Monthly Archives: October 2018

Work Less and Make More Money

Leave a reply

Succeed in Business – Work Less and Make More Money

How to work less and earn more money is a topic that many, many people have written about. But I still feel it is worth for me to throw in what I have learned by being self-employed in Canada for the last 6 years.  It is a good thing for younger people to hear what others have experienced when they started their own business and became self-employed.  The things that have worked for me can then be copied by others and the things that have been disastrous for me can be avoided.

The Goal of Working Less

The goal is to work less hours per day, week, month, while at the same time to keep earning enough money to sustain you.  Ideally you want to make as much money per month with the least amount of effort and time input. Some people (myself being one of them) want to work less and have just enough money to sustain a very basic life style.  Others, and this is probably the majority, wants to work less but still maintain a higher standard of living with nice cars and all the other creature comforts that so many people crave.  In either case, the goal remains the same and everyone will need to find their own comfort zone.  Some can realize their humble money earning goals by only working 2 hours per day, others might need to work 4-5 hours per day to bring their income to the desired level.

How I started my self-employed career

When I was 33 years old I realized that I could no longer sustain a 40 hour work week as an employee due to the mental and physical strain it imposes on you.  Especially when that 40 hours becomes 55 hours so easily with driving to and from work.  But since North America is not a place where good paying part-time jobs are a realistic option, the only choice I had was to start something on my own that would allow me to cut down the time worked drastically.  I assume that most people with a “soft” constitution will know what I mean by not being able to happily and healthily maintain a full-time job and the stress it puts on you.  “Tougher” people will not feel the burden and that is also why most people that start their own business early in life belong to the “not-so-tough” crowd.

My first 11 years as a full-time employee had put me in the construction supply field.  Things such as windows, doors, glass, flooring, and other construction related hardware.  I used that knowledge and experience to come up with an idea of what I could be selling as my own boss.  The first thing that came to me was to start a art glass company – supplying Stained Glass and Sandblasted Glass to the public.  That lasted 4 months and I realized that the demand for artistic glass was definitely not at an all-time high in 2013 – in fact it is diminishing even now.  Then I stumbled across European Interior Doors that were made in Germany and Italy to be exact.  I thought I should try selling those.  And so I started and have been doing that ever-since.  In the last 5 years, I ended up working on average about 2-3 hours per day with a net (take-home) pay of about $2,500 per month.

Steps to succeed

Here are the steps needed to succeed in your own business.  I wish I would have known all of them beforehand but I only realized some of them later on.  The list of steps is below and I hope that you will be able to take what you need for yourself and make it work.

1. Have some money saved-up

You need to have some of money saved-up for the start-up phase which I believe to be the first year of business.  If you keep on working as an employee during the first year, you might not need any or very little capital.  If you want to stop working right away, I suggest to have enough money to sustain your living expenses (rent, food, phone, etc.) for one year.  If you keep on working in the first year, I suggest to have $5,000 in your savings account.  I believe the $5,000 will be enough to give you access to a fairly broad range of business types.

2. Pick something to sell that does not require high-volume sales

Then you need to pick the type of business that you like and  you think will earn you a living by the end of the first year.  You can sell either a tangible product (i.e doors in my case) or a service (i.e. SEO-services, design-services, translation-services, etc), it does not matter.  But whatever you pick, it does need to be high-priced enough to avoid needing to sell at a high-volume.  The key to working less time in a business is to avoid a large amount of orders/contracts.  Ideally you want to pick something where you can earn your monthly goal (let;s call it $2,000) with just one order.  That might not always be possible with any type of commodity or service but aim for it at least.

3. Pick something that can be outsourced

Make sure that whatever you pick to sell in your business, can be outsourced (either service or commodity).  You do not want to be caught laboring hours and hours to fulfill an order.  That would definitely defeat the purpose of wanting to work less.  So, in my case, I do not make the actual doors myself – I order them from a supplier.

4. Pick something that can be sold Continent or even World Wide

Whatever you selling item is, make sure you can supply it over a wide area and not just locally.  You will limit yourself if you think local only.  So, if you are based in Canada, for example, make sure that you can at least supply to all of North America.  For service oriented businesses that is much easier than for physical goods which need to be shipped.

