Ryan Lee: Running and Growing Virtual Companies

Foreign.

Hey, folks, Ryan Daniel Moran here with another episode of Freedom Fastlane. Hey, I am sick as a dog today. So thankfully, I've got this sweet little gem waiting for us today. And it's an interview that I recorded with my buddy Ryan Lee a couple of weeks ago. I sought out Ryan because Ryan is one of the old guys. He's been on the Internet for, like, more than 10 years, which in Internet years is like a thousand years. He was running around with the Mayans or something on the Internet. Anyway, Ryan has this reputation of getting a tremendous amount done, yet working mostly from coffee shops. Now, I had the best year of my life professionally. I'm starting to put on my big boy pants. And for me, that meant getting a real office with real employees. And yet Ryan ran in the other direction, got extremely successful, ran away from the office, and got even more done. So I was like, explain this to me, Ryan. How do you get so much done in what seems to be so little time? And I think you'll be surprised with how little Ryan says that he works. So if you run a virtual company or you're looking to work online, this podcast on freedom of time and productivity will be of extreme value to you. So enjoy today's chat with Ryan Lee.

Hey, fastlaners, welcome to Freedom Fast Lane. Today I'm joined by Ryan Lee. Ryan, thanks for hanging out with us at Freedom Fast Lane.

Ryan. I am excited, and we are going in the very fast lane today. Screw the fast Lane.

Well, welcome to the Freedom Very Fast Lane, everybody. Name change. So, Ryan, you have quite the resume. And the reason I wanted to have you on is because you've been incredibly successful in a bunch of different businesses, and they've been mostly virtual, and you've run them, from what I understand, mostly from coffee shops. And I want to understand a little bit about how the heck you get all of that done without having a big team and a dedicated space. But first, would you run us through a little bit of your resume, brag a little bit about all the stuff, all the cool stuff Ryan Lee has done.

This is the uncomfortable part.

He's incredibly handsome. I have a name.

I'm another Ryan. You know, the 10 second version of my story. I was a recreational therapist and then a gym teacher, and I had a personal training business on the side. Started my first site in 1999, promoted my personal training company, and that was really my love, strength and conditioning. Started membership sites. So I was one of the first guys. Well, I was the first guy to do a paid membership site. Specifically for strength and conditioning training of athletes. Even in ClickBank, you know, 15 years ago, I was the first guy to have products in that particular category. Had a lot of success there. And then I started. So I created more and more products. I started doing online training. People would pay me like a hundred bucks and I would design a strength training program for them. Yeah, it was, it was really fast. I mean, and then we started selling training equipment. But I hustled. I mean, I would go to all the different fitness events, I would have little tables set up and selling products. And then I started, I did more and more fitness and I started having a lot of success. And all of a sudden other personal trainers are saying, well, if you can do this, can't you teach me? I'm like, sure. And no, that's rule number one of business. Just listen to what they want. So I started teaching other fitness professionals how to do it and I started having more success. So I created more membership sites, started doing more and more products. I remember I did my first. This is before there was webinar software. This was like 2002 maybe. And I did a teleseminar, a multi day. It was like three days. I did it three days in a row, two hours a day. And it was a hundred spots because it was a bridge line. And I sold that all hundred spots for 199 bucks each. And it was like 20 grand in three days. And I almost had a heart attack. I couldn't. And it's look, it's still, it's still really good money. And I'm not trying to be like, oh, who cares? I mean, it's 20 grand in three days is really nice and life changing for many people.

But in 2002, adjusted for inflation, that's like million dollars.

That's like $3 trillion, Ryan.

So.

And then I, you know, other people started hearing about my success and I was featured in this magazine called Millionaire Blueprints on the COVID And then I became friends with Guy Yannick Silver. He asked me to speak at his event. One of the first ones called Underground Online or Online Underground, I don't remember what the hell it's called. And people, people like, oh my God, you could, can you teach me how to do this? I'm not a trainer, but I do this. And now I'm kind of known more for Guy who teaches other people. And we had our big launch and that was like 12 years ago. And we did like 1.6 million in like a week, which is just unbelievable.

Way back when that Was a lot of money.

Yeah, yeah, it's still a lot of money. I'll still take it. I'll take it all day long, baby.

One of the things I love about your story, Ryan, is the fact that you're, you're like the millionaire maker for.

A lot of people.

Like my buddy Mike Geary credits you with his success because you were like the first person that taught him anything about Internet marketing. And now he's like the poster child for, for selling something on ClickBank and making millions of dollars. So you're, you're like responsible for all of the Internet millions that everybody's floating around.

