[Kaii]

Hi all, I have some question for all of you who run/own your own business, or work a non-location type of job:

1. How do you like not have an actual "boss"?

2. How do you like making your own schedule (if applicable).

3. How is the money compared to maybe working for someone else?

4. How do you handle the uncertainty of the work you are doing?

5. Are there any huge pitfalls that make you sometimes question working for yourself/abroad?


I was just wondering about some of these.

Thanks!

[Baphomet]

(05-16-2014 11:59 AM)Kaii Wrote:  

Hi all, I have some question for all of you who run/own your own business, or work a non-location type of job:

1. How do you like not have an actual "boss"?

2. How do you like making your own schedule (if applicable).

3. How is the money compared to maybe working for someone else?

4. How do you handle the uncertainty of the work you are doing?

5. Are there any huge pitfalls that make you sometimes question working for yourself/abroad?


I was just wondering about some of these.

Thanks!

1. You ALWAYS have a "boss." If you're in business producing or selling a product or service, you have a "boss." Even when you are your own boss, various factors will always be present that create an artificial boss.

2. Your schedule will get made for you based on your drive for success and how you define success. I know a lot of people who "work for themselves" and their schedules are a lot more demanding than the office drones I know. Working for yourself is not a ticket to carefree hours. (Again, depending on how you choose to define success.)

3. You'll never get rich working for someone else. But when starting out you'll often wish you were working for someone else. At the start of any business those personal paychecks can be pretty slim. Depending on how you work on question 2, they go up. I wouldn't trade it for anything at this point in my career.

4. Marketing, marketing, marketing. Part of the reason that question 3 is what it is, is because in the beginning, most of your earned money goes back into the business. Good marketing is the most valuable tool a business can have. A marketing plan will help get you through the doubts.

5. No. But a massive pitfall that I've seen others stumble into is adopting the notion that they've "made it" and can coast to success. That my friend, is a losing philosophy.

[soup]

(05-16-2014 11:59 AM)Kaii Wrote:  

Hi all, I have some question for all of you who run/own your own business, or work a non-location type of job:

1. How do you like not have an actual "boss"?

2. How do you like making your own schedule (if applicable).

3. How is the money compared to maybe working for someone else?

4. How do you handle the uncertainty of the work you are doing?

5. Are there any huge pitfalls that make you sometimes question working for yourself/abroad?


I was just wondering about some of these.

Thanks!

1)
2)
3)
4) I'm not sure there is a correlation between work uncertainty and having or not having a boss.
5) Not yet

[player]

1. How do you like not have an actual "boss"?
You may not have a "boss" but instead you have many bosses: your clients / investors / yourself.

Without directly having a "boss" to order you around every day, you must learn time management, set your own goals, and ideally have a purpose to motivate you. You grow far more than when you have a job.

2. How do you like making your own schedule (if applicable).
Being able to work whenever you like is seriously awesome. It's great being able to take days off during the week to do something, or being able to go to the gym when most people are working. The downside is that there is always work to do. The average Joe can get off work at 5 pm and have the time completely to himself: the entrepreneur will spend many of his evenings and weekends working.

Eventually - after tons of hard work and sacrifice - there is the possibility of living off passive income from businesses or investments. The level of true financial freedom, being able to retire young, and travel the world banging young sluts.

I'm still in the work-like-a-beast stage though.

3. How is the money compared to maybe working for someone else?

It depends. But if you add a ton of value to the marketplace and know how to market and sell, you can earn far more than people in normal jobs. If you apply a new strategy and double sales, you could more than double your income in a short space of time, while average Joe is only getting a 5% raise each year.

There are four ways of earning money:
Employee
Self-employed
Business Owner
Investor

Employees tend to trade their time for money. Time is the most valuable thing you have, so this isn't ideal.

Self-employed people are a step up. However they also tend to trade their time for money and this time they have additional problems (sales, marketing, etc).

Business owners use other people's time to make money. Now we're talking! This is a big step up.
(Also, depending on your country, businesses are far better for tax purposes than being an employee. )

Investors use money to make more money. This is where we should be aiming for.

Starting and growing a business is the best way to reach financial independence and become wealthy. However it is likely to require immense sacrifice and hard work, and probably low pay for a few years while things get started.

If you have a job, start up a business on the side in your free time. Then quit your job once you're earning enough from your business.

4. How do you handle the uncertainty of the work you are doing?

It forces you to grow and develop as a person. Starting a business was the best thing I ever did.

