How to make more money without sacrificing your personal life or working long hours!

When I think about how to make more money, there is no way I will ever forget Rob Parsons or the subtitle of his book (above), which tells it all; “making it in business without losing in life!”

For anyone interesting in how to make more money, I wholeheartedly endorse this book — almost as much as I do my own website — for its message. Rob shows that you can make it in business without the sacrifice that so many make!

Let me share with you what Rob told me 17 or 18 years ago about what he witnessed inside his former law firm, where he was a very successful partner.

In case you do not know, to become a partner in such a firm, lawyers are usually required to complete a certain number of billable hours first. Before that, they are employees without the benefit of profit sharing, which is how significant money is made.

After they’ve paid the price by amassing these hours, they are up for consideration as a partner, which cuts them in on the real money. That is the backstory. Here is what Rob told me:

Absentee Fathers & Mothers

“I saw lawyers with young kids working to make partner faster. They would stay so late that they slept for a few hours at the office, then went back to work early in the morning without going home!”

I guess they had a shower there for overachievers so they did not smell bad when everyone arrived in the morning. But can you imagine staying away from your children just to be in a better position to provide for them?

This is stealing precious family time during a child’s formative years, which harms them no matter how much positive comes from the extra income!

How many successful mothers or fathers gave up too much and became absentee for the want of making more money? 

The last word to me on this from Rob? “Don’t do it, Steve!”

Of course, unbeknownst to Rob, I had already made significant life changes before he gave me that advice.

I knew I would never be an absentee father. And my methods of making more money without sacrificing my personal life had already been rewarded by an article in a business publication that featured me.

What Rob talks about is common. Many entrepreneurs, salespeople and professionals are so focused on making more money that they sacrifice their personal life, just like in Rob’s book. They see working more as THE KEY to making more money and inadvertently become that absentee parent! 

Working Long Hours

My dad, who was a sales trainer, frequently talked about leaving at 6 AM to drive into the city and beat rush hour. With this plan, he reasoned that a salesperson could be ready to call on businesses before the competition and often before the screening secretary showed up!

He also talked about working late because the boss was working more hours to make more money too, and was often the last person in the office when you knocked on doors. 

My dad’s plan even included research on Saturdays to find businesses to call on, which meant more time away from family. A father or mother would leave before the kids were up and arrive home at 7 PM, after a 13-hour day, as well as being away several hours on Saturday!

I respected my dad, but there had to be a better way.

Too many entrepreneurs, salespeople and professionals see “time and money” like the old British saying, “you can’t have your cake and eat it too!” Applied to business, it would be something like:

You can’t make more money and have more free time too. 

How to make more money without sacrificing your personal life!

My name is Steven Peter Burke, and I must beg to differ. That is why I created the brand Smiling Steve™, to teach a much better way to achieve the extraordinary goal of earning more without this kind of sacrifice.

I’ve been online since 1996, beginning with running a business site for a company I founded and owned. That effort was so successful that it got me featured in a magazine (mag) in 2001 that was available at newsstands all over North America.

In 2004, that same business venture led to my “ugly mug” gracing the cover of another similar mag!

I am an entrepreneur who has had remarkable success without paying too great a price. But how?

For starters, everything begins with making more money. As soon as you make more money you can outsource all work that you do not want to do yourself and should not do.

Does this mean that you lose money to outsource work or hire a team? No. Does it mean you can achieve more work through your team than you could yourself? Yes. Can you do it with contract employees so that you do not have to pay employee benefits and Government taxes? Yes.

Service Arbitrage

The key is making more money. Everything stems from that but you cannot think about doing this until you know about Service Arbitrage.

The most common example of Service Arbitrage is Fiverr. Through this site, anyone can offer a whole host of services to prospective clients and find someone to do that work, earning the difference between the billing amount and the cost of outsourcing as a profit.

Here are more simplistic examples of arbitrage:

• Lawyers use paralegals and legal secretaries.
• Salespeople have an assistant to do all their paperwork and quotes.
• Business Owners hire customer service staff in the Philippines.
• Web Designers use people on Fiverr to create a client’s logo.

Of course, Service Arbitrage is but one concept that a sharp entrepreneur uses. It is just the beginning concept of how to make more money without sacrificing your personal life.

Often, when an entrepreneur wants to make it to the next level they need an infusion of cash. Instead of working long hours to earn it or (heaven forbid) borrowing money, the next concept is solid.

Your Customers are worth more than you think!

In 1999 I made an offer to my customers that I subsequently wrote about in a training and in my book. The title of that training was “How I made $47,214 in 5 minutes!“

Now, before you get the chance to think “I call bullshit” or that you could never do the same, allow me to pull the curtain back from the wizard.

Yes, it took 5 minutes to send the email and the fax. After all, my customer lists were always ready. But that is just a part of the story.

It took 15 hours to write the ad copy. Another two weeks to handle inbound sales calls and take the orders for $500, plus ship out the packages. And it cost a few hundred to pay for shipping and the staff to make up the 96 packages.

The real truth is it took 3 years to build the client list. As the old saying goes: it took three years to become an overnight success!

The picture above was pieced together from an image on The WayBack Machine (archive.org). Literally, everything that was ever done online is recorded at archive.org.

Using a few simple techniques, anyone with a customer list can send an offer and even have that fulfilled by a 3rd party company, and make enough money to scale up their business enough to start outsourcing work.

Of course, if you do not have a customer list, now is the time to start building one.

The last concept I mention here (there’s much more in my book), is one that anyone can do.

Who else sells to my customers?

This concept applies to many businesses, even if they are just starting. It is easily modified like this: “who else sells to my ______?”

Fill in the blank with any of these:

• patients (doctor)
• clients (professional)
• fans (musician/artist)
• followers (blogger/influencer)
• target audience (advertiser)

Whoever sells to the same people you do or want to will pay for you to advertise or do marketing or hire people to sell or outsource too.

In this way, it is easy to scale a business without money or even experience.

Now, this concept is not easy but it works big time. And I explain it in more detail in my book and in my follow-up materials.

Now let me give you my book for free (well, part of it). 

The Free Cheese Secret™

During the pandemic, I finally found the time to write a book about how to make more money with the have your cake and eat it too principles.

Obviously, I know how to do it or I would not have made it in magazines nor have the experience to write this web page. More importantly, I know how to teach it to you.

You can have more income without working harder. In fact, you can have more income and work less!

Make More Money

In 2000, I broke the million-dollar earning barrier. My earnings hit $1.12 million that year but I love to tell the story of 2001.

That year my income was right on pace for $1.2 million when 9-11 happened. Sales tanked in the fall that year or I easily would have surpassed my previous year’s income. But, that aside, I took just short of 12 weeks off that year.

Yes, I had the equivalent of one week’s vacation per month. I also never missed hockey, paintball, school and other events that kids were in.

The top earners I had worked with 15 years earlier when I sold business equipment were away from home 65 hours a week on average (I stayed in touch with them). These people made $300,000 a year and none of them got 4 weeks off (they were too afraid to miss out on a commission!).

When I went on various holidays, including 4 cruises, canoe trips and more,  my income continued because I had a team. When they did they would lose out on a chance to list a house or sell a copier!

You need the income so you can build a team, so you can live your life the way you deserve to. That is the reality.

If you want to make more money without sacrificing your personal life you need to start by reading my book. And, the first 12 sections are free, so you can find out what I do without spending a penny!

To download a PDF or an eBook (ePub) version, click this link:

The Free Cheese Secret™