I've spend the entire day, starting around 4:00 a.m., working on a landing page video for my seminar. I'll be working on just this one task until 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. I spent all of last Thursday writing the script and recording the voice-over. I'll probably total 20 hours of work - for one 8-minute video.
How important is this video that it's taking up so much of my time and energy?
Time for some math: I estimate, conservatively, that about a quarter of the U of M student body will see the flyers I'm going to distribute throughout campus tomorrow:
40,000 x 1/4 = 10,000
Of those 10,000, perhaps 3% will actually visit the website:
10,000 x 3% = 300
Of those 300 who visit the website, maybe 10% will register and attend the seminar:
300 x 10% = 30
The 30 students will have spent $47 each to attend:
30 x $47 =$1410
Subtracting costs of materials and venue rental, I'll net:
1410 - $200 = 1210
for 23 hours of work (20 hours prep, 3 hours for the seminar). That comes out to
$1210 ÷ 23 hours =$52.60 / hour
My highest-paying "normal" job paid about $20/hour and I was doing work that didn't remotely interest me.
"But what if it doesn't work out? Isn't this too risky?"It's entirely possible that nobody will register and the who concept will flop. Sure it's a risk. But is it a risk worth worrying about? I don't think it is.
Why?
First, keep in mind that I'm managing three potentially income-generating projects right now, and have a dozen more on the back burner. My eggs are not all in this one basket!
Second, the only true failure is the one you don't learn from. I'm tracking web traffic. I'll be tracking the condition and presence of the ad flyers every day, replacing them as needed. I'm collecting data so the next product launch - probably NOT a seminar - will be that much better.
Third...
What is risk, exactly?
What you risk, at the extreme, is the so-called worst-case scenario. True risk is the likelihood of an irreversible negative outcome. I've already discovered that working "for The Man" is my worst-case scenario. Based on my 11+ years in the corporate workforce, I now know that it's an intolerable condition for me.
- It's creatively and emotionally draining.
- It's physically and mentally exhausting.
- It's spiritually crushing.
It's not even a possibility for me to give up and go back to being other-employed. I've already taken a peek through the rabbit hole. There's no going back now.
Peace.
I'd like to thank Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-hour Work Week for first turning me on to the logic of risk I wrote about above. If you haven't read his book, make it the next book you do read.
