Hard Work actually works!

Why do you think they say that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at what you’re doing? Because there are asshole gurus out there who pick up a $49.99 e-book on how to scam money out of people by telling them how rich you are in order to get rich & if you actually want to become great at what you do, you will have to put in the hard work. So, instead of sitting on the couch watching television for 2-3 hours a day, fill that time up with practice of the skill you’re trying to become great at – and it always helps if that skill will get you money along the way.

I am a full time freelance designer and I spent many hours a day on the computer – invoicing, emailing, writing proposals, designing, coding, networking, ect. With one of these items missing, I believe that the chain would break and I’d slip off from the progress I am making – I actually know this to be true because a few months ago, I took a month or two off and seen how far I slid down the hill.

Sleep when you are dead

Have you heard that before? Maybe it’s just me, but I try to live by this as much as possible – at this moment it’s 4:15am and I am still working and building my empire. It helps that I have insomnia, so I am normally always up at this time of night – but if you want something bad enough, how hard are you actually prepared to work for it? Are you willing to shave 2 hours of sleep off every night in order to either stay up late or get up early and work harder?

If you can’t do that, then what right do you have to see someone who made it and have envious thoughts or talk about how you could do that if you wanted to. Why can’t you? Why not start now? We only get one life – do what makes you happy and work the hell out of it. If Gary Vaynerchuck says hustling is good, then it has to be true right? I believe him and I hope you’ll think about this as well.

And if you get nothing else from this article than this, remember that your day only has 24 hours in it and it’s up to you how much you make of it.

You can read the other articles I’ve written here about hustling but you need to spend more time doing things. So go do it.

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So who’s legit and who’s full of shit?

If a designer speaks on 10 trends in web design that are “played out”, but only list the techniques they either personally hate or cannot create,  how can we tell? If I tell you I am the best person to read and follow when it comes to social media marketing for designers, but noone else says it, how can you tell it’s true or fake? I personally use the rule of thumb that if someone is doing too much self bragging, they’re probably the ones falling into the “Self Proclaimed Guru” category. Those who speak about how great they are, usually aren’t.

You’ll find that people are generally brought up in conversations by other people when they’re the real deal. Chris Brogan gets talked about a lot on twitter and various other mediums – for very good reason. He doesn’t toot his own horn, but a lot of other people do, so he’s (in my mind) a legit “guru” in the social media niche.

In the design world, people like Jacob Cass, Graham Smith and James White are all well known – thus, they’re talked about a lot as well. If someone talks about specific aspects of design, a good design blog, inspirational designs, ect – they’re all on the list of people to be mentioned. When people talk, other people listen (other people – as in “you”).

So who’s really legit and who’s full of shit?

If their blog RSS subscribe list says only 15 are subscribed, odds are they’re either “really, really, really new” or “really, really, really unqualified”.

You can make the call on that, but as well all know, judging a book by it’s cover is human nature. No matter if we want to or not, we do. And Skellie made a great point in this aspect as well about why perception is everything when blogging – it’s well worth the read.

Does the blog they talk on have 25 ads across each page, while each article is only 200 or so words?

Odds are they’re just trying to make a buck and the quality of what they say is probably really low. I have my blog generally ad free besides the 125 ad block on the right sidebar – and even that to me seems like too much. I might be switching those out and removing all ads altogether soon just because I want to raise the quality of my blog for my readers.

Did you hear about them by seeing their name in conversations by other people – or did they contact you out of the blue?

If they just randomly contacted you – did they give you anything of value in their message? Are you able to find anything about them if you look through their twitter stream? If the only thing you can see about them is their actual email to you, odds are they’re not someone you should be putting on the “legit” list. 5 minutes of searching should tell you a lot about a person. Their blog, the amount of comments, their quality of work, their twitter stream, their presense in google, ect – all of these things are definitive factors in how you can see who’s bringing quality and who’s not.

Do you still have questions?

