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2012 In Review

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Christmas and New Year holidays provide a great opportunity to evaluate your actions and see what worked and what didn’t. In this blog post, I’m going to review some of the stand out moments and lessons I experienced in 2012 and set out some goals for 2013.

Create more time!

2012 began with Zen Habit’s Top 10 Productivity Hacks. This article made me realise I wasted a lot of time doing things that could removed entirely, automated or outsourced.

Hire a maid

To gain quick wins and build motivation (read: Getting Real – Release Something Now; a blog post by 37Signals from 2005 that I’ve never forgotten), I looked at where I spent time doing unproductive things and outsourced the biggest chunk: I hired a weekly maid. At first I was worried about the financial implications, but saving four hours per week was/is worth it. Hiring a maid is now the first recommendation in my free newsletter.

Ride a bicycle

The second largest chunk was traveling. Not only did the London underground take forever, it also cost an arm and a leg each way. I decided to cycle more and using the cool Strava app, discovered that within the central 6-mile diameter of the city, cycling is the fastest mode of transport. Sometimes, a two-mile (3.2km) journey by bicycle was 20 minutes faster than via tube (subway). I calculated that over three years, cycling would save me fifteen entire days and £4500.

Plan ahead

Finally, the third largest chunk of unproductive time was studying. This was a cheeky observation but true nonetheless. Studying and I just don’t go together. I can’t think of anything worse than sitting in a library, reading a boring list of facts and committing a hundred opinions of other people to mind. I prefer research projects, experiments and interviews – that was what I was good at. And so I wrote my Anthropology dissertation nine months in advance using such methods, and planned ahead such that I could do as much as possible of the latter than the former. The result: I finished my degree is almost half the time it normally takes.

Take more risks!

Reading books by entrepreneurs (see book reviews), I was often frustrated with phrases such as ‘move fast and break things’, or ‘learn to make mistakes’ because unlike those with millions of investment, I quite simply couldn’t afford it.

Workshops

However, I had long known that my adversity to risk was a problem, and vowed to change it where I could. The first action was to introduce paid workshops at London Startups (my meetup group). I was scared that this would put people off, but in February, I invited a professional brand expert to deliver a workshop to a group of paying attendees. Eight turned up and I made a profit – hurrah! I then did it again for product development and gave my first personal workshop on Google search engine optimisation later in the year.

Putting the mugshot up

At the same time, I launched this blog - Communication Is The Key - with my mugshot on the sidebar. I had never had such a public online profile before, but the response has been fantastic. At networking events, people have recognised and approached me exclaiming they’re readers of the blog. This opens doors to conversation and opportunities (pay cheques). I also started writing for The Huffington Post although I must admit that I haven’t utilised this as much as I could have done.

Spending money

Within this blog, I’ve made risk-taking a central element. For example, I spent hundreds of pounds experimenting with various Twitter programs and strategies to write the results up in a free eBook; and spent hours creating 20+ WordPress tuition videos giving them away in exchange for a Facebook ‘like’ (read: pay with a tweet). You’ll be interested to know that I’ve also experimented with paying for StumbleUpon traffic (only gained sustained growth for visual stories i.e. pictures), YouTube views (led to organic growth one of three times) and spent over £500 on SEO.

Make More Money!

I won’t bullshit you and say I’m not money driven, a large part of me is and 2012 was about making more of it. Passive incomes, automated cashflows, side incomes; I love it all. Yet, I really don’t feel I got this under my belt this year and is definitely an area for further improvement in 2013.

What I did learn however, is the joy of advertising for free online and picking up a few consulting jobs here and there. Small cash injections that make a big difference to the weekend plans. Using the same marketing technique, I also created nearly a dozen websites (WordPress) for various individuals and companies. As these are simple sites and I have five years of experience with WordPress, it’s a quick turnaround.

Most of you will recognise that this has been inspired by The 4-Hour Workweek and might be interested in the following case studies:

The largest achievement for 2012, in regards to money was securing a job at BR. An award-winning corporate communications agency, I’m learning a tonne and, God forbid, enjoying it.

Take more breaks!

