December, 1996.
I was at a conference which was being delivered by a business owner who was supposedly an expert in time management for, you guessed it, business owners. I raised my hand, stood up, and asked what I understood to be a simple question:
“What do I have to work on to grow my business?”
The guy gave me a straight answer without hesitation. It went something like this:
“You know, the most important thing when you’re a business owner is to take action. Theory is good, but action is the name of the game. So I can’t encourage you enough to blah blah …”
I appreciated what he said (to some extent), but he didn’t answer my question. I specifically came to this conference on the hunt for someone who could give me a clear answer. Not vague psychobabble. I’d launched my cleaning business three months before my nineteenth birthday, and my results had been poor. My enthusiasm was suffering, and I needed urgent help. What I needed was answers.
I set out looking for someone who’d made it as a business owner, someone who’d be able to help me. Now, coming from an immigrant family in a lower middle-class neighborhood, I didn’t know any successful entrepreneurs back then. To put myself in one of those inner circles, I had to pay for the privilege. Having paid to attend the event, I was determined to get an answer to my question. So I stood up again.
“Thanks for your insight, but I’ve just started my business, and what I’d like to know is what are the most valuable activities that business owners should be focusing on?”
To which he responded:
“There are many valuable activities which business owners should be in the habit of carrying out, but one thing I can’t emphasize enough is the motivation you have to have to handle them all, day after day, blah blah …”
Again, unsatisfied with the answer, and sensing now an increased frustration being directed towards me from both the audience and the speaker, I prepared myself one more time. I was determined because I had nowhere else to go, nobody else to turn to.
“Sure, and I think I am very motivated, but my question is: what exactly do I have to spend my time on for my business to grow?”
“Well,” he said, “the important activities depend on what you’re trying to achieve, so I can’t answer a question that broad. What I can tell you is that whatever activity you choose to work on, you’d better be committed to blah blah …”
I gave up. My question must have been too simple and therefore too complicated to answer. To this day, when I talk about time management to people, we’re almost never on the same page. As soon as I mention these words, people start talking about routines, habits, tricks, tips, and hacks. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy these topics, but they’re not what constitutes time management.
Time management is what to spend time on.
Period.
Anything else is a secondary consideration. To highlight my point, go on Amazon and search for books about time management for business owners. Heck, go ahead and look for books about time management in general. What did you find? Books about how to stop procrastinating, how to be more productive, how not to work in reactive mode, how not to be lazy, and so on …
If you find yourself stumbling across time management blogs or articles on social media, there’s a fair chance it’s the same regurgitated material, albeit furnished with a zany title: The Best Morning Routines; The Multibillionaire’s Planner; Organize Your Desk Like Elon Musk; Multi-zillionaire’s Top 20 Tips for Creating Time; How Finding my Inner Zen Gave me More Time; How Eating Avocados Helped me Work Smarter.
Okay, I might’ve exaggerated a little, but do you see the common denominator?
The kind of information saturating the digital domain is all concerned with the HOW, but it’s rarely, if ever, about the WHAT.
Tricks and tips for productivity are out there in abundance, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a practical framework. You can read hundreds of these books and blogs, and you might find some of them to be beneficial, but you’ll still only be equipped with the knowledge of HOW to do something, and you’ll be left (as I was) with that same question unanswered: WHAT do I need to spend my time doing?
Let’s put things into perspective. In business, sport, or any other walk of life, there are two conditions for achieving success:
Most people skip the first condition and go straight to the second; and that’s the crux of the problem when we talk about time management. Why would you try to be efficient in an activity that adds little to no value? It would be like trying to fix the plumbing of a sinking ship to prevent a leak. It’s great if you somehow possess the skills to pull off such an audacious stunt, in spite of the occupational hazard, but what did it gain you? The ship is still SINKING!
We’re accustomed to hearing, “You have to be efficient, to focus, to be productive.” But efficient at doing WHAT? Focus on WHAT? Be productive at WHAT?
