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Hard work does not equal wealth

by Scott Ames
18 replies
My Dad worked hard all his life. His work was hard manual labor. To keep food on the table he would take jobs driving a snow plow and many times had to go out in the middle of the freezing night and plow. Until he owned his own business he barely made enough money to scrape by. He worked for over 50 years, and while he is comfortable and debt free, is not considered rich.

Just over 10 years ago two college kids had an idea for a search engine. They tried to sell it but couldn't so they did it themselves. Now each is a multi-billionaire and still very young.

In the grand scheme of life, it would almost seem equitable that Dad would be a billionaire since he labored harder and longer than those two guys. The two guys should have to labor for another 40 years to get that status. We all know that it doesn't work that way.

Shouldn't Dad have the rewards that come from hard work? Should Dad have to look longingly at the new car at the dealership and walk away because he doesn't know if he should spend little money he has for such a pleasure?

Why is it so that the two guys can buy a parking lot full of new cars and not even dent their net worth, while Dad has to take a large chunk of his life's savings for just one? Luck, yes for sure by a large margin, intelligence yes, but also hiring good people played a large roll.

After working like a dog today on some technical things I got thinking about all of this. Unless I make a sale, all my hard work doesn't really give me brownie points. It doesn't bring me much closer to wealth.

Only if I focus on the things that bring wealth will it occur. To me that means more outsourcing and less getting caught up on the little things.

My Dad never hired anyone, never trusted anyone else to do the job. He had to do it to get it right. He could have a lot more wealth if he learned to work smarter, not harder.
#equal #hard #wealth #work
  • Profile picture of the author John Cabral
    Originally Posted by Scott Ames View Post

    My Dad worked hard all his life. His work was hard manual labor. To keep food on the table he would take jobs driving a snow plow and many times had to go out in the middle of the freezing night and plow. Until he owned his own business he barely made enough money to scrape by. He worked for over 50 years, and while he is comfortable and debt free, is not considered rich.

    Just over 10 years ago two college kids had an idea for a search engine. They tried to sell it but couldn't so they did it themselves. Now each is a multi-billionaire and still very young.

    In the grand scheme of life, it would almost seem equitable that Dad would be a billionaire since he labored harder and longer than those two guys. The two guys should have to labor for another 40 years to get that status. We all know that it doesn't work that way.

    Shouldn't Dad have the rewards that come from hard work? Should Dad have to look longingly at the new car at the dealership and walk away because he doesn't know if he should spend little money he has for such a pleasure?

    Why is it so that the two guys can buy a parking lot full of new cars and not even dent their net worth, while Dad has to take a large chunk of his life's savings for just one? Luck, yes for sure by a large margin, intelligence yes, but also hiring good people played a large roll.

    After working like a dog today on some technical things I got thinking about all of this. Unless I make a sale, all my hard work doesn't really give me brownie points. It doesn't bring me much closer to wealth.

    Only if I focus on the things that bring wealth will it occur. To me that means more outsourcing and less getting caught up on the little things.

    My Dad never hired anyone, never trusted anyone else to do the job. He had to do it to get it right. He could have a lot more wealth if he learned to work smarter, not harder.
    I agree with you there that hard work does not equate into wealth. I am being to think if some of us are just not meant to be rich.

    I don't want to be a billionaire but do want to not have to worry about the affects of my next purchase. Now thats not to say I would turn down being a billionaire lol

    Who would have taught that you could make 10 million a year working a few hours a week will a lame looking dating site. Ask the geek who owns Plenty Of Fish dating site...

    And I had 5 dating sites setup collecting dust for years and just let them expire...

    Going to shoot myself now... J/K
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  • Profile picture of the author TLTheLiberator
    Agreed!

    Smart work nets more profits than unfocused hard work - especially with today's internet.


    TL
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    "It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled. -- Mark Twain

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  • Profile picture of the author adventureman89
    That is very true.

    Working hard to work less in the future is alright, but if you plan to make a living from working hard all your life, then by the time you cannot work hard anymore you'll be very limited with your money.

    It is only those who have the vision of working less, and making more money at the same time that actually reach that type of freedom.
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  • Profile picture of the author seoFool
    Very true...my first year online I worked like a dog 20+ hours a day and more, sometimes much more...it wasn't till I stepped back and started to think about how to automate as many things as possible that things really took off. Its harder sometimes to delegate cuz you want things done right, but you must eventually.

    But looking back...I couldn't have stepped back and eased off without the knowledge and experience that the massive hard work of that first year brought...so *shrugs*
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  • Profile picture of the author Charles Washington
    So many marketers work HARD, they just work hard incorrectly. Smart focused work is the real way to go, but smart work is more difficult than hard work.

    Sure, I could pump out 20 articles a day. But at that rate, they are probably lacking keyword research and proper grammar. That is hard work, but it isnt accomplishing much.

    Then there is a focused effort to write just 5 articles a day. These articles have proper keyword research, proper keyword density. The subjects were researched prior to writing. Therefore, these 5 focused, smartly written articles will produce more results than the 20 articles.
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    • Profile picture of the author Roy Carter
      Originally Posted by Charles Montgomery View Post

      So many marketers work HARD, they just work hard incorrectly. Smart focused work is the real way to go, but smart work is more difficult than hard work.

      Sure, I could pump out 20 articles a day. But at that rate, they are probably lacking keyword research and proper grammar. That is hard work, but it isnt accomplishing much.