If you still have questions, feel free to get in touch on Twitter or Facebook. I’d be happy to explain things further if needed. And if you haven’t read the Build Your Network article yet, make sure you go check it out :)

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I am not making the post to rant and show how upset I am over it, because in all honesty it makes me laugh that these things go on every day. But, it also bothers me to know that people are probably falling for it and hiring these people.

The email below has been sent to me WORD-FOR-WORD to my email address through THREE of my websites. This website, the Design Blog I run and also my Tennessee Web Design company.

Hi,

I am contacting you through this contact form as there was no email address available. If you are in interested in getting a animated banner/ logo/ header/ footer/ icons/ templates/ mascot Designs for an exchange of a text link from your site.We can write articles for your site in exchange of text links. Also I will Do Article and Directory Submission for your site in exchange of text links.

Please get back to me using the email address I have entered if you would be interested in discussing this further.

Warm Regards,
Catherineannie.
MSN IM : catherineannie5@hotmail.com

This email fails on so many levels. Lets break down the first and biggest mistake they make so we can make sure we don’t make the same mistakes in the future.

Not being personal in your email will kill your chances of getting through

The first thing the email says is “Hi” yet there is no name after “Hi”. Why would it be hard to tell from any of my websites or social profiles that my name is Mike? Another thing that bothers me with this email is that they’ve not taken the time to realize I am a blog designer and copywriter myself and that I would not need their free banners, graphics, templates, articles, article submissions, ect. That’s like trying to sell soda to the owners of Coke.

Not including a link to your website will cause you to FAIL

Lets look past the fact that they’ve taken ZERO time to get to know me before emailing me and look at the next issue with their email. NO PORTFOLIO. So, you want to sell me website designs and graphic services in exchange for text links but I can’t see any of your work? Why the hell would I want to take the time to write you and say “yes please. please design for me even though I don’t know you at all, have never seen your work and wouldn’t know if you could be trusted”. You’ve included your MSN user name, what would have killed you to put “Portfolio: www.mywebsitehere.com” in it?

You have no idea when NO means NO do you?

So you write the person you’re trying to work for and they say “No thanks”. Thats ok, you can just email them again through other websites they own. You can send them the same stupid email template with the same bullshit offerings even though they told you no before. Right? WRONG!

So how can we market ourselves with cold emailing properly?

I have done cold-emailing in the past and have found some good success with it, with people hiring me through my initial email contact. How did I do it?

I crafted the email specifically to them and their needs

I used Canned Responses lab item for Gmail in order to save a pre-created email. This helped me craft a general overview but also leave room to add personal information in to ensure that it was hitting home with the reader instead of just leaving them frustrated at another piece of “email spam that got through”. I didn’t want to look like that at all as I’m sure you don’t want to either.

Take a second and read their about page. Read the list of popular posts they have and see what is doing well for them. Look over their site and see how you could help them reach their readers better and/or increase their profits. A simple task like this could be the difference in closing a deal or pissing someone off.

What should I do if they say NO to me?

Thats ok. Out of the 100 initial emails I sent out when I first started my blog design company, I had around 25 responses and made 5 sales. The 20 who responded and said NO were all very nice with their replies because I took the time to write them personally. This gave me the opening to write back a “thanks for your time” type email and ask them if they would mind if I kept in touch with them in the upcoming months. What did this do for me? I got 16 of them to say they wouldn’t mind and over the course of the next 4 months I closed another 4 deals from these people.

Please don’t make the same mistakes twice

Learn from the idiot who has sent me this same email three times and don’t send crappy, template created emails. Take a minute and do something personal for the person you’re writing and watch your return email response rate increase BIG TIME.

Any of you received this email before? I know I’ve got a lot of web designers who read this blog and I’m sure I’m not the only one who has received this email before. Speak up :)

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So what does this have to do with you? And what can you learn from the things I’ve learned with my digital detox?

There’s a lot of things you can learn if you step back from social media for a bit and look at things with a clear and uncluttered perspective. I’ve put together a few things I’ve learned along the way below for you to check out and see if you can relate or learn from them.

