is harmful criticism not all criticism and just like that progress doesn't happen without some good stress the more healthy stress we have in our lives the quicker we can achieve our goals the key is knowing the difference between distress and ustus the new Rich are good at getting rid of bad stress and finding ways to bring in the good stress Q and A questions and actions one how has being practical or sensible stopped you from getting the life you desire two how has following the expected path led to disappointing outcomes or made you wish you did something different three take a look at your current actions and wonder what if I did the opposite of everyone else what will I miss out on if I keep going like this for five 10 or 20 years part three dodging bullets fear setting and escaping paralysis 20 ft away and getting closer run run Hans didn't understand Portuguese but he knew what the Urgent shouts meant move fast his sneakers gripped tightly on the rough rocks as he sprinted towards the edge facing a sheer drop of 3,000 feet with his heart pounding Hans took the final step feeling a surge of panic but then something incredible happened he felt himself lifted by a warm-up draft and suddenly he was soaring below him lay the stunning green rainforest and pristine white beaches of Copacabana fear was replaced by awe as he floated through the boundless blue sky that was Sunday on Monday Hans returned to his Law Office in Century City Los Angeles feeling a profound change within him for years he had dreaded the thought of spending decades ades trapped in the same routine he had even slept under his desk after exhausting nights working on projects promising himself he'd leave after two more instances like that now after his life-altering experience in Brazil Hans knew he couldn't go back despite his colleagues disbelief and warnings about throwing away a promising career he handed in his resignation no more Soul crushing days pretending to care about luxury cars and corporate success instead Hans started Nexus surf a surf Adventure company in Brazil he found love and fulfillment spending his days surfing and sharing the joy of the waves with others he realized that taking risks wasn't as terrifying as he once thought and he felt a newfound peace within himself over a year later Hans still received job offers but he was content with his new life he saw his old self reflected in the stressed out professionals he took surfing but he knew they could change too if they dared to as they returned to shore after an exhilarating session his clients often expressed a desire to follow his path but felt trapped by their fears of leaving their comfort zones Hans laughed knowing that he had once felt the same way but now he understood that it wasn't giving up to pursue a different path he had found his true calling and he wouldn't trade it for anything the power of pessimism defining the nightmare M to do or not to do to give it a try or stay put many people will say no even if they think they're Brave not knowing what will happen and the chance of failing can be really scary most people would rather be unhappy than face uncertainty for years I set goals and made plans to change my life but nothing ever happened I felt just as scared and unsure as everyone else then about 4 years ago something clicked for me at that time I had a lot of money I was making about $170,000 a month but I was miserable I was working all the time and even though I had started my own company I realized I couldn't sell it oops I felt stuck and dumb I kept thinking I should be able to figure this out why am I such an idiot why can't I make this work but the truth was nothing was wrong with me my business idea wasn't working out even if I hired the best people or used the smartest technology my business still wouldn't succeed it was like a car with serious problems from the start so I had to figure out how to fix it or get out of it how could I stop working so much and worrying that everything would fall apart without me how could I break free from this trap I made for myself I decided to take a trip a whole year traveling around the world but did I actually take the trip well not right away first I spent 6 months feeling bad about myself myself and thinking about all the reasons why my trip idea was dumb it wasn't a very productive time then one day while I was busy imagining all the terrible things that could happen if I took the trip I had a brilliant idea I thought why don't I figure out the absolute worst things that could happen because of my trip maybe my business would fail while I was away maybe I'd get sued because of some legal mistake maybe everything I owned would be stolen or destroyed life seemed pretty awful in my imagination conquering fear equals defining fear then something strange happened in my attempt to make myself really unhappy I accidentally started to think differently once I figured out exactly what my worst case scenario would be if I took the trip I wasn't as scared anymore suddenly I started thinking about simple things I could do to deal with any problems that came up I could get a temporary job as a bartender to pay the bills if if I needed to I could sell some stuff and cut back on spending money I could even joke about silly ideas like stealing lunch money from kids though of course I would never do that I realized that none of these things would ruin my life they'd just be small bumps along the way on a scale from 1 to 10 with one being no big deal and 10 being a huge life-changing disaster my worst case scenario might have been a temporary three or four I think most people would find the same same thing if they really thought about it but if I achieved my best case scenario or even just a likely good outcome it would be a permanent N9 or 10 a huge positive change in my life so I was risking a small unlikely problem for a big likely positive outcome and if things didn't work out I could always go back to my old way of life without much trouble that's when I decided to take the trip I bought a one-way ticket to Europe and started planning my Adventures but you know what none of my worst case scenarios came true in fact things went better than I ever imagined my business did great without me and I had the time of my life traveling the world for 15 months it was like a fairy tale uncovering fear disguised as optimism fear comes in different disguises and we often don't want to admit we're scared instead we dress it up as something more acceptable optimistic denial many people who are happy with their jobs convince themselves that things will get better eventually it's a comforting thought especially if the job isn't terrible just boring but real misery forces us to take action whereas we can tolerate less severe situations by convincing ourselves it's not that bad so ask yourself honestly do you really believe things will get better or are you just avoiding facing the unknown if you truly believed in Improvement you wouldn't be questioning things so much this optimism might actually be fear in Disguise think about it have things been getting better for you lately if not they're not likely to change on their own if you're just fooling yourself it's time to stop and make a plan to change things your life is long especially if you're stuck in a job you don't like for the next 40 to 50 years that's a lot of months to spend feeling unhappy so how much longer do you want to keep going like this it might be time to cut your losses and make a change someone call the Mater D sometimes timing works out perfectly like when you're searching for a parking spot and just as you approach a crowded lot someone pulls out right in front of you making it feel like a Christmas miracle other times timing is just plain bad imagine you're in the middle of something intimate and then the phone rings seeming to go on forever then to make matters worse the up Sky arrives just 10 minutes later it can really ruin the moment genan Mark hakei decided to volunteer in West Africa hoping to help out in away his timing seemed great he arrived in Ghana in the early 1980s but unfortunately he landed right in the middle of a coup datat during a time of hyperinflation and in the midst of the worst drought in a decade for most people that timing would be considered pretty terrible especially from a survival standpoint to make things worse he hadn't gotten the memo about the changes in the country there were shortages of basic necessities like bread and clean water instead he had to survive on a slushy mix of cornmeal and spinach for 4 months definitely not what you'd want to order at the movies wow I can survive once Jean Mark got used to eating the same mush for breakfast lunch and dinner in Ghana he realized something important despite the simple food and tough conditions he didn't want to leave he learned that having good friends and basic necessities was all he really needed what seemed like a disaster turned into a life-changing realization things aren't as bad as they seem to be happy you don't need fancy stuff but you do need to manage your time well and not take things too seriously now 48 years old and living comfortably in Ontario Gan Mark knows he could live without his nice house and money he cherishes memories of spending time with friends even if it was just eating simple food he's focused on creating special moments for himself and his family and isn't worried about retirement he's already experienced 20 years of living freely and healthfully don't wait until the end to enjoy life there's no reason to Q and A questions and actions if you're feeling nervous about taking a big step or if you've been delaying it because you're scared of what might happen here's something to help you write down your answers to these questions don't overthink it just let your thoughts flow onto the page spend a few minutes on each answer one Define your nightmare imagine the worst possible outcome if you went ahead with what you're considering what doubts fears and what ifs come up as you think about making these big changes picture them in detail would it be the end of everything how bad would it be on a scale of 1 to 10 are these things really permanent How likely are they to actually happen two how could you fix things what steps could you take to fix the damage or get things back on track even if it's just temporary it might be easier than you think how could you regain control three think about the positives what good things could come out of more likely scenarios now that you've thought about the worst case scenario what are the more realistic positive outcomes these could be things like feeling more confident or achieving something externally how good would these outcomes be on a scale of 1 to 10 How likely is it that you could achieve at least a decent outcome have people less smart than you done this before and succeeded four plan for financial setbacks imagine if you lost your job today what would you do to get your finances back on track think about questions 1 to three again if you quit your job to try something else how could you get back into into your career if you had to five face your fears what are you avoiding because you're scared often the things we're most scared of doing are the things we need to do the most whether it's making a tough phone call or having a difficult conversation think about the worst case scenario accept it and just do it remember what we fear doing most is usually what we need to do six count the cost of waiting what is it costing you financially emot Ally and physically to delay taking action consider not just the downside of taking action but also the terrible cost of doing nothing if you don't pursue what excites you where will you be in one five or 10 years how will you feel knowing you let 10 more years of your life pass without fulfillment if you know for sure that in action will lead to disappointment and regret then not taking action is the biggest risk of all seven stop waiting if you can't answer this without talking about waiting for the right time then the answer is simple you're afraid just like everyone else think about the cost of doing nothing realize that most mistakes can be fixed and start taking action that's what successful people do they take action part four system reset being unreasonable and unambiguous in simpler words Alice can you tell me which way to go cat that depends on where you want to end end up Alice I don't really care cat then it doesn't matter which way you go lwis Carroll Alice in Wonderland in simple terms there are two kinds of people those who adjust to the world and those who try to change it progress happens because of the ones who try to change things even if it seems unreasonable it was spring 2005 at Princeton University in New Jersey after my lecture some student gathered around me curious about a challenge I proposed I offered a free trip anywhere in the world to those who could complete a task contact three famous people and get one to respond to three questions out of 20 eager students none managed to accomplish the challenge they came up with various excuses but the main reason was fear of failure and competition they thought others would outdo them so they didn't even try the following year I shared this story with with another group of students this time six out of 17 finished the challenge within 48 Hours what changed not the students abilities but their mindset they decided to take action despite the challenges unlike the first group who let fear hold them back doing the unrealistic is easier than doing the realistic the second group of students didn't just dream big they took action they reached out to billionaires and mingled with celebrities it's all about believing it's possible most people settle for average because they doubt their abilities but aiming for realistic goals can be tougher because everyone else is competing for them it's like trying to get five people's attention at a crowded bar compared to catching the eye of one standout if you feel insecure remember others do too don't underestimate yourself you're capable of more than you think setting big goals gives you a rush of energy to tackle challenges realistic goals can be uninspiring and lead to giving up easily I'd go to Great Lengths for a dream trip to Greece but might not bother for a weekend in Columbus Ohio Big Dreams fuel big efforts while big goals may seem harder there's actually less competition for them most people settle for smaller achievements so Aiming High gives you a better chance to stand out it all starts with asking boldly for what you want what do you want a better question first of all many people struggle to figure out what they really want in life even I sometimes don't know but when it comes to specific tasks like what I want to achieve in language learning over the next 5 months I can give a clear answer it's all about being clear and specific asking someone what do you want is too broad and vague to get a useful answer similarly asking about goals can lead to confusion instead let's take a step back and think about about the big picture if we achieve all our goals what's the ultimate outcome we're aiming for most people would say happiness but I've come to think differently happiness has become a vague term that's hard to pin down the opposite of Happiness isn't sadness it's boredom excitement is a better way to think about what we're really after it's the feeling We should strive for because it makes life fulfilling when people talk about following their passion or Bliss they're essentially talking about excitement so the real question you should be asking yourself isn't what do I want or what are my goals but rather what would excite me that's where you'll find your true Direction adult onset ad Adventure deficit disorder between finishing college and starting your second job a voice starts nagging you be realistic life isn't like the movies when you're five and you say you want to be an astronaut adults encourage you saying you can be anything it's like believing in Santa Claus but when you're 25 and talk about starting a circus the response is different get real become a lawyer or a doctor even if you push past the doubters and start your own business doubts don't vanish they just change shape when I launched branck and LLC in 2001 I had a clear goal make doll 1,000 a day whether I was working hard or relaxing on the beach I wanted a business that made money without me working all the time but looking back it's clear that didn't happen until a crisis forced me to change despite making enough money why because my goal wasn't specific enough I didn't plan what I'd do instead of working so I kept working even when I didn't need to I needed to feel busy with no other plans this is how many people work until they retire I'll keep working until I have xll then I'll do what I want but without clear plans for what what I want means that xfig keeps getting higher to avoid facing the fear of uncertainty this is when both employees and entrepreneurs end up like Rich guys in flashy cars but feeling empty inside the fat man in the red BMW convertible there were moments in my life like right before I got fired from truson and before I left the US to avoid trouble when I saw myself ending up like a rich guy with a fancy car going through a midlife crisis I looked at people who were 15 20 years ahead of me in the same job or business and it scared me this fear was so strong like the ultimate nightmare that it became a wake-up call for me and my friend Douglas price Doug and I were on similar paths for about 5 years facing the same challenges and doubts so we kept a close eye on each other mentally our tough times seemed to happen at different times which made us a good team whenever one of us started losing faith or settling for Less the other would reach out like a support buddy and ask are you turning into that guy in the red BMW it was scary to think we might end up stuck in a boring life this fear pushed us to refocus on what really mattered remember being bored is the Real Enemy not some vague idea of failure correcting course get unrealistic I have a method I use to get back on track when I feel stuck or off course especially when I start worrying about ending up like the guy in the BMW it's a process I've seen successful new rich and our people use all over the world dreamlining dreamlining is called that because it puts timelines on what most people consider dreams it's similar to setting goals but there are some key differences one goals change from vague wishes to clear steps two goals need to be unrealistic to really work three it's about finding exciting things to do not just owning fancy stuff now it's your turn to dream big how to get George Bush or the CEO of Google on the phone the article fail better written by Adam goddessi talks about how I teach Princeton students to connect with top business mentors and celebrities I've shortened it in some parts many people believe that success is all about who you know not what you know they think successful people are just born with influential friends but that's not true here's how regular people can build exceptional networks fail better by Adam goddessi many Princeton students tend to procrastinate when writing their term papers Ryan marinin 07 from Los Angeles was no exception instead of wasting time on social media or YouTube like most students marinin was emailing Randy kissar a partner at cler Perkins coffee in buyers and Eric Schmidt the CEO of Google asking them profound questions about life marinan had never contacted commissar before and he had only briefly met Schmidt at a Princeton University trustee meeting he wouldn't have dared to email such influential figures if it weren't for Tim Ferris who gave a guest lecture in Professor Ed Zia's high-tech entrepreneurship class feris challenged students to contact celebrities and cosos to get answers to their burning questions he even offered a roundtrip plane ticket to the student who could reach out to the most high-profile names Ferris believes that success comes from being willing to have uncomfortable conversations he encourages students to overcome the fear of rejection by reaching out via cold calls or emails using what Ferris taught him marinin managed to strike up a conversation with commissar by emailing him about an article he had written their email exchange led to a bond and commissar even sent marinin a New York Times article on happiness contacting Schmidt was more challenging for marinin he had to persistently email a Princeton Dean to get Schmidt's personal email address eventually his perseverance paid off and he got the email address Nathan Kaplan another student managed to contact former Newark mayor sharp James by using an online directory to find his phone number Ferris is proud of the effort students have put into his contest he believes that most people can achieve incredible things if they just take the first step Q and A questions and actions life is too short to be small dreamlining is exciting yet challenging the harder it seems the more you need it to make things easier you can use automatic calculators and forms available at www4 our blogcomments imagine what you would do if failure was impossible and you were 10 times smarter than anyone else create two timelines one for 6 months and another for 12 months list up to five things you dream of having being and doing in each timeline don't worry about how to accomplish these dreams right now this exercise is about reversing repression so be open and honest with yourself two if you're struggling to come up with specific dreams ask ask yourself what you would do if you had1 100 million in the bank or what would make you excited to wake up every morning if you're still stuck fill in the five doing spots with predefined activities like visiting a place doing something memorable a daily activity a weekly activity and something you've always wanted to learn three convert each being into a doing to make it actionable identify an action or task that would represent achieving each state of being four highlight the four most exciting or important dreams from all columns on your six-month timeline repeat this process for the 12-month timeline if you want five determine the cost of these dreams and calculate your target monthly income TMI for both timelines estimate the monthly cost of each dream and add up your total monthly expenses with a 30% buffer for safety or savings this total is your TMI you can further divide this by 30 to get your target daily income TDI online calculators can help simplify this step remember even if the total seems intimidating don't worry with effort and dedication it's possible to achieve your dreams and increase your income significantly over time dreamline math another good option there's a different approach for handling monthly and one-time goals let's say you have expenses like the monthly payment for an estan Martin a personal assistant salary and a trip to Croatia the first two should be added up and included in your target monthly income however for the trip you divide the total cost by the number of months until your dreamlines deadline for example if your dreamline is 6 months away monthly payment for Aon Martin equals do2 personal assistant salary equals $1400 per month croati trip total cost equals $1 934 so $1 934 / 6 months equals $11 15567 per month so instead of adding up all expenses directly it should be monthly goals plus onetime goals total months x13 monthly expenses equals TMI now let's focus on defining three steps for each of your four dreams within the six-month timeline and taking the first step immediately I prefer shorter term planning because distant goals can become excuses for delaying action the aim here is not to plan every detail but to set clear end goals identify the means to achieve them TMI TDI and start building momentum with crucial initial steps six Define three simple steps for each dream that you can do now tomorrow before 11:00 a.m. and the day after also before 11:00 a.m. make sure these actions are straightforward and doable within 5 minutes if it's late and you can't make a call send an email instead and schedule the call for the next day if you need information reach out to someone who knows rather than getting stuck in research the best first step is often seeking advice from someone who has already achieved what you're aiming for alternatively you can schedule a meeting or call with a mentor trainer or salesperson to keep the momentum going remember procrastination can turn tomorrow into never so no matter how small the task take the first step now Comfort challenge the most important actions can feel uncomfortable but you can train yourself to handle discomfort I've learned to suggest Solutions instead of just asking for them to get the responses I want and to be assertive without ruining relationships to live an unusual life you need to develop the habit of making decisions for yourself and others in the upcoming chapters I'll guide you through some exercises that might seem easy or even pointless at first glance but they're designed to push your comfort zone a little expect to feel nervous or sweaty that's the idea most of these exercises last for 2 days put a reminder on your calendar for each exercise and don't try more than one challenge at a time here's the first one practice I gazing two days my friend Michael ellberg created an event called eye gazing like speed dating but with a Twist you're not allowed to talk you simply look into each other's eyes for 3 minutes it's surprising how uncomfortable this can be for many people for the next two days try to make eye contact with others whether it's people you pass by or during conversations until they look away some tips one focus on one eye and blink occasionally to avoid looking strange or intimidating two when you're talking keep eye contact it's easier while listening three practice practice with people who seem more confident or bigger than you if someone asks why you're staring just smile and say sorry I thought you were someone I knew step Roman 2 e is for elimination part five the end of time management let's talk briefly about time management forget about trying to cram as much as possible into every minute of your day it took me a while to realize this I used to believe in the more is better approach being busy often masks the fact that we're avoiding the truly important but uncomfortable tasks there are countless ways to keep yourself busy making unnecessary calls reorganizing contacts walking around the office unnecessarily or spending hours on your phone when you should be focusing in many corporate settings just looking busy can earn you points even if you're not actually being productive but this won't help you achieve your goals or Advance your career in the long run instead of trying to do everything focus on doing less but doing it better eliminate unnecessary tasks and distractions to make room for what truly matters that's the key to achieving more with less effort welcome to the world of elimination how you will use productivity now that you've figured out what you want to do with your time the next step is to make that time available the challenge is to do this while keeping your income the same or even increasing it in this chapter if you follow the steps you'll likely see a significant boost in your personal productivity ranging from 100 to 500% these principles apply whether you're an employee or an entrepreneur but their purposes differ for employees the goal is to increase productivity to gain leverage for two main objectives getting pay raises and arranging remote work options remember the typical process for joining the new rich is deal but for employees it's best to do it as DEA this means focusing on Liberation first because it's essential to free yourself from the traditional office environment before you can work fewer hours without risking your job security if you're an employee following the advice in this chapter will make you more valuable to your company making it harder for them