There's, you know, look, there were guys before me. I mean, when I first came on and I'm always one to give credit. You know, I studied this from the very beginning and I remember and it's really weird because, you know, Mark Joyner was one of the first guys who. And now I'm friends with Mark and he spoke at my event and I contributed to his book. And I remember Declan Dunn and even Corey Rudolph, who's who pass, like 10 years ago was one of the first. So, you know, I followed what they were doing. I just adapted it for my market. And yeah, I mean, especially now in the fitness market. If you look at many, just about all the big online fitness people, I was, a lot of them credit my trainings to getting them started and now kind of beyond that. And they're a bit. Yeah, I mean there's a lot of well known marketers who when they want to especially create recurring revenue, they call me. I don't use their names a lot, but you'd know who all of them are. But to be honest, all that stuff is great and the money's cool, but that's never really why I did it. I did it more for like lifestyle. I just want to enjoy life. Like the first six years I spent working in a children's rehab hospital, which was awesome, by the way. I loved working with the kids, but it gave me a real appreciation for life and how precious it is and how it could just, I mean, it just makes you appreciate every single day. So I'm like, look, you go around once, I think, I think we are.

As far as we know, as far as we know.

So enjoy it and, you know, have your priorities straight. And you know, the fact that I'm able to do this and work for myself from coffee shops and I'm married and we have four young kids. I know you have a little girl on the way, so that's that's the most important thing. And I was happy making 26 grand as a recreational therapist. And I'm happy, you know, when I make that in a day, the money's great, but to me, it's about, like, the journey, the adventure, and just really being passionate about what you're doing. And you could tell, like, I love this stuff, Ryan. I just live for this.

It's a little bit infectious. And here's what I want to know, though. I mean, your credentials are awesome. You've created a lot of success stories, but you've done it all with a virtual company. Now, I've had mostly virtual companies, but I have always kind of had this idea, like, I would be so much more productive if I had a full team, and we're all dedicated somewhere. I'm actually transitioning into that right now, so. So I know a lot of. Of people who struggle, myself included, with the virtual company and maintaining productivity from coffee shops and from your home office. How the heck do you get so much done without a big team and a big office?

Yeah, and I did, you know, for years. For years and years, I had an office for, I don't know, eight, nine years. But what I found, and I kept. I'm, like, addicted to office. So I would have a little office space, and I'd pay, you know, 500, a thousand a month, whatever it was, and I'd never go. And I'm like, this is ridiculous. And I'd let it go, and I'd be like, all right, maybe I just didn't like that office. Let me get a new one. And I would do it, and I still wouldn't go. And my wife's like, why do you keep getting new offices? I'm like, I don't know. Then I made the move to a big. I'm like, you know what? I was kind of following what you're thinking. I'm like, you know what? I want to go next level. Let me get a big suite, you know? So I got this big office suite. You know, it was like, almost three grand a month, which, you know, maybe is not a ton of money. I wasn't spending 100 grand a month, but for three grand for office space. And again, I hated it. I didn't like going there. I started bringing it on. I had a couple of employees working there. And I remember, like, the third or fourth day, one of them comes into my office, like, can I talk to you? I'm in the middle of writing something. She comes in, and she's like, can I Talk to you. You know, I was emailing, blah, blah, blah. And she said this, and you know, she shouldn't have said that. I'm like, oh, Jesus Christ. I'm like, I don't have time for this. So at that point I'm like, once my lease runs out, I'm gone. And I. For me. So the real secret to success, it's about being hyper focused and really focusing on what's the most important thing that's going to have the most impact. Like, what are those activities? And I think what happens, Ryan, is most people don't really have a clue. They kind of get online and they'll spend two or three hours doing Facebook posts and look at. And then you get sucked into it. Oh, there's a post about George Bush and oh, let me. And then 40 minutes later you're like, how did I end up on a Wikipedia site about mesh? How did that happen? And you start retracing your steps. You're like, oh, I saw that. And then I'm thinking about Alan Alda. I mean, it's like, what? Like, where's that? So what I find is. So I go, for me, now you need your creative space. For me, my space, it just works for me. It's coffee shops, I think maybe because I tend not to be distracted. Like it, because I know people are kind of around and you're not gonna see me going on crazy sites. And not that I ever play those annoying stupid games with bubble gum, whatever the hell those games are online, but so I get to the coffee shop early in the morning and sit down and for me, for my business, my most important profit generator, relationship generator, business builder, are my daily email. And I'm kind of known for that. So I sit down and that's the very first thing I do before I check email, before I start Skyping, before I check in with my team. I send out my emails and I'm done. It takes me about 20, 20 minutes, maybe 30, depending how I'm feeling. And like, I'm good now. I could start attacking the other stuff. Okay, what's the next thing? Well, we're going to start working on this project. You know, let me start working on some copy. Let me start planning it out. How's this going to look like? Let me contact a couple of joint ventures and then I start contacting my team and we kind of go from there, but really by focusing on prioritizing and not getting distracted, by turning off all the messaging. And everyone knows I never answer my phone. Never. I only answer My phone, if it rings from my wife because I'm scared of her. But that's the only time I'm going to answer my phone. Everyone else, I'll call them back when I. When I have time.

