Will English IV

so I have to you tell you about a little book I read. . (btw, I’m an avid reader. Of physical hardcopies of books. Never caught on with the Kindle thing, but I digress)

It’s called “The 4-hour Work Week” by Tim Ferriss.

If you haven’t been under a rock in the past few years, you’ve heard of this book. Right behind when “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. (God Bless Inbox Zero)

What this post is about is something I should have heed a LONG time ago when I first read the book. Quoting Tim Ferriss directly,

THERE ARE A million and one ways to make a million dollars. From franchising to freelance consulting, the list is endless. Fortunately, most of them are unsuited to our purpose. This chapter is not for people who want to run businesses but for those who want to own businesses and spend no time on them.

What I’m referring to is my decision to start my own business last year, but to say ’screw all of the evidence’ and do it service based. Thinking to myself I can leverage the power of Wordpress to sell websites ($0 upfront cost and Time later)

1 year later, I learn two things. 1) I’m not a graphic designer by any means, so that’s where the majority of the cost of the ‘design’ phase of the website is and 2) People are very finicky about their respective designs.

So I have to change my plans, and go for sales, as Tim mentioned.  But that’s not all.

A second lesson leared, through my frustration, I learned something about myself. I actually enjoy Marketing.

If I had to do it all over again, I’d do Marketing and Sales. I hate the latter in the 100% commission range because it just makes the human condition ugly (i.e. Are you talking to me because I’m your friend or that you need to make a sale?)

The only caveat is that yet again I don’t get along with the majority of the creatives out there.  Too much ego and some with very shoddy personalities.

I am getting into what’s deemed Direct Response Marketing.  The basic premise is that we write ‘copy’ (advertisements for those who don’t know the lingo) which has a traceable result.  So instead of taking a picture with a slogan and a testimonial and placing an ad in a paper,  we niche it down to a smaller audience, put a call to action with a phone number or website, and then track the results of the campaign.  I’ve learned that I’m kind of with the Dark Side of the force. However, being the geek, I’m attracted to the numbers, conversion rates, etc. about it. It makes sense to me, as opposed to ‘making it look pretty’ and hope people show up.

Thirdly, I like telling people what to do.  I don’t want to be the boss or a manager, but I like telling someone what to do, they say ‘Yes, Sir’ and come back with the result.   That’s cool. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.

Tim’s book inspired me to hire an assistant. I had a Virtual Assistant that got me out of a jam earlier in the year, but I found out later on that the building I work in has a concierge service. Any research, event planning, or appointment scheduling goes through her now and it’s an awesome relief. I still intend on retaining the VA to speak on my behalf in a few manners, but regardless. To quote Tim again, “Get an assistant, even if you don’t need one.”

That’s it. So, I’ve decided to completely change my business model.  I’m getting out of the website design business.

Thank you, Tim Ferriss.

BTW, it’s also no surprise to me either that another new hero of mines, Jason Fried of 37signals is friends with Tim Ferriss.

Tim Ferriss: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/

Jason Fried: http://37signals.com/svn/

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