fourHourWorkWeek PDF
fourHourWorkWeek PDF
fourHourWorkWeek PDF
“Stunning and amazing. From mini-retirements to outsourcing your life, it’s all
here. Whether you’re a wage slave or a Fortune 500 CEO, this book will change
your life!”
—PHIL TOWN, New York Times bestselling author of Rule #1
“The 4-Hour Workweek is a new way of solving a very old problem: just how
can we work to live and prevent our lives from being all about work? A world
of infinite options awaits those who would read this book and be inspired by it!”
—MICHAEL E. GERBER, founder and chairman of E-Myth Worldwide and the
world’s #1 small business guru
“Timothy has packed more lives into his 29 years than Steve Jobs has in his
51.”
—TOM FOREMSKI, journalist and publisher of SiliconValleyWatcher.com
“If you want to live life on your own terms, this is your blueprint.”
—MIKE MAPLES, cofounder of Motive Communications (IPO to $260M market
cap) and founding executive of Tivoli (sold to IBM for $750M)
“Thanks to Tim Ferriss, I have more time in my life to travel, spend time with
family, and write book blurbs. This is a dazzling and highly useful work.”
—A. J. JACOBS, editor-at-large of Esquire magazine and author of The Know-It-
All
“Tim is Indiana Jones for the digital age. I’ve already used his advice to go
spearfishing on remote islands and ski the best hidden slopes of Argentina.
Simply put, do what he says and you can live like a millionaire.”
—ALBERT POPE, derivatives specialist at UBS World Headquarters
“Reading this book is like putting a few zeros on your income. Tim brings
lifestyle to a new level—listen to him!”
—MICHAEL D. KERLIN, McKinsey & Company consultant to Bush-Clinton
Katrina Fund and a J. William Fulbright Scholar
“Part scientist and part adventure hunter, Tim Ferriss has created a road map for
an entirely new world. I devoured this book in one sitting—I have seen nothing
like it.”
—CHARLES L. BROCK, chairman and CEO of Brock Capital Group; former
CFO, COO, and general counsel of Scholastic, Inc.; and former president of the
Harvard Law School Association
“Outsourcing is no longer just for Fortune 500 companies. Small and mid-sized
firms, as well as busy professionals, can outsource their work to increase their
productivity and free time for more important commitments. It’s time for the
world to take advantage of this revolution.”
—VIVEK KULKARNI, CEO of Brickwork India and former IT secretary of
Bangalore; credited as the “techno-bureaucrat” who helped make Bangalore an
IT destination in India
“Tim is the master! I should know. I followed his rags to riches path and
watched him transform himself from competitive fighter to entrepreneur. He
tears apart conventional assumptions until he finds a better way.”
—DAN PARTLAND, Emmy Award–winning producer of American High and
Welcome to the Dollhouse
“If you want to live your dreams now, and not in 20 or 30 years, buy this book!”
—LAURA RODEN, chairman of the Silicon Valley Association of Startup
Entrepreneurs and a lecturer in Corporate Finance at San Jose State University
“With this kind of time management and focus on the important things in life,
people should be able to get 15 times as much done in a normal workweek.”
—TIM DRAPER, founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, financiers to innovators
including Hotmail, Skype, and Overture.com
“Tim has done what most people only dream of doing. I can’t believe he is
going to let his secrets out of the bag. This book is a must read!”
—STEPHEN KEY, top inventor and team designer of Teddy Ruxpin and Lazer
Tag and a consultant to the television show American Inventor
For my parents,
DONALD AND FRANCES FERRISS,
who taught a little hellion that marching to a different drummer
was a good thing. I love you both and owe you everything.
CONTENTS
BONUS MATERIAL
How to Get $250,000 of Advertising for $10,000
How to Learn Any Language in 3 Months
Muse Math: Predicting the Revenue of Any Product
Licensing: From Tae Bo to Teddy Ruxpin
Real Licensing Agreement with Real Dollars
Online Round-the-World (RTW) Trip Planner
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T he 4-Hour Workweek has now been sold into 35 languages. It’s been on the
bestseller lists for more than two years, and every month brings a new story and a new
discovery.
From the Economist to the cover of the New York Times Style section, from the
streets of Dubai to the cafes of Berlin, lifestyle design has cut across cultures to
become a worldwide movement. The original ideas of the book have been broken
apart, improved, and tested in environments and ways I never could have imagined.
So why the new edition if things are working so well? Because I knew it could be
better, and there was a missing ingredient: you.
This expanded and updated edition contains more than 100 pages of new content,
including the latest cutting-edge technologies, field-tested resources, and—most
important—real-world success stories chosen from more than 400 pages of case
studies submitted by readers.
Families and students? CEOs and professional vagabonds? Take your pick. There
should be someone whose results you can duplicate. Need a template to negotiate
remote work, a paid year in Argentina, perhaps? This time, it’s in here.
The Experiments in Lifestyle Design blog (www.fourhourblog.com) was launched
alongside the book, and within six months, it became one of the top 1,000 blogs in the
world, out of more than 120 million. Thousands of readers have shared their own
amazing tools and tricks, producing phenomenal and unexpected results. The blog
became the laboratory I’d always wanted, and I encourage you to join us there.
The new “Best of the Blog” section includes several of the most popular posts from
the Experiments in Lifestyle Design blog. On the blog itself, you can also find
recommendations from everyone from Warren Buffett (seriously, I tracked him down
and show you how I did it) to chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin. It’s an experimental
playground for those who want better results in less time.
Not “Revised”
T his is not a “revised” edition in the sense that the original no longer works. The
typos and small mistakes have been fixed over more than 40 printings in the U.S. This
is the first major overhaul, but not for the reason you’d expect.
Things have changed dramatically since April 2007. Banks are failing, retirement
and pension funds are evaporating, and jobs are being lost at record rates. Readers and
skeptics alike have asked: Can the principles and techniques in the book really still
work in an economic recession or depression?
Yes and yes.
In fact, questions I posed during pre-crash lectures, including “How would your
priorities and decisions change if you could never retire?” are no longer hypothetical.
Millions of people have seen their savings portfolios fall 40% or more in value and are
now looking for options C and D. Can they redistribute retirement throughout life to
make it more affordable? Can they relocate a few months per year to a place like
Costa Rica or Thailand to multiply the lifestyle output of their decreased savings? Sell
their services to companies in the UK to earn in a stronger currency? The answer to all
of them is, more than ever, yes.
The concept of lifestyle design as a replacement for multi-staged career planning is
sound. It’s more flexible and allows you to test different lifestyles without committing
to a 10- or 20-year retirement plan that can fail due to market fluctuations outside of
your control. People are open to exploring alternatives (and more forgiving of others
who do the same), as many of the other options—the once “safe” options—have
failed.
When everything and everyone is failing, what is the cost of a little experimentation
outside of the norm? Most often, nothing. Flash forward to 2011; is a job interviewer
asking about that unusual gap year?
“Everyone was getting laid off and I had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to travel
around the world. It was incredible.”
If anything, they’ll ask you how to do the same. The scripts in this book still work.
Facebook and LinkedIn launched in the post-2000 dot-com “depression.” Other
recession-born babies include Monopoly, Apple, Cliff Bar, Scrabble, KFC, Domino’s
Pizza, FedEx, and Microsoft. This is no coincidence, as economic downturns produce
discounted infrastructure, outstanding freelancers at bargain prices, and rock-bottom
advertising deals—all impossible when everyone is optimistic.
Whether a yearlong sabbatical, a new business idea, reengineering your life within
the corporate beast, or dreams you’ve postponed for “some day,” there has never been
a better time for testing the uncommon.
What’s the worst that could happen?
I encourage you to remember this often-neglected question as you begin to see the
infinite possibilities outside of your current comfort zone. This period of collective
panic is your big chance to dabble.
It’s been an honor to share the last two years with incredible readers around the
world, and I hope you enjoy this new edition as much as I enjoyed putting it together.
I am, and will continue to be, a humble student of you all.
Un abrazo fuerte,
TIM FERRISS
I s lifestyle design for you? Chances are good that it is. Here are some of the most
common doubts and fears that people have before taking the leap and joining the New
Rich:
Do I have to quit or hate my job? Do I have to be a risk-taker?
No on all three counts. From using Jedi mind tricks to disappear from the office to
designing businesses that finance your lifestyle, there are paths for every comfort
level. How does a Fortune 500 employee explore the hidden jewels of China for a
month and use technology to cover his tracks? How do you create a hands-off
business that generates $80K per month with no management? It’s all here.
Do I have to be a single twenty-something?
Not at all. This book is for anyone who is sick of the deferred-life plan and wants to
live life large instead of postpone it. Case studies range from a Lamborghini-driving
21-year-old to a single mother who traveled the world for five months with her two
children. If you’re sick of the standard menu of options and prepared to enter a world
of infinite options, this book is for you.
Do I have to travel? I just want more time.
No. It’s just one option. The objective is to create freedom of time and place and
use both however you want.
Do I need to be born rich?
No. My parents have never made more than $50,000 per year combined, and I’ve
worked since age 14. I’m no Rockefeller and you needn’t be either.
Do I need to be an Ivy League graduate?
Nope. Most of the role models in this book didn’t go to the Harvards of the world,
and some are dropouts. Top academic institutions are wonderful, but there are
unrecognized benefits to not coming out of one. Grads from top schools are funneled
into high-income 80-hour-per-week jobs, and 15–30 years of soul-crushing work has
been accepted as the default path. How do I know? I’ve been there and seen the
destruction. This book reverses it.
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause
and reflect.
—MARK TWAIN
Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.
—OSCAR WILDE, Irish dramatist and novelist
THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL of American questions is hard for me to answer these days,
and luckily so. If it weren’t, you wouldn’t be holding this book in your hands.
“So, what do you do?”
Assuming you can find me (hard to do), and depending on when you ask me (I’d
prefer you didn’t), I could be racing motorcycles in Europe, scuba diving off a private
island in Panama, resting under a palm tree between kickboxing sessions in Thailand,
or dancing tango in Buenos Aires. The beauty is, I’m not a multimillionaire, nor do I
particularly care to be.
I never enjoyed answering this cocktail question because it reflects an epidemic I
was long part of: job descriptions as self-descriptions. If someone asks me now and is
anything but absolutely sincere, I explain my lifestyle of mysterious means simply.
“I’m a drug dealer.”
Pretty much a conversation ender. It’s only half true, besides. The whole truth
would take too long. How can I possibly explain that what I do with my time and what
I do for money are completely different things? That I work less than four hours per
week and make more per month than I used to make in a year?
For the first time, I’m going to tell you the real story. It involves a quiet subculture
of people called the “New Rich.”
What does an igloo-dwelling millionaire do that a cubicle-dweller doesn’t? Follow
an uncommon set of rules.
How does a lifelong blue-chip employee escape to travel the world for a month
without his boss even noticing? He uses technology to hide the fact.
Gold is getting old. The New Rich (NR) are those who abandon the deferred-life
plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich:
time and mobility. This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design
(LD).
I’ve spent the last three years traveling among those who live in worlds currently
beyond your imagination. Rather than hating reality, I’ll show you how to bend it to
your will. It’s easier than it sounds. My journey from grossly overworked and severely
underpaid office worker to member of the NR is at once stranger than fiction and—
now that I’ve deciphered the code—simple to duplicate. There is a recipe.
Life doesn’t have to be so damn hard. It really doesn’t. Most people, my past self
included, have spent too much time convincing themselves that life has to be hard, a
resignation to 9-to-5 drudgery in exchange for (sometimes) relaxing weekends and the
occasional keep-it-short-or-get-fired vacation.
The truth, at least the truth I live and will share in this book, is quite different. From
leveraging currency differences to outsourcing your life and disappearing, I’ll show
you how a small underground uses economic sleight-of-hand to do what most consider
impossible.
If you’ve picked up this book, chances are that you don’t want to sit behind a desk
until you are 62. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, real-life fantasy travel,
long-term wandering, setting world records, or simply a dramatic career change, this
book will give you all the tools you need to make it a reality in the here-and-now
instead of in the often elusive “retirement.” There is a way to get the rewards for a life
of hard work without waiting until the end.
How? It begins with a simple distinction most people miss—one I missed for 25
years.
People don’t want to be millionaires—they want to experience what they believe
only millions can buy. Ski chalets, butlers, and exotic travel often enter the picture.
Perhaps rubbing cocoa butter on your belly in a hammock while you listen to waves
rhythmically lapping against the deck of your thatched-roof bungalow? Sounds nice.
$1,000,000 in the bank isn’t the fantasy. The fantasy is the lifestyle of complete
freedom it supposedly allows. The question is then, How can one achieve the
millionaire lifestyle of complete freedom without first having $1,000,000?
In the last five years, I have answered this question for myself, and this book will
answer it for you. I will show you exactly how I have separated income from time and
created my ideal lifestyle in the process, traveling the world and enjoying the best this
planet has to offer. How on earth did I go from 14-hour days and $40,000 per year to
4-hour weeks and $40,000-plus per month?
It helps to know where it all started. Strangely enough, it was in a class of soon-to-
be investment bankers.
In 2002, I was asked by Ed Zschau, übermentor and my former professor of High-
tech Entrepreneurship at Princeton University, to come back and speak to the same
class about my business adventures in the real world. I was stuck. There were already
decamillionaires speaking to the same class, and even though I had built a highly
profitable sports supplement company, I marched to a distinctly different drummer.
Over the ensuing days, however, I realized that everyone seemed to be discussing
how to build large and successful companies, sell out, and live the good life. Fair
enough. The question no one really seemed to be asking or answering was, Why do it
all in the first place? What is the pot of gold that justifies spending the best years of
your life hoping for happiness in the last?
The lectures I ultimately developed, titled “Drug Dealing for Fun and Profit,” began
with a simple premise: Test the most basic assumptions of the work-life equation.
I should note that most bosses are less than pleased if you spend one hour in the
office each day, and employees should therefore read the steps in the entrepreneurially
minded DEAL order but implement them as DELA. If you decide to remain in your
current job, it is necessary to create freedom of location before you cut your work
hours by 80%. Even if you have never considered becoming an entrepreneur in the
modern sense, the DEAL process will turn you into an entrepreneur in the purer sense
as first coined by French economist J. B. Say in 1800—one who shifts economic
resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher yield.
Last but not least, much of what I recommend will seem impossible and even
offensive to basic common sense—I expect that. Resolve now to test the concepts as
an exercise in lateral thinking. If you try it, you’ll see just how deep the rabbit hole
goes, and you won’t ever go back.
Take a deep breath and let me show you my world. And remember—tranquilo. It’s
time to have fun and let the rest follow.
TIM FERRISS
Tokyo, Japan
September 29, 2006
1. Uncommon terms are defined throughout this book as concepts are introduced. If
something is unclear or you need a quick reference, please visit
www.fourhourblog.com for an extensive glossary and other resources.
CHRONOLOGY OF A PATHOLOGY
An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a
very narrow field.
—NIELS BOHR, Danish physicist and Nobel Prize winner
Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely
stupid.
—HEINRICH HEINE, German critic and poet
T his book will teach you the precise principles I have used to become the
following:
1977 Born 6 weeks premature and given a 10% chance of living. I survive instead
and grow so fat that I can’t roll onto my stomach. A muscular imbalance of the eyes
makes me look in opposite directions, and my mother refers to me affectionately as
“tuna fish.” So far so good.
1983 Nearly fail kindergarten because I refuse to learn the alphabet. My teacher
refuses to explain why I should learn it, opting instead for “I’m the teacher—that’s
why.” I tell her that’s stupid and ask her to leave me alone so I can focus on drawing
sharks. She sends me to the “bad table” instead and makes me eat a bar of soap.
Disdain for authority begins.
1991 My first job. Ah, the memories. I’m hired for minimum wage as the cleaner at
an ice cream parlor and quickly realize that the big boss’s methods duplicate effort. I
do it my way, finish in one hour instead of eight, and spend the rest of the time
reading kung-fu magazines and practicing karate kicks outside. I am fired in a record
three days, left with the parting comment, “Maybe someday you’ll understand the
value of hard work.” It seems I still don’t.
1993 I volunteer for a one-year exchange program in Japan, where people work
themselves to death—a phenomenon called karooshi—and are said to want to be
Shinto when born, Christian when married, and Buddhist when they die. I conclude
that most people are really confused about life. One evening, intending to ask my host
mother to wake me the next morning (okosu), I ask her to violently rape me (okasu).
She is very confused.
1996 I manage to slip undetected into Princeton, despite SAT scores 40% lower
than the average and my high school admissions counselor telling me to be more
“realistic.” I conclude I’m just not good at reality. I major in neuroscience and then
switch to East Asian studies to avoid putting printer jacks on cat heads.
1997 Millionaire time! I create an audiobook called How I Beat the Ivy League, use
all my money from three summer jobs to manufacture 500 tapes, and proceed to sell
exactly none. I will allow my mother to throw them out only in 2006, just nine years
of denial later. Such is the joy of baseless overconfidence.
1998 After four shot-putters kick a friend’s head in, I quit bouncing, the highest-
paying job on campus, and develop a speed-reading seminar. I plaster campus with
hundreds of god-awful neon green flyers that read, “triple your reading speed in 3
hours!” and prototypical Princeton students proceed to write “bullsh*t” on every
single one. I sell 32 spots at $50 each for the 3-hour event, and $533 per hour
convinces me that finding a market before designing a product is smarter than the
reverse. Two months later, I’m bored to tears of speed-reading and close up shop. I
hate services and need a product to ship.
Fall 1998 A huge thesis dispute and the acute fear of becoming an investment
banker drive me to commit academic suicide and inform the registrar that I am
quitting school until further notice. My dad is convinced that I’ll never go back, and
I’m convinced that my life is over. My mom thinks it’s no big deal and that there is no
need to be a drama queen.
Spring 1999 In three months, I accept and quit jobs as a curriculum designer at
Berlitz, the world’s largest publisher of foreign-language materials, and as an analyst
at a three-person political asylum research firm. Naturally, I then fly to Taiwan to
create a gym chain out of thin air and get shut down by Triads, Chinese mafia. I return
to the U.S. defeated and decide to learn kickboxing, winning the national
championship four weeks later with the ugliest and most unorthodox style ever
witnessed.
Fall 2000 Confidence restored and thesis completely undone, I return to Princeton.
My life does not end, and it seems the yearlong delay has worked out in my favor.
Twenty-somethings now have David Koresh–like abilities. My friend sells a company
for $450 million, and I decide to head west to sunny California to make my billions.
Despite the hottest job market in the history of the world, I manage to go jobless until
three months after graduation, when I pull out my trump card and send one start-up
CEO 32 consecutive e-mails. He finally gives in and puts me in sales.
Spring 2001 TrueSAN Networks has gone from a 15-person nobody to the
“number one privately held data storage company” (how is that measured?) with 150
employees (what are they all doing?). I am ordered by a newly appointed sales
director to “start with A” in the phone book and dial for dollars. I ask him in the most
tactful way possible why we are doing it like retards. He says, “Because I say so.” Not
a good start.
Fall 2001 After a year of 12-hour days, I find out that I’m the second-lowest-paid
person in the company aside from the receptionist. I resort to aggressively surfing the
web full-time. One afternoon, having run out of obscene video clips to forward, I
investigate how hard it would be to start a sports nutrition company. Turns out that
you can outsource everything from manufacturing to ad design. Two weeks and
$5,000 of credit card debt later, I have my first batch in production and a live website.
Good thing, too, as I’m fired exactly one week later.
2002–2003 BrainQUICKEN LLC has taken off, and I’m now making more than
$40K per month instead of $40K per year. The only problem is that I hate life and
now work 12-hour-plus days 7 days a week. Kinda painted myself into a corner. I take
a one-week “vacation” to Florence, Italy, with my family and spend 10 hours a day in
an Internet café freaking out. Sh*t balls. I begin teaching Princeton students how to
build “successful” (i.e., profitable) companies.
Winter 2004 The impossible happens and I’m approached by an infomercial
production company and an Israeli conglomerate (huh?) interested in buying my baby
BrainQUICKEN. I simplify, eliminate, and otherwise clean house to make myself
expendable. Miraculously, BQ doesn’t fall apart, but both deals do. Back to
Groundhog Day. Soon thereafter, both companies attempt to replicate my product and
lose millions of dollars.
June 2004 I decide that, even if my company implodes, I need to escape before I go
Howard Hughes. I turn everything upside down and—backpack in hand—go to JFK
Airport in New York City, buying the first one-way ticket to Europe I can find. I land
in London and intend to continue on to Spain for four weeks of recharging my
batteries before returning to the salt mines. I start my relaxation by promptly having a
nervous breakdown the first morning.
July 2004–2005 Four weeks turn into eight, and I decide to stay overseas
indefinitely for a final exam in automation and experimental living, limiting e-mail to
one hour each Monday morning. As soon as I remove myself as a bottleneck, profits
increase 40%. What on earth do you do when you no longer have work as an excuse to
be hyperactive and avoid the big questions? Be terrified and hold on to your ass with
both hands, apparently.
September 2006 I return to the U.S. in an odd, Zen-like state after methodically
destroying all of my assumptions about what can and cannot be done. “Drug Dealing
for Fun and Profit” has evolved into a class on ideal lifestyle design. The new message
is simple: I’ve seen the promised land, and there is good news. You can have it all.
Step I:
D is for Definition
Reality is merely an illusion,
albeit a very persistent one .
— ALBERT EINSTEIN
I also have in mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished
class of all, who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get
rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or silver fetters.
— HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817–1862)
H is friends, drunk to the point of speaking in tongues, were asleep. It was just the
two of us now in first-class. He extended his hand to introduce himself, and an
enormous—Looney Tunes enormous—diamond ring appeared from the ether as his
fingers crossed under my reading light.