to let you go and more likely for them to Grant you raises and remote work options once you've achieved these you can use your newfound free time to pursue your dreams for entrepreneurs the goal is simpler to decrease the amount of work you do while increasing your Revenue this sets the stage for automation which allows you to free yourself from day-to-day tasks in both cases it's important to understand some key definitions being effective vs being efficient Effectiveness means doing things that actually help you reach your goals efficiency on the other hand is about doing a task in the best and fastest way possible whether it's important or not but being efficient without being effective is like spinning your wheels without going anywhere let's take the example of a door-to-door salesperson who's really good at selling but doesn't sell much because it's not the best way to reach people they might be efficient in their sales tactics but they're not effective because they're using the wrong approach the same goes for someone who spends a lot of time organizing their emails and making sure everything is super efficient sure it's efficient but if they're spending all that time on unimportant tasks it's not effective remember these two truths just because you're good at something doesn't mean it's important and just because something takes a lot of time doesn't mean it's important either what matters most is what you're doing not how you're doing it efficiency is still important but only when it's applied to the right things so to figure out the right things to focus on let's head to the Garden Paro and his garden 1820 and freedom from futility four years ago I learned something lifechanging from an economist named vredo Paro who lived a long time ago he figured out a rule called paro's law also known as the 1820 principle it says that in many situations 80% of the results come from just 20% of the efforts for example in a garden 8 80% of the peas come from 20% of the plants this rule applies to lots of things not just economics when I discovered this rule I was working really hard but feeling overwhelmed I decided to see if paro's ideas could help me I asked myself two questions what 20% of my efforts were causing 80% of my problems and what 20% were leading to 80% of My Success and happiness after spending a day thinking about it I made some tough decisions one big decision was to stop focusing on most of my customers who weren't bringing in much money instead I focused on the top 3% who were responsible for almost all of my Revenue out of over 120 customers only a few were bringing in most of the money so I stopped spending time on the others and concentrated on the top earners this freed up a lot of my time and made me much happier I also realized that a a couple of my customers were causing me a lot of stress without bringing in much money so I decided to stop working with them even though I lost one customer the other improved their behavior and I felt much better by focusing on my top customers and getting rid of the ones causing problems my income doubled in just a month and I went from working crazy hours to having more free time and feeling happier in the following weeks I used the 8020 principal in many areas like advertising and online Partnerships one advertising I figured out which ads were bringing in most of the money and I focused on those while getting rid of the others this cut my advertising costs by 70% and my sales almost doubled in two months two online Affiliates and partners I stopped working with hundreds of online Partners who weren't making much money and focused on the few who were bringing in most of the income this this saved me a lot of time and my online income went up by over 50% remember most things don't matter much being busy all the time is lazy thinking it's better to focus on what's important and ignore the rest before you can decide what's important you might need to try a lot of things to see what works best this might take a month or two it's easy to get overwhelmed with small details but remember feeling rushed is just a sign that you're not prioritizing well take time to focus on what really matters the 95 illusion and Parkinson's law if you're working for someone else you might find yourself wasting time because there's no real incentive to use it well unless you're paid based on what you produce the typical workday of 9 to 5 can feel like a trap making you fill the time with activities just because it's there it's not entirely your fault if you're stuck in this cycle but if you're aiming for a remote work set up and better pay it's time to rethink how you use your time the employees who are most effective have the most bargaining power for entrepreneurs wasting time often comes from bad habits learned during their time as employees many follow the same 9 to5 schedule without questioning if it's the best fit for their productivity this schedule is outdated and doesn't suit everyone's work style or needs you don't need to work 8 hours a day to be successful let alone to live a comfortable life sometimes we fill all the available time just because it's there whether it's 8 hours or 15 and when there's a deadline looming we somehow manage to finish our work in a fraction of the time I learned about this firsthand in college when I had just 24 hours to complete a big paper despite a last minute setback I pulled an all nighter and the paper turned out great my professor Ed introduced me to Parkinson's law which says that a task will take as much time as you give it if you give yourself a tight deadline you'll focus on what's important and get it done faster this law and the 8020 principle which says that 80% of results come from 20% of efforts are crucial for boosting productivity to make the most of your time focus on the critical tasks that bring in the most results and set tight deadlines to keep yourself on track otherwise minor tasks will take over and you'll end up feeling like you've accomplished nothing this balance between prioritizing important tasks and setting short deadlines is key to being productive we'll dive deeper into these Concepts in the next chapter where we'll talk about how to cut down on unnecessary information overload a dozen cupcakes and one question in Mountain View California I found myself at a party surrounded by strangers who were friends of a friend I casually mentioned that Saturdays were my days off a break from my usual routine of healthy eating after indulging in some cupcakes I struck up a conversation with a man named Charney who seemed intrigued by my lifestyle Charney despite having a happy family life and a successful career in technology sales was puzzled by how little time I spent on making money he was eager to learn my secrets so I proposed to make him a case study after just 5 weeks of practicing a simple technique Charney saw a remarkable Improvement in his productivity by asking himself a straightforward question several times a day am I being productive or just busy he was able to cut out unnecessary tasks and focus on what truly mattered Charney realized that many of his activities were just distractions masking his lack of real progress by eliminating these distractions and concentrating on tangible results he achieved more in a week than he had in the previous four combined so the key takeaway is this it's possible to enjoy life's Pleasures like cupcakes while still being highly productive just remember to prioritize what's important and cut out the unnecessary stuff Q and A questions and actions to have more time it's essential to do less and there are two ways to achieve this by creating a to-do list and a not to-do list here are some questions to help you figure out what to focus on one identify problem sources what 20% of activities are causing 80% of your problems and unhappiness and what 20% are bringing 80% of your desired outcomes and happiness two hypothetical cases imagine scenarios like having only two hours a day or a week to work what would you prioritize in those Limited hours three ruthless elimination if you had to cut out 80% of time consuming activities what would you remove while minimizing the impact on your income four recognize time fillers what are the top three activities you use to feel productive but are actually just distractions five evaluate relationships who are the people that bring you Joy and help you move forward and who drains your energy and causes stress six daily priorities ask yourself if this is the only thing I accomplished today will I be satisfied with my day focus on completing two Mission critical tasks each day seven avoid distractions set reminders to ask yourself if you're inventing tasks to avoid important work eight avoid multitasking focus on one task at a time to avoid divided attention and accomplish more with less nine use Parkinson's law set shorter deadlines to force focused action and limit the number of tasks on your to-do list by following these strategies and making conscious choices about how you spend your time you can achieve more with less effort and enjoy a more fulfilling life Comfort challenge learn to suggest two days instead of asking for opinions start suggesting Solutions start with simple things when someone asks where should we eat what movie should we watch or what should we do tonight don't respond with well what do you want to offer a suggestion instead put an end to the indecision and make a choice practice this both in your personal and professional life here are a few phrases you can use my favorites are the first and last can I make a suggestion I propose I'd like to suggest I suggest that what do you think let's try and then we can try something else if that doesn't work lifestyle design in action I'm a musican I who got your book because Derek cyers at CD bab recommended it to me after checking paro's law I found out that 78% of my downloads came from just one of my CDs and 55% of my total download income came from only five songs this showed me what my fans are interested in so I featured those songs on my website downloads are the way to go for me etunes sells the songs and CD bab deposits the money directly into my account it's fully automated once the recording is done some months I can sustain myself solely on download income once I finish paying off my debt I should have no problem traveling as an artist gaining new fans worldwide and having a steady income from online sales as for outsourcing your banking any company that accepts checks should consider a lockbox solution many banks offer this service for business banking all checks are sent to appeal box at the bank where they are processed and deposited depending on your instructions the bank can provide you with a file containing information about the deposited checks this can usually be done in formats like flat files Excel or others that can be integrated with accounting systems like quickin or sap it's a coste effective solution part six the low information diet listen up I've got something to say that might surprise you put down your samp and cover the baby's ears because here it goes I never watch the news and I've only bought a newspaper once in the last 5 years and that was at stanstead airport in London and only because it gave me a discount on a diet Pepsi I joke about being Amish but they don't have Pepsi on their menu shocking right you might wonder how I stay informed and responsible as a citizen well I'll tell you I spend about an hour each Monday checking my business emails and I never check voicemail when I'm traveling never but what if there's an emergency you ask well it hardly ever happens my contacts know that I don't respond to emergencies so they rarely come to me you'd be surprised how many problems solve themselves or disappear when you step back and let others take charge cultivating selective ignorance starting now I want to suggest that you become really good at ignoring things you don't need to know ignorance might seem like a bad thing but it's actually helpful you need to learn to ignore or push away information and distractions that don't matter aren't important or you can't do anything about most of the time they're all free the first step is to cut down on how much information you take in just like people eat too much food information workers consume too much data and a lot of it isn't helpful designing your life means taking lots of action which means you need less input most information wastes your time makes you feel negative doesn't help you with your goals and isn't something you can control I challenge you to think about what you've read or watched today and tell me it wasn't at least two of those things I quickly skim the headlines on newspaper machines when I walk to lunch every day and nothing more I've done this for 5 years without any problems it gives me something new to talk about with people instead of the usual small talk so what's new in the world and if some is really important you'll hear people talking about it from a practical point of view I only read about onethird of one industry magazine response magazine and one business magazine in each month which takes about 4 hours in total that's all the reading I do that helps me get results I read fiction for an hour before bed to relax but how do I stay informed let me give you an example of how I and others like me handle and get information I've voted in the last presidential election even though I was in Berlin at the time I made my decision in just a few hours first I asked educated friends in the US who share my values who they were voting for and why then I asked friends in Berlin who had a different perspective what they thought of the candidates based on their actions not what the media said finally I watched the presidential debates that's all I did I let other reliable people gather tons of information for me and I didn't have to pay them anything now you might say that's easy for you but what if you need to learn something your friends don't know about like for example how to sell a book to the world's biggest publisher as a firsttime author well there are two things I did one I found a book written by authors who had already done what I wanted to do and had good reviews from readers I only read accounts that were like how I did it and autobiographical I didn't waste time with people who were just guessing or wishing they could do it two I used the book to come up with smart and specific questions and then I contacted 10 of the best authors and agents in the world by email and phone I got a response from 80% of them I only read the parts of the book that helped me with my next steps which took less than 2 hours it took about 4 hours to come up with a template for my emails and phone calls and then less than an hour to actually send them this approach of contacting people directly is not only better than reading a bunch of random stuff but it also helped me make important connections and find mentors who helped me sell my book once again doing less actually gets you more how to read 200% faster in 10 minutes there are times when you have to read but here are four easy tricks to help you read faster without losing understanding one 2 minutes use a pen or your finger to move along each line as you read quickly this keeps your eyes from going back over what you've already read two 3 minutes focus on the third word in from the beginning and end of each line this way you use your side Vision too which is usually wasted for example if you're reading Once Upon a Time an information addict decided to detox focus on upon and decided three 2 minutes try to read with only two stops per line focusing on the first and last indented words Four 3 minutes practice reading too fast to understand for five pages before reading at your usual speed this helps reset your reading speed like feeling slow after driving fast to figure out your reading speed count the words in 10 lines divide by 10 for the average words per line then multiply by the number of lines per page for example if there are 330 words per page and you read 125 pages in a minute that's 4125 words per minute after training if you read three five pages that's one 155 words per minute putting you in the top 1% of the world's fastest readers q& a questions and actions one take a break from media for a week take a break from all media for a week no newspapers magazines Audi books or news websites only listen to music watch 1 hour of TV for fun and read this book or some fiction before bed don't surf the web unless it's necessary for work instead of reading the news spend time with your family or work on your top priorities during lunch ask someone if anything important is happening in the world but stop if it doesn't affect you be strict with yourself and use tools like leech block to block distracting websites two ask yourself if information is immediate and important before consuming information ask yourself if you'll use it immediately for something important if not don't bother don't waste time reading for events far in the future focus on gathering information as you need it not just in case three learn to stop what's boring or unproductive don't feel obligated to finish things that aren't engaging or useful if an article or movie isn't interesting stop reading or watching it don't force yourself to finish just because you started it's often better to stop than to waste time on something unproductive Comfort challenge get phone numbers two days make eye contact and ask for the phone numbers of at least two Attractive people of the opposite sex each day the more you try the easier it will become this applies to everyone regardless of age remember the goal isn't just to get numbers but to overcome the fear of asking if you're in a relationship you can say you're collecting information for green piece and then just forget about the numbers if you want to practice quickly go to a mall and ask three people in a row within 5 minutes you can use a script like this excuse me I know this may sound strange but if I don't ask now I'll regret it I'm in a hurry to meet a friend but I think you're really cute can I have your phone number I promise I'm not a weirdo you can give me a fake one if you're not interested note the real purpose is to get comfortable asking not necessarily to get the numbers part seven interrupting Interruption and the Art of refusal spring 2000 Princeton New Jersey 1:35 p.m. I think I get it now let's move on in the next paragraph it says that I had detailed notes and didn't want to miss anything 3:45 p.m. all right right that makes sense but if we look at the next example I stopped mids sentence the teaching assistant looked tired Tim let's stop here for now I'll remember these points he had enough so had I but I knew I only had to do it once throughout my four years of school I had a rule if I didn't get in on the first paper or non- multiple choice test in a class I'd bring two three hours of questions to the greaters office hours I wouldn't leave until they answered them all or gave up out of exhaustion this served two purposes one I learned exactly how the greater evaluated work including their biases and preferences two the greater would think twice about giving me less than an a they knew I wouldn't hesitate to come back for another 3-hour visit if they did learn to stand up for yourself when it matters in school and in life having a reputation for being assertive will help you get better treatment without having to beg or fight for it every time remember your days on the playground there was always a big bully and many victims but there was also that one small kid who fought back fiercely they might not have won but after a few tough encounters the bully left them alone it was easier to pick on someone else be that kid it's tough to focus on what's important and ignore the rest because the world often throws unnecessary things at you but with a few simple changes to your routine it becomes harder for others to bother you with trivial stuff it's time to stop letting unnecessary information overwhelm you not all Evils are created equal for our purposes an interruption is anything that stops us from finishing an important task from start to end there are three main types of interruptions one time wasters these are things that can be ignored without much cons quence examples include meetings discussions phone calls web surfing and unimportant emails two time consumers these are repetitive tasks or requests that need to be done but often interrupt more important work examples include Reading and Responding to emails making and returning phone calls customer service tasks Financial or sales reporting and personal errands three empowerment failures these are situations where someone needs permission to do something small examples include fixing customer problems contacting customers and making cash expenditures now let's discuss how to deal with each of these types of interruptions time wasters become an ignoramus eliminating and deflecting time wasters is pretty easy it's all about controlling how you communicate and focusing on important stuff here's what you can do one limit email email is a big distraction turn off email alerts and check your inbox only twice a day around noon and in the late afternoon don't check it first thing in the morning finish your most important task before 11 as an a.m. to avoid getting sidetracked by emails before you start this routine set up an autor reply email message to let people know you'll only be checking email at those times if this idea freaks you out talk to your boss and suggest trying it out for a few days two screen calls if you can have two phone numbers one for work and one for personal matters let people know your work number is for Urgent stuff only let your work calls go to voicemail and check them later always answer your personal phone if someone calls you keep it short and to the point three say no to useless meetings don't let meetings eat up your time if someone wants to meet ask them to send you an email first with what they want to talk about if it's not urgent suggest solving the issue over email keep meeting short and to the point don't let them drag on forever four be assertive don't let people waste your time if someone tries to chat when you're busy politely tell them you're busy and ask them to email you instead use the puppy dog close technique to gradually convince people to stop wasting time on unnecessary things things five protect your space if you're in a cubicle put on headphones or pretend to be on the phone to discourage interruptions be polite but firm when people interrupt you and steer the conversation back to business if they don't get the hint set a time limit for the conversation and stick to it six encourage efficiency teach people to communicate efficiently if someone asks for a meeting ask them to email you the details first keep emails short and focused use the if then structure to avoid back and forth communication if you must have a meeting set a clear agenda and time limit by taking control of your time and setting boundaries you'll be able to focus on what's important and avoid getting bogged down by distractions time consumers batch and do not falter if you've never used a commercial printer before you might be surprised by how they price their services and how long it takes to get your stuff printed let's say you want to print 20 custom t-shirts with colorful logos it costs $1 310 and takes a week to get them done now what if you only want to print three of the same shirts surprisingly it's still costs $1 310 and takes a week how come well the setup charges stay the same no matter how many shirts you print the printer has to spend money and time preparing the plates and running the press so even though you're printing fewer shirts you still have to wait the same amount of time the best way to save money and time is to wait until you have a bigger order this is called batching it's like doing all your laundry at once instead of washing a few clothes every day batching helps you save time and money by combining similar tasks together for example if you check your mail and pay bills five times a week it might take you 30 minutes each time that's too 5 hours a week but if you do it all in one go once a week it might only take you an hour people usually check their mail often because they're worried about emergencies but in reality emergencies are rare and most urgent stuff can wait every task has setup time whether it's big or small it can take up to 45 minutes to get back into the groove after an interruption that's why it's better to check your email and answer calls only twice a day at set times this way you can focus on your main tasks without getting interrupted all the time I used to check my email only once a week from 2004 to 2007 and it worked fine batching saved me a lot of time you can figure out how much your time is worth by calculating your hourly rate based on your salary then estimate how much time you'll save by batching tasks and multiply it by your hourly rate this will help you see the value of batching if you find that batching saves you more time and money than it costs to fix any problems that might come up then stick with it but if the problems end up costing more then scale back to batching less often the key is to work smarter not harder empowerment failure rules and Readjustment empowerment failure happens when you can't get something done without asking for permission or information first it's like being watched too closely or watching over someone too much and it eats up your time for workers the aim is to have all the info they need and the freedom to make decisions on their own for business owners it's about giving employees or contractors as much info and freedom as possible customer service is a big example of empowerment failure here's a story to show how serious but easily fixable the problem can be back in 2002 I outsourced customer service for order tracking and returns but I still dealt with product related questions myself it was a nightmare I got over 200 emails a day spending all day responding to them and the number was growing every week I had to stop advertising and limit shipments because I couldn't handle any more customer service the problem it all came down to me I was the bottleneck because everything had to go through me here's the kicker most of the emails weren't even about products they were requests from customer service reps asking for permission to do different things the customer says they didn't get their shipment what should we do the customer's package is stuck at Customs can we send it again the customer needs their order urgently can we ship it overnight and how much should we charge it was never ending there were so many different situations that it was impossible to write a manual but luckily the outsourced reps had the experience I sent one email to all the supervisors and it changed everything instead of bombarding me with questions I told them to use their judgment and fix any problems that cost less than $1100 without asking me it saved me hours of time and made customers happier people are smart when you trust them and give them responsibility if you're micromanaged at work talk to your boss and suggest ways to work more independently and if you're a micromanaging boss remember that you don't have to do everything yourself Empower your employees to act without always needing your input the key is to set rules that protect your time make people Define their requests before taking up your time and handle routine tasks efficiently when you focus on what matters you'll have a better work life balance remember you only get the rights you fight for Q and A questions and actions blaming people for interruptions is like blaming clowns for scaring kids it's just in their nature but let's face it sometimes we're the ones causing interruptions too if you're anything like me you're an occasional culprit too so let's learn to control our urge to interrupt it's much easier when we have rules and routines to follow our job is