Now, what about your team, though? I mean, your, your team, are they also virtual? Are they also following their own schedules and how do you ensure that they're getting stuff done?

Yeah, they're. They're also 100% virtual. So I follow more of a. It's a really interesting philosophy. It's called row. I don't know if you've heard of that before. R O W R O W E. And it was founded by these two women who worked for Best Buy. And they were like, I don't know, they worked in one of the departments. I don't even remember. But anyway, they started. The whole philosophy is we pay people based on results. Okay, So I don't care what hours you work. I don't care if you work at 2 in the morning to 4 in the morning, if that's when you're most productive. I don't care if you work one hour. I don't care if you work 15 hours, as long as you get the results done. And I don't have set times for vacation. If you want to take three weeks vacation, as long as you're getting your work done, it doesn't matter to me. And people can work from wherever they want. If you want to work from a coffee shop, great. If you want to work from home, great. I don't care. The only thing that matters is results. And I run my business on that philosophy. And I mean, that's why people are still. I have one main assistant, Demetria, who's been with me now, I don't know, 11 years online.

I have a couple of virtual assistants from the Philippines who are with me, who really enjoy working for me because it's, you know, it's not that structured craziness. Now what I do is, especially with the people in Philippines, the only thing I ask is that they come on at 10 in the morning just so I can. And by that time I'm already done with my major email and major tasks just so I could kind of check in and mostly to see if they have any questions for me, because that's, that's an important thing, is keeping in contact with that. And especially if you're working outsourcing. Now, there's different. I've worked with so many people. I have people, you know, a tech guy from India, I have my Graphics guy. Hold on.

I need some water. Okay, so we're going to break this down a little bit.

You're getting so excited about this, Ryan. I'm almost worried you're going to, you're going to. You're gonna run out of energy here if it sounds like you're going for a run. You're getting so excited.

Well, I am. I'm actually walking whenever I do this. I walk around like I have my laptop.

I thought I was the only person who did that. Like, I'll do it when I'm on phone calls, I pace around the house because I can't. I get so excited.

I know. Because when you sit, you just have low energy. And I actually like doing conference calls on the treadmill. Just walking, but. Or taking a walk, but anyway, you.

Could probably do part two with, with House Hacks with Ryan Lee. How the heck.

Absolutely.

How we, how we burn calories while working.

But this is this to me, Ryan, I could talk about this stuff all day. So with the way I structure it though, so I have, you know, Demetria is kind of like my main virtual assistant who handles all the main stuff, logins and if there's an issue with Bill, all that stuff, paying affiliates, all that stuff I don't want to have to handle. Then I have my virtual assistants from the Philippines and then I have one Jennifer, who's kind of like my main virtual assistant from the Philippines. And I told. And she has complete flexibility. I said, you know, whoever we hire from the Philippines, they're under you. You recruit them, you hire them, you train them. So I communicate through Jennifer. So I'll say, jennifer, can we have this video done? Can we have this? And then she goes out and she tasks out all the other stuff rather than have me manage four or five or six or 10 different people. And that's the way you kind of have control of it. Just. And like I said, I'm available on Skype, a little check in at 10 o' clock just to make sure people are staying on task. So I'll just have them, I'll say, okay, in the morning, just kind of give me a summary of the two or three main things you got done yesterday. So I just hired someone new full time and he's really going to be my new marketing, my right arm guy. And today is actually his first full day, which is really interesting that we're talking about this now. And same thing I said, just be on in the morning. Let's talk about your main things. Okay. Your first thing you know, here's the thing. I want you to start building out this new site and then finish this newsletter. And that's. Those are your big tasks for today. And that's. That's the way I manage it. Kind of loose and easy. And I really put a lot of trust and faith in the people that work for me.

Now, is this person local or is this person.

He actually is local.

Okay. And you. So you. I'm guessing you sourced him local, meaning like you.

You met him, or he.

Or you.

