My name is Matthew Bredel and as of March, 2007, I am a full-time, work-at-home internet marketer.
For close to 10 years, I worked for a defense company which was an OK job, but I was so uninspired in life and frankly, I needed some more money. That is when I first discovered internet marketing! Now I admit that I didn't start making thousands in my first couple of months (in fact, I lost my shirt!), but I finally saw the "internet light"...
“No Reception” - Ah! Are you kidding me? I might as well been living on the moon. I never really realized how dependent I have become of an internet connection in my life until this latest trip to the mountains. It was tough at first, but taught me some incredible lessons about running a business.
Well, last week I was able to experience my own “4-Hour Work Week” (like the Tim Ferriss book) and I have to admit it was both a up-and-down experience.
The family and I went up to the mountains (Sierra Nevada’s…a place called Pinecrest…I’ve been going since I was about 5 years old…mind you, then it was a 2.5 hour drive from the Bay Area, now it is 10 hours from San Diego…Thank God for portable DVD players and Nintendo DS for the kids!!!).
I’ve always loved going up there EXCEPT for the fact that they are still (technologically) living in the stone age. No cell coverage. No fast internet connections. In fact, all I had was a dial-up modem and a long distance (and expensive) phone number to call.
The closest internet cafe of any type of data coverage was about 40 minutes down the mountain.
This was roughing it!
And for the first three days, I was going through some serious internet withdrawal.
But then a mini-revelation occurred: I DON’T need to be the center of my business to make this work!
(Actually, I’ve been following a lot of Michael Gerber stuff, from e-Myth, and he talks a lot about removing yourself from the core of your business…fascinating stuff!)
With the 30 minutes I had on a dial-up, I was essentially limited to my email (this is the first time I have ever clicked that “For Slower Connections, Click here” on Gmail!).
So instead of resolving my issues and problems myself, I just contacted those who knew how to do it and have them solve it for me.
It was liberating.
The next day, those problems are solved. New ones occurred, but I would just email those out as well.
I know, this sounds idealistic (and it did cost me some money), but having things taken care of while I was fishing, hiking and drinking beer was awesome!
OK, I am still a newbie when it comes to the 4 hour work week, but tasting it made me realize that creating separation in my business is not only healthy, but is required to grow your business. Last year, I could not have done this. The right people were not in place to make these changes or fix these problems.
And to be honest, nothing was really “growing” or “developing” in my business at this time (which is a problem), but just being able to “maintain” my business remotely on 30 minutes per day was wonderful!
Next year, my goal for Pinecrest is to have my business GROW while I’m away, too.
cheers…matt
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Hi, Matthew! Nice article! To work 4 hours in week… Actually I do not mind to work 4 hours every day. I like blogging and learning everything about Internet Marketing. But sometimes, you are right; business has to run without any effort. I hope I will have this possibility after 2 years blogging, but for now I do not have.
July 18th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Hey Irina,
The great thing about blogging these days (and I did this before I left), was you can still put your posts on autopilot. (Scheduling blog posts). But of course, you lose your “conversational” aspect of it, but just for the time you are away. (You can warn your readers about that). Personally, 4 hours per week seems rather unrealistic to me, too, but getting down to, say 4 hours per day, would be a dream of many of us!
cheers…matt
July 20th, 2009 at 7:42 am