to stop unnecessary stuff from getting in the way of what's really important here's a quick overview of what we need to do one control communication set up autor response emails and voicemail scripts to manage how and when people can reach you keep your responses short and focused on getting things done quickly avoid unnecessary meetings whenever possible two batch tasks group similar tasks together to save time and effort figure out what you can do less often without causing problems like laundry or paying bills three Empower others give people clear rules to follow and trust them to make decisions without always asking you if you're an employee ask your boss for more freedom to handle things yourself remember giving people Freedom saves time and helps everyone succeed profit only matters if you have time to enjoy it so let's make the most of our time tools and tricks Evernote is an amazing tool that has helped me a lot in the past year it's been recommended to me by some of the most tech-savvy people I know Evernote has made a big difference by reducing about 90% of the paper clutter in my life and getting rid of all those open tabs I used to have in my web browser it can clean up your messy office space in just 1 to 3 hours with Evernote you can easily save information from anywhere using any device you have and the best part is you can find everything you save later on here's how I use it I take pictures of things like business cards handwritten notes wine labels and receipts Evernote can even recognize the text in these pictures so you can search for them later for example I can quickly find a phone number from a business card without having to type it into my contacts or search through emails I scan agreements paper articles and other documents using a small scanner called the Mac Fujitsu scans snap it sends everything directly to Evernote in just seconds with the push of a button I take snapshots of websites save all the text and links this way I can read them offline when I'm traveling or doing research later on it's a great way to get rid of all those messy bookmarks and open tabs in my browser screening and avoiding unwanted calls is important especially when your phone number is shared more widely than your home address Grand Central and yail are two tools that can help with this Grand Central provides you with a new phone number that you can give out instead of your personal one you can choose the area code for this number and calls to it will be forwarded to your actual phones here are some benefits you can Mark certain numbers as unwanted and when they call they'll hear a message saying the number is not in service you can set up different voicemail messages for different callers like family boss or clients you can even listen to messages as they're being left and decide if you want to pick up you can use an area code that's different from your home Hometown to keep your address private you can set do not disturb hours when calls go straight to voicemail without ringing voicemails can be sent to your phone as text messages ya mail does something similar it transcribes voicemails into text messages and sends them to your phone so even if you're in a meeting you can quickly respond to voicemails via text instead of having to call back later scheduling meetings through email can be a real hassle it usually involves a lot of back and forth that wastes time but there are tools that can make scheduling much easier one doodle this is a great free tool for organizing meetings with multiple people you can create a poll with different options for meeting times in just 30 seconds then you send the poll link to everyone invited later you can check back and see which time works best for everyone two time driver with time driver you can let your your colleagues and clients schedule meetings with you based on your availability it syncs with your outlook or Google Calendar to show when you're free you can even include a schedule now button in your emails so people can see your open times and pick one that works for them without you having to suggest times back and forth zne which is Inbox spelled backward is a free program that supercharges Outlook it has many features but the important one for this topic is its ability to find hotspots These are times when you get most of your important emails from Key contacts knowing these hotspots helps you batch your email checking to one three times a day it also helps you organize your contacts by pulling their phone numbers addresses and other info from your emails automatically avoid getting lost in your inbox during your free time by using these tools to stay focused whether you're working on an important project or enjoying your weekend jot use a tollfree phone call to capture ideas create to-do lists and set reminders your message 1530 seconds gets transcribed and emailed to whoever you choose or it can be added to your Google calendar for scheduling jot also lets you share voice messages on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook copy talk dictate messages of up to 4 minutes and receive the transcription via email within a few hours great great for brainstorming sessions and the accuracy of the transcriptions is impressive stop yourself from getting distracted by the internet with freedom it's a free app for Apple computers that blocks internet access for up to 8 hours with freedom you can focus on your work without being tempted by web browsing once you activate Freedom you can't turn it off until the time you've set expires or until you restart your computer this makes it harder to give in distractions helping you stay productive start by trying it out for short periods like 30 to 60 Minutes to see how it works for you comfort challenge for the next two days try saying no to every request just like a stubborn 2-year-old say no to everything that won't immediately get you in trouble at work be a little selfish the goal isn't to achieve something specific like getting rid of time wasting tasks but to practice saying no comfortably here are some examples of requests you might decline can I talk to you for a minute do you want to watch a movie tonight or tomorrow can you help me with this task make no your default answer to every request you don't need to make up excuses just a simple I can't write now sorry I'm really busy we'll do lifestyle design in action using a PO Box instead of having mail delivered to your home can help you batch your mail this means you collect C and deal with your mail less frequently which saves time our post office has recycling bins so most of the mail doesn't even come home with us I used to manage the mail only once a week and I found it took less time overall and I did a better job managing it for families the idea of having more time together is worth implementing the 4-Hour Work week this could mean taking walks in the park every evening or spending weekends together families can try different approaches like making sure kids don't bother mommy while she works in the evening having one parent watch the kids while the other works or arranging for someone to take care of the kids once a week the payoff is having more quality time to spend together why not combine a mini retirement with getting Dental or medical work done in another country where it's cheaper for example I lived in Thailand for 4 months and got dental work done at a fraction of the cost compared to Australia there are clinics in countries like Thailand the Philippines Vietnam and GOA that cater to expats and health Travelers even in Europe countries like Poland or Hungary offer cheaper options you can research online or ask expats for recommendations this can save you money and you might even use the savings to finance your trip step Roman three A is for automation part eight Outsourcing life letting go of things you don't need can make you feel rich here here's a story that illustrates this idea it's pretty unbelievable so I'll let AG tell it and trust me there are even more amazing things you can achieve by yourself my outsourced life it all started about a month ago when I was reading a book called The World is Flat by Tom fredman despite the fact that fredman wears a mustache I enjoy his book it talks about how Outsourcing jobs to countries like India and China is changing many Industries in the US I'm not a big shot in a big company I work from home as a writer and editor but I thought why can't I join in on this Outsourcing Trend too why can't I get someone to help with my work tasks so I reached out to a company called brick work in India which provides remote assistance they assigned me someone named Honey to help with my work related tasks a couple of days later I got an email from honey my new assistant she seemed eager to help with my work and person tasks it was refreshing to have someone ready to assist me I shared my Outsourcing idea with my friend Misha who suggested I try a company called Your Man in India this company helps Indian businessmen living abroad take care of things for their fames back home I thought this could take my Outsourcing to the next level now I have two teams supporting me brick work for my work tasks and your man in India for my personal errands Honey's first task was to research for for an article I was writing about the sexiest woman alive for a squire magazine when I saw her work I was amazed she had put together detailed information with charts and sections making my job much easier I started Outsourcing more tasks to a chea from your man in India like paying bills and buying things online it felt strange but good to have people working for me while I slept honey also helped me handle emails I didn't want like those from the colle tourism board she politely asked them to stop sending irrelevant emails and they listened I even tried Outsourcing arguments with my wife to a shay it felt odd but also convenient to argue with my wife through emails sent from halfway across the world asha's message to my wife was polite and even included an Ecard to apologize on my behalf despite having support from my outsourc team for 3 weeks I still felt stressed so I decided to try Outsourcing my worries too I asked honey to worry about a business deal that was bothering me surprisingly it worked knowing someone else was worrying about it made me feel better and less stressed overall Outsourcing my tasks and worries turned out to be a successful experiment it made my life easier and less stressful at a glance where you will be today is Monday so I spent an hour checking my email after having a lovely breakfast in Buenos iris somia from India found an old classmate of mine and anac from Emi sent me some research reports in Excel about retiree happiness and average working hours in different jobs another virtual assistant from India set up interviews for me this week and found contact details for Kendo schools in Japan and salsa teachers in Cuba then I saw that Beth my account manager in Tennessee fixed a bunch of problems with our clients in China and South Africa and handled our California sales tax filing with the accountants in Michigan the taxes were paid using my credit card and when I checked my bank accounts I saw that we were making more money than last month everything was going smoothly thanks to automation after closing my laptop I enjoyed a sunny day I only paid do4 for an all you can eat breakfast with coffee and orange juice the Indian assistance cost between $14 and11 per hour my local assistants are paid based on their performance or when products are shipped this means we never have negative cash flow it's interesting to see how things work when you earn money in one currency spend it in another and pay people in a third but that's just the beginning of the benefits of automation but I'm an employee how does this help me hiring a remote personal assistant is a big step that teaches you how to give directions and be in charge instead of being told what to do it's like training wheels for learning how to manage and communicate with people remotely this is your chance to practice being a boss it's not a BigTime commitment and it's not expensive or risky whether or not you actually need an assistant right now doesn't matter it's more of an exercise to see if you can handle managing someone else it's also a test for entrepreneurship can you manage and guide other people with the right guidance and practice practice most people can many entrepreneurs fail because they dive into running a business without learning the basics first using a virtual assistant as a test run costs between do1 100 And1 400 for two four weeks but the return on investment is huge you'll make back the money you spend within 10 14 days and after that it's all pure time saving profit joining the new Rich isn't just about working smarter it's about creating a system that can place you this exercise is the first step even if you don't plan on starting a business this exercise is a continuation of our 8020 and elimination process preparing someone else to take over your tasks even if it never happens will help refine your schedule and eliminate unnecessary tasks but what about the cost it's a common hurdle for many people if you can do something better than an assistant why pay them because the goal is to free up your time so you can can focus on more important things this chapter is a lowcost way to overcome this hurdle and realize that paying others to do work for you can be a smart investment even if hiring an assistant costs more per hour than what you currently earn it's often worth it for example if you make $150,000 a year paying an assistant $130 an hour to save you one full day of work per week is worth it it's like paying $140 to have an extra day off plus your boss doesn't need to know about it especially if you're delegating nonsensitive tasks ready to build your team of assistance first let's talk about the potential downsides of Delegation and how to prevent them delegation dangers before getting started have you ever been asked to do things that just didn't make sense or given tasks that didn't seem important it's frustrating and not very productive now it's your turn to do things smarter delegating tasks should be about reducing work not making more of it remember if something isn't clearly defined and important nobody should waste time doing it before you pass tasks on to someone else try to get rid of them alt together don't automate things that can simply be eliminated and don't delegate tasks that can be automated or made more efficient otherwise you're just wasting someone else's time and your money that's a good reason to focus on being effective and efficient now you're spending your own money money it's important to get comfortable with this idea and it starts with small steps and did I mention to eliminate tasks before delegating them for instance many Executives have assistants read their emails while that might be useful for some I've set up spam filters automatic replies with frequently asked questions and forwarded some emails to others to handle so I only spend about 30 minutes a week on emails I've made systems to handle it efficiently I don't have an assistant set up meetings and calls because I've cut down on meetings altogether if I need to schedule a short call I can do it quickly with just a brief email the main idea is to improve rules and processes before adding more people when you use people to make a refined process work better you increase productivity but if you use people to fix a flawed process you'll only create more problems the menu a world of possibilities so what should you hand off to someone else it's a valid question but honestly I'd rather just kick back and watch Family Guy to be honest writing about not working is quite a task rtica from brickwork and venki from Emi are totally capable of handling this part so I'll just give you two main points and let them handle the nitty-gritty details Golden Rule hash1 make sure each task you delegate takes up a good chunk of time and is clearly defined if you're all over the place and ask your assistant to do the same it doesn't really help anyone Golden Rule hash2 on a lighter note have some fun with it let someone in Bangalore or Shanghai handle your emails to set up lunch dates with friends or do other basic stuff maybe prank your boss with some funny calls from unknown numbers being efficient doesn't mean being serious all the time it's refreshing to take control and let loose a bit so you don't end up with a bunch of pent up stress later on getting personal and going Howard Hughes Howard Hughes the really rich guy and Movie Maker from The Aviator was famous for giving his assistant some really weird tasks here are a few examples from Donald Bartlett's book Howard Hughes his life and Madness that might give you some ideas one after surviving his first plane crash Hughes thought drinking orange juice helped him heal he believed the juice lost it power when exposed to air so he insisted on having fresh oranges sliced and Juiced right in front of him two when Hughes was out partying in Las Vegas his assistants had to approach any girls he liked if a girl agreed to join Hughes at his table an assistant would make her sign a waiver and agreement form three Hughes always had a barber ready but he only got his hair and nails trimmed about once a year four during his time in hotels Hughes supposedly told assistants to put a single cheeseburger in a specific tree outside his Penthouse room at 400 p.m. every day whether he was there or not it's a strange world of possibilities Just Like the Model T made cars accessible to everyone virtual assistant make eccentric billionaire Behavior possible for anyone now that's progress all right let me hand over the spotlight just a heads up Emi handles personal and business tasks while brick work focuses only on business stuff we'll start with the serious but boring stuff and then move on to the downright silly Binky don't hold back just ask us if you need something done we've thrown parties arranged catering looked into summer courses sorted out accounting and even made 3D drafts based on blueprints just name it we could find the perfect kidfriendly restaurant near you for your son's birthday bash figure out the costs and get the party sorted this way you can focus on work or spend time with your son what can't we do well anything that needs us to be physically present but you'd be surprised how few tasks fall into that category these days Veni we have a client who tends to forget things so we call him with reminders another client has us wake him up every morning we've also Tracked Down people who lost touch after Hurricane Katrina and even found jobs for some clients one client loves a pair of trousers that aren't made anymore so he's sending them to us from London to make exact copies at a fraction of the price here are some other custom requests we've handled reminding a client to pay parking fines and not speed apologizing and sending flowers or cards to client spouses creating a diet plan reminding the client about it regularly and ordering groceries according finding a job for someone who lost theirs due to Outsourcing fixing a broken window in a house in Geneva getting homework information from teachers and emailing it to parents researching how to tie shoelaces for a client's kid reserving a parking spot in another city before you even get there ordering garbage bins for a home providing a weather report from 5 years ago as evidence for a lawsuit speaking to parents on behalf of a client here's a real example from reader David Cross who hired a personal chef for Less than1 five per meal just imagining the possibilities is mouthwatering David explains I wanted someone to cook healthy food for me so I put an ad on cggs list it was super specific and I only got two applicants in 2 months but the guy we chose who used to be a hair Krishna follower in India makes amazing Indian food for us now it's cheap and delicious and it means I don't have to cook all the time anymore next I'm thinking of trying out other Cuisines like Thai Italian and Chinese basic choices New Delhi or New York with so many vas out there finding the right one can be tough the resources listed at the end of this chapter will point you in the right direction but it can still feel overwhelming to narrow down your search start by asking yourself where should I look remote or local made in the USA doesn't have the same appeal it once did there are two big advantages to working with people in different time zones and countries with lower currency value they can work while you sleep and they cost less per hour this means you save time and money here's an example to explain the time-saving aspect you can give your remote assistant in India a task when you finish work in New York City while you sleep they can work on it and have it ready for you when you wake up up the next morning they can also help you keep up with things you want to read remote assistance from places like India and China usually cost between $14 to15 per hour the lower end is for simpler tasks while the higher end includes assistants with Advanced degrees for bigger tasks like creating a business plan you can save a lot of money by hiring someone from these countries instead of in the US in the US or Canada the hourly rate for for assistance is often between do25 to100 so it seems like hiring someone from Bangalore India is a no-brainer right not necessarily what matters most is the cost per completed task not just the hourly rate one challenge with overseas help is the language barrier which can lead to more back and forth communication and higher costs for example I once hired an Indian assistant who spent 23 hours on three simple tasks costing me1 230 later I hired a native English speaker in Canada who completed the same tasks in two hours for $150 so it's crucial to test different assistants to find the right fit there are two important lessons here first don't just look at the hourly rate consider the total cost per task if you have to spend a lot of time managing the assistant factor in your own hourly rate to get the full picture of the cost second trial and error is key you won't know how well you'll work with an assistant until you try so consider using a v firm instead of hiring an individual to increase your chances of finding the right fit solo vs support team imagine you found the perfect virtual assistant VA they're handling all your less important tasks and you're excited to take a vacation to Thailand knowing they'll be there to handle things while you're away but just before your flight you get bad news your vau is in the hospital and won't be available for a week vacation plans ruined I don't like relying on just one person and I wouldn't recommend it in the tech World depending on one fragile item is called a single point of failure it's risky that's why redundancy having backup support is important instead of hiring a single VA consider a VA firm or a V with a backup team this way if one person can't work someone else can step in having a team of assistants means you have a pool of talent to handle different tasks firms like brickwork and Emi offer this structure assigning tasks to the most qualified person available it saves you from having to coordinate multiple people yourself it might cost a little more but it's worth it for peace of mind having a team doesn't mean bigger is always better the best VA I've worked with had five backup assistants three can be enough but having just one one backup is risky beash one fear sweetheart did you buy a Porsche in China I understand if you're worried about privacy age had his concerns too my outsourcers know a lot about me now not just my schedule but personal things like my health issues social security number and even my passwords sometimes I worry that if I upset them I'll end up with a huge bill from a fancy store on my credit card the good news is is cases of misuse of information are rare in all the interviews I did I only found one case of it happening it was because an overworked VA in the S hired extra help without checking them properly here's what you need to remember never let a new hire do important tasks and don't let small VA operations give work to Freelancers without your okay established firms like brickwork take security seriously they do background checks on employees and make them sign agreements to keep your info safe have strict access controls in their offices only let certain supervisors handle credit card info use high-tech encryption to keep data safe your sensitive info is probably safer with them than on your own computer but still in the digital world Data Theft can happen so here are two rules I follow to minimize the damage one don't use debit cards online or with remote assist assistance if there's a problem it's easier to fix with a credit card two if your vau needs to log in to websites for you make unique logins and passwords for those sites reusing logins and passwords is risky if you're hit by Data Theft Don't Panic follow these tips and you'll see it's not as bad as it seems and it can be fixed the complicated art of Simplicity common complaints my assistant messed up big time it took him a whopping 23 hours just to schedule an interview this was the first time I had to complain 23 hours I was really mad and wanted to yell at him I thought I made myself clear in my original email to him hey Abdul here are the tasks I need you to do by next Tuesday if you have any questions just ask one find the contact info for Carol Milligan Mark Julie shley and Rob long from these articles two schedule 30-minute interviews for Carol marul and Rob using the website www mycom login nreal password dantri anytime between 9:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. eastern time next week three look for people in the S who negotiated remote work agreements despite resistance from their bosses send me their profiles or write a paragraph about why they fit the criteria let me know if you need help thanks Tim to be honest it was my fault I didn't make a good request from the start and I made some big mistakes even before I wrote it down if you're someone who's good at getting things done but not used to giving orders most problems in the beginning are probably your fault it's easy to blame someone else right away but most new bosses make the same mistakes I did one I just accepted the first person the company gave me without asking for anything specific ask for someone with really good English skills and say that phone calls might be needed even if they're not if there are communication problems ask for a different assistant quickly two I wasn't clear in my instructions I told him to schedule interviews but didn't say it was for an article he thought I wanted to hire someone so he spent time looking for more information I didn't need keep your instructions simple and easy to understand make sure they can only be understood One Way three I let him waste time you need to check in after a few hours to see how things are going some tasks might turn out to be impossible after trying them for a bit four I gave him too much time to finish give shorter deadlines like 72 hours or less I've had the best luck with 48 or 24 hours this is another reason to use a small group of assistants instead of just one person five I gave him too many tasks and didn't say which was most important it's better to give one task at a time or at most two don't overload them with too many tasks without saying which ones are most important so what does a good email to aa look like here's an example hey somia thanks let's start with this task task find the names and emails of editors of men's magazines in the S who have also written books for example people like AJ Jacobs from asquire I already have his info I just need more like him can you do this let me know please reply and tell me how you plan to do this task deadline start after your next email and stop after 3 hours let me know what you find by the end of Monday thanks for your quick response Tim short simple and clear