He. He'd been. He'd been to one or two of my events. I put an ad in my newsletter saying, hey, I'm looking for someone to work with me, you know, Cause we're looking to grow some stuff. And I was ready to kind of. To start handing over some stuff. And because I have. I still have my health and fitness companies and supplement companies, so I still have a lot of things. And I found myself kind of getting a little bit overwhelmed. And I was dealing with this little minor health issue, like seven or eight months ago. Diagnosed with this autoimmune issue going on that caused, like, arthritis in my hands and feet, which are pain in the ass. And it really made me tired. I'm like, okay, let me de stress. Let me not take on so much. Let me bring on a couple more people and still do it my way. Like, right now, I'm home. I have a little office set up in the basement, and I enjoy it. I find the structure of morning Starbucks focused productivity work. And then the afternoon, this kind of stuff. Podcast, interviews, coaching calls. I see a movie once a week. I get a massage a couple times a week, like spending time in the afternoon with my kids. One of my daughters is home sick today with the flu, so I went to the drug store and got her some magazines. And we were sitting down and watching some TV together. So to me, that's what it's about. And sitting in an office and not coming home till 6 o' clock has zero appeal to me. And I understand some people do it and they have to do it. And to be honest, I probably sacrificed some money. I'm sure if I went a little bit more traditional and had the office and had the office manager there and hired a bunch of people and kind of did more of the traditional stuff, I'm sure it could be making some more money. And I know some other marketers who've gone that route, and that's what they've. You know, it's almost like. It's almost like a badge of honor. Like, how many people do you have working for? Oh, I have. I have 19 people in my office. I could give a shit, to be honest with you. I. That to me is more stress and headaches. I make plenty of money. I really don't need that much. I'm not a fancy guy, but, I mean, we live in a great neighborhood, great house, you know, I have no stress. I'm just enjoying life. So I'd rather make a little bit less, really enjoy what I do. I love the fact I'm home right now. I'm actually in our bedroom looking out the window. The snow fell like this. And when I'm done talking to you, I have one more. I have a 20 minute coaching call and then I'm done and I'm taking one of my kids to tennis. Like, that's what it's all about.

All right, so I want to understand more about. Maybe I'm making it too complicated, but.

Okay, let's hear it.

But I'm still curious if you're just wired differently or if you have a real. If the structured routine really makes for productivity. Because I know when I try to work from home, I slip into the habits of what you're talking about. I'm on Wikipedia reading about mash. For some reason, MASH is before my time. I don't even know what I'm reading. And that's a common problem that I hear in our little circle of people who have achieved some success. And there's either a temptation of I want to get an office and hire people because it sounds cool, or I need to put on my big boy pants because I'm not being as productive as I'd like to be. So we could turn this into a counseling session. You could tell me what's wrong with me. Why can't I be as productive from home? But tell me what it is about the about. Is it your routine? Is it just that you're wired to like to be from home? Is it maybe that you just focus on enjoyment and that bleeds into your productivity because you're happy and you're focused on your lifestyle? I'd like you to comment on that.

I don't know. I think everyone is wired a little bit differently. I've always dreamed of being able to work from home. I've never enjoyed the idea of sitting at a desk all day. For six months of my life, I worked at a big Internet company. And this was kind of in between before my sight really took off and I commuted into New York City and I sat in A cubicle. And it was the worst thing in the world. I wanted to die. I couldn't imagine how people could do this for 20, 30 years. So it could be that I'm wired differently, but just a little background on me. I was throughout my life as an athlete. I was a sprinter in high school, and I was captain of the track team in college. And a sprinter in track and field is someone who runs really fast for a really short period of time. Like 100 meters, 200 meters tops, and I'm done. Like, I can't run three miles. I could beat you 100 meters, but after that, I'm toast. So I kind of run my business like that. Like, for me, the morning is almost like the sprint. So I get all of my big stuff done in the morning. So I get like two hours, two and a half hours of focused, get my nose on that laptop, hyper focus, do those big things first, and then I could just completely take my foot off the gas. And that's kind of how I run my business. And that was the same way in track practice, we, us sprinters, we used to practice for, like, you know, 45 minutes. We'd run really fast. We would do, like, you know, we would do 200s for the day, and we would do like 10, 10 different sets of 200 meters. We'd rest a minute or two, and then we're done. And the milers, you know, these little skinny guys were running around for, like, four hours, like they're out of their minds. So my business is kind of like that. Like, I get this stuff done, and then the afternoon, it's a little bit more of the kind of relaxed and flexible and really kind of do what I want. And I'll tell you, Ryan, the one. The one thing that I think a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with, and it's. If you listen to just to many, many successful people, they talk about, you gotta hustle 24 hours a day. You can never stop. You gotta, you know, you gotta go, go, go, pedal to the metal. You never let up. You gotta always, you know, and the whole, you know, you'll sleep when you're dead bullshit.

Okay, disagree.

