Perfect Life Project

Perfect Life Update 2

Last month I wrote an update on my progress since adopting and
implementing my strategies for a perfect life. In it I outlined the actions
I had taken and results I had seen.

Most of the benefits I described related to the improvement in my lifestyle. Less stress, happier, better health, more freedom. The one area I haven't elaborated on is income.

For me, the objective here isn't to become insanely rich. I am trying to build a robust, highly profitable business that allows me to live extremely well without the constant pressure and stress of maintaining such a lifestyle. Obviously a high income is part of it but it is not the be all and end all.

So, many fiscally focussed readers may be wondering whether my strategies have been profitable, or whether I have just been creating a lazy workers paradise that sacrifices profit for fun and an easy lifestyle.

I am happy to announce that you can have your cake and eat it too. The business is performing remarkably well. In the two years since I purchased this agency (now in it's 30th year) it has grown 35%. That's been good solid growth for a mature business.

The Power of "Why Not"

Most of my life I have been a fairly confident person. If
I set my mind on something I generally got it or achieved it.  Often this was against a chorus of derision or objection. Conventional Wisdom usually said that I couldn't or shouldn't chase some of my dreams. Fortunately I was either to naive or stubborn and went ahead anyway. When someone said you can't do it, I would say "Why not?"

Parkinson's Law

Give somebody a a long time to complete a task and you
generally find that how long it takes them to do it. Give them a short timeframe for the same task and thats how long it will take them to do it.

Parkinson's Law states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." A more succinct phrasing also commonly used is "work expands to fill the time available." In know its true because I am living proof. I do my best work when the deadline is looming, in the meantime I am just busy.

Why does the whole working world require 8 hours per day, 5 days per work to get the job done? It has just become standard practice for us to work 9-5 Monday to Friday...and then maybe some overtime to finish what really needs to be finished.

80/20 Your Business Part 3

You can apply the 80/20 rule to your work functions too. As I
said earlier, I studied which services at advertising agency delivered the most revenue.The result was that over 80% of our turnover and profit is derived from just two activities, media placement and media production. Everything else we do takes up time but produces comparatively small returns.

Knowing this allows me to set priorities with my team and continue to shape the agency to play to these strengths. It helps with decision making, hiring, equipment purchases and even the planning of workspace.

80/ 20 Your Business Part 2

I ended the last post with the controversial opinion that only
the Top 20% of clients deserve attention.

But don't all clients deserve equal attention? No they don't. In fact most businesses spend most of their time working on the least productive clients. If you apply 80/20 to your client list I am confident that you will find that the Top 20% of your clients cause the least headaches, pay the fastest and are generally the easiest to work with. The Bottom 20% probably cause you the most headaches, are time wasters, don't pay on time and generally make you miserable. So why spend time of them?

80/20 Your Business Part 1

I am a geat believer in staying focussed. I don't always do it
but I do believe that a focussed business is a successful business. Companies that concentrate on their strengths generally are more profitable.

Unfortunately the day to day distractions and pressure of running a business can cloud your vision and take you farther away from these strengths. I don't know how many times my advertising agency has been asked to perform tasks that are not our strong suite, and we have accepted the challenge. It's hard because you don't want to let customers down, and we all like the opportunity for extra income.

Tools for a Perfect Life

When you build something you generally require tools to
get the job done. Its no different when you are trying to build the perfect life. This project is going to require special tools, ones that are very seldom used but become blindingly obvious once you know how to use them. Following is a stocktake of the tools I wll be using to build my perfect life.