Does your business stop you having the life you want? Jeremy Frandsen tells us all about lifestyle design and how to make your business fit your lifestyle and not the other way round.
About Jeremy Frandsen
Jeremy Frandsen is our special guest to celebrate our 100th episode of The Next 100 Days. We’re delighted that Jeremy joins us all the way from Salt Lake City, Utah. Our podcast arose as a result of both of us signing up for a spin-off course and associated Facebook group from the long running show – Internet Business Mastery.
Back in 2003, Jeremy was working in a cubicle office, with an hour commute either way. He was unhappy. He didn’t understand that he could start a business. A colleague presented him with a book that stimulated him to go start a business. Later, he met up with Jason Van Orden, they went onto create a podcast, to talk about the things that were working for them. That was 2004.
Their First Product
They were asked about providing a course based on their podcast. They decided to offer one at $2,000. To prove that no-one would want their product! They had their own businesses, and they weren’t thinking of the podcast as their own business. And as they were so busy already, they thought let’s do the course at an insane price.
They put out 35 slots, and it sold out in about 5 minutes!
Then they made the course. The podcast helped them to a multi-million-dollar business. They have been all over the world speaking. They have been in business for 13 years.
Lifestyle Design
18 months ago, Jason and Jeremy started to discuss how they could pursue their own new paths. They still have Internet Business Mastery…
https://www.internetbusinessmastery.com
…but they wanted to pursue their own interests. Jason was always more the technical guy and Jeremy the mindset guy. Jason wanted to take his skills to the next level and work with people who already had businesses as opposed to IBM which is all about the beginner, helping them get started and create a freedom business. Jeremy decided his next business would be more about personal development.
So, these changes meant that Jason and Jeremy had to figure out how to change the IBM business to suit their desired lifestyles.
In effect, the new projects that Jason and Jeremy are following is in effect developing the original lifestyle business, that was Internet Business Mastery.
They met Tim Ferris, author of “The 4 Hour Workweek”. https://fourhourworkweek.com
Jeremy wanted to stay home and make enough money to stay home. His first business sort of did that, but it took a massive toll on Jeremy. In order to grow it on top of the 12 hour days and 7 day work weeks, he would have to work more.
Sound familiar? So, Jeremy DIDN’T have a lifestyle business.
So, when Jason and Jeremy got to the point of realising that IBM was a business, they decide it had to be a lifestyle business:
- That they’d enjoy it.
- And they could still have their lives – Jason has been a traveller – France, Argentina, Portland, New York.
They designed a business around a lifestyle they wanted.
Designing a Lifestyle Business
A lot of listeners may relate to Jeremy in the cubicle. What are the steps to get out of that position?
- Design it ahead of time.
- Their online course helps you design the business ahead of time
- Around a life that will keep you happy for years?
- How do you make your business so you are not unhappy in 10 years.
Jeremy hated his first business.
What made Jeremy dislike his business? He was doing everything. Jeremy was afraid to hire someone. He didn’t want a person in his home. He had to make, ship and sell the physical products. But he was sacrificing his life that he was unhappy about.
He was lucky the business worked, but was unhappy with it.
Given businesses fail regularly, he was pleased he survived.
How did they design the IBM lifestyle business?
With IBM, they wrote out all the jobs that needed doing. Then they figured which ones they liked. Very little. Podcast, Interviews. Not the technical stuff. So, they needed to hire. They figured what needed doing and passed those jobs to 6 people and they hired a CEO to manage the processes.
They enjoyed the planning, podcasts etc. He didn’t want an office. All employees worked at their own houses. They never met. They treated their employees really well.
Jeremy has a great quote on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jeremyfrandsen/
“Don’t let who you are stop you from being what you could be.” ~Jordan Peterson.
That was one of the things 18 months ago. They needed to go to next in their lives. IBM is working nicely, but they wanted to figure out how to do something next. Their own personal growth.
Don’t have 10 business at one point. Jeremy advised focus.
So, they needed to get out of their own way!
Jeremy has focused on personal development since age 19. He used the revelations of personal development and mindset understanding to help Jason and him decide to narrow the focus on their involvement in IBM, so that they maintained greatest interest and still had time to follow their own projects.