5. Are there any huge pitfalls that make you sometimes question working for yourself/abroad?

It requires huge sacrifices, tons of work, and coping with risk - but I would never get another job working for someone else. It's far more satisfying working for yourself, making sales, and leading staff rather than being bossed around, and it really forces you to grow as a man.


***

I would strongly encourage everyone to start their own businesses.

Buy and read the following books:
- MJ DeMarco's The Millionaire Fastlane (absolutely incredible book; anyone interested in becoming rich needs to read it)
- Josh Kaufman's The Personal MBA (great overview of business; describes the 12 forms of value that you can provide)
- Robert Cialdini's Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (fundamental text about influencing people - essential for marketing / sales)

As you'll learn in The Personal MBA, a business has five parts:

1. Create value
2. Marketing
3. Sales
4. Deliver value
5. Finance


1. Create value.
Think about how you can add value to the world. Focus on providing value, not on becoming rich. If you can add $10,000,000 worth of value to people's lives you can easily charge them $1,000,000 for that benefit.

If you can't immediately see how you can add value to the world, listen to people. What problems do they have? Can you solve their problems? If yes, then you have the beginnings of a business.

2. Marketing - to get attention for your business
Create a website: buy a domain name, get web hosting, and install Wordpress. Find a nice Wordpress theme.

You can market online and offline.

Online:
- search engine optimization
- pay-per-click advertising (e.g. Google Adwords)
- pay-per-view media buys
- email marketing (e.g. joint ventures)
- affiliate marketing
- social media marketing
- via blogs, forums, etc

Offline:
- direct mail
- print advertising
- networking
- press releases
- radio / TV

Track, test and optimize your marketing efforts so you can find the best ROI on your money / time. The biggest problem all businesses have at the beginning is this: what are the most cost-effective ways to get customers / clients?

Start building a mailing list by offering something valuable in return for their email address. Get an autoresponder, e.g. Aweber, Mailchimp, etc. Send them valuable emails to build a relationship and build your credibility.

3. Sales - to turn the attention into money

Learn some copywriting. Focus on "What's in it for them?" Cialdini's Influence is also useful here.

If you're really dedicated: one of the copywriting all-time-greats, Gary Halbert, has a recommendation to learn copywriting: http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/Newsletters/zfkj_hands_on_experience.htm

As soon as possible get testimonials from your customers / clients so you can add them to your website.

Eventually you will want to build up a well-designed sales funnel, tracking, testing and optimizing it.

4. Provide value
Provide whatever product or service you're selling, and make sure to overdeliver. A very happy customer / client is more likely to give you positive word-of-mouth - the best way to market your business.

5. Finance
Collect the money and ensure your business can meet all it's expenses.



Finally, Jay Abraham (awesome marketing wizard and business consultant) tells us there are only three ways to build a business:
1. increase the number of customers / clients.
2. increase the average order size (add upsells / cross-sells, downsells, etc)
3. increase the frequency of transactions (make your customers / clients come back and buy more often)

So work on these three things!

Good luck!

[Dr. Howard]

^ Player above said 99% of what I would have said.

I think the part I agree the most with is that there is always work to be done. Even when I am "off" I know that I have a todo list that is not being plowed through. When I used to work for a larger organization I didn't care, if I didn't get so something on my todo list the requester would forget over time or someone else would get it done or the request would die because an election was coming up.

Now, if it doesn't get done, there is money lost to the pockets of a competitor.

[jamaicabound]

Right now I'm in a position where I could quit my day job but choose to continue working all be it for low pay just for the peace of mind of having a steady paycheck and benefits insurance, 401k match, etc. I plan on working until I can't take it anymore or until my business gets to the point where I can't juggle both.

I wonder how I would juggle my schedule. Would I keep up a 9-5 ot would I just do my own thing sometimes work through the night, othertimes work in the day, etc.

Like I said I still do have a day job at the moment but also my own boss in my biz so I'll answer as well.

1. How do you like not have an actual "boss"?

Though I wasn't hired by someone I'm accountable to I do have a partner who I'm accountable to and him to me. I'm also accountable to myself, you have to be if your self employed. I'm accountable to my customers and due to any industry but especially my industry state regulators and other fuckheads. There is always osmeone you will have to listen.

2. How do you like making your own schedule (if applicable).

This is what I wonder how I would handle. I'm kinda a manic crazy personality, night owl, etc. I wonder if I could keep a consistant schedule or whether I might work 48 hours straigh andthen sleep for a day and then work a 9-5 and then a 12-9. Who knows. I do think I would

As you can maybe tell I spend too much time on this forum so my time management could use some work lol.

