The whole reason I got into this business...

The greatest benefit of the type of work we have is we can be our own boss. We can manage our own time for our work and for other things. The disadvantage I have noticed though is that I can no longer distinguish my office and my home which is why I prefer to go out to spend quality time with my family.

I agree with what you're saying 100% in your post.

The great thing about this business is that you can
build the kind of life and lifestyle you want.

It's vitally important that you have a really strong
idea of what kind of money you want to make and
how many hours you want to work to make it so
you can target in on that over time.

For some people that will be working one day a
week or a couple of hours a day and for others that
will be going gung-ho working 80+ hour weeks.

But whatever you do make sure you CHOOSE the
lifestyle you want and work towards it instead of
having a business you didn't design imposing a lifestyle
you don't want on you.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Take this from someone who started a marketing and communication atelier in 2004: you need to work your socks off if you want to make it. Economy is bad, competition is huge (even awful competition...) and no one wants to invest. I work maybe 10/14 hours per day (including travel, meetings and late nigh phone calls) and I have my own team to do production for me. I rarely design/code/copywrite these days - don't have time for that.

Basically I work more then in previous years, but income is way better too.

doing ???

o.p i agree. Some people think quitting the job and cold calling 10 hours+ day is a good change.

A few things.

1. To build a 4 Hour Work Week you have to build a business. I think at times people gloss over the story Tim tells and skip to the "quit working, make money phase".

2. If you are providing a service. And most here are. There are steps you can and should take to maximize your per hour rate. But you have to provide value that justifies the price.

There is a happy medium between "lowest price ever, not making minimum wage after taxes" and "charge $5,000 and out source it on fiverr". Sadly the two extremes are what people seem to gravitate towards here.

1000% markup isn't likely to happen.
And being the cheapest won't help you get more clients.

You need to price your services like a real professional.

3. Once you have income coming in the choice is yours how much to work.

If you can make $30k a year working 5 hours a week on average would you be happy? Or would you rather work 40 hrs a week to make $120k? And if you work more and thus make more will it be easier to hire people? And if you hire the right people could you make more and work less?

There is a thought process you need to go through.

Because if you live in the US and are satisfied with playing video games and barely working there are easier ways to do it. You shouldn't be an entrepreneur you should go on welfare.

I grew up on welfare. I know people currently on welfare. It's a really great life if you value freedom of time above all else.

The reason you want to make money is to give you freedom of purchase. So you have to find the right amount and the right amount of time.

But even Tim Ferriss doesn't work 4 Hours a Week. Why? Because he wants more. You can maximize how much you make per hours but if you work too little you risk not being able to make that per hour rate grow.

My uncle recently told me this zinger about starting a new business in his late 50s... "I come from a generation that does not mind working hard for my money so I will work hard for it".

I asked him, didn't you want to set it up so you are making passive income so you can work on things you enjoy or spend more time with your kids and soon grandkids. He said, "No, I know you are into doing that yourself but does it ever really work? I mean, really?"

My answer was I had another record breaking mostly passive income month on top every other month this year. Took me about 5 hours to make what it used to take me 60 hours to do and will take even less time as we move forward. Not sure the point of his question and like most of the rest of my family, just doesnt get you can build a pipeline or carry buckets of water the rest of your life.

I for one am enjoying this!

John thanks for sharing both the right outlook and an example of how it works in real life. And I have people I know who own businesses and don't get it. They work harder then they have to just to avoid hiring someone to do it. They never see how their own "work ethic" is holding back their company's growth.

the problem with o.p thinking...is you think your businss/niche will last forever...it won't. It'll die off one day and then what?

If something is going well you have to scale the hell out of it a fast as you can make as much money whilst the going is good.

Rather work your but off...sell a business for $5m+..Then retire/semi retire for ever than try to make $50k for the rest of your life.i.m.h.o.

One thing i have learned in business is it doesn't stand still.

No you are not lazy. You are enjoying life and doing other stuff. You are a minority here. I hope to be like you next year. Life is too short.