How I run my creator business in 2-4 hours a day

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When I was 17 I started reading self-improvement books.

I read all the “classics” - Rich Dad Poor Dad, Think and Grow Rich, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Atomic Habits, etc.

And I loved them, I was hooked.

But one book changed my life more than any of those I just mentioned.

The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss.

Before I explain how it changed my life, you need some background.

I’m from a small countryside town in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland, but especially the small countryside towns (which is 99% of the country), is incredibly old-fashioned and backward.

There’s a running joke that the UK gets everything 5 years after the USA and Northern Ireland gets it 10 years after the rest of the UK.

Northern Ireland is full of farmers, labourers, and tradesmen.

People who work their fucking asses off 7 days a week without complaints.

So I grew up thinking, regardless of what I do for work, I need to be working 12+ hours a day, 7 days a week.

It was ingrained in my psyche.

The idea that anything else was possible didn’t exist.

You had to work.

And you had to work hard and long hours.

So when I read The 4-Hour Work Week, it blew my mind.

This guy was explaining step by step how he worked only 4 hours a week.

I didn’t even think a 4-hour day was possible, never mind a 4-hour week.

At this point, I hadn’t even started creating content.

I wasn’t even in university.

So because I had nothing to apply it to I finished the book, put it back on the bookshelf, and thought “fuck that would be nice”.

And went on about my life.

I went to university (twice)

I worked 2 jobs.

And eventually, I started my creator business.

For 2 or 3 years I worked 12-16 hour days.

Not exactly a 4 hour work week.

But one day I came home from university and saw that old book sitting in the bookcase, exactly where I left it 3 years ago.

I picked it up.

Brushed the dust off the cover and began reading.

For the next 2 days I devoured it.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the words, the message sinking deeper and deeper inside me.

Because now I had something to apply it to.

In all honesty, there wasn’t a lot I could take and apply to my creator business but the message stood and it stood strong.

I spent the next few months researching and studying the top creators who grow their audience and creator business in 2-4 hours a day, taking all the best principles, strategies, and tactics and making them my own.

I applied them, tested them, and adjusted them to the point where I was able to grow my own creator business in less than 4 hours a day.

And this is how I did it;

I Built something to sell

Okay, straight off the bat with a harsh truth:

If you have a business, but you don’t make any money - you don’t have a business.

Every business needs 3 things;

• Something to sell

• Someone to sell it to

• Sales

I had someone to sell to - my audience.

And I had just finished building my first digital product so I had something to sell.

Now I just had to sell it.

If you don’t have something to sell, you don’t have a creator business.

So you need to build something to sell.

You can either go the coaching route or the digital product route.

Both have pros and cons;

• Coaching takes more time but earns more money (especially with smaller audiences)

• Digital products can be built once and sold forever but tend to earn less money unless you’ve got a large audience

Choose which path to follow and then figure out a problem in your life you’ve solved and then turn solving that problem into a coaching service or digital product.

I figured out what was essential

I would waste HOURS and I mean HOURS every single day on pointless tasks that made me feel busy but got me nowhere.

They didn’t move the needle.

They didn’t contribute to any progress.

They weren’t essential.

So if I wanted to work 2-4 hours a day, I had to figure out what was.

To do that, you need to know what your goals are.

Largely, with a creator business you have 2 goals:

• Grow your audience

• Grow your income

To grow your audience, what’s essential?

• High-performing, high-growth content

• Networking (for distribution)

• A sense of community (you need to be on a mission and make your followers feel a part of that mission)

To grow your income, what’s essential?

• Something to sell (make a digital product once and you can sell it forever)

• Growing traffic (the number of people you have to sell to increasing - this is done through growing your audience)

• The thing you sell does what it says it does - this way you can get testimonials + referrals (to do this, put in the time to make a great product).

So largely, to grow your creator business, here’s what’s essential:

• You build a digital product that gets the customer results (you can go the coaching route, but it will take more time out of your days, so weigh up this trade-off for you)

• You create content that grabs attention, holds attention, and delivers value

• You network with other creators

Simple.

Now you know what’s essential, you know what to focus on.

Anything that doesn’t contribute to what’s essential is a waste of time.

Crafted overarching strategies

So within each of the 3 things we just covered that are essential for growing your creator business, there are multiple steps and tonnes of decisions to be made.

The steps you have to follow.

You can’t skip them.

For example;

• When creating content you can’t skip “the writing step” or the “editing step” or any other step.

• When networking with other creators you can’t skip “the finding the creator you want to network with” step

• When building a product that gets the customer results, you can’t skip “the promoting the product after it’s built” step

But there are 100’s of decisions that you make daily for each individual step that don’t have to be made every day.

Decisions take a tonne of time and energy.

They make everything take longer and increase the friction to doing it.

So you need to make overarching strategies that remove this decision-making.

You make the decision once, turn it into a strategy, and then you follow it.

With a creator business, you need 3 main strategies;

1. Brand strategy

Who’s your target avatar?

What’s your brand mission?

What’s your story and how can it help your target avatar?

2. Content strategy

What are you going to create content around?

What type of content are you going to post and when are you going to post it?

When are you going to create each piece of content?

3. Sales and promotion strategies

What are you going to promote?

Where are you going to promote it?

How often are you going to promote it?

What does each step of your sales funnel (from posting content to getting a sale) look like?

What happens after each sale?

If you craft each of these 3 strategies, you’re going to instantly cut down your work day.

Chase Self-Mastery

Those 3 steps we just covered are crucial for growing your audience and creator business in 2-4 hours a day.

But guess what…

If you don’t have a certain level of Self-Mastery, you’ll never be able to follow the steps, stick to them or be productive and focused enough to get your work day done in 2-4 hours.

So you NEED to master your mind, actions, and craft (the 3 areas of Self-Mastery)

I go over how to master these areas in MasteryOS, you can click here to check it out.

I can’t tell you how to master yourself in an email.

There’s far too much that goes into it (hence why I have the course).

But here are 2 things that are CRUCIAL to help you grow your creator business in 2-4 hours a day;

1. Plan your day

If you’re not planning your day, you’re winging it.

You’re making even more decisions, wasting even more time and energy.

You need to be planning your day, scheduling when you’re going to do your important tasks (that are essential) and preferably you do them as early in the day as possible.

Life likes to get in the way.

It likes to throw fucking haymakers.

If you’re leaving your essential tasks till 9pm, there’s a high chance something comes up and you won’t get them done.

Get them done early, get them out of the way, and then you don’t have to worry about them for the rest of your day.

2. Remove distractions

This is obvious but you need to remove every fucking distraction.

Your phone, websites, people, everything.

Get in a room alone, put your head down and do the work.

You’ll enter an immense state of flow and focus and you’ll get more done in 1 hour than you could imagine.

And look, there are a lot more steps that go into developing your strategies, growing an audience and a tonne more techniques to help you grow your creator business in 2-4 hours a day.

Whether you’re new to creating, a seasoned creator, or are trying to build along side your 9-5, learning how to grow your creator business in 2-4 hours a day is one of the best things you can do.

You get to spend less time behind a screen and more time living a life you love - whilst making an impact and an income

And because there’s so much more that goes into it, I’m going to be hosting a live 4 week cohort teaching you exactly how you to build a powerful personal brand and profitable creator business in just 2-4 hours a day.

You can join the waitlist by clicking here.

When you’re ready, here’s how I can help you

• Achieve Self-Mastery, unlock your true potential, and smash every goal you set with MasteryOS

• Learn how to build a multi-6-figure audience and business with Personal BrandBldr

• As a subscriber, you can get 50% off my Get Shit Done Productivity System by clicking here