how-to yoga DVD for rock climbers—as case studies of what the testing steps look like and how you
can do the same.
Sherwood bought a striped sailing shirt in France while traveling last summer, and upon returning to
NYC has been continually approached by 20–30-year-old males on the street who want to know where
to get their own. Sensing an opportunity, he requests back issues of NYC-based weekly magazines
aimed at this demographic and calls the manufacturer in France for pricing. He learns that he can
purchase shirts at a wholesale price of $20 that sell for $100 retail. He adds $5 per shirt to account for
shipping to the U.S. and arrives at a per-shirt cost of $25. It’s not quite our ideal markup (4x vs. 8–10x),
but he wants to test the product regardless.
Johanna is a yoga instructor who has noticed her growing client base of rock climbers. She is also a
rock climber and is considering creating a yoga instructional DVD tailored to that sport, which would
include a 20-page spiral-bound manual and be priced at $80. She predicts that production of a lowbudget
first edition of the DVD would cost nothing more than a borrowed digital camera and a friend’s
iMac for simple editing. She can burn small quantities of this first-edition DVD—no menus, just straight
footage and titles—on the laptop and create labels with freeware from www.download.com. She has
contacted a duplication house and learned that more-professional DVDs will cost $3–5 apiece to
duplicate in small quantities (minimum of 250), including cases.
Now that they have ideas and estimates of start-up costs, what next?
Besting the Competition
First and foremost, each product must pass a competitive litmus test. How can Sherwood and Johanna
beat the competition and offer a superior product or guarantee?
1. Sherwood and Johanna Google the top terms each would use to try and find their respective products.
To come up with related terms and derivative terms, both use search term suggestion tools.
Google Adwords Keyword Tool (http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) Enter the
potential search terms to find search volume and alternative terms with more search traffic. Click on the
“Approx Avg Search Volume” column to sort results from most to least searched.
SEOBook Keyword Tool, SEO for Firefox Extension (http://tools.seobook.com/) This is an
outstanding resource page with searches powered by Wordtracker (www.wordtracker.com).
Both then visit the three websites that consistently appear in top search and PPC positions. How can
Sherwood and Johanna differentiate themselves?
Use more credibility indicators? (media, academia, associations,
and testimonials)
Create a better guarantee?
Offer better selection? 41
Free or faster shipping?
Sherwood notices that the shirts are often hard to find on the competitive sites, all of which feature
dozens of products, and the shirts are either made in the U.S. (inauthentic) or shipped from France
(customers must wait two to four weeks). Johanna cannot find a “yoga for rock climbing” DVD, so she
is starting from a blank slate.
2. Sherwood and Johanna now need to create a one-page (300–600 words) testimonial-rich
advertisement that emphasizes their differentiators and product benefits using text and either personal
photos or stock photos from stock photo websites. Both have spent two weeks collecting advertisements
that have prompted them to make purchases or that have caught their attention in print or online—these
will serve as models. 42 Johanna asks her clients for testimonials and Sherwood lets his friends try on the
shirts to get several for his page. Sherwood also asks the manufacturer for photos and advertising
samples.
See www.pxmethod.com for a good example of how I have created a test page using testimonials
from seminar attendees. Please note that it’s just a template for readers and not a live sales page. Free
how-to seminars as recommended in the Expert Builder are ideal for identifying popular selling points
and securing testimonials.
Testing the Advertisement
Sherwood and Johanna now need to test actual customer response to their advertisements. Sherwood first
tests his concept with a 72-hour eBay auction that includes his advertising text. He sets the “reserve” (the
lowest price he’ll accept) for one shirt at $50 and cancels the auction last minute to avoid legal issues
since he doesn’t have product to ship. He has received bids up to $75 and decides to move to the next
phase of testing. Johanna doesn’t feel comfortable with the apparent deception and skips this preliminary
testing.
Sherwood’s cost: <$5.
Both register domain names for their soon-to-be one-page sites using the cheap domain registrar
www.domainsinseconds.com. Sherwood chooses www.shirtsfromfrance.com and Johanna chooses
www.yogaclimber.com. For additional domain names, Johanna uses www.domainsinseconds.com.
Cost to both: <$20.
Sherwood uses www.weebly.com to create his one-page site advertisement and then creates two
additional pages using the form builder www.wufoo.com. If someone clicks on the “purchase” button at
the bottom of the first page, it takes them to a second page with pricing, shipping and handling, 43 and
basic contact fields to fill out (including e-mail and phone). If the visitor presses “continue with order,” it
takes them to a page that states, “Unfortunately, we are currently on back order but will contact you as
soon as we have product in stock. Thank you for your patience.” This structure allows him to test the
first-page ad and his pricing separately. If someone gets to the last page, it is considered an order.
Johanna is not comfortable with “dry testing,” as Sherwood’s approach is known, even though it is
legal if the billing data isn’t captured. She instead uses the same two services to create a single webpage
with the content of her one-page ad and an e-mail sign-up for a free “top 10 tips” list for using yoga for
rock climbing. She will consider 60% of the sign-ups as hypothetical orders.
Cost to both: <$0.
Both set up simple Google Adwords campaigns with 50–100 search terms to simultaneously test
headlines while driving traffic to their pages. Their daily budget limits are set at $50 per day. (At this
segue into PPC testing, I recommend you first visit www.adwords/google.com/onlinebusiness and then
follow along by creating your own account, which should take about 10 minutes. It would be a waste of
rain forests to use ten pages to explain terms that can be understood at a glance online.)
Sherwood and Johanna decide on the best search terms by using the search term suggestion tools
mentioned earlier. Both aim for specific terms when possible (“french sailor shirts” vs. “french shirts;”
“yoga for sports” vs. “yoga”) for higher conversion rates (the percentage of visitors that purchase) and
lower cost-per-click (CPC). They aim also for second through fourth positioning, but no more than $.20
CPC.
Sherwood will use Google’s free analytical tools to track “orders” and page abandonment rates—what
percentage of visitors leave the site from which pages. Johanna will use www.wufoo.com to track e-mail
sign-ups on this small testing scale. 44
Cost to both: $0.
Both Johanna and Sherwood design Adwords ads that focus on their differentiators. Each Google
Adwords ad consists of a headline and then two lines of description, neither of which can exceed 35
characters. In Sherwood’s case, he creates five groups of 10 search terms each. The following are two of
his ads.
SAILOR SHIRTS FROM FRANCE
Johanna creates the same five groups of 10 terms each and tests a number of ads, including these:
Notice that these ads can be used to test not just headlines but guarantees, product names, and domain
names. It’s as simple as creating several ads, rotated automatically by Google, that are identical except
for the one variable to be tested. How do you think I determined the best title for this book?
Both Sherwood and Johanna disable the feature on Google that serves only the best-performing ad.
This is necessary to later compare the click-through rates from each and combine the best elements
(headline, domain name, and body text) into a final ad.
Last but not least, ensure that the ads don’t trick prospects into visiting the site. The product offer
should be clear. Our goal is qualified traffic, so we do not want to offer something “free” or otherwise
attract window shoppers or the curious who are unlikely to buy.
Cost to both: $50 or less per day x 5 days = $250. 45
Investing or Divesting
Five days later, it’s time to tally the results.
What can we consider a “good” click-through and conversion rate? This is where the math can be
deceiving. If we’re selling a $10,000 abominable snowman suit with an 80% profit margin, we obviously
need a much lower conversion rate than someone who is selling a $50 DVD with a 70% profit margin.
For sophisticated tools and free spreadsheets that do all sorts of calculations for you, visit the reader-only
resources at www.fourhourblog.com.
Johanna and Sherwood decide to keep it simple at this stage: How much did they spend on PPC ads
and how much did they “sell”?
Johanna has done well. The traffic wasn’t enough to make the test stand up to statistical scrutiny, but
she spent about $200 on PPC and got 14 sign-ups for a free 10-tip report. If she assumes 60% would
purchase, that means 8.4 people x $75 profit per DVD = $630 in hypothetical total profit. This is also not
taking into account the potential lifetime value of each customer.
The results of her small test are no guarantee of future success, but the indications are positive enough
that she decides to set up a Yahoo Store for $99 per month and a small per-transaction fee. Her credit
isn’t excellent, so she will opt to use www.paypal.com to accept credit cards online instead of
approaching her bank for a merchant account. 46 She e-mails the 10-tip report to those who signed up and
asks for their feedback and recommendations for content on the DVD. Ten days later, she has a first
attempt at the DVD ready to ship and her store is online. Her sales to the original sign-ups cover costs of
production and she is soon selling a respectable 10 DVDs per week ($750 profit) via Google Adwords.
She plans to test advertising in niche magazines and blogs and now needs to create an automation
architecture to remove herself from the equation.
Sherwood didn’t fare as well but still sees potential. He spent $150 on PPC and “sold” three shirts for
a hypothetical $225 in profit. He had more than enough traffic, but the bulk of visitors left the site on the
pricing page. Rather than drop pricing, he decides to test a “2x money-back guarantee” on the pricing
page, which will enable customers to get a $200 refund if the $100 shirts aren’t the “most comfortable
they’ve ever owned.” He retests and “sells” seven shirts for $525 in profit. Based on these results, he sets
up a merchant account through his bank and Authorize.net to process credit cards, orders a dozen shirts
from France, and sells them all over the following ten days. This gives him enough profit to buy a small
display ad at 50% off (asking for a “first-time advertiser discount” and then citing a competing magazine
to get another 20% off) in a local weekly art magazine, in which he calls the shirt “Jackson Pollock
Shirts.” He orders two dozen more shirts with net-30 payment terms and puts a toll-free number 47 in the
print ad that forwards to his cell phone. He does this instead of using a website for two reasons: (1) He
wants to determine the most common questions for his FAQ online, and (2) he wants to test an offer of
$100 for one shirt ($75 in profit) or “buy two, get one free” ($200 - $75 = $125 profit).
He sells all 24 shirts in the first five days the magazine runs, most through the special offer. Success.
He redesigns the print ad, putting answers to common questions in the text to cut down on calls for
information, and decides to negotiate a longer-term ad agreement with the magazine. He sends his sales
rep a check for four issues at 30% of their published rates. He calls to confirm that they received his
check via FedEx and, with check in hand and deadlines looming, they don’t refuse.
Sherwood wants to go to Berlin during a two-week break from his job, which he is now considering
quitting. How can he roll out his success and escape his own company? He needs to build the
architecture and get his mobile M.B.A.
That’s where the next chapter comes in.
New Rich Revisited: How Doug Did It
Remember Doug from ProSoundEffects.com? How did he test the idea and go from $0 to $10,000
per month in the process? He followed these steps.
