Yesterday, I told you that you are able to crush it while watching f*&%ing Lost. But that is obviously easier said than done (anybody remember this fantastic piece Martin wrote last week about a blogging reality check?).

You want more money?

But don’t want to work more hours or get a second job?

I’m totally up with you.

So, how can you make more money by working less? Man… this has been my main obsession for the past 8 years. And I only found the solution 3 years ago! Darn! The trick is quite easy in theory: simply work less . If you have read The 4 Hour Workweek, you know what I am talking about. However, working 4 hours per week is not accessible for most people. It’s more like selling the dream than finding a way that you can actually take some real action to achieve this.

Let’s Start Smaller: How About Working 4 Days a Week?

I seriously think that you and I can get out of the Rat Race and live the life without working much. But let’s be realistic for a moment; this won’t happen this year, next year either… and probably not before the next 5 to 10 years (and this is only if you hustle like an animal!). However, you can improve your position today. How about working 4 days a week and keep your pay check? But be careful, you need to do this slowly, step by step if you want to achieve this.

Step #1 Find an excuse

If you want to start working fewer days in the corporate world, you better have a solid reason to do so. If not, the dream crashers will tell you that it is not possible or that you may want to pursue “other career opportunities” as you don’t fit in here. So you need to find an acceptable excuse to work 4 days a week. With a softer boss, you can try the family/work argument. However, I would only use it if you are 100% certain that you are working in a company where they facilitate and encourage family/work flexibility. Most don’t… yet (sad!).

There are a few other options that are more easily accepted. You can find yourself another sideline project from your current tasks that will improve your department’s productivity or profitability. If you present a clever idea to your boss that will make him look good, there are not many reasons why he would not give you a day/week to work on the project. You can work on cost reduction, productivity, profitability or marketing (making presentations). These are buzz words managers love to hear.

If you are out of ideas, you can also go back to school (that was my excuse). I picked a program where I had to go to class on Fridays so they had to let me go 1 day a week to do something else.

If you don’t want to go back to school and there are no ways you can improve where you work (that’s impossible, by the way), there is another way that will hurt: simply use 1 day of your own vacation to take off each week for 6 weeks or so. This will be enough to build your case study, which is step #2.

Step #2 Build a case study

There are 2 things you must do once your excuse is accepted:

#1 Do all your regular work in a 4 day schedule

#2 Build your case study with facts that show you can work 4 days a week and do the very same job

During a 6 to 8 week period, you will have the amazing opportunity to show that you can work 4 days a week and get all your things done during that time. It is very important that these 6 to 8 weeks are among the best weeks of work you have ever done. You want to show them that your motivation and productivity have increased. In fact, if you are not more motivated and more productive, you won’t make it anyways .

The key here is to force you to think differently. The point is not to work more hours during these 4 days. The point is to optimize your day so you can do your job and still finish at 5pm to head back home.

While you are finding ways to become more productive, keep track of your results and your success. It is important to build a solid business case. If not, your employer won’t listen to you.

Step #3 Don’t be shy to ask

2 months after you made the decision you want to work 4 days a week, you are now ready to make the big jump. Don’t be afraid to ask for a meeting with your boss, to ask for 1 hour of his time. This is when you will show him what you have accomplished over the past 6 to 8 weeks and that you now want to keep that 4 day/week work schedule.

You may think that he will ask you to work on special projects on the 5^th day since you became more productive. This would be the trickiest part. If it happens, you can simply tell him that in order to be fair to your productivity and commitment towards the company, you would ask for a 20% income raise as your colleagues do 80% of what you do. He will obviously refuse, so you tell him that the fair thing to do is to leave you at 4 days a week under the one condition that you will always do the work required in 4 days without complaining, making mistakes or being late.

Step #4 what do you do with that extra day now?

How great is that, you just found a way to reduce your number of hours while keeping the same pay check! What’s next? I’ll tell you in my next article .

In the meantime, I want to know what prevent you from doing this? What is the biggest challenge you are facing to change to a 4 day work week? Are there any? If yes, tell me. If not, take action!

