2nd Edition: Remote Work and Other Radical Lifestyle Changes

The Dream Of Working Remotely and Other Radical Life Changes.

When I started with business, working remotely was DA DREAM(!)

Forget about a 7-figure business and all that flashy stuff.

I’d be so glad if I could simply strap my laptop around my neck and take off on a motorcycle out of Saigon, and work from a anywhere I ended up.

I’d be staring at the highway from my apartment, envying everyone in traffic going that direction (out of the city).

"One day it’s going to be me…”

Sure enough, one day I got rid of my things and took off.

It was not all that overwhelming feeling of freedom I imagined.

I was actually very apprehensive—if things didn’t work out I’d have to be back next month, through the same high way, and beg to have my job back.

Even if business was good, it took me years to get used to the idea that I could relocate at will and my livelihood would still be there.

Some type of Stockholm syndrome would make me really scared of moving.

It’s like when you are flying on a plane and part of you goes “we shouldn’t be doing this, it’s not natural.”

But I couldn’t possibly imagine living any other way.

And to this day, nothing has made as much impact in my day-to-day quality of life than switching to remote work.

It’s radical.

Strategy Note: Business Radical Changes

In the story above I’ve managed to unchain myself from a location.

That's life-changing. Not in a figurative sense. It's truly and profoundly life-changing in how I spend my days.

I'll share with you the shift in the business that produced a similar effect.

It's how one can unchain themselves from a schedule and from an income bracket.

This is the big switch: Don’t get paid by the hour, get paid to solve problems.

In my first attempt to be my own boss (too many years ago) I was teaching private students, like many teachers do.

I’d meet them for an hour a week and they’d pay me after the session, or pay for 4 sessions in advance.

And just like many teachers, this system didn't take me very far.

My first business coach taught me the most basic idea about business that changed everything:

People are not paying you to spend time with them. They are paying you to help them solve a problem: i.e. their lack communication skills.

And this is the starting point of any business: we are payed to solve a problem. The bigger the problem, the bigger the payment.

Our job is to identify the biggest problem we can solve and solve it.

Everything else (what we do, when, for how long…) is downstream from here.

You can think of these two different dentists. Which one should be more expensive:

a. A dentist that can do your root canal in one hour

b. A dentist that can do the same in 10 minutes

Well...easy. The faster I get rid of the problem, the better.

It’s not different with a teacher.

It feels like getting paid more while working less.

At first it feels really strange, like remote work or flying on a plane.

But sure enough, that is the new reality and you’ll never look back.

This way of approaching your craft produces very different outcomes.

You want to be paid for your creativity, not for the time you spend with people.

Duolingo is worth 15 billion. Teacher Danny makes 14$ an hour on Preply.

The astronomical difference in outcomes is essentially because of the business model.

How could Teacher Danny start moving towards a better model?

In practical terms, he can do that in three stages.

First: Define the biggest problem you can solve for your market. Look for high-impact, life changing problems to solve. I.e., help them develop communication skills that will impact their career.

Second: stop selling by the hour. Sell the whole course like it’s a project aiming to solve a problem. Get paid in full in advance.

Third: solve the problem in ways that don't exclusively rely on spending time with people: group sessions, digital courses, tools, communities.

By doing that Teacher Danny has just unlocked his time and earning potential.

And that’s all mostly a perspective switch. The change is rather radical than gradual.

Your day-to-day will be completely different.

I used to work 40h a week teaching face to face. Now I do 2-3h client facing work a week.

It's amazing how easy we adapt to this.

What changes your life is not creating a new lesson plan. It’s not finding better students.

Radical changes happen when you change the game you are playing altogether.

Flying on a plane is radically different from a car. And it doesn’t matter how many times you tell me it’s statistically much safer than a car, it is still scary and counter-intuitive.

Changing the business model maybe is something like that as well.

You can expect it to feel weird... bit of Stockholm syndrome, a bit of that fear of flight all at once.

But soon enough, you’ll never want to be selling your time again.

A lot of growing a business is about consistent gradual and incremental improvements - like rowing a boat.

A lot of it is recognizing when to hop to different boats. A motorboat, still requires work and attention. But you go a lot further.

_______________________

How about you? Do you enjoy being paid for your creativity?

What creative process you think is the most rewarding?

Creating digital courses, building business systems (funnels, automations...) building communities, content marketing...

P.S. Feel free to hit reply. I’d love to hear your thoughts — feedback, encouragement, complaints, suggestions. We are now a very small list. Your feedback is invaluable. And if you want to share the this with anyone, just send them my Thursday Strategy Notes page (https://myacademybox.com/newsletter)

P.P.S. Full disclosure: I run a small software company called The Academy in a Box. It helps language coaches with all things tech, and marketing.
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