You don’t need social sites to get work

There’s tons of other ways to get jobs. Try freelance job boards for a week and see how many jobs you can land through them (hint: there’s work out there, especially when other freelance sites are advising against using job boards). You can also ask your current & previous clients if they have any other projects in the pipeline that you could work on or if they’d be able to pass your name along to anyone that know that could use your services.

Social media is time consuming

I’ve spoke before about how social media can become too time consuming, especially on the days when you just don’t feel like getting work done – it’s a hot bed for slacking and link clicking. I realized after taking 75 days off from social media sites that I was able to work on other projects of my own, clean up my office (completely redecorated), work out more and spend more free time with family & friends.

Social Media sites can be perfect – when used correctly

Twitter has long passed it’s glory days in my opinion and should be looked at as more of a job search filter than anything else. The occasional tweet between friends is great but how much time are you putting into finding work on the social sites?

Try setting up Twitter searches for terms that pertain to your line of work (ie: “Looking for a blog designer”) and check them daily, just like you do the job boards. Don’t just send the same generic tweet to the potential client though, but follow their website link to see what type of site they currently have, what their name is (you’d be amazed how much people hate “dear sir/madam”) & what their interests are, this way you can contact them directly through their website and make it personalized.

You don’t need social media to be successful

Some people look this simple fact over but there was a time (a few years ago actually) where freelancers like you and I didn’t use Twitter, Facebook or other social media sites to get jobs – some of the social media sites we use now didn’t even exist 5-10 years ago. You don’t need social media sites to be a successful freelancer.

Yes, the social media sites can be great for your business, but they can also do more harm than good when used incorrectly. You’ve got to be careful you don’t commit any of the common social media mistakes or let social media become time consuming & distract you from your overall goals.

Overall, my digital detox was great. I focused more on the current client work, put together some marketing plans for future job hunting experiments, put together some pieces of other projects I’m currently working on for myself and am finally diving back into the regular writing here on Guerrilla Freelancing again.

Digital Detox = Good!

What’s your longest detox?

Since you’ve started using social media sites like Twitter & Facebook, what’s the longest you’ve went without checking your account, posting updates or interacting with others? If you haven’t taken a detox yet, what’s stopping you?

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Previous Top 20 Posts:

Top 20 Guerrilla Freelancing articles from 2009
Top 20 Guerrilla Freelancing articles from 2010

Below are the top 20 Guerrilla Freelancing articles from 2011. I hope you enjoy them and find something you may have missed over the past 12 months! The list is in no particular order

5 Fight Club Tips for Freelancers – Tweet

The benefits & drawbacks of Freelancing during the grave yard shift – Tweet

10 Creativity killers you should be watching out for – Tweet

6 Hidden benefits of being a Self Made Freelancer – Tweet

Crappy Clients: How (and when) to fire them without feeling guilty – Tweet

Social Media Ass Slapping Syndrome (SMASS™) – Tweet

8 Ways to Kick Start Your Hustle Efforts – Tweet

You and your client are dating: First impressions mean everything – Tweet

8 Days A Week: How to find an extra 24 hours for your freelance business – Tweet

7 items freelancers should back up but probably don’t – Tweet

5 Unusual questions that freelancers MUST ask their clients – Tweet

If you’re not pissing people off, you’re doing it wrong – Tweet

Top 5 mistakes of first time freelancers – Tweet

The four words that every freelancer is scared shitless of hearing – Tweet

3 Reasons you’re not making more money and how you can change it – Tweet

7 ways you can instantly make happy clients – Tweet

Bedroom Businesses: The naked truth behind building a business from home – Tweet

How to build your own guerrilla marketing strategy – Tweet

The benefits and drawbacks of being a hustler – Tweet

101 Freelance Resources you can use today! – Tweet

What were your favorite articles on the list?

I’d love to hear what your favorite articles were on the list from 2011. You can tweet out your favorite by clicking the tweet link next to the titles above or drop a message on our Facebook page letting us know what your favorite were.