Mark was a legitimate magnate. He had, at different times, run practically all the
gas stations, convenience stores, and gambling in South Carolina. He confessed with a
half smile that, in an average trip to Sin City, he and his fellow weekend warriors
might lose an average of $500,000 to $1,000,000—each. Nice.
He sat up in his seat as the conversation drifted to my travels, but I was more
interested in his astounding record of printing money.
“So, of all your businesses, which did you like the most?”
The answer took less than a second of thought.
“None of them.”
He explained that he had spent more than 30 years with people he didn’t like to buy
things he didn’t need. Life had become a succession of trophy wives—he was on
lucky number three—expensive cars, and other empty bragging rights. Mark was one
of the living dead.
This is exactly where we don’t want to end up.
S o, what makes the difference? What separates the New Rich, characterized by
options, from the Deferrers (D), those who save it all for the end only to find that life
has passed them by?
It begins at the beginning. The New Rich can be separated from the crowd based on
their goals, which reflect very distinct priorities and life philosophies.
Note how subtle differences in wording completely change the necessary actions for
fulfilling what at a glance appear to be similar goals. These are not limited to business
owners. Even the first, as I will show later, applies to employees.
D: To work for yourself.
NR: To have others work for you.
D: To have more.
NR: To have more quality and less clutter. To have huge financial reserves but recognize
that most material wants are justifications for spending time on the things that don’t
really matter, including buying things and preparing to buy things. You spent two
weeks negotiating your new Infiniti with the dealership and got $10,000 off? That’s
great. Does your life have a purpose? Are you contributing anything useful to this
world, or just shuffling papers, banging on a keyboard, and coming home to a
drunken existence on the weekends?
D: To reach the big pay-off, whether IPO, acquisition, retirement, or other pot of gold.
NR: To think big but ensure payday comes every day: cash flow first, big payday second.
E nough is enough. Lemmings no more. The blind quest for cash is a fool’s errand.
I’ve chartered private planes over the Andes, enjoyed many of the best wines in the
world in between world-class ski runs, and lived like a king, lounging by the infinity
pool of a private villa. Here’s the little secret I rarely tell: It all cost less than rent in
the U.S. If you can free your time and location, your money is automatically worth 3–
10 times as much.
This has nothing to do with currency rates. Being financially rich and having the
ability to live like a millionaire are fundamentally two very different things.
Money is multiplied in practical value depending on the number of W’s you control
in your life: what you do, when you do it, where you do it, and with whom you do it.
I call this the “freedom multiplier.”
Using this as our criterion, the 80-hour-per-week, $500,000-per-year investment
banker is less “powerful” than the employed NR who works ¼ the hours for $40,000,
but has complete freedom of when, where, and how to live. The former’s $500,000
may be worth less than $40,000 and the latter’s $40,000 worth more than $500,000
when we run the numbers and look at the lifestyle output of their money.
Options—the ability to choose—is real power. This book is all about how to see
and create those options with the least effort and cost. It just so happens,
paradoxically, that you can make more money—a lot more money—by doing half of
what you are doing now.
So, Who Are the NR?
The employee who rearranges his schedule and
negotiates a remote work agreement to achieve 90%
of the results in one-tenth of the time, which frees
him to practice cross-country skiing and take road
trips with his family two weeks per month.
The business owner who eliminates the least
profitable customers and projects, outsources all
operations entirely, and travels the world collecting
rare documents, all while working remotely on a
website to showcase her own illustration work.
The student who elects to risk it all—which is
nothing—to establish an online video rental service
that delivers $5,000 per month in income from a
small niche of Blu-ray aficionados, a two-hour-per-
week side project that allows him to work full-time
as an animal rights lobbyist.
The options are limitless, but each path begins with the same first step: replacing
assumptions.
To join the movement, you will need to learn a new lexicon and recalibrate
direction using a compass for an unusual world. From inverting responsibility to
jettisoning the entire concept of “success,” we need to change the rules.
TURIN, ITALY
Civilization had too many rules for me, so I did my best to rewrite them.
—BILL COSBY
A s he rotated 360 degrees through the air, the deafening noise turned to silence.
Dale Begg-Smith executed the backflip perfectly—skis crossed in an X over his
head—and landed in the record books as he slid across the finish.
It was February 16, 2006, and he was now a mogul-skiing gold medalist at the
Turin Winter Olympics. Unlike other full-time athletes, he will never have to return to
a dead-end job after his moment of glory, nor will he look back at this day as the
climax of his only passion. After all, he was only 21 years old and drove a black
Lamborghini.
Born a Canadian and something of a late bloomer, Dale found his calling, an
Internet-based IT company, at the age of 13. Fortunately, he had a more-experienced
mentor and partner to guide him: his 15-year-old brother, Jason. Created to fund their
dreams of standing atop the Olympic podium, it would, only two years later, become
the third-largest company of its kind in the world.
While Dale’s teammates were hitting the slopes for extra sessions, he was often
buying sake for clients in Tokyo. In a world of “work harder, not smarter,” it came to
pass that his coaches felt he was spending too much time on his business and not
enough time in training, despite his results.
Rather than choose between his business or his dream, Dale chose to move laterally
with both, from either/or to both/and. He wasn’t spending too much time on his
business; he and his brother were spending too much time with Canucks.
In 2002, they moved to the ski capital of the world, Australia, where the team was
smaller, more flexible, and coached by a legend. Three short years later, he received
citizenship, went head-to-head against former teammates, and became the third
“Aussie” in history to win winter gold.
In the land of wallabies and big surf, Dale has since gone postal. Literally. Right
next to the Elvis Presley commemorative edition, you can buy stamps with his face on
them.
Fame has its perks, as does looking outside the choices presented to you. There are
always lateral options.
NEW CALEDOINA, SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN
Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in
life.
—JOHN F. KENNEDY
S ome people remain convinced that just a bit more money will make things right.
Their goals are arbitrary moving targets: $300,000 in the bank, $1,000,000 in the
portfolio, $100,000 a year instead of $50,000, etc. Julie’s goal made intrinsic sense:
come back with the same number of children she had left with.
She reclined in her seat and glanced across the aisle past her sleeping husband,
Marc, counting as she had done thousands of times—one, two, three. So far so good.
In 12 hours, they would all be back in Paris, safe and sound. That was assuming the
plane from New Caledonia held together, of course.
New Caledonia?
Nestled in the tropics of the Coral Sea, New Caledonia was a French territory and
where Julie and Marc had just sold the sailboat that took them 15,000 miles around the
world. Of course, recouping their initial investment had been part of the plan. All said
and done, their 15-month exploration of the globe, from the gondola-rich waterways
of Venice to the tribal shores of Polynesia, had cost between $18,000 and $19,000.
Less than rent and baguettes in Paris.
Most people would consider this impossible. Then again, most people don’t know
that more than 300 families set sail from France each year to do the same.
The trip had been a dream for almost two decades, relegated to the back of the line
behind an ever-growing list of responsibilities. Each passing moment brought a new
list of reasons for putting it off. One day, Julie realized that if she didn’t do it now, she
would never do it. The rationalizations, legitimate or not, would just continue to add
up and make it harder to convince herself that escape was possible.
One year of preparation and one 30-day trial run with her husband later, they set
sail on the trip of a lifetime. Julie realized almost as soon as the anchor lifted that, far
from being a reason not to travel and seek adventure, children are perhaps the best
reason of all to do both.
Pre-trip, her three little boys had fought like banshees at the drop of a hat. In the
process of learning to coexist in a floating bedroom, they learned patience, as much
for themselves as for the sanity of their parents. Pre-trip, books were about as
appealing as eating sand. Given the alternative of staring at a wall on the open sea, all
three learned to love books. Pulling them out of school for one academic year and
exposing them to new environments had proven to be the best investment in their
education to date.
Now sitting in the plane, Julie looked out at the clouds as the wing cut past them,
already thinking of their next plans: to find a place in the mountains and ski all year
long, using income from a sail-rigging workshop to fund the slopes and more travel.
Now that she had done it once, she had the itch.
I was done with driving across town to collect my son from child- care only to slide
across icy highways trying to get back to work with him in tow to finish my work. My
mini-retirement brought us both to live at an alternative boarding school full of
creative lifestyle redesigning children and staff in a gorgeous Florida forest with a
spring-fed pond and plenty of sunshine. You can easily search for alternative schools
or traditional schools that might accept your children during your stay. Alternative
schools often see themselves as supportive communities and are exceptionally
welcoming. You might even find an opportunity to work at a school where you could
experience a new environment with your child.
—DEB
Tim,
Your book and blog have inspired me to quit my job, write two e-books, sky dive,
backpack through South America, sell all the clutter in my life, and host an annual
convention of the world’s top dating instructors (my primary business venture, third
year running). The best part? I can’t even buy a drink yet.
Thank you so much, bro!
—ANTHONY
I can’t give you a surefire formula for success, but I can give you a formula
for failure: try to please everybody all the time.
—HERBERT BAYARD SWOPE, American editor and journalist; first recipient
of the Pulitzer Prize
I n 1999, sometime after quitting my second unfulfilling job and eating peanut-butter
sandwiches for comfort, I won the gold medal at the Chinese Kickboxing (Sanshou)
National Championships.
It wasn’t because I was good at punching and kicking. God forbid. That seemed a
bit dangerous, considering I did it on a dare and had four weeks of preparation.
Besides, I have a watermelon head—it’s a big target.
I won by reading the rules and looking for unexploited opportunities, of which there
were two:
The result? I won all of my matches by technical knock-out (TKO) and went home
national champion, something 99% of those with 5–10 years of experience had been
unable to do.
But, isn’t pushing people out of the ring pushing the boundaries of ethics? Not at
all—it’s no more than doing the uncommon within the rules. The important distinction
is that between official rules and self-imposed rules. Consider the following example,
from the official website of the Olympic movement (www.olympic.org).
The 1968 Mexico City Olympics marked the international debut of Dick Fosbury and
his celebrated “Fosbury flop,” which would soon revolutionize high-jumping. At the
time, jumpers… swung their outside foot up and over the bar [called the “straddle,”
much like a hurdle jump, it allowed you to land on your feet]. Fosbury’s technique
began by racing up to the bar at great speed and taking off from his right (or outside)
foot. Then he twisted his body so that he went over the bar head-first with his back to
the bar. While the coaches of the world shook their heads in disbelief, the Mexico City
audience was absolutely captivated by Fosbury and shouted, “Olé!” as he cleared the
bar. Fosbury cleared every height through 2.22 metres without a miss and then
achieved a personal record of 2.24 metres to win the gold medal.
By 1980, 13 of the 16 Olympic finalists were using the Fosbury flop.
The weight-cutting techniques and off-platform throwing I used are now standard
features of Sanshou competition. I didn’t cause it, I just foresaw it as inevitable, as did
others who tested this superior approach. Now it’s par for the course.
Sports evolve when sacred cows are killed, when basic assumptions are tested.
The same is true in life and in lifestyles.
Challenging the Status Quo vs. Being Stupid
M ost people walk down the street on their legs. Does that mean I walk down the
street on my hands? Do I wear my underwear outside of my pants in the name of
being different? Not usually, no. Then again, walking on my legs and keeping my
thong on the inside have worked just fine thus far. I don’t fix it if it isn’t broken.
Different is better when it is more effective or more fun.
If everyone is defining a problem or solving it one way and the results are subpar,
this is the time to ask, What if I did the opposite? Don’t follow a model that doesn’t
work. If the recipe sucks, it doesn’t matter how good a cook you are.
When I was in data storage sales, my first gig out of college, I realized that most
cold calls didn’t get to the intended person for one reason: gatekeepers. If I simply
made all my calls from 8:00–8:30 A.M. and 6:00–6:30 P.M., for a total of one hour, I
was able to avoid secretaries and book more than twice as many meetings as the senior
sales executives who called from 9–5. In other words, I got twice the results for 1/8
the time.
From Japan to Monaco, from globetrotting single mothers to multimillionaire
racecar drivers, the basic rules of successful NR are surprisingly uniform and
predictably divergent from what the rest of the world is doing.
The following rules are the fundamental differentiators to keep in mind throughout
this book.
2. Most people will never be able to retire and maintain even a hotdogs-for-
dinner standard of living. Even one million is chump change in a world where
traditional retirement could span 30 years and inflation lowers your purchasing
power 2–4% per year. The math doesn’t work.3The golden years become
lower-middle-class life revisited. That’s a bittersweet ending.
3. If the math does work, it means that you are one ambitious, hardworking
machine. If that’s the case, guess what? One week into retirement, you’ll be so
damn bored that you’ll want to stick bicycle spokes in your eyes. You’ll
probably opt to look for a new job or start another company. Kinda defeats the
purpose of waiting, doesn’t it?
I’m not saying don’t plan for the worst case—I have maxed out 401(k)s and IRAs I
use primarily for tax purposes—but don’t mistake retirement for the goal.
Too much, too many, and too often of what you want becomes what you don’t want.
This is true of possessions and even time. Lifestyle Design is thus not interested in
creating an excess of idle time, which is poisonous, but the positive use of free time,
defined simply as doing what you want as opposed to what you feel obligated to do.
2. How has doing what you “should” resulted in subpar experiences or regret
for not having done something else?
3. Look at what you’re currently doing and ask yourself, “What would
happen if I did the opposite of the people around me? What will I sacrifice if I
continue on this track for 5, 10, or 20 years?”
2. Most people will assume this type of weight manipulation is impossible, so I’ve
provided sample photographs at www.fourhourblog.com. Do NOT try this at home.
I did it all under medical supervision.
3. “Living Well” (Barron’s, March 20, 2006, Suzanne McGee).
4. Goldian VandenBroeck, ed. From Less Is More: An Anthology of Ancient and
Modern Voices Raised in Praise of Simplicity (Inner Traditions, 1996).
Dodging Bullets
FEAR-SETTING AND ESCAPING PARALYSIS
T o door not to do? To try or not to try? Most people will vote no, whether they
consider themselves brave or not. Uncertainty and the prospect of failure can be very
scary noises in the shadows. Most people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.
For years, I set goals, made resolutions to change direction, and nothing came of
either. I was just as insecure and scared as the rest of the world.
The simple solution came to me accidentally four years ago. At that time, I had
more money than I knew what to do with—I was making $70K or so per month—and
I was completely miserable, worse than ever. I had no time and was working myself to
death. I had started my own company, only to realize it would be nearly impossible to
sell.6Oops. I felt trapped and stupid at the same time. I should be able to figure this
out, I thought. Why am I such an idiot? Why can’t I make this work?! Buckle up and
stop being such a (insert expletive)! What’s wrong with me? The truth was, nothing
was wrong with me. I hadn’t reached my limit; I’d reached the limit of my business
model at the time. It wasn’t the driver, it was the vehicle.
Critical mistakes in its infancy would never let me sell it. I could hire magic elves
and connect my brain to a supercomputer—it didn’t matter. My little baby had some
serious birth defects. The question then became, How do I free myself from this
Frankenstein while making it self-sustaining? How do I pry myself from the tentacles
of workaholism and the fear that it would fall to pieces without my 15-hour days?
How do I escape this self-made prison? A trip, I decided. A sabbatical year around the
world.
So I took the trip, right? Well, I’ll get to that. First, I felt it prudent to dance around
with my shame, embarrassment, and anger for six months, all the while playing an
endless loop of reasons why my cop-out fantasy trip could never work. One of my
more productive periods, for sure.
Then, one day, in my bliss of envisioning how bad my future suffering would be, I
hit upon a gem of an idea. It was surely a highlight of my “don’t happy, be worry”
phase: Why don’t I decide exactly what my nightmare would be—the worst thing that
could possibly happen as a result of my trip?
Well, my business could fail while I’m overseas, for sure. Probably would. A legal
warning letter would accidentally not get forwarded and I would get sued. My
business would be shut down, and inventory would spoil on the shelves while I’m
picking my toes in solitary misery on some cold shore in Ireland. Crying in the rain, I
imagine. My bank account would crater by 80% and certainly my car and motorcycle
in storage would be stolen. I suppose someone would probably spit on my head from a
high-rise balcony while I’m feeding food scraps to a stray dog, which would then
spook and bite me squarely on the face. God, life is a cruel, hard bitch.
F ear comes in many forms, and we usually don’t call it by its four-letter name. Fear
itself is quite fear-inducing. Most intelligent people in the world dress it up as
something else: optimistic denial. Most who avoid quitting their jobs entertain the
thought that their course will improve with time or increases in income. This seems
valid and is a tempting hallucination when a job is boring or uninspiring instead of
pure hell. Pure hell forces action, but anything less can be endured with enough clever
rationalization.
Do you really think it will improve or is it wishful thinking and an excuse for
inaction? If you were confident in improvement, would you really be questioning
things so? Generally not. This is fear of the unknown disguised as optimism.
Are you better off than you were one year ago, one month ago, or one week ago?
If not, things will not improve by themselves. If you are kidding yourself, it is time
to stop and plan for a jump. Barring any James Dean ending, your life is going to be
LONG. Nine to five for your working lifetime of 40–50 years is a long-ass time if the
rescue doesn’t come. About 500 months of solid work.
How many do you have to go? It’s probably time to cut your losses.
You have comfort. You don’t have luxury. And don’t tell me that money
plays a part. The luxury I advocate has nothing to do with money. It cannot
be bought. It is the reward of those who have no fear of discomfort.
—JEAN COCTEAU, French poet, novelist, boxing manager, and filmmaker,
whose collaborations were the inspiration for the term “surrealism”
S ometimes timing is perfect. There are hundreds of cars circling a parking lot, and
someone pulls out of a spot 10 feet from the entrance just as you reach his or her
bumper. Another Christmas miracle!
Other times, the timing could be better. The phone rings during sex and seems to
ring for a half hour. The UPS guy shows up 10 minutes later. Bad timing can spoil the
fun.
Jean-Marc Hachey landed in West Africa as a volunteer, with high hopes of lending
a helping hand. In that sense, his timing was great. He arrived in Ghana in the early
1980s, in the middle of a coup d’état, at the peak of hyperinflation, and just in time for
the worst drought in a decade. For these same reasons, some people would consider
his timing quite poor from a more selfish survival standpoint.
He had also missed the memo. The national menu had changed, and they were out
of luxuries like bread and clean water. He would be surviving for four months on a
slushlike concoction of corn meal and spinach. Not what most of us would order at the
movie theater.
J ean-Marc had passed the point of no return, but it didn’t matter. After two weeks of
adjusting to the breakfast, lunch, and dinner (Mush à la Ghana), he had no desire to
escape. The most basic of foods and good friends proved to be the only real
necessities, and what would seem like a disaster from the outside was the most life-
affirming epiphany he’d ever experienced: The worst really wasn’t that bad. To enjoy
life, you don’t need fancy nonsense, but you do need to control your time and realize
that most things just aren’t as serious as you make them out to be.
Now 48, Jean-Marc lives in a nice home in Ontario, but could live without it. He
has cash, but could fall into poverty tomorrow and it wouldn’t matter. Some of his
fondest memories still include nothing but friends and gruel. He is dedicated to
creating special moments for himself and his family and is utterly unconcerned with
retirement. He’s already lived 20 years of partial retirement in perfect health.
Don’t save it all for the end. There is every reason not to.
Q&A: QUESTIONS AND ACTIONS
I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them
never happened.
—MARK TWAIN
I f you are nervous about making the jump or simply putting it off out of fear of the
unknown, here is your antidote. Write down your answers, and keep in mind that
thinking a lot will not prove as fruitful or as prolific as simply brain vomiting on the
page. Write and do not edit—aim for volume. Spend a few minutes on each answer.
1. Define your nightmare, the absolute worst that could happen if you
did what you are considering. What doubt, fears, and “what-ifs” pop up as
you consider the big changes you can—or need—to make? Envision them in
painstaking detail. Would it be the end of your life? What would be the
permanent impact, if any, on a scale of 1–10? Are these things really
permanent? How likely do you think it is that they would actually happen?
2. What steps could you take to repair the damage or get things back on
the upswing, even if temporarily? Chances are, it’s easier than you imagine.
How could you get things back under control?
4. If you were fired from your job today, what would you do to get
things under financial control? Imagine this scenario and run through
questions 1–3 above. If you quit your job to test other options, how could you
later get back on the same career track if you absolutely had to?
5. What are you putting off out of fear? Usually, what we most fear doing
is what we most need to do. That phone call, that conversation, whatever the
action might be—it is fear of unknown outcomes that prevents us from doing
what we need to do. Define the worst case, accept it, and do it. I’ll repeat
something you might consider tattooing on your forehead: What we fear doing
most is usually what we most need to do. As I have heard said, a person’s
success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable
conversations he or she is willing to have. Resolve to do one thing every day
that you fear. I got into this habit by attempting to contact celebrities and
famous businesspeople for advice.
6. What is it costing you—financially, emotionally, and physically—to
postpone action? Don’t only evaluate the potential downside of action. It is
equally important to measure the atrocious cost of inaction. If you don’t pursue
those things that excite you, where will you be in one year, five years, and ten
years? How will you feel having allowed circumstance to impose itself upon
you and having allowed ten more years of your finite life to pass doing what
you know will not fulfill you? If you telescope out 10 years and know with
100% certainty that it is a path of disappointment and regret, and if we define
risk as “the likelihood of an irreversible negative outcome,” inaction is the
greatest risk of all.
7. What are you waiting for? If you cannot answer this without resorting to
the previously rejected concept of good timing, the answer is simple: You’re
afraid, just like the rest of the world. Measure the cost of inaction, realize the
unlikelihood and re-pairability of most missteps, and develop the most
important habit of those who excel and enjoy doing so: action.
