We all want the same thing, right?
To do the work we enjoy,
on a schedule we control,
and make plenty of money in the process.
Is that too much to ask?
Personally, I don’t think so.
ABOUT GILLIAN PERKINS
Seventeen years ago, I started my first company -- and I’ve never looked back. I love being my own boss, and today, I teach others how they, too, can build digital businesses that give them the opportunity to live how they want.
I've come a long way since my first business venture and I've learned so much in the process. There's one lesson, though, that stands out above all the others.
Put simply, it's this:
Working smarter takes you further
than working harder ever can.
What exactly does that mean? It means that heading in the right direction is more important than how fast you’re going; that taking the right actions takes you further than simply doing “more.”
Our Mission
To teach regular people to build online businesses that generate passive income and give them flexibility, fulfillment, and control over their own success.
MY STORY
I’ve chased success my whole life. At age seven, I was that kid with the lemonade stand. Then peddling flowers door-to-door. Then starting a club and persuading all the neighborhood kids to join.
Like most of us, younger-me thought that MONEY = SUCCESS.
I kept trying to become successful throughout my teenage years. I got straight A’s, landed a full-ride college scholarship, and started little business after little business.
Basically, I’ve been a serial entrepreneur since before I could spell my whole name.
(Cut me some slack on this one… I have two middle names, and one of them is really weird & hard to spell.)
By age 23, that had landed me in a pretty good place — at least, it looked that way from the outside.
➡️ I’d built one of my “little businesses” into a pretty big business: one of the largest music academies in the Northwest.
➡️ I’d married my high school sweetheart and we had two adorable little kids. I’d even published my first book!
➡️ It looked like I had it all: I was my own boss, I ran a successful business, and I had a happy family life.
But I didn’t feel successful — or happy.
And… I felt awfully guilty for not feeling satisfied with my “great life.”
I was grateful for the good things I had, and that certainly helped me happier.
But, truthfully, I wasn’t satisfied. My life wasn’t living up to my dreams.
It took a while for me to be honest with myself about what I really wanted, because it seemed so unrealistic.
I felt like I wanted the cliche idea of “to have my cake and eat it too.”
I wanted to have a life I really enjoyed! And, for me, that meant that not only did I want to make a great living… I also wanted to have plenty of free time to be able to enjoy what I’d built.
➡️ I wanted enough TIME to be able to read a book, play with my kids, and exercise.
➡️ I wanted enough MONEY to be able to eat at my favorite restaurant “just because.”
➡️ I wanted to be able to travel if I felt like it, live where I wanted, and take a day off when I needed to.
I didn’t need a life of luxury or even ease. I just wanted a life with plenty of flex and fun.
Is this too big, too grand, too impossible?
No …except one thing.
It seemed like the math just didn’t work out.
There are only so many hours in a day, so how could I both make plenty of money to do what I wanted, and also have the time to do what I wanted?
It seemed impossible, unless I won the lottery or received a large inheritance from a rich uncle I’m unaware of.
But I’m a big believer in moving forward, even if you don’t know how you’re going to get where you want to go. So, I just started trying to find ways to make more money in less time. I’d started an online business (a small digital marketing agency) about a year before this, so I worked on figuring out how I could maximize its profits while minimizing my efforts.
As I’m sure you can imagine, working on developing my business in this direction took a lot of effort in and of itself. (Seriously, though, the part that took the very most time and effort was learning how to do what I was trying to do.)
Prior to this, I’d heard about “passive income,” first by reading “The 4-Hour Workweek” and then by listening to Pat Flynn’s podcast “Smart Passive Income.” Passive income sounded like just what I needed, but I didn’t know how to turn it into anything more than theory.
Here’s what I figured out pretty fast: In order to be able to work less and earn more, I needed to prioritize projects that, once completed, would pay me over and over again.
This led me down a long process of trying a lot of different “make money online” ideas. I started blogs and YouTube channels. I wrote ebooks, created courses, and started membership sites. I tried affiliate marketing, webinars, and Facebook ads.
You name it, I’ve probably tried it.
But, here’s the thing… most — basically all — of these strategies failed.
And, by failed, I don’t just mean they didn’t make me rich. I earned little to no money, and definitely spent way more (on courses, hosting, software, etc.) than the little that I did earn.
Failure after failure, I kept picking myself up, redesigning my website, and trying again. Because what else does one do?
Eventually, two things happened:
1. I finally grasped the big-picture strategy of “how money is made” and how to actually build a successful online business.
2. I got traction. Once I clarified my USP (Unique Selling Proposition — the value that I offered) and learned how to market it, my audience and income grew by more than 50-fold in one year.
I didn’t need to do more,
I just needed to focus on doing the right things.
I didn’t need to work harder,
I needed to work smarter,
because one step in the right direction takes you infinitely closer to your goals than 1,000 steps in the wrong.
A few years later, my personal brand is on track to become a multi-million dollar company.
But, more than that, I finally have the life I really wanted. And that makes me finally feel successful.