3. How is the money compared to maybe working for someone else?

Better, nobody else is going to pay you what your worth. Now granted as a startup or just starting out maybe you cant even take a check for a while. My situation was somewhat frustrating in that I knew on paper I was making 20k a month but I'm still working a day job making like $1800 a month fulltime and only able to take like 200 to 300 out of the business per month so I'm successful and making money but living on like 2200 a month. Things are slowly getting better.

4. How do you handle the uncertainty of the work you are doing?

When you say uncertainty are you referring more to not having a steady paycheck or that your the one who the buck stops at in all areas? At my day job I have a computer issue I call the IT dept or ask my boss. In my business I am the IT dept and the boss, there's nobody to rescue me. I do hvae a partner I can bounce ideas off, I do have a supportnetwork of friends and family who have various skills I can maybe ask advice from but end ofthe day its up to you. As for money, I think most entrepreneurs have a natural personality of not worrying about will I make rent but hustling and knowing they have no choice.

5. Are there any huge pitfalls that make you sometimes question working for yourself/abroad?

Yes, its easy to get burnt out, especially working a day job and running a biz. Sometimes I say man it was much easier when I was working for someone else, put in my 8 hours, go home smoke a bowl, jerkoff and go to bed. The reward in the end will be worth it though.

For a while I had a problem banks shutting me down all the time, this made me wana quit for a sec. Government regulations man. I fucking hate the man. Who's teh man? anyone who tells me to do something but especially the gov cant fucking stand them, petty red tape and everyones money grabbers fuck them. Anyhow, that has made me want to quit many of times but if I quit they win and fuck that.

Any successful entrepreneur is generally very resourceful, thinks outside the box and most of all doesn't give up. IMHO being an entrepreneur isn't about how smart you are or connections or money, its working your ass off and not knowing the word quit. I think anyone can be successful if they can stay motivated and not let up ever. I can gurantee with 100% surety nobody in my industry works harder than I do. I'm a small fish in my industry others are smarter, have better backrounds and much more money but I will work anybody under the table, I dont sleep and I dont quit and thats why Im able to hang in there with bigger better competition.

[travolta]

(05-16-2014 11:59 AM)Kaii Wrote:  

Hi all, I have some question for all of you who run/own your own business, or work a non-location type of job:

1. How do you like not have an actual "boss"?

2. How do you like making your own schedule (if applicable).

3. How is the money compared to maybe working for someone else?

4. How do you handle the uncertainty of the work you are doing?

5. Are there any huge pitfalls that make you sometimes question working for yourself/abroad?


I was just wondering about some of these.

Thanks!

1. It's awesome.
2. It's nice. I woke up at 2pm today, worked out. Now it's 4:30pm and I'm about to start working.
3. Can't even compare. Over the past week I've made more money than many recent college grads will make in a year. Enough money so realistically I could move to Thailand, keep my cost of living low, and live a decent life for the next 2 years without working. Though I'm greedy and want more money, so I won't stop working.
4. You handle the uncertainty by working extremely intensely until you have enough capital to float you through any potential downtimes. Starting off you can't take any breaks. 0 days off. But when you have a lot of money in the bank you can sleep a lot easier and know that there's more room for error. In short- by getting money.
5. No. I am quite literally living out my dreams. What is there to question?

[LaCobra]

I have a question regarding Number 2.

I get the feeling that when im not doing anything work related im wasting my life and my competition is fucking me. I know this is not 100% true, but how do you guys handle this.

[jamaicabound]

(05-17-2014 09:21 AM)LaCobra Wrote:  

I have a question regarding Number 2.

I get the feeling that when im not doing anything work related im wasting my life and my competition is fucking me. I know this is not 100% true, but how do you guys handle this.

Honestly if you never took a break there would always be something productive you could be doing to move your business forward. Here's my attitude though. I just got back from a week in Playa. I feel refeshed, motivated, less pissed off at my customers work and the world in general. I feel like though I sacraficed a week of work I'm able to come back stronger than ever so even though I did have some downtime which I may be tempted to call unproductive in the grand scheme of things it helps me be more productive in the long run. I catch myself gettting short with stupid customers and stuff which is not something you wanna do in business but taking a break every now and again lets me recharge and my business and myself is better for it in the long run.

