Michael Wilding

Category: Productivity

  • It’s definitely impossible to do THIS!

    It’s definitely impossible to do THIS!

    We’ve been in London for the last week, staying with friends in Battersea.

    Holly has been working all week down there, and then we had the Christening of my god daughter.

    That meant for most of the week… I had Max.

    Which was incredible. I absolutely love spending time with him and, if I didn’t have to work, I’d spend every single day with him.

    Unfortunately, I still have to work so that’s not possible.

    However, it is absolutely flat out impossible to work when you have a toddler with you.

    I challenge anybody to get a full days work done while you’re looking after one.

    (Mum, notice I say full days work before you mention that you work with him!)

    That means this week I have loads to get through, because I ended up only doing a handful of the jobs I intended to last week.

    So… if you have any suggestions on how to get a full days work done, hit the reply button and let me know so I can be fully prepared next time!

    Ciao,

    Michael

  • UK Workers are Lazy

    UK Workers are Lazy

    There’s been a new documentary released in the UK which shows young British workers being, well… lazy.

    In a T.V. experiment, a group of 18-23 year olds agreed to work as cabbage pickers, doing a job that’s usually done by EU migrant workers.

    What happened?

    In the first hour they were complaining of frozen fingers, runny noses, and one graduate needed a break to warm her icy hands.

    The EU workers worked ten times as fast, and the team featured in the documentary admitted that they thought the farm would be losing money by employing them.

    However, the team did finish their work and managed to meet the quota they’d been set for the day.

    Why I am writing about this?

    Because it relates to 99% of everyone who’s trying to make money online.

    There’s a common miss-conception that they can press a button, spend 15 minutes and make thousands every day.

    Wouldn’t that be nice!

    The truth is… anybody who’s making money online, who has a nice lifestyle, who seems to be successful by doing very little… has worked bloody hard to get there.

    They’ve poured the hours, days, weeks, months and years of work into their business until it reaches the point where they can take a bit of back seat.

    Don’t expect anybody to hand you anything, if they do it’s a bonus. But always know that you can do whatever you like. I strongly believe that you’re only limited by your own mind.

    Over and out on a snowy London day,

    Michael

  • Your Big Weakness

    Your Big Weakness

    I’ve just discovered the biggest weakness of a digital business.

    When I say “just”, I always knew it, but it’s been brought back to my attention today.

    If your internet goes down, then you’re sc***ed!

    The new office has a shitty router from BT, which I simply cannot connect to on my Mac.

    I’ve spent twenty minutes trying to connect, before just connecting through my phone.

    Later today I’ll go pick up a proper router, one that actually works, but in the meantime I didn’t want to miss a chunk of my scheduled working day.

    So I’m currently using my phone with a personal hotspot.

    The personal hotspot has saved my ass so many times it’s hard to count. From airports to locations with no wifi, it’s always my trusty backup.

    It’s a reason why I always recommend having a very high amount of bandwidth on your mobile package. You can always connect to your phone and work through it.

    Every business, whatever you’re in, has a weak point. For digital businesses it’s your internet connection.

    Yes, you can protect against it for your servers, but it can be very difficult to protect against it in your place of work (unless you’re prepared to spend thousands).

    That’s why it’s good to have staff working from different parts of the world.

    It means even if one person is having internet troubles, someone will be able to connect to the internet and your business will still run.

    And… if you’ve managed to build a business that can continue to work even when you don’t have the internet, then you’ve managed to build a business that will work when you’re on holiday 😉

    Ciao,

    Michael

  • A New Dawn

    A New Dawn

    It’s the dawn of a new era!

    This morning I got into my car and drove to work.

    WTF!

    It’s been longer than ten years since I last did that.

    The difference?

    Today I’m driving to my own office.

    I don’t have to work from there, I could work from home. But with Max, Holly, our mums, building work etc… I’m planning to be able to get back to my previous working hours.

    i.e. work until lunch, go to the gym, head home to see Max, Holly and our mums 🙂

    As you know, I’ve always preached the importance of focus in the place you work if you want to get more done in half a day than the average person gets done in an entire day.

    (or in the case of some people an entire week!)

    We’ve not got the office perfect yet, but then again it’s only day one.

    However, BeeBee has given it the seal of approval!

    Althought she may look clean above, she’s already coated the place in mud.

    The office is located in the yard of our construction company, and there’s currently a load of mud outside until the twenty tonnes of hardcore arrives tomorrow to level it off.

    All I need now is Sonos so I can play Spotify instead of the radio and I’ll be all set.

    I’ll keep you posted on how it’s working out 😉

    Ciao,

    Michael

    P.S. If you’re based in the UK and need a construction company, you know where I am!

  • Sand in your cracks

    Sand in your cracks

    Whenever you look at the folk selling guides to online businesses, they show images of working from the beach, bars or cafes as part of the “awesome” lifestyle you’re about to achieve.

    The reality is…

    Working in most of those places is a pain in the ass.

    Cafe’s aren’t so bad, but I can assue you that you don’t want to be working on beaches or in bars. You get tiny grains of sand in your computer, or it overheats in the sun, and bars are just distracting.

    What is great, is that if you want to go away for a week, a month or even three months, then you can work anywhere you want.

    That’s definitely a lifestyle choice that’s worth having!

    But day-to-day where should you work to get the most done?

    Personally I’m a believer that you want to work somewhere you can focus the most. It’s about getting a lot done in the shortest amount of time possible.

    And that means… no distractions.

    I’ve always worked from home.

    But recently I’ve been getting more and more distractions. There’s been Max (an incredible distraction!), building work and people coming and going.

    All of which I love, but has made me far less efficient. I now find myself working the entire day and not finishing everything.

    Previously I was finishing everything by lunchtime.

    Admittedly, in that time I’ve become a director of a construction company, so things have got somewhat busier, but that’s not the point.

    So… for the first time since I was a junior footwear designer, I’m going to be working in an office.

    Aaaaaagggggghhh.

    We’ve just had an office craned in for County Builders, and I’m going to be using it as my base.

    And, just to be sure I don’t break, we’re converting my current office into a playroom for Max.

    Will it work for me?

    I think so.

    To make it work I keep re-planning my day. Here’s the current schedule:

    7:00am walk the dog
    8:00am have breakfast with Max
    9:00am start work
    12:30pm have lunch
    2:00pm finish work and enjoy the rest of the day

    That gives me five hours of un-interrupted work time each day, including lunch, which should be more than enough.

    Of course, there’ll be the odd meeting, in the afternoons, or days when things run over, but I’ll be doing my darnest to stay on track.

    The incentive?

    Now my office isn’t going to be at home, if I want to see Max then I’m going to have to leave work and not go back to it.

    Who needs a bigger incentive than that!

    What’s the best place you’ve found to work?

    All the best,

    Michael