This is part four of my Living The Dot Com lifestyle series. It’s based on a presentation I gave at Third Tuesday Vancouver call how to run a million dollar business on two hours per day. Previous posts: Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.
Rule 4 – Use People
Originally, I was going to call rule 4, use leverage, but use people is just so much more in keeping with my root of all evil thing.
Most people don’t make enough money because they depend on only one source of revenue – themselves. You can only do so much. To live the dot com lifestyle, you need to remove yourself as the income source and leverage other resource. I leverage my blog, other sites and my ad network, which in term leverages the work of thousands of other people.
I Rather Have 1% of 100 People Than 100% of Myself
This is what allows me to live the dot com lifestyle. Thousands of other people work so I don’t have to. Let’s face it, no matter how much I try, I will never be able to match the output of a thousand people, or even 10 people for that matter. I would much rather make 1% of 1000 people than 100% of myself. Hell, I’ll take 1% of 100 people rather than 100% of myself. I do this because I’m generally a lazy person (just ask my wife). If I’m not interested in something, then it’s really hard for me to do it because it feels too much like work.
I’m really bad at web design and I can’t code worth a damn. However, I know people who can design and code and admin my servers. If I had to learn all those skills myself before getting started, I wouldn’t be here right now. You are never going to know everything. Find the people who have the skill set you’re looking for and use them. Work them to death if you have to.
If You Want Something Done Right, Don’t Do It Youself
Your success at living the dot com lifestyle will be largely determined by your ability to use other people. You need to get that, “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” mentality out of your system. Don’t do it all yourself! Success is a team sport. Your new motto should be, “If you want something done right, let Michael Kwan do it.” Just replace Kwan with whoever you plan to use.