We’re going to say something that no one wants to say: working hard sucks. We know that’s a foreign statement to make in a world that is completely obsessed with looking good on social media, but it’s the truth. We’re lazy creatures. We’d much rather slouch on the sofa with an endless supply of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Jelly Beans than go out of our way to do something we’re mildly interested in, and that’s at best.
Sure, some people are driven by crazy ambitions like writing three books before they turn 30, cross the artic on a solo expedition, climb Everest barefoot or break into Hollywood without having to make any bad choices. But most people don’t.
That said, ask any of this lazy lot if they would like to run their own successful business and you’ll be met with a chorus of nodding heads. It’s an odd one. People want to have all success, they just don’t want to put too much effort in to get there. It’s a very millennial thought process, and there’s a big dollop of us that gets it.
That’s why we’ve pulled together the lazy person’s guide to starting a successful business. Yup. It’s totally possible, you just have to know how to do it.
- Don’t Work For The Sake Of Working
The idea of working isn’t an attractive one. It’s not the Brad Pitt of ideas. Yet so many people think they need to work just because it’s something they should, not because it’s beneficial or anything like that. Avoid this at all costs. Avoid working longer than the absolutely necessary. Instead, you need to work smarter. You need to find a way to work smart without putting in too much effort and that means filtering out anything work that isn’t important, isn’t super-rewarding and doesn’t produce mega-results. Anything else is pointless.
- Originality Is The Saviour Of Laziness
Leverage is what you want. You want lots of leverage. This means coming up with original ideas. You need to come up with brave and remarkable ideas because the more they stand out on their own, the less work you have to put in. Schimples. The more remarkable an idea the more it will market itself. If you don’t and you come up with something a bit magnolia, wow, you’re going to be doing that thing you don’t want to be doing – working hard. Avoid this by coming up with ideas that will evoke word of mouth to do its thang.
- Look For Shortcuts Everywhere
Laziness has a really good friend, and her name is Madame Help. Yup. The more you can delegate, push onto other people or find shortcuts, the less you’ll have to do. It could be the actual setting up of your business, in which case you should have someone like Your Company Formations – click here – do it all for you. That way you won’t be faffing about with overly complex papers. It could be trying to get the most money for the least amount of work, in which case webinars seem to offer a surprisingly awesome ratio. If it’s trying to stay organized with your life, pop online and grab yourself a virtual assistant so that you can stay in bed until everything is ready to rock and roll. Mmmm. Shortcuts. They’re the best.
- Systematic. Hydromatic. Ultramatic.
Yes. We just quoted John Travolta. But we did it for a reason. Sort of. You see, systems are the secret to being both lazy and successful. Systems are sort of like the scaffolding that lets you crack on with stuff that isn’t work or, at the very least, they let you crack on with the kind of work that you don’t find so tedious; the stuff you are good at. Here’s the best bit, though: there are systems out there for everything. Customer services, automated email responses, scheduled social media posts, schedule management, loads and loads of stuff. Basically, it’s worth getting up early once to find ways to automate things so that you can sleep in late way more often. Genius.
- Outsourcing Is Awesome
Some people think outsourcing has boomed because it helps entrepreneurial types save money. But we disagree. We think outsourcing has gone boom because entrepreneurial types are secretly super-lazy and this helps them get out of extra work, which is nothing to be ashamed of. Instead of trying to come up with some epic words to make your branding standout, you should get a freelance creative copywriter to do it. Instead of trying to work out how much tax you owe, just get a one day a month bookkeeper to come onboard. Anything you like.
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