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Let’s review 10 of the biggest business cliches!

#1. Thinking outside the box

If I hear someone else say “thinking outside the box” again, I’m going to jump off a building. Well, not really, but you get the point. People overuse this phrase and have beat it into the ground in recent years. Really, it’s just a failed attempt at telling people you’re creative – show them instead.

#2. It’s a win-win situation

This phrase reminds me a lot of a used car salesman. Sure, it sounds like a good idea (a win/win situation even) but I just can’t help but think that there’s a load of bullshit covered up ready to be stepped on.

#3. Giving 110%

Giving all you’ve got is something that should always be done – if you have to tell people you’re giving 110%, you’re really not doing everything in your power to be the best that you can be. Action speaks louder than words, right? So instead of talking about it, start hustling and people will take notice.

#4. At the end of the day

… you go to sleep. Yeah, this phrase is one that’ll definitely put people to sleep after using it a few times. It’s like people saying “um” during a speech – it’s filler. Condense your pitch and resubmit it again tomorrow because at the end of the day (ha), that phrase will cause people to run the other way.

#5. Low hanging fruit

I don’t even know what to say about this one. Besides the fact that it’s way overused in business, it doesn’t even give the person you’re talking to a clear understanding of what you’re talking about. Do you go after the low hanging fruits because they’re easier to get or are they considered less valuable because they’re so easy to get? Tip: don’t confuse your target audience with phrases that are open-ended.

#6. Push the envelope

If there was one phrase on the list that’s been overused the most, this one just might be it. So you push the envelope? So what? Again, actions speak louder than words so instead of trying to use witty words to convince people that you’re awesome, be proactive in your daily actions and show them instead.

#7. Knock the ball out of the park

This one is just plain dumb. Not every good play involves a home run. One home run in a game might get you (at most) 4 runs, but what if you got base hits 5 times in every inning? You’d end up 10 runs and win. Same goes for inside the park home runs, doubles, triples, etc.

#8. All your eggs in one basket

Are you the Easter Bunny? If not, stop using this phrase right now! There’s plenty of other ways to talk about being diversified with your income sources. Passive income is a great way to get started earning money in other areas, so focus on that instead of this overly used catch phrase.

#9. The ball is in your court

The ball is on the court, not yours or mine. The game is played on the same court, so why do you think that every player has their own court? Stop using this phrase now because it’s not making you look intelligent in your target markets eyes.

#10. Rome wasn’t built in a day

No shit. Neither was the hole-in-the-wall bar down the street from your house, but the length of time it takes to build something doesn’t really matter – it’s the quality you put into it that matters the most. Are you putting out the best product possible? Is your service 10 levels above your competition? If not, you need to reevaluate your freelance business in it’s entirety.

That’s what you need to focus on more than the time it takes to build something – you can build something awesome in a few hours (see WP Guerrilla for proof of that) or take months to build something and watch it crumble (see Throwing in the towel).

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Do you want to have more time?

If your ultimate goal is to get more time to do things you love, you’re going to have to change up your approach a bit when freelancing and focus on things that’ll help you achieve this goal.

First, you’re going to want to cut back your expenses a bit. Do you pay for Netflix or other subscription based items? If so, they’ve got to go. Are you eating fast food on a regular basis? Yeah, that’ll have to stop too. Do you buy a ton of music on iTunes? Spend some time listening to songs on Youtube instead, but don’t watch the videos, just listen to them – you don’t want to waste all the extra time you’re finding by watching videos all day.

Next, you’ll need to raise your rates so you can earn more money while doing less work. Start by increasing price quotes by 20-30% and see how the responses go. If new clients are still buying your services at the same speed as before, increase the pricing even more.

It’s not a bad thing to want more time to spend with friends and family, so if this is what you want to do, you’re going to have to accept the fact that most freelance businesses will need to either stay the same or increase rates while decreasing spending in order to make it work.