I disagree 100%. And I think that's dangerous. And what happens is. And you might have fallen to this. A lot of people fall into this. You almost feel guilty if you're not working. And even for a little while, I felt like that where, you know, it would be at night, and I work during the day, and I'm kind of tired and, you know, this is not Physically hard, believe me, it's much more challenging to be, you know, like a guy tarring roofs, you know, in the summer in Florida, or shoveling or. I have so much respect for those guys who do that stuff or gardening. Like that's. I couldn't imagine doing that stuff with landscaping. So I have a lot of respect for guys like that who hustle all day. But I know this work that we do, it's mentally draining. Mentally draining. So by the time the night comes around, I want to enjoy. I have four children. I want to be there mentally present with my kids and even when they go to sleep. And I used to feel compelled to go on the laptop and work all. There's so much I could be doing and I'd feel guilty. And now I'm like, screw it, I'm going to watch a TV show. And now I got Netflix and I'm discovering, like I finally discovered the west wing. I'm only 15 years too late, but I friggin love it. So at night, like I walk on the treadmill for 40 minutes and I watch an episode of West Wings. So being able to just enjoy it too and not feel guilty about not working all day. So in the afternoons, If I'm not 100% focused, you know, if I'll do 15 minutes of copywriting and then look at the Wikipedia MASH page and see who won the Emmy in 1979, then I'll do that. And I won't feel that guilty about it. But as long as I know I got my big stuff done and kind of out of the way, I'm okay with that. And you're right. I think for.

Generations it's been told that if you want to have this business, you have to have a traditional business. You have to have an office, you have to have set hours, you have to have employees coming in, and that's the way you run a successful business. But I think with the way technology is and being able to communicate with people, I think give people the freedom to kind of let them be big boys and big girls, let them make up their mind. And if they're not, as long as you have specific results and outcomes they need to meet, and if they don't meet them, they know their job's on the line, then that's fine. But treat them with respect, treat them like an adult and trust that it's going to get done. Now if it doesn't, that's a different story. And I have had to let people go who just couldn't work like that. So.

I don't. Yeah, so it's not.

So it's not so much for you about. It's more for you about surrounding yourself with a team that can support the lifestyle that you want to have rather than trying to adjust your lifestyle or your business to what is the most productive. And that.

That's different than, I guess, what most people pedal around.

But that's the exact reason why you've been successful, because is. You're. You're not. You're not sprinting a hundred miles.

You are. You're. You're.

You're getting your business to support your.

Lifestyle rather than the other way around.

Absolutely. I know I work better. I focus more in the morning when I'm fresh. So I structured around that. And I don't want to have an office. There is part of me that, you know, because I do. I am. You know, think about it. I actually am really sensitive. I mean, I cry at everything. I'm like a big baby. But I would feel really bad If I had five or six or eight or 10 people in an office and they'd see me come in for, like, half an hour in the afternoon and then leave and, okay, I'm gonna go see a movie while they're working their ass off. Like, that's just. I would much. I'm, you know, in the afternoon. I just want to be home. And, you know, if I feel like taking a nap, I'm gonna take a nap. And you're right. I built the business around my lifestyle. And I think when you find that business that really works for you and you're in the right market and it's kind of gelling, and you are really. And I know it's so overdone, Ryan, that whole build. Turn your passion into profits. I mean, that was even the name of my second book. But.

If you're doing that thing that really gets you excited, marketing is so easy because it's just a natural extension of what you do. I mean, this. To me, even right now, this interview is marketing. I'm reaching new people that haven't heard of me before and bringing them into my crazy, psychotic world. But.

It'S easy. It becomes effortless. And I don't know if everyone's built for this. I think some people hearing this interview is making their skin crawl. They're like, my God, I can't believe that. I couldn't imagine working from home or not being in an office and not having the structure. And people use that excuse. Oh, well, I think people need structure. I think that's B.S. i think if you give people the freedom and you let them make their own decisions and as long as they know they're gonna be held accountable and this is all you need to get done, then why do people need, why do they have to be at the office from 9 to 5? That makes no sense. And I remember when I worked at that corporate job where that was supposed to be a thing, I was supposed to be there from nine to six or something. I'm like, well I'd rather get up early and be home from my wife because I didn't have any kids at the time. So I would get up, I would take the earliest train out of Stanford at like five in the morning and, and I would get there and I would start my day, I'd be the first one in the office before everybody and I would start by like 6:50 in Manhattan, like two hours before anyone else came. But I'd also leave two hours earlier. And that just seemed logical. I'm like, I'm a morning guy, let me work in the morning. Because by the afternoon my brain's fried because I went so hard. Like a sprinter, you can't sprint, as you said, you can't sprint 10 miles. So find what works for you. Maybe for you. Working at one in the morning is kind of your zone. Like my wife's family, I have a brother in law and he loves being up to like 3 o' clock in the morning. I couldn't imagine that. So find what works for you. And I will say one more thing in terms of some tactical stuff is you really have to think of your environment like two different environments, right? There's.