5. www.nexussurf.com
6. This turned out to be yet another self-imposed limitation and false construct.
BrainQUICKEN was acquired by a private equity firm in 2009. The process is
described on www.fourhourblog.com.
7. http://www.tpl.org/tier3_cd.cfm?content_item_id=5307&folder_id=1545.
System Reset
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where …” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
—LEWIS CARROLL, Alice in Wonderland
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.
—GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, Maxims for Revolutionists
M ost people will never know what they want. I don’t know what I want. If you
ask me what I want to do in the next five months for language learning, on the other
hand, I do know. It’s a matter of specificity. “What do you want?” is too imprecise to
produce a meaningful and actionable answer. Forget about it.
“What are your goals?” is similarly fated for confusion and guesswork. To rephrase
the question, we need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
Let’s assume we have 10 goals and we achieve them—what is the desired outcome
that makes all the effort worthwhile? The most common response is what I also would
have suggested five years ago: happiness. I no longer believe this is a good answer.
Happiness can be bought with a bottle of wine and has become ambiguous through
overuse. There is a more precise alternative that reflects what I believe the actual
objective is.
Bear with me. What is the opposite of happiness? Sadness? No. Just as love and
hate are two sides of the same coin, so are happiness and sadness. Crying out of
happiness is a perfect illustration of this. The opposite of love is indifference, and the
opposite of happiness is—here’s the clincher—boredom.
Excitement is the more practical synonym for happiness, and it is precisely what
you should strive to chase. It is the cure-all. When people suggest you follow your
“passion” or your “bliss,” I propose that they are, in fact, referring to the same
singular concept: excitement.
This brings us full circle. The question you should be asking isn’t, “What do I
want?” or “What are my goals?” but “What would excite me?”
S omewhere between college graduation and your second job, a chorus enters your
internal dialogue: Be realistic and stop pretending. Life isn’t like the movies.
If you’re five years old and say you want to be an astronaut, your parents tell you
that you can be anything you want to be. It’s harmless, like telling a child that Santa
Claus exists. If you’re 25 and announce you want to start a new circus, the response is
different: Be realistic; become a lawyer or an accountant or a doctor, have babies, and
raise them to repeat the cycle.
If you do manage to ignore the doubters and start your own business, for example,
ADD doesn’t disappear. It just takes a different form.
When I started BrainQUICKEN LLC in 2001, it was with a clear goal in mind:
Make $1,000 per day whether I was banging my head on a laptop or cutting my
toenails on the beach. It was to be an automated source of cash flow. If you look at my
chronology, it is obvious that this didn’t happen until a meltdown forced it, despite the
requisite income. Why? The goal wasn’t specific enough. I hadn’t defined alternate
activities that would replace the initial workload. Therefore, I just continued working,
even though there was no financial need. I needed to feel productive and had no other
vehicles.
This is how most people work until death: “I’ll just work until I have X dollars and
then do what I want.” If you don’t define the “what I want” alternate activities, the X
figure will increase indefinitely to avoid the fear-inducing uncertainty of this void.
This is when both employees and entrepreneurs become fat men in red BMWs.
The Fat Man in the Red BMW Convertible
T here have been several points in my life—among them, just before I was fired
from TrueSAN and just before I escaped the U.S. to avoid taking an Uzi into
McDonald’s—at which I saw my future as another fat man in a midlife-crisis BMW. I
simply looked at those who were 15–20 years ahead of me on the same track, whether
a director of sales or an entrepreneur in the same industry, and it scared the hell out of
me.
It was such an acute phobia, and such a perfect metaphor for the sum of all fears,
that it became a pattern interrupt between myself and fellow lifestyle designer and
entrepreneur Douglas Price. Doug and I traveled parallel paths for nearly five years,
facing the same challenges and self-doubt and thus keeping a close psychological eye
on each other. Our down periods seem to alternate, making us a good team.
Whenever one of us began to set our sights lower, lose faith, or “accept reality,” the
other would chime in via phone or e-mail like an A A sponsor: “Dude, are you turning
into the bald fat man in the red BMW convertible?” The prospect was terrifying
enough that we always got our asses and priorities back on track immediately. The
worst that could happen wasn’t crashing and burning, it was accepting terminal
boredom as a tolerable status quo.
Remember—boredom is the enemy, not some abstract “failure.”
T here is a process that I have used, and still use, to reignite life or correct course
when the Fat Man in the BMW rears his ugly head. In some form or another, it is the
same process used by the most impressive NR I have met around the world:
dreamlining. Dreamlining is so named because it applies timelines to what most would
consider dreams.
It is much like goal-setting but differs in several fundamental respects:
1. The goals shift from ambiguous wants to defined steps.
3. It focuses on activities that will fill the vacuum created when work is
removed. Living like a millionaire requires doing interesting things and not just
owning enviable things.
Fail Better
BY ADAM GOTTESFELD
MOST PRINCETON students love to procrastinate in writing their dean’s date [term]
papers. Ryan Marrinan ’07, from Los Angeles, was no exception. But while the
majority of undergraduates fill their time by updating their Facebook profiles or
watching videos on YouTube, Marrinan was discussing Soto Zen Buddhism via e-
mail with Randy Komisar, a partner at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins
Caufield and Byers, and asking Google CEO Eric Schmidt via e-mail when he had
been happiest in his life. (Schmidt’s answer: “Tomorrow.”)
Prior to his e-mail, Marrinan had never contacted Komisar. He had met Schmidt, a
Princeton University trustee, only briefly at an academic affairs meeting of the trustees
in November. A self-described “naturally shy kid,” Marrinan said he would never
have dared to randomly e-mail two of the most powerful men in Silicon Valley if it
weren’t for Tim Ferriss, who offered a guest lecture in Professor Ed Zschau’s “High-
Tech Entrepreneurship” class. Ferriss challenged Marrinan and his fellow seniors to
contact high-profile celebrities and CEOs and get their answers to questions they have
always wanted to ask.
For extra incentive, Ferriss promised the student who could contact the most hard-
to-reach name and ask the most intriguing question a round-trip plane ticket anywhere
in the world.
“I believe that success can be measured in the number of uncomfortable
conversations you’re willing to have. I felt that if I could help students overcome the
fear of rejection with cold-calling and cold e-mail, it would serve them forever,”
Ferriss said. “It’s easy to sell yourself short, but when you see classmates getting
responses from people like [former president] George Bush, the CEOs of Disney,
Comcast, Google, and HP, and dozens of other impossible-to-reach people, it forces
you to reconsider your self-set limitations.” … Ferriss lectures to the students of
“High-Tech Entrepreneurship” each semester about creating a startup and designing
the ideal lifestyle.
“I participate in this contest every day,” said Ferriss. “I do what I always do: find a
personal e-mail if possible, often through their little-known personal blogs, send a
two- to three-paragraph e-mail which explains that I am familiar with their work, and
ask one simple-to-answer but thought-provoking question in that e-mail related to
their work or life philosophies. The goal is to start a dialogue so they take the time to
answer future e-mails—not to ask for help. That can only come after at least three or
four genuine e-mail exchanges.”
With “textbook execution of the Tim Ferriss Technique,” as he put it, Marrinan was
able to strike up a bond with Komisar. In his initial e-mail, he talked about reading
one of Komisar’s Harvard Business Review articles and feeling inspired to ask him,
“When were you happiest in your life?” After Komisar replied with references to
Tibetan Buddhism, Marrinan responded, “Just as words are inadequate to explain true
happiness, so too are words inadequate to express my thanks.” His e-mail included his
personal translation of a French poem by Taisen Deshimaru, the former European
head of Soto Zen. An e-mail relationship was formed, and Komisar even e-mailed
Marrinan a few days later with a link to a New York Times article on happiness.
Contacting Schmidt proved more challenging. For Marrinan, the toughest part was
getting Schmidt’s personal e-mail address. He e-mailed a Princeton dean asking for it.
No response. Two weeks later, he e-mailed the same dean again, defending his request
by reminding her that he had previously met Schmidt. The dean said no, but Marrinan
refused to give up. He e-mailed her a third time. “Have you ever made an exception?”
he asked. The dean finally gave in, he said, and provided him with Schmidt’s e-mail.
“I know some of my classmates pursued the alternative scattershot technique with
some success, but that’s not my bag,” Marrinan said, explaining his perseverance. “I
deal with rejection by persisting, not by taking my business elsewhere. My maxim
comes from Samuel Beckett, a personal hero of mine: ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No
matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’ You won’t believe what you can accomplish
by attempting the impossible with the courage to repeatedly fail better.”
Nathan Kaplan, another participant in the contest, was most proud of the way that
he was able to contact former Newark mayor Sharpe James. Because James had made
a campaign contribution to Al Sharpton, the website www.fundrace.org listed James’s
home address. Kaplan then input James’s address into an online serach-by-address
phone directory, through which he received the former mayor’s phone number.
Kaplan left a message for James, and a few days later finally got to ask him about
childhood education.
Ferriss is proud of the effort students have put into his contest. “Most people can do
absolutely awe-inspiring things,” he said. “Sometimes they just need a little nudge.”
1. What would you do if there were no way you could fail? If you were 10 times
smarter than the rest of the world?
Create two timelines—6 months and 12 months—and list up to five things you dream
of having (including, but not limited to, material wants: house, car, clothing, etc.),
being (be a great cook, be fluent in Chinese, etc.), and doing (visiting Thailand,
tracing your roots overseas, racing ostriches, etc.) in that order. If you have difficulty
identifying what you want in some categories, as most will, consider what you hate or
fear in each and write down the opposite. Do not limit yourself, and do not concern
yourself with how these things will be accomplished. For now, it’s unimportant. This
is an exercise in reversing repression.
Be sure not to judge or fool yourself. If you really want a Ferrari, don’t put down
solving world hunger out of guilt. For some, the dream will be fame, for others fortune
or prestige. All people have their vices and insecurities. If something will improve
your feeling of self-worth, put it down. I have a racing motorcycle, and quite apart
from the fact that I love speed, it just makes me feel like a cool dude. There is nothing
wrong with that. Put it all down.
2. Drawing a blank?
For all their bitching about what’s holding them back, most people have a lot of
trouble coming up with the defined dreams they’re being held from. This is
particularly true with the “doing” category. In that case, consider these questions:
1. What would you do, day to day, if you had $100 million in the bank?
2. What would make you most excited to wake up in the morning to another
day?
Don’t rush—think about it for a few minutes. If still blocked, fill in the five “doing”
spots with the following:
Sample Dreamline
Dreamline
Right now in the book and in the spreadsheet we have (2003 + 400 + 934) x 1.3
monthly expenses = Target Monthly Income (or TMI).
But I think it should be (2003 + 400 + 934/6 x 1.3 monthly expenses = TMI.
Or, more generally: [Monthly Goals + (One-Time Goals / Total Months)] x 1.3
monthly expenses = TMI.
— JARED , president, SET Consulting
6. Determine three steps for each of the four dreams in just the 6-month timeline
and take the first step now.
I’m not a big believer in long-term planning and far-off goals. In fact, I generally set
3-month and 6-month dreamlines. The variables change too much and in-the-future
distance becomes an excuse for postponing action. The objective of this exercise isn’t,
therefore, to outline every step from start to finish, but to define the end goal, the
required vehicle to achieve them (TMI, TDI), and build momentum with critical first
steps. From that point, it’s a matter of freeing time and generating the TMI, which the
following chapters cover.
First, let’s focus on those critical first steps. Define three steps for each dream that
will get you closer to its actualization. Set actions—simple, well-defined actions—for
now, tomorrow (complete before 11 A.M.) and the day after (again completed before
11 A.M.).
Once you have three steps for each of the four goals, complete the three actions in
the “now” column. Do it now. Each should be simple enough to do in five minutes or
less. If not, rachet it down. If it’s the middle of the night and you can’t call someone,
do something else now, such as send an e-mail, and set the call for first thing
tomorrow.
If the next stage is some form of research, get in touch with someone who knows
the answer instead of spending too much time in books or online, which can turn into
paralysis by analysis. The best first step, the one I recommend, is finding someone
who’s done it and ask for advice on how to do the same. It’s not hard.
Other options include setting a meeting or phone call with a trainer, mentor, or
salesperson to build momentum. Can you schedule a private class or a commitment
that you’ll feel bad about canceling? Use guilt to your advantage.
Tomorrow becomes never. No matter how small the task, take the first step now!
COMFORT CHALLENGE
2. In conversation, maintain eye contact when you are speaking. It’s easy to
do while listening.
Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away.
—ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY, pioneer of international postal flight and
author of Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince)
N ow that you have defined what you want to do with your time, you have to free
that time. The trick, of course, is to do so while maintaining or increasing your
income.
The intention of this chapter, and what you will experience if you follow the
instructions, is an increase in personal productivity between 100 and 500%. The
principles are the same for both employees and entrepreneurs, but the purpose of this
increased productivity is completely different.
First, the employee. The employee is increasing productivity to increase negotiating
leverage for two simultaneous objectives: pay raises and a remote working
arrangement.
Recall that, as indicated in the first chapter of this book, the general process of
joining the New Rich is D-E-A-L, in that order, but that employees intent on
remaining employees for now need to implement the process as D-E-L-A. The reason
relates to environment. They need to Liberate themselves from the office
environment before they can work ten hours a week, for example, because the
expectation in that environment is that you will be in constant motion from 9–5. Even
if you produce twice the results you had in the past, if you’re working a quarter of the
hours of your colleagues, there is a good chance of receiving a pink slip. Even if you
work 10 hours a week and produce twice the results of people working 40, the
collective request will be, “Work 40 hours a week and produce 8 times the results.”
This is an endless game and one you want to avoid. Hence the need for Liberation
first.
If you’re an employee, this chapter will increase your value and make it more
painful for the company to fire you than to grant raises and a remote working
agreement. That is your goal. Once the latter is accomplished, you can drop hours
without bureaucratic interference and use the resultant free time to fulfill dreamlines.
The entrepreneur’s goals are less complex, as he or she is generally the direct
beneficiary of increased profit. The goal is to decrease the amount of work you
perform while increasing revenue. This will set the stage for replacing yourself with
Automation, which in turn permits Liberation.
For both tracks, some definitions are in order.
E ffectiveness is doing the things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is
performing a given task (whether important or not) in the most economical manner
possible. Being efficient without regard to effectiveness is the default mode of the
universe.
I would consider the best door-to-door salesperson efficient—that is, refined and
excellent at selling door-to-door without wasting time—but utterly ineffective. He or
she would sell more using a better vehicle such as e-mail or direct mail.
This is also true for the person who checks e-mail 30 times per day and develops an
elaborate system of folder rules and sophisticated techniques for ensuring that each of
those 30 brain farts moves as quickly as possible. I was a specialist at such
professional wheel-spinning. It is efficient on some perverse level, but far from
effective.
Here are two truisms to keep in mind:
1. Doing something unimportant well does not make it important.
From this moment forward, remember this: What you do is infinitely more
important than how you do it. Efficiency is still important, but it is useless unless
applied to the right things.
To find the right things, we’ll need to go to the garden.
F our years ago, an economist changed my life forever. It’s a shame I never had a
chance to buy him a drink. My dear Vilfredo died almost 100 years ago.
Vilfredo Pareto was a wily and controversial economist-cum-sociologist who lived
from 1848 to 1923. An engineer by training, he started his varied career managing
coal mines and later succeeded Léon Walras as the chair of political economy at the
University of Lausanne in Switzerland. His seminal work, Cours d’economie
politique, included a then little-explored “law” of income distribution that would later
bear his name: “Pareto’s Law” or the “Pareto Distribution,” in the last decade also
popularly called the “80/20 Principle.”
The mathematical formula he used to demonstrate a grossly uneven but predictable
distribution of wealth in society—80% of the wealth and income was produced and
possessed by 20% of the population—also applied outside of economics. Indeed, it
could be found almost everywhere. Eighty percent of Pareto’s garden peas were
produced by 20% of the peapods he had planted, for example.
Pareto’s Law can be summarized as follows: 80% of the outputs result from 20% of
the inputs. Alternative ways to phrase this, depending on the context, include:
The list is infinitely long and diverse, and the ratio is often skewed even more
severely: 90/10, 95/5, and 99/1 are not uncommon, but the minimum ratio to seek is
80/20.
When I came across Pareto’s work one late evening, I had been slaving away with
15-hour days seven days per week, feeling completely overwhelmed and generally
helpless. I would wake up before dawn to make calls to the United Kingdom, handle
the U.S. during the normal 9–5 day, and then work until near midnight making calls to
Japan and New Zealand. I was stuck on a runaway freight train with no brakes,
shoveling coal into the furnace for lack of a better option. Faced with certain burnout
or giving Pareto’s ideas a trial run, I opted for the latter. The next morning, I began a
dissection of my business and personal life through the lenses of two questions:
1. Which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness?
For the entire day, I put aside everything seemingly urgent and did the most intense
truth-baring analysis possible, applying these questions to everything from my friends
to customers and advertising to relaxation activities. Don’t expect to find you’re doing
everything right—the truth often hurts. The goal is to find your inefficiencies in order
to eliminate them and to find your strengths so you can multiply them. In the 24 hours
that followed, I made several simple but emotionally difficult decisions that literally
changed my life forever and enabled the lifestyle I now enjoy.
The first decision I made is an excellent example of how dramatic and fast the ROI
of this analytical fat-cutting can be: I stopped contacting 95% of my customers and
fired 2%, leaving me with the top 3% of producers to profile and duplicate.
Out of more than 120 wholesale customers, a mere 5 were bringing in 95% of the
revenue. I was spending 98% of my time chasing the remainder, as the
aforementioned 5 ordered regularly without any follow-up calls, persuasion, or
cajoling. In other words, I was working because I felt as though I should be doing
something from 9–5. I didn’t realize that working every hour from 9–5 isn’t the goal;
it’s simply the structure most people use, whether it’s necessary or not. I had a severe
case of work-for-work (W4W), the most-hated acronym in the NR vocabulary.
All, and I mean 100%, of my problems and complaints came from this unproductive
majority, with the exception of two large customers who were simply world-class
experts of the “here is the fire I started, now you put it out” approach to business. I put
all of these unproductive customers on passive mode: If they ordered, great—let them
fax in the order. If not, I would do absolutely no chasing: no phone calls, no e-mail,
nothing. That left the two larger customers to deal with, who were professional ball
breakers but contributed about 10% to the bottom line at the time.
You’ll always have a few of these, and it is a quandary that causes all sorts of
problems, not the least of which are self-hatred and depression. Up to that point, I had
taken their browbeating, insults, time-consuming arguments, and tirades as a cost of
doing business. I realized during the 80/20 analysis that these two people were the
source of nearly all my unhappiness and anger throughout the day, and it usually
spilled over into my personal time, keeping me up at night with the usual “I should
have said X, Y, and Z to that penis” self-flagellation. I finally concluded the obvious:
The effect on my self-esteem and state of mind just wasn’t worth the financial gain. I
didn’t need the money for any precise reason, and I had assumed I needed to take it.
The customers are always right, aren’t they? Part of doing business, right? Hell, no.
Not for the NR, anyway. I fired their asses and enjoyed every second of it. The first
conversation went like this:
Customer: What the &#@$? I ordered two cases and they arrived two days late.
[Note: He had sent the order to the wrong person via the wrong medium, despite
repeated reminders.] You guys are the most disorganized bunch of idiots I’ve ever
worked with. I have 20 years of experience in this industry, and this is the worst.
Any NR—in this case, me: I will kill you. Be afraid, be very afraid.
I wish. I did rehearse that a million times in my mental theater, but it actually went
something more like this:
I’m sorry to hear that. You know, I’ve been taking your insults for a while now, and
it’s unfortunate that it seems we won’t be able to do business anymore. I’d
recommend you take a good look at where this unhappiness and anger is actually
coming from. In any case, I wish you well. If you would like to order product, we’ll be
happy to supply it, but only if you can conduct yourself without profanity and
unnecessary insults. You have our fax number. All the best and have a nice day.
[Click.]
I did this once via phone and once through e-mail. So what happened? I lost one
customer, but the other corrected course and simply faxed orders, again and again and
again. Problem solved, minimum revenue lost. I was immediately 10 times happier.
I then identified the common characteristics of my top-five customers and secured
three or so similarly profiled buyers in the following week. Remember, more
customers is not automatically more income. More customers is not the goal and often
translates into 90% more housekeeping and a paltry 1–3% increase in income. Make
no mistake, maximum income from minimal necessary effort (including minimum
number of customers) is the primary goal. I duplicated my strengths, in this case my
top producers, and focused on increasing the size and frequency of their orders.
The end result? I went from chasing and appeasing 120 customers to simply
receiving large orders from 8, with absolutely no pleading phone calls or e-mail
haranguing. My monthly income increased from $30K to $60K in four weeks and my
weekly hours immediately dropped from over 80 to approximately 15. Most
important, I was happy with myself and felt both optimistic and liberated for the first
time in over two years.
In the ensuing weeks, I applied the 80/20 Principle to dozens of areas, including the
following:
1. Advertising
I identified the advertising that was generating 80% or more of revenue, identified the
commonalities among them, and multiplied them, eliminating all the rest at the same
time. My advertising costs dropped over 70% and my direct sales income nearly
doubled from a monthly $15K to $25K in 8 weeks. It would have doubled
immediately had I been using radio, newspapers, or television instead of magazines
with long lead times.
Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference. Being busy is a form
of laziness—lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.
Being overwhelmed is often as unproductive as doing nothing, and is far more
unpleasant. Being selective—doing less—is the path of the productive. Focus on the
important few and ignore the rest.
Of course, before you can separate the wheat from the chaff and eliminate activities
in a new environment (whether a new job or an entrepreneurial venture), you will need
to try a lot to identify what pulls the most weight. Throw it all up on the wall and see
what sticks. That’s part of the process, but it should not take more than a month or
two.