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Man…. I remember this like it was just yesterday. Back in my apartment in Montreal, I was just starting my career. At that time, not long after I quit my first job without notice and found my way to another department at the same bank after a few weeks. A year later, I was sitting on my couch on a lazy evening, not doing much. My wife was out for a work meeting and I had nothing to do besides watch the boring premiere of a cheap version of Gilligan’s Island but with a plane instead of a boat… Oh yeah… I’m talking about Lost . At first, I was definitely not sure about this series… and then I got hooked!

Dude! What’s the point of talking about Lost on this blog? Keep reading… you’ll find out

6 awesome seasons later, one per year, Lost ended-up with the best series finale ever in my opinion. That was back in May 2010. During the same 6 years (from September 2004 to May 2010), I did a lot of things:

- I got 4 promotions and went from a 30K annually to a 135K salary in 2010.

- I got married with the most amazing woman in the world.

- I started a 6 figure online business with my best friend.

- I had 2 marvelous kids.

- I got my securities license, Certified Financial Planner degree and my MBA.

- I’ve been able to gather all my friends from different paths (high school, in-laws, university, neighborhood) together each Xmas and now rent vacation properties all together.

- I’ve managed my way to obtain a 4 day/week schedule at my day job and work on my blog one full day a week.

- I’ve made more friends during the MBA program and we still see each other from time to time.

- I’ve gone from a negative net worth to almost $200,000 net worth.

- I’ve learned how to play golf, started a steady workout schedule at the gym and played softball in a garage league.

- I’ve done all this and never missed 1 episode of Lost. In fact, I also got hooked on many other series such as Prison Break, House, Dexter,  etc.

So What’s the Point?

The point is that I did a lot of things that contributed to my financial situation during these past 6 years and still have a life. I am able to be there for my family and friends, all the time.

The point is that I am not better than you, not smarter than you. I just did a few things differently.

And I think you can do the same.

And I’m about to tell you how…. This week

How to Crush it and still have a life

When I was a kid, my financial goal was simple: make $100K per year. I have upped that, added a small modification to that goal:

Make 100K per year while working less than 30 hours a week

I’ve discovered that making 6 figures was not that complicated in the financial world. However, reducing your work hours below 35 hours is almost mission impossible. Why? Because of the Dream Crashers! In the upcoming weeks, I’ll share with you my tricks on how to:

- Reduce your work hours without affecting your salary

- Find time to build a sideline business without ditching your friends and family

- Create activities that will generate money

So tell me what you have a problem with

I already have a pretty good idea of how I will build this series and what will be included in it. But I need to know what your issues are to make sure that I hit the right nails and close the coffin on fears that prevent you from living a better life.

So tell me, what is holding you back? Is it time? Resources? Money? Ideas?

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They are everywhere.

They are watching you.

They are closer than you think.

And they are waiting…

To destroy your precious…

They are the Dream Crashers

Nope, it’s not some late Halloween post I wanted to write or a lame parody of Lord of The Rings (hum… my precious….). I’m talking about a sad phenomenon; I’m talking about the guys stuck in the matrix (man… what’s going on with me and all these movie references today !?!).

But seriously folks, I’m talking about people that don’t do things like you do but differently. They will do everything they can so you stop your behavior and get you back in line. You might not get what I’m talking about right now so let me share with you a little story of mine. It’s called…

What the F&*/ do you care about what I’m doing with my life?

I don’t mean to use the F word on this blog but this is exactly how I felt last week after my lunch. I was invited to some “special” lunch with some “special guests” at a “special conference”. All of this because my company wants me to feel “special”… ugh! In the corporate world, it is seen as a gift of a great importance when you are invited to sit with the great rulers of the tribe. I was actually more interested in listening to the conference (as the speakers are usually very sharp) than sharing the peace pipe with the great rulers .

Anyways, we are sitting at the table and eating some green piece of… “something-fancy-I-guess” with 3 slices of tomatoes and 5 pieces of roquette (that’s French salad ) and the conversation begins… Everybody is obviously there to shine and show how great they are (I’m sure you have lived this at work too ).

