The world of success fall into two camps: Work extra hard and extra smart… or become a better thief.

I can hear many of you asking, “Is this chick serious?” The answer is yes. There are so many people out there wanting a “quick” way to get rich with little effort. We are human, after all, and effort is something that not a lot of people want to do. It’s our primate instincts for survival kickin’ in on that one.

There are two main ways I’ve seen people doing this: 1.) Lying about their capacities, skills, and experiences so they can charge a sum they are not worthy of or 2.) straight up finding legal ways of stealing other’s traffic. You know, because your hard work and hours of training and honing your skills, then doggedly building your empire mean nothing to them. Neither one of these types of people do. The first group sees that you are able to make a few hundred dollars on a package for a client, so they steal some IP from various sources and fake it charging the same amount you do, using similar marketing tactics, and even beefing up their company story to make it seem like they are just as awesome.

Consider this passage from Dani Magestro’s e-book, “Before You Hand A Coach Your Cash” (not an affiliate link):

Have you seen an advertisement where a coach  says:
“I’ve love to show you how I run my 6-figure business while jetsetting around the world!”
Or maybe you’ve seen this:
“Let me show you how to make 10K in 30 days!”
Yep, promises, promises. So when you hear this, your ears should perk up and you should possibly run in the other direction. Ok, maybe you shouldn’t run (run/walk?) but at the very least you should make sure this person isn’t just a promise-maker, they are a promise-keeper.

You know the people. Their social media channels are filled with pictures of their travels, food, their pets, and all the shiny things that should tantalise you. Sure, they might throw the occasional business thing in there for some street cred, but it doesn’t measure up next to their live tweeting of the show d’jour or perfectly filtered Instagram pictures of their most recent trip to some tropical destination.

The second group of thieves are just scum in my mind since they build software that literally leeches traffic away from those that bust their asses to build a business. All it apparently takes it a landing page that pops up over your site, and with just a click, the potential client is a redirect to another site.

This is devastating when you consider how much the successful online entrepreneur works. This list, compiled by Daniel Scocco, shows an example of how much these dedicated folks put in.

1.) How many days do you work per week week?

• Darren Rowse: 7 – but on the weekends its for only an hour or two.
• Rand Fishkin: 5 full days plus mornings and nights on the weekend.
• Aaron Wall: 6.5 to 7… mostly 7.
• Neil Patel: I work 7 days a week.
• Chris Pearson: Some weeks every day, and other weeks only a couple of days.
• Shawn Collins: 7, but lighter on the weekend.
• Yaro Stark: 7 days per week.
• Jonathan Volk: 6 days, plus a couple of hours on Sunday.
• Dan Schawbel: 7 days per week.
• Chris Garrett: 7 days per week.
• Collis Ta’eed: 5, but often times I work on weekends as well.
• Trent Hamm: I work at least a little every day of the week, so 7.

2. How many hours do you work, in total, every week?

• Darren Rowse: From 60 to 65.
• Rand Fishkin: Between 65 and 70, but some weeks as low as 55.
• Aaron Wall: 90+ hours typically, and often 100.
• Neil Patel: I work anywhere from 60 to 80 hours a week.
• Chris Pearson: I’ve definitely pulled my share of 80+ hour weeks, but to balance things out, I’ve also pulled my share of 20 hour weeks, too. As an average, I probably work 30—50 hours per week.
• Shawn Collins: Around 60 hours per week.
• Yaro Stark: In terms of productive output I probably do about 10-20 hours a week, but there’s plenty more time spent in front of the computer.
• Jonathan Volk: Around 60 hours per week.
• Dan Schawbel: I work approximately 110 hours per week depending if I’m traveling or not.
• Chris Garrett: As many as it takes. So up to 90 hours on some weeks, and only 50 on others.
• Collis Ta’eed: 40 to 60 hours usually.
• Trent Hamm: 40 to 45 hours.

Let that settle in for a moment. These folks work just as much as a traditional 9-5er, often more per week. Click the link and take a look at how many vacations they take a year… you’ll see that they don’t. They bring work with them to get a few things done even when taking it easier. I routinely work 70ish hours of week when I’m not teaching at Brightwood. The quarters that I am teaching at Brightwood, I pull 80 hour weeks for 10 weeks at a time.

The sacrifices that these folks make are astounding. Think about it. When was the last time you worked a 60 hour week? What did you give up?

Success comes with sustained sacrifice. When you have such lofty dreams and limited time, you learn to work smarter. You learn to choose things to do in your down time that really mean something to you, not mindless passage of time.

The sacrifices are worth it because what you keep matters vastly more.