It’s easy to get caught in a flood of minutiae, and the key to not feeling rushed is
remembering that lack of time is actually lack of priorities. Take time to stop and
smell the roses, or—in this case—to count the pea pods.
I f you’re an employee, spending time on nonsense is, to some extent, not your fault.
There is often no incentive to use time well unless you are paid on commission. The
world has agreed to shuffle papers between 9:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M., and since you’re
trapped in the office for that period of servitude, you are compelled to create activities
to fill that time. Time is wasted because there is so much time available. It’s
understandable. Now that you have the new goal of negotiating a remote work
arrangement instead of just collecting a paycheck, it’s time to revisit the status quo
and become effective. The best employees have the most leverage.
For the entrepreneur, the wasteful use of time is a matter of bad habit and imitation.
I am no exception. Most entrepreneurs were once employees and come from the 9–5
culture. Thus they adopt the same schedule, whether or not they function at 9:00 A.M.
or need 8 hours to generate their target income. This schedule is a collective social
agreement and a dinosaur legacy of the results-by-volume approach. How is it
possible that all the people in the world need exactly 8 hours to accomplish their
work? It isn’t. 9–5 is arbitrary.
You don’t need 8 hours per day to become a legitimate millionaire—let alone have
the means to live like one. Eight hours per week is often excessive, but I don’t expect
all of you to believe me just yet. I know you probably feel as I did for a long time:
There just aren’t enough hours in the day.
But let’s consider a few things we can probably agree on.
Since we have 8 hours to fill, we fill 8 hours. If we had 15, we would fill 15. If we
have an emergency and need to suddenly leave work in 2 hours but have pending
deadlines, we miraculously complete those assignments in 2 hours.
It is all related to a law that was introduced to me by Ed Zschau in the spring of
2000.
I had arrived to class nervous and unable to concentrate. The final paper, worth a
full 25% of the semester’s grade, was due in 24 hours. One of the options, and that
which I had chosen, was to interview the top executives of a start-up and provide an
in-depth analysis of their business model. The corporate powers that be had decided
last minute that I couldn’t interview two key figures or use their information due to
confidentiality issues and pre-IPO precautions. Game over.
I approached Ed after class to deliver the bad news.
“Ed, I think I’m going to need an extension on the paper.” I explained the situation,
and Ed smiled before he replied without so much as a hint of concern.
“I think you’ll be OK. Entrepreneurs are those who make things happen, right?”
Twenty-four hours later and one minute before the deadline, as his assistant was
locking the office, I handed in a 30-page final paper. It was based on a different
company I had found, interviewed, and dissected with an intense all-nighter and
enough caffeine to get an entire Olympic track team disqualified. It ended up being
one of the best papers I’d written in four years, and I received an A.
Before I left the classroom the previous day, Ed had given me some parting advice:
Parkinson’s Law.
Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and
complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion. It is the magic of the
imminent deadline. If I give you 24 hours to complete a project, the time pressure
forces you to focus on execution, and you have no choice but to do only the bare
essentials. If I give you a week to complete the same task, it’s six days of making a
mountain out of a molehill. If I give you two months, God forbid, it becomes a mental
monster. The end product of the shorter deadline is almost inevitably of equal or
higher quality due to greater focus.
This presents a very curious phenomenon. There are two synergistic approaches for
increasing productivity that are inversions of each other:
1. Limit tasks to the important to shorten work time (80/20).
The best solution is to use both together: Identify the few critical tasks that
contribute most to income and schedule them with very short and clear deadlines.
If you haven’t identified the mission-critical tasks and set aggressive start and end
times for their completion, the unimportant becomes the important. Even if you know
what’s critical, without deadlines that create focus, the minor tasks forced upon you
(or invented, in the case of the entrepreneur) will swell to consume time until another
bit of minutiae jumps in to replace it, leaving you at the end of the day with nothing
accomplished. How else could dropping off a package at UPS, setting a few
appointments, and checking e-mail consume an entire 9–5 day? Don’t feel bad. I spent
months jumping from one interruption to the next, feeling run by my business instead
of the other way around.
THE 80/20 PRINCIPLE and Parkinson’s Law are the two cornerstone concepts that will
be revisited in different forms throughout this entire section. Most inputs are useless
and time is wasted in proportion to the amount that is available.
Fat-free performance and time freedom begins with limiting intake overload. In the
next chapter, we’ll put you on the real breakfast of champions: the Low-Information
Diet.
“S aturdays are my days off,” I offered to the crowd of strangers staring at me,
friends of a friend. It was true. Can you eat All-Bran and chicken seven days a week?
Me neither. Don’t be so judgmental.
Between my tenth and twelfth cupcakes, I plopped down on the couch to revel in
the sugar high until the clock struck midnight and sent me back to my adultsville
Sunday–Friday diet. There was another party guest seated next to me on a chair,
nursing a glass of wine, not his twelfth but certainly not his first, and we struck up a
conversation. As usual, I had to struggle to answer “What do you do?” and, as usual,
my answer left someone to wonder whether I was a pathological liar or a criminal.
How was it possible to spend so little time on income generation? It’s a good
question. It’s THE question.
In almost all respects, Charney had it all. He was happily married with a two-year-
old son and another due to arrive in three months. He was a successful technology
salesman, and though he wanted to earn $500,000 more per year as all do, his finances
were solid.
He also asked good questions. I had just returned from another trip overseas and
was planning a new adventure to Japan. He drilled me for two hours with a refrain:
How is it possible to spend so little time on income generation?
“If you’re interested, we can make you a case study and I’ll show you how,” I
offered.
Charney was in. The one thing he didn’t have was time.
One e-mail and five weeks of practice later, Charney had good news: He had
accomplished more in the last week than he had in the previous four combined. He did
so while taking Monday and Friday off and spending at least 2 more hours per day
with his family. From 40 hours per week, he was down to 18 and producing four times
the results.
Was it from mountaintop retreats and secret kung fu training? Nope. Was it a new
Japanese management secret or better software? Nein. I just asked him to do one
simple thing consistently without fail.
At least three times per day at scheduled times, he had to ask himself the following
question:
We create stress for ourselves because you feel like you have to do it. You
have to. I don’t feel that anymore.
—OPRAH WINFREY, actress and talk-show host, The Oprah Winfrey Show
T he key to having more time is doing less, and there are two paths to getting there,
both of which should be used together: (1) Define a to-do list and (2) define a not-to-
do list. In general terms, there are but two questions:
1. If you had a heart attack and had to work two hours per day, what would you
do?
Not five hours, not four hours, not three—two hours. It’s not where I want you to
ultimately be, but it’s a start. Besides, I can hear your brain bubbling already: That’s
ridiculous. Impossible! I know, I know. If I told you that you could survive for
months, functioning quite well, on four hours of sleep per night, would you believe
me? Probably not. Notwithstanding, millions of new mothers do it all the time. This
exercise is not optional. The doctor has warned you, after triple-bypass surgery, that if
you don’t cut down your work to two hours per day for the first three months post-op,
you will die. How would you do it?
2. If you had a second heart attack and had to work two hours per week, what
would you do?
3. If you had a gun to your head and had to stop doing 4/5 of different time-
consuming activities, what would you remove? Simplicity requires ruthlessness. If
you had to stop of time-consuming activities—e-mail, phone calls, conversations,
paperwork, meetings, advertising, customers, suppliers, products, services, etc.—what
would you eliminate to keep the negative effect on income to a minimum? Used even
once per month, this question alone can keep you sane and on track.
4. What are the top-three activities that I use to fill time to feel as though I’ve
been productive?
These are usually used to postpone more important actions (often uncomfortable
because there is a chance of failure or rejection). Be honest with yourself, as we all do
this on occasion. What are your crutch activities?
5. Who are the 20% of people who produce 80% of your enjoyment and propel
you forward, and which 20% cause 80% of your depression, anger, and second-
guessing?
Identify:
COMFORT CHALLENGE
I’m a musician who got your book because Derek Sivers at CD Baby recommended
it. Checking Pareto’s Law I realized that 78% of my downloads came from just one of
my CDs and that 55% of my total download income came from only five songs! It
showed me what my fans are looking for and allowed me to showcase those on my
web site. Downloads are the way to go. iTunes sells the song and CD Baby direct
deposits it to my account. Fully automated once the recording is done. There are some
months I can live off download income. Once I finish paying off debt, it should be no
problem to travel as an artist and create new fans all over the world and have a cyber
income stream.
—VICTOR JOHNSON
As for “outsourcing” your banking, any company that needs to take checks
(cheques) should consider a lock box solution. Just about any bank that does business
banking offers it. All checks go to a PO box at the bank, the bank processes the checks
and deposits them, and according to your instructions can send you a file of all the
checks that are deposited. Normally this can be done in either a flat, Excel or other file
type that can interface with any accounting systems from Excel, to Quicken to SAP.
Quite cost effective.
—ANONYMOUS
Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative
pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls
into lazy habits of thinking.
—ALBERT EINSTEIN
I hope you’re sitting down. Take that sandwich out of your mouth so you don’t
choke. Cover the baby’s ears. I’m going to tell you something that upsets a lot of
people.
I never watch the news and have bought one single newspaper in the last five years,
in Stansted Airport in London, and only because it gave me a discount on a Diet Pepsi.
I would claim to be Amish, but last time I checked, Pepsi wasn’t on the menu.
How obscene! I call myself an informed and responsible citizen? How do I stay up-
to-date with current affairs? I’ll answer all of that, but wait—it gets better. I usually
check business e-mail for about an hour each Monday, and I never check voicemail
when abroad. Never ever.
But what if someone has an emergency? It doesn’t happen. My contacts now know
that I don’t respond to emergencies, so the emergencies somehow don’t exist or don’t
come to me. Problems, as a rule, solve themselves or disappear if you remove yourself
as an information bottleneck and empower others.
F rom this point forward, I’m going to propose that you develop an uncanny ability
to be selectively ignorant. Ignorance may be bliss, but it is also practical. It is
imperative that you learn to ignore or redirect all information and interruptions that are
irrelevant, unimportant, or unactionable. Most are all three.
The first step is to develop and maintain a low-information diet. Just as modern man
consumes both too many calories and calories of no nutritional value, information
workers eat data both in excess and from the wrong sources.
Lifestyle design is based on massive action—output. Increased output necessitates
decreased input. Most information is time-consuming, negative, irrelevant to your
goals, and outside of your influence. I challenge you to look at whatever you read or
watched today and tell me that it wasn’t at least two of the four.
I read the front-page headlines through the newspaper machines as I walk to lunch
each day and nothing more. In five years, I haven’t had a single problem due to this
selective ignorance. It gives you something new to ask the rest of the population in
lieu of small talk: “Tell me, what’s new in the world?” And, if it’s that important,
you’ll hear people talking about it. Using my crib notes approach to world affairs, I
also retain more than someone who loses the forest for the trees in a sea of extraneous
details.
From an actionable information standpoint, I consume a maximum of one-third of
one industry magazine (Response magazine) and one business magazine (Inc.) per
month, for a grand total of approximately four hours. That’s it for results-oriented
reading. I read an hour of fiction prior to bed for relaxation.
How on earth do I act responsibly? Let me give an example of how I and other NR
both consider and obtain information. I voted in the last presidential election,9 despite
having been in Berlin. I made my decision in a matter of hours. First, I sent e-mails to
educated friends in the U.S. who share my values and asked them who they were
voting for and why. Second, I judge people based on actions and not words; thus, I
asked friends in Berlin, who had more perspective outside of U.S. media propaganda,
how they judged the candidates based on their historical behavior. Last, I watched the
presidential debates. That was it. I let other dependable people synthesize hundreds of
hours and thousands of pages of media for me. It was like having dozens of personal
information assistants, and I didn’t have to pay them a single cent.
That’s a simple example, you say, but what if you need to learn to do something
your friends haven’t done? Like, say, sell a book to the world’s largest publisher as a
first-time author? Funny you should ask. There are two approaches I used:
1. I picked one book out of dozens based on reader reviews and the fact that the
authors had actually done what I wanted to do. If the task is how-to in nature, I only
read accounts that are “how I did it” and autobiographical. No speculators or
wannabes are worth the time.
2. Using the book to generate intelligent and specific questions, I contacted 10 of the
top authors and agents in the world via e-mail and phone, with a response rate of 80%.
I only read the sections of the book that were relevant to immediate next steps,
which took less than two hours. To develop a template e-mail and call script took
approximately four hours, and the actual e-mails and phone calls took less than an
hour. This personal contact approach is not only more effective and more efficient
than all-you-can-eat info buffets, it also provided me with the major league alliances
and mentors necessary to sell this book. Rediscover the power of the forgotten skill
called “talking.” It works.
Once again, less is more.
T here will be times when, it’s true, you will have to read. Here are four simple tips
that will lessen the damage and increase your speed at least 200% in 10 minutes with
no comprehension loss:
1. Two Minutes: Use a pen or finger to trace under each line as you read as
fast as possible. Reading is a series of jumping snapshots (called saccades), and
using a visual guide prevents regression.
2. Three Minutes: Begin each line focusing on the third word in from the
first word, and end each line focusing on the third word in from the last
word. This makes use of peripheral vision that is otherwise wasted on margins.
For example, even when the highlighted words in the next line are your
beginning and ending focal points, the entire sentence is “read,” just with less
eye movement:
3. Two Minutes: Once comfortable indenting three or four words from both
sides, attempt to take only two snapshots—also known as fixations—per
line on the first and last indented words.
4. Three Minutes: Practice reading too fast for comprehension but with
good technique (the above three techniques) for five pages prior to reading
at a comfortable speed. This will heighten perception and reset your speed
limit, much like how 50 mph normally feels fast but seems like slow motion if
you drop down from 70 mph on the freeway.
Unnecessary reading is public enemy number one during this one-week fast.
What do you do with all the extra time? Replace the newspaper at breakfast with
speaking to your spouse, bonding with your children, or learning the principles in this
book. Between 9–5, complete your top priorities as per the last chapter. If you
complete them with time to spare, do the exercises in this book. Recommending this
book might seem hypocritical, but it’s not: The information in these pages is both
important and to be applied now, not tomorrow or the day after.
Each day at lunch break, and no earlier, get your five-minute news fix. Ask a well-
informed colleague or a restaurant waiter, “Anything important happening in the
world today? I couldn’t get the paper today.” Stop this as soon as you realize that the
answer doesn’t affect your actions at all. Most people won’t even remember what they
spent one to two hours absorbing that morning.
Be strict with yourself. I can prescribe the medicine, but you need to take it.
Download the Firefox web browser (www.firefox.com) and use LeechBlock to
block certain sites entirely for set periods. From their site
(http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html):
You can specify up to six sets of sites to block, with different times and days for each
set. You can block sites within fixed time periods (e.g., between 9am and 5pm), after a
time limit (e.g., 10 minutes in every hour), or with a combination of time periods and
time limit (e.g., 10 minutes in every hour between 9am and 5pm). You can also set a
password for access to the extension options, just to slow you down in moments of
weakness!
2. Develop the habit of asking yourself, “Will I definitely use this information for
something immediate and important?”
It’s not enough to use information for “something”—it needs to be immediate and
important. If “no” on either count, don’t consume it. Information is useless if it is not
applied to something important or if you will forget it before you have a chance to
apply it.
I used to have the habit of reading a book or site to prepare for an event weeks or
months in the future, and I would then need to reread the same material when the
deadline for action was closer. This is stupid and redundant. Follow your to-do short
list and fill in the information gaps as you go.
Focus on what digerati Kathy Sierra calls “just-in-time” information instead of
“just-in-case” information.
3. Practice the art of nonfinishing.
This is another one that took me a long time to learn. Starting something doesn’t
automatically justify finishing it.
If you are reading an article that sucks, put it down and don’t pick it back up. If you
go to a movie and it’s worse than Matrix III, get the hell out of there before more
neurons die. If you’re full after half a plate of ribs, put the damn fork down and don’t
order dessert.
More is not better, and stopping something is often 10 times better than finishing it.
Develop the habit of nonfinishing that which is boring or unproductive if a boss isn’t
demanding it.
COMFORT CHALLENGE
8. Simon received the Nobel Prize in 1978 for his contribution to organizational
decision making: It is impossible to have perfect and complete information at any
given time to make a decision.
9. 2004 at the time this was written.
10. LOL.
11. As someone who read exclusively nonfiction for nearly 15 years, I can tell you
two things: It’s not productive to read two fact-based books at the same time (this
is one), and fiction is better than sleeping pills for putting the happenings of the day
behind you.
1:35 P.M.
“I think I understand. Moving on. In the next paragraph, it explains that …” I had
detailed notes and didn’t want to miss a single point.
3:45 P.M.
“OK. That makes sense, but if we look at the following example …” I paused for a
moment mid-sentence. The teaching assistant had both hands on his face.
“Tim, let’s end here for now. I’ll be sure to keep these points in mind.” He had had
enough. Me too, but I knew I’d only have to do it once.
F or all four years of school, I had a policy. If I received anything less than an A on
the first paper or non-multiple-choice test in a given class, I would bring 2–3 hours of
questions to the grader’s office hours and not leave until the other had answered them
all or stopped out of exhaustion.
This served two important purposes:
1. I learned exactly how the grader evaluated work, including his or her
prejudices and pet peeves.
2. The grader would think long and hard about ever giving me less than an
A. He or she would never consider giving me a bad grade without exceptional
reasons for doing so, as he or she knew I’d come a’knocking for another three-
hour visit.
T ime wasters are the easiest to eliminate and deflect. It is a matter of limiting
access and funneling all communication toward immediate action.
First, limit e-mail consumption and production. This is the greatest single
interruption in the modern world.
1. Turn off the audible alert if you have one on Outlook or a similar
program and turn off automatic send/receive, which delivers e-mail to your
inbox as soon as someone sends them.
2. Check e-mail twice per day, once at 12:00 noon or just prior to
lunch, and again at 4:00 P.M. 12:00 P.M. and 4:00 P.M. are times that ensure
you will have the most responses from previously sent e-mail. Never check e-
mail first thing in the morning.12Instead, complete your most important task
before 11:00 A.M. to avoid using lunch or reading e-mail as a postponement
excuse.
1. Use two telephone numbers if possible—one office line (non urgent) and one
cellular (urgent). This could also be two cell phones, or the non-urgent line could be
an Internet phone number that routes calls to online voicemail (www.skype.com, for
example).
Use the cell number in the e-mail autoresponse and answer it at all times unless it is
an unknown caller or it is a call you don’t want to answer. If in doubt, allow the call to
go to voicemail and listen to the voicemail immediately afterward to gauge
importance. If it can wait, let it wait. The offending parties have to learn to wait.
The office phone should be put on silent mode and allowed to go to voicemail at all
times. The voicemail recording should sound familiar:
Jane (receiver):Hello?
John (caller): Hi, is this Jane?
Jane: This is Jane.
John: Hi, Jane, it’s John.
Jane: Oh, hi, John. How are you? (or) Oh, hi, John. What’s going on?
John will now digress and lead you into a conversation about nothing, from which you
will have to recover and then fish out the ultimate purpose of the call. There is a better
approach:
Potential continuation:
Don’t encourage people to chitchat and don’t let them chitchat. Get them to the point
immediately. If they meander or try to postpone for a later undefined call, reel them in
and get them to come to the point. If they go into a long description of a problem, cut
in with, “[Name], sorry to interrupt, but I have a call in five minutes. What can I do to
help out?” You might instead say, “[Name], sorry to interrupt, but I have a call in five
minutes. Can you send me an e-mail?”
The third step is to master the art of refusal and avoiding meetings.
THE FIRST DAY our new Sales VP arrived at TrueSAN in 2001, he came into the all-
company meeting and made an announcement in just about this many words: “I am
not here to make friends. I have been hired to build a sales team and sell product, and
that’s what I intend to do. Thanks.” So much for small talk.
He proceeded to deliver on his promise. The office socializers disliked him for his
no-nonsense approach to communication, but everyone respected his time. He wasn’t
rude without reason, but he was direct and kept the people around him focused. Some
didn’t consider him charismatic, but no one considered him anything less than
spectacularly effective.
I remember sitting down in his office for our first one-on-one meeting. Fresh off
four years of rigorous academic training, I immediately jumped into explaining the
prospect profiles, elaborate planning I’d developed, responses to date, and so forth and
so on. I had spent at least two hours preparing to make this first impression a good
one. He listened with a smile on his face for no more than two minutes and then held
up a hand. I stopped. He laughed in a kind-hearted manner and said, “Tim, I don’t
want the story. Just tell me what we need to do.”
Over the following weeks, he trained me to recognize when I was unfocused or
focused on the wrong things, which meant anything that didn’t move the top two or
three clients one step closer to signing a purchase order. Our meetings were now no
more than five minutes long.
From this moment forward, resolve to keep those around you focused and avoid all
meetings, whether in person or remote, that do not have clear objectives. It is possible
to do this tactfully, but expect that some time wasters will be offended the first few
times their advances are rejected. Once it is clear that remaining on task is your policy
and not subject to change, they will accept it and move on with life. Hard feelings
pass. Don’t suffer fools or you’ll become one.
It is your job to train those around you to be effective and efficient. No one else will
do it for you. Here are a few recommendations:
1. Decide that, given the non-urgent nature of most issues, you will steer people
toward the following means of communication, in order of preference: e-mail, phone,
and in-person meetings. If someone proposes a meeting, request an e-mail instead and
then use the phone as your fallback offer if need be. Cite other immediately pending
work tasks as the reason.