In the hustle and bustle of London, it’s too easy to get caught up in the daily grind and forget that an entire world lies outside. I’m incredibly fortunate to have Europe on my doorstep, and took full advantage this year traveling to the Tuscan hills of Italy to drink copious amounts of incredible wine, and to Barcelona for the thrill of lying on a beach with a city skyline behind. I’m also now heading off to Malaysia to spend Christmas and New Year’s with some family.

Holidays like this are great, but they’re expensive and far between. In 2013, I would like to get in the habit of creating more breaks, albeit shorter and cheaper ones, so that I’m not about to die before I head-off. Taking a note out of Ramit Sethi’s blog, I’ve created an automated system to put aside money each month specifically for this purpose.

In Communication Is The Key case study, evaluation, goals, money, productivity, review, save time, time, tom church, year

‘Grit’ isn’t always good

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Popular culture celebrates the strong man who never gives up; The man that takes a beating and dies for honour. I’ve explained my views on this before (read – Those Who Refuse To Surrender Are Stupid) but I want to explore them further here in regards to ideas.

Whilst exploring the Christmas shop displays of London, I paused for a coffee and joined the table of another. Conversation quickly struck up and I learnt he had a startup.

Fantastic! I thought. Then I listened to how his startup has been ‘starting’ for the last twelve years, how he sold his house to fund it, lost his job and longterm girlfriend to it and still received no investment prospects.

Unfortunately, this is the ugly side to many startup stories. The side that gets shunned and tucked away. No one remembers the dozens of social networks before Facebook.

Whether or not this man’s idea was good doesn’t matter. When it’s been twelve years and you have only losses to show, it is not, as he said, “…all about how much Grit you have, right?”.

No. ‘Grit’ isn’t always good. If no one else can see the profit in your idea, if no one is willing to stick up their hands and say “hey! If you make it, I’ll buy it!” then something’s wrong and I think it’s time to give up. Especially if it’s been t.w.e.l.v.e. y.e.a.r.s.

Plenty of successul entrepreneurs shout that it’s all about determination and hanging-on in there. Which is true for a lot of the time, but it isn’t a rule that you should follow all the time, just as you wouldn’t take all the must-have vitamins and supplements advertised on TV.

When you should give up and move on is a delicate question to answer. There are many variables depending on the industry you’re in, but by and large if people can’t see the problem you’re trying to solve, it probably doesn’t exist or isn’t big enough (yet).

Now, it is true that you can create a need/problem through advertising (quad-ply toilet roll with flower-embedded sheets, anyone?) and other methods, but it will cost you an arm and a leg – as the man in the coffee shop learnt the hard way.

In answer to his remark, that it’s all about how much Grit you have, I could only muster the balls to crack a joke rather than tell him what I really thought, “If only you were in the de-icing business”.

In Communication Is The Key, Opinion business, choices, determination, grit, lifestyle, money, opinion, profit, research, tom church

Life Philosophy: It’s a Question of Risk

Posted on In Opinion lifestyle, management, money, philosophy, risk

Why you should do more than what’s expected

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What’s the best way to make a good impression?

Do more than what’s expected. It doesn’t have to be a work of art, but over-delivering creates a positive reputation. For as long as you follow Rule #1: Never Outshine The Boss, you’ll be seen as an integral asset to the team.

Think of The Little Shit in the last place you worked. You know who I mean, the one that always cut one corner too many, the one that always complained and thought life was unfair, the one that had so little elbow grease you were surprised they could even move their arms at all – would you recommend them?

You don’t want to be The Little Shit, you want to be The Shit.

Make yourself a value-added brand and you can earn more money. What do I mean? There are companies that provide exactly the same product or service, but some are seen as cool and others aren’t. Why is this? It’s because the cool companies are seen to have character through their positive brand reputation. Think of the various big UK phone operators. Cool Co. isn’t just a telecommunications network provider, they’re a brand that over-delivers on their promise, and that’s why they have higher customer retention rates.

There are so many ways you can do this, no matter what your job is. So you’re a window cleaner that gets paid cash-in-hand; present beautifully designed invoices. You’re an accountant that churns out Excel spreadsheets; make them beautifully formatted with comment boxes that explain what’s what in lamen terms. You’re the Prime Minister of Great Britain; say what you really think for a change.

