The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss showed us that we don’t have to accept the “traditional” life.

Why go to school, get good grades, go to college, get a job you don’t like, work at least 40 hours per week, receive a paycheck every 2 weeks, invest in a 401k, work 5 or 6 days per week for 45 years, take a 2 week vacation every year, retire, take a cruise, sit on your porch for a few years, then die?

Instead, you can start a business, travel while you’re young, outsource work, work remotely, learn new skills, experience different cultures, or just live life on your own terms.  Spend your time doing whatever you want.

The 4 Hour Work Week inspired a lot of people but now I give you the 3 Hour Work Week.

Why work 4 hours a week when you can work 3?

Here’s all you have to do.

1. Earn $6 million dollars while you’re young.
2. Invest that $6 million dollars with a 5% return.
3. Live off of the 5% return, which would be $25,000 per month.
4. Work for 3 hours per week…if you want.

That’s it.  That’s the 3 Hour Work Week.

The tricky part is the first step.  I’m still working on that one myself, so, let me expand on that a little bit.

How to Make Money

There aren’t a lot of ways to make millions of dollars while you’re young.  In most cases it takes time.  Even over a lifetime, most people don’t end up with a multi-million dollar bank account.

Unless you inherit millions of dollars on your 21st birthday, or you win the lottery, the most likely way to earn a million dollars is to build your own business.

Let’s face facts.  Most employees aren’t rich.

If you’re an employee collecting a paycheck for your services, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever be a millionaire before you turn 50.

In fact, the large majority of people that follow the “traditional” path will never become millionaires.

There are always exceptions but they’re exceptions because they’re very rare.

So, what should you do to live the 3 Hour Work Week lifestyle?

You have to stop being an employee and start being an owner.

Owners get rich.  Owners produce things that have value.  They create.  They build.  They innovate.  They make things happen.

Is it Scalable?

The key to making money is to build a profitable business that is scalable.

There are plenty of ways to make money.  You can open a pizza place.  You can open a car wash.  You can provide legal services.  But, not all of these are easily scalable.

Scalable means that it is capable of being easily expanded.

For example, if you open a pizza place in the city where you live, you are limited in several ways.

First, to buy your product, people must be physically located in that area.

Second, you are limited to the amount of revenue you can generate because you can only make a certain number of pizzas every day, assuming that the demand is there.

Third, unless your profit margin is significant and you can hire someone to manage everything for you, you will probably be an integral part of the business, leaving you with very little free time to enjoy your “self-employment.”

The only way to expand is to open new restaurants in different locations.  That means more capital invested, more people to manage and more operational issues to deal with.

Is it money you really want from your own business, or money AND the free time to enjoy it?

Of course, everyone wants money.  That’s clear.  But, most people simply want money so they can do the things they really want to do, which they can’t do if they have a business that requires them to work 80 hours per week.

What most people really want is the time to do what they want and the money to make it a reality.

That’s where the internet comes in.

Starting an Online Business

The internet is a great way to build a business that is easily scalable.  It’s not the only way, but it’s a very desirable way for many reasons.

The internet is global.  The internet runs 24/7.  Billions of people search for things online every month.  Billions of dollars are spent online every month.

Tap into that and you will definitely make a few dollars.

Not only can you reach a lot of people 24/7, but starting an online business is very inexpensive compared to starting a brick and mortar business.

With an online business, you don’t need as many employees.

With an online business, you can use a wide variety of tools and programs to automate day to day tasks.

With an online business, you can work from anywhere as long as you have internet access.

With an online business, you can build a business that generates significant revenue.  At the same time, you’ll be building an asset that you can sell in the future.

That’s where the $6 million dollar pay day comes in.

When you create a business that generates significant revenue, you sell it for a massive sum and you’re on your way to a 3 Hour Work Week.

Of course, it’s not easy to build an online business worth millions of dollars.  The steps are very simple but the execution of those steps is not so easy.

You need a good idea for your business.  Great execution.  Knowledge.  Hard work.  Persistence.  And, the ability to overcome obstacles and evolve as you try to build your business.

The more you do, the more you will learn.

Even if you don’t create a multimillion dollar business, chances are pretty good, if you stay focused, that you will create a profitable business that you enjoy and that gives you much more satisfaction than a “traditional” job.

What do you think is the most difficult aspect of building a profitable online business?