1. Market Selection
He chose music and television producers as his market because he is a musician himself and has used
these products.
2. Product Brainstorm
He chose the most popular products available for resale from the largest manufacturers of sound libraries
and arranged a wholesale purchase and drop-ship agreement with them. Many of these libraries cost well
above $300 (up to $7,500), and this is precisely why he needs to answer more customer-service
questions than someone with a lower-priced product of $50–200.
3. Micro-Testing
He auctioned the products on eBay to test demand (and the highest possible pricing) before purchasing
inventory. He ordered product only when people placed orders from him, and product shipped
immediately from the manufacturers’ warehouses. Based on this demand confirmed on eBay, Doug
created a Yahoo Store with these products and began testing Google Adwords and other PPC search
engines.
4. Rollout and Automation
Following this testing, and upon generating sufficient cash flow, Doug began experimenting with print
advertising in trade magazines. Simultaneously, he streamlined and outsourced operations to reduce his
time requirements from two hours per day to two hours per week.
COMFORT CHALLENGE
Rejecting First Offers and Walking Away (3 Days)
Before performing this exercise, if possible, read the bonus chapter “How to Get $700,000 of
Advertising for $10,000” on our companion site, and then set aside two hours on a consecutive Saturday,
Sunday, and Monday.
On Saturday and Sunday, go to a farmers’ market or other outdoor event where goods are sold. If this
isn’t possible, go to small independent retailers (not chains or mass retail).
Set a budget of $100 for your negotiating tuition and look for items to purchase that total at least $150.
Your job is to get the sellers down to a total of $100 or less for the lot. It is better to practice on many
cheap items rather than a few big items. Be sure to reply to their first offer with, “What type of discount
can you offer?” to let them negotiate against themselves. Negotiate near closing time, choose your
objective price, bracket, and make a firm offer with cash in hand for that amount. 48 Practice walking
away if your objective price isn’t met. On Monday, call two magazines (expect the first to be awkward)
and use the script on the companion site to negotiate, minus the last firm offer. Get them as low as
possible and then call them back later to indicate that your proposal was refused by upper management
or otherwise vetoed.
This is the negotiating equivalent of paper trading. 49 Get used to refusing offers and countering in
person and—most importantly—on the phone.
TOOLS AND TRICKS
Sample Muse Test Page
The PX Method ( www.pxmethod.com )
This sales template was used to determine the viability of a speed-reading product, which tested
successfully. Notice how testimonials, credibility indicators, and risk-reversal guarantees are used, as
well as how the pricing is put on a separate page so it can be isolated as a testing variable. Use this as a
reference—it is a simple and effective model that can be copied. Please do not input your credit card
information, as it is just a mock-up for teaching purposes.
Fast and Simple Website Creation for Non-Techies (and Techies)
Weebly ( www.weebly.com )
Weebly, which the BBC labeled “a must,” allowed me to create www.timothyferriss.com in less than two
hours and have it appear on the front page of Google for “timothy ferriss” searches within 48 hours. It is,
like WordPress.com below, designed to be very SEO-friendly (search-engine optimization) without any
knowledge or action on your part. No HTML or Internet expertise is required.
WordPress.com ( www.wordpress.com )
I used WordPress.com to set up www.litliberation.org from a coffee shop in Bratislava, Slovakia, when a
U.S.-based designer flaked out and left me scrambling. It took me less than three hours to learn how to
use it and build the site. The site, an experimental educational fundraiser, ended up raising 200%+ more
than Stephen Colbert in the same period of time. I also use their free open-sourced version of WordPress
(www.wordpress.org, which requires separate hosting) to manage everything for my top-1,000 blog at
www.fourhourblog.com. This offers greater customization but requires more management and technical
know-how.
Both Weebly and WordPress.com host your site for you, so additional hosting setup isn’t required.
If you choose to use www.wordpress.org (not.com) for greater customizability, I suggest using a
hosting service with one-click WordPress installation like www.bluehost.com. The Shopp plug-in
(http://shopplugin.net/) or Market Theme plug-in (http://www.markettheme.com/) can then be used to
add e-commerce capabilities. Shopify.com (discussed later) is another good all-in-one alternative.
Create Forms in Seconds for Testing Checkout with or Without Payment
Wufoo ( www.wufoo.com )
Wufoo does not offer a full-featured shopping cart, but it provides the cleanest, easiest-to-use forms on
the web. Create a checkout page that connects to PayPal and you can (1) link to this checkout page from
your site on Weebly, WordPress.com, or elsewhere, or (2) drop the code into your own website and have
it hosted there. Wufoo is appropriate for testing and selling single products, as people can’t add multiple
items to a shopping cart or otherwise customize the order à la Amazon. For those additional options,
which are often desirable after successful testing, you will want to use an “end-to-end site solutions”
listed later in these resources.
Cost-Effective Trademark Filing and Company Formation (LLC, C-Corp, etc.)
Though I also have a C-Corporation (often used to issue common and preferred stock to investors),
created through the second option below, LLCs and S-Corps are generally favored by small businesses.
Consult your accountant to determine the best entity form.
LegalZoom ( www.legalzoom.com )
Company formation, trademarks, and nearly all legal documents. I know one founder who used this
service to incorporate his tech start-up, which is now worth more than $200 million.
Corporate Creations ( www.corporatecreations.com )
Domestic and overseas company formation.
Services for Selling Downloadable Products (e-books, videos, audio, etc., in descending order of
reader preference)
E-Junkie ( www.e-junkie.com )
Lulu ( www.lulu.com )
Lulu will also do print-on-demand and other forms of manufacture and fulfillment. Like Lightning
Source (www.lightningsource.com), it offers distribution through Amazon, Barnes & Noble online, and
other major outlets.
CreateSpace ( www.createspace.com )
A subsidiary of Amazon.com that offers inventory-free, physical distribution of books, CD and DVDs on
Demand, as well as video downloads through Amazon Video On Demand (tm) .
Clickbank ( www.clickbank.com )
Provides integrated access to affiliates willing to sell your product for a percentage of sales.
Introduction to Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising and Testing
Google Adwords ( www.google.com/adwords )
Market Sizing and Keyword Suggestion Tools
Brainstorm additional PPC search terms and determine the number of people who are searching for them.
Google Adwords Keyword Tool ( http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal )
Enter the potential search terms to find search volume and alternative terms with more search traffic.
Click on the “Approx Avg Search Volume” column to sort results from most to least searched.
SEOBook Keyword Tool, SEO for Firefox Extension ( http://tools.seobook.com /)
Outstanding resource page with searches powered by Wordtracker (www.wordtracker.com).
Low-Cost Domain Registration
Domains in Seconds ( www.domainsinseconds.com ) I have
registered more than 100 domains through this service.
Joker ( www.joker.com )
GoDaddy ( www.godaddy.com )
Inexpensive but Dependable Hosting Services
Shared hosting solutions, where your site is hosted alongside other sites on a single server, are so cheap
that I recommend using two providers, one as a primary and one as a backup. Put your site pages on
each host and sign up with www.no-ip.com, which can redirect traffic (DNS) to the backup in five
minutes instead of the usual 24 to 48 hours.
1and1 ( www.1and1.com )
BlueHost ( www.bluehost.com )
RackSpace ( www.rackspace.com ; known for dedicated and
managed servers )
Hosting.com ( www.hosting.com ; known for dedicated and
managed servers )
Royalty-Free Photos and Materials
iStockphoto ( www.istockphoto.com )
iStockphoto is the Internet’s original member-generated image and design site, which has more than 4
million photographs, vector illustrations, videos, audio tracks, and Flash files available for use.
Getty Images ( www.gettyimages.com )
This is where the pros go. Stock photos and film of anything for a price. I pay $150–400 for most images
I use in national print campaigns and the quality is outstanding.
E-mail Sign-up Tracking and Scheduled Autoresponders
Both of these programs can be used to embed e-mail address sign-up forms on your site.
AWeber ( www.aweber.com )
MailChimp ( www.mailchimp.com )
End-to-End Site Solutions with Payment Processing
Shopify ( www.shopify.com )
This is a reader favorite that, in addition to beautiful design, offers full SEO (search-engine
optimization), drag-and-drop use, statistics, and product fulfillment through one of their certified
partners such as Fulfillment by Amazon.com. Clients range from small-business owners to Tesla Motors.
Unlike with Yahoo and eBay, however, you will need to set up a payment-processing service to accept
payments from customers. (See below—PayPal is the easiest to integrate.)
Yahoo! Store ( http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce ) (866–781–9246)
This is what Doug of Pro Sound Effects used. As little as $40 a month with 1.5% per transaction.
eBay Store ( http://pages.ebay.com/storefronts/start.html )
From $15–500 per month, plus eBay fees.
Simple Payment Processing for Testing Pages, from Least to Most Involved
PayPal Cart (www.paypal.com; see “merchant”)
Accept credit card payments in minutes. No monthly fees, 1.9–2.9% of each transaction (called “discount
rate”) and $0.30 per transaction.
Google Checkout ( http://checkout.google.com/sell )
Get $10 in free processing for each $1 spent on AdWords; 2% and $0.20 per transaction thereafter.
Requires that customers have a Google ID, and is thus most useful as a supplement to one of the
aforementioned payment solutions. Be sure to link your Checkout account to your AdWords account to
receive credit. Important note: free transaction processing for nonprofits.
Authorize.net ( www.authorize.net )
The Authorize.Net Payment Gateway can help you accept credit card and electronic check payments
quickly and affordably. More than 230,000 merchants trust Authorize.net to manage their transactions,
help prevent fraud, and grow their business. The fees per transaction are lower than PayPal or Google
Checkout, but setup will require a merchant account, covered in the next chapter, and other timeconsuming
applications. I suggest setting up Authorize.net only after a product has tested successfully
through one of the other two options above.
Software for Understanding Web Traffic (Web Analytics)
How are people finding, browsing, and leaving your site? How many prospective customers are being
delivered by each PPC ad, and which pages are most popular? These programs tell you all this and more.
Google is free for most low-volume sites—and better than a lot of paid software-and the others cost $30
and upward per month.
Google Analytics ( www.google.com/analytics )
CrazyEgg ( www.crazyegg.com )
I use CrazyEgg to see exactly where people are clicking most and least on homepages and landing pages.
It is particularly helpful for repositioning the most important links or buttons to help prompt visitors to
take specific next actions. Don’t guess what’s working or not—measure it.
Clicktracks (www.clicktracks.com)
WebTrends ( www.webtrends.com )
A/B Testing Software
Testing is, as you know, the name of the game, but testing all the variables can be confusing. How do
you know which combination of headlines, text, and images on your homepage results in the most sales?