It’s like all business owners are supposed to somehow instinctively know exactly what to spend their time on. It’s as though the business fraternity has reached a consensus on the topic, and the case is closed. Well, not on my watch (pun fully intended!). The reality on the ground is that nobody knows what they should be doing; that’s why everybody does different things.
What you’ll discover in The 400-Hour Workweek will not only help you manage your time the right way but also enable you to put your business on the right track by working on the right things … and the sooner, the better.
Let’s get right to the point: Most people fly blind when they launch their companies. They have an idea or two, but they don’t have a structure or proven method to build up their businesses. Whether bluffing or gambling, they stage a courageous stand until the harsh reality sinks in. This lack of frame is disastrous. I’ve been there. It’s like having a destination, but no plan to get there. However, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
Imagine that, for the first time, you’ll be traveling from point A to point B, and they’re hundreds of miles apart. You’ll be doing this at night, with no signs, no map, no GPS, and nobody to help. You could end up anywhere. You’re much more likely to head in the wrong direction than the right one. Then, when (if ever!) you realize how far you’ve gone in the wrong direction, you find that the right path is automatically longer, as you have to turn back, at least to some extent.
That’s why the sooner you adopt The 400-Hour Workweek principles and make them yours, the better—for yourself, your business, your employees, and your customers.
If you invest your time in the right activities from an early stage (5-figure or low 6-figure income with no employee or a few employees), you set the tone for success for yourself and the people you onboard. Everyone plays their own individual parts, while you conduct the orchestra. The culture is harmoniously set from the beginning, and you’ll more quickly reach your maximum productivity. All you have to do is apply The 400-Hour Workweek principles to yourself; if you do, your business will automatically grow.
On the other hand, if you already have a team and some customers, and you want to implement what you’re going to learn, you’ll face more challenges. You’ll make it, but you’ll likely experience a phase of turbulence when people realize and come to accept that you won’t be working on certain things anymore, for the sake of the company—i.e., for their own sake.
Hence, it is important to quickly put your schedule and other people’s schedules on the right track, so the business can be on the right track as well and quickly reach a high cruise speed. The longer you wait, the harder it will be.
Why am I telling you this? As Thomas Sowell stated, “when you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.” That’s how I work with the people I hire … and the people who hire me. In a way, you’ve already hired me by buying this book.
By the way, if you need support, we’re here to help. Just raise your hand and we’ll give you a call to discuss the kind of help that would be most appropriate to bring your company to the 8-figure level:
What do you get by working with me directly? You’ll get the certainty that you’re using your time efficiently and that your business is on the right track to reach the 8-figure mark soon. While this book seeks to provide you with this certainty, to show you the straight line between where you are and where you want to be, experience has shown me that sometimes people need tailored support.
If there’s a void to be filled when it comes to helping business owners work on the right activities to grow their businesses fast, this book is here to help. If there’s a void to be filled when it comes to helping business owners implement this book’s principles through personal guidance, I am here to help.
I wrote this book for my fellow business owners who didn’t have the privilege to meet multimillionaires on a daily basis, and have hundreds of meaningful conversations with dozens of 8- and 9-figure business owners. I wrote it for the younger version of myself, the one that was always wondering what the most important thing he could be working on was. I included EVERYTHING I wish I knew back then.
I want every existing business owner to know exactly WHAT to work on in their business, at any stage, from starting out to earning eight figures in revenue and beyond. That’s what I’m teaching here in a very concrete, unambiguous fashion. No vague psychobabble here. No tips, tricks, shortcuts, or life hacks. It’s about giving you the right framework that’s been used by every 8-figure business owner out there, whether consciously or subconsciously.
That’s what real time management should be at its core: WHAT activity to spend your time on, to grow your business fast. Actually, I’ve written this book with an initial assumption: my readers want to know how to make money, not how to organize their desks. If you agree, you’re in the right place.