However, there’s no point putting in 50% more effort and getting zero recognition for it. Ask for feedback, “What did you think?”, “Is this what you expected?”, “Is this good?”. Nudge your superiors into recognising your hard work because the unfortunate truth is that they’re probably just too busy to notice otherwise.

When the pay cheque comes in, or when the deal is done, you can smile and think, I earnt this.

In Communication Is The Key, Opinion brand, effort, employment, money, promise, reputation, tom church, working

Performance dancer in London, at a club where you can earn a side income – by Charles Turner

£300 per week

Amiel is the creator of the meetup group Young Professionals in London, and he makes a decent side income from partying every week.

He organises social meetups at the West End nightclubs in London, and simply takes a cut from everyone that comes in with him. How do I know this? I used to do the exact same thing during University.

Nightclub promoting is a lucrative and fun (but tiring) business. To give you a rough idea on how much Amiel is making, he gets about £4 – £8 ($6.3 – $12.62) per person, and gets about 50 people in per week (through Meetup alone). That’s about £300 ($473) per week for two nights work. Not bad.

Side income opportunities can be found everywhere once you start looking. You may not have known that you can make money from partying, but you can – I know some professional promoters on six-figure incomes.

£1000 per night

If you are a party animal and do look into this, then you should also consider being a waiter. As with any global city, London has a pocket of clubs that the extremely wealthy party at. I’ve worked at a few of them. The minimum spend per night, per table is about £2000, plus a 10% service charge… To the waiter. Although this doesn’t happen every time, sometimes the waiter can be serving two or three tables and can earn over £1000 in one night.

These jobs are best suited towards new graduates fresh into low-paying jobs. Or, for entrepreneurs and startups in need of some quick cash. The hours are exhausting and the nightclub rules intolerable, but a side income is meant to be for a purpose, so here’s a method that people are doing right now.

More side income case studies

Posted on In Case Studies, Entrepreneurship case study, entrepreneurship, meetup, money, nightclub, passive income, promoting, side income, waiter

Side Income Case Study: Consulting on Gumtree

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Every week, I advertise two things on Gumtree: WordPress and Google SEO expertise. Through this, I help about two people per week and earn a decent wage per hour.

This is a nice little side income that pays for a few treats, but as I’ve discovered over time it tends to lead to a lot more. Time and time again, those people call (sometimes six months later) asking for help again, or with an introduction to a friend, or for some more serious work.

Therefore creating a side-income revenue stream is not just about the money. It’s also a stream that leads to greater connections and more opportunities. For everyone you meet, keep in touch regularly (use HighRise), help them in every capacity you can, and reap the benefits slowly over time.

Advanced Insight Into Gumtree

For the more technically-capable, you’ll be interested to know that I used the Fake App to automatically create the ads on Gumtree, and used an Apple Automator Script combined with iCal events to schedule it to run. In other words, it’s 100% automated.

More Case Studies

In Communication Is The Key, Opinion, Productivity Strategies case study, consulting, google, gumtree, money, passive income, seo, side income, wordpress

Make it a habit to store your profitable ideas in a sketch book and it’ll help you in the long run.

How to find a profitable idea

To find a profitable idea, you have to look around. Start by finding a problem – every time you complain, have a bad experience, get stuck or need something; these are opportunities. Write them down (use Evernote or a sketchbook). At the same time, ask what could be done better?

Continue reading “How to find a profitable idea” »

Posted on In Book Reviews, Communication Is The Key, Entrepreneurship business, communication is the key, entrepreneurship, generation, ideas, money, profit, startups

Financial Freedom

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Financial freedom is not about having a huge savings account. It’s a mindset.

There are two sides to every coin. One empowering, the other enslaving. Money may make the world go round, but you always end up in the same place – wanting more.

More time, more energy, more holidays, more things, more freedom. There’s an underlying desire: We want to be financially free – able to do whatever we want, whenever we want, without any monetary woes.

This is the core of the attraction towards saving, investments, passive incomes, automated muses, micro-jobbing, freelancing and many startups. Yet very few people ever achieve financial freedom. Most get stuck in the journey towards it, becoming comfortable in their jobs, or losing sight of the end goal.

We live in a financial world where almost every experience requires money. Whilst it may be true that life’s best moments are those that are free – laughing with friends, taking long walks, enjoying the night’s sky – we now need to pay to sleep.

