Most entreprenuers work nonstop. Evenings, nights, weekends, holidays. Frankly it's a shit way to live
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I grew up watching a show called Ali G. It’s undoubtedly one of the greatest masterpieces of the early 2000s. If you haven’t
seen it you’re either 13 years old, over 65, or have terrible taste in TV. Seriously it’s that good of a show.

The show involved a guy interviewing a bunch of intellectuals and acting like a complete dumbass during it. Guests even included a young Donald Trump [1], to who Ali pitched the idea of an ice cream glove. Needless to say The Don didn’t invest. [2]

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[A Genius At Work]
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Ali would dress like a moron, mispronounce the simplest of words, and say the most absurd roll-on-the-floor-funny things. If you’re not familiar with the show go to Youtube and watch a few clips. [3]

Here’s the crazy thing. 90% of interviewees came away thinking Ali was the moron. The idiots couldn’t identify the clear-as-daylight joke being played, nor could they see the fun side of it all. They were so rigid and detached from reality they took everything literally. In turn they came of looking like complete morons.

The Dumbest People Always Think They’re The Smartest

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Despite the interviewees coming off as stick-up-the-ass stiffs to anyone who watched them, rest assured they came away believing they were smarter than ever. After all meeting such a buffoon like Ali only reinforced how smart and intellectually superior they were.

In short they were blind to reality.

This is exactly how 90% of the entrepreneur community is. Complete morons. Yet they can’t see it. Let me explain.

The whole theme of the entrepreneur sphere is work work work. Focus focus focus. Sacrifice everything. Work 18 hour days, work 7 days a week, work holidays. Don’t buy coffees – instead save the $3 and invest it. Discussions about whether being married or having girlfriends affects success. Don’t take vacations. Sleep 3 hours a day…. And so on.

Basically live a life like shit.

Don’t get me wrong, I get the premise. The thought being work hard and sacrifice a good time now, for a phenomenal time in the future. I understand the theory completely.

The problem with this is two-fold.

First, less than 2% of budding entrepreneurs ever become even financially well-off. By this I mean having enough money and savings to live out the last 15 years of their lives without working. The success rate is rock bottom.

Second, it’s nothing short of insanity to work away the best years of your life. Time can’t be replaced my friend. It’s about the only thing that can’t. If you’ve ever look back on periods of your life and thought you should’ve used them better – or ever felt old – then guess what this horrid mentality will bite you in the dick later on. This high-work mediocre-pay setup is the ultimate waste of life.

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[Would You Like To Sport A Face Like This Dashing Chap? Simply chop off your dick, inject it with viagra, and jam it up your ass for 45 minutes out of every hour for 6 years]
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Don’t Work Away The Best Years Of Your Life. But Also Don’t Give Up On Earning Money

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The world is beautiful baby. Friends, people and lovers are what makes life worth living. There’s fun in the simplest of things. Splashing about in a beautiful clearwater ocean, “wasting” a lazy Sunday afternoon watching a dumb comedy eating pizza, getting drunk and acting like clowns with your friends. That’s what life’s about.

NEVER sacrifice all of that just for money. But at the same time understand pizzas, vacations, and hauling your drunk asses into taxis cost money. And the more money you have the more you’ll be able to enjoy the world.

Money matters my friend. Anyone saying otherwise is deluded (or wishes it were true so they could be at ease with their lack of money).

I’ve always hated the saying “Money can’t buy you happiness”[3]. That’s asking too much from money. But there’s no doubt money helps support happiness if you used smartly – whereas poverty doesn’t.

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[Doesn’t Bugs Look Miserable With All That Money?]

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So… What Should You Do?

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I didn’t write this article to give you a step-by-step solution. It’s simply a reminder to balance what matters in your life.

I quit my office job three years ago because it was killing my soul. I was working something I hated, and giving up my health, relationships and livelihood to do it. I was missing out on the world and what really mattered to me. It’s why I left to work for myself.

Admittedly I much preferred working for myself, but it was still at the expense of everything else. I was working every day and barely did or met anyone else. At least before I had my weekends.

My bliss came from learning to cut down my hours, by learning to charge a shitload more.

In 2014 I was charging between £20-30 an hour – and worked around 45 billable hours [4]. It brought me around £3600 a month. It was mayhem. I felt burnt out. It was shit.

Compare this with last year where I worked 19 billable hours total per week. I charged between £100 to £205 per hour and got all the work done from Mon to Wed, giving me four days off to do what I wanted. I brought in close £11,000 a month, and had the time to do more of what I loved. As a result my friendships and relationships with my wife and family have deepened, not to mention I look and feel great.