In these conversations, I always step back and listen to people. I prefer to listen to them and watch how they act then produce my own show. But I’m always get into some discussions because I am fascinating… Nope, I’m not talking about my charisma… I’m talking about the fact that I’m one of those rare beasts who succeed in the corporate world while working 4 days a week…. Worse than that, I  don’t crush 40 hours into 4 days… I literally work 30 hours per week (and to be totally honest, I leave at 3pm on Friday ).

So each time someone brings that topic up and asks me in front of everybody:

“So Mike, how do you like working 4 days a week?”

That’s the signal.

I feel them.

They were closely watching their prey and now they will jump on it and shred it to pieces…

“You work 4 days a week? Really?”

This question is either posed with disgust (as I must be a dumb, lazy ass who doesn’t want to work) or with pity (as I’m not good enough to work 40 hours a week like a “normal, devoted” employee).

Then, they start with more remarks such as:

“Don’t say it out loud, you know that HR doesn’t like this”

“You’re very lucky, I would never let my employees do so”

“I don’t believe in family-work reconciliation”

And my 2 favorites that I heard last week:

“Now that we are opening on evenings and weekends, such arrangements will disappear”

“Imagine how much you could have brought in if you were working that 5^th day”

Both were coming from the same guy who I call the Grand Dream Crasher. In his opinion, there is nothing more important than working and succeeding. Where I see quality time with my family and flexibility, he sees laziness and a lack of motivation.

The dream crashers are pretty good to plant the seed of doubt in your mind. Since you are not doing what the crowd is doing, they will put the spotlight on you and make you doubt your decisions. They will question your actions and beliefs. Most people will stay polite and not say a word. Especially if you have recently started to implement changes in your life (such as eating healthier, working less, starting a side line or a business). It’s because you are doing something they don’t get.

I spend a whole section of my book, Escaping the Rat Race explaining things people don’t get and how to avoid to arguing with them. It’s very important to avoid arguing and explaining as you waste a lot of time and energy doing it and the dream crashers will never quit. Their beliefs in the corporate world are stronger than religious fanatics or Packers fans on Monday night football . Worse than that, they will argue so much with you that you will start thinking that you are doing something wrong instead of simply doing something they don’t get.

The dream crashers will work numerous hours for their employer and they expect the same thing from others. It’s normal as if you want to succeed in the corporate world, you need to work ridiculous hours, be a performer and know the right people. I’ve concentrated in the latter 2 but I’ll never work a lot of hours . Because it’s not worth it, not compared with time with my family and friends. Will you ever regret not staying late at work? I can tell you that you will regret missing your son scoring an important goal at soccer or playing hide & seek with your daughter or simply an intimate evening with your lover. This is what you will miss in the end.

And because you take measures to spend more time with people you like than people that pay you, you are brought down by these dream crashers. They can be co-workers but they can also be members of your family or friends. People usually like the denial stage and they certainly don’t want you to wake them up with your success. This is why bursting your bubble seems like the best option to keep their denial intact.

So what the F&*/ do you care about what I’m doing with my life?

Here’s the key: they should not care that you do things differently but they do. Don’t let people question your choices, especially when you know where you are going. Don’t let the dream crashers put you to sleep again and back in the matrix. You are better than that.

So it’s now your turn to not care and tell them to get lost!

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The idea of telling you how I network while I hate networking came after getting back from the Financial Blogger Conference in Chicago last weekend. So before I start with my anti-networking post, I wanted to say a few things about the awesome time I had in Chicago:

Phil from PT Money is the king of organization. He’s the man behind the FINCON11 and I can just say that it was PERFECT! If I ever have to plan my 2^nd wedding, I’m calling this guy!

J Money from Budgets Are Sexy has a very cool Mohawk! On top of that, he won so many Plutus Awards that it felt like watching Justin Bieber at the Much Music Awards (don’t worry, J is much cooler ).

SVB from The Digerati Life is the sweetest blogger in the world. She’s super kind and helpful.

