Hey Pretland Family,
Many of you have been asking me how I exactly left my previous job in the dust and transition to running a full-time business now.
It will take too long to explain all the steps so I decided to use a book that will help me to explain this more succinctly.
*WARNING: If you do not want to read long posts, I suggest going straight to the Lessons below. *
For those who are into reading personal development books (or on financial freedom), you may have come across this book before.
It is called the “Four Hour Workweek” by Tim Ferriss.
And if I were to summarize the book in one sentence, it would be this.
The 4-Hour Workweek is the step-by-step blueprint to free yourself from the shackles of a corporate job, create a business to fund the lifestyle of your dreams, and live life like a millionaire, without having to be one.
Sounds amazing right?
Well, you can do it too! (Over time, of course)
This book is Tim’s documentation of how he removed himself from his own company, to do what he loves: learn and travel.
Sounds a bit like my story, right? Haha.
This book helped me a lot. It gave me the steps and courage I needed to leave my job of 10 years and dive into something completely new to me.
But this post is not about me, it is about you.
Because I understand you may be stressed at work.
You may be sick of hearing your boss nagging at you.
You may be sick of being shackled to your job for so many years.
Doing something you do not like every day.
And it drives you crazy.
So, Jenny (Tim Ferriss) has come to save the day.
Because as a member of our Pretland family, we do not believe in leading unhappy lives.
We want our lives to be the best version of themselves.
We want to lead a happier and healthier life.
(For those who are too lazy or busy to read the entire book) Here are the three important lessons from the book that you can start applying in your life right now.
Lesson 1: Be effective, not efficient.
If Tim’s life (or my life) were designed around one rule, it would be the 80/20 rule or Pareto’s principle.
Most people measure productivity by the time spent working, but that is a bad indicator because we waste so much time at work.
Tim suggests spending your time on the 20% of things that get you 80% of the results, and not vice versa.
Instead of focusing on doing as much as you can as best as you can, focus on doing the few things that will lead to the biggest progress.
This is something you can adopt today that will make every single day of your life from here on out better and easier.
I have been doing this ever since I started Pretland, (and trust me) it works.
For example, if you are working in a field where you are paid based on results and commissions (insurance agent or property agent), focus on clients that bring you the biggest commissions.
Look through the list of clients and zoom in on the 20% of clients that bring in 80% of your total commissions.
It will be an eye-opener for you.
Lesson 2: Always validate your business ideas.
Before you go out and build any product or service, make sure people give you money for it.
Will your idea for kitten socks be a hit? I do not know, so go ask people to buy from you!
This is more of a comfort zone challenge than anything else, and it is scary – which is a good indicator that it’s important.
For example, from my own experience, I started Pretland 6 months before I quit my marketing job.
Before I stockpiled on my crystal products, I built a website first and Instagram page to see if people were interested in buying my crystals (or crystals in general).
And sure enough, it was a hit!
Over time, more and more people were asking me for my crystals, and I knew at that point, my dream of opening up my crystal store was going to be a reality!
And what an incredible journey it was, to the point where we have over 10,000 members in our post viewers today. (and even more customers!)
So, before you start stockpiling on kitten socks (or your product), focus on asking your target customer to see if they are interested in buying your product first.
Lesson 3: Charge a premium to need fewer clients and make your life easier.
Imagine you want to make $4,000/month and are selling a nutritional supplement.
If you charge $10 per bottle, you need to generate 400 sales per month.
If you charge $40 per bottle, you only must make 100 sales.
The hardest part of making a sale is moving people from not giving you money to giving you money.
The amount of money is very negotiable once they have decided to purchase from you.
It is easier to find 100 people who are willing to give you 4x the money much faster than you are finding an extra 300 people to buy from you in the first place.
That is the first reason you should shoot for high quality and charge a premium.
The second reason is that the people that are willing to pay a premium are low-hassle clients.
You will get a lot fewer complaints, returns, and angry phone calls.
Even if they do not like it, chances are they won’t bother returning it, because they don’t have to turn every cent twice before spending it.
So, promise a high quality and deliver.
And that concludes the three lessons from the 4 Hour Workweek.
I hope you learned something important from this and start applying them in your lives starting today. (Especially Lesson 1)
I understand the idea of starting a business may seem completely crazy and irrelevant to you now, but you never know.
Everybody has a passion for something (photography, kittens, or crystals) and every product/service has a market for it.
So, consider this down the road or now. (Especially if you know you are not going to continue working the same job for the next 10-20 years)
If you have any problem, please leave a comment and discuss with us!
I will always be here to support you.
Your crystals will always support you as well.
Wishing you love and light.
Jenny
