The Four-Hour Workweek

[Stoic]

ALCON,

Not sure if it's been brought up on WT before, but The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss is a GREAT book for aspiring entrepreneurs.

I personally find Tim Ferriss to be annoying, and I realize that I would probably hate his commie guts in person, but the book has a lot of undeniably good points. If you're still on the fence about taking the plunge and going into business for yourself, it will go a long ways toward kicking you off the fence. It also gives in-depth advice and plans for starting a business for very little initial investment, and automating it to a large degree so you don't have to micromanage every aspect yourself.

I've read a lot of business/entrepreneurship books, and this is by far the best I've seen. Seriously, if you even think you might be interested in starting a business, do yourself a favor and read this book.

It finally goaded me into action after a decades of idle thought about starting a business. My ebiz is just about ready to launch, and I'd be happy to answer questions or offer advice (for what little I've done so far) to anyone here, although I'm sure there are others here with far more experience in ebusiness and business in general than myself.

[JPourciau]

Tim Ferris may not be as commie as you may think... I suspect he lives where he does mainly for the business opportunities available to him and the lifestyle that he pursues and can afford... His latest book, the Four Hour Chef, is an excellent read with lots of good recipes, techniques, and gear reviews. It is much more than a treatise on cooking or just a simple cookbook. He became a gun owner in the writing of that book, and went through the process of learning to hunt and procure food from the wild (albeit with a guide...) I also think that he enjoys a rather bon vivant lifestyle. I've also read the Four Hour Body, and found that it too held some good information. I'll grant you that he is annoying at times, but you can't deny his success.

Good luck with your new business!

[Shoot Bricks]

Tim Ferris puts out some good stuff, but you do have to approach his material with some skepticism. He is great at marketing, and some of his information borders on dishonesty. For example, in one of his books he describes some outlandish poundage that he was able to put on his deadlift in a very short time. But, if you read the footnote, he is comparing a full deadlift from the floor to a partial range of motion rack pull. This is apples to oranges, and he's counting on most people not knowing that. He also describes an experiment that he did, where he put on a massive amount of muscle in a very short time. What he does not tell you is that before the experiment, he intentionally lost as much muscle as possible to make the numbers look impressive. Everyone knows that regaining muscle that you intentionally just lost is incredibly easy.

These examples aren't from 4HWW, but I am sure that he is applying the same techniques of exaggeration across the board. It makes for great books sales. There is also good information in there, but you need to tone down expectations from his claims.

[michael]

I like his material a lot, and no doubt he is a very smart guy and his books are very informative and worth reading. He is very good at marketing, and kudos to him for that. He does live a very bon vivant lifestyle, and everything he does is strategic. I've read the 4HWW and 4HB, and liked them both.

For some good solid business information, read The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman. Excellent primer on business and basically the same info you get in earning an MBA for the cost of a book.

[Stoic]

Tim Ferris may not be as commie as you may think

Maybe not technically...clearly he has some understanding of how the free market works. However, when he has a picture on his blog of himself standing next to the zero-in-chief, grinning like an idiot, it's not hard to guess where he stands.


Tim Ferris puts out some good stuff, but you do have to approach his material with some skepticism.

Very true. He is a relentless self-promoter, and I can't help but be very skeptical of a lot of what he claims. Nonetheless, there is still a lot of good stuff in his books.


For some good solid business information, read The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman. Excellent primer on business and basically the same info you get in earning an MBA for the cost of a book.

Thanks for the tip. I've heard of it, and planned on reading it, but I'll have to bump it up the list.

[Eskrimaworks]

I think that the really impressive thing about 4HWW is how Ferris was able to create demand for a product that nobody knew they really wanted. He's great at marketing himself/reinventing himself & getting people fired up. The only problem I see is that many people have tried to apply the 4HWW model as a formula and have been disappointed with the results, then given up shortly afterwards.

If you take a step back and contrast what Ferris originally did with what he's doing now, you get a more complete picture. The marketplace is flooded with small dropship entrepreneurs, thus it's hard to compete. Ferris himself has moved on to other projects; He's now recruiting accredited investors for startup companies he's especially interested in.

He also warns potential investors, "Startups are speculative, and this is gambling. You shouldn’t invest anything you’re not comfortable kissing goodbye. Treat it as casino money. If you are going to invest in startups despite this high risk, plan on building a portfolio of dozens, very slowly and carefully. This should be just one of many."

This isn't meant as a criticism, just a factual statement regarding a very smart businessman. There are many lessons one can learn from Ferris, most notably the importance of adapting to an ever changing marketplace.

A close friend of mine started an online business using the 4HWW model; it didn't do so well. However, it taught him a LOT about running his own business and he started a blog that was directly related to his online products. As a result of this experiment he first became a freelance writer/reviewer for a few magazines and is now writing full-time. He also took Ferris' recommendation to try to meet a famous/successful person and decided he would pursue a mentorship with Tim Ferris himself. 4 months later he met Ferris for their first 1-on-1 goal setting meeting.

Stoic,
I will not dissuade you from pursuing this goal; instead I will encourage you to keep your mind open to potentially unforeseen opportunities that will come as a result of starting down this path.

VR,
Eskrimaworks