Do you want to have more money?

If your ultimate goal is to get more money, there’s some things you’re going to have to give up too, so don’t think you’re getting off that easy. When you’re looking at the worlds most successful people (I’m talking about multi-millionaires and billionaires), you’ll notice that they’re constantly working and moving their businesses forward, so if you’re wanting to get more money, be prepared to hustle your ass off and working 8 days a week.

First, you’ll need to stop going out to bars, the movies and brunch with friends. Actually, you’ll notice that in order to really hit strides in your monetary growth, you’re going to disappear for a while. If your friends aren’t calling your phone and asking you if everything’s o.k., you haven’t been hitting the ground running hard enough.

Next, you’ll need to cut back on your spending as well. Just like the people who want more time, Netflix and other subscription based services should be cut. The trick here though is to cut subscription services which don’t further your business (ie: Netflix, magazines, music, etc) while keeping memberships that will benefit your freelance business.

But can there be balance?

I know there’s someone reading this right now who thinks that this article is bullshit and that there’s definitely ways to balance both time and money. Hell, maybe it’s you who’s thinking that right now.

And you’re right.

Yes, you can balance both time and money but you’ll never reach the full potential on either side of the spectrum.

If deep down inside you just want to spend time with friends and family, travel, read more and see the world, you’ll find it hard to do while working 40+ hours a week on average to maintain a normal work life.

If you’re looking to put a couple extra commas in your bank account, you’ll find it hard to do when you’re constantly distracted by friends and family who want to hang out, talk, go see a movie, go to bed at a reasonable time, etc.

Staying in the middle ground is death to your spirit. It’s what we call average and I know you’re anything but average. So quit trying to be average, figure out what you really want most out of your life and hit the ground running.

You’ll love your live much more that way.

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So why do most of us fall victim to the fears we have? It cripples us and causes unnecessary timidness in our daily activities. Instead of getting out there and going after our goals, we get trapped into believing that good is good enough.

It’s never good enough.

Or at least it shouldn’t be.

So how can you turn your fear into fuel? How can you take a minute or two out of your day, acknolwedge your fears and then turn that nervous energy into the ability to stay up past 4am working, busting your ass and making sure you’re not going to fail?

Before we get to that, let’s look into what one of the biggest fears that freelancers have.

Fear of failure.

Maybe you’re the only person in your house that’s working and your entire families success weighs on your shoulders. Maybe you’ve just found out that you’re expecting a child and your current income is only enough to keep you and your significant other afloat.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

No matter what the specifics of the fears you have are, they almost always boil down to a fear of failure.

Will I land this new job? Will I totally rock during my next meeting? What if I cannot get the rent for this month? What will happen if my main source of income suddenly dries up?

Yeah, I’ve been there.

I’m there right now actually. It’s 4am and I’m writing this post and designing at the same time (well, not at the exact same time – I obviously can’t write and design at the same time, but you know what I mean).

I’m scared too.

But what I’ve learned is that this fear that fills my mind can be a good thing.

You know the cliche “when your back’s against the wall…” right? Well, it’s something that I always looked at as just another cliche but lately I’ve really been seeing the benefits of having your back against the wall.

Instead of feeling comfortable with my life and being happy that I’ve been freelancing full time for 5 years, I’m nervous and I love the feeling. The idea of the unknown really excites me.

It scares the living shit out of me, but it also excites me beyond belief.

Fueling your freelance business with fear

So how do you use fear to your advantage? The first thing you need to do is understand that your fears are not going to break you. The fear itself is just your idealistic mind creeping into your gut and shutting down your adventurous side.

Instead of being crippled by your fear, you can use it to build up a non-stop work ethic and fuel your freelance business to new heights because you know if you don’t work as hard as you’ve ever worked in your life, your whole world will shut down.

Remind yourself every day of what you’re afraid of first thing in the morning and right before you go to sleep. Focus on your fears and allow yourself to see the fear for what it is – your mind telling you what you need to do.