Instead of using one version for a bit, then alternating, which is time-consuming, use software that serves
up different versions to prospects at random, then does the math for you.
Google Website Optimizer (WO) ( http://www.google.com/websiteoptimizer )
This is a free tool that, like Google Analytics, is better than most paid services. I used Google WO to test
three potential homepages for www.dailyburn.com and increased sign-ups 19%, then again by more than
16%.
Offermatica ( www.offermatica.com )
Vertster.com ( www.vertster.com )
Optimost ( www.optimost.com )
Low-Cost Toll-free Numbers
TollFreeMAX (www.tollfreemax.com) (877–888–8MAX) and Kall8 (www.kall8.com)
TollFreeMAX and Kall8 both allow you to set up toll-free numbers in 2–5 minutes. Calls can then be
forwarded to any other numbers, and voicemail and statistics can be managed online or via e-mail.
Checking Competitive Site Traffic
Want to see how much traffic your competition is getting and who is linking to them?
Compete ( www.compete.com )
Quantcast ( www.quantcast.com )
Alexa ( www.alexa.com )
Freelance Designers and Programmers
99Designs (www.99designs.com) and Crowdspring (www.crowdspring.com)
I used 99Designs to get an excellent logo for www.litliberation.org in 24 hours for less than $150. I
submitted the concept, more than 50 designers worldwide uploaded their best attempts, which I could
browse, and I chose the best after suggesting a few improvements. From Crowdspring’s site: “Name
your price, name your deadline, see entries within hours and be done in just days. The average project
gets a whopping 68 entries. 25 entries or your money back.”
eLance ( www.elance.com ) (877–435–2623)
Craigslist ( www.craigslist.org )
LIFESTYLE DESIGN IN ACTION
I’m a U.S. citizen and it was impossible for my friends and relatives to track me down by phone. Enter
Skype In. It’s not new but allows you to lease a fixed U.S. (or other country) phone number which then
forwards to your Skype account. About $60/year. Within Skype you can then set up call forwarding to
ring you at your local number. You pay the rate as if you were calling from the United States to
wherever you are. I’ve used this in about 40 countries and it works like a treat. The call quality is usually
great and the convenience is amazing. http://www.skype.com/allfeatures/onlinenumber/. A caveat is to
always, ALWAYS get a local SIM card for your unlocked GSM phone. Roaming is for amateurs. A
local SIM also gets you GPRS, Edge, or 3G. Sometimes even free Wifi. Cheers, —TY KROLL
Basically I try to keep all of my tools online so that if my laptop gets stolen, I can buy a new one and
have everything up and running within 24 hours. Here are a few of the tools I use on a regular basis:
RememberTheMilk.com has been really crucial to me keeping on top of my daily tasks.
Freshbooks.com for online invoicing
Highrise (http://www.highrisehq.com/) for online CRM
Dropbox (getdropbox.com) for easy file sharing/automatic backup of critical files while on the
road
TrueCrypt (truecrypt.org) for keeping your laptop data secure while on the road. [Tim comment:
This can also be used with a USB flash drive, and another cool feature—it provides two levels of
“plausible deniability” (hidden volumes, etc.) if someone forces you to reveal the password.]
PBwiki.com-Wiki site that helps me keep on top of the notes and ideas that I collect as I go
through life.
FogBugz on Demand: http://www.fogcreek.com/FogBUGZ/IntrotoOnDemand.html. It’s a “bug
tracker” aimed at software development companies, but I use it every day for both personal and
business tasks. It’s almost like a VA, as you can route your mail through it and it will help you sort
it and keep track of it. It has great features to track e-mails, and there’s a free version for two users
(me + VA!). —RB CARTER
A really useful service is Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. With a small investment in time or money, a
business that requires hundreds of people doing small bits of defined work becomes possible for
extraordinarily low work-per-unit costs. Examples include the search for Steve Fosset (literally thousands
of people looked at satellite photos that would have overwhelmed SAR agencies) and a trouble-ticket
business that utilizes qualified labor all over the world (see Amazon.com/webservices). I am not an
owner nor do I have any stake in Amazon—but I have used their services and some are trans forming
when it comes to muse creation. Cheers, —J MARYMEE
FAST TO MARKET
The fastest way to market with a product idea is: Registera.com. Get hosting from dathorn.com [a
cheap reseller account, like www.domainsinseconds.com]. With two clicks set up a wordpress blog.
Apply a theme to it. Add your content and a buy now button. The buy now button links to an enter e-
mail address, phone number, etc., page. The user then clicks a continue to PayPal button. This
automatically e-mails me their details, but then shows the user a message stating that the link to PayPal
is currently not working. I use this to determine how many sales I would have achieved. I use Google
ads to drive traffic … I calculate theoretical ROI (ideally using Google analytics). If after a week or two
I can see a positive ROI that’s worth my effort I create or outsource the creation of the product (emag,
PDF, whatever). I set it all up with a working link to PayPal, and then retrospectively send a message to
the users who already tried to buy. Normally within hours I’ve got all my money back, and the cash
starts to roll. An example is the DIY public relations pack at www.mybusinesspr.com.au. Great work of
the 4HWW … looking forward to the next edition. Regards, MATT SCHMIDT
39. http://news.com.com/2100–1017–269594.html?legacy=cnet.
40. It can be illegal to charge customers prior to shipment—so we will not charge customers—but it is
still common practice. Why do so many commercials state “allow three to four weeks for delivery” if
it only takes three to five days for a shipment to get from New York to California? It gives the
companies time to manufacture product and use customers’ credit card payments to finance it. Clever
but often against the law.
41. This applies to Sherwood and not Johanna.
42. How did I come up with the most successful BodyQUICK headline (“The Fastest Way to Increase
Power and Speed Guaranteed”)? I borrowed it from the longest-running, and thus most profitable,
Rosetta Stone headline: “The Fastest Way to Learn a Language Guaranteed. (tm) ” Reinventing the
wheel is expensive—become an astute observer of what is already working and adapt it. I keep a
folder of all print and direct mail advertising that compels me to call a number or visit a website, and
I use www.delicious.com to bookmark websites that convince me to provide my e-mail address or
make a purchase.
43. Sherwood includes shipping and handling prior to the final order page so that people don’t finalize
the order just to confirm total pricing. He wants his “orders” to reflect real orders and not price
checkers.
44. If you are rolling out after a successful test or building a large e-mail database, tools like
www.aweber.com in the resources are better at scaling.
45. Keeping in mind that 100 specific terms at $0.10 per click will perform better than 10 broad terms
at $1.00 per click, the more you spend, and thus the more traffic you drive, the more statistically valid
the results will be. If budget permits, increase the number of related terms and daily expenditure so
that the entire PPC test costs $500–1,000.
46. This is a checking account for receiving credit card payments.
47. Set this up using services detailed at the end of this chapter and the next.
48. See the online bonus chapter on www.fourhourblog.com to understand all of these terms in
context. Search “Jedi Mind Tricks.”
49. “Paper trading” refers to setting an imaginary budget, “purchasing” stocks (writing their current
values on a piece of paper), and then tracking their performance over time to see how your investment
would have done had it been for real. It is a no-risk method for honing investment skills before
putting skin in the game.
Income Autopilot III
MBA—MANAGEMENT BY ABSENCE
The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there
to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment.
—WARREN G. BENNIS, University of Southern California Professor of Business Administration;
adviser to Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy
Most entrepreneurs don’t start out with automation as a goal. This leaves them open to mass
confusion in a world where each business guru contradicts the next. Consider the following:
A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear…. If the employees come first,
then they’re happy.
—HERB KELLEHER, cofounder of Southwest Airlines
Look, kiddie. I built this business by being a bastard. I run it by being a bastard. I’ll always be
a bastard, and don’t you ever try to change me. 50
—CHARLES REVSON, founder of Revlon, to a senior executive within his company
Hmm … Whom to follow? If you are fast on your feet, you’ll notice that I just offered you an eitheror
option. The good news is that, as usual, there is a third option.
The contradictory advice you find in business books and elsewhere usually relates to managing
employees—how to handle the human element. Herb tells you to give them a hug, Revson tells you to
kick them in the balls, and I tell you to solve the problem by eliminating it altogether: Remove the
human element.
Once you have a product that sells, it’s time to design a self-correcting business architecture that runs
itself.
The Remote-Control CEO
The power of hiding ourselves from one another is mercifully given, for men are wild beasts,
and would devour one another but for this protection.
—HENRY WARD BEECHER, U.S. abolitionist and clergyman, “Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit”
RURAL PENNSYLVANIA
In a 200-year-old stone farmhouse, a quiet “experiment in 21st-century leadership” is proceeding
exactly as planned. 51 Stephen McDonnell is upstairs in his flip-flops looking at a spreadsheet on his
computer. His company has increased its annual revenue 30% per year since it all began, and he is able
to spend more time with his three daughters than he ever thought possible.
The experiment? As CEO of Applegate Farms, he insists on spending just one day per week at the
company headquarters in Bridgewater, New Jersey. He’s not the only CEO who spends time at home, of
course—there are hundreds who have heart attacks or nervous breakdowns and need time to recover—
but there is a huge difference. McDonnell has been doing it for more than 17 years. Rarer still, he started
doing it just six months after founding the company.
This intentional absence has enabled him to create a process-driven instead of founder-driven
business. Limiting contact with managers forces the entrepreneur to develop operational rules that enable
others to deal with problems themselves instead of calling for help.
This isn’t just for small operations. Applegate Farms sells more than 120 organic and natural meat
products to high-end retailers and generates more than $35 million in revenue per year.
It is all possible because McDonnell started with the end in mind.
Behind the Scenes: The Muse Architecture
Orders are nobody can see the Great Oz! Not nobody, not nohow!
—GUARDIAN OF THE EMERALD CITY GATES, The Wizard of Oz
Starting with the end in mind—an organizational map of what the eventual business will look like—is
not new.
Infamous deal-maker Wayne Huizenga copied the org chart of McDonald’s to turn Blockbuster into a
billion-dollar behemoth, and dozens of titans have done much the same. In our case, it’s the “end in
mind” that is different. Our goal isn’t to create a business that is as large as possible, but rather a
business that bothers us as little as possible. The architecture has to place us out of the information flow
instead of putting us at the top of it.
I didn’t get this right the first time I tried.
In 2003, I was interviewed in my home office for a documentary called As Seen on TV. We were
interrupted every 20–30 seconds with beeping e-mail notifications, IM pings, and ringing phones. I
couldn’t leave them unanswered, because dozens of decisions depended on me. If I didn’t ensure the
trains were running on time and put out the fires, no one would.
