Muse vs Passion & Crowded Internet vs Leadership

[brett_atredback]

Hi All,

Been a while since I've been on this forum...I posted a while back here:

http://fourhourworkweek.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=1149

A bit embarrassing this is so long ago and I can't show anyone the pure tangible websites/$$ output from this time. I have made a lot of 'internal' progress though! More on that in another thread.

So, I wanted to put a few questions/thoughts out to the community here.

Firstly, I definitely love Tim's book. I have also loved some more recent books by people like Jonathan Fields, Pamela Slim and videos by Gary V (wine dude online) that seem to be promoting/teaching monetizing your passions much more than Tim's approach of 'find a muse, make money and then go and do what you want'.

I wanted to get people's thoughts/opinions on this and in particular, those that have been successful, what they have found. Personally, I have finally realized I can't do stuff I am not really passionate about any more. I am in many markets, parents, expats, wine lovers etc are just some. Very few though have enough interest/passion for me to turn into a business. While, I realize the point of Tim's philosophy is outsource/automate the hell of the business, the upfront 3 to 6 to 12 mths getting that going just doesn't work for me when it's "baby sleeping secrets" or whatever.

My second thought/questions is along a similar vein and I think points to some of the difficulties I have had in the past and others may be having..I think back in the day (3 to 5 years ago and more), the internet was a space where you could 'go wide' - set up several muses in several niches, remain relatively anonymous and be successful with people buying stuff...I think in this day and age with a lot more people and businesses online and the advent of social media, I think _most_ (not all!) really successful online businesses are being run by really passionate people for their niche, who aren't afraid to show leadership in that market, be 'the go to person' etc.

Would be interested to see what people think.

Thanks,
Brett

[DaveinHackensack]

I think you make some good points, Brett. From the reading I've done passion seems to be a key driver in social media success. For example, I remember reading about some really high-end bike manufacturer. It started having its engineers blog about their process, answer visitors' questions, etc., and this helped drive sales for their business, partly because it emphasized that this company was chock full of engineers, unlike some competitors.

It seems, too, that there is often more focus on automation here than there is on building a successful business. Automation is great and useful, but take the example of Tim's BrainQuicken business mentioned in his book. Let's say he hadn't automated to the extent he did. If it was really kicking off $40k per month in sales, he could have hired an assistant to run the whole operation for $40k per year (or less) and he would still have had an NR lifestyle.

Maybe this is sort of coming full circle, but the bottom line it seems to me is that if you build a successful business, you can generally find ways to phase yourself out of it, either by selling the business, hiring a competent manager, or automation. Automation may be the cheapest of these, but the bigger challenge is building a durable, successful business. You could, I suppose, just keep throwing quickie products against the wall instead, which seems to be a more popular approach. But I wonder if haste makes waste here.

[Sven]

Good points indeed.

Most of the book is about LD. For Tim that was doing stuff where there was no money to be made. For me the stuff I really enjoy is solving mechanical puzzles ie invent. The book has helped me focus on areas where there may be money in it where I used to just try my hand at everything.

Also, before I had a business where I was irreplacable. Well, not totally, I was able to sell the business in the end, but there was no way to reduce my time and increase money, things were too dependent on my personal skills.

Now I develop stuff where I am no longer a limit if things take off. And I also discovered that I miss doing a bit of manufacturing. So I have developed a cnc router which I thoroughly enjoyed ( http://www.puresven.com/?q=building-cnc-router ) which I'll be using for manufacturing of parts. But if things take off, I'll find someone else to make the parts for me.

LD is about finding your purpose. Enjoy what you do, even if that means doing 60 hour weeks!

[DaveinHackensack]

As I may have mentioned previously, I have an idea for a physical product. It's in the queue behind two information service websites I'm developing, but when I get around to the physical product, I'll be sure to read your tips for creating a new product. I just bookmarked it.

Also, good point about how doing what you want for some people may be spending lots of hours on your business. That happens to be true of many people who can afford to do nothing but prefer to work. One (of numerous) examples is Fred Wilson, whose blog I read regularly. He is a successful venture capitalist who noted in a recent post that he works something like 60 hours per week. Of course, there's a difference in working those kinds of hours when you have ownership, autonomy, and the freedom to express your creativity, versus being a drone on an assembly line or in a cubicle farm. The comedian Chris Rock touched on this in his last HBO special, differentiating between "jobs" (where time crawls during the workday) and "careers" (where you never seem to have enough time).

[alimac]

Thank you Brett, for this great post. Thought provoking to be sure.

I loved 4HWW, sucked it up in 2 days (don't tell Tim), am making some significant changes to the way I see my life and my business. But the more I focus on the chapters about automation, the more I start to doubt my motives. It is all about passion,and our new favorite book is the 'how-to-find the freedom' (aka time and money) for our passions. So I might be in a position to create that for myself, but must it be at the cost of someone in India or Bangladesh's passion?

Some of the marketing tools that are suggested in 4HWW are proven statistically to work, but if that's the only reason why we're using these tools, doesn't that harm the integrity of our product? Not to mention flood the internet with soulless junk? I agree: Haste makes waste. But if we're passionate about what we have to offer, I believe that shines through. Add some proven marketing strategies to that passion, and then you're in business. But if all you have are empty marketing tools, what are you contributing to society let alone to the web?

Just because we're getting paid for something doesn't necessarily negate the fact that it might be something we're passionate about. I sure hope there is a great way to merry muse and passion for an even more fulfilling life.

[maxpr]

Good points indeed.

Most of the book is about LD. For Tim that was doing stuff where there was no money to be made. For me the stuff I really enjoy is solving mechanical puzzles ie invent. The book has helped me focus on areas where there may be money in it where I used to just try my hand at everything.

Also, before I had a business where I was irreplacable. Well, not totally, I was able to sell the business in the end, but there was no way to reduce my time and increase money, things were too dependent on my personal skills.

Now I develop stuff where I am no longer a limit if things take off. And I also discovered that I miss doing a bit of manufacturing. So I have developed a cnc router which I thoroughly enjoyed ( http://www.puresven.com/?q=building-cnc-router ) which I'll be using for manufacturing of parts. But if things take off, I'll find someone else to make the parts for me.

LD is about finding your purpose. Enjoy what you do, even if that means doing 60 hour weeks!

I really have nothing to add here BUT you built that cnc router...?!?! thats amazing stuff...father was a machinist, always wished i had the ability to fabricate things...:(