Do Less and Get More, How to Work Smart by Shaa Wasmund MBE.
Shaa Wasmund, author of the recently published book on how to make the most of your time and your business, says it really is possible to "do less and get more". Organizing your life so that the less important things don't take precedence over the really important tasks is key. If you want your business to succeed she says the key thing is to see that your time is worth more than doing the cleaning and other basic chores. She says "hire a cleaner" it's better to pay them £8-10 a hour than to do it yourself (I don't know how she can get a cleaner on this pay as where I live it's closer to £20 per hour). But this is good advice as if you get stuck in day to day mundane tasks you won't be able to focus on growing your business and work well. I wonder how many successful men do their own cleaning? If a book-keeper can do look after your accounts more efficiently than you, hire one. She says it's also possible to outsource other basic tasks by using a virtual assistant. All of this is good advice. It's about maintaining focus and only doing those things you really need to do yourself.
How to Write Bestselling Business Books
Shaa is speaking at her Business Bootcamp, held in the seriously upmarket £500 a night Corinthia hotel near Charing Cross, in front of an audience of 200 who have paid £29 each to be there. It's the beginning of June and it's the hottest day of the year so far, 27 degrees outside in the sun. She's pitching her book to aspiring "entrepreneurs" (when I was younger the people there would have just been "setting up a business") and it's evident that's there's been a sea change in the last few years, business coaches tell everyone that they can make it and be an entrepreneur and make a lot of more of their life. Money is of course, they tell us, a by product of a successful business. The money buys us the lifestyle we would like. Of course you have to work hard, and as Shaa says, it's about working smart. It's about buying the help and the tools we need to get our businesses off the ground or growing existing ones. It's really easy to get caught up in the pitch, in the enthusiasm of the moment. Shaa's learn't a few tricks about how to raise the energy in the room before she pitches her message. There's the loud disco music as we enter the room, and she's on the stage dancing telling us to stand up and dance too. Everyone's bouncing around getting excited. I know certain spiritualist churches who use this method of lively music to get everyone in a positive mood and to raise the energies before a medium starts work delivering messages to the audience. It really is an old trick. We are now all in a more receptive frame of mind so when Shaa pitches her thesis to us that her new book will transform our lives and free copies are given to everyone at the event we're not phased when she asks us to provide a review of her book on amazon and to blog about it. Selling is, after all, about word of mouth and publicity. Are we gullible, or does this L.S.E. educated powerhouse really have a ground breaking message?
Shaa Wasmund
Matt Thomas
Matt Thomas has already spoken at the Business Bootcamp about how 80% of businesses in the UK are small businesses. What he didn't say was that 80% of the wealth generated in the UK comes from large businesses. He didn't tell the audience that most advertising revenue online comes from those large companies. He did explain what business owners need to do to compete with the big companies online. They have to pitch above their weight and get their online presence perfectly optmized. This is good advice. He's not selling us anything, so this builds our trust.
Shaa has already written a book with Matt Thomas - It's very popular. I recommend buying it. I have.
The SMARTA Way to Do Business: By Entrepreneurs, for Entrepreneurs; Your Ultimate Guide to Starting a Business by Matt Thomas and Shaa Wasmund 2010
Do Less and Get More
Shaa is already a bestselling author. Her last book sold 70,000 copies and was at the top of the W H Smith business book list for a long time.
So how does "Do less, Get More" compare with this previous offering "Stop Talking, Start doing? It's clearly also set to be a bestseller. On Monday Shaa was interviewed on ITV's this Morning and other interviews have followed. Publishers these days rarely take on an author unless they think they can sell 30,000 copies. Shaa admitted that publishers are looking for people with at least 5,000 social media followers before they publish them. It's a tough world for authors. Shaa admitted she had always wanted to be an author. She asks the audience how many people had published a book and then how many wanted to publish a book. It's pretty much the whole audience.
Stop Talking, Start Doing: : A Kick in the Pants in Six Parts
Shaa Wasmund and Richard Newton
So is "Do Less, get More" worth buying? If you like self help books, you'll love this. It's an easy read with a simple message presented in a simple way with nice internet style infographics and check lists. Simplify your life and be happier and more successful.
Shaa Wasmund
It's at the end of the day that Shaa then pitches her two day coaching & training session, when only 18 of us can attend. Having been primed by Andy Harrington for high priced group coaching, Shaa's £1,740 event seems good value. She's going to teach us how to produce an online course, based on our skills and passion. With individual coaching she promises us that we will achieve this. We are told that online courses are the next big thing, it's like the original internet boom and we are at the beginning of something with great growth potential. Lifelong knowledge aquisition is the future.
The Business Bootcamp
The one day bootcamp was sponsored by online conferencing company PowWowNow. Coaching legend Andy Harrington of the Internet University, Gareth Foster of PowWowNow, Matt Thomas of Curators of Awesome and Shaa Wasmund of SW Media Enterprises spoke at the event. Andy Harrington is a great actor, promoting his public speaking course through the use of emotional story-telling. Emotional connection is big in marketing these days. Once upon a time people became therapists and counsellors. Now they become business coaches after two days of training. I wondered why, until a woman who was sitting near me explained that she was a counsellor and counsellors and therapists were professionals with considerable training. It's easier and quicker to become a coach.