Your fears are just hidden clues to what’s really most important in your life. Acknowledge the fears and recognize their power.

Instead of spending time on social media sites thinking that tomorrow will come and you’ll be able to get a project done, get off your ass and start hustling. Spend the next 6 hours knocking out a project you were putting off.

Remind yourself during this time that if you don’t get it done you’re going to go broke and lose your house, car and entire life.

Drastic? Yes.

Essential? Definitely.

There’s a reason that a lot of success stories you hear about a lot of the wealthiest people in the world involve them being poor and/or homeless, down on their luck and at rock bottom.

It’s because when they hit that wall and couldn’t back up any more, they had no choice but to fight back. Fight or flight kicks in and instead of being giant pussies, they dug their feet into the ground and pushed back.

Your fear is a bully.

The longer you pretend that it will go away if you don’t feed it, the longer it’ll be right there in your face pushing you and beating you up.

How do you get rid of bullies in school? You punch them right in the fucking face and they learn that you’re not someone they can push around.

The same is true with your fears.

So instead of allowing your fears to stop you from being successful, use it to your advantage. Remind yourself daily about why you’re fighting and never stop pushing forward.

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You can submit to more job boards, set up guerrilla marketing tactics to find more work, etc. But what about figuring out ways to make money over and over again without any additional work? Got your interest?

Passive income is a great way to earn some additional cash while still doing your current freelance work. Yes, you’ll work more hours, but you’re a hustler so why would that bother you?

The hidden truth behind being a freelancer is that you’re not truly free – you’re working for clients, bending to their needs and in essence, they’re your boss. In order to be truly free, passive income comes into play. It’s all around you, but sometimes it’s hard to see it since

Ebooks

One of the quickest ways to earn some passive income is by sharing your knowledge. I’ve personally done this with the Guerrilla Guide and One Man Army books I’ve released on this site and can say without a doubt that it’s a great way to earn some extra income.

Think about your current business and write up a guide for beginners on how they can do what you do, or go in a completely different direction and write an ebook about one of your passions – sports, painting, etc. If you pack the book with enough kick ass information you’ll be able to sell the hell out of it and build your passive income up to a respectable level in no time.

Vector/Graphic Files

How many files do you currently have on your computer right now that were built for a client but never used in production? How many times have you posted random designs to Dribbble that were created “just for fun”? Well, these files can be turned into passive income.

If you check out sites like istockphoto, graphicriver, etc. you can see how people are able to upload premium design files and sell them. Do you run your own blog? Sell the items directly on your own website and keep 100% of the profits.

Web Hosting Recommendations

This is one that I’ve currently been implementing into my business lately and I have to say that it’s a great way to get some checks in the mail for virtually zero work. If you’re a web designer and your clients don’t have hosting set up, why not recommend them to a hosting company that you like and get paid for the referral?

I personally recommend HostGator for hosting (coupon code: GuerrillaFreelancing gets you the first month for 1 penny) and get paid every time someone signs up under my affiliate link. I recommend it because I use them for my own websites so I know they’re a good company and worth the client signing up for.

WordPress Themes

I know what you’re thinking, “aren’t there enough of these damn sites out there already?”, and you’re right – there are a lot of WordPress theme companies out there. Yes, it seems like an over saturated market but then again people say the same thing about earning money by running porn websites and we all know those will never go away.

So instead of trying to build your own full blown theme company, release your own commercial WordPress theme on your portfolio website or your own blog. By doing this, you aren’t running the risk of building a WordPress theme company that eventually has to close down.

Build your own websites

If you look at this website, Guerrilla Freelancing is a perfect example of building your own website to earn some extra cash from. I write about things I know a lot about, I teach others on a daily basis and I have a blast doing it. In return, I release guides and have advertisements on the site which earn me passive income.

So get out there, build a website surrounding a passion of yours, put some ads in place and start earning yourself some passive income. Yes, the site might take a while to build and start earning money, but once it’s grown to a respectable size, the effects snowball themselves. Pat from Smart Passive Income has a TON of great information on building niche websites that you might want to check out as well.

