Could This Be The Next Secret?
4-Hour Workweek climbing the charts …
Dear Business Builder,
Happy Friday! I’m actually writing this the day before I leave for a weeklong vacation in St. John. I’ve been working overtime checking things off my to-do list left and right.
And let me tell you, I need this vacation bad! I’ve been burning the midnight oil and am just about FRIED!
Keeping up with four very busy clients, two crazy kids, one active husband, one hyperactive dog and two seriously annoying old cats … plus running my own business is tough … and then sometime in between (usually between 3 – 6 a.m.) I write my weekly issue for In the ‘Net Trenches.
And I honestly don’t think I’m busier than most … one of my clients has four kids under seven … a multi-million dollar direct response business … and a full working cattle ranch!
Sheesh … who am I to complain!? He makes me look like I’m standing still!
So when a friend of mine recommended I check out a new book that’s climbing up the charts called The 4-Hour Workweek … it sounded right up my alley!
Get Rich Quick is Just Bull Patties!
… I would’ve chosen another word that
ends in T, but didn’t want to offend anyone!
I’ve been doing a lot of research lately … perhaps that’s why I’m a bit cranky. Research is all about planning … and I tend to be all about doing.
I’m looking for marketing opportunities for The Total Package. Looking for ways to introduce new subscribers and promote products. Pretty much the same as I do for all my clients.
The amazing thing to me is the shear volume of get rich and instant Internet income promotions on the web. It’s truly overwhelming.
Yet, the truth of the matter is building a successful business online or offline takes work … hard work.
Just talk to anyone that’s really doing it!
Yet, there seems to be a constant stream of cubicle dwellers just dying to escape the rat race … so never a shortage of customers for the get rich quick crowd.
Perhaps that’s what made “The Secret” such a hot phenomenon. The idea that all you have to do is think (okay I know it’s a little more complicated than that) and your world’s desires are yours for the taking. But, I’m here to tell you, it’s a little tougher than that.
I wanted to believe it was really possible
to work 4 hours a week …
I really, really wanted to bad!
So, before leaving on a recent trip to visit a client, I picked up the book The 4-Hour Workweek. The premise of the book is that you can build an Internet business, completely automate and outsource it, check e-mail once a week and collect the checks that support the lifestyle of a world traveler … essentially working 4 hours a week.
And Mr. Ferriss does a great job of explaining how he does it. With worksheets, exercises and the whole nine yards. A lot of his examples are actually really funny and had me laughing out loud. Especially how one writer (testing Mr. Ferriss’ outsourcing theories) outsourced his worry to an Indian virtual assistant.
Hey! Where can I get me one of those!? I worry … and lots! Well 4-Hour Workweek will tell you exactly how.
Mr. Feriss even explains how a corporate employee convinced his boss to let him telecommute and then proceeded to pack up his belongings and hit the road on a month long trip (without their knowledge) while working at stops along the way.
He even includes a script in the book so you can convince your boss too!
There are hundreds of glowing reviews for this book (and a few skeptics) and this is certainly headed up the best seller list … it’s currently at #20 on Amazon. Many people proclaim this book has completely changed their lives!
But, at what cost? I don’t know about you, but the most successful people I know work their asses off. Putting in long hours and sweating the small stuff. Yet Mr. Ferriss seems to consider that hard work for suckers.
It’s so easy to see why we fall
for these concepts
…
Don’t get me wrong, I really like this book and it is an eye opener. Tim Ferriss has a nice, conversational and down to earth style and I’m surprised (and delighted) by the shear number of bad words that got by his publisher.
At a mere 297 pages, it’s a really quick read.
But, I remain a skeptic …
There were a lot of ideas in the book (if you read between the lines) that I thought were really insightful.
He includes some really interesting information on Pareto’s Law which essentially says that 80% of the outputs result from 20% of the inputs. The example he uses is that Pareto discovered the law because he found that 80% of the peas from his garden were generated by 20% of the plants.
He perfectly illustrates the time wasters that consume our lives and offers great suggestions for how to start eliminating the 80%. These are all the day-to-day things keeping us from doing what’s truly important – the 20% that earns us the most money (or desired result).
He gives many examples that rectify this problem … that more than pay for the price of the book.
He also gives some excellent examples of how to research a niche online business – and having just completed our Information Marketing Superstars Teleseminar series recently – can say he has some interesting other resources to add to that topic.
Yet I still have trouble with the overriding theme that working 4 hours a week is as easy as he makes it sound. We want so much to believe there’s an easy solution to all that troubles us. There’s an easy solution to the bad decisions we’ve made that have gotten us into situations we now detest … just quit and go on vacation!
We all want a magic bullet …
Perhaps, it bothers me so much because I honestly just don’t believe it’s possible … really, what would I do with the 2 kids, the dog and the world’s two most annoying cats on an around the world trip!?
Tell me what you think?
Have you read the 4-Hour Workweek?
Can it be done or am I just old school?
I can’t wait to read your comments!