The Anatomy of Automation
THE 4-HOUR WORKWEEK VIRTUAL ARCHITECTURE
Splitting the Pie: Outsourcer Economics
Each outsourcer takes a piece of the revenue pie. Here is what the general profit-loss might look like
for a hypothetical $80 product sold via phone and developed with the help of an expert, who is paid a
royalty. I recommend calculating profit margins using higher-than-anticipated expenses. This will
account for unforeseen costs (read: screwups) and miscellaneous fees such as monthly reports, etc.
How do you factor in advertising cost? If a $1,000 ad or $1,000 in PPC produces 50 sales, my
advertising cost per order (CPO) is $20. This makes the actual‘ per-unit profit $40.94.
I set a new goal after that experience, and when I was interviewed six months later as a follow-up, one
change was more pronounced than all others: silence. I had redesigned the business from the ground up
so that I had no phone calls to answer and no e-mail to respond to.
I’m often asked how big my company is—how many people I employ full-time. The answer is one.
Most people lose interest at that point. If someone were to ask me how many people run Brain-
QUICKEN LLC, on the other hand, the answer is different: between 200 and 300. I am the ghost in the
machine. 52
From advertisements—print in this example—to a cash deposit in my bank account, the diagram is
what a simplified version of my architecture looks like, including some sample costs. If you have
developed a product based on the guidelines in the last two chapters, it will plug into this structure handin-glove.
Where am I in the diagram? Nowhere.
I am not a tollbooth through which anything needs to pass. I am more like a police officer on the side
of the road who can step in if need be, and I use detailed reports from outsourcers to ensure the cogs are
moving as intended. I check reports from fulfillment each Monday and monthly reports from the same
the first of each month. The latter reports include orders received from the call center, which I can
compare to the call center bills to gauge profit. Otherwise, I just check bank accounts online on the first
and fifteenth of each month to look for odd deductions. If I find something, one e-mail will fix it, and if
not, it’s back to kendo, painting, hiking, or whatever I happen to be doing at the time.
Removing Yourself from the Equation: When and How
The system is the solution.
—AT&T
The diagram should be your rough blueprint for designing a self-sustaining virtual architecture. There
could be differences—more or fewer elements—but the main principles are the same:
1. Contract outsourcing companies 53 that specialize in one function vs. freelancers whenever
possible so that if someone is fired, quits, or doesn’t perform, you can replace them without
interrupting your business. Hire trained groups of people who can provide detailed reporting and
replace one another as needed.
2. Ensure that all outsourcers are willing to communicate among themselves to solve problems, and
give them written permission to make most inexpensive decisions without consulting you first (I
started at less than $100 and moved to $400 after two months).
How do you get there? It helps to look at where entrepreneurs typically lose their momentum and stall
permanently.
Most entrepreneurs begin with the cheapest tools available, bootstrapping and doing things themselves
to get up and running with little cash. This isn’t the problem. In fact, it’s necessary so that the
entrepreneurs can train outsourcers later. The problem is that these same entrepreneurs don’t know when
and how to replace themselves or their homemade infrastructure with something more scalable.
By “scalable,” I mean a business architecture that can handle 10,000 orders per week as easily as it can
handle 10 orders per week. Doing this requires minimizing your decision-making responsibilities, which
achieves our goal of time freedom while setting the stage for doubling and tripling income with no
change in hours worked.
Call the companies at the end of the chapter to research costs. Plan and budget accordingly to upgrade
infrastructure at the following milestones, which I measure in units of product shipped:
Phase I: 0–50 Total Units of Product Shipped
Do it all yourself. Put your phone number on the site for both general questions and order-taking—this is
important in the beginning—and take customer calls to determine common questions that you will
answer later in an online FAQ. This FAQ will also be the main material for training phone operators and
developing sales scripts.
Is PPC, an offline advertisement, or your website too vague or misleading, thus attracting unqualified
and time-consuming consumers? If so, change them to answer common questions and make the product
benefits (including what it isn’t or doesn’t do) clearer.
Answer all e-mail and save your responses in one folder called “customer service questions.” CC
yourself on responses and put the nature of the customers’ questions in the subject lines for future
indexing. Personally pack and ship all product to determine the cheapest options for both. Investigate
opening a merchant account from your local small bank (easier to get than with a larger bank) for later
outsourced credit card processing at higher roll-out volumes.
Phase II: >10 Units Shipped Per Week
Add the extensive FAQ to your website and continue to add answers to common questions as received.
Find local fulfillment companies in the yellow pages under “fulfillment services” or “mailing services.”
If you cannot find one there or at www.mfsanet.org, call local printers and ask them for
recommendations. Narrow the field to those (often the smallest) who will agree not to charge you setup
fees and monthly minimums. If this isn’t possible, ask for at least 50% off both and then request that the
setup fee be applied as an advance against shipping or their other fees.
Limit the candidates further to those who can respond to order status e-mail (ideal) or phone calls
from customers. The e-mail from your “customer service” folder will be provided as copy-and-paste
responses, especially those related to order status and refund requests. 54
To lower or eliminate miscellaneous fees, explain that you are a start-up and that your budget is small.
Tell them you need the cash for advertising that will drive more shipments. If needed, mention the
competitive companies that you are considering and pit them against one another, using lower pricing or
concessions from one to get larger discounts and bonuses from the others.
Before making your final selection, ask for at least three client references and use the following to
elicit the negatives: “I understand they’re good, but everyone has weaknesses. If you had to point out
where you’ve had some issues and what they’re not the best at, what would you say? Can you please
describe an incident or a disagreement? I expect these with all companies, so it’s no big deal, and it’s
confidential, of course.”
Ask for “net-30 terms”—payment for services 30 days after they’re rendered—after one month of
prompt payment for their services. It is easier to negotiate all of the above points with smaller operations
that need the business. Have your contract manufacturer ship product directly to the fulfillment house
once you have decided on one and put the fulfillment house’s e-mail (you can use an e-mail address at
your domain and forward it) or phone number on the online “thank you” page for order status questions.
Phase III: >20 Units Shipped Per Week
Now you will have the cash flow to afford the setup fees and the monthly minimums that bigger, more
sophisticated outsourcers will ask for. Call the end-to-end fulfillment houses that handle it all—from
order status to returns and refunds. Interview them about costs and ask them for referrals to call centers
and credit card processors they’ve collaborated with for file transfers and problem solving. Don’t
assemble an architecture of strangers—there will be programming costs and mistakes, both of which are
expensive.
Set up an account with the credit card processor first, for which you will need your own merchant
account. This is critical, as the fulfillment house can only handle refunds and declined cards for
transactions they process themselves through an outsourced credit card processor.
Optionally, set up an account with one of the call centers your new fulfillment center recommends.
These will often have toll-free numbers you can use instead of purchasing your own. Look at the
percentage split of online to phone orders during testing and consider carefully if the extra revenue from
the latter is worth the hassle. It often isn’t. Those who call to order will generally order online if given no
other option.
Before signing on with a call center, get several 800 numbers they answer for current clients and make
test calls, asking difficult product-related questions and gauging sales abilities. Call each number at least
three times (morning, afternoon, and evening) and note the make-or-break factor: wait time. The phone
should be answered within three to four rings, and if you are put on hold, the shorter the wait the better.
More than 15 seconds will result in too many abandoned calls and waste advertising dollars.
The Art of Undecision: Fewer Options = More Revenue
Companies go out of business when they make the wrong decisions or, just as important, make
too many decisions. The latter creates complexity.
—MIKE MAPLES, cofounder of Motive Communications (IPO to $260 million market cap),
founding executive of Tivoli (sold to IBM for $750 million), and investor in companies such as
Digg.com
Joseph Sugarman is the marketing genius behind dozens of direct-response and retail successes,
including the BluBlocker sunglasses phenomenon. Prior to his string of home runs on television (he sold
20,000 pairs of BluBlockers within 15 minutes of his first QVC appearance), his domain was print media,
where he made millions and built an empire called JS&A Group. He was once recruited to design an
advertisement for a manufacturer’s watch line. The manufacturer wanted to feature nine different
watches in the ad, and Joe recommended featuring just one. The client insisted and Joe offered to do
both and test them in the same issue of The Wall Street Journal. The result? The one-watch offer outsold
the nine-watch offer 6-to-1. 55
Henry Ford once said, referring to his Model-T, the bestselling car of all time, 56 “The customer can
have any color he wants, so long as it’s black.” He understood something that businesspeople seem to
have forgotten: Serving the customer (“customer service”) is not becoming a personal concierge and
catering to their every whim and want. Customer service is providing an excellent product at an
acceptable price and solving legitimate problems (lost packages, replacements, refunds, etc.) in the fastest
manner possible. That’s it.
The more options you offer the customer, the more indecision you create and the fewer orders you
receive—it is a disservice all around. Furthermore, the more options you offer the customer, the more
manufacturing and customer service burden you create for yourself.
The art of “undecision” refers to minimizing the number of decisions your customers can or need to
make. Here are a few methods that I and other NR have used to reduce service overhead 20–80%:
1. Offer one or two purchase options (“basic” and “premium,” for example) and no more.
2. Do not offer multiple shipping options. Offer one fast method instead and charge a premium.
3. Do not offer overnight or expedited shipping (it is possible to refer them to a reseller who does, as
is true with all of these points), as these shipping methods will produce hundreds of anxious phone
calls.
4. Eliminate phone orders completely and direct all prospects to online ordering. This seems
outrageous until you realize that success stories like Amazon.com have depended on it as a
fundamental cost-saver to survive and thrive.
5. Do not offer international shipments. Spending 10 minutes per order filling out customs forms and
then dealing with customer complaints when the product costs 20–100% more with tariffs and
duties is about as fun as headbutting a curb. It’s about as profitable, too.
Some of these policies hint at what is perhaps the biggest time-saver of all: customer filtering.
Not All Customers Are Created Equal
Once you reach Phase III and have some cash flow, it’s time to re-evaluate your customers and thin
the herd. There are good and bad versions of all things: good food, bad food; good movies, bad movies;
good sex, bad sex; and, yes, good customers and bad customers.
Decide now to do business with the former and avoid the latter. I recommend looking at the customer
as an equal trading partner and not as an infallible blessing of a human being to be pleased at all costs. If
you offer an excellent product at an acceptable price, it is an equal trade and not a begging session
between subordinate (you) and superior (customer). Be professional but never kowtow to unreasonable
people.
Instead of dealing with problem customers, I recommend you prevent them from ordering in the first
place.