Mike from Money Smarts Blog is not my Anglophone alter ego from Toronto! Regardless if he’s a financial blogger, has 2 kids, a wife and the same initials as I do, he actually has hair. So my baldness makes me unique ;-D

Pat from Smart Passive Income was never part of the ones to be picked first for basketball in college. But trust me, he has a hell of a shot!

Baker from Man Vs Debt is even more inspirational in person. I guess you must be very inspirational to get people to applaud at 8am after Saturday night’s party .

Tom from Canadian Finance is always laughing. A lot of fun hanging out with him!

Martin (MD) from Studenomics is a true machine! He drove to Chicago from Toronto and was up all night both days… though he mentioned that he wouldn’t be drinking on Monday morning

Dividend Ninja doesn’t have nun chucks but he is sharp as a blade.

Mike Piper from The Oblivious Investor is very generous to share all about his methods to write and publish books on Amazon. Thx for the tips!

All right, I originally had a much bigger list of bloggers I wanted to talk about but it’s getting too long already , let’s go on with why I hate networking and how I still do connect with people.

That’s kind of funny to say for a financial planner since I need to do a lot of what people call “networking” to be successful but I just hate it. Really, really, REALLY hate networking. I just don’t get how people jump from one person to another spending barely 15 minutes talking and ending-up the conversion just for the sake of “meeting” someone else. It looks more like pollination to me! To me, it sounds like the same script that you roll over and over again:

- Hey, how is it going

- Where do you come from

- How come you got into blogging

- yadi yada…

- okay, now it’s time for me to switch to someone else now that “I know you”.

I just can’t do that. When I want to talk to someone it’s not for small talk but rather to really know this person. Know him outside of his blogging strategies per se . Fortunately, I must say that most people at the conference were truly interested in connecting with people instead of doing basic networking.

How do I connect instead of networking with people

I think this is the most important message: connect with people don’t try to become friends in 15 minutes. I personally prefer meet less people but actually get to know them rather than doing pollination . That said, it is much harder to do than you think.

The first thing is that you need to know who will be there. You might have connected with some people already and a conference like this is the perfect way to solidify your relationship. Emails and skype calls are cool but there is nothing like a good face-to-face conversation.

So the first thing I did was to check out the list of attendees. Phil had this great idea of making that list to show who was coming. Then, I looked at people I really wanted to see… hum… that was a bad idea since I wanted to meet 80% of them… the other 20% were people I didn’t know lol!

After that, I made a list of people that I know a little bit more (based on email and skype calls). These were my “priorities”. While I didn’t have enough time to meet everybody that I wanted to, the time I spent with these people was genuinely cool!

Note that everybody is pretty busy during a cocktail. It’s important to know who you want to talk to before entering the room. If not, you won’t know with whom you can really connect and you might end-up going from one person to another until you find people with more common interests.

Speed Networking Formula

I don’t know where that Idea comes from but it was a great formula at the FINCON11. We were all sitting on a chair face to face and we had 1 minute to connect with people. This is great as you don’t get to spend too much time and you can see if you want to meet that person later on during the evening and talk more. I really enjoyed this formula and got to meet about 20 people in less than half an hour ;-D

About my trick to spend quality time with busy people

Oh yeah… I almost forgot! During conferences, there are always people that everybody wants to have a chat with. Therefore, you can either be lucky enough to speak with them for 10 minutes amongst the crowd or you just don’t get the opportunity to talk to them. But I had a trick that I used this time to see if it would work and guess what, I got to spend some great quality time with them.

Want to know what it is? I’m explaining my story along with all my notes from the conference in my newsletter on Friday. On Friday, I’ll be providing a 2,500 word document with everything I’ve learned from the conference to my newsletter subscribers and since it’s free, be sure to subscribe:

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You probably didn’t notice but I was on vacation for the past 2 weeks and just came back to work this Monday. Those were real vacation as I left with my family for Virginia Beach. I did bring my laptop and BlackBerry but didn’t use them to work on my sites. I rarely do this but for 2 weeks, I barely answered my emails and comments on my blogs. Since I work with my brain all the time, I needed a time where I could shut it down completely and enjoy the small things of life such as a sand castle contest!