If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend you pick it up. It’s just a quick hop, skip and jump (plus $11.97) over to Amazon.com:
See you next week … I expect to be rested, tanned and ready to hit the ground running. I’ll even try to include some pics from my trip!
Until next week,
Julie McManus
Editor, In the ‘Net Trenches
THE TOTAL PACKAGE™
And Web Media Goddess
P.S. Are you in the ‘net trenches? Do you need help? Send
me an e-mail to AskJulie@MakepeaceTotalPackage.com and
I just might answer your question in an upcoming issue.
P.P.S. Have you checked out The Total Package affiliate program lately? We’ve added tons of new creative to help you earn cash on any new subscriber you refer and we’ve opened our archives up for the pilfering… Click Here to check it out NOW!
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10 Comments »
Join the Discussion!
Let us know what you think. Or ask us anything. Or offer your own sage advice.
The only rule: RESPECT THIS HOUSE! Postings that contain abusive language and/or personal attacks will be cheerfully VAPORIZED. One cross word and – POOF! – your well-thought-out post will be gone in a puff of smoke.
– Clayton
Comment by Lisa Packer — June 22, 2007 @ 7:59 am
I\’ve read this book – it was given to me by a client. And I\’ve tried some of the things Mr. Fariss suggests, including getting Brickwork to do some of my research. (They are FANTASTIC, BTW.)
That\’s basically the bottom line of his idea – pay other people to do just about everything. The reason he only checks email once a week (if that\’s true) is that he\’s empowered his employees to make decisions without his input.
But what happens when the people who aren\’t as emotionally invested in the success of your company make mistakes? And where is the passionate person who\’s going to come up with innovations and new ideas and strategies?
Can lackeys really keep your businesses growing?
My two cents would be that there are great ideas in this book, and it\’s no doubt possible to lessen all of our work loads with smarter management and good delegation, but working 4 hours a week just doesn\’t seem realistic over the long haul.
But you have to admit – it\’s a great headline. It got you to keep reading!
Comment by Dave Martin — June 22, 2007 @ 8:44 am
Look, I already work 4 long, hard hours a week. Who has time to read a book? When I\’m NOT working my (pinky) finger to the bone, my time is spent jockeying between golf courses (where I have people to hit the ball for me) and dictating my memoirs (no time to write) while reclining by the pool(where other people swim for me, of course). The last thing I have time for is reading some silly book. However, since you\’ve peaked my curiosity, I\’ve outsourced the reading of this book to one of my lackeys in Bombay and the interpretation of it to an associate in Mexico. Now, I guess all I need is someone to form an opinion for me have. DOH! Overtime!!!
Comment by Patricia Ogilvie — June 22, 2007 @ 9:09 am
Julie, you\’ve done a remarkable job reviewing this book. And your curiosity about its validity is genuine.
My opinion is this:
It smells borrowed. Michael Gerber revisted his E-Myth - that entrepreneurs could develop their businesses just like McDonalds. Entrepreneurs could live off the spoils of selling franchises that others (including kids) could run once the system was in place.
In fact, a friend of mine was so convinced she could replicate her business and just spend about 4 hours a week monitoring it - well, she\’s working her proverbial \”buns\” off!
Borrowed and old - personally I don\’t think there are any new ideas - just varied models of the old. And the only models any smart business person need emulate are those that are proven successes.
That\’s my story!
Thanks for the air time
Great Job Today!
Patricia
Comment by Alex Schleber — June 22, 2007 @ 9:59 am
… somewhere in the middle?
I am 2/3 through the book, and it certainly makes for an entertaining read due to the smart-yet-irreverent style.
As for the concepts, there is a lot of meat there, regardless of whether you think that working only 4 hours a week is possible or even desirable.
First, the kid is only 29 years old, so part of the travel bit has been a rather typical \”find yourself\” exercise, even though it of course makes for some enviable storytelling. And of course he is now working quite a bit more since the inception of his book and book launch. He might even be working his butt off for all we know.
Second, the concepts of the outsourcing to India are validated elsewhere, e.g. in Thomas Friedman\’s excellent \”The World is Flat\”, which is a much more in depth and substantial read on the topic of geoarbitrage, etc. Timothy just found an entertaining way to get it all across from his own example.
Next, he does say that he worked his butt off in the early phase of his business building. Now all of the advice presented for niche-picking, pre-manufacturing testing, etc. are very valid and worth their weight in gold, validated before by countless people such as Marlon Sanders, Rich Schefren, and even some contributors to the Total Package.
Next, if you\’re big on the 80/20 stuff as you should be, I recommend Richard Koch\’s seminal work on the topic, \”The 80/20 Principle\”. BTW, I have a blog post from a while back on just this topic that you might find of interest
[URL=http://www.bizpsychq.com/post/about-the-8020-rule]here.[/URL]
Lastly, I just heard Eben Pagan AKA David Deangelo talk at StomperNet Live #3 about how he built his little $20 Million/year info publishing business in the dating niche from the ground up with nothing but virtual assistants (apparently 80 or so by now), possible by avoiding one thing: Black Boxes.
