WORK LESS WEDNESDAY
WLW #70
This week’s issue of Work Less Wednesday is sponsored by:
🧠 Why We Buy: Learn buyer psychology in 3 min. a week 🧠
I’ve learned way more from Why We Buy than my $200k Marketing degree. If you sell stuff, or help other people sell stuff, you should join the 39,300 people getting Why We Buy in their inbox each week.
🚪 1. Why A Seven Figure Course Creator Just Shut Down Her Business – Vanessa Lau’s Indefinite Sabbatical
One of my favorite YouTubers & content creators, Vanessa Lau, just made the shocking announcement to her email list that she is shutting down her business and going on an indefinite sabbatical from work.
I’ve shared her work in many past issues of WLW and am a huge fan of her business content.
Here’s what she had to do to shut it down:
- Closed down her high-ticket mastermind program.
- Fired 8 of her 9 employees.
- Retired her signature online course for good.
- Cancelled all speaking engagements for 2023.
- Sold her Porsche 911 and bought a Jeep Wrangler.
On the surface, here’s what she’s leaving behind:
- $500k revenue months.
- HUGE speaking engagements.
- 1m YouTube subscribers.
But let’s dig deeper.
Vanessa said:
“I found myself losing total control of my life and mental well being.”
“I found myself squeezing my life and relationships around the demands of my business.”
“I’ve been building a bigger and bigger hamster wheel.”
The irony of her website’s tagline is not lost on me:
“Helping content creators, coaches, & corporate escapees build businesses they’ll never need an escape from.”
Here’s the thing:
As entrepreneurs, without realizing it, we can build ourselves a prison of our own making.
When you design your business to optimize for growth at all costs, there is a price to pay.
Your lifestyle, mental health, and happiness will always come second.
It’s risky to be an entrepreneur.
You put in long hours, take on risk, think about your work all the time, and don’t have a safety net.
It’s a lot.
In my opinion, the reward for all the hard work should be a business and a life that you really love, not one you have to shut down.
—
P.S. 🏖 If Vanessa’s story sounds like it could be you in a few years, please join my waitlist for Cohort 4 of How To Work Less.
I teach you exactly how to design a profitable, low stress business built around your goals and lifestyle, not the other way around.
😴 2. When Sleeping On The Floor Of Your Office Isn’t Enough – Twitter’s New Layoffs Hit The Most Loyal
It’s a rough week for the self-employed, and employees alike.
If you’ve haven’t been following the wild saga of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter in November, here’s the deal:
He started things off with massive layoffs and a demand that everyone who stays must be “extremely hardcore,” logging “long hours at high intensity.”
Many people quit, but those who stayed doubled down on Elon’s “hardcore Twitter.”
Which led to this viral image:
That’s Head of Twitter Payments Esther Crawford sleeping on the floor of a conference room.
Now that’s dedication to the cause.
Surely she’ll be rewarded by the company for her dedication and loyalty.
Right?
Right?
…
Esther was laid off from Twitter this week in another round of job cuts.
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but 99% of tech companies don’t give a shit about their employees.
It’s not just Elon Musk.
Google laid off 12,000.
Microsoft laid off 10,000.
Amazon laid off 18,000.
Facebook laid off 11,000.
You’re not a family.
That’s why I’m always telling people:
Now is the best time in history to start freelancing, consulting, or start your own business.
A full time job used to mean less risk.
Not in 2023.
🫁 3. The Operating Manual For Your Nervous System – Article by Jonny Miller
If the last two stories stressed you out, let’s get centered.
Let me ask you this:
How’s your breath?
There’s a strong chance your breath is shallow, in the upper chest and possibly through the mouth.
Maybe you’re even feeling a bit anxious.
Why does this matter?
Because how we breathe affects how we feel, how we show up, and even what we think.
This article is an incredible deep dive into the impact of our breath on our day-to-day life.
It is literally an Operating Manual for Your Nervous System.
It also includes “recipes” for two breath techniques that can help:
☕ Espresso Breath – Used to combat lethargy and sleepiness
😌 Breath of Calm – Used to combat anxiety and overwhelm
You can read the full article here.
🦠 4. ”Going Viral” Is A Myth – Article by Lenny Rachitsky
Someone shared this article with me this week.
But as you’ll learn, that doesn’t mean it went viral.
Because it turns out, “going viral” is a myth.
When we think about something “going viral,” we usually think that growth happens “through friends telling friends, who tell more friends, and this cascades to so-called viral growth.”
It looks something like this…
It turns out that just not true.
The book Hit Makers is all about how hits become hits.
Why do some songs, books, movies, and products win, while others don’t?
The simple truth is that “products explode in popularity when someone (or a few someones) with a large platform shares the product with their audience.”
It has very little to do with “going viral,” and a lot to do with large platforms.
It turns out anything that we think of as “viral,” really just had a blockbuster moment where they spread from one source to many, many individuals at the same time.
Still not convinced?
Read to full article to learn more.
✍️ 5. 5 Writing Templates From A World-Class Ghostwriter – Twitter Thread by Nicolas Cole
I came across this great 2021 Twitter thread from Nicolas Cole while I was doing research for my course.
He made 7 figures as a ghostwriter for some of the biggest names in business.
I had to share it.
It includes 5 templates for writing that are so powerful they are literally plug and play.
Also – If you want to see him explain it in detail, I’ve got good news: there’s a YouTube video version.