3. Meetings should only be held to make decisions about a predefined situation, not to
define the problem. If someone proposes that you meet with them or “set a time to talk
on the phone,” ask that person to send you an e-mail with an agenda to define the
purpose:
That sounds doable. So I can best prepare, can you please send me an e-mail with
an agenda? That is, the topics and questions we’ll need to address? That would be
great. Thanks in advance.
Don’t give them a chance to bail out. The “thanks in advance” before a retort
increases your chances of getting the e-mail.
The e-mail medium forces people to define the desired outcome of a meeting or
call. Nine times out of ten, a meeting is unnecessary and you can answer the
questions, once defined, via e-mail. Impose this habit on others. I haven’t had an in-
person meeting for my business in more than five years and have had fewer than a
dozen conference calls, all lasting less than 30 minutes.
5. The cubicle is your temple—don’t permit casual visitors. Some suggest using a
clear “do not disturb” sign of some type, but I have found that this is ignored unless
you have an office. My approach was to put headphones on, even if I wasn’t listening
to anything. If someone approached me despite this discouragement, I would pretend
to be on the phone. I’d put a finger to my lips, say something like, “I hear you,” and
then say into the mic, “Can you hold on a second?” Next, I’d turn to the invader and
say, “Hi. What can I do for you?” I wouldn’t let them “get back to me” but rather
force the person to give me a five-second summary and then send me an e-mail if
necessary.
If headphone games aren’t your thing, the reflexive response to an invader should
be the same as when answering the cell phone: “Hi, invader. I’m right in the middle of
something. How can I be of help?” If it’s not clear within 30 seconds, ask the person
to send you an e-mail about the chosen issue; do not offer to send them an e-mail first:
“I’ll be happy to help, but I have to finish this first. Can you send me a quick e-mail to
remind me?” If you still cannot deflect an invader, give the person a time limit on your
availability, which can also be used for phone conversations: “OK, I only have two
minutes before a call, but what’s the situation and what can I do to help?”
6. Use the Puppy Dog Close to help your superiors and others develop the no-meeting
habit. The Puppy Dog Close in sales is so named because it is based on the pet store
sales approach: If someone likes a puppy but is hesitant to make the life-altering
purchase, just offer to let them take the pup home and bring it back if they change
their minds. Of course, the return seldom happens.
The Puppy Dog Close is invaluable whenever you face resistance to permanent
changes. Get your foot in the door with a “let’s just try it once” reversible trial.
Compare the following:
“I think you’d love this puppy. It will forever add to your responsibilities until he
dies 10 years from now. No more care-free vacations, and you’ll finally get to pick
up poop all over the city—what do you think?”
vs.
Now imagine walking up to your boss in the hallway and clapping a hand on her
shoulder:
“I’d like to go to the meeting, but I have a better idea. Let’s never have another
one, since all we do is waste time and not decide anything useful.”
vs.
The second set of alternatives seem less permanent, and they’re intended to appear
so. Repeat this routine and ensure that you achieve more outside of the meeting than
the attendees do within it; repeat the disappearing act as often as possible and cite
improved productivity to convert this slowly into a permanent routine change.
Learn to imitate any good child: “Just this once! Please!!! I promise I’ll do X!”
Parents fall for it because kids help adults to fool themselves. It works with bosses,
suppliers, customers, and the rest of the world, too.
Use it, but don’t fall for it. If a boss asks for overtime “just this once,” he or she will
expect it in the future.
I f you have never used a commercial printer before, the pricing and lead times could
surprise you.
Let’s assume it costs $310 and takes one week to print 20 customized T-shirts with
4-color logos. How much and how long does it take to print 3 of the same T-shirt?
$310 and one week.
How is that possible? Simple—the setup charges don’t change. It costs the printer
the same amount in materials for plate preparation ($150) and the same in labor to
man the press itself ($100). The setup is the real time-consumer, and thus the job,
despite its small size, needs to be scheduled just like the other, resulting in the same
one-week delivery date. The lower economy of scale picks up the rest: The cost for 3
shirts is $20 per shirt x 3 shirts instead of $3 per shirt x 20 shirts.
The cost- and time-effective solution, therefore, is to wait until you have a larger
order, an approach called “batching.” Batching is also the solution to our distracting
but necessary time consumers, those repetitive tasks that interrupt the most important.
If you check mail and make bill payments five times a week, it might take 30
minutes per instance and you respond to a total of 20 letters in two and a half hours. If
you do this once per week instead, it might take 60 minutes total and you still respond
to a total of 20 letters. People do the former out of fear of emergencies. First, there are
seldom real emergencies. Second, of the urgent communication you will receive,
missing a deadline is usually reversible and otherwise costs a minimum to correct.
There is an inescapable setup time for all tasks, large or minuscule in scale. It is
often the same for one as it is for a hundred. There is a psychological switching of
gears that can require up to 45 minutes to resume a major task that has been
interrupted. More than a quarter of each 9–5 period (28%) is consumed by such
interruptions.13
This is true of all recurring tasks and is precisely why we have already decided to
check e-mail and phone calls twice per day at specific predetermined times (between
which we let them accumulate).
From mid-2004 to 2007, I checked mail no more than once a week, often not for up
to four weeks at a time. Nothing was irreparable, and nothing cost more than $300 to
fix. This batching has saved me hundreds of hours of redundant work. How much is
your time worth?
Let’s use a hypothetical example:
1. $20 per hour is how much you are paid or value your time. This would be the case,
for example, if you are paid $40,000 per year and get two weeks of vacation per year
($40,000 divided by [40 hours per week x 50 = 2,000] = $20/hour). Estimate your
hourly income by cutting the last three zeroes off of your annual income and halving
the remaining number (e.g., $50,000/year p $25/hour.
2. Estimate the amount of time you will save by grouping similar tasks together and
batching them, and calculate how much you have earned by multiplying this hour
number by your per-hour rate ($20 here):
3. Test each of the above batching frequencies and determine how much problems
cost to fix in each period. If the cost is less than the above dollar amounts, batch even
further apart.
For example, using our above math, if I check e-mail once per week and that results
in an average loss of two sales per week, totaling $80 in lost profit, I will continue
checking once per week because $200 (10 hours of time) minus $80 is still a $120 net
gain, not to mention the enormous benefits of completing other main tasks in those 10
hours. If you calculate the financial and emotional benefit of completing just one main
task (such as landing a major client or completing a life-changing trip), the value of
batching is much more than the per-hour savings.
If the problems cost more than hours saved, scale back to the next-less-frequent
batch schedule. In this case, I would drop from once per week to twice per week (not
daily) and attempt to fix the system so that I can return to once per week. Do not work
harder when the solution is working smarter. I have batched both personal and
business tasks further and further apart as I’ve realized just how few real problems
come up. Some of my scheduled batches in 2007 were e-mail (Mondays 10:00 A.M.),
phone (completely eliminated), laundry (every other Sunday at 10:00 P.M.), credit
cards and bills (most are on automatic payment, but I check balances every second
Monday after e-mail), strength training (every 4th day for 30 minutes), etc.
The customer claims he didn’t receive the shipment. What should we do?
The customer had a bottle held at customs. Can we reship to a U.S. address?
The customer needs the product for a competition in two days. Can we ship overnight,
and if so, how much should we charge?
Hi All,
I would like to establish a new policy for my account that overrides all
others.
Keep the customer happy. If it is a problem that takes less than $100 to
fix, use your judgment and fix it yourself.
This is official written permission and a request to fix all problems that
cost under $100 without contacting me. I am no longer your customer; my
customers are your customer. Don’t ask me for permission. Do what you
think is right, and we’ll make adjustments as we go along.
Thank you,
Tim
Upon close analysis, it became clear that more than 90% of the issues that prompted
e-mail could be resolved for less than $20. I reviewed the financial results of their
independent decision-making on a weekly basis for four weeks, then a monthly basis,
and then on a quarterly basis.
It’s amazing how someone’s IQ seems to double as soon as you give them
responsibility and indicate that you trust them. The first month cost perhaps $200
more than if I had been micromanaging. In the meantime, I saved more than 100 hours
of my own time per month, customers received faster service, returns dropped to less
than 3% (the industry average is 10–15%), and outsourcers spent less time on my
account, all of which resulted in rapid growth, higher profit margins, and happier
people on all sides.
People are smarter than you think. Give them a chance to prove themselves.
If you are a micromanaged employee, have a heart-to-heart with your boss and
explain that you want to be more productive and interrupt him or her less. “I hate that
I have to interrupt you so much and pull you away from more important things I know
you have on your plate. I was doing some reading and had some thoughts on how I
might be more productive. Do you have a second?”
Before this conversation, develop a number of “rules” like the previous example
that would allow you to work more autonomously with less approval-seeking. The
boss can review the outcome of your decisions on a daily or weekly basis in the initial
stages. Suggest a one-week trial and end with “I’d like to try it. Does that sound like
something we could try for a week?” or my personal favorite, “Is that reasonable?”
It’s hard for people to label things unreasonable.
Realize that bosses are supervisors, not slave masters. Establish yourself as a
consistent challenger of the status quo and most people will learn to avoid challenging
you, particularly if it is in the interest of higher per-hour productivity.
If you are a micromanaging entrepreneur, realize that even if you can do something
better than the rest of the world, it doesn’t mean that’s what you should be doing if it’s
part of the minutiae. Empower others to act without interrupting you.
SET THE RULES in your favor: Limit access to your time, force people to define their
requests before spending time with them, and batch routine menial tasks to prevent
postponement of more important projects. Do not let people interrupt you. Find your
focus and you’ll find your lifestyle.
The bottom line is that you only have the rights you fight for.
In the next section, Automation, we’ll see how the New Rich create management-
free money and eliminate the largest remaining obstacle of all: themselves.
People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don’t realize how
hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world.
—CALVIN, from Calvin and Hobbes
B laming idiots for interruptions is like blaming clowns for scaring children—they
can’t help it. It’s their nature. Then again, I had (who am I kidding—and have), on
occasion, been known to create interruptions out of thin air. If you’re anything like
me, that makes us both occasional idiots. Learn to recognize and fight the interruption
impulse.
This is infinitely easier when you have a set of rules, responses, and routines to
follow. It is your job to prevent yourself and others from letting the unnecessary and
unimportant prevent the start-to-finish completion of the important.
This chapter differs from the previous in that the necessary actions, due to the
inclusion of examples and templates, have been presented throughout from start to
finish. This Q & A will thus be a summary rather than a repetition. The devil is in the
details, so be sure to reread this chapter for the specifics.
The 50,000-foot review is as follows:
1. Create systems to limit your availability via e-mail and phone and deflect
inappropriate contact.
Get the autoresponse and voicemail script in place now, and master the various
methods of evasion. Replace the habit of “How are you?” with “How can I help you?”
Get specific and remember—no stories. Focus on immediate actions. Set and practice
interruption-killing policies.
Avoid meetings whenever possible:
Doodle ( www.doodle.com )
The best free tool I’ve found for herding cats (multiple people) for scheduling without
excessive e-mail. Create and poll in 30 seconds with the proposed options and forward
a link to everyone invited. Check back a few hours later and you’ll have the best time
for the most people.
TimeDriver ( www.timedriver.com )
Let colleagues and clients self-schedule with you based on your availability, which is
determined by integration with Outlook or Google Calendar. Embed a “schedule now”
button in e-mail messages and you’ll never have to tell people when you can make a
call or meeting. Let them see what’s open and choose.
Jott ( www.jott.com )
Capture thoughts, create to-do’s, and set reminders with a simple toll-free phone call.
The service transcribes your message (15–30 seconds) and e-mails it to whomever you
want, including yourself, or to your Google calendar for automatic scheduling. Jott
also enables you to post voice message links to Twitter (www.twitter.com), Facebook
(www.facebook.com), and other services that tend to consume hours if you visit the
sites themselves.
Freedom ( http://www.ibiblio.org/fred/freedom/ )
Freedom is a free application that disables networking on an Apple computer for 1–
480 mintues (up to eight hours) at a time. Freedom will free you from the distractions
of the Internet, allowing you the focus to get real work done.
Freedom enforces freedom; a reboot is the only method for turning Freedom off
before the time limit you’ve set for yourself. The hassle of rebooting means you’re
less likely to cheat, and you’ll be more productive. Experiment with the software for
short periods of time at first (30–60 minutes.)
COMFORT CHALLENGE
Batching tool—PO Box: This might be stating the obvious, but one easy way to
encourage batching of your mail is to use a PO Box versus getting mail delivered to
your house. We got our PO Box to limit access to our physical address online, but it
also encourages you to get the mail less and deal with it in batch. Our post office has
recycling bins, so at least 60% of the mail doesn’t even come home with us. For a
while I was only getting and managing the mail once a week, and I found not only did
it take less time overall, I did a better job managing it and getting it out of the way
versus looking at it and setting it aside for future follow up.
—LAURA TURNER
For families, the four-hour workweek doesn’t have to mean four months on a
sailboat in the Caribbean unless that’s their dream, but even the simple ideal of having
time to take a walk in the park every evening or spending weekends together, makes
taking actions to implement this program worthwhile.
[There are many different approaches for making this work]: Kids have to promise
they won’t bother Mommy in the evening while she works on the computer, the
husband watches the kids in the evening, both parents make plans once a week to have
someone take care of the kids, etc. Then close with the huge payoff for the family of
having more time to spend with each other.
—ADRIENNE JENKINS
Why not combine a mini-retirement with dentistry (or medical) geoarbitrage and
finance your trip with the savings? I lived in Thailand for four months and got root
canal treatment and a crown for of the price that it costs in Australia. There are
many upmarket clinics set up for “expats” and health travelers in Thailand,
Philippines, Vietnam, Goa, etc., with English-speaking dentists. And in Europe many
people go to Poland or Hungary. To research, just Google “dentist” and the country
and you will come across practices advertising to foreigners. Talk to expats when
you’re in the country or on online chat forums for recommendations. Now I’m in
Australia I still combine my travels with annual dentist checkups—and the savings
often finance my airfare. Even between developed countries there are significant cost
differences. For example France is far cheaper than the UK and Australia is cheaper
than the U.S. [Note from Tim: Learn more about the incredible world of medical
tourism and geoarbitrage at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_tourism. Even large
insurers like AETNA often cover overseas treatments and surgeries.]
—ANONYMOUS
12. This habit alone can change your life. It seems small but has an enormous
effect.
13. Jonathan B. Spira and Joshua B. Feintuch, The Cost of Not Paying Attention:
How Interruptions Impact Knowledge Worker Productivity (Basex, 2005).
Step III:
A is for Automation
SCOTTY: She’s all yours, sir. All systems
automated and ready. A chimpanzee
and two trainees could run her!
CAPTAIN KIRK: Thank you, Mr. Scott. I’ll
try not to take that personally .
— STAR TREK
Outsourcing Life
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
—HENRY DAVID THOREAU, naturalist
I f I told you this story, you wouldn’t believe me, so I’ll let AJ tell it. It will set the
stage for even more incredible things to come, all of which you will do yourself.
My Outsourced Life
A true account by AJ Jacobs, editor-at-large at Esquire magazine (ellipses represent
passage of time between entries)
IT BEGAN a month ago. I was midway through The World Is Flat, the bestseller by
Tom Friedman. I like Friedman, despite his puzzling decision to wear a mustache. His
book is all about how outsourcing to India and China is not just for tech support and
carmakers but is poised to transform every industry in America, from law to banking
to accounting.
I don’t have a corporation; I don’t even have an up-to-date business card. I’m a
writer and editor working from home, usually in my boxer shorts or, if I’m feeling
formal, my penguin-themed pajama bottoms. Then again, I think, why should Fortune
500 firms have all the fun? Why can’t I join in on the biggest business trend of the
new century? Why can’t I outsource my low-end tasks? Why can’t I outsource my
life?
The next day I e-mail Brickwork, one of the companies Friedman mentions in his
book. Brickwork—based in Bangalore, India—offers “remote executive assistants,”
mostly to financial firms and healthcare companies that want data processed. I explain
that I’d like to hire someone to help with Esquire-related tasks—doing research,
formatting memos, like that. The company’s CEO, Vivek Kulkarni, responds, “It
would be a great pleasure to be talking to a person of your stature.” Already I’m liking
this. I’ve never had stature before. In America, I barely command respect from a
Bennigan’s maître d’, so it’s nice to know that in India I have stature.
A couple of days later, I get an e-mail from my new “remote executive assistant.”
Dear Jacobs,
My name is Honey K. Balani. I would be assisting you in your editorial and
personal job…. I would try to adapt myself as per your requirements that would
lead to desired satisfaction.
Desired satisfaction. This is great. Back when I worked at an office, I had assistants,
but there was never any talk of desired satisfaction. In fact, if anyone ever used the
phrase “desired satisfaction,” we’d all end up in a solemn meeting with HR.
I GO OUT to dinner with my friend Misha, who grew up in India, founded a software
firm, and subsequently became nauseatingly rich. I tell him about Operation
Outsource. “You should call Your Man in India,” he says. Misha explains that this is a
company for Indian businessmen who have moved overseas but who still have parents
back in New Delhi or Mumbai. YMII is their overseas concierge service—it buys
movie tickets and cell phones and other sundries for abandoned moms.
Perfect. This could kick my outsourcing up to a new level. I can have a nice, clean
division of labor: Honey will take care of my business affairs, and YMII can attend to
my personal life—pay my bills, make vacation reservations, buy stuff online. Happily,
YMII likes the idea, and just like that the support team at Jacobs Inc. has doubled.
HONEY HAS completed her first project for me: research on the person Esquire has
chosen as the Sexiest Woman Alive. I’ve been assigned to write a profile of this
woman, and I really don’t want to have to slog through all the heavy-breathing fan
websites about her. When I open Honey’s file, I have this reaction: America is f*cked.
There are charts. There are section headers. There is a well-organized breakdown of
her pets, measurements, and favorite foods (e.g., swordfish). If all Bangalorians are
like Honey, I pity Americans about to graduate college. They’re up against a hungry,
polite, Excel-proficient Indian army.
IN FACT, in the next few days, I outsource a whole mess of online errands to Asha
(from the personal service YMII): paying my bills, getting stuff from drugstore.com,
finding my son a Tickle Me Elmo. (Actually, the store was out of Tickle Me Elmos, so
Asha bought a Chicken Dance Elmo—good decision.) I had her call Cingular to ask
about my cell-phone plan. I’m just guessing, but I bet her call was routed from
Bangalore to New Jersey and then back to a Cingular employee in Bangalore, which
makes me happy for some reason.
IT’S THE fourth morning of my new, farmed-out life, and when I flip on my
computer, my e-mail inbox is already filled with updates from my overseas aides. It’s
a strange feeling having people work for you while you sleep. Strange, but great. I’m
not wasting time while I drool on my pillow; things are getting done.
HONEY IS my protector. Consider this: For some reason, the Colorado Tourism
Board e-mails me all the time. (Most recently, they informed me about a festival in
Colorado Springs featuring the world’s most famous harlequin.) I request that Honey
gently ask them to stop with the press releases. Here’s what she sent:
Dear All,
Jacobs often receives mails from Colorado news, too often. They are definitely
interesting topics. However, these topics are not suitable for “Esquire.”
Further, we do understand that you have taken a lot of initiatives working on
these articles and sending it to us. We understand. Unfortunately, these articles and
mails are too time consuming to be read.
Currently, these mails are not serving right purpose for both of us. Thus, we
request to stop sending these mails.
We do not mean to demean your research work by this.
We hope you understand too.
Thanking you,
Honey K B
That is the best rejection notice in journalism history. It’s exceedingly polite, but
there’s a little undercurrent of indignation. Honey seems almost outraged that
Colorado would waste the valuable time of Jacobs.
I DECIDE to test the next logical relationship: my marriage. These arguments with
my wife are killing me—partly because Julie is a much better debater than I am.
Maybe Asha can do better:
Hello Asha,
My wife got annoyed at me because I forgot to get cash at the automatic bank
machine … I wonder if you could tell her that I love her, but gently remind her that
she too forgets things—she has lost her wallet twice in the last month. And she
forgot to buy nail clippers for Jasper.
AJ
I can’t tell you what a thrill I got from sending that note. It’s pretty hard to get much
more passive-aggressive than bickering with your wife via an e-mail from a
subcontinent halfway around the world.
The next morning, Asha CC’d me on the e-mail she sent to Julie.
Julie,
Do understand your anger that I forgot to pick up the cash at the automatic
machine. I have been forgetful and I am sorry about that.
But I guess that doesn’t change the fact that I love you so much….
Love
AJ
As if that weren’t enough, she also sent Julie an e-card. I click on it: two teddy
bears embracing, with the words, “Anytime you need a hug, I’ve got one for you….
I’m sorry.”
Damn! My outsourcers are too friggin’ nice! They kept the apology part but took
out my little jabs. They are trying to save me from myself. They are superegoing my
id. I feel castrated.
Julie, on the other hand, seems quite pleased: “That’s nice, sweetie. I forgive you.”
DESPITE THREE weeks with my support team, I’m still stressed. Perhaps it’s the
fault of Chicken Dance Elmo, whom my son loves to the point of dry humping, but
who is driving me slowly insane. Whatever the reason, I figure it’s time to conquer
another frontier: outsourcing my inner life.
First, I try to delegate my therapy. My plan is to give Asha a list of my neuroses and
a childhood anecdote or two, have her talk to my shrink for 50 minutes, then relay the
advice. Smart, right? My shrink refused. Ethics or something. Fine. Instead, I have
Asha send me a meticulously researched memo on stress relief. It had a nice Indian
flavor to it, with a couple of yogic postures and some visualization.