Anything needs to be part of a replicable system, and no one, ideally not even you the owner gets to do things in a way that isn\’t transparent and could be picked up by a qualified person next week in case you or someone else had to take time off, etc.
(BTW, Gordon Bizar, a partner of Jay Abraham\’s and expert on leveraged-buyouts says that many times when buying a business, if success is rather dependent upon your expertise as the new owner, the seller might insist on or be assuaged by your taking out a large life-insurance policy with him/her as the beneficiary for that very reason.)
Read Rich Schefren\’s 3-Part Internet Business Manifesto on how NOT to build a business that becomes nothing but a job/trap for you, high-paying or not.
So, I\’d say overall I side with Mr. Ferriss, caveats about the \”for-controversy\’s-sake-over-the-top-style-and claims\” notwithstanding. If you\’ve read Ries/Trout on marketing, they named their best-seller books \”The [xx number] Immutable Laws of [xyz topic]\” for a reason… it works.
Best
- Alex
Comment by Richard — June 22, 2007 @ 10:36 am
In the first interview of \”9 Bootstrap Money makers …\” of Clayton by Daniel Levis, Clayton made it clear that when you are building your own business you need to effectively understand every phase of your company. One of his examples was Dr. Martin Weiss - mega-millionaire. Clayton indicated that if Dr. Weiss showed up at the office and if any one or all employees were absent he could effectively do the work necessary to keep it running! That has also been my experience and you can\’t do that on 4 hours a week!!
Comment by Scott Evans — June 22, 2007 @ 10:48 am
One of the points of the book is that you don\’t need to make millions to be happy. If you change your lifestyle and use \”geo-arbitrage\” you may only need ing your but off.\” So the book asks the important question as to why are you working so much? What is the ultimate goal? While not an original thought I thought it was an interesting and useful re-frame.
Comment by Markus — June 22, 2007 @ 1:01 pm
It`s possible to work only 4 hours a week and make a killing & enjoy your life.
I work 3 or 4 hrs a week, and make millions in income now.
But I don`t think you can start making millions right away working few hours a week.
It took me 5 years of hard work. Working like 20 hours a day 7 days a week. Absolutely no life except WORKING.
It takes time to build anything, and everything in life is hard in the beginning.
Just like selling Frontend product is tough, but selling backend is *easier*.
Once you create momentum everything gets easier and easier. In the end you don`t have to put the same amount of energy to produce the same result as the beginning.
Once you build customer List, and their trust in your company, you don`t have to write as much to sell a product.
Once you build royal motivated team, employees, you don`t have to tell them what to do everysecond to get the job done. You won`t have to manage them.
My point: Maintenance is easier, but Growth is harder.
So \\\”4 hrs work week\\\” is possible. But it all depends on until when do you wanna grow, and when do you wanna get into maintenance zone.
If you want to keep on growing then it certainly is not possible to work only couple of hrs and expect massive growth.
I think point Tim Ferriss wants to make is \\\”making money\\\” is not the ONLY thing we are to do in this life. So once you build momentum and be able to do other things for fun without thinking too much about the cost of doing so, start doing other stuff other than \\\”making money\\\”.
I think.
For me, work is also fun, so I keep on working, but not as much as before. Now trying to do other stuff that I was neglecting.
My suggestion: sacrifice few years to get to the level you no longer have to worry about money. Then start fooling around. You cannot really enjoy fun stuff if you have to worry about bills.
Ciao!
Comment by Lou Schuyler — June 22, 2007 @ 3:23 pm
Sure you can make millions working 4 hours per week. Pick the 4 hours you want to call \”work\” and call the other 80 to 100 hours something else.
Comment by Chris Freeman — June 22, 2007 @ 4:33 pm
Well, here\’s my 2 cents …
I thought it was an excellent book. I\’ve been putting in about 60-80 hours a week for MANY years and this book gave me a gentle reminder that not everything that is important can be found in a bank!
I\’ve decided to devote 4 hours a week to my grand-daughters. (Hope I can handle the withdrawals!)
Buy it, read it and use what you can. There\’s some real gold here. Good job Tim!
Comment by Tony Gedge Marketing Pirate — June 25, 2007 @ 3:31 am
It\’s quite interesting about the \”myth\” of earning more and working less.
I used to run a programme on this topic and had to walk the walk.
But working 4 days a week wa still hard!
Infact of lot of his ideas we have implemented in our existing business!
Moving to Spain from the UK over 3 years ago we had to outsource all our admin, tele-sales, design, fullfillment etc.
We have virtual telesales workers who work from home.
But we had to develop an online CRM System for our team, ourselves and suppliers.
We use VA\’s and outsource to an office in the UK while we TRY and lig about the swimming pool.
NOTE: You have to have an existing business to shift from being there to being remotely there.
More successful you are- more work. Even if you have to outsource.
India?
Well we use all sorts of suplliers through elance and rentacoder.
Some appauling some GREAT!
Build it first and they will come; is my motto.
From my pda- can hear the kids in the pool but I am still in the office