The creative stuff that's going to drive your business. There's the marketing, there's the big, the big ideas, the big ballsy moves you have to make to grow this business. That's one thing, right? Figure out where you're most comfortable, where you're in that zone. For me it's a coffee shop. For you it might be sitting in your La Z boy chair in front of a TV or it might be by the pool or it might be a specific restaurant, a specific seat, whatever it is, find that place and go there to do that work. And then there's the other work. There is the stuff that I hate, the bill paying, the, you know, all that, the housework, all that kind of crap. I have a completely separate area. I have a desk downstairs and that's the only place I do that. Nothing. I can't sit at that desk where I pay all the bills and then also write sales copy. But most people, Ryan, try to do both in the same area. They'll sit there, they'll write, they'll do all their bills. They'll pay all the stuff. It's that they have that pain associated with it. And then they sit there and they're like, man, I don't feel creative or inspired. Well, of course you don't. You know, you're. You're. You're in the same space where it's this awful feeling. This. You know, you kind of have this. Oh, God, that. Like, you're like a Pavlovian dog. So separate the two spaces.

And to take it a step, do you mean. You mean personal and business, or do you mean the stuff you hate and the stuff that are creative?

I mean more the stuff you hate. And. Got it.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, for me, because the only thing I really hate are paying bills.

Most of the other stuff is fine, but. So I have one desk that's kind of really that painful, paying bill stuff. And then one step kind of beyond that is even your creative space. You can start to feel like you're in a rut. So I go to, you know, in the morning, I usually go to the same Starbucks in town, but not always. Sometimes I'll go to the other one. I'll drive the next town over. I'll drive 15 minutes away to go to a different coffee shop just to change up the pace. The different environment, the different seats, even the, you know, sitting at the higher table versus the lower table, the different chairs, a chair with a cushion, a chair without different smells, different people, different sounds, a different way to go to work. All that stuff just. Is just different stimulation that kind of taps into that creativity that makes it a little bit more fun and not mundane. I can't stand the mundane and the boring I like. And this lifestyle business can. You can feel really isolated and bored and kind of that. Ugh. So you've got to do what you can to make it fun and exciting and like, I. One of my youngest son hits his last year in preschool. He goes to the next town over up in Pound Ridge, New York. And I. When I drive him, I drive him once, sometimes twice a week. Then I drive another 15 minutes after I drop him off to a town called Ridgefield. And I work from a little coffee shop, and I look forward to those days. And I have a different drink, and it's a different seat, and it's just insane that that gets me excited, but it really does. Like, tomorrow, I Drive him to school every Friday. And I'm like, oh, I look at my calendar. I have the entire day open except for one training in the afternoon. And.

That gets me excited. That's another important thing, by the way, is leave space open in your schedule for thinking and just you can't book every minute of the day. You can't book, you know, 15 coaching sessions back to back or sales copy for seven hours. Like, you've got to be able to change it up and leave some open space for you. And also reward yourself. Like if you, if you have a couple things that you know you want to do. Okay, I need to get this one thing done by Thursday. Reward yourself Thursday afternoon with something you like. And maybe it's going to watch a game or having a certain drink, or for me, it's going to the movies. And you kind of will work a little bit harder when you have that little prize, a little self prize dangling in the. Dangling at the end of the task.

All right, so here's, here's what I've noticed, Ryan.

That I'm crazy.

No, what I've noticed is that even though you're not using the same language as some other people or since you're virtual, while some people might be in a physical office, you follow the same, same habit of doing your most productive thing first and doing it in a dedicated spot. And for you, that's coffee shop. And I noticed that there's something that happens for me as far as creativity and productivity when I go out of the house and work in a dedicated spot. And like this morning, I went to a coffee shop for an hour and a half, did what I call my one thing. Thank you, Gary Keller, for the terminology.

Great book.

Fantastic. Life changing business changing book. A must read. And I go, I got my one thing done. And then I come back and we're doing this interview. I'm doing another interview later today, and it's a more relaxed atmosphere for the rest of the day because I got my one thing done. And I find that if I miss that, my whole day is screwed. Oh, yeah, my whole day is. There is no productivity that is going to happen today if I miss that dedicated time outside where I get my one thing done. And you're describing it a little bit differently, but it's the exact same process for you. And that's how you've been able to customize the rest of your life.

Yeah, and I agree. And it was funny a couple days ago. We had this big thing here. This must be this big blizzard, right? So they cancel school for all the. All the kids. And I couldn't leave because Starbucks was closed and there was nowhere to go, so I had to work from home. And I got, like, nothing done that day. And I'm like, I felt so out of it. Like, I tried. I sat in a different room and I just couldn't get stuff done. But, yeah, it is really about doing that one thing. And I will tell you, though, people who think I'm crazy working from a coffee shop, they're like, I could never do that. I could never focus. Too distracting. Everyone who's done it, they say, I have my creativity and my productivity is through the roof when I do that. And I don't know why that is. And maybe it doesn't work forever, but everyone who's told me about it says now they do the same thing. So I don't know why when you.