Software Development

Everything from WordPress plugins, iPhone apps, web apps, etc. can be turned into passive income. Do you want to build your own to-do web app or how about a project management app? If you’re not able to code out something like this, link up with a developer who knows how to code and you bring your skillset the table (designing, copywriting, etc) and join forces to earn some passive income together.

Stock Photography

This is another passive income stream that I’m working on over at the inspiiired magazine website. By taking photos of textures and releasing them I am able to build up traffic and exposure for my site. Now I’m working on actually taking stock photos to release which will grow the passive income earned from the site because every shot I upload has the potential to earn money on a regular basis.

iStockPhoto is a great place to look for ideas on what Stock Photos earn the most money. Check out their popular items section and see which items you’re able to recreate and sell on your own website. Everything from business men and women to children toys have the potential to earn you cash so don’t limit yourself to only one or two types of shots.

What are you waiting for?

If you’re reading this and you’re still not doing something at this very moment to help you earn some extra passive income, what are you waiting for? Is there something holding you back from building up some nice side business income? If so, let’s talk on Twitter and see what we can do in order to get you moving forward with at least one passive income stream this week.

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Some people were fortunate enough to know the recipe early on in their lives but a lot of us have to find out the hard way, through years of struggle and doubt. There’s a lot of times that you’ll be within feet of the answer to your businesses problems but you’ll stop, turn around and go the other way.

Ready? The secret recipe to making your own luck only has two ingredients in it. I told you – simple.

Ingredient #1 – hard fucking work

If you want to get ahead in this world, you can become a snake and slither your way through the grass, biting unsuspecting people along the way, but eventually you’re going to find yourself under a lawn mower – trust me, you don’t want to know how that turns out.

So how do you get ahead the right way?

Hard work.

Anything worth having is worth fighting for, right? Then you need to get out there and hit the ground running. Learn how to kick start your hustle efforts, build a guerrilla marketing strategy, cut out the social media bullshit and put one foot in front of the other.

I know it’s not something a lot of people want to hear and maybe you don’t want to hear it either, but it’s the truth. If you look at successful people in business, a lot of them (and I mean, a lot) sleep for 4 hours or less per night, work for months on end without a single day off and are intensely focused. If you’re not ready to follow in their footsteps, don’t be surprised if you never end as far ahead in life as they are.

Ingredient #2 – more hard fucking work

What? You thought there was another magical ingredient? What you need to do is pile on a bunch of hard fucking work and then step back, stare at what you’ve done and multiply that by ten! You’re going to need to look at who you’ve got around you and cut people out who aren’t helping you get ahead. Then you’ll need to see what type of work ethic you’ve been accustomed to and totally rewire your brain.

Get some motivational quotes, print them out and put them around your house, office, car, etc. Sit down with some guerrilla marketing tactics, study them and figure out how you can use them for your business. Figure out how to build repetition into your business, get yourself an extra day per week to work and hit the ground running.

Seriously, do it now!

The truth about making your own luck

The truth is, there’s no secret formula other than hard fucking work. You want to be in the right place at the right time? Be there all the time and eventually wherever you are will become the right place. It’s that simple.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Thomas Edison

I know you’ve heard the phrase work smart, not hard before, right? It’s bullshit. If you’re working smart you also need to work hard as hell. The four hour work week is a mirage. For 99% of the world it’s never going to happen. You can chase that dream or you can make your own luck, work really fucking hard and turn your dreams into reality.

The choice is yours.

Need more proof?

Fast Company wrote an article titled “How to Make Your Own Luck” back in 2003. Then in 2010, Psychology Today wrote an article titled “Make Your Own Luck“.

Thanks to Rob Dyrdek for putting the phrase “Make Your Own Luck” out there on t-shirts, on t.v. etc. It inspired this article and inspired me to be up at 3am writing this article because I know what I need to do in order to win.

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