This was okay, but it didn’t seem quite enough. I decided I needed to outsource my
worry. For the last few weeks I’ve been tearing my hair out because a business deal is
taking far too long to close. I asked Honey if she would be interested in tearing her
hair out in my stead. Just for a few minutes a day. She thought it was a wonderful
idea. “I will worry about this every day,” she wrote. “Do not worry.”
The outsourcing of my neuroses was one of the most successful experiments of the
month. Every time I started to ruminate, I’d remind myself that Honey was already on
the case, and I’d relax. No joke—this alone was worth it.
G etting a remote personal assistant is a huge departure point and marks the
moment that you learn how to give orders and be commander instead of the
commanded. It is small-scale training wheels for the most critical of NR skills: remote
management and communication.
It is time to learn how to be the boss. It isn’t time-consuming. It’s low-cost and it’s
low-risk. Whether or not you “need” someone at this point is immaterial. It is an
exercise.
It is also a litmus test for entrepreneurship: Can you manage (direct and chastise)
other people? Given the proper instruction and practice, I believe so. Most
entrepreneurs fail because they jump into the deep end of the pool without learning to
swim first. Using a virtual assistant (VA) as a simple exercise with no downside, the
basics of management are covered in a 2–4-week test costing between $100–400. This
is an investment, not an expense, and the ROI is astounding. It will be repaid in a
maximum of 10–14 days, after which it is pure timesaving profit.
Becoming a member of the NR is not just about working smarter. It’s about
building a system to replace yourself.
This is the first exercise.
Even if you have no intention of becoming an entrepreneur, this is the ultimate
continuation of our 80/20 and elimination process: Preparing someone to replace you
(even if it never happens) will produce an ultrarefined set of rules that will cut
remaining fat and redundancy from your schedule. Lingering unimportant tasks will
disappear as soon as someone else is being paid to do them.
But what about the cost?
This is a hurdle that is hard for most. If I can do it better than an assistant, why
should I pay them at all? Because the goal is to free your time to focus on bigger and
better things.
This chapter is a low-cost exercise to get you past this lifestyle limiter. It is
absolutely necessary that you realize that you can always do something more cheaply
yourself. This doesn’t mean you want to spend your time doing it. If you spend your
time, worth $20–25 per hour, doing something that someone else will do for $10 per
hour, it’s simply a poor use of resources. It is important to take baby steps toward
paying others to do work for you. Few do it, which is another reason so few people
have their ideal lifestyles.
Even if the cost is occasionally more per hour than you currently earn, the trade is
often worth it. Let’s assume you make $50,000 and thus $25 per hour (working from
9–5, Monday through Friday, for 50 weeks per year). If you pay a top-notch assistant
$30 per hour and he or she saves you one full 8-hour shift per week, your cost
(subtracting what you’re being paid) is $40 to free an extra day. Would you pay $40
per week to work Monday to Thursday? I would, and I do. Keep in mind that this is a
worst-case cost scenario.
But what if your boss freaks out?
It’s largely a non-issue, and prevention is better than cure. There is no ethical or
legal reason for the boss to know if you choose non-sensitive tasks. The first option is
to assign personal items. Time is time, and if you’re spending time on chores and
errands that could be spent better elsewhere, a VA will improve life and the
management learning curve is similar. Second, you can delegate business tasks that
don’t include financial information or identify your company.
Ready to build an army of assistants? Let’s first look at the dark side of delegation.
A review is in order to prevent abuses of power and wasteful behavior.
H ave you ever been given illogical assignments, handed unimportant work, or
commanded to do something in the most inefficient fashion possible? Not fun and not
productive.
Now it’s your turn to show that you know better. Delegation is to be used as a
further step in reduction, not as an excuse to create more movement and add the
unimportant. Remember—unless something is well-defined and important, no one
should do it.
Eliminate before you delegate.
Never automate something that can be eliminated, and never delegate something
that can be automated or streamlined. Otherwise, you waste someone else’s time
instead of your own, which now wastes your hard-earned cash. How’s that for
incentive to be effective and efficient? Now you’re playing with your own dough. It’s
something I want you to get comfortable with, and this baby step is small stakes.
Did I mention to eliminate before you delegate?
For example, it is popular among executives to have assistants read e-mail. In some
cases this is valuable. In my case, I use spam filters, autoresponders with FAQs, and
automatic forwarding to outsourcers to limit my e-mail obligation to 10–20 e-mail
responses per week. It takes me 30 minutes per week because I used systems—
elimination and automation—to make it so.
Nor do I use an assistant to set meetings and conference calls because I have
eliminated meetings. If I need to set the odd 20-minute call for a given month, I’ll
send one two-sentence e-mail and be done with it.
Principle number one is to refine rules and processes before adding people. Using
people to leverage a refined process multiplies production; using people as a solution
to a poor process multiplies problems.
T he next question then becomes, “What should you delegate?” It’s a good
question, but I don’t want to answer it. I want to watch Family Guy.
The truth be told, it is a hell of a lot of work writing about not working. Ritika of
Brickwork and Venky of YMII are more than capable of writing this section, so I’ll
just mention two guidelines and leave the mental hernia of detail work to them.
Golden Rule #1: Each delegated task must be both time-consuming and well-
defined. If you’re running around like a chicken with its head cut off and assign
your VA to do that for you, it doesn’t improve the order of the universe.
Golden Rule #2: On a lighter note, have some fun with it. Have someone in
Bangalore or Shanghai send e-mails to friends as your personal concierge to set
lunch dates or similar basics. Harass your boss with odd phone calls in strong
accents from unknown numbers. Being effective doesn’t mean being serious all the
time. It’s fun being in control for a change. Get a bit of repression off your chest so
it doesn’t turn into a complex later.
Howard Hughes, the ultrarich filmmaker and eccentric from The Aviator, was
notorious for assigning odd tasks to his assistants. Here are a few from Donald
Bartlett’s Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness you might want to consider.
1. After his first plane crash, Hughes confided in a friend that he believed his
recovery was due to his consumption of orange juice and its healing properties. He
believed that exposure to the air diluted the juice’s potency, so he demanded that
fresh oranges be sliced and juiced in front of him.
2. When Hughes was partaking of the nightlife in Las Vegas, his aides were
charged with approaching any girls he took a liking to. If a girl was invited to join
the Hughes table and agreed, an aide would pull out a waiver and agreement for her
to sign.
3. Hughes had a barber on call 24/7 but had his hair and nails trimmed about once a
year.
4. In his hotel-bound years, Hughes was rumored to have instructed assistants to
place a single cheeseburger in a specific tree outside his penthouse room at a 4:00
P.M. each day, whether he was there or not.
W ithout further ado, let me pass the mic. Note that YMII performs both personal
and business tasks, whereas Brickwork focuses solely on business projects. Let’s start
with the important but dull stuff and move quickly from the sublime to the ridiculous.
To give a true taste of what to expect, I have not corrected non-native-sounding
English.
Venky: Don’t limit yourself. Just ask us if something is possible. We’ve arranged
parties, organized caterers, researched summer courses, cleaned up accounting books,
created 3D drafts based on blueprints. Just ask us. We could find the closest kid-
friendly restaurant to your house for your son’s birthday, finding out costs and
organizing the birthday party. This frees up your time to work or hang out with your
son.
What can we not do? We can’t do anything that would require our physical
presence. But you would be surprised as to how small a set of tasks that is in this day
and age.
Here are the most common tasks we handle:
Venky: We have a forgetful client who has us call him all the time with various
reminders. One of our clients on a custom plan has us wake him up every morning.
We’ve done the legwork and found people who fell out of contact after Katrina. Found
jobs for clients! My favorite so far: One of our clients has a pair of trousers that he
really likes that aren’t in production anymore. He’s sending them to Bangalore (from
London) to have created exact replicas at a tiny fraction of the price.
Here are a few other YMII custom requests:
I wanted to find someone to prepare food I love. I trained as a chef but I am often so
busy and as I am the only one in the house who really cooks, I often don’t have time
to prepare the food that makes me feel the healthiest so I wrote the attached ad and
dropped it on Craigslist.
This was a very tight focus—ultraspecific—I had just two applicants in two
months—one who was a 2/10 match but the guy we just OK’d was a Hare Krishna
follower for many years, lived in India, and his sample menu proved he knew what
he’s doing so we just started him.
The food is absolutely awesome. The hourly rate is *extremely reasonable,* he’s a
five-minute detour when either of us are in town to collect food and I now have
delicious Indian food for less than $5 a meal and it’s as good as anything I’ve ever
eaten anywhere.
I’m going to progress to other cuisines now… Thai, Italian, Chinese, etc., and it
means when I do have time to cook I’ll enjoy doing it that much more as I am not the
only one cooking!
We are a local, international family who love Indian and Asian vegetarian food.
We are looking for a cook experienced in this wonderful cuisine to prepare
delicious, fresh, healthy, authentic Indian/Asian vegetarian meals for us.
If you’ve cooked a curry once or twice or need to follow recipes, this position is
probably not for you, but if you know Indian vegetarian cooking in depth and can
prepare delicious, healthy, fresh, authentic Indian vegetarian food then we’d like to
hear from you. This could be an ideal opportunity if you are Indian, Pakistani,
Punjabi, etc., and are looking for a great way to apply your experience and love of
Indian vegetarian food, cooking and culture. Knowledge of Ayurved and how this
relates to food and diet is a plus though not essential.
Please reply with details of your experience and some dishes you could prepare. If
we like what you have to offer, we’ll arrange for you to cook a sample meal or two
which we will pay you for and then we’ll see what works out for us all.
This is a part-time position. You will be self-employed and responsible for your
own taxes, etc. We’ll pay you an hourly rate we will agree with you plus grocery
bills for the food you prepare. You can prepare food in your own place and we can
arrange to collect it from you, possibly for us to freeze for later eating. We will
work with you to come up with menus and schedules that work out for you and us.
T here are tens of thousands of VAs—how on earth do you find the right one? The
resources at the end of this chapter will show you where to look, but it is
overwhelming and confusing unless you have a few criteria determined in advance.
It often helps to begin with the question “Where on Earth?”
Remote or Local?
“Made in the USA” doesn’t have the ring it used to. The pros of jumping time zones
and visiting third-world currency are twofold: People work while you sleep, and the
per-hour expense is less. Time savings and cost savings. Ritika explains the former
with an example.
One can give the remote personal assistant in India their assignment when they are
leaving work at the end of the day in New York City, and they will have the
presentation ready the next morning. Because of the time difference with India,
assistants can work on it while they are asleep and have it back in their morning.
When they wake up, they will find the completed summary in their inbox. These
assistants can also help them keep pace with what they want to read, for example.
Indian and Chinese VAs, as well as most from other developing countries, will run
$4–15 per hour, the lower end being limited to simple tasks and the higher end
including the equivalent of Harvard or Stanford M.B.A.s and Ph.D.s. Need a business
plan to raise funding? Brickwork can provide it for between $2,500–5,000 instead of
$15,000–20,000. Foreign assistance isn’t just for the small time. I know from firsthand
discussions that executives from big five accounting and management consulting
firms routinely charge clients six figures for research reports that are then farmed to
India for low four figures.
In the U.S. or Canada, the per-hour range is often $25–100. Seems like an obvious
choice, right? Bangalore 100%? It’s not. The important metric is cost per completed
task, not cost per hour.
The biggest challenge with overseas help will be the language barrier, which often
quadruples back-and-forth discussion and the ultimate cost. The first time I hired an
Indian VA, I made the fundamental mistake of not setting an hour cap for three simple
tasks. I checked in later that week and found he had spent 23 hours chasing his tail. He
had scheduled one tentative interview for the following week, set at the wrong time!
Mind boggling. 23 hours? It ended up costing me, at $10 per hour, $230. The same
tasks, assigned later that week to a native English speaker in Canada, were completed
in two hours at $25 per hour. $50 for more than four times the results. That said, I later
requested another Indian VA from the same firm who was able to duplicate the native
speaker results.
How do you know which to choose? That’s the beautiful part: You don’t. It’s a
matter of testing a few assistants to both sharpen your communication skills and
determine who is worth hiring and who is worth firing. Being a results-based boss
isn’t as simple as it looks.
There are a number of lessons to be learned here.
First, per-hour cost is not the ultimate determinant of cost. Look at per-task cost. If
you need to spend time restating the task and otherwise managing the VA, determine
the time required of you and add this (using your per-hour rate from earlier chapters)
to the end sticker price of the task. It can be surprising. As cool as it is to say that you
have people working for you in three countries, it’s uncool to spend time babysitting
people who are supposed to make your life easier.
Second, the proof is in the pudding. It is impossible to predict how well you will
work with a given VA without a trial. Luckily, there are things you can do to improve
your odds, and one of them is using a VA firm instead of a solo operator.
Solo vs. Support Team
Let’s suppose you find the perfect VA. He or she is performing all of your noncritical
tasks and you’ve decided to take a much-deserved vacation to Thailand. It’s nice to
know someone besides you will be manning the wheel and putting out fires for a
change. Finally, some relief! Two hours before your flight from Bangkok to Phuket,
you receive an e-mail: Your VA is out of commission and will be in the hospital for
the next week. Not good. Vacation FUBAR.
I don’t like being dependent on one person, and I don’t recommend it in the least. In
the world of high technology, this type of dependency would be referred to as a
“single point of failure”—one fragile item upon which all else depends. In the world
of IT,15 the term “redundancy” is used as a selling point for systems that continue to
function if there is a malfunction or mechanical failure in any given part. In the
context of VAs, redundancy entails having fallback support.
I recommend that you hire a VA firm or VAs with backup teams instead of sole
operators. Examples abound, of course, of people who have had a single assistant for
decades without incident, but I suggest that this is the exception rather than the rule.
Better safe than sorry. Besides simple disaster avoidance, a group structure provides a
pool of talent that allows you to assign multiple tasks without bothering to find a new
person with the qualifications. Brickwork and YMII both exemplify this type of
structure and provide a single point of contact, a personal account manager, who then
farms out your tasks to the most-capable people in the group and across different
shifts. Need graphic design? Covered. Need database management? Covered. I don’t
like calling and coordinating multiple people. I want one-stop shopping and am
willing to pay 10% more to have it. I encourage you to be similarly pound-wise and
penny-foolish.
Team preference doesn’t mean that bigger is better, just that multiple people are
better than one person. The best VA I have used to date is an Indian with five backup
assistants under him. Three can be more than sufficient, but two is toeing the line.
My outsourcers now know an alarming amount about me—not just my schedule but
my cholesterol, my infertility problems, my Social Security number, my passwords
(including the one that is a particularly adolescent curse word). Sometimes I worry
that I can’t piss off my outsourcers or I’ll end up with a $12,000 charge on my
MasterCard bill from the Louis Vuitton in Anantapur.
The good news is that misuse of financial and confidential information is rare. In all of
the interviews I conducted for this section, I could find only one case of information
abuse, and I had to search long and hard. It involved an overworked U.S.-based VA
who hired freelance help at the last moment.
Commit to memory the following—never use the new hire. Prohibit small-operation
VAs from subcontracting work to untested freelancers without your written
permission. The more established and higher-end firms, Brickwork in the below
example, have security measures that border on excessive and make it simple to
pinpoint abusers in the case of a breach:
1. Never use debit cards for online transactions or with remote assistants. Reversing
unauthorized credit card charges, particularly with American Express, is painless and
near instantaneous. Recovering funds withdrawn from your checking account via
unauthorized debit card use takes dozens of hours in paperwork alone and can take
months to receive, if approved at all.
2. If your VA will be accessing websites on your behalf, create a new unique login
and password to be used on those sites. Most of us reuse both logins and passwords on
multiple sites, and taking this precaution limits possible damage. Instruct them to use
these unique logins to create accounts on new sites if needed. Note that this is
particularly important when using assistants who have access to live commercial
websites (developers, programmers, etc.).
If information or identity theft hasn’t hit you, it will. Use these guidelines and
you’ll realize when it happens that, just like most nightmares, it’s not that big a deal
and is reversible.
M y assistant is an idiot! It took him 23 hours to book an interview! This was the
first complaint I had, for sure. 23 hours! I was heated up for a shouting match. My
original e-mail to this first assistant seemed clear enough.
Dear Abdul,
Here are the first tasks, due at the end of next Tuesday. Please call or e-mail with
any questions:
1. Go to this article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12666060/site/newsweek/,
get the phone/e-mail/website contacts for Carol Milligan and Marc and Julie
Szekely. Also find the same info for Rob Long here
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12652789/site/newsweek/.
2. Schedule 30-minute interviews for Carol, Marc/Julie, and Rob. Use
www.myevents.com (username: notreal, password: donttryit) to book them in my
calendar for next week any time between 9–9 ET.
3. Find the name, e-mail, and phone (phone is least important) of workers in the
U.S. who have negotiated remote work agreements (telecommuting) despite
resistant bosses. Those who have traveled outside the U.S. are ideal. Other
keywords could include “teleworking” and “telecommuting.” The important factor
is that they negotiated with difficult bosses. Please send me links to their profiles or
write a paragraph describing why they fit the profile above.
Look forward to seeing what you can do. Please e-mail if you don’t understand
or have questions.
Best,
Tim
The truth is—I was at fault. This is not a good debut demand, and I made fatal
mistakes even before composing it. If you are an effective person but unaccustomed to
issuing commands, assume that most problems at the outset are your fault. It is
tempting to immediately point the finger at someone else and huff and puff, but most
beginner bosses repeat the same mistakes I made.
1. I accepted the first person the firm provided and made no special requests at
the outset.
Request someone who has “excellent” English and indicate that phone calls will be
required (even if not). Be fast to request a replacement if there are repeated
communication issues.
5. I gave him too many tasks and didn’t set an order of importance.
I advise sending one task at a time whenever possible and no more than two. If you
want to cause your computer to hang or crash, open 20 windows and applications at
the same time. If you want to do the same to your assistant, assign him or her a dozen
tasks without prioritizing them. Recall our mantra: Eliminate before you delegate.
WHAT DOES A good VA task e-mail look like? The following example was recently
sent to an Indian VA whose results have been nothing short of spectacular:
Dear Sowmya,
Thank you. I would like to start with the following task.
TASK: I need to find the names and e-mails of editors of men’s magazines in the
US (for example: maxim, stuff, GQ, esquire, blender, etc.) who also have written
books. An example of such a person would be AJ Jacobs who is Editor-at-Large of
Esquire (www.ajjacobs.com). I already have his information and need more like
him.
Can you do this? If not, please advise. Please reply and confirm what you will
plan to do to complete this task.
DEADLINE: Since I’m in a rush, get started after your next e-mail and stop at 3
hours and tell me what results you have. Please begin this task now if possible. The
deadline for these 3 hours and reported results is end-of-day ET Monday.
Thank you for your fastest reply,
Tim
Short, sweet, and to the point. Clear writing, and therefore clear commands, come
from clear thinking. Think simple.
IN THE NEXT several chapters, the communication skills you develop with our virtual
assistant experiment will be applied to a much larger and obscenely profitable playing
field: automation. The extent to which you will outsource next makes delegation look
like finger painting.
In the world of automation, not all business models are created equal. How do you
assemble a business and coordinate all its parts without lifting a finger? How do you
automate cash deposits in your bank account while avoiding the most common
problems? It begins with understanding the options, the art of dodging information
flow, and what we will call “muses.”
The next chapter is a blueprint for the first step: a product.
H ere is a flowchart of 4HWW from reader Jed Wood, who has used it for faster
decision making, more output with less input, and more time with his wife and
children.
India
www.tryasksunday.com ($20–60 per month for 24/7 concierge, free one-week trial).
AskSunday is one of the sophisticated new kids on the personal outsourcing block.
Their site was nominated the #2 website of the year in 2007 by Time magazine. Just
dial a 212 (NYC) area code and get routed to well-spoken assistants in India and the
Philippines. I use this service 80% of the time, as most tasks take less than 10 minues
to complete. For longer projects, there are teams available for $12/hour.
COMFORT CHALLENGE
14. To leverage global pricing and currency differences for profit or lifestyle
purposes.
15. Information technology.
16. Don’t call it a problem if you can avoid it.
17. No one can argue with your feelings, so use this to avoid a debate about
external circumstances.
18. Notice how I take “you” out of the sentence to avoid finger-pointing, even
though it’s implicit. “Normally, you make priorities clear” sounds like a
backhanded insult. If this is a significant other, you can skip this formality, but
never use “you always do X,” which is just a fight starter.
19. Take a little bit of the heat off with this. The point has already been made.
20. “Before I forget” is a great segue to the closing compliment, which is also a
topic shifter and gets you off the sensitive topic without awkwardness.
Income Autopilot I
As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few.
The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The
man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON
The Renaissance Minimalist
Let’s look at the mathematical beauty of his system for full effect.
For each $325 order at his cost of 55% off retail, Doug is entitled to $178.75. If we
subtract 1% of the full retail price (1% of $325 = $3.25) for the Yahoo Store
transaction fee and 2.5% for the credit card processing fee (2.5% of $325 = $8.13),
Doug is left with a pretax profit of $167.38 for this one sale.
Multiply this by 10 and we have $1673.80 in profit for 30 minutes of work. Doug is
making $3,347.60 per hour and purchases no product in advance. His initial start-up
costs were $1,200 for the webpage design, which he recouped in the first week. His
PPC advertising costs approximately $700 per month and he pays Yahoo $99 per
month for their hosting and shopping cart.
He works less than two hours a week, often pulls more than $10,000 per month, and
there is no financial risk whatsoever.
Now Doug spends his time making music, traveling, and exploring new businesses
for excitement. Prosoundeffects.com is not his end-all-be-all, but it has removed all
financial concerns and freed his mind to focus on other things.
What would you do if you didn’t have to think about money? If you follow the
advice in this chapter, you will soon have to answer this question.
It’s time to find your muse.
