I have always been a proponent of working smarter not harder. I am a computer programmer by trade which really helps me think in terms of automation. Every day in my J.O.B. I analyze situations and try to create a process that can be run with as little human intervention as possible. Nothing annoys me more then having to run an 8 step process, manually, every day or even once a week. So I work hard up front in order to save me tons of time in the future.
That is the key here and the main thing I got out of the book The 4 Hour Work Week – by Tim Ferriss. Most people are lazy and will just keep doing what they’ve been doing because it’s easy and comfortable. Easy yes, but time consuming. It takes a lot of motivation and time to analyze, rework and develop an automated system. I mean you usually don’t get it right the first, second or even third time. I guarantee you though that the time spent up front will be nothing compared to the time you will regain in the future.
The book is a quick read and very entertaining as Tim Ferriss gives you a first hand experience of a life with little work and lots of play. I myself don’t strive to travel the world and live in foreign countries for months at a time learning how to kick box, ballroom dance or learn other languages. That may have been his dream and even if it’s not yours you can still learn tons from this book.
80/20! The Pareto principle which breifly stated says that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. For example,
- 80% of the wealth in the world is owned by 20% of the people.
- 80% of my daily work is done in 20% of my day
- 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your clients
- 80% of your sales leads will come from 20% of your marketing
- 80% of your flips will be sold to 20% of your buyers list
The concept here is that if you only focus on that 80% you will free up TONS of your time. Lets illustrate this for a second. You have a Marketing Plan that requires you to send mailers to 100 Foreclosure Leads, 100 Probate Leads, 100 Absentee owners and 100 Code Violations. If 80% of your business comes from Probates and Code Violations, then cutting out Foreclosures and Absentee owners would cut your time spent on marketing in HALF and you would only be trimming your profit by 20%. Think of what you can accomplish with an extra 50% of your time! The main idea here is don’t go spending 50% of your time chasing 20% of the leads.
The 4 Hour Work Week got my mind thinking and that really is why I read it. If you can get the audio version of this book I would highly recommend listening to it on your way to and from work. I’ve heard some people describe this book as the 21st century version of Rich Dad, Poor Dad and I have to agree. Life is too short to be stuck spending 80% of your life working just so you can live the last 20% comfortably.
Go out an read this book.
-Scott Costello
Buy it Here…The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
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