clear writing comes from Clear thinking keep it simple in the upcoming chapters the skills you learn from working with our virtual assistant will be used on a much bigger and highly profitable stage automation what comes next will make delegating tasks seem like child's play in the world of automation not all business methods are the same how do you put together a business and manage all its parts without doing much yourself how do you automate money going into your bank account without running into common problems it starts with knowing your options managing information effectively and what will'll call Muses the next chapter will lay out the plan for the first step creating a product go with the flow here's a simple chart that jedwood made showing how he uses the 4hww method to make decisions faster get more done with less effort and spend more time with his wife and kids Q&A questions and actions one get yourself an assistant even if you think you don't really need one this is about learning to be in charge and not always taking orders start with a small project or a task you do every day it's good to have one assistant who speaks your language well and another from a different country to help improve how you communicate two start small but think about big changes look at your to-do list and see what's been there for a while whenever you get interrupted or switch tasks ask yourself if AA could do it instead figure out what tasks make you frustrated or bored here are some common time consuming tasks for small businesses with an online presence submitting articles managing online discussions handling affiliate programs creating content for newsletters and blogs and doing research for marketing projects don't expect miracles from one assistant but also don't give them tasks that waste time the point is to step out of your comfort zone three think about your top five time consuming tasks for work and five fun personal tasks you could delegate four keep your schedule organized if your assistant helps with scheduling appointments and updating your calendar make sure both of you can see the same information and it's always up to date Comfort challenge use the sandwich method 2 days and weekly sometimes people do things that bother us whether it's a coworker boss customer or someone else instead of avoiding the issue because you're afraid of Confrontation try giving feedback in a nice way for two days in a row and then every Thursday Monday to Wednesday can be stressful and Friday is too relaxed practice what I call the sandwich method with someone it's called that because you start with something positive then give your feedback and end with more positive words to soften the criticism here's an example with a boss you hi Mara do you have a moment Mara sure what's up Q first I want to thank you for helping me with the mely worm account I really appreciate you showing me how to handle that you're really good at fixing technical issues Mara no problem we here's the thing we're all getting a lot of work and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed normally I'm good at figuring out priorities but I've been struggling lately could you help me by pointing out the most important tasks when there are a lot to do I'd really appreciate it and I think it would make a big difference Mara uh I'll try to help you that means a lot to me thanks oh and by the way last week's presentation was excellent Mara really blah blah blah lifestyle design in action the best times to send emails you've recommended that people only check their emails a few times each day here's a different approach approach I reply to emails when it's convenient for me but I schedule them to be sent at times that are also convenient for me with Outlook you can delay the delivery of emails to any time of day for example when I respond to emails at 300 p.m. I don't want my staff to immediately bombard me with replies or questions this also avoids turning emails into instant chats so I hit send but I schedule the email to arrive later in the evening or at 8 8: a.m. when my employees start their day this is how email should be used it's meant for communication not instant messaging Jim larrinaga part nine income autopilot eye finding the Muse the Renaissance minimalist Douglas price woke up in his Brooklyn home feeling refreshed after a trip to Croatia he brewed coffee and checked his emails finding good news about his projects his startup last bamboo was near completion and an art gallery wanted more of his work he also received praise for his music album released for free use after finishing his coffee he tackled his business emails a task that took less than 30 minutes for the day and two hours for the week this routine was a far cry from two years ago when he was caught up in a failing internet startup now Douglas ran Pro sound effects comom a business that sold sound libraries online he didn't need to keep inventory or handle shipping instead he used the Drop Shipping model where manufacturers sent products directly to customers this method allowed him to earn profits without much effort calculating the profit Douglas made do3 34760 per hour spending less than 2 hours a week managing his business with minimal startup costs and no Financial Risk he now had more time for music travel and explor ing new Ventures the chapter suggests finding a muse a business that generates cash without taking up much time this business should be simple to manage and not require constant attention the goal isn't to change the world or sell the business but to create a steady stream of income with minimal effort why to begin with the end in mind a cautionary tale Sarah is feeling good about her new Venture selling funny t-shirts for golfers online she's been selling about five shirts a day at $15 each making a profit of $110 per shirt after subtracting the1 five cost but she wants to earn more before this success Sarah had spent a lot of money developing a fancy stroller for new moms but nobody wanted it now she's thinking about selling her shirts in stores to boost sales she talks to the manager of her local golf shop who agrees to sell her shirts but he wants a big discount so Sarah's profit drops to14 per shirt she tries this with three other stores but ends up spending more time managing orders than making money to solve this problem Sarah considers using a distributor who can handle shipping and selling to golf stores across the country but the distributor wants too big of a discount leaving Sarah with a loss on each shirt to make things worse the local stores start discounting her shirts so Sarah's profit shrinks even more eventually she gives up on selling in stores and goes back to selling online but now she's facing tough competition and struggling to make sales Sarah realizes she could have avoided This Mess by testing her ideas better before jumping in on the other hand there's Ed bed who runs a successful Sports supplement company he tested his product idea by selling related books first then priced his product high and sold it exclusively through one store this way he avoided competition and kept his profits High Ed's success shows that planning and testing are crucial for making money without wasting time and effort step one pick an affordably reachable niche market making people want something is tough but once they want it giving it to them is much easier instead of making a product and then trying to sell it find out who wants it first understand your customers then make or find a product product that they'll like for example I've been both a student and an athlete so I focused on creating products for those groups especially for guys but when I tried to sell an audio book to College counselors it didn't work why because I've never been one but when I made a speed reading seminar for students it worked well why because I understood their needs and what they'd spend money on so be part of the group you're selling to don't guess what they need or what they'll buy start small think big Danny black has a unique business he rents dwarfs for events at $149 per hour that's quite Niche they say if you try to sell to everyone you end up selling to no one so instead of targeting big groups like dog or car lovers it's better to focus on smaller specific markets advertising to a broad audience is expensive and there's too much competition but if you focus on something like training German Shepherds or restoring antique Fords the market becomes smaller it's easier to reach your customers and charge higher prices for example bran wiin was made for students initially but it was hard to reach them so I relaunched it as bquick for student athletes I advertised in magazines specific to martial artists and powerlifters these markets are smaller compared to students but they're not tiny advertising costs less and there's less competition so I could dominate these niches it's better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond to find profitable niches ask yourself one which groups do you belong to or understand well think about your work experience hobbies and interests two do these groups have their own magazines look for specialty magazines in bookstores or online contact them to get advertising rates and see if they have repeat advertisers this shows it's a profitable Market step two brainstorm do not invest in products choose two markets that you know well and have magazines with ads costing less than doll five nazle and at least 15,000 readers then brainstorm or find products for these markets here are the criteria for finding the right product one the main benefit should be clear in one sentence two the price should be between $150 and $1200 three it should take no more than three to four weeks to make four it should be easily explained in an online fact these criteria help keep costs low attract the right customers and make the product easy to manage to find out how long it takes to make the product contact manufacturers who specialize in similar products get quotes for different quantities to make sure the pricing Works make sure the product is something you can explain well online this avoids getting bombarded with questions or spending a lot on customer service once you understand these criteria you can start looking for the perfect product option one resell a product buying products at wholesale and reselling them can be a quick way to start a business but it's not the most profitable it's easy to set up but you'll face a lot of competition from other sellers which can drive drive down prices and profits unless you have an agreement that gives you exclusive rights to sell the product its popularity might fade fast however reselling can still be a good option if you want to sell products to existing customers or bundle them with other products you're already selling to buy products at wholesale follow these steps one contact the manufacturer and ask for their wholesale prices usually around 40% less than the retail price and their terms two if you need a business tax ID number you can get the necessary forms from your state Secretary of State website and apply for an LLC or a similar business structure which typically costs $1100 to20 but remember don't buy any products until you've completed the next steps outlined in the following chapter at this stage it's enough to know the potential profit margin and have product photos and sales materials ready that's pretty much how reselling Works option two license a product many famous Brands and products we know today were actually inspired by something else for example Red Bulls idea came from a tonic in Thailand and the Smurfs originated from Belgium even Pokemon has its roots in Honda's Homeland another example is the band KISS which made a lot of money from their music but they also earned big profits by letting others use their name and image on various products this is called Licensing in a licensing deal there are two main parties involved first there's the person who came up with the product known as the licenser they can give others the right to make use or sell their product in exchange for a percentage of the sales then there's the lensey who is interested in making and selling the product for most of the profit licensing deals involve a lot of negotiation and can be quite complex for those interested in learning more about real world examples and agreements you can visit www4 our blog but for now we'll focus on the simplest and most profitable option for most people creating our own products option three create a product creating a product might sound complex but it's simpler than you think if your idea is for a physical product you can hire Engineers or designers online to create a prototype for for you then a manufacturer can produce it for you if you find an existing product that can be tweaked for a specific Market that's even easier you can have it made with your branding on it a process known as private labeling ever seen a store's own brand of products that's private labeling in action while we'll initially test Market response without manufacturing successful tests mean we'll move to the manufacturing phase this involves considering setup costs production costs and minimum order quantities gadgets and devices are cool but they often require expensive tooling to make which doesn't fit our criteria however there's a class of product that ticks all our boxes can be made quickly and can be sold at a high markup information products these are things like courses guides or DVDs knockoff artists find it too time consuming to copy information products so they're harder to duplicate compared to physical products this gives them a Competitive Edge some of the most successful infomercial products like Carlton sheets no down payment and Tony Robbins personal power are examples of Highly profitable information products for instance I know someone who made a low budget how to DVD for under200 and sold it to storage facility owners who wanted to install security systems he made hundreds of thousands of dollars with no employees but I'm not an expert if you're not an expert don't worry in the world of selling products being an expert just means knowing more than the people you're selling to you don't have to be the absolute best just better than a small group of potential customers let's say your dream is to compete in a dog sledding race and you need1 5,000 to make it happen if you can convince even 50 out of 15,000 readers that you're really good at something and they buy A1 100 program you offer that's $1 5,000 right there those 50 customers are what I call the minimal customer base the smallest number of customers you need to believe in your expertise to reach your goal becoming an expert can happen in less than 4 weeks if you know some basic tricks to show you're credible it's important to learn how to present yourself like a pro in your field how much you need to be an expert depends on how you get your content there are three main ways one create the content Yourself by gathering ideas from different sources and putting them together two use content that's not copyrighted like Old Government documents three pay an expert to help you create content or use their content if you choose the first or second option you need to be an expert in a smaller market for example if you're a real estate broker and most Brokers want a good website you can become an expert by learning about website design from the top selling books on the topic then you can offer your expertise in a magazine ad and expect a good response to come up with ideas for how to or informational products think about one how you can specialize a skill for your Market rather than just offering something general two what skills you're interested in that others would pay to learn three who you could interview to create an audio CD they don't have have to be the best just better than most four whether you have a story of overcoming failure that others could learn from the expert Builder how to become a top expert in 4 weeks let's break down the idea that you need to be an expert to succeed being seen as an expert is more about how others perceive you than what you actually know when it comes to selling products being seen as an expert is what helps sell while actually being knowledgeable about your product is is what makes it good and keeps customers satisfied you might know a lot about a topic like medicine for example but if you don't have an official title like MD after your name people might not take you seriously that official title is what I call a credibility indicator the person with the most credibility indicators like degrees or affiliations with reputable organizations is often seen as the most successful even if others know more about the topic it's not about tricking people it's about positioning yourself well so how do you quickly gain credibility indicators one way is to follow the strategies used by top public relations firms in big cities like New York and Los Angeles here's an example A friend of mine became known as a top relationship expert in just 3 weeks here's how she did it one she joined a couple of professional organizations related to her field like the association for conflict resolution and the International Foundation for gender education you can do this online in just a few minutes two she read the three most popular books on her topic and summarized each on one page three she gave a free seminar at a university and at a couple of big companies using posters to advertise she recorded these seminars to potentially use as products later on four she offered to write articles for trade mag magazines related to her topic or She interviewed known experts for articles this helped build her credibility five she joined profnet a service journalists used to find experts by responding to journalist queries and showcasing her credibility from steps 1 3 and four she got featured in various media Outlets becoming seen as an expert isn't as hard as it might seem it's not about pretending to be something you're not it's about showcasing ing your knowledge in the best way possible see you on TV Q&A questions and actions this chapter is all about taking action instead of the usual question and answer format I'll keep it simple the question is did you read the chapter and follow the directions if not make sure you do it now at the end of this chapter and the next two you'll find lots of useful resources to help you take the steps outlined in the text so if you're ready to take action keep reading and make the most of these resources Comfort challenge find Yoda 3 days for 3 days straight call at least one potential Superstar Mentor each day after trying to call send an email if you can't reach them by phone it's best to call before 8:30 a.m. or after 6s p.m. to avoid talking to secretaries or other Gatekeepers too much have one question ready that you've researched but can't figure out on your own aim high for mentors like cosos super successful business owners or famous authors don't be afraid to shoot for the stars if needed you can use a website like www connect tenis celebrity comom to find contact info here's a script you can use unknown answerer this is Acme Inc or the office of Mentor X you hi this is your name calling for mentor's name please answerer what's this about you sure I know this might sound a bit odd but I'm a firsttime author and a longtime fan I just read an interview with mentor's name and finally got the courage to call I have a specific question I'd love to ask them and it shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes is there any way you can connect me to them I really appreciate your help answerer let me check if they're available 2 minutes later here you go good luck connects call to mentors line if you get through to the mentor you hi Mr miss mentor's last name my name is your name I know this might sound a bit odd but I'm a firsttime author and a longtime fan I just read your interview and finally got the courage to call I have a specific question I'd love to ask you and it shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes can I ask Mentor sure go ahead I'm a bit busy though so make it quick you at the end of the call thanks so much for your time if I ever have another question very rarely would it be okay if I email you lifestyle design in action over the moon my 13-year-old daughter dreams of becoming an astronaut when she grows up last year she faced a really tough challenge we found comfort in the words failure is not an option a motto from the Apollo 13 mission I decided to reach out to Jim level the commander of Apollo 13 it was easy to find him and he kindly sent my daughter a letter sharing his experiences of overcoming challenges to become an astronaut including the Apollo 13 mission his letter meant a lot to her a few months later we went a step further and arranged VIP access for her to watch a shuttle launch Rob tools and tricks finding Market size compete and quantcast these websites provide data on how many people visit most websites and the popular Search terms that drive traffic to them writer Market a resource listing specialty and Niche magazines including their circulation and subscription numbers the print version is preferred spyfu this tool helps you see how much your competitors are spending on online advertising what keywords they use and other details consistent spending often means successful advertising standard rate and data services this resource offers annual listings of magazine and Company customer mailing lists available for rent it helps you gauge the potential Market size for your product finding products to resell or manufacture affiliate networks ClickBank Commission Junction Amazon Associates these networks allow you to experiment with products without inventory or invoices you earn a percentage of each sale as a commission Alibaba this is the world's largest business to business Marketplace offering a wide range of products at various prices worldwide Brands offers a guide for finding manufacturers willing to drop ship products to your customers helping you avoid pre purchasing inventory finding public domain information to repurpose Project Gutenberg a digital library offering thousands of pieces of literature in the public domain LibriVox provides free audiobooks from the public domain for download recording seminars or phone interviews hot recorder PC call recorder Mac programs to record phone calls via computer using VoIP programs like Skype noost conference provides a free 800 number conference line with recording capabilities accessible without a computer or web connection Jing project and dimdom free programs for recording screen actions for video tutorials licensing ideas to others for royalties invent offers a process for licensing ideas to large corporations led by successful inventor Steven key guthy ranker corporation a major infomercial company that accepts product submissions for potential licensing deals becoming an expert profnet via PR leads and Harrow receive daily leads from journalists and producers looking for experts to site or interview PR web press releases although press releases are less effective using this service can still provide search engine benefits like appearing at the top of related Google news and Yahoo news results lifestyle design in action hey Tim I was at Barnes and Noble last Saturday waiting for a book Tropic of Cancer while I waited I spotted a copy of 4-Hour Work Week on the counter so I started reading it I liked it so much that I asked the employe to get me my own copy I haven't finished Tropic of Cancer yet but I finished your book on Monday I asked my boss if I could work remotely 2 days a week and they said yes I also booked a great apartment in Paris for September at half the rent I pay in California I'm planning to work remotely more until then so it'll be easy to ask for time off if my boss says no I'm ready to quit my job right now I'm working on my income autopilot pilot project Tim my life changed in just 3 days and your book was hilarious thank you so much Cindy Frankie part 10 income autopilot Roman 2 testing the Muse less than 5% of the 195,000 books released each year sell more than 5,000 copies even teams of experienced Publishers and editors often fail for instance the founder of Borders Books lost1 375 million when he invested in web van a grocery delivery service that didn't catch on the lesson here is that gut feelings and experience aren't always reliable when it comes to predicting profitable products or businesses even focus groups can be misleading you might ask 10 people if they'd buy your product but their responses might change when you actually ask them to buy it people often say they'll buy something to be polite but when it comes to spending real money they may back out so to truly know if your product will succeed don't just ask people if they would buy it ask them to buy it their response to this request is the only one that truly matters this is the approach followed by the new Rich step three micro test your products microt testing means testing how consumers respond to a product before actually making it before the internet this was done with small ads in newspapers or magazines that led people to call and he a recorded sales message based on the response the product would either be made or abandoned nowadays we have better tools like Google AdWords to test ideas quickly and inexpensively with Google Adwords ads appear when people search for related terms and advertisers pay each time someone clicks on their ad this helps us see if there's interest in a product idea the testing process involves three steps one research competition look at what's already out there and create a better offer on a simple website two test with ads run short advertising campaigns on Google AdWords and observe the response three decide whether to proceed based on the results decide whether to move forward with manufacturing or drop the idea let's look at two examples Sherwood wants to sell French sailor shirts and Johanna wants to make a yoga DVD for rock climbing Sherwood found shirts he can buy at $125 each and sell for $1100 while Johanna plans to make her DVD for around $135 per copy now they need to test their ideas to see if they're worth pursuing besting the competition first Sherwood and Johanna need to see how they can stand out from their competition and offer a better product or deal one they start by searching for the top terms people would use to find their product they use tools like Google AdWords keyword tool and cook keyword tool to find popular Search terms then they visit the top websites that show up in search results and ads they look for ways to be different can they show more credibility like media mentions or testimonials can they offer a better guarantee can they have a wider selection can they offer free or faster shipping Sherwood notices that the shirts are often hard to find and they either aren't authentic or take a long time to ship Johanna can't find a DVD for yoga specifically tailored to rock climbing so she's starting from scratch two next Sherwood and Johanna need to make an advertisement that's one page long about 300 600 words and highlights what makes their product special they include testimonials from Happy customers and use personal or stock photos they spend time collecting ads that made them want to buy something which helps them create their own Johanna asks her clients for testimonials while Sherwood lets his friends try on the shirts to get feedback Sherwood also gets photos and ads from the shirt manufacturer you can see an example of how I've made a test page with testimonials on wwwx methodc this is just a template not a real sales page free seminars like the ones recommended in the expert Builder are great for finding out what people like about a product and getting testimonials testing the advertisement Sherwood and Johanna need to see how people respond to their ads Sherwood tries a quick test on eBay but he cancels the auction before it ends because he doesn't have the product yet he