THERE ARE A million and one ways to make a million dollars. From franchising to
freelance consulting, the list is endless. Fortunately, most of them are unsuited to our
purpose. This chapter is not for people who want to run businesses but for those who
want to own businesses and spend no time on them.
The response I get when I introduce this concept is more or less universal: Huh?
People can’t believe that most of the ultrasuccessful companies in the world do not
manufacture their own products, answer their own phones, ship their own products, or
service their own customers. There are hundreds of companies that exist to pretend to
work for someone else and handle these functions, providing rentable infrastructure to
anyone who knows where to find them.
Think Microsoft manufactures the Xbox 360 or that Kodak designs and distributes
their digital cameras? Guess again. Flextronics, a Singapore-based engineering and
manufacturing firm with locations in 30 countries and $15.3 billion in annual revenue,
does both. Most popular brands of mountain bikes in the U.S. are all manufactured in
the same three or four plants in China. Dozens of call centers press one button to
answer calls for the JC Penneys of the world, another to answer calls for the Dell
Computers of the world, and yet another to answer calls for the New Rich like me.
It’s all beautifully transparent and cheap.
Before we create this virtual architecture, however, we need a product to sell. If you
own a service business, this section will help you convert expertise into a
downloadable or shippable good to escape the limits of a per-hour-based model. If
starting from scratch, ignore service businesses for now, as constant customer contact
makes absence difficult.21
To narrow the field further, our target product can’t take more than $500 to test, it
has to lend itself to automation within four weeks, and—when up and running—it
can’t require more than one day per week of management.
Can a business be used to change the world, like The Body Shop or Patagonia? Yes,
but that isn’t our goal here.
Can a business be used to cash out through an IPO or sale? Yes, but that isn’t our
goal either.
Our goal is simple: to create an automated vehicle for generating cash without
consuming time. That’s it.22 I will call this vehicle a “muse” whenever possible to
separate it from the ambiguous term “business,” which can refer to a lemonade stand
or a Fortune 10 oil conglomerate—our objective is more limited and thus requires a
more precise label.
So first things first: cash flow and time. With these two currencies, all other things
are possible. Without them, nothing is possible.
S arah is excited.
It has been two weeks since her line of humorous T-shirts for golfers went online,
and she is averaging 5 T-shirt sales per day at $15 each. Her cost per unit is $5, so she
is grossing $50 in profit (minus 3% in credit card fees) per 24 hours, as she passes
shipping and handling on to customers. She should soon recoup the cost of her initial
order of 300 shirts (including plate charges, setup, etc.)—but wants to earn more.
It’s a nice reversal of fortune, considering the fate of her first product. She had
spent $12,000 to develop, patent, and manufacture a high-tech stroller for new moms
(she has never been a new mom), only to find that no one was interested.
The T-shirts, in contrast, were actually selling, but sales were beginning to slow.
It appears she has reached her online sales ceiling, as well-funded and uneducated
competitors are now spending too much for advertising and driving up costs. Then it
strikes her—retail!
Sarah approaches the manager of her local golf shop, Bill, who immediately
expresses interest in carrying the shirts. She’s thrilled.
Bill asks for the customary 40% minimum discount for wholesale pricing. This
means her sell price is now $9 instead of $15 and her profit has dropped from $10 to
$4. Sarah decides to give it a shot and does the same with three other stores in
surrounding towns. The shirts begin to move off the shelves, but she soon realizes that
her small profit is being eaten by extra hours she spends handling invoices and
additional administration.
She decides to approach a distributor23 to alleviate this labor, a company that acts as
a shipping warehouse and sells products from various manufacturers to golf stores
nationwide. The distributor is interested and asks for its usual pricing—70% off of
retail or $4.50—which would leave Sarah 50 cents in the hole on each unit. She
declines.
To make matters worse, the four local stores have already started discounting her
shirts to compete among one another and are killing their own profit margins. Two
weeks later, reorders disappear. Sarah abandons retail and returns to her website
demoralized. Sales online have dropped to almost nothing with new competition. She
has not recouped her initial investment, and she still has 50 shirts in her garage.
Not good.
It all could have been prevented with proper testing and planning.
ED “MR. CREATINE” BYRD is no Sarah. He does not invest and hope for the best.
His San Francisco–based company, MRI, had the top-selling sports supplement in
the U.S. from 2002–2005, NO2. It is still a top-seller despite dozens of imitators. He
did it through smart testing, smart positioning, and brilliant distribution.
Prior to manufacturing, MRI first offered a low-priced book related to the product
through ¼-page advertisements in men’s health magazines. Once the need had been
confirmed with a mountain of book orders, NO2 was priced at an outrageous $79.95,
positioned as the premium product on the market, and sold exclusively through GNC
stores nationwide. No one else was permitted to sell it.
How can it make sense to turn away business? There are a few good reasons.
First, the more competing resellers there are, the faster your product goes extinct.
This was one of Sarah’s mistakes.
It works like this: Reseller A sells the product for your recommended advertised
price of $50, then reseller B sells it for $45 to compete with A, and then C sells it for
$40 to compete with A and B. In no time at all, no one is making profit from selling
your product and reorders disappear. Customers are now accustomed to the lower
pricing and the process is irreversible. The product is dead and you need to create a
new product. This is precisely the reason why so many companies need to create new
product after new product month after month. It’s a headache.
I had one single supplement, BrainQUICKEN® (also sold as BodyQUICK®) for
six years and maintained a consistent profit margin by limiting wholesale distribution,
particularly online, to the top one or two largest resellers who could move serious
quantities of product and who agreed to maintain a minimum advertised pricing.24
Otherwise, rogue discounters on eBay and mom-and-pop independents will drive you
broke.
Second, if you offer someone exclusivity, which most manufacturers try to avoid, it
can work in your favor. Since you are offering one company 100% of the distribution,
it is possible to negotiate better profit margins (offering less of a discount off of retail
price), better marketing support in-store, faster payment, and other preferential
treatment.
It is critical that you decide how you will sell and distribute your product before you
commit to a product in the first place. The more middlemen are involved, the higher
your margins must be to maintain profitability for all the links in the chain.
Ed Byrd realized this and exemplifies how doing the opposite of what most do can
reduce risk and increase profit. Choosing distribution before product is just one
example.
Ed drives a Lamborghini down the California coast when not traveling or in the
office with his small focused staff and his two Australian shepherds. This outcome is
not accidental. His product-creation methods—and those of the New Rich in
general—can be emulated.
Here’s how you do it in the fewest number of steps.
C reating demand is hard. Filling demand is much easier. Don’t create a product,
then seek someone to sell it to. Find a market—define your customers—then find or
develop a product for them.
I have been a student and an athlete, so I developed products for those markets,
focusing on the male demographic whenever possible. The audiobook I created for
college guidance counselors failed because I have never been a guidance counselor. I
developed the subsequent speed-reading seminar after realizing that I had free access
to students, and the business succeeded because—being a student myself—I
understood their needs and spending habits. Be a member of your target market and
don’t speculate what others need or will be willing to buy.
Danny Black rents dwarfs as entertainment for $149 per hour. How is that for a niche
market?
It is said that if everyone is your customer, then no one is your customer. If you
start off aiming to sell a product to dog- or car-lovers, stop. It’s expensive to advertise
to such a broad market, and you are competing with too many products and too much
free information. If you focus on how to train German shepherds or a restoration
product for antique Fords, on the other hand, the market and competition shrink,
making it less expensive to reach your customers and easier to charge premium
pricing.
BrainQUICKEN was initially designed for students, but the market proved too
scattered and difficult to reach. Based on positive feedback from student-athletes, I
relaunched the product as BodyQUICK and tested advertising in magazines specific to
martial artists and powerlifters. These are minuscule markets compared to the massive
student market, but not small. Low media cost and lack of competition enabled me to
dominate with the first “neural accelerator”26 in these niches. It is more profitable to
be a big fish in a small pond than a small undefined fish in a big pond. How do you
know if it’s big enough to meet your TMI? For a detailed real-life example of how I
determined the market size of a recent product, see “Muse Math” on this book’s
companion site.
Ask yourself the following questions to find profitable niches.
1. Which social, industry, and professional groups do you belong to, have you
belonged to, or do you understand, whether dentists, engineers, rock climbers,
recreational cyclists, car restoration aficionados, dancers, or other?
Look creatively at your resume, work experience, physical habits, and hobbies and
compile a list of all the groups, past and present, that you can associate yourself with.
Look at products and books you own, include online and offline subscriptions, and ask
yourself, “What groups of people purchase the same?” Which magazines, websites,
and newsletters do you read on a regular basis?
P ick the two markets that you are most familiar with that have their own magazines
with full-page advertising that costs less than $5,000. There should be no fewer than
15,000 readers.
This is the fun part. Now we get to brainstorm or find products with these two
markets in mind.
The goal is come up with well-formed product ideas and spend nothing; in Step 3,
we will create advertising for them and test responses from real customers before
investing in manufacturing. There are several criteria that ensure the end product will
fit into an automated architecture.
I personally aim for an 8–10x markup, which means a $100 product can’t cost me
more than $10–12.50.27 If I had used the commonly recommended 5 x markup with
BrainQUICKEN, it would have gone bankrupt within 6 months due to a dishonest
supplier and late magazine. The profit margin saved it, and within 12 months it was
generating up to $80,000 per month.
High has its limits, however. If the per-unit price is above a certain point, prospects
need to speak to someone on the phone before they are comfortable enough to make
the purchase. This is contraindicated on our low-information diet.
I have found that a price range of $50–200 per sale provides the most profit for the
least customer service hassle. Price high and then justify.
Understanding these criteria, a question remains: “How does one obtain a good muse
product that satisfies them?” There are three options we’ll cover in ascending order of
recommendation.
P urchasing an existing product at wholesale and reselling it is the easiest route but
also the least profitable. It is the fastest to set up but the fastest to die off due to price
competition with other resellers. The profitable life span of each product is short
unless an exclusivity agreement prevents others from selling it. Reselling is, however,
an excellent option for secondary back-end28 products that can be sold to existing
customers or cross-sold29 to new customers online or on the phone.
To purchase at wholesale, use these steps.
1. Contact the manufacturer and request a “wholesale pricelist” (generally
40% off retail) and terms.
2. If a business tax ID number is needed, print out the proper forms from
your state’s Secretary of State website and file for an LLC (which I prefer) or
similar protective business structure for $100–200.
Do NOT purchase product until you have completed Step 3 in the next chapter. It is
enough at this point to confirm the profit margin and have product photos and sales
literature.
That’s reselling. Not much more to it.
I know from conversations with the principal owners of one of the above products
that more than $65 million worth of information moved through their doors in 2002.
Their infrastructure consisted of fewer than 25 in-house operators, and the rest of the
infrastructure, ranging from media purchasing to shipping, was outsourced.
Their annual revenue-per-employee is more than $2.7 million. Incredible.
On the opposite end of the market size spectrum, I know a man who created a low-
budget how-to DVD for less than $200 and sold it to owners of storage facilities who
wanted to install security systems. It’s hard to get more niche than that. In 2001,
selling DVDs that cost $2 to duplicate for $95 apiece through trade magazines, he
made several hundred thousand dollars with no employees.
But I’m Not an Expert!
If you choose option 1 or 2, you need expert status within a limited market.
Let’s assume you are a real estate broker and have determined that, like yourself,
most brokers want a simple but good website to promote themselves and their
businesses. If you read and understand the three top-selling books on home-page
design, you will know more about that topic than 80% of the readership of a magazine
for real estate brokers. If you can summarize the content and make recommendations
specific to the needs of the real estate market, a 0.5–1.5% response from an ad you
place in the magazine is not unreasonable to expect.
Use the following questions to brainstorm potential how-to or informational
products that can be sold to your markets using your expertise or borrowed expertise.
Aim for a combination of formats that will lend itself to $50–200 pricing, such as a
combination of two CDs (30–90 minutes each), a 40-page transcription of the CDs,
and a 10-page quickstart guide. Digital delivery is perfectly acceptable—in some
cases, ideal—if you can create a high enough perceived value.
1. How can you tailor a general skill for your market—what I call “niching down”—or
add to what is being sold successfully in your target magazines? Think narrow and
deep rather than broad.
2. What skills are you interested in that you—and others in your markets—would pay
to learn? Become an expert in this skill for yourself and then create a product to teach
the same. If you need help or want to speed up the process, consider the next question.
3. What experts could you interview and record to create a sellable audio CD? These
people do not need to be the best, but just better than most. Offer them a digital master
copy of the interview to do with or sell as they like (this is often enough) and/or offer
them a small up-front or ongoing royalty payment. Use Skype.com with HotRecorder
(more on these and related tools in Tools and Tricks) to record these conversations
directly to your PC and send the mp3 file to an online transcription service.
4. Do you have a failure-to-success story that could be turned into a how-to product
for others? Consider problems you’ve overcome in the past, both professional and
personal.
I t’s time to obliterate the cult of the expert. Let the PR world scorn me. First and
foremost, there is a difference between being perceived as an expert and being one. In
the context of business, the former is what sells product and the latter, relative to your
“minimal customer base,” is what creates good products and prevents returns.
It is possible to know all there is to know about a subject—medicine, for example—
but if you don’t have M.D. at the end of your name, few will listen. The M.D. is what
I term a “credibility indicator.” The so-called expert with the most credibility
indicators, whether acronyms or affiliations, is often the most successful in the
marketplace, even if other candidates have more in-depth knowledge. This is a matter
of superior positioning, not deception.
How, then, do we go about acquiring credibility indicators in the least time
possible? Emulating the client-grooming techniques of some of the best PR firms in
New York City and Los Angeles isn’t a bad place to start.
It took a friend of mine just three weeks to become a “top relationship expert who,
as featured in Glamour and other national media, has counseled executives at Fortune
500 companies on how to improve their relationships in 24 hours or less.” How did
she do it?
She followed a few simple steps that created a credibility snowball effect. Here’s
how you can do the same.
Becoming a recognized expert isn’t difficult, so I want to remove that barrier now.
I am not recommending pretending to be something you’re not. I can’t! “Expert” is
nebulous media-speak and so overused as to be indefinable. In modern PR terms,
proof of expertise in most fields is shown with group affiliations, client lists, writing
credentials, and media mentions, not IQ points or Ph.D.s.
Presenting the truth in the best light, but not fabricating it, is the name of the game.
See you on CNN.
F or this hands-on chapter, the Q&A is simple. In fact, it’s more like a Q.
The question is, “Did you read the chapter and follow the directions?” If not, do it!
Instead of the usual Q&A, the end of this chapter and the following two will feature
more extensive resources for taking the action steps described in detail in the text.
COMFORT CHALLENGE
Unknown answerer: This is Acme Inc. [or “the office of Mentor X”].
You: Hi, this is Tim Ferriss calling for John Grisham, please.31
Answerer: May I ask what this is regarding?
You: Sure. I know this might sound a bit odd,32 but I’m a first-time author and just
read his interview in Time Out New York.33 I’m a longtime34 fan and have finally built
up the courage to35 call him for one specific piece of advice. It wouldn’t take more
than two minutes of his time. Is there any way you can help me get through to him?36I
really, really appreciate whatever you can do.
Answerer: Hmmm … Just a second. Let me see if he’s available. [two minutes later]
Here you go. Good luck. [rings to another line]
John Grisham: John Grisham here.
You: Hi, Mr. Grisham. My name is Tim Ferriss. I know this might sound a bit odd,
but I’m a first-time author and a longtime fan. I just read your interview in Time Out
New York and finally built up the courage to call. I have wanted to ask you for a
specific piece of advice for a long time, and it shouldn’t take more than two minutes
of your time. May I?37
John Grisham: Uh … OK. Go ahead. I have to be on a call in a few minutes.
You (at the very end of the call): Thank you so much for being so generous with your
time. If I have the occasional tough question—very occasional—is there any chance I
could keep in touch via e-mail?38
Spyfu ( www.spyfu.com )
Download competitors’ online advertising spending, keywords, and ad-word details.
Consistent and repeat spending generally indicates successful advertising ROI.
Alibaba ( www.alibaba.com )
Based in China, Alibaba is the world’s largest business-to-business marketplace. From
MP3 players for $9 each to red wine for $2 per bottle, this site is the source. If
someone here doesn’t make it, it probably can’t be made.
Worldwide Brands ( www.worldwidebrands.com )
Offers an extensive how-to guide for finding manufacturers willing to dropship
product to your customers, which allows you to avoid pre-purchasing inventory. This
is where Amazon and eBay power users find not just drop shippers, but also
wholesalers and liquidators. Shopster (www.shopster.com) is also a popular option,
with more than 1,000,000 dropship products to choose from.
LibriVox ( www.librivox.org )
LibriVox is a collection of audiobooks from the public domain that are available for
free download.
Becoming an Expert
Prof Net via PR Leads (www.prleads.com) and HARO
(www.helpareporterout.com)
Receive daily leads from journalists and TV and radio producers looking for experts to
cite and interview for media ranging from local outlets to CNN and the New York
Times. Stop swimming upstream and start responding to stories people are already
working on. HARO offers select leads at no cost, and you can mention my name with
PR Leads to get two months for the price of one.
ExpertClick ( www.expertclick.com )
This is another secret of the PR pros. Put up an expert profile for media to see, receive
an up-to-date database of top media contacts, and send free press releases to 12,000
journalists, all on one website that gets more than 5 million hits per month. This is
how I got on NBC and ended up developing a prime-time TV show. It works. Mention
my name on the phone, or use “Tim Ferriss $100” online, to get a $100 discount.
21. There are a few limited exceptions, such as online membership sites that don’t
require content generation, but as a general rule, products require much less
maintenance and will get you to your TMI faster.
22. Muses will provide the time and financial freedom to realize your dreamlines in
record time, after which one can (and often does) start additional companies to
change the world or sell.
23. Distributors are sometimes also referred to as “wholesalers,” depending on the
industry.
24. It is illegal to control how much someone sells your product for, but you can
dictate how much they advertise it for. This is done by including a Minimum
Advertised Pricing (MAP) policy in your General Terms and Conditions (GTC),
which are agreed to automatically when a written wholesale order is placed.
Sample GTC and order forms are available at www.fourhourblog.com.
25. The Wall Street Journal, July 18, 2005
(http://www.technologyinvestor.com/login/2004/Jul18–05.php).
26. This was a new product category that I created to eliminate and preempt the
competition. Strive to be the largest, best, or first in a precise category. I prefer
being first.
27. If you decide to resell someone else’s higher-end products like Doug,
especially with drop-shipping, the risk is lower and smaller margins can suffice.
28. “Back-end” products are products sold to customers once the sale of a primary
product has been made. iPod covers and car GPS systems are two examples. These
products can have lower margins, because there is no advertising cost to acquire
the customer.
29. “Cross-selling” is selling a related product to a customer while they’re still on
the phone or in an online shopping cart after the sale of a primary product has been
made. For a full marketing and direct response (DR) glossary, visit
www.fourhourblog.com.
30. This also refers to owners of copyrights or trademarks.
31. Said casually and with confidence, this alone will get you through surprisingly
often. “I’d like to speak with Mr./Ms. X, please” is a dead giveaway that you don’t
know them. If you want to up the chances of getting though but risk looking foolish
if they call the bluff, ask for the target mentor by first name only.
32. I use this type of lead-in whenever making off-the-wall requests. It softens it
and makes the person curious enough to listen before spitting out an automatic
“no.”
33. This answers the questions they’ll have in their head: “Who are you and why
are you calling now?” I like to be a “first-time” something to play the sympathy
card, and I find a recent media feature online to cite as the trigger for calling.
34. I call people I’m familiar with. If you can’t call yourself a longtime fan, tell
them that you have followed the mentor’s career or business exploits for a certain
number of years.
35. Don’t pretend to be strong. Make it clear you’re nervous and they’ll lower their
guard. I often do this even if I’m not nervous.
36. The wording here is critical. Ask them to “help” you do something.
37. Just rework the gatekeeper paragraph for this, and don’t dillydally—get to the
point quickly and ask for permission to pull the trigger.
38. End the conversation by opening the door for future contact. Start with e-mail
and let the mentoring relationship develop from there.
Income Autopilot II
Many of these theories have been killed off only when some decisive
experiment exposed their incorrectness…. Thus the yeoman work in any
science … is done by the experimentalist, who must keep the theoreticians
honest.
—MICHIO KAKU, theoretical physicist and cocreator of String Field Theory,
Hyperspace
F ewer than 5% of the 195,000 books published each year sell more than 5,000
copies. Teams of publishers and editors with decades of combined experience fail
more times than not. The founder of Border’s Books lost $375 million of investor
funding with WebVan,39 a nationwide grocery delivery service. The problem? No one
wanted it.
The moral is that intuition and experience are poor predictors of which products and
businesses will be profitable. Focus groups are equally misleading. Ask ten people if
they would buy your product. Then tell those who said “yes” that you have ten units in
your car and ask them to buy. The initial positive responses, given by people who
want to be liked and aim to please, become polite refusals as soon as real money is at
stake.
To get an accurate indicator of commercial viability, don’t ask people if they would
buy—ask them to buy. The response to the second is the only one that matters. The
approach of the NR reflects this.
Best: Look at the competition and create a more-compelling offer on a basic one-to-
three-page website (one to three hours).
Test: Test the offer using short Google Adwords advertising campaigns (three hours
to set up and five days of passive observation).
Divest or Invest: Cut losses with losers and manufacture the winner(s) for sales
rollout.
Let’s use two people, Sherwood and Johanna, and their two product ideas—French
sailor shirts and a how-to yoga DVD for rock climbers—as case studies of what the
testing steps look like and how you can do the same.
