I was promised the hope of working just four little hours per week….
Taking mini-retirements around the world for months at a time…
And living like a diplomat and millionaire…
Can’t you just imagine it?!
And yet…
It didn’t quite go according to plan!
I remember sitting with friends,
Having just made a fancy-but-simple cheese soufflé for them,
Pouring them wine, saying:
“I’m going to be totally financially free in no time at all!”
…
And such was the promise of “The 4-Hour Work Week”!
The craziest part, looking back all these years,
Is that I believed it so completely…
And absolutely implemented it.
I didn’t just read, hope and wait…
I followed every chapter,
I completed every exercise,
[Disclosure: I do think I skipped the “acting dead” in a bar exercise –
Though perhaps that’s from a different book??!]
But mostly, I remember how I struggled through Google Adwords.
I followed what was in the book exactly!
And yet… it just didn’t seem to work.
Huh.
Fast forward a million years, and here I am with loving kindness,
Thinking of myself:
“You just couldn’t know what you didn’t know!”
At the end of the day, the tactics offered in the 4-Hour Work Week
Didn’t work because they were trapped in a very specific moment in time.
And when it comes to tech,
Timing really is everything.
If you’re not able to implement,
Then you’re not able to move forward.
Once I had reached out for true, proper support
Only then could I find out that it was all so terribly outdated.
See, all I really do for business owners is help them implement.
Often, it’s new skills like advertising,
But just as often, it’s broader, just-as-important sales and marketing basics.
Without these skills, you can’t implement.
Chaos and confusion reign, and then
Frustration and overwhelm are waiting in the wings for their own curtain call! 
Too many people find me after joining a course or program
Where there learn one level of a system…
That requires far more to actually implement,
Day in and day out.
How maddening, right?
How many rooms have I been in where the Marketer Supreme
Innocently throws off:
“Just run some Facebook ads, and then you’ll be able to…”
Cue: pure, complete ALARM!
“But HOW are we supposed to run Facebook ads?!”
Often, I’ve been able to lovingly step in,
But let’s cut to the chase…
That wasn’t really part of the equation offered.
At the end of the day,
Nothing is perfect!
No offer is fully complete,
No author can ever totally update their writing to match the times.
But despite all of these realities,
You will always –
Always always always –
Still need to implement and figure out your actual practical next steps.
Don’t get me wrong.
The 4-Hour Work Week was instrumental in supporting me
Fully owning my experience as a business owner and entrepreneur.
It was a fun, frothy case study of what could be possible,
And that certainly has value too.
But don’t dive into those Google ads expecting instant riches.
50 Weeks Of Giving!
Exercising powerful implementation daily is the Environmental Defense Fund.
EDF uses evidence-based programming to improve the areas of:
Climate, energy, ecosystems, oceans, and health.
There is no more time to hesitate – support our earth here.