sees people bidding up to $1.75 which gives him confidence to move forward Johanna decides not to do this kind of test because she feels it's misleading Sherwood and Johanna both buy domain names for their their websites using a cheap registar Sherwood picks www shirts fcom and Johanna chooses www climber com they spend less than $120 each Sherwood creates his website using www Weebly and www wofu he sets up three pages one with the ad one with pricing and contact info and one to thank customers for their patience If the product is out of stock Johanna isn't comfortable with Sherwood's method so she creates a single web page with her ad and a sign up for a free tips list they both set up Google edwords campaigns to test their ads they choose specific Search terms and aim for the second to Fourth position in search results Sherwood tracks orders and Page abandonment rates using Google's tools while Johanna uses www wofu com to track email signups they design ads that focus on what makes their products different they create multiple ads with slight differences to test which ones work best they make sure their ads are clear and don't trick people into clicking they spend less than1 250 each for 5 days of advertising investing or divesting after 5 days Johanna and Sherwood look at their results they want to know if they spent their advertising money wisely and if they made any sales Johanna did pretty well she spent $1200 on ads and got 14 signups for her free tips list if she assumes that 60% of these signups would actually buy her $175 DVD then she could potentially make1 630 in profit she decides to set up an online store and starts selling DVDs she asks for feedback from her customers and makes improvements to her product Sherwood didn't do as well but he still sees potential he spent $1150 on ads and sold sold three shirts making a hypothetical profit of $225 however many visitors left his website when they saw the pricing instead of lowering the price he decides to offer a money back guarantee to reassure customers with this new offer he sells Seven shirts making $1 525 in profit he decides to set up a proper online store and starts selling more shirts he also advertises in a local magazine and offers special deals to attract more customers now that they've seen some success Johanna and Sherwood need to figure out how to expand their businesses Sherwood wants to quit his job and focus on his new Venture they will learn more about this in the next chapter new Rich Revisited how Doug did it let's break down how Doug from pround effects comom went from making no money to earning do 10,000 per month one choosing the right Market Doug picked music and television producers as his target market because he knows about these industries since he's a musician himself two figuring out the products he selected the most popular products from big companies that sell sound libraries these libraries can be expensive ranging from1 300 to do 7500 because of this Doug knew he'd have to answer a lot of customer questions three testing the waters to see if people were interested in bu buying these products Doug put them up for auction on eBay this helped him figure out if there was enough demand and what price people were willing to pay he only ordered the products from the manufacturers when someone placed an order with him this way he didn't have to invest in inventory upfront four expanding and automating once he saw that there was demand for the products Doug set up a Yahoo store and started advertising with Google Adwords and other online platforms as his business grew he tried advertising in trade magazines too at the same time he found ways to make his operations more efficient by Outsourcing tasks and streamlining processes this allowed him to spend less time working on the business while still making money Comfort challenge before you start this activity try to read the extra chapter called how to get doll 700,000 of advertising for dollar 10ms and on our partner website then plan to spend two hours each on a Saturday Sunday and Monday for this exercise on Saturday and Sunday visit a farmer's market or any outdoor event where things are sold if that's not possible you can go to small independent stores not big chains decide on a budget of $1100 for practicing negotiation look for items to buy that add up to at least $1150 your goal is to convince the sellers to lower the the total price to100 or less for everything you want to buy it's better to practice negotiating on many small items than on a few expensive ones when they give you their first price ask can you offer a discount let them try to lower the price themselves negotiate close to closing time decide on the lowest price you're willing to pay and then make a final offer with cash in hand for that amount practice walking away if they don't agree to your price on Monday call two magazines and use the script provided on the partner website to negotiate but skip the last firm offer part try to get them to agree to the lowest price possible later call them back and say that your offer was rejected by someone higher up this exercise is like practicing negotiation without actually buying anything get comfortable with turning down offers and bargaining both in person and over the phone tools and tricks here's a simpler breakdown of the information creating a test page the PX method this example page was used to test a speed reading product successfully it shows how testimonials credibility and guarantees can be used don't enter any real credit card information as it's just a teaching tool easy website creation tools Weebly it's simple and fast to create websites no need for coding knowledge wordpresscom another tool tool for creating websites which offers more customization options but requires more technical understanding forms for testing checkout Wu makes creating forms for checkout easy it connects with PayPal for payment trademark filing and Company formation legal Tsum helps with legal paperwork for forming companies and trademarks corporate Creations assists with company formation including overseas services for for selling downloadable products e junkie Lulu create a space ClickBank platforms for selling digital products like ebooks and videos with various features introduction to PPC advertising Google AdWords tool for advertising online and testing keywords to see how many people are searching for them domain registration domains in seconds Joker GoDaddy websites where you can register domain names posting services one and one Blu host Rackspace companies offering hosting services for websites royaltyfree photos istic photo Getty Images websites where you can find images for your site without worrying about copyright email signup tracking Auber MailChimp tools for managing email signups on your site end to n Site Solutions Shopify Yahoo store eBay store platforms off offering complete solutions for creating online stores Payment Processing PayPal cart Google Checkout tools for processing payments on your website web traffic analysis software Google analytics crazy egg click tracks web Trends programs for understanding how people interact with your website and where they come from part 11 income autopilot Roman 3 MBA management by absence most entrepreneurs don't initially aim for Automation in their businesses this can lead to confusion as different experts give conflicting advice for instance BB kellerer co-founder of Southwest Airlines believes in running a company with love and prioritizing employee happiness on the other hand Charles revon founder of Revlon prefers a tough approach emphasizing his dominance in the business now who to follow well there's a third option the conflicting advice often revolves around managing employees how to deal with the human side of business while herb advises being kind and revson favors toughness I suggest eliminating the problem altogether remove the human element from certain tasks once you have a successful product it's time to create a business system that can correct itself and run without constant human intervention the remote control CEO in rural Pennsylvania there's an interesting experiment in modern leadership happening in a 200-year-old stone Farmhouse Steven mcdonnald the CEO of Applegate Farms is making it work just as he planned McDonald spends most of his time at home upstairs in his flip-flops working on his computer despite this his company's Revenue has been growing by 30% each year plus he gets to spend more time with his three daughters than he ever imagined so what's the experiment McDonald decided early on to only spend one day a week at the company headquarters in New Jersey unlike many cosos who work from home due to health issues McDonnell has been doing this for over 17 years starting just 6 months after founding the company his deliberate absence has led him to create a business that relies on processes rather than just him by limiting his contact with managers mcdonal has encouraged the development of rules that Empower others to solve problems on on their own and it's not just a small operation Applegate Farm sells over 120 organic and natural meat products to upscale retailers bringing in over1 35 million in Revenue each year all of this is possible because mcdonell had a Clear Vision from the beginning behind the scenes The Muse architecture planning for the future and envisioning what your business will look like isn't A New Concept Wayne huizinga a famous dealmaker followed McDonald's organizational structure to transform Blockbuster into a billion dooll success story many other successful business leaders have done similar things however what sets our approach apart is our goal instead of aiming for the biggest business possible we're focused on creating a business that doesn't stress us out our aim is to set up a structure where we're not constantly in the middle of everything I didn't figure this out on my first try back in 23 during an interview in my home office for a documentary I was constantly interrupted by email notifications instant messages and phone calls I felt compelled to respond to each one because so many decisions relied on me if I didn't handle everything it felt like nothing would get done splitting the pie outsourcer economics each person or company we Outsource to takes a share of the money we make here's an example of how our profits might change for a product we sell for $180 with the help of an expert who gets paid a fee it's a good idea to calculate profits based on higher expenses to cover any unexpected costs and fees when considering advertising costs if we spend doar one nazon ads and get 50 sales our advertising cost per order is $120 this means our actual profit per item is $1 14094 after a particular experience I decided to make some changes 6 months later during a follow-up interview one significant change was evident silence I redesigned my business so that I didn't have to answer phone calls or emails people often ask me how big my company is how many full-time employees I have the truth is it's just me but when it comes to brain quick and LLC it's a different story I have between 200 and 300 people running it I'm like a hidden force behind the scenes means from advertisements to money in my bank account here's a simplified version of how my business operates including some example costs if you've followed the guidelines from the previous chapters to develop your product it should fit right into this structure where do I fit in this structure nowhere specific I'm not a bottleneck that everything needs to pass through instead I'm more like a backup stepping in only when necessary I rely on detailed reports from the outsourcers to ensure everything is running smoothly I check these reports regularly to keep track of our progress if I notice anything unusual it usually just takes one email to fix it and then I can get back to doing whatever I was doing before removing yourself from the equation when and how the diagram serves as a basic plan for creating a virtual system that runs itself it outlines key steps to follow one Contracting Outsourcing companies hire specialized companies rather than individual Freelancers whenever possible this ensures that if someone leaves or underperforms you can easily replace them without disrupting your business these companies should provide detailed reporting and be able to substitute each other if needed two encourage communication among outsourcers make sure all outsourced parties can communicate with each other to solve issues give them the authority to make inex expensive decisions without consulting you first to reach this goal it's important to understand where entrepreneurs often struggle and lose momentum many start with minimal resources doing everything themselves to get started while necessary initially they often struggle to transition to a more scalable infrastructure by scalable we mean A system that can handle a high volume of orders efficiently without requiring constant decision making from the entrepreneur here's a breakdown of the phases and what to focus on phase I 050 units shipped initially handle everything yourself including customer inquiries and order processing review advertising methods and ensure they are clear and effective start documenting common customer questions and create an fact section for your website investigate options for merchant accounts and shipping Solutions phase Roman 2 10 units shipped per week expand the fact section on your website look for local fulfillment companies and negotiate favorable terms focusing on setup fees and monthly minimums request client references and negotiate terms like net 30 payment terms phase Roman 3 20 units shipped per week consider larger fulfillment companies that offer endtoend services set up your own merchant account for better control over transactions optionally explore using call centers for customer support considering factors like wait times and service quality before making a decision the art of unision fewer options equals more Revenue Joseph Sugarman is a marketing expert known for his successful products like Blu blocker sunglasses he used to focus on ads in newspapers and magazines making millions with his JS and a group once a watch company asked him to promote nine watches in an ad but he suggested featuring just one they disagreed so he tested both versions in the Wall Street Journal the ad with one watch sold six times better Henry Ford who made the famous Model T car once said customers could have any color as long as it was black he understood that good customer service isn't about fulfilling every whim but offering quality products at fair prices and solving problems quickly giving customers too many options leads to indecision and fewer sales it also creates more work for you in manufacturing and customer service to simplify things here are some tips one offer one or two purchase options two provide one fast shipping method three skip overnight shipping to avoid stress four encourage online orders over phone calls five avoid international shipping to save time and money on Customs forms and complaints these strategies help save time and they also help filter out customers who might be more trouble than they're worth not all customers are created equal once you're in Phase Roman 3 and making some money it's time to be picky about your customers just like there are good and bad versions of everything there are good and bad customers decide to work with the good ones and avoid the bad ones treat customers like equals not like bosses you have to please no no matter what if you offer a great product at a fair price it's a fair trade not a situation where you beg the customer to like you be professional but don't bend over backward for unreasonable people instead of dealing with difficult customers it's better to stop them from ordering in the first place some smart business owners don't accept Western Union or checks as payment sure they might lose a bit of sales but they're also avoiding customers who cause a lot of problems and take up a lot of time it's like the 8020 rule most of the trouble comes from a small group of customers the customers who spend the least and ask for the most before buying will keep causing trouble after buying it's better to cut them out on the other hand those who spend the most usually don't complain much here are some policies to attract the good customers one don't accept Western Union checks or money orders two set High wholesale minimums and require a tax ID number for resellers to weed out the time consuming ones three make potential resellers fill out an online form and fax it in don't negotiate prices or give discounts for big orders four offer low priced products instead of free ones to gather contact information giving away free stuff attracts people who waste time and don't buy anything five offer a guarantee where the customer loses a bit and you win instead of free trials six don't accept orders from countries known for mail fraud like Nigeria make your customer base like an exclusive club and treat them well once they're in remember as Clint Eastwood said if you want a guarantee buy a toaster the 30-day money back guarantee isn't as exciting as it used to be if a product doesn't work returning it means spending time and money at the post office eliminating risk isn't enough anymore this is where we talk about lose win guarantees and reversing risks smart business owners use the guarantee as a key tool for selling the idea is to make it worth the customers while even if the product fails lose win guarantees put the company at risk but they also remove risk for the customer here are some examples bino's pizza if your pizza isn't delivered within 30 minutes it's free Calis prom program if you don't like Calis they'll pay for another brand the club if your car is stolen they'll pay dollar 500 of your insurance deductible bquick if it doesn't work within 60 Minutes they'll refund the price plus 10% extra lose win guarantees might seem risky but they're not if your product is good most people are honest for example bquick had less than 3% returns with a 60-day return period compared compared to the industry average of 121 15% with a 30-day guarantee sales went up over 300% after introducing the 110% guarantee other businesses saw similar success for example johannna sales went up over 200% with her guarantee on increasing flexibility Sherwood's sales also increased over 200% with his guarantee on Comfort returns stayed low or even decreased instead of selling 50 items and getting one back with a normal guarantee he sold 200 items and got six back with the new guarantee making more money overall lose win guarantees are the new way to win for businesses stand out and you'll see the benefits if you're trying to impress big retailers or potential Partners being a small company can hold you back but you can change that quickly with a few simple tricks to make yourself look like a big player even if you're just starting out one don't call yourself the CEO or founder these titles scream startup instead go for a mid-level title like vice president VP or director this also helps in negotiations because you won't seem like the ultimate Decision Maker two have multiple email and phone contacts on your website create different email addresses for different departments like HR sales General inquiries and more this makes you look like you have a big team handling various aspects of the business three use an interactive voice response ier system you can sound like a big company for less than $130 by setting up an 800 number with a professional greeting callers can select the department they want to reach and they'll be forwarded accordingly four avoid using your home address instead get a post office box and use the street address of the post office this makes your business look more official and prevents unexpected Visitors by projecting a professional image you can make your small company appear much bigger than it is and in the business World perception often matters more than reality Comfort challenge relaxing in public might seem weird but it's a fun challenge that shows you can break social rules and live life on your own terms here's the challenge for 2 days once a day just lie down in a crowded public place for about 10 seconds it could be on a busy sidewalk in a Starbucks or at a bar there's no special technique just lie down and then get back up like nothing happened you don't have to explain yourself to anyone if someone asks about it later just say you felt like lying down for a moment the less you say the funnier it is try it alone for the first two days and then you can do it with friends it's a lot of fun and breaks the monotony of everyday life the point is don't just think differently act differently too lifestyle design in action after reading about Outsourcing I wasn't sure if it would work for me but since the rest of the book had great advice I decided to give it a try instead of sending my work overseas I decided to keep it in the US and asked my computer savvy niece who's in college to help me out it turned out to be a fantastic experience for both of us I saved time and made money while she gained valuable skills and earn some cash it feels good to mentor and help someone grow which fits well with the book's overall message Kendy hey Tim remember when you told me about www Weebly comom a while back I've been using it to build all my M sites and I think it's awesome also Facebook groups cover almost every interest you can think of so here's what I've been doing to find success one I find a niche group that would be interested in buying my muse two I send a message to each admin explaining how my muse can benefit their group members then I politely ask them to put a short message in the recent news section of the group this is more trustworthy than a regular wall post and it stays up there for free until the admin removes it it's way better than just posting on the wall in one case the admin not only bought my muse but also posted my note in the group's recent news section and emailed the whole group to check out my site Gavin step Roman 4 L is for Liberation Part 12 disappearing act how to escape the office in Paulo Alto California Dave Camarillo a longtime employee at huet Packard HP found himself in an interesting situation despite being a dedicated worker he needed to take a trip to China to propose to his girlfriend who lived far away Dave's solution was simple he didn't ask for permission he just went despite the potential risks Dave took the leap and went on his trip without informing anyone at work surprisingly everything worked out well he proposed to his girlfriend they got married and Dave managed to handle his work calls remotely when he returned to the US Dave realized that taking risks and following his heart was worth it with the support of his boss he plans to spend more time traveling starting with regular trips to China Dave's story teaches us that sometimes it's better to seek forgiveness than permission in essence Dave's experience prompts us to ask ourselves why not take risks and pursue our dreams from cast to Castaway the traditional Rich folks with their fancy houses Posh clothes and annoying little dogs are known for staying put in one place like the schwarzes in Nantucket and the McDonald's in Charlottesville but that's kind of outdated now spending summers in the Hamptons feels like something from the 9s things are changing now it's the middle class who are sticking to one spot the new rich on the other hand are all about having the freedom to move around whenever they want and this isn't just for business owners or Freelancers even regular employees are getting in on it in fact big companies like Best Buy are embracing this idea they're letting thousands of employees work from home instead of coming into the office and it's working out well for them the new rule is simple do your work wherever and whenever you want as long as you get it done in Japan they have a term for the typical office worker salaryman but lately there's a new trend called datsu saruru which means escaping the salaryman lifestyle now it's your turn to join the movement and break free from the old way of working trading bosses for beer an Octoberfest case study to gain more freedom at work Sherwood took a strategic approach here's how he did it step one show the benefits Sherwood talked to his boss about getting extra training to improve his skills this would help him work better with clients and save time by investing more in him Sherwood made it harder for the company to say no to his requests step two prove he could work remotely Sherwood took a a couple of sick days to work from home he made sure to get a lot done and kept track of his productivity he showed that he could be just as effective outside the office step three highlight the business benefits he made a list of how much more work he could do from home and why it was good for the business this included things like Saving Time on commuting and avoiding distractions step four propose a trial period Sherwood asked his boss if he could work from home for a trial period of 2 weeks he made it clear that it was just a test and that he was confident he could get even more done step five expand remote time after proving himself during the trial period Sherwood asked to work remotely for more days each week he showed his boss how it benefited both him and the company in the end Sherwood got to work from home most of the time allowing him to focus better and be more productive he showed that with the right approach you can negotiate for more freedom at work an alternative The Hourglass approach here's a simpler approach called The Hourglass method to negotiate remote work one start with a planned project or personal issue that requires you to be out of the office for one or two weeks two explain that you'd like to keep working during this time instead of taking vacation days three offer to work remotely and even accept a temporary pay cut if needed four collaborate with your boss on how to make remote work feasible five during your time off be super productive and show your boss what you can accomplish remotely six when you return present the tangible results and suggest trying two or three days of remote work per week for a trial period seven make sure these remote days are extremely productive eight gradually suggest reducing office days to just one or two per week nine keep those office days less productive than your remote days 10 finally propose full Mobility working from anywhere and your boss is likely to agree Q and A questions and actions entrepreneurs often struggle with automation because they're afraid of losing control while employees find Liberation challenging because they fear taking control but it's crucial to take charge of your work life to succeed here are some steps to shift from office-based work to performance-based Freedom one imagine if you had to work remotely for 4 weeks due to a health emergency think of ways to make it happen and if you face obstacles ask yourself why the task needs to be done in person and how you could do it remotely consider tools like remote conferencing to overcome resistance from your boss two put your yourself in your boss's shoes would you trust yourself to work outside the office based on your work history if not work on improving your productivity and consider The Hourglass method three practice working in different environments to gauge your productivity spend time working in a cafe or exercising outside the gym to see if you can stay focused without a traditional office setting four measure your current productivity using quantifiable metrics like customers served or revenue generated keep track of your performance to demonstrate your capabilities five demonstrate your ability to work remotely before requesting it as a policy change show that you can Excel without constant supervision six practice overcoming objections by negotiating in different scenarios use questions like what would I need to do to desired outcome to