[berserk]

(05-16-2014 11:59 AM)Kaii Wrote:  

Hi all, I have some question for all of you who run/own your own business, or work a non-location type of job:

1. How do you like not have an actual "boss"?

I like it a lot, but I never minded having a boss, just bad bosses. My motivation for working for myself was not that I minded having a boss, but the fact that fixed wages with slow pay raises are a suckers game. I'd be perfectly happy to be an employee in a company if I had lots of stock options in a biz that wanted to go public.

(05-16-2014 11:59 AM)Kaii Wrote:  

2. How do you like making your own schedule (if applicable).

It's great in the big picture, you can travel when you want, sleep when you want, get drunk on a tuesday, but it sucks in day to day life, because you need a lot of self dicipline.

(05-16-2014 11:59 AM)Kaii Wrote:  

3. How is the money compared to maybe working for someone else?

Until now about the same as working in a comparable position as an employee, but with much fewer hours and restriction.

(05-16-2014 11:59 AM)Kaii Wrote:  

4. How do you handle the uncertainty of the work you are doing?

You just learn to live with it and it becomes easier as your confidence in yourself grows, but it is always there. That makes you think long and hard about where you want your business to grow, so you don't end up as a 50 year old with a business that just gets by.

(05-16-2014 11:59 AM)Kaii Wrote:  

5. Are there any huge pitfalls that make you sometimes question working for yourself/abroad?

Too much freedom, too little grounding and too little discipline can sometimes lead you down wrong paths, because there isn't anyone to tell you that you're going the wrong way. You have to seek that kind of tough love advice out and it's difficult to find because most 9-5 people will just knee-jerk hate on your decisions no matter what. That makes it difficult to figure out if they have a point or are just jealous.

[Kaii]

Thanks guys for all your answers, it's been enlightening.

[Jackreacher]

(05-16-2014 11:59 AM)Kaii Wrote:  

Hi all, I have some question for all of you who run/own your own business, or work a non-location type of job:

1. How do you like not have an actual "boss"?

2. How do you like making your own schedule (if applicable).

3. How is the money compared to maybe working for someone else?

4. How do you handle the uncertainty of the work you are doing?

5. Are there any huge pitfalls that make you sometimes question working for yourself/abroad?


I was just wondering about some of these.

Thanks!

1. It's wonderful not having a boss, I don't think anyone in their right mind would disagree especially those who have one.

2. I'm very good at filling my time and I've gotten especially good at doing nothing(this is harder then it sounds), a lot of people when they start out setting their own schedule after years of having it set by other people, parents, bosses, teachers it can be nerve wrecking suddenly having to fill this time up by yourself, this was never much of a problem for me though and it's liberating.

3. Money for me is better then working for someone else, but time is the big currency that is overlooked, with time you can use it to make more money, you can't do this when you work for someone else for 8-10 hours a day quite so easily.

4. Failure is built in, it's going to happen but opportunities pop up ready to fill in those failed opportunities, sometimes with a lesser reward and other times with a greater cash value.

5. No, I diversify. I don't have all my hope in one business. I know the business I'm in can have a big hiccup and I can alternate to the others if need be.

[Chemistry]

(05-17-2014 09:21 AM)LaCobra Wrote:  

I get the feeling that when im not doing anything work related im wasting my life and my competition is fucking me. I know this is not 100% true, but how do you guys handle this.

I had this feeling for the first year or so of being self-employed. Eventually, you realize ( / remember?) that YOU get to control how much work you do.

This, in my opinion, is the major upside of self-employment. YOU get to decide how much of your life you pour into it.

If your goal is to be a kingpin and dominate a market and get rich as hell, then you put in the work to make it happen.

If you're content to live off of a part-time work schedule and have a life of significant leisure, you're allowed to do that too.

Self-employment, for me, was always more about the freedom to decide for myself how much I would put into it.

(Note, this is self-employment, not running a business, as player said. For reference I am self-employed and have no employees depending on me.)

[iknowexactly]

(05-16-2014 01:19 PM)player Wrote:  

1. How do you like not have an actual "boss"?
You may not have a "boss" but instead you have many bosses: your clients / investors / yourself.

Without directly having a "boss" to order you around every day, you must learn time management, set your own goals, and ideally have a purpose to motivate you. You grow far more than when you have a job.
Finally, Jay Abraham (awesome marketing wizard and business consultant) tells us there are only three ways to build a business:
1. increase the number of customers / clients.
2. increase the average order size (add upsells / cross-sells, downsells, etc)
3. increase the frequency of transactions (make your customers / clients come back and buy more often)

So work on these three things!

Good luck!

Great cutting to the essence of biz, thanks. +1 rep.