The Three Month Vacation Podcast
Sean D'Souza
Sean D'Souza made two vows when he started up Psychotactics back in 2002. The first was that he'd always get paid in advance and the second was that work wouldn't control his life. He decided to take three months off every year. But how do you take three months off, without affecting your business and profits? Do you buy into the myth of "outsourcing everything and working just a few hours a week?" Not really. Instead, you structure your business in a way that enables you to work hard and then take three months off every single year. And Sean walks his talk. Since 2004, he's taken three months off every year (except in 2005, when there was a medical emergency). This podcast isn't about the easy life. It's not some magic trick about working less. Instead with this podcast you learn how to really enjoy your work, enjoy your vacation time and yes, get paid in advance.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 2, 2022 • 27min
Why Would They Choose Me? Getting Past A Mental Block
No matter what industry you're in, there's already competition. This isn't just some random competition, but rather people who are better established than you. They've worked with your clients before, have a greater profile and probably a fancy portfolio. And then there's us—you and me with no way to get our foot in the door. But are things really that hopeless? Can we come from behind to take over the coveted job from our competitors? Here's how you go about understanding how to overcome your mental block and put a quick, workable strategy in place almost overnight. Next Step: Find out—How To Overcome Mental Blocks That Derail Your Progress
Nov 25, 2022 • 21min
How "pros" practice differently than you (and therefore get superior results)
Practice, practice, practice! Isn't that how you get better? Well, yes, but the problem with that mantra is that few of us have the time to get to schedule in as much practice. What if you stopped believing in endless "practice, practice, practice"? Suddenly you'd have to have answers to problems pretty rapidly. Instead of spending endless time in practice, you'd be able to get fluent not at just one, but two, possibly as many as a dozen skills. However, first you've got to figure out what professionals do and how they go about their lives. Let's find out, shall we? Next Step—Listen or read: The Charlie Brown Moment: Why We Choke Under Pressure (And How To Practice Under Lucy Moment)
Nov 18, 2022 • 29min
How to Become Fluent at Almost Any Skill in a Matter of Weeks (And What Stops Us From Being Fluent)
We all seem to know that fluency takes time—lots and lots of it. It also takes a lot of effort and learning. We're told that to be fluent, we have to put in thousands of hours of work. However, what if that premise were wrong? What if you could be fluent at something in a matter of weeks, or better still, in a matter of minutes? It sounds almost scammy doesn't it? And yet, fluency is closer than you'd think. Here's a look at fluency in a manner you've probably not encountered before. Next Step: Have a look at: (Audio and text) Accelerated Learning: How To Incredibly Speed Up Your Skill Acquisition
Nov 11, 2022 • 18min
Sales Pages: How to avoid procrastinating and fix three core elements- Part 2
In the first part of this podcast, we noticed that there's a logic to choosing what elements to fix on the sales page. We're looking at attraction, conversion and risk. And at the same time we're trying to slow down the client from skimming. This episode puts the brake on skimming by using graphics and captions. Let's learn how to use them effectively. Next Step: Are there different copywriting strategies for landing or sales pages? Here is a link to 21 articles on "How To Write Your Sales Page". (Audio and text)
Nov 4, 2022 • 28min
Sales Pages: How to avoid procrastinating and fix three core elements- Part 1
When creating sales pages—or even when fixing them, you have a long list of elements to tackle. So many in fact, that you may just put off the fix for a few weeks, which ends up taking a few months. The reality is that you and I can't do it all at once. Why not take on a few elements, instead? If you were to fix things, where would you start? Here are two of the ones I'd get cracking on, right away. And there are two more showing up in the second part of this podcast. Next Step: Have you listened to How To Create Extremely Focused Sales Pages—The Pebble System? Let me know what you think.
Oct 28, 2022 • 22min
How to get in a state of play—and not be stressed all the time
We know how it feels to be in a state of flow. Our work seems so effortless. However, we almost seem to be rushing to meet a deadline, and work seems—well—just like work. We've always thought getting things done on time is a good thing, and it is. But is it possible that getting things done on time is one of the biggest reasons why we always feel behind? How do you get into a state of play if you're always stressed? Let's find out in this episode. Next Step: Learn how to get to the finishing line of all your projects—The Dual Boomerang System Of Learning.
Oct 21, 2022 • 14min
Why Is Storytelling So Important in Marketing?
We all know storytelling is a crucial skill to have as a business owner and also for you as a person. When we tell stories at the dinner table, everyone seems to listen. The same concept applies to marketing, but there's another bigger reason why you need to be able to tell stories. In this podcast, you learn the core importance of storytelling. Next Step: Ready to listen/ read the entire series on Story Telling? You can start with—Three Core Elements of Storytelling (And Why You Need To Write Stories Right Away)
Oct 14, 2022 • 15min
Why We Stall—And How To Pull Out of the Mess
No matter how good things are, there's a moment when things just don't go your way. That's when you've entered stall mode. It doesn't matter how skilled or experienced you happen to be. It's still a place that you can't pull out from. Yet, we all do. And there's a way to speed things up. Next Step: Listen or read about—The “Coats Of Paint” System To Break Out Of The Curse Of Perfection.
Oct 8, 2022 • 14min
How To Gain Momentum In Business Using The Subsets Technique (And Gain New Clients Too!)
Sep 17, 2022 • 16min
Why I keep writing articles (despite having written for 22 years).
Isn’t it better to recycle instead of writing all the time? A tiny bit of recycling may not be out of place, but there’s a good reason why we should keep writing new material all the time. Well, here are my reasons anyway. Next Step—Listen or Read over 51 articles on: How do you keep your readers locked into your article? (Audio and text)