While I was getting some rest, I got stuck by a lightning: I’m making 2 terrible mistakes this year. I left my day-to-day tasks long enough to look at my online empire differently. I was shocked by the results of my reflexion. I’m sharing those 2 mistakes as you probably do them too. Regardless if you are doing it with your blog, your career, your sideline or simply in general, I’m sure you do at least one of those 2 major mistakes.

#1 I’m Getting Lazy

Don’t get me wrong, I work a lot. I work 4 days a week at my day job as a financial planner and 1 full day on my online empire. For the past 3 years, both my career and online are growing exponentially. I’ve managed to reach a 6 figure income at the age of 28 and I am now making 6 figure online too. The problem is exactly where my success is:  it is becoming too easy.

If you ever hustle very hard for a long time and you have a great structure in your business or throughout your career, you will eventually be successful. This is exactly where you need to be very careful. Closing new deals at work became easier since many clients trust me now and refer me their good friends. Making money online has become easier too as my blog network is growing and I have a few niche websites earning money too.

But when everything is running smoothly and the money is coming in, most human being will tend to surf the wave instead of looking for the next big one. So I just noticed that I have been working on keeping my routine instead of bursting out of my comfort bubble to do some serious creation. I have tons of projects on paper that I didn’t start yet and tons of todo’s that have not been even looked at. I’m getting lazy because I feel that my business can keep growing without me working. Well this ain’t gonna happen! There is a reason why you are standing where you are right now and it is the sum of what you have done to get there. If you only keep doing what you do in your routine, you won’t grow anymore. Even worst, you might slow down and get engulfed by the next wave instead of surfing on it. This is exactly what happened to RIM (manufacturer of the Black Berry) while they ignore Apple and their iPhone to surf their small wave.

#2 I’m Getting Cocky

Hum… maybe I should rephrase that: I’m cocky and I’ve always been. But while a bit of cockiness is acceptable, being over-confident creates a feeling of completeness and you don’t see the urge of working harder. Worst; you start overlooking what you do thinking that you are just too good at it.

This is what I did when I first created my niche websites and started to hire VA’s and outsource a part of my work. Since I was making a lot of money, I thought that I could run multiple projects with little to not input from myself and everything would run perfectly. While I didn’t do any critical mistakes by overlooking what I did in 2011, I have realized during my vacation that I could have been much further if I had taken the time to sit down and analyzed what need to be done. I used to check and double check my strategies and carefully implement each element myself. More recently, I’ve put everything on the shelf to concentrate on writing my eBook. I thought I could do both writing and managing without looking too much at was is going on. After all, I’m an online genius and I just can’t fail… I was so wrong!

This is how I ended-up with running cash flow negative for the very first month of my company’s history. It’s not too bad as I realize my mistakes fast enough but it could have been catastrophic if I didn’t take those vacations at a perfect timing!

Look at others to understand what you do wrong

This lightning that enlighten my cavern was provoked by the reading of a blog that I know for a while but I hadn’t had the time to read recently: Budgeting in the fun stuff. Crystal, who runs this blogs among many others, started only 18 months ago and racked-up more than $7,000 in July. So while I was having my worst month, she was having her best one.

Crystal and I have 2 very different business models and we don’t always agree on the method of making money online (mind you, we are still friends ). However, I can tell you that we share many things in common such as a strong spirit, a taste for entrepreneurship, good writing skills combined with an unlimited creativity. So I was surprised but very proud of Crystal when I noticed how far she went since she started her online venture. This is when I read a few posts on her blogs about her recent success that I have realized that I was getting both lazy and cocky at the same time.

What’s next

The good news is that I am in a perfect timing to take everything back under control: I’m back from vacation and I’m on fire. I’m about to launch my first eBook from a series of 4 books about escaping the rat race and I have a complete plan to hire another VA (my main VA is on maternity leave). This fall will be a huge turning point for my company and I will share each of my steps with you in this crazy adventure!

I wonder if you ever been lazy or getting cocky after being successful at work, online or with your company? How did you wake up? Do you think that you are currently in this situation?

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