I know dozens of NR who don’t accept Western Union or checks as payment. Some would respond to
this with, “You’re giving up 10–15% of your sales!” The NR, in turn, would say, “I am, but I’m also
avoiding the 10–15% of the customers who create 40% of the expenses and eat 40% of my time.” It’s
classic 80/20.
Those who spend the least and ask for the most before ordering will do the same after the sale. Cutting
them out is both a good lifestyle decision and a good financial decision. Low-profit and highmaintenance
customers like to call operators and spend up to 30 minutes on the phone asking questions
that are unimportant or answered online, costing—in my case—$24.90 (30 x $0.83) per 30-minute
incident, eliminating the minuscule profit they contribute in the first place.
Those who spend the most complain the least. In addition to our premium $50–200 pricing, here are a
few additional policies that attract the high-profit and low-maintenance customers we want:
1. Do not accept payment via Western Union, checks, or money order.
2. Raise wholesale minimums to 12–100 units and require a tax ID number to qualify resellers who
are real businesspeople and not time-intensive novices. Don’t run a personal business school.
3. Refer all potential resellers to an online order form that must be printed, filled out, and faxed in.
Never negotiate pricing or approve lower pricing for higher-volume orders. Cite “company policy”
due to having had problems in the past.
4. Offer low-priced products (à la MRI’s NO2 book) instead of free products to capture contact
information for follow-up sales. Offering something for free is the best way to attract time-eaters
and spend money on those unwilling to return the favor.
5. Offer a lose-win guarantee (see boxed text) instead of free trials.
6. Do not accept orders from common mail fraud countries such as Nigeria.
Make your customer base an exclusive club, and treat the members well once they’ve been accepted.
The Lose-Win Guarantee—How to Sell Anything to Anyone
If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.
—CLINT EASTWOOD
The 30-day money-back guarantee is dead. It just doesn’t have the pizzazz it once did. If a product
doesn’t work, I’ve been lied to and will have to spend an afternoon at the post office to return it. This
costs me more than just the price I paid for the product, both in time and actual postage. Risk elimination
just isn’t enough.
This is where we enter the neglected realm of lose-win guarantees and risk reversal. The NR use what
most consider an afterthought—the guarantee—as a cornerstone sales tool.
The NR aim to make it profitable for the customer even if the product fails. Lose-win guarantees not
only remove risk for the consumer but put the company at financial risk.
Here are a few examples of putting your money where your mouth is.
Delivered in 30 minutes or less or it’s free!
(Domino’s Pizza built its business on this guarantee.)
We’re so confident you’ll like CIALIS, if you don’t we’ll pay for the brand of your choice.
(The “CIALIS® Promise Program” offers a free sample of CIALIS and then offers to pay for
competing products if CIALIS doesn’t live up to the hype.)
If your car is stolen, we’ll pay $500 of your insurance deductible.
(This guarantee helped THE CLUB become the #1-selling mechanical automobile anti-theft device in
the world.)
110% guaranteed to work within 60 minutes of the first dose.
(This was for BodyQUICK and a first among sports nutrition products. I offered to not only refund
customers the price of the product if it didn’t work within 60 minutes of the first dose, but also to send
them a check for 10% more.)
The lose-win guarantee might seem like a big risk, especially when someone can abuse it for profit like
in the BodyQUICK example, but it isn’t … if your product delivers. Most people are honest.
Let’s look at some actual numbers.
Returns for BodyQUICK, even with a 60-day return period (and partially because of it 57 ), are less
than 3% in an industry in which the average is 12–15% for a normal 30-day 100% money-back
guarantee. Sales increased more than 300% within four weeks of introducing the 110% guarantee, and
returns decreased overall.
Johanna adopted this lose-win offer and came up with “Increase sport-specific flexibility 40% in two
weeks or return it for a full refund (including shipping) and keep the 20-minute bonus DVD as our gift.”
Sherwood found his guarantee as well: “If these shirts are not the most comfortable you’ve ever worn,
return them and get 2-times your purchase price back. Each shirt is also guaranteed for life—if it gets
threadbare, send it back and we’ll replace it free of charge.”
Both of them increased sales more than 200% in the first two months. Return percentage remained the
same for Johanna and increased 50% for Sherwood, from 2 to 3%. Disaster? Far from it. Instead of
selling 50 and getting one back with a 100% guarantee [(50 x $100) – $100 = $4,900 in revenue], he sold
200 and got six back with the 200% guarantee [(200 x $100) – (6 x $200) = $18,800 in revenue]. I’ll take
the latter.
Lose-win is the new win-win. Stand out and reap the rewards.
Little Blue Chip: How to Look Fortune 500 in 45 Minutes
Are you tired of sand being kicked in your face? I promise you new muscles in days!
—CHARLES ATLAS, strongman who sold more than $30 million worth of “dynamic-tension”
muscle courses through comic books
If approaching large resellers or potential partners, small company size will be an obstacle. This
discrimination is often as insurmountable as it is unfounded. Fortunately, a few simple steps can
dramatically upgrade your budding Fortune 500 image and take your muse from coffee shop to
boardroom in 45 minutes or less.
1. Don’t be the CEO or founder.
Being the “CEO” or “Founder” screams start-up. Give yourself the mid-level title of “vice president”
(VP), “director,” or something similar that can be added to depending on the occasion (Director of
Sales, Director of Business Development, etc.). For negotiation purposes as well, remember that it is
best not to appear to be the ultimate decision-maker.
2. Put multiple e-mail and phone contacts on the website.
Put various e-mail addresses on the “contact us” page for different departments, such as “human
resources,” “sales,” “general inquiries,” “wholesale distribution,” “media/PR,” “investors,” “web
comments,” “order status,” and so on. In the beginning, these will all forward to your e-mail address.
In Phase III, most will forward to the appropriate outsourcers. Multiple toll-free numbers can be used
in the same fashion.
3. Set up an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) remote receptionist.
It is possible to sound like a blue chip for less than $30. In fewer than ten minutes on a site such as
www.angel.com, which boasts clients such as Reebok and Kellog’s, it is possible to set up an 800
number that greets callers with a voice prompt such as, “Thank you for calling [business name].
Please say the name of the person or department you would like to reach or just hold on for a list of
options.”
Upon speaking your name or selecting the appropriate department, the caller is forwarded to your
preferred phone or the appropriate outsourcer—with on-hold music and all.
4. Do not provide home addresses.
Do not use your home address or you will get visitors. Prior to securing an end-to-end fulfillment
house that can handle checks and money orders—if you decide to accept them—use a post office box
but leave out the “PO Box” and include the street address of the post office itself. Thus “PO Box 555,
Nowhere, US 11936” becomes “Suite 555, 1234 Downtown Ave., US 11936.”
Go forth and project professionalism with a well-designed image. Perceived size does matter.
COMFORT CHALLENGE
Relax in Public (2 days)
This is the last Comfort Challenge, placed prior to the chapter that tackles the most uncomfortable
turning point for most office dwellers: negotiating remote work agreements. This challenge is intended to
be fun while showing—in no uncertain terms—that the rules most follow are nothing more than social
conventions. There are no legal boundaries stopping you from creating an ideal life … or just being selfentertained
and causing mass confusion.
So, relaxing in public. Sounds easy, right? I’m somewhat famous for relaxing in style to get a laugh
out of friends. Here is the deal, and I don’t care if you’re male or female, 20 or 60, Mongolian or
Martian. I call the following a “time-out.”
Once per day for two days, simply lie down in the middle of a crowded public place at some point.
Lunchtime is ideal. It can be a well-trafficked sidewalk, the middle of a popular Starbucks, or a popular
bar. There is no real technique involved. Just lie down and remain silent on the ground for about ten
seconds, and then get up and continue on with whatever you were doing before. I used to do this at
nightclubs to clear space for break-dancing circles. No one responded to pleading, but going catatonic on
the ground did the trick.
Don’t explain it at all. If someone asks about it after the fact (he or she will be too confused to ask you
while you’re doing it for 10 seconds), just respond, “I just felt like lying down for a second.” The less
you say, the funnier and more gratifying this will be. Do it on solo missions for the first two days, and
then feel free to do it when with a group of friends. It’s a riot.
It isn’t enough to think outside the box. Thinking is passive. Get used to acting outside the box.
TOOLS AND TRICKS
Looking Huge—Virtual Receptionist and IVR
Angel ( www.angel.com )
Get an 800 number with professional voice menu (voice recognition departments, extensions, etc.) in five
minutes. Incredible.
Ring Central ( www.ringcentral.com )
Offers toll-free numbers, call screening and forwarding, voicemail, fax send and receive, and message
alerts, all online.
CD/DVD Duplication, Printing, and Product Packaging
AVC Corporation ( www.avccorp.com )
SF Video ( www.sfvideo.com )
Local Fulfillment (fewer than 20 units shipped per week)
Mailing Fulfillment Service Association ( www.mfsanet.org )
End-to-End Fulfillment Companies (more than 20 units shipped per week, $500+ setup)
Motivational Fulfillment ( www.mfpsinc.com )
The secret backend to campaigns from HBO, PBS, Comic Relief, Body by Jake, and more.
Innotrac ( www.innotrac.com )
They are currently one of the largest DR marking companies.
Moulton Fulfillment ( www.moultonfulfillment.com )
200,000-square-foot facility with real-time online inventory reports.
Call Centers (per-minute and/or per-sale fees)
There are generally two classes of call centers: order takers and commissioned reps. Interview each
provider you consider to understand the options and costs involved.
The former is a good option if you give the product price in an advertisement (hard offer), are offering
free information (lead generation), or don’t need trained salespeople who can overcome objections. In
other words, your ad or website is pre-qualifying prospects.
The latter would more appropriately be called “sales centers.” Operators are commissioned and trained
“closers” whose sole goal is to convert callers to buyers. These calls are often in response to “call for
information/ trial/sample” ads that don’t feature a price (soft offers). Expect higher costs per sale.
LiveOps ( www.liveops.com )
Pioneer in home-based reps, which often ensures more calls are answered. Provides comprehensive
service with agents, IVR, and Spanish. Often used for one-step order taking instead of soft offers.
West Teleservices ( www.west.com )
29,000 employees worldwide, processes billions of minutes per year. All the high-volume and low-price
players use them for lower-priced products or higher-end products with free trials and installment plans.
NexRep ( www.nexrep.com )
Highly skilled home-based sales agents that specialize in B2C and B2B, inbound and outbound
programs. If performance, speed to respond, Internet integration, and quality customer experience are
your priorities, this is a strong option to consider.
