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Things that piss Vlad off
Posted: 2:08 am
June 9th, 2008 		Post a comment
SMB

Monday, time for the weekly pep talk.

There are really only two things that piss me off about this blog and I’m pretty sure that you won’t be able to guess them. If you scroll through the comments you’ll find plenty of examples.

“Dude, you work too hard..”

Oh really Jimmy Joe Bob, have you discovered the f’n missing link between the hard work and success? What do you think, someone just gave me all this one day for the good dental hygiene? If I was born with all this knowledge then I sure wasted a lot of damn time in college, in webcasts, in seminars and on the road taking in conferences, training folks, giving speeches.

If you are waiting for someone to just “give it to you” then go stand in the unemployment line.

“It would be great if I could get all of that without having to work for it..”

I get a lot of this on the phone too.

Oh, I would love to have you just teach me step by step what needs to be done in each situation.

Oh, I don’t like to read, can you make a podcast about it?

Oh, I wish I could do that but I just don’t have the time, could you sum it up for me?

Oh, I know you write about that stuff all the time with over 2,500 posts on vladville.com but could you post it again because I have an attention span of a shit fly.

In my years on the road and working with the partners I’ve had the joy of meeting a few idiots. Maybe a handful. I’d say less than 50 in total. Considering how many people I know, thats nothing. Most people I work with are very smart. All these people have plans, have process, have ideas, are executing. What are they executing? Not a whole heck of a lot, judging by the fact that they have the same problems year-over-year and don’t seem to have made an inch worth of progress since the day I met them.

Why? Cause it’s hard. I have to keep on learning. Things keep changing. I’m too stressed, I can work only 3 days a week and if someone is rude to me I need a mini vacation.. Are you kidding me? Does that even work for four year olds? Why in the world would it work when you’re fourty? Hint: See point #1.

Everyone keeps on looking for a shortcut. There must be some process that you’re not in on. All the people that are growing and prospering must have some trick that they haven’t let you in in. Maybe I should just peer up with others who have as little clue as I do or maybe I should keep on revising my plan every two months?

There is no secret. There is no shortcut. There is no peer solution for lazy. There is no magic blog post to cure cluelessness. There is no lifestyle buffer between business ownership and unemployment.

You just aren’t working hard enough. Really, that’s all there is to it. Read all about it in my upcoming book “SMB ENTERPRISE WHITEPAPER”, available as a preorder for $49.95. Condensed for the busy professional on the go, just one page, just one paragraph.

Stop making excuses. Stop at looking at the grass on the other side of the fence. Stop thinking you’re special. Stop looking for motivation. Just take a huge break from all the things you are doing on the side to distract yourself from working on what you’re actually supposed to be working on.

spfnationpress

And if the prospect of that brings you down, if you can’t find energy in what you do, if you aren’t up at 2am trying to get better at what you do and aren’t willing to work hard and be happy with the blessing that is the ability to build your own company and serve people in your own way then why the f… even bother pretending? For a set of steak knives?

It’s Monday. Are you here to work or not?

Both comments and pings are currently closed.

11 Comments

Dave Sobel | June 9th, 2008 at 9:14 am

I think that whitepaper is under priced. That piece of advice has got to be worth $99.99.

For only $129.99, I offer a webinar where I will walk you through the excuses and answer each one with a clear declaration of “You don’t work hard enough”.

If you’d like, I can additionally have you join my subscription service, where I offer “Beatdowns-as-a-Service”, and for the low low price of $49.95 a month, I’ll send you an email that tells you to get back to work.



SmarterBetter | June 9th, 2008 at 11:38 am

It’s not just working harder, it’s working smarter! Sure 80+ hour weeks help, but brute force alone won’t get you there.



Dennes | June 9th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

Between all the rants and rage, this is one priceless little gem. Firing up the printer as i type, ’cause this one is going on the wall.



You just aren’t working hard enough! at BMS Blog: SBS Consulting in the UK | June 9th, 2008 at 12:35 pm

[...] Go read the full post here. [...]