navigate resistance seven start with small steps like proposing to work from home on Mondays or Fridays test the waters and see how your employer responds eight gradually extend successful trial periods until you achieve your desired level of flexibility or full-time remote work if your employer doesn't support your goals consider finding a new job where you can Thrive Life Style design in action consider using Earth class mail a service that redirects all your mail to them they scan and email you everything you receive giving you options to recycle junk mail get scans of important items or forward specific items to you or someone else I haven't tried it yet but a friend in Portland recommends it and they seem to have good reviews it's better than relying on friends or family who might forget or make mistakes I also use green buffone commom to process checks electronically that come through my Earth class mail account they charge1 five per check but it's convenient for me because I live in San Diego my Earth class mail address is in Seattle and I Bank in Ohio it works well here are some additional tips for traveling especially as a woman and a new mom Athleta offers great light quick dry clothing that's both sporty and fashionable scorts are perfect for staying covered while hiking or climbing steep steps longer lengths are useful in many countes tankini tops and swim skirts are great for swimming the fresh and go toothbrush is easy to use the marsona sound machine helps drown out unfamiliar noises which is helpful for better sleep especially with a baby we use it at home too when traveling with a baby some Essentials include a peanut shell sling for easy carrying a pea pod plus portable tent for baby's bed a go-o kids travel mate for Wheeling the car seat and a Brit X Diplomat car seat that's compact but suitable for infants to toddlers make sure your wheeled carry-on bag is slightly smaller than the allowed size so you can keep it with you giving the baby something to sip or munch on during takeoff and Landing can help prevent ear pain preempt common concerns your boss may have about remote work by researching Solutions in advance Cisco discusses security issues related to remote work so it's helpful to be prepared if you're employer brings up these concerns part 13 Beyond repair killing your job some jobs are Beyond fixing trying to improve them is like putting fancy curtains in a prison cell it might make things a bit better but it's still not good in this chapter when we talk about jobs we mean both running a company and having a regular job some suggestions might apply more to one than the other but most are relevant to both situations so let's get started I've left three jobs on my own and got fired from the rest while getting fired can be surprising and leave you scrambling it can also be a blessing it means someone else makes the decision for you and you can't stay stuck in the wrong job forever many people aren't fortunate enough to get fired and end up feeling miserable for decades pride and Punishment just because something took a lot of effort or time doesn't mean it was useful or valuable don't let embarrass over past mistakes stop you from making good choices now if you let pride get in the way you'll regret it in the future just like you do now I've been there myself stuck in a deadend path with my own business until I had to change course or face disaster I know how tough it can be let's be clear pride is foolish knowing when to quit things that aren't working is crucial to success starting a project or job without knowing when to stop is like gambling without a limit it's risky and unwise you might say but my situation is complicated is it really though don't mistake complexity for difficulty most situations are simple it's just hard to take action because of emotions the problem and the solution are usually clear and straightforward it's not that you don't know what to do you're just afraid of making things worse I'll tell you this if you're at this point things won't get worse by making a Change review your fears and take the leap like pulling off a Band-Aid it's easier and less painful than you think there are a few main fears that stop people from leaving bad situations but there are simple responses to all of them one fear of permanence you might worry that quitting is forever but most changes are reversible use the questions in this chapter and in the fear setting section to see how you could go back to your career or start another company later on two money worries you might think you won't be able to pay your bills if you leave but you can find a new job or source of income before quitting if you do end up without a job there are ways to cut expenses and live off savings for a while you won't starve you can reduce costs like car insurance cook at home instead of eating out and sell things you don't need three health insurance and retirement you might fear losing these benefits if quit but you can often find similar coverage through private plans and transferring retirement accounts is usually straightforward four damage to your resume you might worry that quitting will look bad to Future employers but you can make gaps in your resume less noticeable by doing interesting things during your time off if you have unique experiences like traveling around the world or training with professional sports teams it can make you stand out and impress interviewers you can explain your break by saying you had a rare opportunity that you couldn't pass up the cheesecake factor in the summer of 1999 I attempted to make a cheesecake while on a no carbohydrate diet however the cheesecake didn't set properly turning into a soupy mess I had used Stevia instead of sugar which made it overly sweet despite wasting time and ingredients I sat down to eat it feeling sick afterward and unable to eat cheesecake for years this experience reflects how people often suffer unnecessarily due to their own choices like staying in bad jobs mistakes can be divided into two types those made by taking action with incomplete information and those made by refusing to change a bad situation despite knowing better the lad can lead to long-term suffering some may fear changing jobs too soon but good employers value performance over job tenure if your industry requires endurance a bad job for promotion it might not be worth it the consequences of bad decisions don't improve with time so what cheesecake are you tolerating in your life Q Anda questions and actions many people perhaps less skilled than you leave their jobs daily it's a normal part of life and not the end of the world here are some exercises to help you see how common job changes are and how easy the transition can be one think about whether you're more likely to find what you want in your current job or elsewhere two imagine if you were fired today what steps would you take to manage your finances three take a day off and post your resume on job sites like monster and Careerbuilder even if you're not planning to leave it shows there are other options contact Head Hunters if needed and email friends about potential job opportunities four take a day off during work hours to do these exercises it will help you simulate being unemployed and reduce the fear of uncertainty remember having more options gives you more power don't wait until you're desperate to look for Alternatives previewing your options now will make it easier to take action later if you own a company imagine being sued and having to declare bankruptcy forcing you to shut down how would you survive financially part 14 many retirements embracing the mobile lifestyle after Sherwood returned from octob Bast feeling a bit fuzzy from all the drinking but happier than he had been in years the trial of working remotely becomes an official policy Sherwood now enters the world of the new rich now all he needs is an idea of how to make the most of this newfound freedom and the tools to make his limited money stretch to cover an almost unlimited lifestyle if you followed the steps outlined earlier getting rid of unnecessary tasks automating processes and Breaking Free from ties to one location it's time to dream big and explore the world even if you're not particularly interested in traveling extensively or if you think it's not feasible due to commitments like marriage a mortgage or children this chapter is still important it's about making fundamental changes that many of us put off until circumstances Force us to this chapter is like your final test in designing a life full of inspiration the Journey Begins in a small Mexican Village with a story that's been told in various ways all over the world fables and Fortune Hunters an American businessman went on vacation to a small coastal Mexican Village on doctor's orders unable to sleep after getting a call from work the first morning he went out to the pier to clear his head there he saw a small boat with one fisherman who had caught several large yellin tuna the the American praised the quality of the fish and asked the Mexican how long it took to catch them the Mexican replied that it only took a short while and explained that he caught enough to support his family and share with friends curious the American suggested that the Mexican could catch more fish and buy a bigger boat to expand his business he encouraged the Mexican to eventually start his own canery control production and distribution and move to bigger cities like Mexico City Los Angeles and New York City to grow his Enterprise the American predicted that in 1520 years the Mexican would become very wealthy by selling his Company's stock to the public the Mexican fisherman asked how long all this would take to which the American replied 152 years 25 tops the fisherman then asked what he would do after becoming rich and the American explained that he would retire to a small coastal village where he could relax spend time with his family family and enjoy Simple Pleasures like fishing and playing guitar with friends this story highlights the misconception that achieving wealth and success requires sacrificing years of hard work and delaying enjoyment until retirement in reality simple and fulfilling experiences can be enjoyed with relatively little money for example the narrator shares his own experiences of exploring Tropical Islands and flying over beautiful vineyards in Argentina for just a few hundred he challenges readers to reconsider how they spend their money and suggests that lifechanging experiences are within reach for much less than they might think the birth of many retirements and the death of vacations in February 2004 I was feeling really unhappy and overworked I decided I needed a break so I started planning a trip to Costa Rica for 4 weeks in March but a friend told me it wasn't a good idea because it was going to be the rainy season there so I changed my plan and decided to go to Spain instead since Spain was close to other countries I wanted to visit I thought why not make it 3 months I figured if any problems came up in the first four weeks I could deal with them so there wasn't much extra risk in extending my trip those three months ended up turning into 15 and it got me thinking why wait until I retire in 20 or 30 years to enjoy life why not spread out the fun and Adventure throughout life instead of saving it all for the end the alternative to binge traveling if you're used to working for most of the year when you finally have the freedom to take longer trips it's easy to go overboard and try to cram too much into a short time it's like giving a hungry dog access to an endless Buffet it'll eat until it gets sick I made this mistake during a 15-month trip cramming visits to seven countries into 3 weeks with a friend who had limited vacation time it was exciting but exhausting we were constantly on the Move getting sick and feeling rushed because of our pre-booked flights instead of binge traveling I suggest the opposite approach taking many retirements this means spending one to six months in one place before going home or moving somewhere else it's not about escaping life but about taking time to reflect and reset many retirements are different from sabatical which are usually seen as a one-time break I take three or four many retirements each year sometimes traveling far sometimes staying close to home but always disconnecting from work for a while purging the demons emotional Freedom true Freedom goes beyond just having enough money and time to do what you want even if you're financially stable and have plenty of time you can still feel trapped in the rat race of our fast-paced materialistic culture to truly Break Free you need to let go of material realistic desires the constant need to be busy and the habit of comparing yourself to others this isn't something that happens overnight it takes time and effort to change these ingrained behaviors based on the experiences of many people I've talked to it takes about 2 to 3 months to break free from old routines and realize how much we distract ourselves with busyness can you sit through a long dinner without feeling antsy can you adjust to the slower pace of life in a small town where business is close in the afternoon if not it's worth asking yourself why take the time to slow down get lost on purpose and observe your own thoughts and judgments it might feel uncomfortable at first but spending at least two months away from your usual routine can help you ReDiscover yourself without the pressure of having to return home soon the financial realities it just gets better the idea of taking many retirements isn't just about having fun it can also save you money when you travel you can often live in nice places for a fraction of what it costs back home here are some examples from my recent trips airfare I got my flights for free using rewards from my credit cards housing in buen Osiris I stayed in a penthouse apartment in a fancy neighborhood for1 550 a month including utilities and cleaning in Berlin I lived in a huge apartment in a trendy area for dollar 300 a month meals I ate at fancy restaurants in Buenos Ires for $110 a meal spending $1300 a month in Berlin I spent $118 a meal totaling $1 540 a month entertainment in Buenos ciris I splurged on VIP tables at clubs for $1150 a night spending $1.75 a month per person in Berlin I spent $120 a night on clubbing totaling $180 a month education I took private Spanish lessons in Buenos irz for15 an hour spending $1200 a month I also took Tango lessons for $18.33 an hour totaling $1 333 w a month in Berlin I took German lessons for1 175 a month which also got me discounts on Transportation transportation in Buenos Iris I used a monthly subway pass and took cabs to tango Le spending $1.75 a month in Berlin I had a monthly pass for Subways trams and buses with a student discount costing $185 a month for a month of luxury living in Buenos ciris I spent $11 53310 including airfare from JFK in Berlin I spent $1 w180 including airfare from JFK and a stopover in London comparing these costs to your usual monthly expenses back home like rent utilities food and entertainment you might find that traveling can actually be cheaper and more enjoyable fear factors overcoming excuses not to travel many times the reasons we give for not traveling are just excuses I used to do the same thing so I'm not judging it's common to blame external factors for why we don't take action but I've met people from all walks of life people with disabilities older folks single parents homeowners and those with financial struggles who have found compelling reasons to travel extensively instead of focusing on the many reasons not to travel they found ways to make it happen and it changed their lives for the better while most concerns about traveling are addressed in the Q and A there's one in particular that needs some reassurance it's 10,000 p.m. Do You Know Where Your Children Are many parents worry about losing their child during their first International trip however if you're comfortable taking your kids to big cities like New York or London you'll likely have even fewer concerns in the cities I suggest in the Q and A these places generally have less crime compared to many large US cities plus if your travel involves staying in one place for a while rather than hopping around hotels and airports the chances of problems are further reduced but still what if something goes wrong Jen ero a single single mother who took her kids on a five-month world tour had this fear too she played a game with her kids to memorize important information like itineraries and phone numbers making it fun instead of scary she also had emergency contacts in each country and a cell phone with global roaming luckily nothing bad happened and now she's planning more Adventures another mom Robin melinsky rumel traveled through South America for a year with her husband and 7-year-old son despite warnings not to visit Argentina due to riots she did her research and found it safe people often assume foreign places are more dangerous than they really are many parents use their kids as an excuse to avoid adventurous travel to overcome fear Robin suggests taking a trial run for a few weeks before a big trip and arranging language classes at each stop also some families use a system of rewarding good behavior with ual cash teaching kids self-control so whether you're worried about losing your children or your sanity while traveling with them there are practical solutions to ease your concerns how to get airfare at 50 80% off this isn't a guide for traveling on a tight budget most moneysaving tips in those guides are for travelers who plan short intense trips but if you're taking a longer break it might be worth paying a bit extra for convenience for for example spending $1150 more on hassle-free airfare over 2 months is better than spending 20 hours trying to save a few bucks on a less reliable Airline I once tried buying a cheap standby ticket to Europe for $110 after researching for 2 weeks but most Airlines didn't accept it and those that did were fully booked I ended up spending $1300 on a hotel and had to buy a last minute ticket for over1 700 so I've learned learned a few tricks after visiting 25 countries to save money without headaches one use credit cards that offer reward points for big expenses like advertising or manufacturing this helps me earn a free international ticket every 3 months without spending extra money two buy tickets well in advance at least 3 months or at the last minute and try to travel between Tuesday and Thursday I don't like planning too far ahead so I usually buy tickets just before I want to leave empty seats on flights are worthless once the plane takes off so last minute tickets can be cheap three think about buying one ticket to a major airport and then a separate ticket with a Budget Airline for the rest of your journey for example if you're going to Europe you could use a free ticket to a big airport like Heathrow in London then buy a cheap ticket with a local Airline like ryion Aire or EIT to your final destination sometimes times these tickets cost as little as $110 because local airlines offer seats for just the taxes and fuel costs when more is less cutting the Clutter I know a guy whose dad is super rich and Pals with Bill Gates this guy has lots of fancy houses with staff but he feels like he's working for them because they spend more time in his houses than he does traveling for a long time is a good opportunity to clean up all the stuff you've collected over the years before you drag a bunch of luggage around the world it's time to get rid of things you don't really need trust me it's better to travel light I'm not saying you should live like a monk and get rid of everything but let's be real there's probably a bunch of stuff in your life that you don't use or even like getting rid of clutter makes life simpler and happier before my 15-month trip I stressed about fitting all my stuff into a small storage space but then I realized I never used most of it anyway it was hard to let go of things I once thought were valuable but once I started it got easier I donated clothes I never wore and sold Furniture I didn't need it felt great and gave me some extra cash for my trip getting rid of stuff made my apartment feel bigger but more importantly it cleared my mind I felt happier and less stressed every traveler I talked to said the same thing Pack Light it's tempting to bring everything but it's better to bring only what you really need instead of packing for every situation bring the basics and set aside some money to buy things you need along the way here's what you really need to bring one clothes for a week including something fancy for special occasions two copies of important documents like your passport and credit cards three debit and credit cards and some cash in the local currency four locks for your luggage five language dictionaries and a travel guide that's it and unless you need it for work leave your laptop at home it's too heavy and distracting instead use online tools to access your computer when you need it the Bora Bora dealmaker Josh steinitz stood at the edge of the icyc and watched in awe he felt The Frozen Ground beneath his boots as he gazed at the amazing sight before him 10 narwals rare whale with long spiral tusks emerged from the water and then disappeared Into the Depths again Josh knew he had some time before they resurfaced as narwhals are known for their deep Dives it felt fitting to be with the Narwhals their name came from Old Norse and described their speckled white and blue skin noeler means corpse whale Josh smiled a smile he had grown accustomed to in the past few years you see joshh had faced a tough battle with cancer just a year after college he had big plans for his future but suddenly none of it seemed to matter less than half of those with his type of cancer survived and Josh realized that life was too short to waste on things he didn't enjoy after beating cancer Josh decided to embark on a journey around the world supporting himself as a freelance writer later he even started a website to help others plan their own Adventures despite his success Josh remain true to his love for travel he could work from anywhere whether it was a luxurious Bungalow in Bora Bora or a cozy cabin in the Swiss Alps once he even took a business call while on a glacier on Mt Rainer another time he answered a call from a balines temple surprising his client with the sound of Temple gongs in the background now as he sat among the Narwhals Josh took out his satellite phone and laptop to send an email to his friend's back home despite the danger of polar bears and the endless daylight of the Arctic Josh couldn't help but share his excitement he started his email with his usual line I know you're all tired of seeing me have so much fun but guess where I am q& a questions and actions if you're thinking about living a life of Travel and Adventure for the first time I'm a little jealous taking this leap into the unknown is like going from being a passenger to being the one one in control of your journey in this guide we'll focus on the steps you need to take and the timeline you can follow when getting ready for your first extended break from the regular routine most of these steps become easier once you've had your first Adventure some are one-time tasks While others might take a couple of weeks to prepare for for me now it only takes a few afternoons to get ready let's get started one take stock of your finances make two lists one for all your assets like bank accounts Investments property and another for your income and expenses figure out what you can cut back on to simplify your life and free up resources for your adventure two imagine a dream destination think about where you'd like to spend your time during your break consider places that excite you and where you'd feel comfortable three choose your starting point you have two main options either start somewhere and explore until you find your ideal spot or scout out a region and then settle down where you feel most at home it's usually more transformative to go overseas but make sure it's somewhere safe and affordable four get ready for your trip here's a breakdown of what to do in the months leading up to your departure 3 months before simplify your life by getting rid of unnecessary belongings and tying up Loose Ends 2 months before set up automatic pain payments for bills and expenses and make sure all your important documents and finances are in order one month before arrange for your mail to be forwarded get any necessary vaccinations and test out remote access software for your computer 2 weeks before make digital copies of important documents set up a communication plan for work or personal matters and find temporary accommodation for when you arrive at your destination one week before set a schedule for managing tasks like emails and online banking save important documents to a portable device and move your belongings into storage 2 days before prepare your vehicles for storage and adjust your insurance coverage upon arrival spend your first day exploring the city and looking for long-term accommodation get a local SIM card for your phone and start reaching out to landlords or agents for apartment viewings over the next few days find and secure an apartment settle in and sort out any necessary Insurance living a mobile lifestyle and embarking on long-term Adventures can be incredibly rewarding by following these steps and staying organized you'll be well prepared to make the most of your journey ahead tools and tricks here are some helpful resources for planning your mini retirement one virtual tourist this website has tons of travel tips and advice from over a million members for more than 25,000 locations worldwide you can find recommendations for things to do local Customs shopping spots and places to avoid two escape artist if you're interested in topics like getting a second passport or starting your own country this site is a gold mine it's a great resource for unconventional travel ideas three outside Magazine online free archives you can access the entire Archive of outside Magazine online for free they cover everything from meditation retreats to thrilling adventure destinations with lots of beautiful photos to inspire you four grid Skipper the urban travel guide this site is perfect for exploring the hidden gems of cities around the world it's a bit edgy and not always familyfriendly but it's full of useful information for urban explorers five lonely plet The Thorn Tree this is a discussion forum where Global Travelers share tips and advice it's a great place to connect with other Travelers and get Insider knowledge about different regions six Family Travel Forum if you're traveling with kids this forum is a valuable resource you can find advice on familyfriendly destinations and tips for planning a smooth trip with children seven US Department of State country profile and World Travel watch these resources provide upto-date information on global events and travel safety it's essential to check for any Travel warnings or advisories before finalizing your plans eight round the world fact this fact covers everything from financial planning to dealing with culture shock it's a comprehensive guide for anyone planning an extended trip around the world nine removing clutter websites like Craigslist free cycle and 1 800 got Junk can help you clear out your belongings before your trip it's a good idea to simplify your life and get rid of unnecessary clutter 10 one bag this site offers tips and advice for packing light traveling with just one bag can make your journey much more manageable and enjoyable 11 us Centers for Disease Control and prevention make sure to check for any required vaccinations or Health precautions for your destination it's important to stay healthy while traveling abroad 12 tax planning if you're planning to relocate permanently or spend an extended period abroad it's essential to understand the tax implications consult with a tax professional to ensure you stay