Triton Technology ( www.tritontechnology.com )
Commission-only sales center know for incredible closing abilities (see the movie Boiler Room and Alec
Baldwin’s character in Glengarry, Glen Ross). Don’t call unless your product sells for at least $100.
CenterPoint Teleservices ( http://www.centerpointllc.com )
This sales force has experience to convert sales from hard offers, soft offers, and multiple offers
(upselling additional products after a caller agrees to purchase the advertised product) originating from
radio, TV, print, or the web.
Stewart Response Group ( www.stewartresponsegroup.com )
Sales-driven call center leveraging the home-agent model for both inbound and outbound programs.
Another high-touch boutique center.
Credit Card Processors (merchant account through your bank necessary)
These companies, unlike options in the last chapter, specialize in not only processing credit cards but
interacting with fulfillment on your behalf, removing you from the flowchart.
TransFirst Payment Processing ( www.transfirst.com )
Chase Paymentech ( www.paymentech.com )
Trust Commerce ( www.trustcommerce.com )
PowerPay (www.powerpay.biz)
One of the Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies. Process credit cards from your iPhone and
more.
Affiliate Program Software
My Affiliate Program ( www.myaffiliateprogram.com )
Also see the affiliate programs listed in the “Tools and Tricks” at the end of Chapter 9.
Discount Media Buying Agencies
If you go to a magazine, radio station, or TV channel and pay rate card—the “retail” pricing first given—
you will never make it big. To save a lot of headache and expense, consider using ad agencies that
negotiate discounts of up to 90% in their chosen media.
Manhattan Media (Print) ( www.manhmedia.com )
Great agency with fast turnaround. I’ve used them since the beginning.
Novus Media (Print) ( www.novusprintmedia.com )
Relationships with 1,400+ magazine and newspaper publishers with an average of 80% of rate card.
Clients include Sharper Image and Office Depot.
Mercury Media (TV) ( www.mercurymedia.com )
Largest private DR media agency in the U.S. Specialists in TV but can also handle radio and print. Offer
full tracking and reporting to determine ROI.
Euro RSCG (Cross Media) ( http://www.eurorscgedge.com /)
One of the worldwide leaders in DRTV media across all platforms.
Canella Media Response Television (TV) ( http://www.drtv.com )
Uses the innovative P/I (per inquiry) model for compensation, where you split order profits instead of
paying for time upfront. This is more expensive per order if you have a successful campaign, but it
lowers upfront investment in media.
Marketing Architects (Radio) ( www.marketingarchitects.com )
The de facto leaders in radio DR but a bit on the expensive side. Almost all of the most successful DR
products—Carlton Sheets No Money Down, Tony Robbins, etc.—have used them.
Radio Direct Response (Radio) ( www.radiodirect.com )
Mark Lipsky has put together a great firm, with clients ranging from small direct marketers to Travel
Channel and Wells Fargo.
Online Marketing and Research Firms (PPC campaign management, etc.)
Starting Small—Find a Local Individual to Help
SEMPO (www.sempo.org; see the member directory)
Excellent Mid-Size Firms
Clicks 2 Customers (www.clicks2customers.com)
Working Planet (www.workingplanet.com)
The Hard-Hitting Pros—Small Campaigns Start at Several Thousand Dollars
Marketing Experiments (www.marketingexperiments.com) This is my team.
Did It ( www.did-it.com )
ROIRevolution ( www.roirevolution.com )
Cost is determined by a percentage above monthly PPC spend.
iProspect ( www.iprospect.com )
Full-Service Infomercial Producers
These are the companies that made Oreck Direct, Nutrisystem, Nordic-Track, and Hooked on Phonics
household names. The first has an excellent DRTV glossary and both sites offer excellent resources.
Don’t call unless you can budget at least $15,000 for a short-form commercial or $50,000+ for a longform
infomercial.
Cesari Direct ( http://www.cesaridirect.com /)
Hawthorne Direct (www.hawthornedirect.com)
Script-to-Screen (www.scripttoscreen.com)
Retail and International Product Distribution
Want to get your product on the shelves of Wal-Mart, Costco, Nordstrom, or the leading department
store in Japan? Sometimes it pays to have experts with relationships get you there.
Tristar Products ( http://www.tristarproductsinc.com )
Behind the PowerJuicer and other hits. Tristar also owns their own production studio and can therefore
offer end-to-end services in addition to retail distribution.
BJ Direct (International) ( www.bjgd.com )
Celebrity Brokers
Want a celebrity to endorse your product or be a spokesperson? It can cost a lot less than you think, if
you do it right. I know of one clothing endorsement deal with the best pitcher in Major League Baseball
that cost just $20,000 per year. Here are the brokers who can make it happen:
Celeb Brokers ( www.celebbrokers.com )
President Jack King was the one who first turned me on to this fascinating world. He knows it all inside
and out.
Celebrity Endorsement Network ( www.celebrityendorsement.com )
Celebrity Finding
Contact Any Celebrity ( www.contactanycelebrity.com )
It is possible to do it yourself, as I have done many times. This online directory and its helpful staff will
help you find any celebrity in the world.
LIFESTYLE DESIGN IN ACTION
After I read the section on outsourcing, I thought it sounded like a novel idea but would never work for
me. However, since the rest of the book was “spot on,” I decided to try it. Rather than ship my money
overseas, I opted to keep it in the U.S. and use my niece in college, with skills on computers I can’t even
fathom, to test the theory. Turns out it has been a great experience and timesaver for me, as well as
moneymaker for her. It seems I have all of the positives of out sourcing but none of the hassles of
language and such…. Being able to mold a young mind for the better ties in well with the rest of your
book …
—KEN D.
Hey Tim, You mentioned www.weebly.com a few months ago, and I’ve been using that to build all
my muse sites and think it’s great! Also, Facebook groups has (almost) every niche imaginable. So what
I have found success in doing is: (1) Finding a niche group that would buy my muse, (2) sending a
message to each admin telling them how my muse will help their group members. Then politely asking
them to put a blurb in the “Recent News” section of the group. This makes it more trustworthy than a
wall post, and it stays up there (free advertising) until the admin removes it. One hundred times better
than a wall post. In one case, the admin purchased my muse, posted my note for me on the groups’
“Recent News” section, then e-mailed the entire group telling them they have to check out my site.
—GAVIN
50. Richard Tedlow, Giants of Enterprise: Seven Business Innovators and the Empires They Built
(2001; reprint, HarperBusiness, 2003).
51. This is adapted from “The Remote Control CEO,” Inc. magazine, October 2005.
52. Actually, I’m the ghost in new machines now, as I sold BrainQUICKEN in 2009 to a private
equity firm.
53. “Contract outsourcing companies” can be as simple as dependable web-based services. Don’t let
the term intimidate you.
54. Sample e-mail responses for fulfillment purposes can be found at www.fourhourblog.com.
55 Joseph Sugarman, Advertising Secrets of the Written Word (DelStar Books, 1998).
56 Depending on whose math is used (number of cars vs. gross sales), some claim the original
Volkswagen Beetle holds the record.
57. For the benefit of the customer and to capitalize on universal laziness (me included), provide as
much time as possible to consider or forget the product. Ginsu knives offered a 50-year guarantee.
Can you offer a 60-, 90-, or even 365-day guarantee? Gauge average return percentages with a 30- or
60-day guarantee first (for budgeting calculations and cash-flow projections) and then extend it.
Step IV:
L is for Liberation
It is far better for a man to go wrong in
freedom than to go right in chains .
—THOMAS H. HUXLEY,
English biologist; known as “Darwin’s Bulldog”
Disappearing Act
HOW TO ESCAPE THE OFFICE
By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be a boss and work twelve
hours a day.
—ROBERT FROST, American poet and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes
On this path, it is only the first step that counts.
—ST. JEAN–BAPTISTE–MARIE VIANNEY, Catholic saint, “Curé d’Ars”
PALO ALTO , CALIFORNIA
“We’re not going to expense the phone.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
Silence. Then a nod, a laugh, and a crooked smile of resignation.
“OK, then—it’s fine.”
And that was that, lickity-split. Forty-four-year old Dave Camarillo, lifelong employee, had cracked
the code and started his second life.
He hadn’t been fired; he hadn’t been yelled at. His boss seemed to be handling the whole situation
quite well. Granted, Dave delivered the goods on the job, and it wasn’t like he was doing naked snow
angels in client meetings, but still—he had just spent 30 days in China without telling anyone.
“It wasn’t half as hard as I thought it would be.”
Dave works among more than 10,000 employees at Hewlett- Packard (HP), and—against all odds—he
actually likes it. He has no desire to start his own company and has spent the last seven years doing tech
support for customers in 45 states and 22 countries. Six months ago, however, he had a small problem.
She measured 5′2″ and weighed 110 pounds.
Was he, like most men, afraid of commitment, unwilling to stop running around the house in Spider-
Man underoos, or inseparable from the last refuge of any self-respecting man, the PlayStation? No, he
was past all that. In fact, Dave was locked and loaded, ready to pop the big question, but he was short on
vacation days and his girlfriend lived out of town. Waaaaay out of town—5,913 miles out of town.
He had met her on a client visit to Shenzhen, China, and it was now time to meet the parents, logistics
be damned.
Dave had only recently begun to take tech calls at home, and, well, isn’t home where the heart is? One
plane ticket and one T-Mobile GSM tri-band phone later, he was somewhere over the Pacific en route to
his first seven-day experiment. Twelve time zones hence, he proposed, she accepted, and no one was the
wiser stateside.
The second field trip was a 30-day tour of Chinese family and food (pig face, anyone?), ending with
Shumei Wu becoming Shumei Camarillo. Back in Palo Alto, HP continued its quest for world
domination, neither knowing nor caring where Dave was. He had his calls forwarded to his newly
begotten wife’s cell phone and all was right in the world.
Now back in the U.S. after hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, Dave had earned his Eagle
Scout mobility badge. The future looks flexible, indeed. He is going to start by spending two months in
China every summer and then move to Australia and Europe to make up for lost time, all with the full
support of his boss.
The key to cutting the leash was simple—he asked for forgiveness instead of permission.
“I didn’t travel for 30 years of my life—so why not?”
THAT’S PRECISELY THE question everyone should be asking—why the hell not?
From Caste to Castaway
The old rich, the upper class of yore with castles and ascots and irritating little lapdogs, are
characterized as being well-established in one place. The Schwarzes of Nantucket and the McDonnells
of Charlottesville. Blech. Summers in the Hamptons is sooooo 1990s.
