7 Ways Waking Up at 4AM Turbo Charged My Sales Career

In February 2014, my wife Fran and I along took a leap of faith in ourselves to re-brand and open up our own Real Estate Agency in Country Victoria. Francesca is an amazing business partner, who brought and bring a lot more to the table than myself. In addition to being an amazing sales person, Fran can establish dollar productive orientated processes in her sleep. Me, not so much.

Not many people know that Ballarat (3350) has one of the lowest ratio of Estate Agencies and Estate Agents in Victoria and although Francesca and I have been agents here for several years, we knew it would be a big challenge because we couldn’t out spend the other more established agencies on marketing or hire a huge staff, so we had to figure out how to do more and be more with less dollars.

So in order to ‘bridge the gap’, to do more/learn more/earn more, I needed to find a few more hours in the day, that’s when I decided to start waking up at 4AM.

Everyday.

For a year.

Actor Will Smith said it best: ‘To be successful, work while the other guy is sleeping.’

The first week was not fun. Starting a new habit rarely is. The second week I found my groove. The third week saw my productivity levels spike and I’ve been tweaking my schedule for the last 11 months.

At first I thought, what difference would it make? Then I did the math.

Taking into account the odd sleep-in and even rarer sick day, my 4AM start up vs most peoples 6AM would create an additional 690 hours of productivity. That’s 17 full 40 hour work weeks more productive time than most. I’d become my own PA at no extra cost.

Here’s what I discovered:

1. End on empty

New York Times best selling author and Sales/Entrepreneurial genius Grant Cardone says: ‘White space on your calendar is the Devil.’ Make sure that every second of your day is challenging you and pushing you to be dollar productive. If you’re done for the day and awake in bed after 3 minutes then tomorrow you need to do more.

2. Start early = End early

There's nothing you can't do after 10PM that can't be accomplished before 8PM. Most days, my head hits the pillow by 8:05 and I’m out in seconds. I’m able to get nearly 8 hours of shut eye every night.

3. Prepare for tomorrow…tonight

My family are not heavy sleepers and I am not the quietest person in the world. I woke most of them up the first week and was given an ultimatum to be quiet or go back to bed. So, before I go to bed, I get everything ready for my 4AM start so all I need to do is be quiet.

4. Have a subtle alarm sound track

Yo-Yo Ma Unaccompanied Cello Suite No.1 in G Major on low volume wakes me up without waking my wife up, most of the time. If you need Metallica to wake you up then you need to find a better reason for waking up.

5. Early e-mails get noticed

Here are some common client responses: “What the heck are you doing up at 4:14AM?” “It’s 5:05 on a Sunday. Go back to bed!” To be more to your clients you first need to show them that you do more than most.

6. Solitude provides clarity

It’s just you and your thoughts at 4:12AM. Without distractions I become highly focused on what needs to get done, who needs to do it and how it needs to get done.

7. Do non-dollar work during non-dollar hours

From 4AM to 6AM I am reading/sending out emails or cleaning up my database or sending out anniversary letters/cards. During peak selling hours 8AM to 8PM I’m either on the phone or meeting with clients. If it involves paper or sitting at a screen, I’m doing it in the AM.

Regardless your business or career, we all have the same 525, 600 minutes in a year. It's just how we decided to invest those minutes that matter especially when your business/career is just starting to take flight.

365 days later...Boom...we're the #1 and #3 agents in Ballarat, out of 185+ and our office, Biggin & Scott Ballarat is #1 out of 39 offices for selling homes in Central Ballarat.

Thank you for your attention...best regards, your agent - James Nicol