{"id":2119,"date":"2009-10-15T14:31:32","date_gmt":"2009-10-15T18:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/?p=2119"},"modified":"2009-10-15T14:31:32","modified_gmt":"2009-10-15T18:31:32","slug":"an-investment-with-great-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/an-investment-with-great-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"An Investment With Great Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the past several weeks, I\u2019ve been spending a lot of time with John Kremer\u2019s 1001 Ways to Market Your Boo<\/em><\/strong>ks<\/strong><\/em> which is a terrific collection of ideas and resources. Of course, I\u2019ve been through this before so it\u2019s not unmarked territory for me.<\/p>\n

\u00a0When Making a Living Without a Job<\/strong><\/em> came out originally, I wasn\u2019t nearly so experienced. Much of the promotion was spearheaded the first time around by Gilly, my Bantam publicist. This time, I have a publicist, too, but I\u2019m generating a lot of promotion myself.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Last week I recalled a valuable lesson I learned when I was a new author. I was contacted by a public relations firm in Minneapolis that specialized in author promotions. I talked to one of their agents on the phone who then sent me their brochure and price list. Although they promised spectacular results, I was not at all convinced to use their services.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Months later, I sat down and totaled up what Gilly and I had done and then, using the pr agent\u2019s price list, totaled what it would have cost to have them do the same work. Any guesses? My low-end estimate was $20,000. Obviously, our sweat equity was valuable.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Sweat equity is an old real estate term describing an investment of time. Sweat equity is the capital of the DIY movement and it\u2019s equally popular with small business startups. In fact, when I look at the stories of some of my favorite businesses\u2014Ben & Jerry\u2019s comes to mind\u2014sweat equity is a recurring theme.<\/p>\n

Derek Sivers<\/a> is a case in point. The founder of CD Baby<\/a>, Sivers has gone on to other endeavors, but credits his willingness to invest time for much of his ultimate success. In fact, he blogged about it and said, \u201cI can’t remember anything in my last 20 years of running my own business that really felt like hard work! Was it hard work finding band members, scheduling rehearsals, or trying to book gigs in the college market? Not really. It felt like an extension of the creative process of making music. Was it hard work answering thousands of CD Baby e-mails myself for the first few years? Not really. It was good to hear what people were thinking, what problems they were having, and felt great to solve them all.I could see how these things would seem like hard work, but when it’s your company or you’re so filled with love for what you’re doing, it doesn’t feel like work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Of course, sweat equity isn\u2019t just about saving money: it\u2019s also a way to master every aspect of your enterprise. In order for that to happen, you must believe that investing your time and energy is worth the effort.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If you do decide it\u2019s worthwhile, you\u2019ll be in good company. As Seth Godin points out,\u00a0\u201cBootstrappers built this country, and they continue to make it great. Virtually every business\u2014from IBM to the local dry cleaner\u2014was bootstrapped, usually by people with far less smarts, less money, fewer connections and less\u00a0 vision than you have right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

So get busy. The sooner you invest, the sooner you’ll be seeing a return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the past several weeks, I\u2019ve been spending a lot of time with John Kremer\u2019s 1001 Ways to Market Your Books which is a terrific collection of ideas and resources. Of course, I\u2019ve been through this before so it\u2019s not unmarked territory for me. \u00a0When Making a Living Without a Job came out originally, I…<\/p>\n

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