The guard is changing. Being bound to one place will be the new defining feature of middle class. The
New Rich are defined by a more elusive power than simple cash—unrestricted mobility. This jet-setting
is not limited to start-up owners or freelancers. Employees can pull it off, too. 58
Not only can they pull it off, but more and more companies want them to pull it off. BestBuy, the
consumer electronics giant, is now sending thousands of employees home from their HQ in Minnesota
and claims not only lowered costs, but also a 10–20% increase in results. The new mantra is this: Work
wherever and whenever you want, but get your work done.
In Japan, a three-piece zombie who joins the 9–5 grind each morning is called a sarari-man
—salaryman—and, in the last few years, a new verb has emerged: datsu-sara suru, to escape (datsu) the
salaryman (sara) lifestyle.
It’s your turn to learn the datsu-sara dance. 59
Trading Bosses for Beer: An Oktoberfest Case Study
To create the proper leverage to be unshackled, we’ll do two things: demonstrate the business benefit
of remote working and make it too expensive or excruciating to refuse a request for it.
Remember Sherwood?
His French shirts are beginning to move and he is itching to ditch the U.S. for a global walkabout. He
has more than enough cash now but needs to escape constant supervision in the office before he can
implement all the timesaving tools from Elimination and travel.
He is a mechanical engineer and is producing twice as many designs in half the time since erasing
90% of his time-wasters and interruptions. This quantum leap in performance has been noticed by his
supervisors and his value to the company has increased, making it more expensive to lose him. More
value means more leverage for negotiations. Sherwood has been sure to hold back some of his
productivity and efficiency so that he can highlight a sudden jump in both during a remote work trial
period.
Since eliminating most of his meetings and in-person discussions, he has naturally moved about 80%
of all communication with his boss and colleagues to e-mail and the remaining 20% to phone. Not only
this, but he has used tips from chapter 7, “Interrupting Interruption and the Art of Refusal,” to cut
unimportant and repetitive e-mail volume in half. This will make the move to remote less noticeable, if at
all noticeable, from a managerial standpoint. Sherwood is running at full speed with less and less
supervision.
Sherwood implements his escape in five steps, beginning on July 12 during the slow business season
and lasting two months, ending with a trip to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, for two weeks as a final
test before bigger and bolder vagabonding plans.
Step 1: Increase Investment
First, he speaks with his boss on July 12 about additional training that might be available to employees.
He proposes having the company pay for a four-week industrial design class to help him better interface
with clients, being sure to mention the benefit to the boss and business (i.e., he’ll decrease
intradepartmental back-and-forth and increase both client results and billable time). Sherwood wants the
company to invest as much as possible in him so that the loss is greater if he quits.
Step 2: Prove Increased Output Offsite
Second, he calls in sick the next Tuesday and Wednesday, July 18 and 19, to showcase his remote
working productivity. 60 He decides to call in sick between Tuesday and Thursday for two reasons: It
looks less like a lie for a three-day weekend and it also enables him to see how well he functions in
social isolation without the imminent reprieve of the weekend. He ensures that he doubles his work
output on both days, leaves an e-mail trail of some sort for his boss to notice, and keeps quantifiable
records of what he accomplished for reference during later negotiations. Since he uses expensive CAD
software that is only licensed on his office desktop, Sherwood installs a free trial of GoToMyPC remote
access software so that he can pilot his office computer from home.
Step 3: Prepare the Quantifiable Business Benefit
Third, Sherwood creates a bullet-point list of how much more he achieved outside the office with
explanations. He realizes that he needs to present remote working as a good business decision and not a
personal perk. The quantifiable end result was three more designs per day than his usual average and
three total hours of additional billable client time. For explanations, he identifies removal of commute
and fewer distractions from office noise.
Step 4: Propose a Revocable Trial Period
Fourth, fresh off completing the comfort challenges from previous chapters, Sherwood confidently
proposes an innocent one-day-per-week remote work trial period for two weeks. He plans a script in
advance but does not make it a PowerPoint presentation or otherwise give it the appearance of something
serious or irreversible. 61
Sherwood knocks on his boss’s office door around 3 P.M. on a relatively relaxed Thursday, July 27,
the week after his absence, and his script looks like the following. Stock phrases are underlined and
footnotes explain negotiating points.
Sherwood: Hi, Bill. Do you have a quick second?
Bill: Sure. What’s up?
Sherwood: I just wanted to bounce an idea off of you that’s been on my mind. Two minutes should be
plenty.
Bill: OK. Shoot.
Sherwood: Last week, as you know, I was sick. Long story short, I decided to work at home despite
feeling terrible. So here’s the funny part. I thought I would get nothing done, but ended up finishing three
more designs than usual on both days. Plus, I put in three more billable hours than usual without the
commute, office noise, distractions, etc. OK, so here’s where I’m going. Just as a trial, I’d like to
propose working from home Mondays and Tuesdays for just two weeks. You can veto it whenever you
want, and I’ll come in if we need to do meetings, but I’d like to try it for just two weeks and review the
results. I’m 100% confident that I’ll get twice as much done. Does that seem reasonable?
Bill: Hmm … What if we need to share client designs?
Sherwood: There’s a program called GoToMyPC that I used to access the office computer when I was
sick. I can view everything remotely, and I’ll have my cell phone on me 24/7. Sooooo … What do you
think? Test it out starting next Monday and see how much more I get done? 62
Bill: Ummm … OK, fine. But it’s just a test. I have a meeting in five and have to run, but let’s talk
soon.
Sherwood: Great. Thanks for the time. I’ll keep you posted on it all. I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly
surprised.
Sherwood didn’t expect to get two days per week approved. He asked for two so that, in the case his
boss refused, he could ask for just one as a fallback position (bracketing). Why didn’t Sherwood go for
five days remote per week? Two reasons. First, it’s a lot for management to accept off the bat. We need
to ask for an inch and turn it into a foot without setting off panic alarms. Second, it is a good idea to
hone your remote-working abilities—rehearse a bit—before shooting for the big time, as it decreases the
likelihood of crises and screwups that will get remote rights revoked.
Step 5: Expand Remote Time
Sherwood ensures that his days outside of the office are his most productive to date, even minimally
dropping in-office production to heighten the contrast. He sets a meeting to discuss the results with his
boss on August 15 and prepares a bullet-point page detailing increased results and items completed
compared to in-office time. He suggests upping the ante to four days per week remote for a two-week
trial, fully prepared to concede to three days if need be.
Sherwood: It really turned out even better than I expected. If you look at the numbers, it makes a lot of
business sense, and I’m enjoying work a lot more now. So, here we are. I’d like to suggest, if you think it
makes sense, that I try four days a week for another two-week trial. I was thinking that coming in
Friday 63 would make sense to prepare for the coming week, but we could do whichever day you prefer.
Bill: Sherwood, I’m really not sure we can do that.
Sherwood: What’s your main concern? 64
Bill: It seems like you’re on your way out. I mean, are you going to quit on us? Second, what if everyone
wants to do the same?
Sherwood: Fair enough. Good points. 65 First, to be honest, I was close to quitting before, with all the
interruptions and commute and whatnot, but I’m actually feeling great now with the change in routine. 66
I’m doing more and feel relaxed for a change. Second, no one should be allowed to work remotely unless
they can show increased productivity, and I’m the perfect experiment. If they can show it, however, why
not let them do it on a trial basis? It lowers costs for the office, increases productivity, and makes
employees happier. So, what do you say? Can I test it out for two weeks and come in Fridays to take care
of the office stuff? I’ll still document everything, and you, of course, have the right to change your mind
at any point.
Bill: Man, you are an insistent one. OK, we’ll give it a shot, but don’t go blabbing about it.
Sherwood: Of course. Thanks, Bill. I appreciate the trust. Talk to you soon.
Sherwood continues to be productive at home and maintains his lower in-office performance. He
reviews the results with his boss after two weeks and continues with four remote days per week for an
additional two weeks until Tuesday, September 19, when he requests a full-time remote trial of two
weeks while he is visiting relatives out of state. 67 Sherwood’s team is in the middle of a project that
requires his expertise, and he is prepared to quit if his boss refuses. He realizes that, just as you want to
negotiate ad pricing close to deadlines, getting what you want often depends more on when you ask for it
than how you ask for it. Though he would prefer not to quit, his income from shirts is more than enough
to fund his dream-lines of Oktoberfest and beyond.
His boss acquiesces and Sherwood doesn’t have to use his threat of quitting. He goes home that
evening and buys a $524 round-trip ticket, less than one week’s shirt sales, to Munich for Oktoberfest.
Now he can implement all the time-savers possible and hack out the inessentials. Somewhere between
drinking wheat beer and dancing in lederhosen, Sherwood will get his work done in fine form, leaving
his company better off than prior to 80/20 and leaving himself all the time in the world.
But hold on a second … What if your boss still refuses? Hmm … Then they force your hand. If upper
management won’t see the light, you’ll just have to use the next chapter to fire their asses.
An Alternative: The Hourglass Approach
It can be effective to take a longer period of absence up front in what some NR have termed the
“hourglass” approach, so named because you use a long proof-of-concept up front to get a short remote
agreement and then negotiate back up to full-time out of the office. Here’s what it looks like.
1. Use a preplanned project or emergency (family issue, personal issue, relocation, home repairs,
whatever) that requires you to take one or two weeks out of the office.
2. Say that you recognize you can’t just stop working and that you would prefer to work instead of
taking vacation days.
3. Propose how you can work remotely and offer, if necessary, to take a pay cut for that period (and
that period only) if performance isn’t up to par upon returning.
4. Allow the boss to collaborate on how to do it so that he or she is invested in the process.
5. Make the two weeks “off” the most productive period you’ve ever had at work.
6. Show your boss the quantifiable results upon returning, and tell him or her that—without all the
distractions, commute, etc.—you can get twice as much done. Suggest two or three days at home
per week as a trial for two weeks.
7. Make those remote days ultraproductive.
8. Suggest only one or two days in the office per week.
9. Make those days the least productive of the week.
10. Suggest complete mobility—the boss will go for it.
Q&A: QUESTIONS AND ACTIONS
Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the
company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him.
—THOMAS J. WATSON, founder of IBM
Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
—GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
While entrepreneurs have the most trouble with Automation, since they fear giving up control,
employees get stuck on Liberation because they fear taking control. Resolve to grab the reins—the rest
of your life depends on it.
The following questions and actions will help you to replace presence-based work with performancebased
freedom.
1. If you had a heart attack, and assuming your boss were sympathetic, how could you work
remotely for four weeks?
If you hit a brick wall with a task that doesn’t seem remote-compatible or if you predict resistance
from your boss, ask the following:
What are you accomplishing with this task—what is the
purpose?
