Last night, I met with one of my buddies, and we got to talkin’ to about my business, how I started it, and how I run it.
Y’see, he’s a car salesman, owns a couple of rental properties, and has a few other side gigs generating income for him.
But he wants out of the car business specifically.
Why?
Well, he’s been there for four or five years, and while he makes good moolah, he hates the time restriction that comes along with it. He works 5 days a week, with two days being 12-hour days. And unlike in my business, where I sometimes work 12-hour days, but also work a fair share of 4-hour days, he’s required to be at the dealership for the entirety of his shift.
Which means, working in the car business impacts his ability to do real estate or work on another side project he has.
And so, he was asking about what exactly it is that I do. Mentioned he wanted to swing by on a work day, so he could shadow me—and he’s not the first disgruntled car salesman to ask to do that. And told that he’s planning his escape from the car biz.
But…
He has one big, fat mental problem:
Even though he’s in the car business, where nothing is guaranteed, since he’s worked there for 4-5 years, he has a certain level of comfortability with his job. His income can vary wildly in the business—as it also can if he started his own business or tried the whole “internet money” thang.
But it’s holding him back from quitting officially.
My advice?
(I’ll reveal my advice first before we dive into the anti-advice…)
When I left my job 4 years ago—which admittedly paid a fraction of what he makes, weird that nobody told me a car salesman could make more cheddar cheese than working on the marketing department at a startup—I had nothing lined up. This served me.
I know there’s a bunch of people who think you should build up a side business into a full-time income before you make any rash decisions.
But nothing lit the fire under me arse quite like having absolutely nothing lined up (besides a partial paycheck I had remaining from the job I just quit).
Almost four years later, I’ve got a pretty good gig. I work when I want, and don’t work when I want. I generate almost unbelievable results for my clients to the point where some have referred to me as the son they never had. I can travel the world, taking my work with me if I want, or leaving it in my office if I want. And this wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t take that leap of faith and quit my job with nothing lined up.
But, the weird thing about making more money is that it keeps you more stuck. When I left my job, I replaced my income within my first month. It’d be much harder for him to replace his income 100% in that short of time.
But hey, it served me, and methinks it would serve him as well. I mean… he’s already much further ahead than most of the people I know in the car biz because he’s spent his free time investing in real estate, buying businesses, and working on side gigs.
So I encouraged him to just full send it.
But with a caveat, in which contains my anti-advice:
Y’see, he’s convinced himself that he could do what I do with email.
But I don’t think that’s true.
First, he doesn’t know much about writing persuasive words. While there is an incredible overlap between sales and copywriting, there are some crucial nuances that you can only get from experience.
And while I do think he could succeed if he put his mind to it, underestimating how simple something is only to encounter obstacles and hiccups along the way is a reality check that’s killed many-a businesses before they got their feet off the ground.
So, instead of encouraging him on and telling him sweet nothings about how easy email marketing is, I told him the truth:
I said you should leave your job as soon as possible, but I don’t think you should go down the same path I have.
In fact, I then went on to tell him that there’s an almost endless demand for high-ticket closers and online salesmen. And that something like this—where he can enjoy some of the freedom I do without having to start his entire career over again from ground zero and where he gets to use his current skill set to his highest advantage—makes more sense for him.
He’ll make more money in a shorter amount of time.
He’ll probably enjoy the work he does more.
And, most important, he won’t have to show up at a certain place at a certain time like he does every day with his current job.
(Not to mention, in my selfish opinion… if he went into the online sales route then there would be more partnership opportunities between us because our skill sets would complement each others more.)
Moral of the story?
You already have certain skills that can make you a boatload of money. And sometimes—while this isn’t always the case, it is the case a good amount of the time—it’s better to double down on your current skills than to pick new ones up.
In his case, he should focus on landing some kind of online sales gig, at least at first as he makes the transition out of the car business. (Of course, he could always go down the email or copy route if’n he wants to later.)
And in your case?
Well, there’s a good chance email isn’t your forte—like it is mine. Which is a good thing, because there are some aspects of running an ecom brand that aren’t in my forte, like email is.
And that’s the foundation where all good partnerships are born:
Complementary skill sets where the sum of the whole is greater than the parts.
We both make more money, enjoy more freedom, and get to do the things we most enjoy doing (which puts your revenue in an ever-upwards cycle of growth).
Interested in seeing how this could work?
Tomorrow, I got another related, yet wildly different story for you about this idea. Stay tuned.
John
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