Say the same thing, meaning.

Meaning working instead of working from the house, getting out and working from a different environment and usually like a coffee shop.

Got it.

Cool.

So. So for what I'm hearing from you, you've been able to customize your. Your business, and in order to support your lifestyle, you found what works for you.

You haven't.

You haven't followed a certain system you haven't followed except your own system, I guess.

To feed into your own productivity and your own creativity.

I took little bits and pieces. You know, the one thing I really liked, I remember years ago, I read the Getting Things Done, you know, Seven Habits book. I mean, I've. I've read them all. So I'll just take one little thing that makes sense from that one little thing that works there. And yeah, I mean, I've been now doing this on my own for, I don't know, almost 15 years. So you kind of see what works and get rid of what doesn't. And for me, it just. It works. And I love teaching this stuff and it. You know, I do think everyone is different, but hopefully maybe they got a couple of big ideas here today.

Well, let's leave. Let's leave them with one more. Ryan, besides.

Hell no.

Besides doing the one thing first thing in the morning somewhere outside in a place where you feel most creative and most productive. What is one thing that you think that people who run virtual companies, specifically Internet companies, need to focus on every day in order to maximize their productivity? Whether it's a way that they manage their team or the way that they reflect on their productivity. What's one thing we should do every day in order to maximize That I think have.

Have one specific organizational project management type tool and be consistent with that. So, for example, if you love Google Docs and you want just everything and all of your virtual assistants and all of your team members to kind of have everything flow through one Google Doc, that's kind of an ongoing thing or a Google spreadsheet, then fine, then stick with that. For me, I like Basecamp because I've used it for years. It's really simple. So when I have. Yeah. So I use Basecamp to have all of my team members put everything in one thing, and we could all. It's very structured, it's organized, it's easy. It's pretty easy to find things. There's no wasting time and digging around and saying, well, when did they send that email? I think the worst thing to do to try to manage a virtual business, especially with multiple people, is trying to do everything through email. I think you're setting your. You're setting yourself. But. But most people do that. And it's funny because, you know, people say, well, I want to build this, you know, this great business. I want to make millions. And then. And then in the next breath, they'll say, well, what's a free way to manage it all? I'm like. Like, you know, base camps, like 50 bucks, like, if that's what works for you, and there's some other free versions or even Google Docs. But to me, it's so important to have something that's going to keep you organized and structured and manage it all, because even now, with this new project we have, we're going to do an online summit. I set up the Basecamp project today, and I have an outsourced graphics guy. I have my outsourced tech guy. I have this new guy just hired, and I have three virtual assistants. So we're all in one thing. You know, my graphics guy this morning uploaded the logo we approved. Okay, done. Now, all the logo files are in that Basecamp project. We're gonna have all of the video file links in there. We're gonna have all of the next steps, all of the transcriptions. Everything is gonna be in one place rather than. Did you get the email? Did you not? Because it's all there.

Could you email me that again, please?

Email it to me. Oh, hold on, let me look. And then you're like, oh, man. What did they call it? What was it? Search under? So that's gonna eliminate, like, 99% of your headaches when you're managing multiple people. So between that and using that Results only work environment.

It works out well. I haven't had any complaints, but I think when managing a virtual team, I'm going to leave you with this other little strategy, especially because it's really popular now as you're building a virtual business to outsource to the Philippines.

I'm going to get on my soapbox for a minute here. One thing that really pisses me off is when I hear other marketers talk about people, whether they're from India, from the Philippines specifically. Like, almost like they're their property. Like, and they're so rude to them, and they treat them like dirt. And they're like, this is what you're gonna do. You got to do this, this, and this. And these are human beings. Like, they're people and rule. The first thing is, I mean, and some of them, this is their sole source of income. And they're supporting a family. They're supporting kids, parents, I mean, and they rely on this. And then for you to jerk them around and then pay them a week late is just so reprehensible. And you see it all the time. And they're so mean and arrogant to these people, and they expect them to work 24 hours a day. And I treat the virtual employees like gold. And if there's an issue and they can't, I'm like, that's fine, just as long as you keep me in the loop. We'll work it through. And, you know, especially with the Philippines, I'll tell you this, my experience, especially the female ones, the reason a lot of them leave is because they want to please you. And they're a little timid, and they're afraid to ask questions, to feel, because you might think they don't know what they're talking about. They don't know anything. So you have to have that line of communication. Hey, if you have any questions, just ask. Don't be embarrassed. Don't be afraid to say you don't know, because that's what happened. That's why a lot of people say, well, Ryan, how do you keep them for so long? Because I have people who do a task, and they disappear. Because you're not. Because they're afraid to ask questions, because.

