Ten years ago I burnt myself out working 100 hour work weeks. I was living in a two story home overlooking the strand at Manhattan Beach, California. It was any guy’s dream place. I had a flashy red sports car that went 160 mph. I had everything. But all I did was work. Surrounded by women and some of the best nightlife to be found and I just worked, worked, worked. Well eventually I burned out and just gave it all up.

Since then I have learned to value my time more than anything else. I managed to quickly rebound and found myself earning a six figure income as a first year real estate agent. But working real estate still meant I was doing the bulk of the work myself. I wanted to get back to my entrepreneur roots. And I promised myself that with my next business I would hire people to do the work and build systems so it ran flawlessly.

About 8 years ago I had an idea that I thought could work. I started a group of websites which real estate agents could use for marketing to customers in their areas. The sites found a small amount of success right away. And as soon as I could see a glimmer of hope for the business succeeding for real then I started hiring.

My first hire is still with me to this day. I started the company on a shoestring budget. I had already blown through all my savings from previous years (I have a habit of living all the way to my means . Anyways, I got this guy working for me and almost immediately went on a vacation with my girlfriend to Whistler, Canada for some snowboarding. He had no idea what he was doing, the business was brand new, and it was great. I told him it would all work out. And it did.

That business is a multi-million dollar company today and doing better than ever.

But the business did not work only because of an idea.

And it did not work because of the people I hired.

And it did not work because I over managed the company to make sure everything was always running great.

It DID work because the business was built to run successfully when I was away – which was almost always.

This means I had to put systems in place so that the people who really ran the company knew how to handle business. If I didn’t do this then I had to be on hand to solve problems. Being away is what made me systemize my business. And since I did it from the start then I was able to do it easily. Had I already become intimately involved in the day to day stuff then I know it would have been a lot harder to let go.

There really is not a whole lot more I can say about the “how to” part. But let me tell you it will be worth the effort to systemize. Since starting this business I have been on an almost endless vacation. Of course I work while travelling but leading this lifestyle has kept my businesses running smoothly.

Another big upside is that you are away from the day to day drama that employees bring to employers. You also get to see things from a different perspective. I think it gives a clearer picture of your business and the people you have working for you in it.

If you have a business that is tying you down then leave it. Fix the problems from the road. That is the best way to fix them. And start enjoying the fruits of your business because that is supposed to be what it is about anyways!

Jeremiah Thompson

1. Work fast to get better results

2. Keep a to-do list and scratch off the items as you move forward

3. Delegate whenever you can, but do it right

4. Stop working with people who don’t know how to be productive

I laugh at people who drag their feet on projects. They always come back with some excuse, like they want it to be “perfect” – but when I ask to see their work, it’s crap (no offense!)

Working slowly keeps you from focusing. Focus is what gets you results; pushing yourself usually makes you get better and faster results.

The best way to begin working faster is to lay out what you need to do in the form of a list. I stick to good old pen and paper for this. Write out the tasks you need to accomplish, and as you complete them, scratch each one off your list. You will probably find yourself reaching your goals much faster than you thought possible! If a particular item on your to-do list is particularly difficult to accomplish, then you need to break it down into several smaller steps.

Another key to being highly productive is to leverage yourself by delegating your work. Some of you will find a reason not to delegate. Delegating is one of the keys to working less, accomplishing more, and leading a richer, healthier life overall. The only reason not to delegate is when you have a one-off project that will take more time to delegate than it will to complete yourself.

Delegating is not easy. You either need an extremely motivated person to delegate to, or you have to describe the process well enough that the other person can begin and complete the task without having to repeatedly badger you along the way.

This means your initial description of the project needs to cover all aspects. The ratio normally goes like this: the less time you spend explaining the project in the beginning, the more time you will ultimately spend working on it. Conversely, the more time you spend describing the project in the beginning, the less time you will end up spending on it.

Most people opt to give the minimum project description when they delegate. It’s easy for you to think you’ve given enough. Then the project falls apart, and the blame often falls on you and you end up taking back the project again. All of this can usually be avoided by simply giving a thorough explanation of the project in the beginning.

You’ll know when you have given a sufficiently thorough description when the person receiving the project gives you the “yes, I got it and I am not an idiot” look. Congratulate yourself because you have likely just properly delegated a task. An even better way to know this is when the person receiving the project can repeat all of your important points back to you. Ask them to do this!

Your project is still going to fall apart even if you give a great project description but then fail to have progress checks in place. You want your team to work fast. That will keep them focused. Not only will you get results faster but the project will more likely be done better.

Mark your project with specific points of completion and deadlines. Then remember to check in with your team as these deadlines approach. If they are not meeting your deadlines, you have either failed to break down the project well enough or the person needs to learn to work faster. Sometimes the people working on your projects just don’t want to do their best for you. If you are getting the “I get it and I am not an idiot” look but they are still failing to meet your deadlines, then it’s time to find another person who can do the job better.

This brings me to my last point. It is really important that you align yourself with people who appreciate working fast and getting results for you. The world is filled with people who can say the right thing. They say they understand, and they say they will get it done. But soon you find out their words are meaningless.

I wasted a lot of time trying to teach people to be productive. A few rare times it worked and they become productive, but mostly it was a waste of time, money, and a whole of stress for nothing. Now I don’t try to work with unproductive people. They will kill my motivation and destroy project schedules, often setting projects back more than when they began on them.

The good news is that if you are doing a good job of explaining and delegating, then you will find there are lots of people out there who will want to genuinely help you, and more importantly, they can get the job done.

Jeremiah Thompson