compliant with us tax laws once you've sorted out the logistics you can start thinking about what to do once you arrive at your destination whether you want to pursue a career experiment become a travel Rider or simply explore the world there are endless possibilities for your mini retirement Adventure part 15 filling the void adding life after subtracting work I walked into a deli across the street made of rough stones and ordered a ham sandwich it was 10:33 in the morning and I kept checking the time wondering what I should do the only thing I could come up with was to get something to eat early I woke up without an alarm clock for the first time in 4 years feeling excited about it I imagined waking up to the sound of birds singing sitting up in bed happily smelling freshly brewed coffee and stretching like a cat in the Sun but it didn't happen that way instead I woke up Suddenly checked the time cursed jumped out of bed to check my email but remembered I wasn't supposed to Cursed again realized my friend and host had gone to work and started to panic the rest of the day felt like a blur I wandered from Museum to Botanical Garden to museum again feeling lost and avoiding internet cafes because I felt guilty I needed a to-do list to feel like I was accomplishing something so I wrote down simple tasks like eat dinner I realized that this adventure was going to be much harder than I had expected postpartum depression it's normal I've got more money and time than I ever dreamed possible why am I depressed it's a good question and there's a good answer it's better to figure this out now than at the end of life people who are retired and very wealthy often feel unfulfilled and anxious for the same reason they have too much free time but wait a second isn't having more time what we want isn't that what this book is about actually no having too much free time can lead to feeling unsure of yourself and getting stuck in negative thoughts cutting back on work driven by money isn't the ultimate goal it's about living more and growing as a person at first the idea of living out your dreams might be exciting enough and that's okay this initial period is crucial go ahead and pursue your dreams enthusiastically it's not selfish it's important to stop holding back and stop delaying things you want to do let's say you decide to try out your dream of living on a Caribbean island or going on a safari in Africa it'll be amazing and you should absolutely do it but eventually whether it's a few weeks or a few years later you might start feeling bored or having doubts but this is what I always wanted how can I be bored Don't Panic it's normal especially for high Achievers who have worked hard for a long time the smarter and more goal oriented you are the tougher it might be to adjust learning to appreciate having more time instead of feeling like there's never enough is like switching from strong WR coffee to decaf but there's another reason why retirees get depressed and you might feel it too loneliness offices might have their downsides but they also provide social connections and interactions once you're no longer working you might miss that sense of community which can make you feel more isolated don't be afraid of feeling lost or lonely at times adjusting to this New Freedom is like learning a new sport at first Everything feels exciting because it's all so new but once you get the hang of it you realize that becoming good at it takes practice don't worry The Best Is Yet To Come and you're almost there frustrations and doubts you're not alone once you're out of the traditional 95 routine and facing reality it's not always easy without deadlines and co-workers you're left with big questions like what's the point of it all in a world of endless choices deciding what to do can be overwhelming it feels a bit like being in your last year of college unsure of what comes next as a Trailblazer you'll doubt yourself at times once the initial excitement wears off you might start comparing yourself to others still in The Daily Grind questions like am I lazy for wanting this or was I just not cut out for the rat race might pop up these doubts are normal but they can be overcome they often stem from old ideas that more is always better better and success equals money but when you're focused on something challenging and meaningful these doubts fade away as you search for a new Focus you might Ponder big questions like the meaning of life but here's the thing many of these questions are so vague that trying to answer them is a waste of time before you stress over a question ask yourself if you can clearly Define it and if finding an answer will actually make a difference in your life questions like what's the mean of Life usually fail these tests instead focus on things you can Define and act upon sharpening your logical thinking is smart not shallow it's about using your energy where it matters most the point of it all drum roll please I believe life is meant to be enjoyed and feeling good about yourself is crucial how we find joy and fulfillment varies from person to person some find it in helping others like working with orphans While others find it in Creative Pursuits like making music for me it's about love learning and personal growth but I know that's not true for everyone some say focusing on self-love and enjoyment is selfish but it's not enjoying life and helping others aren't opposites they can go hand in hand just like being unsure about religion but still living by strong morals so assuming we agree on that the question remains how can I enjoy life and feel good about myself there's no one size fits all answer but based on talking to many fulfilled people two things seem essential never stop learning and find ways to serve others learning unlimited sharpening the saw learning is essential to living that's why I often leave jobs after about 6 months I get bored once I stop learning new things traveling and moving to new places accelerate learning because they challenge your perspectives and for you to confront your weaknesses before I travel somewhere I decide on a skill to focus on for example in Ireland I learned Gaelic Irish played the Irish flute and tried hurling a fast-paced sport in Brazil I studied Brazilian Portuguese and Brazilian jiujitsu in Germany I learned German and practiced locking a type of break dancing I usually focus on language and a physical skill like martial arts SP sports are great for making friends and immersing yourself in a new culture without feeling out of place learning a new language is especially valuable it helps you understand other cultures and even your own thoughts better contrary to popular belief adults can learn languages quickly especially when they're not stuck in a 95 routine with consistent practice you can become conversational in a new language in just 6 months or less learning a language gives you a new perspective on on the world and can be a lot of fun don't miss the opportunity to expand your horizons service for the right reasons to save the whales or kill them and Feed the Children Service means doing something that makes life better for others not just yourself it's different from philanthropy which focuses on helping people but life isn't just about humans it's about all living things including the environment and animals before diving into big causes like saving the rain forest or rescuing endangered species consider this there are many problems closer to home like poverty and homelessness it's not about comparing causes or trying to find the best one to support every issue needs attention and every act of kindness makes a difference whether it's saving a life or bringing Joy through music service isn't just about saving lives or the planet it's also about making life better in any way you can whether you're a musician bringing happiness to others or a mentor changing a child's life every positive action counts so find what interests you most and get involved without hesitation Q and A questions and actions but I'm not saying you should spend your whole life traveling learning languages or Fighting For A Cause these are just good starting points that can lead to New Opportunities and experiences you wouldn't have otherwise there's no one right answer to the question what should I do with my life life forget about what you should do and focus on what seems fun or rewarding to you don't rush into a full-time commitment right away take your time to find something that truly interests you not just something that seems okay here's a good way to start based on what many people have found successful one take a break pause and do nothing for a while slow down and cut out distractions consider going on a short Retreat where you can disconnect from technology and just be with yourself two give back anonymously make a donation to a charity without expecting recognition for it it feels even better when you do good without seeking praise three learn and volunteer take some time off maybe 6 months or more to focus on learning and volunteering use this time to learn new skills and contribute to your community keep track of any negative thoughts in a journal and challenge them to see if they're really true four reassess your goals after your break revisit your goals and adjust them if needed think about what makes you happy and what you're good at consider how you can turn your passions into something meaningful five try new things based on what you've learned consider trying out new jobs or activities either part-time or full-time don't be afraid to pursue your childhood dreams or explore new interests now is the time to break free from any limitations and pursue what truly excites you part 16 the top 13 new Rich mistakes making mistakes is a normal part of trying to shape your life the way you want it you'll probably make some missteps along the way but don't worry too much about it here are some common mistakes people make when trying to design their lifestyle one forgetting about your dreams and getting stuck in a cycle of working just for the sake of working it's important to remember what you really want out of life and not get stuck in a routine that doesn't fulfill you two spending too much time micromanaging tasks or checking email just to fill time set clear guidelines for your responsibilities and then let go of the need to control everything three trying to solve every problem yourself instead of letting others handle them like your co-workers or outsourced workers four helping others with the same problem over and over again instead of empowering them to find Solutions themselves give clear guidelines and let them take charge five chasing after customers or opportunities that aren't a good fit for you especially when you already have enough money to support yourself six spending too much time answering emails that aren't important or could be answered with a fact or autor response seven working in in the same place where you relax or sleep it's important to separate your work environment from your personal space eight not regularly evaluating what's working and what's not in your business and personal life nine striving for perfection in everything you do instead of aiming for excellence or good enough Perfection is often unrealistic and can hold you back 10 making small problems seem bigger than they are as an excuse to keep working 11 creating unnecessary urgency to justify working more instead of focusing on life outside of work 12 thinking that one job or project is the only thing that defines Your Existence remember that life is full of opportunities for growth and change 13 neglecting the importance of social connections and relationships outside of work surround yourself with positive people who support you and bring joy to your life the last chapter and email you need to read if you feel lost in life you're not alone there are millions of people in the same boat but that's okay life isn't something you have to figure out like a puzzle or win like a game instead of stressing about success or fitting into some imaginary plan try to enjoy the moment life's more fun when you let go of the pressure we put on ourselves so be brave and don't worry too much about what other s think they're probably not thinking about you as much as you think a while back a friend sent me a poem that changed his perspective and I hope it does the same for you it's called slow dance have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go around or listen to the Rain tapping on the ground ever chased a butterfly as it flutters by or watch the sunset paint the sky take a breath and slow down don't rush through life too fast time is short enjoy the music while it lasts do you rush through each day without taking a break when someone asks how you are do you even hear what they say at night when you lie in bed do a million thoughts race through your head slow down and take it easy life is short so don't rush take time to enjoy the journey instead of just aiming for the destination have you ever promised your child something for tomorrow but in your hurry you didn't see their sorrow have you let friendships fade away because you didn't make time to say hello life isn't a race it's about savoring each moment listen to the music before the song ends last but not least the best of the blog The Art of Letting bad things happen hey there it's been a while just got back to California after taking a much needed break but oh boy did I come back to some surprises in my email inbox here's what happened while I was away one of our partner companies shut down because their CEO passed away it caused chaos and a big drop in orders I missed some important radio and magazine appearances I lost out on several partnership opportunities sounds rough right but here's the thing sometimes you have to let the small problems slide to focus on the big stuff and that's exactly what I did while I was away I had some amazing experiences I got to watch the Rugby World Cup in Europe Europe and see the New Zealand All Blacks play live I tried out all kinds of guns in the Slovak Republic I filmed a TV show pilot in Japan which was a dream come true I met with my Japanese publisher and did media interviews in Tokyo I took a 10-day break from technology and felt totally refreshed I attended the Tokyo International Film Festival and hung out with one of my heroes the key lesson here sometimes you need to tune out the noise to focus on what really matters sure I could have spent a few minutes checking my email but I knew it would distract me from enjoying my time so next time you're feeling overwhelmed ask yourself what's the one thing that could change everything if I accomplished it what's the most urgent thing right now can I let some urgent things slide to focus on what really matters what's been on my to-do list forever let's tackle it first thing in the morning sure some small problems might pop up but the big wins will make them seem insignificant make it a habit to focus on what truly matters and let the small stuff slide things I've loved and learned in 2008 2008 was a super exciting year for me I did a ton of business deals and met so many new people it taught me a bunch about how business works and how people think here's some of the cool stuff I learned and loved that year I read two Awesome books Zorba the Greek and Sena letters from A stoic they're full of practical wisdom and really easy to read don't accept big favors from strangers it can lead to trouble later on if you do take one make sure to give something back right away you don't have to fix your problems the same way you got them I have a house in San Jose that's been empty for a while and I'm okay with that I decided to focus on making money in other ways instead of worrying about renting out trying to impress people you don't even like is a big waste of time focus on impressing the people you actually admire having slow meals with friends and family is a key to happiness spend at least one long dinner or brunch each week with people who make you feel good adversity shows who you really are and money just magnifies your true self speak up about what you believe in even if not everyone agrees don't let the critics get you down eating a high protein breakfast and taking a short walk outside every morning can make a big difference in how you feel I hate losing money way more than I like making it so I try really hard to avoid losing money even if it takes a lot of time and effort I decided to invest my money in things where I can have a say in what happens rather than leaving it up to chance when things get tough ask yourself if you're having a breakdown or a breakthrough try living on a tight budget for a while to get used to taking risks without fear keep focusing on your old goals instead of making new ones all the time even in tough times there are always opportunities to succeed so here's to a great 2009 let's make the most of the challenges and opportunities that come our way happy New Year everyone how to travel the world with 10 lb or less dragging around a big heavy suitcase when you travel is no fun I saw a friend do it in Europe and it was a struggle so I want to share some tips to help you pack light and enjoy your trip more when you travel try to only pack the essentials and plan to buy anything else you need when you get there this way you won't have to Lug around a bunch of stuff you might not even use here's what I packed for my trip to Maui and why a super lightweight jacket that weighs only 3 oz a long sleeve shirt to protect me from the Sun Sun polyester pants that are light don't wrinkle easily and dry quickly a laptop lock to keep my stuff safe a sock to store my sunglasses tank tops for hot weather a quick drying towel toothbrush toothpaste and razor in a Ziploc bag a special travel card to speed up airport security lightweight underwear that's comfy and easy to wash shorts and swimsuits guide books for Hawaii and business a sleeping mask and earplugs for better sleep sandals with removable straps a digital camera with extra memory a hat to protect from sunburn a foldable duffel bag chapstick a flashlight and athletic tape for emergencies a lock for luggage and other stuff a kitchen timer for waking up without using a phone packing light like this makes traveling much easier and more enjoyable so next time you go on a trip try to bring only what you really need the choice minimal lifestyle six formulas for more output and less overwhelm I was feeling stressed out while trying to pick out a book at Barnes and Noble one Saturday night I only had a short time left and couldn't decide what to get as I browsed the psychology section I came across a book called The Paradox of choice why more is less it reminded me that having too many options can actually make us less happy for example ex Le imagine you spend months trying to find the perfect house to buy but even after you move in you keep second guessing your decision is it better to have the best option but feel unsatisfied or to have a good option and feel happy with it the author also suggests making decisions that can't be changed later so instead of stressing over whether to return the book of dog cartoons I decided to keep it it's not just about being happy with our choices it's also about being proud practical we only have so much attention to give and spending it on decisions can leave us feeling overwhelmed and unhappy that's why it's important to simplify our choices and make decisions quickly when we can here are some tips to help one set rules for yourself to make decision making easier two don't spend too much time thinking about decisions you can't act on right away three don't put off decisions just because they're uncomfortable able four make decisions quickly whenever you can five stick to routines for things like exercise and diet to save mental energy for more important choices six try not to complain about decisions you've made in the past instead focus on moving forward making decisions isn't the problem it's spending too much time thinking about them by following these tips you can save time and mental energy and enjoy life more the not to-do list nine habits to stop now not to-do lists are like guides to help you perform better they're even more useful than to-do lists because what you avoid doing affects what you can do here are nine common habits that can stress out entrepreneurs and office workers try focusing on one or two of them at a time just like you prioritize important tasks one don't answer calls from unknown numbers let them go to voicemail to to avoid unwanted interruptions two don't check emails first thing in the morning or right before bed it messes up your plans for the day and can keep you up at night three don't agree to meetings or calls without a clear agenda or end time meetings should have a purpose and shouldn't last more than 30 minutes four don't let people talk on and on without getting to the point keep conversations short and focused five don't constantly check your email set specific times to check it instead of responding to every message right away six don't spend too much time on customers who don't bring in much profit but demand a lot of attention focus on the ones who matter most seven don't try to do everything at once prioritize your tasks and focus on what's most important eight don't be glued to your phone or email all the time take break breaks from digital devices to focus on other things in life nine don't let work consume all your time make time for relationships and activities outside of work by avoiding these habits you can reduce stress and focus on what really matters the margin Manifesto 11 tenets for reaching or doubling profitability in 3 months making more profit doesn't always mean working harder or longer it's about having better strategies and acting quickly for startups the main goal should be to make a profit in the shortest time with the least effort here are some basic principles based on interviews with successful cosos to help you boost profitability quickly one focus on a niche instead of trying to appeal to everyone Target A specific group that will love your product even if your marketing targets one group others might still buy it to feel like they belong two measure everything keep track of important numbers to manage your business better this includes costs advertising Effectiveness and customer value three plan distribution first before setting prices think about how you'll sell your product if you want to sell through stores later make sure your prices can handle it four control distribution having too many places selling your product can cause problems it's better to partner with a few key sellers who who will give you better deals and help you make more profit five create demand make people want your product so much that they'll accept your terms this means you can set the rules instead of following everyone else fix use effective advertising make sure your ads encourage people to buy your product right away don't waste money on ads that don't work seven limit risks don't spend too much on making products until you know they'll sell sacrificing some profit now can protect you from Big losses later eight negotiate wisely when buying things let the other person make the first offer then negotiate to get the best deal for yourself nine focus on what matters don't just work hard work smart spend time on the things that bring in the most profit and ignore the rest 10 handle customers carefully not all customers are worth the same amount of time focus on the ones who bring in the most profit and don't waste time on the rest 11 meet deadlines it's better to deliver a product on time than to make it perfect but late focus on getting things done when they're needed even if they're not perfect by following these principles you can increase your profit quickly and efficiently the Holy Grail how to Outsource the Inbox and never check email again imagine never having to check check your email again what if you could hire someone to handle all those emails for you well it's not just a dream for the past year I've been experimenting with getting out of my inbox completely by training others to handle it the way I would here's the deal I used to spend 6 to 8 hours every day dealing with over 1,000 emails now I can go for days or even weeks without checking my email at all and it only takes me 4 to 10 minutes each night to catch up here's how it works one I have different email addresses for different types of emails like for Work Media or personal my assistant manages my main email account and I only handle the ones that really need my attention two most of the emails I get fall into specific categories with set questions or responses my assistant checks and organizes my inbox twice a day three for the few emails that need my input I have a quick daily phone call with my assistant four if I'm busy or traveling my assistant leaves me a voicemail with the important stuff and I respond later by following this system I save a ton of time instead of spending hours sorting through emails I only spend a few minutes each night and if you only have one email account consider using a desktop program instead of a web-based one to avoid Temptation email is often the last thing people let go of but it doesn't have to be that way you don't need to be glued to your inbox all day delegate it and focus on more important things so if you're ready to try it out here's what you need to do one decide which email accounts you'll use and how you want them managed two find a virtual assistant three test their reliability before their skills four give it a trial period to work out any King five and most importantly find something better to do than stare at your inbox all day proposal to work remotely on a contract basis this is the plan Autumn brookmire used to work remotely from Argentina while still keeping her job here's what she did background Autumn had been working at her company for over 2 years and felt loyal to them she believed she had made valuable contributions as a marketing coordinator autumn wanted to continue doing her job but from Argentina for 6 to 12 months starting in September 2008 her goals were to learn Spanish fluently and experience a different culture proposal Autumn suggested working for her company on a contract basis from Argentina she offered to do the following tasks remotely one graphic design and print advertising coordinator create timelines for print materials and coordinate with team team coordinate design projects with program directors and outside designers maintain relationships with print vendors to control costs solution Autumn would use email web-based programs like conceptshare and Skype for meetings two special marketing project manager maintain a collection of updated marketing images identify and Implement new marketing opportunities solution Autumn would manage tasks through online image databases like istic Photo and communicate via email and Skype three webbased marketing coordinator contribute to online advertising efforts and track results compile a collection of updated web photos solution Autumn would assist with online advertising and photo searches using tools like Facebook ads Google ads and istic phoom Autumn suggested transitioning her role to a contract basis to help the company better track production costs she expressed her desire to continue working for the company remotely and thank them for considering her proposal living the 4-Hour Work Week Zen and the Art of rockar Living hey Tim let me share my story with you I'm a musician from Munich Germany running my own label things were tough at first and I felt like I hit rock bottom with my creativity but now I'm doing exactly what I want to do and life feels easier here's how I did it one I read a book and surfed your blog which inspired me to make big changes I started by clearing my mind and writing down all my thoughts two I Outsource tasks that were stressing me out the most like music industry research and Website Maintenance this saved me a lot of time and money three I