      Then there is a focused effort to write just 5 articles a day. These articles have proper keyword research, proper keyword density. The subjects were researched prior to writing. Therefore, these 5 focused, smartly written articles will produce more results than the 20 articles.
      Or just make a video that trains an outsourced worker exactly how you do that and you're golden.
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  • Profile picture of the author dieketo
    Agreed.....!

    Working hard to work less in the future is alright, but if you hard working without goal is useless.....
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    Yep, article marketing is a great example of this principle. I once tested it. I sat down and wrote about 40 articles from what I knew in my head about a topic. Took a few days. I was mentally wrung out when I finished. It was hard mental work. Then I took about one day to really research keywords and the specifics of another topic, and then wrote about 10 articles from that information. You probably know where I'm heading with this.... those 10 articles pull(ed) a LOT more visitors to my sites than did the 40. One of them became the most viewed article at EZA in its category over a 90-day period. It's still ranked #1 at Google for that keyword, matter of fact.

    You can be construction worker or an architect. It's completely up to you. Architects make a whole lot more money and feel a whole lot less exhausted at the end of the day.

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author I.M.Retired
    Scott: You bring up some good points.

    Have you ever heard of Harvey Brody? He discusses some of these issues in a recent interview.

    I have posted the info (with permission - you can check the last page for distribution rights) at:

    http://shoprenfrewcounty.com/harveyb...llposition.pdf

    The file is small (about 85K) with 38 pages of some of the best material I have ever read about making money!
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  • Profile picture of the author mhendenterprises
    In my Dad's day, hard work was supposed to equal decent pay. Today, nothing could be further from the truth. But having said that, hard work is the only thing that is going to bring you any rewards when it comes to IM. Therer is nothing "easy" when it comes to making money online. You must be ready to work for the long haul.
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  • Profile picture of the author CurtisN
    Strategic laziness equals wealth
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    Curtis Ng (blog) - Product Launch Manager
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    • Profile picture of the author Scott Ames
      Originally Posted by CurtisN View Post

      Strategic laziness equals wealth
      OH I like that!!
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      Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. -Winston Churchill

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  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    Most if not all successful people actually do work very hard
    at what they do: it's usually the only way to put in the hours
    required to get really good at your career.

    If you do marketing you have to pay your dues and educate
    yourself. This requires an investment of time. Some catch-on
    and progress faster, but it's really not a race. If you keep
    plugging away at the details while developing your larger
    vision too, you can accomplish quite a lot in your lifetime.

    If making a lot of money is what you want to do, it's common
    for many people to overestimate what they can accomplish
    in a year's time... and underestimate what they can accomplish
    in a lifetime.

    Overnight success stories like the Brin and Page are great,
    but as a practical matter running a web start-up type business
    like they did is fraught with financial peril. Most fail.

    If you want definitive success, work on your skills. Ted
    Nicholas says you can learn copywriting to a professional
    level in 500-1000 hours of study - and that's a skill that
    can be leveraged in a lot of interesting ways.

    Other skills are not very leverageable, so it makes sense
    to determine where your aptitudes and interests are,
    decide what you want to accomplish in the long-term
    and develop your skills and marketing plan along
    pragmatic lines.

    There's a practical ceiling in a lot of trades. I find this
    as a writer myself, so I think "what's the way to expand
    here," and start to think in terms of publishing - and
    lo and behold I find a lot of role models of writers who
    became publishers and did quite well: Nicholas, Melvin
    Powers, Christian Godefroy, and Felix Dennis, who is
    silly-rich and wrote a book about how it happened.
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  • Profile picture of the author seanyd
    Leverage equals wealth outsourcing etc . Make more money getting other people to do the things that are boring or your not good at .
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
    Originally Posted by Scott Ames View Post


    My Dad never hired anyone, never trusted anyone else to do the job. He had to do it to get it right. He could have a lot more wealth if he learned to work smarter, not harder.
    If he was stubborn thats one thing but you are comparing Apples to Oranges and short changing your dad.

    He didn't grow up in a world where you could create a digital product (ebook or software) and reach millions of people. Where he could outsource a job to someone in India or even one where you could create and float a product in a week. Those two guys (Google) were the recipients of great timing and their parent's bucks (to attend college). Lightning may strike and create a fire every once in awhile but for most people in the past they had to rub two stones together with brute force to get dinner going. If they developed pride in doing that you can hardly blame them. Google had lightning timing - depending on that kind of timing wouldn't have fed your father's family and you wouldn't be where you are without that work ethic.

    You can't compare people from the non digital age to the generation of the hyper-digital age. Its not a fair comparison. If personal computers were all rendered useless by an electromagnetnic pulse you'd be surprised how much your work habits and smarts would resemble your dad's. You would't know a thing about IM and wouldn't care.

    But maybe your dad is even smarter than you. Maybe he gave what you needed so that one day in the not too distant future you can buy him that car while he's laying back in his easy chair. All kinds of routes to success and and kinds of success
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Razor
    Your correct, hard work definitely does not mean wealth by any means. You should work smarter, not harder. The hardest working people are never the ones making the money.
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  • Profile picture of the author techseol
    Why cant we replace the word HARD with SMART?

    Work Smart! Live Smart!
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  • Profile picture of the author carlo_sim
    True enough! i always tell myself to work smart and not to work hard. Working hard doesn't mean that you are doing the right thing. Always think before you act so to speak and when you figure out what works then you keep scaling it up!
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