This year I’ve got 4 hours billed at £280 an hour a piece (that's £4480 guaranteed a month). And I’m hoping to pick up 4 or 5 hours more. And I’m going to get all my work done and dusted on a Monday, and take the other 6 days off to do whatever I want. I’m expecting to earn £8,500 a month.

It’s less but who gives a fuck when I get 6 days off. It’s more than plenty to cover expenses, live a life of relative luxury, and put away a big chunk so I can retire hopefully in my 40s (I’m currently 30 years old).

For me learning the skill of charging more for what I do has single-handedly transformed my life.

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The Art Of Charging (Lots) More Money Per Hour

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Not everyone is comfortable with charging more money. They either feel secretly guilty to charge so much more than they currently are, or think it’s not possible to get anyone to pay them the kind of fees I’ve talked about.

The guilt is a personal issue. Some people mentally can’t bring themselves around to charging a higher fee – even if they have someone who’s willing to pay them. They just wouldn’t be able to quote the fee. If that’s you, I can’t help with that. Either you feel guilty or you don’t. If you do I doubt it’s possible to charge the “super-fees” I’m talking about.

If you’re ok with charging the money, but don’t think it’s possible to charge that much – then my friend you are wrong. I understand the thinking, but it’s absolute rubbish.

Most people think you need to be an expert to charge mega bucks. They think it takes years of qualifications, experience or you need to have some sort of “reputation” before they have the right to charge even double the average. This is utter crap. You’re self-employed. Nobody chooses this but you.

For the record I work in the UK, in an industry where the national average is £22/hour for what I do. You’ll barely see anyone charge even £35/hour. For some reason £30/hour is considered the top-end.

As mentioned I have charged £205/hour for what I do. In October I have 4 hours confirmed at £280/hour. Grab a calculator, that’s over 12 times the national average. And remember I only have 3 years of the supposedly sacred “experience” under my belt.

Don’t make any mistake about the quality of my work. I’m good at what I do. Truth is most people in any field are shit at what they do. The “average” market rate reflects crap work. If you’re not shit at what you do you should be charging more.

There’s always someone willing to spend big money to find the right person. Believe me people piss away big money on dumber things all the time…

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[A queue of multi-millionaires ready to snap up the new £700 Iphone]
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Anyway that’s enough for now. Hopefully this little ramble has opened your eyes to the dumbness of working your life away, and more importantly to that you can and should charge more (assuming you can actually do what you claim to).

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[Dr Nick probably shouldn’t charge more]

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Grab My FREE eBook "The 10 Dark Laws To Charging (And Getting) Monster Fees" (And Upvote Me If You Enjoyed This And Want Me To Keep Posting)

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Those wanting to know how I learned to charge more should head over to my personal site www.highfeeclub.com and sign up for my free Ebook "The 10 Dark Laws To Charging (And Getting) Monster Fees" (located on the side bar - or at the bottom of the page if viewing on mobile).

It contains the methods and strategies which have worked for me. Every word in the book comes from personal experience. The material inside isn't always pretty, but it works. You won't see me regurgitating material I know nothing about. It's 100% Free but I do ask for your email address. It's your choice.

I plan to write more articles on how I learned to charge more, and how you can too. If interested feel free to follow me here, and show your support by upvoting me. Even though I do make good money I'm no millionaire. Your support - including a comment saying you liked this - means the world to me. Otherwise it feels like I'm writing to a brick wall...
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Side-Rambles For Post Above

[1] I’m not pro-trump nor am I anti-trump like much of the fundamental left-winged corners of internet and by no means want to be associated with that crap on either side. I respect any man who’s made something of himself - but have absolutely no care for politics.

[2] Who knows, maybe this birthed Dragons Den (or Shark Tank for you American readers)

[3] Trust me it’s better than the poor ball-less excuses for comedies like Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mum

[4] A tired cliché spewed by many including my mum. Did I mention we grew up kinda poor for a while? (Now I think about it, she seemed to say it less once my dad made some more money. Hmmm…)

[5] I say billable hours, because I worked outside of that preparing stuff. I estimate it was around 15 hours, so likely worked 60-odd hour weeks. It was a piece of shit time.
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Those wanting to know how I learned to charge more, should head over to my personal site www.highfeeclub.com and sign up for my free Ebook "The 10 Dark Laws To Charging (And Getting) Monster Fees" (located on the side bar - or at the bottom of the page if viewing on mobile).

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It contains the methods and strategies which have worked for me. Every word in the book comes from personal experience. The material inside isn't always pretty, but it works. You won't see me regurgitating material I know nothing about. It's 100% Free but I do ask for your email address. It's your choice.**