He allowed his employees to realise their own personal goals. His tech guy loves IT issues. His team loves their own specialism. In a way, that is designing a happy business.
A Happy Business
Like Jason and Jeremy, you can have different lifestyles but have a happy business. It was designed that way. Happy, is down to you of course.
Jeremy didn’t want a big corporate setting. There is no correct answer. But a good place is to start by designing your preferred lifestyle.
If your employees are happy, and motivated by the stuff they do, the sum total is happiness. All attached to a similar vision.
Not most amount of money for least amount of work. Be part of the vision. A joint vision. They figured this out through research and learning. They had a mind-set that everyone involved in your organisation IS part of the vision.
Hiring their CEO
They asked her unusual questions at interview
- What was she interested in
- What does she do in her free time
- Does she like to learn
- What was the last book you read
They had her resume. It looked like she could do it. They wanted to get that sense of ‘does she love it’. They were looking for that confidence about her wanting to be a part of something. Not just get a pay-cheque. She had studied herself. Personality tests. She was more interesting to them.
Earning your great day
Nobody gets a great day for free. You have to earn it. So, when you get up in the morning, you have to earn it. Every day is about getting those +1s. Today was a little bit better today. If you can accumulate those, then at a point in the future you can get to hat great day.
Doing this for so long, it is rare for Jeremy to have things get in the way of that.
He doesn’t know what tech issues they have. He lets others handle these issues. When it gets to him, its more about strategy. Not fixing a problem. Sort a strategy so that it doesn’t get to HIM. Keep it with the people who can solve the issues.
Who are Jeremy’s Mindset Thought Leaders?
Jordan Peterson – he adds lots of videos to YouTube of his Canadian college classes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi-RT1jYP_A
The Map of Meaning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Xc2_FtpHI
Jorden Peterson put up a Patreon account and he raises $65k per month. https://www.patreon.com/jordanbpeterson
He takes the money and makes more classes.
Brian Johnson – Optimize Me https://www.optimize.me
Brian does philosopher’s notes. Book summaries. The 10 best ideas in a subject area. His end goal is 1,000,000 at $10 per month.
Brian has gathered business and personal development stuff. He is less direct action oriented.
Warrior Philosophy – Jeremy’s new branding
Knowledge is INFORMATION + ACTION
A Philosopher is a lover of wisdom. Wisdom is basically Information plus action. The Warrior part is really focusing on the action side of things. Using the tools, he gathers as a sword.
Peterson is high end academic. Jeremy gathers enough information to test.
Daily Emails
This was part of getting out of his own way. For 12 years, he had a copywriter or Jason wrote them. They didn’t want to be salesy. It seemed like he had to be inauthentic to do it. But that is business.
He grasped it. Jeremy had heard how daily emails should be, from a guy he bought in 2004. He sold $9m from a book through daily emails. He acts like it’s a radio show with a sales pitch at the end of it.
This changed the IBM methodology. He said he was chicken! They were the nice guys. PG guys!
This strategy REPELLED people. He realised he was trying to get to the NO. He wanted to get rid of people who wouldn’t ever do it. They gathered a lot of those people.
At first Jeremy tested a portion of the list. People who hadn’t bought. A weekly email. He prepped them with a couple of emails. Daily emails spiked sales. It was about selling Jeremy.
Jeremy thinned out those people who would never buy from him. He had a big list. He was willing to lose 50%. His goal was double opening lose half the list. In reality, the open rate increased 2x but he lost 25% of his list.
He has a daily podcast in which reads his daily email.
Its more natural than paid ads. They have adjusted that. Changing the podcast has got far more people listening than ever before.
More people are listening to podcasts than ever before. If you can get people interested then you can become part of their day. The Starbucks 3rd place.
The call to action on his podcast is the sale. No, if you are smart, you’ll buy now. It has increased sales. Without the guy who listened for 13 years, but never bought a single product. Jeremy said the only reason for the podcast was to get people to a higher-level step by step resource.
Jeremy finished by saying we are:
“Rare, and you took action”
Contact Jeremy on:
https://www.facebook.com/jeremyfrandsen/
The Next 100 Days Podcast is brought to you by Graham Arrowsmith and Kevin Appleby