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
Apr 8, 2022 • 21min
The Charlie Brown Moment: Why We Choke Under Pressure
Ever wonder what Writer's Block happens to be? It's a form of choking under pressure. When we're called upon to speak, to write, or to do something under pressure, we almost always seem to struggle. This choking happens even with professionals who normally breeze through their work. The big reason for this choking under pressure is partly because of the lack of the right preparation. Instead of training under Lucy Moments, we train under Charlie Brown moments. Let's find out how to avoid the choke and to avoid the sticky moments completely. Next Step: Read or listen to—Writer’s Block Series: How A Lack of Energy, Not Time, Causes Writers to Stall and Crash
Apr 1, 2022 • 23min
Sandwiching: How to create a perfect crescendo for your story using a "sandwich"
The hardest part of writing is usually the first few lines. However, the ending can also be quite a vexing problem. Unless of course, you use a simple method called "sandwiching". When you use a "sandwich", it closes the loop, leading to a very satisfying sort of finish. How do you learn how to sandwich? Well, listen to this story taken from The Moth Podcast and you'll see how it can be done. Next Step: How do you keep your reader locked into your article? Find out here.
Mar 25, 2022 • 19min
Storytelling: How to decide which facts to keep and which ones to drop
Why do you have a bloated story? It's often because there are way too many facts in the information you've put down on paper. Even if we know we have too many facts and figures, how do we separate the information so that we don't lose the power of the story? Let's find out in this episode. Once you finish listening to this episode head over to listen or read the series on—How To Keep Your Reader Locked Into Your Article.
Mar 18, 2022 • 24min
The Eternal Sales Page Dilemma-How to choose the precise headline to get clients interested
When we sit down to write a sales page, we run into a problem almost instantly. We know that the client is usually looking to solve one problem, but which problem should we choose? How do we know if the client is simply going to ignore the headline and not look at the rest of the sales page? Should we stuff our headline with three separate problems or is that a really bad decision on our part? The answer is that the headline and the first problem isn't as crucial as most copywriters would have you believe. Follow these steps and you'll notice your sales page will come together in a less stressful, and more specific manner.
Mar 11, 2022 • 32min
Why being "late to the party" is not a crisis for your business
When we sit down to write an article or create an information product, we often have a sinking feeling. We look around and find that it's "all been done before". That we have nothing new to add to the conversation. Why should we keep going despite these odds? More importantly, why is our hesitation driving clients to the competition?
Mar 4, 2022 • 20min
How a simple "five point questionnaire" helped me write my sales page (and saved me a ton of time as well).
As I sat down to write a sales page for a course, I wasn't stuck. However, my progress was so slow that it was driving me crazy. A sales page consists of well over a dozen elements. However, to get started, it's important to get two core sections right. The first section to work on is: What you want to cover. The second section is: what are clients looking for? And as always, you need to start with me, me, me. Hence I started with the first section and here's my story.
Feb 25, 2022 • 7min
U-Turn
When we write an article, we tend to get one point across. Yet, what if we were to disagree with our "one point" and do a complete u-turn? It doesn't seem logical to flip flop, does it? And yet that's what the client needs to create a more complex, more interesting version of an article. Let's find out why u-turns are crucial when writing articles.
Feb 18, 2022 • 31min
How to get unstuck bit by bit (and why speeding it up doesn't usually work)
Usually when we're stuck, we want to get out of the mess in a big hurry. As a result, we end up digging a bigger hole for ourselves. How do you—that's you and I—systematically get unstuck? There's no precise formula, but there are stages of getting unstuck. And we have to do it slowly. Let's find out how.
Feb 12, 2022 • 17min
Free Content Vs Paid Content: Will Clients Buy If You Give Away A Lot Of Free Stuff?
Feb 4, 2022 • 17min