Alan | June 9th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

We have weekly sales meetings to discuss adding something new to this week’s sales contest. Second prize? Set of steak knives… Coffee is for closers!

On the same topic from Neil Boortz:

* Speaking of earning, the revered 40 hour workweek is for losers. Forty hours should be considered the minimum, not the maximum. You don’t see highly successful people clocking out of the office every afternoon at five. The losers are the ones caught up in that afternoon rush hour. The winners drive home in the dark.



Allen S | June 9th, 2008 at 9:16 pm

I totally disagree with you on this one. The most successful people only “work” about 20 hours a week.

BTW, where do I send my money to get a copy of your white paper? Yes, I know you printed the whole thing for me, but I think it would be more effective if I actually paid for it?

:)



vlad | June 9th, 2008 at 9:38 pm

Allen,

Yeah, right. Name one.

People that work 20 hours a week and make a tremendous amount of money and power tend to operate on the edge of the law.

For example, that fraud that wrote the 4 hour workweek? That guy sells vitamins over the Internet. Apparently, the guy who sells fake Rolex watches only worked 3 hours a week and wasn’t around when the “Get rich quick by following my latest scheme network” called him so the 4 hours a week guy got it.

Give me a f’n break.

-Vlad



Alan | June 10th, 2008 at 1:45 am

I’m with vlad on this- people claiming success after working 20 hours are either senior citizens, taking advantage of welfare, or French. Really, what small business owner desiring growth and prosperity sleeps till 11:00, puts in a solid effort till 3:00 and decides those “late requests” will have to wait until tomorrow!!

And the crap about work smarter, not harder? That only applies if your moving furniture or digging ditches. In the smb there’s always 1 more cold call to make, 1 more ticket to close, or 1 more proposal to write. Failure to realize that probably means you’d be better off working for the man instead of trying to be the man.



me | June 10th, 2008 at 2:57 am

I don’t have time to read the whole post, can you email me a summary?!

:)



Philip Elder | June 11th, 2008 at 11:26 am

Agreed.

Even digging ditches or moving furniture it isn’t too hard to figure out who the slackers are. Been there and done that on both counts.

The best part about all those hours for those of us who put them in: They are rewarding on all counts!

And yes … being “The Man” is key! ;)

Philip



Ralf | June 12th, 2008 at 7:30 pm

Hi, I thought the blog article below is relevant to this discussion:

10 things you can do to keep your IT job from taking over your life
Date: September 17th, 2007
Author: Jody Gilbert

IT professionals don’t hold a monopoly on working excessively long hours or having job responsibilities cast a shadow over their personal lives. But for many reasons, it’s a field that invites long hours, persistent worries, and a reluctance — or inability — to mentally clock out when the workday should be over.

Some IT pros are all-but-indentured to a company that expects 24/7 availability. Some face a staggering gap between resources and work to be done. Others discover that effective time management is out of reach because of project volatility and constantly changing priorities.

For those trying to rein in their runaway professional lives, it doesn’t help that “You won’t be able to reach me” has lost its power. Cell phones, PDAs, and remote access tools have all but eliminated the refuge of inaccessibility. They might make your job easier, but they also make your job omnipresent.

All of these factors play into the phenomenon we call the pervasive workplace – when your job seems to permeate every corner of your life.

Discussion threads abound with horror stories of oppressive company regimes that keep IT pros stretched impossibly thin, pager-enslaved, and fearful of retribution (i.e., no more job) if they don’t live to fulfill the organization’s tech needs. If you’re stuck working for a company like that — and assuming that’s not your ideal state — it could be time to hit the job boards. On the other hand, you may be working for a great outfit that has enabled you to maintain perfect work-life balance. But if you’re somewhere in between, wishing you could scale back your work obligations to make a little more room for your personal life, here are a few ways to help keep the workplace at bay.

Read the “10 things you can do to keep your IT job from taking over your life” here: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=230&tag=rbxccnbtr1

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