Make Tons of Money with No Work (Well, Actually Tons)

For about two years, I spent about 5-8 hours each week on a website that made no money. I researched information and tweaked the design. I spent my lunch hours and sometimes my evenings trying to figure out how to drive traffic to the sucker and make it a valuable resource.

It was part hobby. But it was a bigger part investment. I knew I could put in tons of hours on the front end of this thing and that it would bring long-term results eventually. In fact, that’s pretty much everything I do.

I write a book—pouring hundreds of hours into research and crafting words. I design a site and work hours on building traffic and creating content. I start a business… None of these things see short term results. But I’m convinced some of the most exciting opportunities in life require a whole lot of work on the front end before you can see returns on the back end.

I think about parenting. It’s the same sort of thing. The first few years—yeah, the kid’s cute and all—but really they’re mostly poop, fear that they’re dying, and trying to get more food in their mouth than on the new carpet. But the long-term results of a kid are invaluable.

Whenever people are looking at branching out on their own, I always try to convey this concept of front-loading their work. Many people launch out in a business endeavor, but their business is about: 1 hour of work = 1 hour worth of pay. There’s no development in that. Sure, you get better, but you’re still limited to the number of hours you can work on a project.

That site I worked on for over two years with no pay, is now the single largest source of my income. I spend a couple of hours each week maintaining the site…but otherwise it just runs itself.

Imagine what you could do if you invested time in the front end. What project could you build that would bring long-term results?

[Blog photo from Mopho.to]