Comments on: How I Got to the 9-Hour Workweek (Part 2)

By: Colin

Colin — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:29:00 +0000

I need to try this. Haven’t got time to think at the moment : {

By: Celine

Celine — Tue, 20 May 2008 08:08:13 +0000

I completely agree with your ideas, Debbi, but I didn’t intend to use the 80/20 principle to create an unfixed status quo in terms of what work I’d be taking on. My main problem was that I had too many work tasks and simply had to find the few work tasks that I benefited the most from a financial and personal perspective. That’s what the thrust of the “rule” is about, identifying and choosing the critical few over the trivial many.

I’m certainly open to other work, in fact, I’m looking at this new project that pays less but it’s a subject I’m very interested in. Without applying the 80/20 rule, I would’ve been “too busy” to even consider this new project. I still subscribe to freelance job boards and the like, simply because there might be some project out there that I’d like to work on. I noticed that when I was much busier (before I weeded out the non-essentials), I didn’t even do that. I simply stayed with the jobs I had until they were done or the client had no more work for me.

As for my rates, I’ve answered your question in my latest post: http://www.pimpyourwork.com/how-i-got-to-the-9-hour-workweek-part-3/

By: Debbi

Debbi — Sun, 18 May 2008 03:22:32 +0000

Hi Celine,

Thanks for linking to my post on the 80-20 rule and weighing in on it.

I get where you’re coming from about the 80-20 rule not being a fixed proportion. But you must admit it places a lot of emphasis on the status quo, which is a bit limiting as strategies go.

Your own example seems to demonstrate this–if you focus on doing work for $30 to $50 an hour, you could be passing up opportunities to find work that pays $75 to $100 an hour. It might be work that’s a bit outside your comfort zone, but as entrepreneurs it’s a good idea to try new things, if the potential for greater reward is there.

I also realize it’s not meant to be a hard-and-fast rule, but it seems to discourage thinking about the possibility of doing something that may be a bit of a stretch for you and may involve some time (in terms of client development, learning curve, etc.) and an element of risk–but could pay off financially.

Just a thought. And, if you’re really making a living working a nine-hour week with rates like these, you must be incredibly frugal. :) Unless they were just numbers you made up to illustrate your point?

By: Celine

Celine — Sat, 17 May 2008 17:22:58 +0000

Hi Laura :) I have someone else answer a response-heavy email account. She doesn’t answer as me, she answers as herself, under the title “Client Support Assistant”. There are decisions involved, but I basically laid out a few rules and an FAQ for her to use as her guide when she needs to make decisions.

If you want a more detailed explanation, I can write a new post about it.

By: Laura Spencer

Laura Spencer — Sat, 17 May 2008 16:12:10 +0000

Hi Celine!

Good series!

Can you be more specific about outsourcing administrative tasks. More specifically, I’m wondering about outsourcing e-mail. Does that mean that you have someone else answer your e-mail? Aren’t there decisions involved?

(Of course, I could see having someone else delete all the spam.)