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 20, 2019 • 22min
Why Mundane Topics Get You Noticed by Clients (And How to Exploit the Power of Mundanity)
Most of us think we have to be incredibly special, or at least different to stand out in a crowded market. Yet, at least at the starting point, it’s the mundane that gets the attention. If anything, being unique or different seems to be backfire. How do you use the power of mundanity to break into a market and then how do you sustain that momentum?
Dec 13, 2019 • 7min
The Myth of the Saturated Market—And Why You Should Not Let “Saturation” Intimidate You
If you and I look around, we see product or services just like ours everywhere. Instantly we get a feeling of having missed the bus. The market is clearly saturated and there’s little or no point in us having to create more content, or product or services. Or is it? One of the most surprising—even surreal—experiences is dropping into this seemingly saturated market, and finding out that it’s a big, fat myth. Why is it such a myth? Let’s find out.
Dec 6, 2019 • 21min
How to use contrast to prevent headlines from going flat (and other questions)
If you’ve ever wondered if your headline is lacking some oomph, it might be because of an incredibly simple omission. It’s the lack of contrast. Contrast works in real life with colours, textures or flavours. Not surprisingly, it works with headlines too. Here are three common questions about headlines. And they have surprisingly interesting ideas.
Nov 29, 2019 • 32min
Why "work for free" is a powerful strategy to get ahead as a startup business
The advice about "free vs fee" is clear. Free should be avoided at all costs because you will just be taken advantage of, while others get paid. Yet, this seemingly black and white advice has shades of grey as well. As a startup, payment isn't the only or even the best option. Find out how and when free can work to your advantage.
Nov 22, 2019 • 20min
Why Three Precise Fixes Can Quickly Improve Your About-Us Page
After the home page, the second most-visited page on many sites is the About Us page. Yet almost all the About Us pages you visit are drab, long winded or don't give much detail at all. If you already have an About Us page going, here are three quick fixes that will dramatically improve the visual and the text on your site.
Nov 15, 2019 • 23min
Three Bizarre Learning Principles (And Why They Constantly Surprise Me)
If you've used some sort of learning techniques all your life, the core principles of learning should not mislead you. Even so, we get hoodwinked and it's important to look at why we struggle with learning. Here's what I've learned about learning so far.
Nov 8, 2019 • 16min
Why writing headlines can be an excellent brainstorming exercise for real articles
Do you often get stuck when trying to come up with article topics? One of the reasons why we tend to struggle is because we get stuck at the "topic" level. However, when you write headlines, not only move along to the sub-topic level, but headlines give you more precise direction. To find out how to use headlines—even not so good headlines—listen to this podcast.
Nov 1, 2019 • 33min
Why Random Learning is Superior (And Other Weird Learning Methods)
We tend to learn in sequence. Chapter one, two and three. But what if we broke the sequence? Would that enhance our learning? In this rather sequential piece, you learn how I tend to break quite a few rules to get the results I want, and you'll find it works very well for you too. Tah, dah, time to jump the queue and learn in a whole different way.
Oct 18, 2019 • 16min
The Impostor vs The Beginner Syndrome (And Why They're Not The Same)
Almost all of us feel like impostors from time to time. And we even have an official sounding name for it. But the impostor syndrome is an unfair burden to carry. What if we're just beginners? And what do real impostors look like anyway?
Oct 11, 2019 • 5min
How to be a source of inspiration to others
You'd think you'd need to be someone great or at least do something wonderful. Yet, you're a source of inspiration. How do you inspire? It's remarkably simple —and here's a short piece on how you need to go about it.
