4 Tips From the Pareto Principle To Rescue Your Unhealthy Writing Habits
The secret to achieving more with less.
Vilfredo Pareto was an economist who coined the term:
- “Pareto principle” or
- “80/20 principle”
Because of his exceptional mathematical skills, Pareto produced a formula to demonstrate the distribution of wealth in society. Pareto found that 80% of the people’s wealth was made by 20%.
The Pareto principle is not a new recipe. Businessmen have been practicing it with the name “inputs vs. output.”
How do I know this?
My father is a businessman. Though he never knew the 80/20 Pareto rule, he always calculated that 95 percent of his output came from 5 percent of interest.
Timothy Ferris, the award-winning author, writes:
“Doing less is not being lazy. Don’t give in to a culture that values personal sacrifice over personal productivity.”
Sometimes, writers are in the same shoes as Timothy Ferris. Long gone on a quad bike with no brakes and almost empty on fuel.
Pareto principle is every writer’s rescue in 2022.
How? let’s get started:
1. The dramatic Pareto principle in writing
Marketers and writers who don’t know about the Pareto principle are missing a ton of possibilities.
Because each one of us has:
- One best niche
- One bad niche
Now apply the above listicle in terms of clients and articles:
Each one of us:
- One best client/ article
- One bad client/ article
It’s not difficult to identify. Grab a pen and paper, secure your data in Excel, and analyze for a month which clients/stories/niche brings you the best outcome possible.
And when you do realize what causes you more money, multiply the simple output.
Here’s an example:
I have a top writer tag on 8 topics. Whenever a story gets viral, I check where the original lead comes from. It eventually helps me to get back on track on topics my readers want to see me writing.
One foul fact of the Pareto principle is it uncovers pure drama.
If you love a topic and see your readers not enjoying it, you might have to skip it.
- The Pareto principle helps those who’re ready to face the facts.
2. Timothy Ferris approach — ROI
Timothy Ferris started his BrainQUICKEN in 2001.
Because of the immense workload and not-so-great money, Tim tried to implement the 80/20 principle.
He figured out:
- He stopped contacting 95% of his customers
- He was then left with 5% of them only.
Solution:
- Tim realized that 5% of the customers placed orders now and then without regular follow-up calls, persuasion, crying, and non-serious delays. Those were his die-hard clients.
- On the other hand, 95% of his clients were always reminded to place orders. They were extremely time chasing.
For a time, 100% of his problems came from the unproductive majority of 95%.
The left 5% were returning, loyal customers. Returning to the point, our writing is similar to Tim’s approach. 80% of your wealth comes from your 20% clients.
To keep 95% at minimum bat, call them once in a while and maybe email to remind them you’re available for the services.
But spend the maximum of your time impressing the 5% tire to multiply your income.
3. The New Rich (NR) concept for writers:
Nouveau riche (French for ‘new rich’) describes people with acquired wealth and skills.
Writers are in the same boat too. Most of us are starting from scratch with tears.
An important thing to remember: The sooner you apply the 80/20 principle, the sooner you can make your time worth what is useful.
Steve Harvey has a similar concept, rephrased as:
“Analyze what works for you. Then, multiply that particular action thrice until you start making more money.”
So, how can you end on good terms with minimum buyers and gain the trust of maximum ones? Here is a template that you can use with infinite variations:
Ian Vadas and Martin Lessen provide a sample template to follow up on:
For minimum buyers:
Greeting, friend
It was great to connect with you other day over the phone.
I’ve come to realize that I can be of great help to your on-going business. We have multiple services, which you can find it here:
Based on what you told. meabout your marketing strategies this year, I’ll think you’ll find these services quite reasonable.
Feel free to ask me any questions about the packages.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
[YOUR NAME]
For maximum buyers:
Hi [Client]
Thanks for joining the zoom meeting this week and for your thoughtful contribution throughout the year. I have always admired how you and your company are pillars of the substantial growth of our firm. I know you’re working with [] to automate sales email (That’s fantastic, and congrats on your team’s growth). Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.
p.s. You mentioned your son collects stickers, so I threw a few in the envelope for him … here’s hoping they go in his sticker book and stay off the walls this time. ;)
Best,
[YOUR NAME]
Pro tip: Make sure that when contacting a minimum buyer, you sound professional and not angry.
In most cases, they don’t give you the order. But copy/pasting one email template is worth it if you get work, maybe, from one of the clients.
This way, the hard work pays off.
4. The uber-long growth:
Pareto is the best example to:
- Limit tasks
- Shorten the work time
After emailing all those minimum clients, Tim left them in passive mode. This means that he will no longer chase those clients to the corner of the earth.
When writing the email, remember that it can be your last email or also your first one before the client garnishes you with the order.
Both possible outcomes can happen. So how can you stay prepared? Here are the steps:
1 — Keep your mind and vision broadened. Don’t take everything personally. If a client isn’t giving you an order, maybe it’s saving you from dealing with poor communication.
2 — Always end on good terms: Always end on a brighter note and no yelling. A good customer often recommends your offers to other people.
3 — Make a proper setup for them to contact: Timothy got two phones just for the sake of important and unimportant calls. You can provide. Professional email or a number to your clients in the closing statement so they can contact you.
Final thoughts:
Sometimes we feel: there aren’t just enough hours in the day.
In short, to achieve 24 hours of work, humans need to divide it into two days. How sad. Timothy believes we should work smarter for tasks we don’t try harder for.
The simple way is to open the door of opportunities.
Remember that a client will pay *extra* for your worth — hone your name.
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