5. Start a Website for your business

You will need to start a business website for yourself right away.  Pick a website design software like wordpress or weebly, for example, that is easily learned.  Pick a hosting company like bluehost or hostgator that is relatively cheap.  The goal is to pay less than $200 for the entire first year.  Your website does not need to be grand at first (like amazon or the like) but have at least 4 pages with the landing page / home page being the biggest and most informative (I suggest 2,000 words on the home page).

6. Get going with SEO for your Website immediately

The faster people find you service or commodity online the better.  I suggest you learn how to do SEO (Search Engine Optimization) right away to be completely independent.  Hiring a professional SEO company or person can be costly.  I have had success with doing some SEO work myself and having the rest done by a low priced professional company.  I think having to spend $1,000 on SEO in the first year is realistic and necessary.  Most other people think you should spend a lot more on marketing but I think you can succeed even on a $1,000 budget.  Keep in mind that spending a lot of money on SEO and having extremely good google search rankings means more people see your website.  In some cases this is a bad thing (you think I am crazy right now, I know) because more people emailing and calling you means more work for you.  Since you are aiming to make your money with the least amount of orders, you do not need to be dealing with hundreds of potential customers per month.

7. Sell to your best ability

The last step is the actual work required to sell the items or service which is where all the working hours are spend.  You want to make the most of every customer when you engage them via phone or email.  Do you best to sell your product.  Once you have an order, you need to fulfill it.  You will need to order the product or service from your supplier and deliver it to your customer as fast as possible.  Efficiency is the key to succeed in this vital last step.  You can do everything right in the setting-up part (steps 1-6) of the business and fail in this last part (step 7).

Tips and Tricks on being self employed

  • learn from your mistakes and make changes immediately
  • learn to spot slow, inefficient suppliers
  • learn how to spot difficult customers and time wasters
  • focus on the good customers only
  • charge a little extra to have money left over to solve your good customers’ issues easily
  • don’t let your suppliers “wine and dine” you – it’s usually not worth your time
  • website traffic must supply enough customers – otherwise increase your marketing
  • Do your own taxes – it will save you a lot of money
  • Do not hire employees – only hire outside help on a contractual basis
  • Do not invest money in expensive transportation or machinery – rent it when necessary

Final Thoughts

I know that can be possible for many of the currently full-time employed men and women to quit their job and start working for themselves.  I know that it might be hard at times and you need to be frugal enough to get by sometimes (especially in the beginning).  But in the end you will have a job that you can to some extend control and where you can take that 1 month vacation – maybe twice or three times a year.  So, if you are a conscientious human being that suffers at your current tedious and inefficient full-time job, consider going solo and see what happens.  And if you are afraid, don’t be, full-time jobs will always be there in case you fail.

Author:  Jony Hubert (a flush door and frameless door and invisible door lover)

Life in Germany vs Live in the USA and Canada

Leave a reply

To Live in Germany or to Live in the US/Canada

I am currently travelling in Europe including Germany, Austria and Italy.  I am spending most of my time in Germany (due to being fluent in German).  I am living in the North East (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) as well as the South (Bayern and Baden-Wuerttenberg).  This gives me a good average of the entire country in terms of living styles.  Having spend 23 years in North America has nearly made me forget how good people in Germany really have it compared to the US and Canada.  Where would I rather live?

Germany, of course, hands-down.  And here is why.

Smarts – Intelligence – Speed of Mind

The very first thing I noticed is the response time of Germans vs North Americans.  Germans are just lightning fast in answering your questions, driving, ringing your items through at the grocery store, making appointments at the dentist, etc.  You name it – wherever you look, you see an urgency that North America does not have.  Americans are really rather dull and slow.  Sounds harsh but it certainly is true.  I am waiting 3 times longer in America till I have paid my stuff at the grocery store.  I hear kids talking in Germany and from what I can gather a 10 year old child in Germany thinks and talks like a 13 year old in America.  I think especially the American/Canadian elementary school system leaves kids slower-minded than they could be.  The overall feeling is one of aliveness (if there is such a word) in Germany and slow-poke attitudes in NA (North America).  I really appreciate the speed and awareness in Germany – it makes so many thing so much simpler.