You'Re not giving them clarity. That's why they're leaving. There's a lack of clarity.

And I'll tell you one that's even worse. I'll tell you the biggest sin. Obviously, not paying on time is one and not giving them any clarity. But the biggest one is thinking they only care about the Money, because it's really never about the money. It's about people really want to feel like they're part of something. They're part of a mission. They're part of something exciting. They're part of bigger. Part of something that's bigger than themselves. And if the first part of the interview, you're like, it's, you know, $4 an hour and you're expected to this, and you have to do spreadsheets and you do that. That. I. That's the last thing I talk about. I talk about, look, we're building this great health company, and we are going to change hundreds of thousands of lives. We're going to help them get fit. We're going to, you know, people who used to have heart disease. We're gonna reverse hearts. We're gonna do all this great stuff. And they're like, oh, my God, this sounds great. This is exciting. And the very end, then we talk about, okay, you know, here are some of the things you might do. Here's, you know, here's the pay but dirty in. And. And then when I talk about, look, it's not about the hours. It's about you. Just as long as you get it done. There's no specific role, though. Like, because the way I work, I may have them doing a hundred different things. I just want someone who be able to be fast on their feet and be able to do different things. Because if you only get someone for, like, SEO tags and they're kind of limited, but I say, look, you are. You don't have a specific role. You're just going to help me build this business. And we're going to. We're going to reach, you know, hundreds of thousands, millions of people.

And, you know, it will change your complete paradigm as far as working with people overseas, going to their country.

I don't.

Have you ever been to the Philippines? I've gone several times. And it completely changes your experience in working with your freelance employees that are based there. Completely changes that dynamic.

Yeah. No, I have not. But I will tell you, though, my experience, though, at least. See, I live in a town called New Cane in Connecticut, which is like the highest earning income in the freaking country. But I worked. I also spent a year as a gym teacher in Hunts Point in the South Bronx, which is the toughest area of the south, in an alternative high school for inner city kids. So I've seen the absolute ends of the spectrum. I've seen the gang members and all the drugs and the prostitutes, and I've seen the richest Investment bankers who make, you know, 30 million a year. So I kind of, I get, and I get that everyone is different. Everyone's on a different plight. I'm not comparing it at all to the Philippines, but I agree. I think you have to remove yourself a little bit from sometimes our little isolated world and see what the world is really like and appreciate people too. Just treat, Treat others how you want to be. It's like, what do we learn that in kindergarten, right? Treat others how you want to be treated. I mean, it's, I'm not really saying anything new that people don't already know, but most people don't implement it and they just, you know, they get on these ridiculous, oh, warrior forum seven dollar bullshit. And let me just, you know, let me get a program or I need a program or oh, $4 an hour. Forget that's too, just too expensive, you know, Give me someone for $2 an hour. They treat them like crap. And I just, I can't stand when I see that stuff, Ryan. It just, it gets me so angry and I'm going to do everything to rail against these people.

Well, well, Ryan, I don't even know what you're up to these days, so I don't need. Well, why don't you take a second and tell people where they. If you're, if you can be found anywhere on this Internet world, where could people find you?

I cannot be found anywhere. Yeah, you can always go to ryan lee.com r y a n l e e dot com. I also just started a new digital magazine for lifestyle entrepreneurs. And every day we feature one big aha. One big takeaway from a different lifestyle entrepreneur. And it's Start magazine. S T A R T magazine dot com. So those are two ways.

Cool. Well, Ryan, thanks for hanging out with us at Freedom Fastlane. Keep on changing the world, buddy.

You got it. Thanks, Ryan.

I don't know what was going on with my microphone in that episode, but maybe I was just overshadowed by the fact that Ryan Lee just won the award for most excited guest on Freedom Fast Lane ever. Hey, one of the things I like to do as a result of conducting interviews with highly successful entrepreneurs is analyze some of the crossovers, analyze some of the habits that seem to be predominant among all entrepreneurs. And Ryan highlighted one of them beautifully. And that is this emphasis on getting your most important piece of work done first thing in the morning. I find that when I do this, I have an enormously productive day, no matter what happens. And when I don't do this, it seems like I can't get anything done. And at the end of the day I'm like, what the heck did I do today? So if you get nothing else from Ryan's nuggets of wisdom throughout this episode, get that. If you focus on that one thing that is right, really going to drive the bank account today and you do it first thing in the morning, then those successes stack on top one another, and it's almost impossible to not achieve your goals when you do that. Hey, I hope you enjoyed today's chat with Ryan Lee. Thanks for putting up with my my under the weather voice for today. As always, I appreciate your comments and your reviews over at itunes and would love to hear your thoughts over at the Show Notes at free freedomfastlane. Com. Thanks for listening to the show and I'll see you on the next one.