Why You Should Work a 4-Hour Work Day

When I sold cars, I was always ahead of the other salespeople because I would work smarter rather than harder. The same thing happened when I was in the mortgage business. Though my tenure in those industries was short because it was supplemental income while I was building this company, I was still at the top of the leaderboard because of my practices and discipline. My success then and today really stem from my discipline in myself and ensuring I work to my standards.

During those times, I was required to work eight hours a day, but overtime was almost always guaranteed. When a deal needed to be done, it had to be done. I remember some nights when my wife would bring me dinner at midnight at the dealership while I was wrapping up a deal. But the key thing was that even when I was off work, I was still closing deals—whether I was at the beach with my wife or at home relaxing.

I’ve shared this story in my other books, but I’ll explain it briefly here so you understand the thought process and discipline I’m referring to. In the car business, before I did anything each day, I would add all of our used car inventory to Craigslist with my phone number. I’d then call all the “dead deals”—people who didn’t qualify previously—and invite them back in for a second look. This instantly gave me an advantage. I would schedule appointments both for my working days and on my days off for other salespeople to sell. Since I was the lead originator by setting the appointment, if there was a deal from my lead, I would immediately get half the deal. So, while those salespeople were closing deals for me, they were doing it for half the money. But that was fine by me—I set up the deal for them. All they had to do was demo the client and write them up.

In the mortgage business, I’d look at whoever was #1 from the previous shift, take their number, double it, and then work backward to calculate how many deals I’d need per hour and per minute to hit my goal. Even if I fell short, which was almost every day, I’d still be #1 because I set higher expectations for myself. I worked the same eight hours, but I made considerably more money because I was working smarter. The company had a $2,000 bonus for the top performer, and the entire 14 months I was at the company, I never missed my bonus. Sadly, there were salespeople working an entire month to make what I made in a monthly bonus. Working just a little smarter pays off.

When I run my business today, I’ve automated most of the systems. With JRQTV, my indie streaming TV network, I have traffic coming in from YouTube. I get paid from YouTube monetization for the content there, which includes businesses that have paid me to shoot their content. So, yes, I’m getting paid twice for that content. A lot of times my music from my career is also on the video, so I collect royalties from that as well. And, of course, all that traffic leads to book sales and other services my company provides. I can wake up in the morning, check numbers, and see what happened overnight. From there, I look at what appointments are on the calendar for the day. I try to sit with someone new every day, which equates to new prospects and an increase in revenue.

Every day, I get on Facebook and invite business owners to lunch at a local restaurant to talk about business. We discuss their business, talk about mine, and get a feel for whether we’re a good fit to work together. I may sit with four or five people before landing a sale, but let’s break down the costs. I have to eat anyway, so essentially I’m only paying for their lunch. Let’s say it’s $20. If I buy five lunches at $20, I’ve spent $100. If I sell them $500 to $1,000 worth of marketing on my platform, which I built and own, that doesn’t really cost me anything. It’s a win-win.

I can shoot three to five new clients a week, taking maybe two hours for each shoot and edit, then have an hour lunch meeting. After balancing my accounts, I’ve worked a four-hour day, making anywhere between $500 to $1,000. This isn’t hypothetical. There are also days when I don’t want to work at all. Yesterday, I dedicated my day to riding my Harley, and today, I’m pushing hard to close a strong week to enjoy my weekend and start fresh next week.

I do a lot of thinking these days. When I work on a project, like this book for instance, I may spend months thinking of content. Even when I write a music album, I have melodies, lyrics, and concepts in my head. When I feel the need to let it all out, it floods out of me with little effort, and there are days when I can sit and work for only a few hours, then feel accomplished and ready to take the rest of the day off. I may have only worked a few hours, but I’ve created a new stream of income that will continue to make me money for the rest of my life.

Working smarter, not harder, is the key to financial freedom and living life on your terms. It’s about efficiency, automation, and leveraging your time to do more with less. So, why work a traditional 8-hour workday when you can work a 4-hour workday and get more accomplished, while still enjoying your life? The choice is yours.