A Guide To Systems For Entrepreneurs Who Want A 4-Hour Work Week

Written by Ray Voice

Last Updated:

This guide will introduce you to systems that’ll save you time.

I used to work for over 16 a day when I started my business.

Now, I can easily take month-long vacations to Bali without checking in on my business every few minutes. This is the power of my 4-Hour Work Week!

Let’s dive right in…

(Was starting a business just wishful thinking?)

I Was Working 16+ Hours A Day!

I’m Ray Voice.

I still (fondly) remember the day I started my first official business.

I was just fired form my job where I was a top-performing sales person. I was really bitter about it… Yuck!

I had a few clients from the relationships I build at my job. Enough to keep it afloat but I had to get more clients soon.

I remember thinking, “If even a single client left me I’ll be out on the streets.”

It was humble beginnings… and I had the skill to deliver, but I had no idea I was in for long, back-breaking workdays.

Here’s how I managed my time back then:

  • Worked 9+ hours of delivering my client-work.
  • Worked overtime to search for new clients.
  • Said “Yes” to every urgent client request.

Needless to say… this put me in the hospital… twice!

Feeling: Your days will feel extremely short and you’ll always be tired of working, sitting at the desk, typing on your laptop. Your palms will hurt from the constant pressure of them rubbing against the laptop’s palm-rest.

(Was starting a business just wishful thinking?)

Hiring VA’s Was Helping (A Little)

After reading Tim Ferriss’s Book “The 4-Hour Workweek” I decided to hire a Virtual Assistant (VA).

It took a few tried to get a hang of it:

  • My first VA was really cheap… and a total waste of time. He had no experience and was constantly forgetting stuff. He was disrespectful and his answer to every mistake was pin-drop silence, like he didn’t even want to be in the same room as me. (Why did he chose to be a VA? That’s a mystery for me.)
  • Then I hired one of my friends. It wasn’t really helping because I had to train him a lot. Also, he didn’t take work seriously because of our friendship. It was his first job.
  • Finally, I hired an experienced VA from the Philippines. Within a week, we were a well-oiled machine. She knew all the right tools, tricks, and systems to help me out. I learned a lot working with her… and I think we worked for about 18 months together.

For VA’s, a lack of training is a big red-flag.

You don’t want to get the cheap option. You want to work with experienced VA’s only.

Ultimately, recruiting a VA didn’t really save me any time, in fact, the search and recruiting process was painful and expensive.

However, having a good VA saved me a ton of energy.

Feeling: You’ll always be worried, even if you take time of. It’s your business and you don’t trust a stranger with it. A new VA will inevitable make mistakes, and you need to be patient with them till they get a hang of things.

(The more work I got… The more people I hired.)

Leadership = More Work

I found myself in a recruiting frenzy every time my business grew…

… followed by cash-flow issues and sometimes even layoffs when we had down months and dry spells.

Every now and then employee’s quit out of the blue… their girlfriend broke up with them, the’re getting married or having a kid, etc.

You name it, I’ve seen it!

I implemented a few systems and you probably should be using:

  • No one is quitting without a 30-day notice.
  • You’ll help me find your own replacement. (I won’t lift a finger!)
  • You’ll train the new guy and they must be as good as you by the time you’re gone.
  • If you’re dealing with a client directly, you’ll make introductions and handle the transfer of duties to another team member.

Also, no dating in the office. It sounds good until breakups happen, sides start forming, and your business takes the worse of it.

Feeling: People will constantly disappoint you. At this stage, when you’re a small business, you’ll be directly in the line of fire every time shit hits the fan. If someone calls in sick (or quits) you’ll either have to do their work, or get someone to do it. Both of these things drain your energy and emotional stamina.

(After hiring a big team… It didn’t get better!)

5 Men X 1 Hour Meeting = 5 Hours Wasted

A few years in, I was still working a lot.

I thought delegating your stuff to a team was supposed to save you time… not if they constantly need your input.

Here’s a list of solutions I’ve implemented:

  • Send Loom videos if you just want to tell me something.
  • Don’t send audio notes. They take too much time to go through.
  • Highlight important stuff in a memo. Make it skim-able.
  • I won’t deal with remote-employees directly. They take too much time to manage and there’s always miscommunication on a Zoom call.

This allowed me to completely remove team meetings from my calendar. Directly influencing how much time I spent networking and deal-making.

Feeling: Your days will feel longer when you get rid of meetings. You’ll start to feel a bit out of touch with your business. You’ll have to implement “bird’s eye view” reports and meetings to stay in-loop.

(You’re new at this! Keep going…)

You’ll Get better! I promise.

I’ve been running my business for 15 years now, and I still work 9+ hours a day.

Not because I need to, but because I want to. My business is growing rapidly!

I frequently take time off when I need to travel for a speaking engagement, or take a long vacation with a lot of “Me Time”.

I can go silent for a couple of days and the business will run fine.

I can take 2 months off and the business will run fine.

If you want to do the same, implement these methods.

Here’s a few suggestions for you:

  • Remove yourself from day-to-day operations completely.
  • Train a 2nd-in-command who can take charge in your absence.
  • Don’t make leadership your full-time job. Encourage independent problem solving!
  • Do a test-run. Go away for a few days to see how it works. You’ll be surprised!

Most importantly, allow for mistakes. You’ll iron out the issues down the line. No worries!

Feeling: You’ll still worry from time to time… but you’ll work less, sleep better, and appear more professional to clients.

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