If you had to find other ways to accomplish the same—if your
life depended on it—how would you do it? Remote
conferencing? Video conferencing? GoToMeeting,
GoToMyPC, DimDim.com (Mac), or related services?
Why would your boss resist remote work? What is the
immediate negative effect it would have on the company and
what could you do to prevent or minimize it?
2. Put yourself in your boss’s shoes. Based on your work history, would you trust yourself to
work outside of the office?
If you wouldn’t, reread Elimination to improve production and consider the hourglass option.
3. Practice environment-free productivity.
Attempt to work for two to three hours in a café for two Saturdays prior to proposing a remote
trial. If you exercise in a gym, attempt to exercise for those two weeks at home or otherwise
outside of the gym environment. The purpose here is to separate your activities from a single
environment and ensure that you have the discipline to work solo.
4. Quantify current productivity.
If you have applied the 80/20 Principle, set the rules of interrupting interruption, and completed
related groundwork, your performance should be at an all-time high in quantifiable terms, whether
customers served, revenue generated, pages produced, speed of accounts receivable, or otherwise.
Document this.
5. Create an opportunity to demonstrate remote work productivity before asking for it as a
policy.
This is to test your ability to work outside of an office environment and rack up some proof that
you can kick ass without constant supervision.
6. Practice the art of getting past “no” before proposing.
Go to farmers’ markets to negotiate prices, ask for free first-class upgrades, ask for compensation
if you encounter poor service in restaurants, and otherwise ask for the world and practice using the
following magic questions when people refuse to give it to you.
“What would I need to do to [desired outcome]?”
“Under what circumstances would you [desired outcome]?”
“Have you ever made an exception?”
“I’m sure you’ve made an exception before, haven’t you?”
(If no for either of the last two, ask, “Why not?” If yes, ask, “Why?”)
7. Put your employer on remote training wheels—propose Monday or Friday at home.
Consider doing this, or the following step, during a period when it would be too disruptive to fire
you, even if you were marginally less productive while remote.
If your employer refuses, it’s time to get a new boss or become an entrepreneur. The job will
never give you the requisite time freedom. If you decide to jump ship, consider letting them make
you walk the plank—quitting is often less appealing than tactfully getting fired and using
severance or unemployment to take a long vacation.
8. Extend each successful trial period until you reach full-time or your desired level of mobility.
Don’t underestimate how much your company needs you. Perform well and ask for what you want.
If you don’t get it over time, leave. It’s too big a world to spend most of life in a cubicle.
LIFESTYLE DESIGN IN ACTION
Consider trying Earth Class Mail, a service that you can reroute all your mail to, at which point they
scan and e-mail you everything that comes in, giving you the option of recycling/shredding junk, getting
a scan of the contents, or having specific items forwarded to you or someone you designate. I have not
personally used it yet (will be testing it out this month in preparation for an upcoming trip in May), but a
friend and author in Portland swears by them and knows the CEO. Seems they’ve gotten good press and
the idea seems far better than relying on friends/family who, if they’re anything like my friends/family …
will surely drop the ball at some point:-).
—NATHALIE
I also use GreenByPhone.com to process checks electronically that come in through my Earth Class
Mail account—they charge $5 a check, but I live in San Diego, my Earth Class Mail office address is in
Seattle, and I bank in Ohio. It works great!
—ANDREW
To add to your excellent list (we’ve traveled just like that for several years SWEET!), I’d like to add
my modifications as a female traveler and a new mom (16-month-old baby). Personal favorites: (1)
Athleta carries excellent, light, quick-dry clothing that hold up well to sports but still look very
fashionable. Skorts are a must for looking feminine but being fully covered for hiking and steep pyramid
steps—you know what I mean, ladies! Just a note, a slightly longer length will serve you well in a lot of
countries, as well as tankini tops and swim skirts for swimming. (2) Fresh & Go toothbrush is simple to
use. (3) Marsona sound machine for drowning out unfamiliar noises is a must (regularly use with baby at
home too so when they hear the sound they know it’s sleep time!). This has been a lifesaver for us on
many trips, and we now use it regularly at home for better sleep. No more changing hotels midtrip to
avoid noise. AND, I know we have to travel light, but with baby a lot of things are nonnegotiable. These
make for smoother sailing: (1) Peanut shell sling in black fleece—it’s more comfy than the cotton and
you can pop baby in and out wherever you are, from birth to 35 lbs. I never take mine off, it’s part of my
outfit; (2) Peapod plus portable tent—this is baby’s main bed at home and travel so baby has the same
sleep place everywhere we go, and the flaps give all travel parties privacy—great from small babies to
five-year-olds. I can still jam this onto a little wheeled carry-on and pack mine and baby’s minimal
clothing around it; (3) Go Go Kidz TravelMate (great for wheeling car seat up to the gate for gate check
or use on plane); (4) Britax Diplomat car seat is small but kids can use it from birth to approx. four years
old.
Make sure the wheeled carry-on bag you get is one size smaller than the allowed carry-on size so you
don’t get bumped to check the bag in if the plane is full. You can always nicely argue/reason/bat your
eyelashes that you will put the bag in your foot space. Also, very helpful to give baby something to sip
or munch on during take off and landing so yours isn’t the baby screaming from ear pain. Happy travels!
—KARYL
PRE-EMPTING THE BOSS: COMMON CONCERNS ABOUT REMOTE WORK
In the linked article, Cisco acknowledges that remote work arrangements are “here to stay” yet lists a
set of security issues. It makes sense to preemptively research solutions so that you are armed and ready
if your employer raises these concerns. http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2008/prod_020508.html.
—Contributed by RAINA
58. If you’re an entrepreneur, don’t skip this chapter. This introduction to remote working tools and
tactics is integral to the international pieces of the puzzle that follow.
59. This verb is used by Japanese women as well, even though female workers are referred to as
“OL”—office ladies.
60. Any reason to be home will do (cable or phone installation, home repairs, etc.) or, if you prefer
not to use a ruse, work a weekend or take two vacation days.
61. Review the Puppy Dog Close from “Income Autopilot II: Testing the Muse.”
62. Do not digress from your goal. Once you’ve addressed an objection or concern, go for the close.
63. Friday is the best day to be in the office. People are relaxed and tend to leave early.
64. Do not accept a vague refusal. Pinpointing the main concern in detail enables you to overcome it.
65. Don’t jump to the defensive after an objection. Acknowledge the validity of a boss’s concerns to
prevent an ego-driven battle of wills.
66. Note this indirect threat dressed as a confession. It will make the boss think twice about refusing
but prevents the win-lose outcome of an ultimatum.
67. This removes the boss’s ability to call you to the office. This is critical for making the first jump
overseas.
Beyond Repair
KILLING YOUR JOB
All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it’s impossible), but
calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth.
Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.
—NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI, The Prince
Existential Pleas and Resignations Mad Libs
BY ED MURRAY

Some jobs are simply beyond repair.
Improvements would be like adding a set of designer curtains to a jail cell: better but far from good. In
the context of this chapter, “job” will refer to both a company if you run one and a normal job if you
have one. Some recommendations are limited to one of the two but most are relevant to both. So we
begin.
I have quit three jobs and been fired from most of the rest. Getting fired, despite sometimes coming as
a surprise and leaving you scrambling to recover, is often a godsend: Someone else makes the decision
for you, and it’s impossible to sit in the wrong job for the rest of your life. Most people aren’t lucky
enough to get fired and die a slow spiritual death over 30–40 years of tolerating the mediocre.
Pride and Punishment
If you must play, decide on three things at the start: the rules of the game, the stakes, and the
quitting time.
—CHINESE PROVERB
Just because something has been a lot of work or consumed a lot of time doesn’t make it productive or
worthwhile.
Just because you are embarrassed to admit that you’re still living the consequences of bad decisions
made 5, 10, or 20 years ago shouldn’t stop you from making good decisions now. If you let pride stop
you, you will hate life 5, 10, and 20 years from now for the same reasons. I hate to be wrong and sat in a
dead-end trajectory with my own company until I was forced to change directions or face total
breakdown—I know how hard it is.
Now that we’re all on a level playing field: Pride is stupid.
Being able to quit things that don’t work is integral to being a winner. Going into a project or job
without defining when worthwhile becomes wasteful is like going into a casino without a cap on what
you will gamble: dangerous and foolish.
“But, you don’t understand my situation. It’s complicated!” But is it really? Don’t confuse the
complex with the difficult. Most situations are simple—many are just emotionally difficult to act upon.
The problem and the solution are usually obvious and simple. It’s not that you don’t know what to do. Of
course you do. You are just terrified that you might end up worse off than you are now.
I’ll tell you right now: If you’re at this point, you won’t be worse off. Revisit fear-setting and cut the
cord.
Like Pulling Off a Band-Aid: It’s Easier and Less Painful Than
You Think
The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow
standing in the rain.
—COLIN WILSON, British author of The Outsider; New Existentialist
There are several principal phobias that keep people on sinking ships, and there are simple rebuttals
for all of them.
1. Quitting is permanent.
Far from it. Use the Q&A questions in this chapter and chapter 3 (Fear-setting) to examine how you
could pick up your chosen career track or start another company at a later point. I have never seen an
example where a change of direction wasn’t somehow reversible.
2. I won’t be able to pay the bills.
Sure you will. First of all, the objective will be to have a new job or source of cash flow before quitting
your current job. Problem solved.
If you jump ship or get fired, it isn’t hard to eliminate most expenses temporarily and live on savings
for a brief period. From renting out your home to refinancing or selling it, there are options. There are
always options.
It might be emotionally difficult, but you won’t starve. Park your car in the garage and cancel
insurance for a few months. Carpool or take the bus until you find the next gig. Rack up some more
credit card debt and cook instead of eating out. Sell all the crap that you spent hundreds or thousands on
and never use.
Take a full inventory of your assets, cash reserves, debts, and monthly expenses. How long could you
survive with your current resources or if you sold some assets?
Go through all expenses and ask yourself, If I had to eliminate this because I needed an extra kidney,
how would I do it? Don’t be melodramatic when there is no need—few things are fatal, particularly for
smart people. If you’ve made it this far in life, losing or dropping a job will often be little more than a
few weeks of vacation (unless you want more) prior to something better.
3. Health insurance and retirement accounts disappear if I quit.
Untrue.
I was scared of both when I was eliminated from TrueSAN. I had visions of rotting teeth and working
at Wal-Mart to survive.
Upon looking at the facts and exploring options, I realized that I could have identical medical and
dental coverage—the same provider and network—for $300–500 per month. To transfer my 401(k) to