To live, is to pay, and to pay is to work. Here the trouble lies: Most people come to believe that to live is to work.

Financial freedom fighters see it differently. To live, we need to pay, and to pay, we can do anything. That’s the mentality of those few extraordinary people who always have time to do whatever they want.

Financial freedom is not about having a huge bank account or a massive savings pot. No, that’s the attitude of the retirement dreamers. Financial freedom is a way of thinking – you can do whatever you want, whenever you want without monetary woes. How? Because you know you can always make money if you focus. You know that there are always jobs available. There are always financial opportunities. There are always people looking for you and your expertise.

To be financially free, you see money as a tool, not a valuable asset in itself. To be financially free, you take a job because it empowers you to achieve your goal, not because it pays the bills. To be financially free, you do whatever you want, whenever you want and let money come second.

So now think about yourself. Are you financially free? Are you moving towards it? What does to live mean for you? How can you get there? Take your first step by answering these questions. Welcome to the Financial Freedom Fighters.

In Communication Is The Key, Opinion communication is the key, finance, financial freedom, freelance, money, muse, passive income, startup, tom church

Sublet Your Home: A Passive Income Case Study

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Tuscany, Italy.

Francesco Sgroi via Compfight

I love traveling. Your mind is opened to new ways of thinking, you eat and drink the world’s best foods, you meet amazing people and see incredible things. The only bad part about it is that after a while (differs for each person), you start to miss home.

The home, and by this I mean the solid building within which you rest your beautiful head at night, is a delight and a hiccup. It’s something warm and refreshing when returned to, but a financial burden when left from.

If you’ve got a mortgage or are paying rent, you can’t up-sticks forever unless you have pockets as deep as the Mariana Trench. Holidays have to be kept as holidays. Very rarely can you go into a ‘mini-retirement’ or take a gap year abroad. Or at least, that used to be the case…

Technology has finally made the most immobile of objects, the most fixed of assets and the most cumbersome of structures – the home – completely mobile. And no, it hasn’t just whacked wheels underneath…

Easily Sublet Your Room and Get a Free Holiday

Airbnb allows you to sublet your house/room instantly, and with ease. By doing this, you allow someone else to stay in your house whilst you are away. They pay you a premium rate (higher than your rent), and this offsets any financial burden incurred by rent or the mortgage.

It works because you can choose which dates you want to rent your house out for. And with protection insurance you can sleep easy.

I used Airbnb, amongst others, to sublet my room out three times during the summer. The income was significantly more than my rent, and contributed hugely to my holiday expenditure. Through this, I was able to travel in Malaysia, Italy and Spain, whereas without it I may have only been able to afford one or two of the three.

Case Study: Rent Out the Spare Room and Earn a Passive Income

Samantha Higs is a friend and medical student at UCL. Her course is very expensive but to pay for it she has done something ingenious. She found a two bedroom flat for rent, with a living room and other usual things. She turned the living room into a third bedroom, and sublets all three at a premium rate to long-term holiday-makers. People from New York and all over the world come and stay at her house for a minimum 4 weeks.

She makes a profit of 300% on her rent, and uses the money to pay for her degree. And here’s the part I love the most: It’s 100% automated. She has someone take the bookings online (Airbnb being one source), let the guests in, deal with any issues, and clean the house. Whoever said you need to buy a house to rent it out?

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About Communication Is The Key

Communication Is The Key is the personal blog of me, Tom Church. Primarily, it’s about learning how to communicate effectively to gain success in life, business and leadership. However, through articles such as this one, I recognise that communication in itself is not enough to secure victory. Sometimes, discussing productivity or passive income strategies can help as well. Let me know what you think in the comments.

In Case Studies, Communication Is The Key accommodation, airbnb, business, communication, communication is the key, mobility, money, passive income, renting, sublet

Make money in your sleep, or die poor.

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“If you don’t find a way to make money in your sleep, you’ll die poor.” – Keith San

Keith San, member of London Startups, said this at my mastermind group last night. He was paraphrasing Warren Buffet, but the quote stuck in mind. Thought you might like to share it.

In Communication Is The Key, Networking, Opinion business, communication is the key, london startups, money, quote