Driving Competency

Well, Driving, that is not a new issue.  But here the Germans shine.  People on the roads know what they doing.  The reason might be because you actually have to through rigorous training here before you get your license.  And I can also see that the Germans can be trusted to obey the rules of the road whereas North Americans are always a little self-serving.  I have yet to drive behind a single slow driver here in Germany whereas in America you hit a selfish slow-poke driver routinely.  NA seems to have this non-spoken attitude that everyone should just do as they please on the road (and in other places), no matter what is right and what is wrong.  I really appreciate that I can depend on the German people not to take the right-of-way from me or choose to drive 30 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.

Grocery Store Selection and Prices

The average North American has probably no idea of how little selection they have when it comes to Groceries.  If you leave out all the imported European Items in a North American Grocery Store, you have a very limited amount of foods left in NA.  I can buy 50 types of cheese here in Germany in a regular run-of-the-mill store.  How many can you buy in Walmart or Safe-Way in NA?  I can tell you what North American cheeses you can buy:  Mild Cheddar, Medium Cheddar, Aged Cheddar and then you got your Havarti and Monterrey Jack.  That is pretty much it – pretty sad.

But Cheese is just one example.  Take sausages or bread or yogurt or wine or beer or water or pop or chocolates.  Especially bread is something that you have an endless choices of here in Germany.  And I am not talking about toast – actual real bread and buns and prezels.  All different shapes and sizes and with different baking methods.  All of them delicious.

Why is the North American selection so terrible?  And why is nobody saying anything?  Do US and Canadian residents like to eat sub-standard things?  Is a Kraft Processes Cheese Slice on a toasted White Wonderbread really all that people can think off?

All that being said, I appreciate to have a choices of a wide variety of different, good tasting foods in Germany.  I am not looking forward to have to go back to NA, believe me.

Enjoyment of Life (not Work)

North Americans are notorious for working to much – or I should say focusing on work too much.  To achieve great things in your own economy does not require to over-focus on work.  ‘You work to live’ and ‘you don’t live to work’ is the attitude in Germany.  I can see that people here are relaxed and do not think of work after they come home at 3-4pm.  People get at least 5 weeks paid vacation and also take the time off.  They do not have to pre-work or catch up with the work that accumulated during their time-off.  I see that problem in NA all the time.  Yes you have 2 weeks paid vacation (2 WHOLE weeks, believe it or not)) but probably have to do some added catch-up work when you get back.  I know I have been there.

Germans have hobbies and enjoy a coffee and cake in the afternoon.  And the work attitude does not suffer from it.  If anything people WANT to do a good job at work because of all the good things their employers give to them.  I suffer greatly from the suffocating work-environment in NA.  There is a lot of blah-blah-blah and not much efficiency in the company environment in the US or Canada.

A quick example will demonstrate the schedule difference between Germany and NA:

School starts at around 7:30am and ends at around 12:30pm.  Many companies work from 6:00am to 2:30pm.  and many more companies offer part-time jobs so mothers can be home with their kids around lunch time.  As you can see, a smart kid in Germany can have his chores done by 1:30pm (incl. homework).  An adult is ready for coffee or tea at 4pm.  In NA you have a system that leaves people with no time for anything but eating and sleeping apart from work.  When I went to High-School in NA I came home from school at 3:30pm and had my home-work done by 4:30pm if I was fast.  Adults generally come home between 5:00-6:00pm leaving only time to buy groceries, cook and have maybe 2 hours of free time in the evening.

The NA lifestyle is a breeding ground for unhappiness that Americans are trying to combat by buying, buying and buying even more things nobody needs.  I appreciate the views on how to handle work (and school) in Germany.

Final Thoughts

There are many more things that could be discussed but for now I will leave it at that.  Maybe some people in the US or Canada will think about it.  The world certainly does not start and end in America or Canada.

Author:  Jony Hubert (a Frameless Interior Door lover)