started testing new ideas like selling language learning m materials with music four I'm planning to launch an online publishing operation for music licensing which will make things easier for film companies five people are surprised that someone like me who doesn't look very corporate can live like a millionaire by Outsourcing tasks getting positive feedback from my outsourced projects gave me the confidence to keep going now I have more control over my life I spend time with my daughter take care of business and do things I love even though my income hasn't changed much I feel richer because I have more free time and less stress I work about 2430 hours a week doing only what I enjoy my goal is to work even less and have a paperless office I've cut out tasks that drain my energy and only take on projects I'm passionate about I've also stopped listening to negative people I started a Blog to share my journey with other musicians and and I'm releasing an album soon I'm also planning some exciting trips to New York Sicily and possibly Mexico or Australia I've learned new skills like shaving with a straight razor and I'm becoming a coffee expert I helped my wife fulfill her dream of running a cafe in Munich and it's doing great overall the principles from the book 4-Hour Work Week have helped me become more productive and less stressed my productivity has increased by 70% % and I'm much happier for those just starting out one start small and think big two focus on what excites you and eliminate what bores you three stick to your passions no matter what others say four and of course read 4our workweek J reiter art lovers wanted when I was growing up I watched my father work tirelessly as a garbage man for 20 years after we moved from Mexico to the US in April 27 while sitting alone in a hotel room after a long week of work away from my family I realized I was heading down the same path at 33 I felt like I was giving up on my dream of pursuing music and theater one night a friend suggested I read a book called The 4-Hour Work week I read it quickly and started applying its principles right away even though everyone thought I was crazy I focused on setting goals cutting out unnecessary tasks and finding ways to work remotely after some failed attempts I finally convinced my employer to let me work from home this changed everything I went from working over 9 hours a day with lots of travel to Just 4 hours a week and one week of travel per month I even got A1 10,000 raise and became twice as productive as before now I live in my hometown with my girlfriend and I spend my time singing in a choir writing music acting in plays and training for marathons my friends can't believe I can do all this and still make a full-time income working just 4 hours a week the best part is that I found true freedom I can spend time with my father who had to wait until he retired to enjoy the freedom I have now less than two years after reading the 4-Hour Work week as an immigrant I want to share this message in 21st century America success doesn't come from working hard it comes from working smart and making the most of our time on this Earth that's the real American dream I Baron photo finish pay Tim I just had to let you know how much your book The 4H hour work week has changed my life I got it back in November and since then things have been totally different before reading your book I didn't even know what workflow automation meant I had a part-time employee but instead of helping her work was just piling up more tasks for me I was working late into the night sometimes until 3:00 a.m. and then getting up at 7:00 I always said I wanted to travel but it felt impossible with no time or money one day I was listening to your audio book while out jogging I'd been replaying chapters over and over and then it hit me I heard about someone selling music files online and thought why couldn't I do that with my photos I'm a photographer mainly weddings so I came up with a great idea for a family photography business right then and there two months later I had a website connections with photographers all over and our first sale and get this I'm in the family photography business now but I never even have to take the pictures myself we're the first to only sell digital files not prints it's a hit I've even applied this to my wedding photography other photographers might not like it but I'm making way more money cutting costs and freeing up my time now I work smarter and faster I've hired two more employees I turned off email notifications on my computer and phone my email doesn't even ring anymore I just check it occasionally for missed calls and the best part I get to come home in time for dinner leaving work at work it's a life I never imagin possible plus financially this year is looking way better than last then I decided to take my first mini retirement I wanted to ski in the Swiss Alps for 5 days spending less than1 1,000 total I found a cheap flight stayed with locals through couch surfing Cal and enjoyed delicious food and drinks it was a success I'm so grateful for your book and I'm excited for more Min retirements here is to living the best years of my life PS I'm off to Italy on May 11 for a monthlong work VI vacation photographing weddings in Sienna but I plan on vacationing a lot more than working Mark cafiro photographer virtual law I used to work at a big law firm in Silicon Valley but one day I woke up and decided I wanted to travel for a year and learn a new language so 6 weeks later I found myself in ki Colombia I'd never been there before and didn't know much Spanish but that's what made it exciting now almost 2 years later I spend most of my time living and working in collie I even bought a beautiful apartment here which I could never afford in California plus I have a maid cook who helps out for about 5 hours a day 5 days a week and it only costs me less than $140 a week I started my own online law practice and teamed up with my old boss my Us phone number follows me wherever I go and all my US mail is sent to an address in San Francisco where it's scanned and sent to me online if I need to send mail I use a service that prints and sends it within the US so there are no delays with international shipping I recommend using earthclassmail comom for mail scanning it costs around1 $203 a month and you can choose from different packages for sending letters within the US I use postal methods com it might take some getting used to but it's cheap and efficient if you ever want to visit to colia it's nothing like what you hear about in the news I feel safer walking around late at night here than in many places in San Francisco but shh let's keep it our little secret jerrym Taking Flight with orni threads Tim I got your book from my mentor last July and it changed my life it couldn't have come at a better time I was getting ready for my first Olympic distance Triathlon which I'd been training for 5 months not only did I feel physically strong but the discipline of training also sparked a creativity I hadn't felt in years I did well in the race and felt so confident that I signed up for a half Ironman competition feeling inspired and following your book's advice I came up with many ideas for businesses now I'm about to launch the first one called orni threads it's a clothing line with cool bird designs aimed at Gen X and gen yird enthusiasts I chose this demographic because for my day job at company name I've learned a lot about birders there are millions of them in the US and their passion for Birds never Fades plus they tend to be educated and from middle to upper class backgrounds also I recently took an orology class at Columbia University where I fell in love with the illustrations in my textbooks I wanted to bring those images to life I'm launching my website orni radcom soon and the first designs are being printed now I have big plans for the company but for now I'm focused on getting the first collection out and learning as much as I can your book has been my guide showing me the steps to success I hope my idea takes off and turns into a source of passive income if you're ever in Nick I'd love to meet you sincerely Brenda Tim off the job training I used ideas from the 4-Hour Work Week to work remotely from August 08 to January AR Z 9 I traveled to Portugal Europe Spain Sweden and Norway for surfing and snowboarding the best part I came back home with three times more money in my bank than I would have with a regular 9to 5 job I work as a software developer for a famous design company to make it work I used my iPhone with an app called Fring which lets you use voice calls over the Internet this way I had a local number wherever I went before leaving leing I made sure to never be at my desk for too long I was always around but not exactly there whenever someone looked for me I'd say I was nearby like in the cafeteria or at a co-worker's desk after a while people stopped coming to my desk and just messaged me instead that meant I could be 6,000 M away without anyone noticing also being in a different time zone like Norway 9 hours ahead worked well I felt like I was living in the future my workday was almost done by the time my boss Woke Up This gave me plenty of time to explore Norway without worrying about work interruptions sometimes if my boss needed something urgently he'd give me the task before going to bed and I'd have it done by the time he woke up in the morning B Williamson doctor's orders hey Tim let me share my story with you about 4 years ago I was studying for my psychology licensing exam feeling worn out from my job at the hospital I decided to reward myself with a trip to South America a place I'd never been before during my trip I met expatriates who were living their dream lives there funded by their retirement funds and pensions but I noticed that many who tried to start businesses aimed at foreigners struggled to make it work when I returned I realized I needed a way to earn money from US citizens while living abroad luckily VoIP Vo voice over Internet Protocol technology was becoming popular and internet service was improving in South America I focused on two things reliable phone service using VoIP and fast internet I already had a small business helping students with their research projects so I expanded it and took control of my website's marketing over the next 3 years I traveled to different countries in Latin America to test and refine my business setup last November I quit my job for good I was tired of the strict 9 to5 routine especially with the new fingerprint system they introduced now I split my time between New York City and Colombia managing my business remotely and traveling the world I'm working on other online projects that I hope will be more automated in the future leaving my old job was the best decision I ever made my stress levels are way down and I'm enjoying life more than ever even if my family and friends back home still think I'm a bit crazy Jeff B before our family and Global education hey Tim we've been living a digital Nomad lifestyle since 26 traveling the world as a family we discovered your book and ideas after we started and we absolutely love it our life has changed completely for the better we feel more fulfilled simpler and happier we're also more environmentally friendly healthier and more connected at first people thought we were crazy for doing this back in 2045 but now many of those same people think were're smart and Visionary one specific moment that pushed us to change was struggling to find a good school for our kids despite having many good options available this along with wanting more time together and seeing signs of an upcoming economic downturn motivated us to make a change we believe more families will start taking many retirement ments and living slower nomadic lives when you're away for months as a family it's essential to know about all the Fantastic educational opportunities available which are often even richer than staying at home there are plenty of great resources online like classroom tuo and Innovative Educators our daughter who just turned eight is loving her online course with John Hopkins University which is also a great way for her to connect with friends nowadays you can fully immerse yourself in one culture while still maintaining your home culture this is crucial information for families especially those worried about outdated concerns regarding third culture KIDS tck Maya Frost has excellent information about older kids and a new approach to University education education is undergoing a significant transition due to the internet and parents need this information to make important decisions we've had a fantastic experience experience with our daughter attending a local school in Spain where she's deeply immersed in the language culture and literature more information in your book about local schools and how to experience them as a family for extended periods would be helpful we've utilized local resources like a flamco teacher and online sources like our piano teacher in Chicago who teaches our daughter via Skype e- libraries are also crucial especially for a child who loves reading websites like HTTP learning Freedom org language books HTML offer excellent resources on language education even for monolingual parents Soul Travelers 3 a family living abroad and loving it Financial musing hey Tim I graduated from Stanford University and jumped into Investment Banking in July 2006 at first I kind of liked it because I was learning a lot and moving up quickly But as time went on the long hour and stressful lifestyle started to wear me down then one night in May 2007 I fell asleep at the wheel after working several allnighters and crashed my car into a tree thankfully I wasn't seriously hurt but it was a wakeup call for me I realized I needed to make a change a friend told me about your book The 4-Hour Work week and even though I thought it sounded too good to be true I decided to give it a shot after reading it I realized I could use my skills to create a new way of making money and live the life I wanted I started a Blog about Investment Banking and began offering consulting services to people who wanted to break into the industry even though I had to stay anonymous because I was still working my old John my services became really popular I decided to leave my job in finance in June 2008 so I had to make everything work quickly despite doubts from friends and family I focused on improving my website and expanding my offerings by July August 2008 I was making a full-time income from part-time work which allowed me to travel and enjoy life more as the economy got worse my business actually got better because people needed help finding jobs I released my interview guide later in 2008 which was a big success and freed up even more of my time now I make more money than before while working way fewer hours and I can work from anywhere in the world thanks to your book my life has completely changed for the better and I'm grateful for that b the Chesser who says kids hold you back I first thought about the worst case scenario if I left my secure government job it helped me realize that the risk wasn't as big as I thought so I quit my job sold my house and took a 3-month camping trip with my family along the Southeast coast of Australia during that time I worked on a plan I'd been thinking about for a year I created an information product for electrical engineers and wrote software to go with it to make it happen I focused only on essential information worked late at night when it was quiet and got help with the hard Parts after about a month I had a website making half of what I used to make but it only needed a few hours of work each week originally I planned to find a new job when we reached Adelaide but with my new income I decided to grow my business instead now I'm close to making as much as I used to and it feels amazing next we're planning to travel the world slowly until our kids are old enough for school who says having kids slows you down Finn working remotely one month and one year ago I read the book 4-Hour Work week because my sister's boyfriend suggested it I've been talking for a while about making big changes in my life like moving to argen Ina to learn calano after reading the book I stopped just talking about my dreams and started setting goals both short-term and longterm I bought a notebook to keep track of my goals and tasks each month I also researched ways to work remotely and shared my plans with close friends and family most people thought it was just an idea and didn't believe I'd actually go through with it they knew I loved my job so why leave it for uncertainty but I was excited about the idea of a new life even though I loved my job I wanted to work for my current company remotely the book gave me the confidence to think it was possible even though others doubted it I decided to write a proposal and present it to my boss despite everyone advising me against it if my boss said no I had enough savings to live in Argentina for 6 months while I figured out how to make money there I wasn't giving up on my dream of a Freer happier life with less work and more time for myself despite the odds I took a risk and had faith in myself to my surprise my boss accepted my proposal enthusiastically nobody could believe it when I told them it felt like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and I started thinking about more possibilities for my new life I set a goal to move to Argentina by September 2008 and I've been here for about 6 months now I live in Jui a small province in the northwest of Argentina I work about 5 10 hours a week and I'm more focused now that I'm working alone I have a Spanish tutor and spend time with friends practicing Spanish I go to the gym in yoga something I didn't have time for back home I eat healthier because I have more time to focus on what to eat and I have bigger dreams for my future like owning a bar or Cafe Someday my advice to readers of 4-Hour Work week is to learn from my experience while while it's important to consider advice from friends and family sometimes you have to follow your own path even if it goes against what others think if you believe you can make the impossible possible it can happen AK brookmire killing your blackberry I'm a 37-year-old Subway franchisee and I've been running 13 stores for 7 years before reading 4H hour work week I was stuck in the mindset of working for work's sake I never allowed myself to do things different L than when I was an employee but the book changed everything for me it made me realize I needed to break free from the constant grind of work and start enjoying life more I used to always be working even during dinner glued to my phone instead of spending time with loved ones holidays were just another day for battling emails 4-Hour Work Week gave me a new perspective I began seeing my business as a tool to give me more income and free time to enjoy life so I made some changes I condensed my work week into 4 days and 20 hours I started taking Mondays off giving myself a 3-day weekend during the work days I focus intensely from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. anything that doesn't directly impact sales or costs is delegated to my team I've also set boundaries with my email I only check it during specific times on work days ignoring it the rest of the time my autor response helps filter out unnecessary emails freeing up more time for important tasks overall 4-Hour Work Week taught me that being self-employed doesn't mean being tied to work all the time it's essential to set boundaries and prioritize what truly matters in life it's a message that many self-employed people need to hear Star Wars anyone I realized my pursuit of the 4-Hour Work week was paying off when my daughter's kindergarten teacher asked her what I do for work her answer my dad just sits around and watches Star Wars all day made me pause and reflect it made me see that I was living the kind of life where I could do what I wanted when I wanted about 2 years ago I read the 4-Hour Work week while on vacation with my family it struck a chord with me because I was constantly tied to my job at a financial institution in Atlanta expected to be available 247 but I wanted more time for my family and myself so I applied the book's principles I changed my email habits reducing unnecessary noise and focusing on what mattered I also cut down on meetings and started working remotely from home which was surprisingly easy with support from my family and a well equipped home office I gradually shifted to working mostly from home this change allowed me to be more present in my family's life I started volunteering appearing at my kids school participating in events and even got involved in community leadership roles people began to respect me more mistaking me for a doctor or successful entrepreneur now I have more time to pursue meaningful activities outside of work I'm even working on writing my own book the virtual employee handbook thanks to the inspiration from the 4-Hour Work week it's amazing how much my life has changed for the better because of it restricted reading the few that matter I understand that I advised against reading too much however the suggestions provided here are the cream of the crop recommended by the people interviewed in this book when asked what is the one book that changed your life the most you don't have to read any of these books to follow the advice in this book but if you find yourself stuck on a particular Point these recommendations might be helpful I've included the number of pages each book has if you practice the techniques in how to read 200% faster in 10 minutes from chapter 6 you should be able to read at least 2 five pages per minute meaning 100 pages will take you about 40 minutes for more book recommendations in other categories like practical philosophy licensing and language learning visit our comprehensive companion site the fundamental four let me explain the fundamental four are called that because they're the four books I suggested to to people wanting to change their Lifestyles before I wrote the 4-Hour Work Week even though I've written my book now these are still really good reads here's the order I recommend one the magic of thinking big by David Schwarz 192 Pages this book was recommended to me by Steven key a very successful inventor he's made Millions by licensing products to big companies like Disney and Coca-Cola lots of top Achievers love this book from famous football coaches to cosos it's got over 105 star ratings on Amazon the main idea is not to underestimate yourself whenever I doubt myself I go back and read the first two chapters two how to make millions with your ideas an entrepreneurs guide by danis Kennedy 272 Pages this book is like a guide book for turning your ideas into big money I read it when I was in high school and I've read it five times since it's full of examples like how Domino's Pizza got started or how casinos make their money some examples might be a bit old but they're still really helpful three the e- myth Revisited why most small businesses don't work and what to do about it by Michel e jerber 288 pages jerber is a great Storyteller and this classic talks about how to set up your business so it runs smoothly even without you having to be there all the time it's like a guide to making your business work like a well-oiled machine if you're feeling stuck in your business this book will help you get unstuck fast four vagabonding an uncommon Guide to the art of long-term World Travel by Ralph pots 224 Pages this book convinced me to stop making excuses and go on a long trip it's got tips for picking where to go adjusting to life on the road and coming back to normal life afterward it includes quotes from famous Travelers and stories from Regular People this was one of the two books I took with me on my first 15mon trip reducing emotional and material baggage Walden by Henry David thorough 384 Pages Thor's book is famous for showing how to live simply he spent two years by a small Lake in Rural Massachusetts living alone and building his own home it was both a success and a failure which makes it an interesting read less is more the art of voluntary poverty and anthology of ancient and modern voices in Praise of Simplicity edited by goldian Vanden broke 336 Pages this book collects short philosophies about living simply it teaches how to do more with less and get rid of things we don't really need it includes ideas from many different thinkers from ancient philosophers to Modern economists the Monk and the riddle the education of a silicon Valley entrepreneur by Randy commissar 192 Pages this book was a gift from Professor Z sha when I graduated it talks about something called the Deferred Life Plan Randy a successful entrepreneur shares how he built his ideal life using smart thinking and philosophical ideas he's the real deal the 8020 principle the secret to success by achieving more with less by Richard 288 Pages this book explores the idea that you can achieve a lot with just a little effort it explains the 8020 principle which says that 80% of results come from 20% of efforts it gives practical ways to apply this principle in your life Muse creation and related skills Harvard Business School case studies you can find these studies on the Harvard Business School website they're real life stories about companies like 24-hour fitness and Southwest Airlines each case study costs less than $110 and they cover all kinds of business situations and problems this business has legs how I used infomercial marketing to create the dollar 100,000 thym craze an entrepreneurial adventure story by Peter beer 206 Pages this book tells the story of how Peter beer built a1100 million business from scratch in Just 2 years it's funny and informative covering everything from dealing with celebrities to marketing and legal stuff secrets of power negotiating inside secrets from a master negotiator by Roger Dawson 256 Pages this book gives you practical tips for negotiating better if you want more check out getting past no by William iie and bargaining for Advantage by G Richard shell response magazine www respons magazine this magazine focuses on Direct response marketing like TV radio and Internet ads it has articles on improving sales and case studies of successful campaigns Jordan Whitney Green Sheet wwwj green sheetcaking best it's a great resource for competitive research small Giants companies that choose to be great instead of big by Bo burlam 256 pages this book looks at companies that focus on being great rather than getting huge it features businesses like Cliff baring and Annie defranco's righteous Babe Records negotiating World Travel and preparing for Escape six months off how to plan negotiate and take the break you need without Burning Bridges or going broke by hope D lisima James Scott and David Sharp 252 Pages this book made me realize that taking a long break is possible without ruining my career it gives a stepbystep guide to taking time off for travel or other goals with real life examples and helpful lists Verge Magazine HTTP verg magazine this magazine previously called transitions abroad is all about alternative travel it offers lots of amazing options for people who want to travel differently you can find both print and online versions to get ideas for your overseas Adventure whether you want to dig in Jordan or volunteer in the Caribbean you'll find inspiration here if you found this video to be valuable we kindly invite you to show your support by Smashing the like button and hey don't forget to subscribe to our Channel by subscribing you'll stay up to date with our latest videos ensuring you never miss out on the exciting book summaries and thought-provoking content we have in store for you your support means the world to us and it encourages us to continue bringing you the best of literary exploration so go ahead give that like button some love hit that subscribe button and join our 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