The 4 Hour Work Week Experiment

The 4 Hour Work Week Experiment is exactly that – An experiment to see if it’s actually possible for a normal everyday guy to work only 4 hours a week and still maintain a good level of income.

I’ll be recording the progress of this experiment here on this website, on a regular basis – hopefully daily.

Before I started this experiment I took some time to think about what I wanted to achieve and how I would achieve it and this is what I came up with:

The Goal

UPDATE: Two months into the experiment (on new years eve) and I’ve decided to re-define the goals for the experiment. Here are the new goals I’ve set for next year.

The ultimate goal of this experiment is to work 4 hours per week while creating an income  that would support my family and continue to grow. So to be specific about it here’s exactly what I’m aiming for:

• Work only 4 hours per week
• To Keep work FUN – I want to enjoy what I do ( and I do enjoy it) while at the same time making sure that work doesn’t take over my life and become a burden on myself and my family
• Have both the time and money to do more of the things I want to do on a daily basis – This would mean working between 2-4 hours per day on average (and some days not working at all). Leaving plenty of time to for personal activities. What I really want is flexibility and freedom to enjoy life even more.
• Be able to take more regular holidays and travel while only having to ‘check in’ a couple of hours per week
• Generate enough income from my business to support my family on an ongoing basis.
• See the business continue to grow as we continue to provide products that bring value to our customers and really contribute to them realizing their online dreams through their websites.
• Be the sole provider of the family – in other words that I generate enough income from those 4 hours that it support my family
• Create a situation where I can increase my income every 3 months by 10% without working any more than the 4 hours
• Generate enough income from my business that I’m also able to invest a portion each week
• That the income generated is enough for us to live a comfortable lifestyle – this include having enough money to do things during the day when I’m not working.

Now there are a few things I want to get  clear here – I plan to do this through owning and running my own business – which is already established, though at the moment I would tend to work closer to 72 – 80 hrs per week. Both my wife and I work in the business and we currently receive a very average wage from it.

I’ve set a time frame to reach the 4 hours work week these goals within 12 months and I have set a number of milestones to track my progress along the way.

UPDATE: So how will I know when I’ve achieved these goals? there’ not as clearly defined and measurable as the previous ones, so I’ve had to re-write the milestones as well.

Milestone 1. Work 4 hrs per day 6 days a week – DONE

For the purpose of this experiment I’ll consider work anything that has to do with running my business and or generating any other income. eg. investments etc.

Milestone 2. Work between 2-4 hours per day and still feel satisfied and content with what I achieve

Milestone 3. Regularly take a day of during the week for personal activities

Milestone 4. Take at least one overseas trip per year

Milestone 5. Take at least 2 other holidays during the year, at least one week in length, were I only ‘check in’ for between 2-4 hours per week

Milestone 6. Personal income continues to increase by at least 10% every 3 months

Milestone 2. Work 4hrs per day 4 days a week

Milestone 3. Work 3hrs per day 4 days a week

Milestone 4. Work 2 hrs per day 4 days a week

Ultimate Goal – Work 1 hr per day 4 days a week.

I’ll be keeping a kind of diary here on the site, explaining what I’m doing, how I’m doing and why I’m doing it. I also share my plans and ideas and then see what works and doesn’t work.

I’ve create a email list which will send out notification every time I make a new post so you can stay up to date with the experiment.

Why I’m doing this

I guess just about everyone has a different reason for doing things and this is no exception. I’ve undertaken this experiment for a number of reasons both personal and business related.

1. I’m a bit of a workaholic – it’s not uncommon for me to work 15 hrs a day and it’s something I want to change within myself
2. My son recently came to live with us permanently – he’s 13 and I really want to A) be there for him and B) show him what’s possible when you think outside the square
3. I want to spend more time with my family doing fun family things instead observing them over the top of the laptop screen
4. It’s also a bit of a personal challenge – Can I do it? – is it even possible?
5. I want sharing this publicly so that others may be inspired to the same and because it make me more accountable

They are a few of the reason – as I continue through this journey I’ll come back and up date them every once in a while. In the meantime I’d like to give you a bit of background on myself , so you can get a bit of an idea of where I’ve come from.

A bit about me

I’m 36 years old and never finished high school – I dropped out in year 11 – my second last year, taking my then “Dream Job” – working in melbournes then preier recording studio – Metropolis Audio. At the time I started out as a coffee boy, working in one of the biggest studios in Mebbourne – it was pretty cool, I got work with the likes of John Farnham, Daryl braithwaite, Boom Crash opera, even Fleetwood Mac popped in for visit once.

I worked the for around 1 year and then decided it wasn’t for me. Over the next 7 years I went through countless other jobs, shelf packer at a supermarket, waiter at a reception venue, pc assembler, trainee electronics technician, DJ, labourer for a PA company, sales rep, car stereo installer and more – by the time I got to 25 I realised I just didn’t like working for others.

I’d had a number of small home businesses between jobs and I decided I was going to work for myself.

My first big venture was quite a success as far a businesses go – it’s still running today and turning over millions – unfortantely though my choice of partners left something to be desired, and to cut a long story short after I worked 15 hr days 7 days a week while my business partner was busy building his own investment properties – I left the business with less than nothing – I was actually in debt.

I promised myself I wasn’t going to work those crazy hours again yet at age 36 I found myself in the same pattern – working 12- 15 hr days this time from home at least but watching my family go about their daily business all around me.

It was time to do something about it – I wasn’t about to sit back and let me life simply slip by again – and so the 4 hour work week experiment was born.

Could a high school drop out really earn enough income working only 4 hours a week – legally?

This is what the 4 hour work week experiment is all about – no one knows the outcome yet, but by following closely you may just find out…