Sherwood bought a striped sailing shirt in France while traveling last summer, and
upon returning to NYC has been continually approached by 20–30-year-old males on
the street who want to know where to get their own. Sensing an opportunity, he
requests back issues of NYC-based weekly magazines aimed at this demographic and
calls the manufacturer in France for pricing. He learns that he can purchase shirts at a
wholesale price of $20 that sell for $100 retail. He adds $5 per shirt to account for
shipping to the U.S. and arrives at a per-shirt cost of $25. It’s not quite our ideal
markup (4x vs. 8–10x), but he wants to test the product regardless.
Johanna is a yoga instructor who has noticed her growing client base of rock
climbers. She is also a rock climber and is considering creating a yoga instructional
DVD tailored to that sport, which would include a 20-page spiral-bound manual and
be priced at $80. She predicts that production of a low-budget first edition of the DVD
would cost nothing more than a borrowed digital camera and a friend’s iMac for
simple editing. She can burn small quantities of this first-edition DVD—no menus,
just straight footage and titles—on the laptop and create labels with freeware from
www.download.com. She has contacted a duplication house and learned that more-
professional DVDs will cost $3–5 apiece to duplicate in small quantities (minimum of
250), including cases.
Now that they have ideas and estimates of start-up costs, what next?
1. Sherwood and Johanna Google the top terms each would use to try and find their
respective products. To come up with related terms and derivative terms, both use
search term suggestion tools.
Google Adwords Keyword Tool
(http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) Enter the potential search
terms to find search volume and alternative terms with more search traffic. Click on
the “Approx Avg Search Volume” column to sort results from most to least searched.
SEOBook Keyword Tool, SEO for Firefox Extension (http://tools.seobook.com/)
This is an outstanding resource page with searches powered by Wordtracker
(www.wordtracker.com).
Both then visit the three websites that consistently appear in top search and PPC
positions. How can Sherwood and Johanna differentiate themselves?
Johanna creates the same five groups of 10 terms each and tests a number of ads,
including these:
Notice that these ads can be used to test not just headlines but guarantees, product
names, and domain names. It’s as simple as creating several ads, rotated automatically
by Google, that are identical except for the one variable to be tested. How do you
think I determined the best title for this book?
Both Sherwood and Johanna disable the feature on Google that serves only the best-
performing ad. This is necessary to later compare the click-through rates from each
and combine the best elements (headline, domain name, and body text) into a final ad.
Last but not least, ensure that the ads don’t trick prospects into visiting the site. The
product offer should be clear. Our goal is qualified traffic, so we do not want to offer
something “free” or otherwise attract window shoppers or the curious who are
unlikely to buy.
Cost to both: $50 or less per day x 5 days = $250.45
Investing or Divesting
Five days later, it’s time to tally the results.
What can we consider a “good” click-through and conversion rate? This is where
the math can be deceiving. If we’re selling a $10,000 abominable snowman suit with
an 80% profit margin, we obviously need a much lower conversion rate than someone
who is selling a $50 DVD with a 70% profit margin. For sophisticated tools and free
spreadsheets that do all sorts of calculations for you, visit the reader-only resources at
www.fourhourblog.com.
Johanna and Sherwood decide to keep it simple at this stage: How much did they
spend on PPC ads and how much did they “sell”?
Johanna has done well. The traffic wasn’t enough to make the test stand up to
statistical scrutiny, but she spent about $200 on PPC and got 14 sign-ups for a free 10-
tip report. If she assumes 60% would purchase, that means 8.4 people x $75 profit per
DVD = $630 in hypothetical total profit. This is also not taking into account the
potential lifetime value of each customer.
The results of her small test are no guarantee of future success, but the indications
are positive enough that she decides to set up a Yahoo Store for $99 per month and a
small per-transaction fee. Her credit isn’t excellent, so she will opt to use
www.paypal.com to accept credit cards online instead of approaching her bank for a
merchant account.46 She e-mails the 10-tip report to those who signed up and asks for
their feedback and recommendations for content on the DVD. Ten days later, she has
a first attempt at the DVD ready to ship and her store is online. Her sales to the
original sign-ups cover costs of production and she is soon selling a respectable 10
DVDs per week ($750 profit) via Google Adwords. She plans to test advertising in
niche magazines and blogs and now needs to create an automation architecture to
remove herself from the equation.
Sherwood didn’t fare as well but still sees potential. He spent $150 on PPC and
“sold” three shirts for a hypothetical $225 in profit. He had more than enough traffic,
but the bulk of visitors left the site on the pricing page. Rather than drop pricing, he
decides to test a “2x money-back guarantee” on the pricing page, which will enable
customers to get a $200 refund if the $100 shirts aren’t the “most comfortable they’ve
ever owned.” He retests and “sells” seven shirts for $525 in profit. Based on these
results, he sets up a merchant account through his bank and Authorize.net to process
credit cards, orders a dozen shirts from France, and sells them all over the following
ten days. This gives him enough profit to buy a small display ad at 50% off (asking for
a “first-time advertiser discount” and then citing a competing magazine to get another
20% off) in a local weekly art magazine, in which he calls the shirt “Jackson Pollock
Shirts.” He orders two dozen more shirts with net-30 payment terms and puts a toll-
free number47 in the print ad that forwards to his cell phone. He does this instead of
using a website for two reasons: (1) He wants to determine the most common
questions for his FAQ online, and (2) he wants to test an offer of $100 for one shirt
($75 in profit) or “buy two, get one free” ($200 - $75 = $125 profit).
He sells all 24 shirts in the first five days the magazine runs, most through the
special offer. Success. He redesigns the print ad, putting answers to common questions
in the text to cut down on calls for information, and decides to negotiate a longer-term
ad agreement with the magazine. He sends his sales rep a check for four issues at 30%
of their published rates. He calls to confirm that they received his check via FedEx
and, with check in hand and deadlines looming, they don’t refuse.
Sherwood wants to go to Berlin during a two-week break from his job, which he is
now considering quitting. How can he roll out his success and escape his own
company? He needs to build the architecture and get his mobile M.B.A.
That’s where the next chapter comes in.
R emember Doug from ProSoundEffects.com? How did he test the idea and go
from $0 to $10,000 per month in the process? He followed these steps.
1. Market Selection
He chose music and television producers as his market because he is a musician
himself and has used these products.
2. Product Brainstorm
He chose the most popular products available for resale from the largest
manufacturers of sound libraries and arranged a wholesale purchase and drop-ship
agreement with them. Many of these libraries cost well above $300 (up to $7,500),
and this is precisely why he needs to answer more customer-service questions than
someone with a lower-priced product of $50–200.
3. Micro-Testing
He auctioned the products on eBay to test demand (and the highest possible pricing)
before purchasing inventory. He ordered product only when people placed orders from
him, and product shipped immediately from the manufacturers’ warehouses. Based on
this demand confirmed on eBay, Doug created a Yahoo Store with these products and
began testing Google Adwords and other PPC search engines.
COMFORT CHALLENGE
Weebly ( www.weebly.com )
Weebly, which the BBC labeled “a must,” allowed me to create
www.timothyferriss.com in less than two hours and have it appear on the front page of
Google for “timothy ferriss” searches within 48 hours. It is, like WordPress.com
below, designed to be very SEO-friendly (search-engine optimization) without any
knowledge or action on your part. No HTML or Internet expertise is required.
WordPress.com ( www.wordpress.com )
I used WordPress.com to set up www.litliberation.org from a coffee shop in
Bratislava, Slovakia, when a U.S.-based designer flaked out and left me scrambling. It
took me less than three hours to learn how to use it and build the site. The site, an
experimental educational fundraiser, ended up raising 200%+ more than Stephen
Colbert in the same period of time. I also use their free open-sourced version of
WordPress (www.wordpress.org, which requires separate hosting) to manage
everything for my top-1,000 blog at www.fourhourblog.com. This offers greater
customization but requires more management and technical know-how.
Both Weebly and WordPress.com host your site for you, so additional hosting setup
isn’t required.
If you choose to use www.wordpress.org (not.com) for greater customizability, I
suggest using a hosting service with one-click WordPress installation like
www.bluehost.com. The Shopp plug-in (http://shopplugin.net/) or Market Theme
plug-in (http://www.markettheme.com/) can then be used to add e-commerce
capabilities. Shopify.com (discussed later) is another good all-in-one alternative.
Wufoo ( www.wufoo.com )
Wufoo does not offer a full-featured shopping cart, but it provides the cleanest,
easiest-to-use forms on the web. Create a checkout page that connects to PayPal and
you can (1) link to this checkout page from your site on Weebly, WordPress.com, or
elsewhere, or (2) drop the code into your own website and have it hosted there. Wufoo
is appropriate for testing and selling single products, as people can’t add multiple
items to a shopping cart or otherwise customize the order à la Amazon. For those
additional options, which are often desirable after successful testing, you will want to
use an “end-to-end site solutions” listed later in these resources.
Cost-Effective Trademark Filing and Company Formation (LLC, C-Corp, etc.)
Though I also have a C-Corporation (often used to issue common and preferred stock
to investors), created through the second option below, LLCs and S-Corps are
generally favored by small businesses. Consult your accountant to determine the best
entity form.
LegalZoom ( www.legalzoom.com )
Company formation, trademarks, and nearly all legal documents. I know one founder
who used this service to incorporate his tech start-up, which is now worth more than
$200 million.
E-Junkie ( www.e-junkie.com )
Lulu ( www.lulu.com )
Lulu will also do print-on-demand and other forms of manufacture and fulfillment.
Like Lightning Source (www.lightningsource.com), it offers distribution through
Amazon, Barnes & Noble online, and other major outlets.
CreateSpace ( www.createspace.com )
A subsidiary of Amazon.com that offers inventory-free, physical distribution of books,
CD and DVDs on Demand, as well as video downloads through Amazon Video On
Demand(tm).
Clickbank ( www.clickbank.com )
Provides integrated access to affiliates willing to sell your product for a percentage of
sales.
Domains in Seconds (
www.domainsinseconds.com ) I have registered
more than 100 domains through this service.
Joker ( www.joker.com )
GoDaddy ( www.godaddy.com )
1and1 ( www.1and1.com )
BlueHost ( www.bluehost.com )
RackSpace ( www.rackspace.com ; known for
dedicated and managed servers )
Hosting.com ( www.hosting.com ; known for
dedicated and managed servers )
AWeber ( www.aweber.com )
MailChimp ( www.mailchimp.com )
Simple Payment Processing for Testing Pages, from Least to Most Involved
PayPal Cart (www.paypal.com; see “merchant”)
Accept credit card payments in minutes. No monthly fees, 1.9–2.9% of each
transaction (called “discount rate”) and $0.30 per transaction.
Authorize.net ( www.authorize.net )
The Authorize.Net Payment Gateway can help you accept credit card and electronic
check payments quickly and affordably. More than 230,000 merchants trust
Authorize.net to manage their transactions, help prevent fraud, and grow their
business. The fees per transaction are lower than PayPal or Google Checkout, but
setup will require a merchant account, covered in the next chapter, and other time-
consuming applications. I suggest setting up Authorize.net only after a product has
tested successfully through one of the other two options above.
Software for Understanding Web Traffic (Web Analytics)
How are people finding, browsing, and leaving your site? How many prospective
customers are being delivered by each PPC ad, and which pages are most popular?
These programs tell you all this and more. Google is free for most low-volume sites—
and better than a lot of paid software-and the others cost $30 and upward per month.
Google Analytics ( www.google.com/analytics )
CrazyEgg ( www.crazyegg.com )
I use CrazyEgg to see exactly where people are clicking most and least on homepages
and landing pages. It is particularly helpful for repositioning the most important links
or buttons to help prompt visitors to take specific next actions. Don’t guess what’s
working or not—measure it.
Clicktracks (www.clicktracks.com)
WebTrends ( www.webtrends.com )
Offermatica ( www.offermatica.com )
Vertster.com ( www.vertster.com )
Optimost ( www.optimost.com )
Compete ( www.compete.com )
Quantcast ( www.quantcast.com )
Alexa ( www.alexa.com )
Basically I try to keep all of my tools online so that if my laptop gets stolen, I can buy
a new one and have everything up and running within 24 hours. Here are a few of the
tools I use on a regular basis:
RememberTheMilk.com has been really crucial to me keeping on top of
my daily tasks.
TrueCrypt (truecrypt.org) for keeping your laptop data secure while on the
road. [Tim comment: This can also be used with a USB flash drive, and
another cool feature—it provides two levels of “plausible deniability” (hidden
volumes, etc.) if someone forces you to reveal the password.]
PBwiki.com-Wiki site that helps me keep on top of the notes and ideas
that I collect as I go through life.
FogBugz on Demand:
http://www.fogcreek.com/FogBUGZ/IntrotoOnDemand.html. It’s a “bug
tracker” aimed at software development companies, but I use it every day for
both personal and business tasks. It’s almost like a VA, as you can route your
mail through it and it will help you sort it and keep track of it. It has great
features to track e-mails, and there’s a free version for two users (me +
VA!). —RB CARTER
A really useful service is Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. With a small investment in
time or money, a business that requires hundreds of people doing small bits of defined
work becomes possible for extraordinarily low work-per-unit costs. Examples include
the search for Steve Fosset (literally thousands of people looked at satellite photos that
would have overwhelmed SAR agencies) and a trouble-ticket business that utilizes
qualified labor all over the world (see Amazon.com/webservices). I am not an owner
nor do I have any stake in Amazon—but I have used their services and some are trans
forming when it comes to muse creation. Cheers, —J MARYMEE
FAST TO MARKET
The fastest way to market with a product idea is: Registera.com. Get hosting from
dathorn.com [a cheap reseller account, like www.domainsinseconds.com]. With two
clicks set up a wordpress blog. Apply a theme to it. Add your content and a buy now
button. The buy now button links to an enter e-mail address, phone number, etc., page.
The user then clicks a continue to PayPal button. This automatically e-mails me their
details, but then shows the user a message stating that the link to PayPal is currently
not working. I use this to determine how many sales I would have achieved. I use
Google ads to drive traffic … I calculate theoretical ROI (ideally using Google
analytics). If after a week or two I can see a positive ROI that’s worth my effort I
create or outsource the creation of the product (emag, PDF, whatever). I set it all up
with a working link to PayPal, and then retrospectively send a message to the users
who already tried to buy. Normally within hours I’ve got all my money back, and the
cash starts to roll. An example is the DIY public relations pack at
www.mybusinesspr.com.au. Great work of the 4HWW … looking forward to the next
edition. Regards, MATT SCHMIDT
39. http://news.com.com/2100–1017–269594.html?legacy=cnet.
40. It can be illegal to charge customers prior to shipment—so we will not charge
customers—but it is still common practice. Why do so many commercials state
“allow three to four weeks for delivery” if it only takes three to five days for a
shipment to get from New York to California? It gives the companies time to
manufacture product and use customers’ credit card payments to finance it. Clever
but often against the law.
41. This applies to Sherwood and not Johanna.
42. How did I come up with the most successful BodyQUICK headline (“The
Fastest Way to Increase Power and Speed Guaranteed”)? I borrowed it from the
longest-running, and thus most profitable, Rosetta Stone headline: “The Fastest
Way to Learn a Language Guaranteed.(tm)” Reinventing the wheel is expensive—
become an astute observer of what is already working and adapt it. I keep a folder
of all print and direct mail advertising that compels me to call a number or visit a
website, and I use www.delicious.com to bookmark websites that convince me to
provide my e-mail address or make a purchase.
43. Sherwood includes shipping and handling prior to the final order page so that
people don’t finalize the order just to confirm total pricing. He wants his “orders”
to reflect real orders and not price checkers.
44. If you are rolling out after a successful test or building a large e-mail database,
tools like www.aweber.com in the resources are better at scaling.
45. Keeping in mind that 100 specific terms at $0.10 per click will perform better
than 10 broad terms at $1.00 per click, the more you spend, and thus the more
traffic you drive, the more statistically valid the results will be. If budget permits,
increase the number of related terms and daily expenditure so that the entire PPC
test costs $500–1,000.
46. This is a checking account for receiving credit card payments.
47. Set this up using services detailed at the end of this chapter and the next.
48. See the online bonus chapter on www.fourhourblog.com to understand all of
these terms in context. Search “Jedi Mind Tricks.”
49. “Paper trading” refers to setting an imaginary budget, “purchasing” stocks
(writing their current values on a piece of paper), and then tracking their
performance over time to see how your investment would have done had it been for
real. It is a no-risk method for honing investment skills before putting skin in the
game.
MBA—MANAGEMENT BY ABSENCE
The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog.
The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man
from touching the equipment.
—WARREN G. BENNIS, University of Southern California Professor of
Business Administration; adviser to Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy
M ost entrepreneurs don’t start out with automation as a goal. This leaves them
open to mass confusion in a world where each business guru contradicts the next.
Consider the following:
A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear…. If the
employees come first, then they’re happy.
—HERB KELLEHER, cofounder of Southwest Airlines
Hmm … Whom to follow? If you are fast on your feet, you’ll notice that I just
offered you an either-or option. The good news is that, as usual, there is a third option.
The contradictory advice you find in business books and elsewhere usually relates
to managing employees—how to handle the human element. Herb tells you to give
them a hug, Revson tells you to kick them in the balls, and I tell you to solve the
problem by eliminating it altogether: Remove the human element.
Once you have a product that sells, it’s time to design a self-correcting business
architecture that runs itself.
RURAL PENNSYLVANIA
S tarting with the end in mind—an organizational map of what the eventual business
will look like—is not new.
Infamous deal-maker Wayne Huizenga copied the org chart of McDonald’s to turn
Blockbuster into a billion-dollar behemoth, and dozens of titans have done much the
same. In our case, it’s the “end in mind” that is different. Our goal isn’t to create a
business that is as large as possible, but rather a business that bothers us as little as
possible. The architecture has to place us out of the information flow instead of
putting us at the top of it.
I didn’t get this right the first time I tried.
In 2003, I was interviewed in my home office for a documentary called As Seen on
TV. We were interrupted every 20–30 seconds with beeping e-mail notifications, IM
pings, and ringing phones. I couldn’t leave them unanswered, because dozens of
decisions depended on me. If I didn’t ensure the trains were running on time and put
out the fires, no one would.
E ach outsourcer takes a piece of the revenue pie. Here is what the general profit-
loss might look like for a hypothetical $80 product sold via phone and developed with
the help of an expert, who is paid a royalty. I recommend calculating profit margins
using higher-than-anticipated expenses. This will account for unforeseen costs (read:
screwups) and miscellaneous fees such as monthly reports, etc.
How do you factor in advertising cost? If a $1,000 ad or $1,000 in PPC produces 50
sales, my advertising cost per order (CPO) is $20. This makes the actual‘ per-unit
profit $40.94.
I set a new goal after that experience, and when I was interviewed six months later
as a follow-up, one change was more pronounced than all others: silence. I had
redesigned the business from the ground up so that I had no phone calls to answer and
no e-mail to respond to.
I’m often asked how big my company is—how many people I employ full-time.
The answer is one. Most people lose interest at that point. If someone were to ask me
how many people run Brain-QUICKEN LLC, on the other hand, the answer is
different: between 200 and 300. I am the ghost in the machine.52
From advertisements—print in this example—to a cash deposit in my bank account,
the diagram is what a simplified version of my architecture looks like, including some
sample costs. If you have developed a product based on the guidelines in the last two
chapters, it will plug into this structure hand-in-glove.
Where am I in the diagram? Nowhere.
I am not a tollbooth through which anything needs to pass. I am more like a police
officer on the side of the road who can step in if need be, and I use detailed reports
from outsourcers to ensure the cogs are moving as intended. I check reports from
fulfillment each Monday and monthly reports from the same the first of each month.
The latter reports include orders received from the call center, which I can compare to
the call center bills to gauge profit. Otherwise, I just check bank accounts online on
the first and fifteenth of each month to look for odd deductions. If I find something,
one e-mail will fix it, and if not, it’s back to kendo, painting, hiking, or whatever I
happen to be doing at the time.
Removing Yourself from the Equation: When and
How
The system is the solution.
—AT&T
How do you get there? It helps to look at where entrepreneurs typically lose their
momentum and stall permanently.
Most entrepreneurs begin with the cheapest tools available, bootstrapping and doing
things themselves to get up and running with little cash. This isn’t the problem. In
fact, it’s necessary so that the entrepreneurs can train outsourcers later. The problem is
that these same entrepreneurs don’t know when and how to replace themselves or their
homemade infrastructure with something more scalable.
By “scalable,” I mean a business architecture that can handle 10,000 orders per
week as easily as it can handle 10 orders per week. Doing this requires minimizing
your decision-making responsibilities, which achieves our goal of time freedom while
setting the stage for doubling and tripling income with no change in hours worked.
Call the companies at the end of the chapter to research costs. Plan and budget
accordingly to upgrade infrastructure at the following milestones, which I measure in
units of product shipped:
2. Do not offer multiple shipping options. Offer one fast method instead and
charge a premium.
Some of these policies hint at what is perhaps the biggest time-saver of all:
customer filtering.
3. Refer all potential resellers to an online order form that must be printed,
filled out, and faxed in. Never negotiate pricing or approve lower pricing for
higher-volume orders. Cite “company policy” due to having had problems in
the past.
Make your customer base an exclusive club, and treat the members well once
they’ve been accepted.
T he 30-day money-back guarantee is dead. It just doesn’t have the pizzazz it once
did. If a product doesn’t work, I’ve been lied to and will have to spend an afternoon at
the post office to return it. This costs me more than just the price I paid for the
product, both in time and actual postage. Risk elimination just isn’t enough.
This is where we enter the neglected realm of lose-win guarantees and risk reversal.
The NR use what most consider an afterthought—the guarantee—as a cornerstone
sales tool.
The NR aim to make it profitable for the customer even if the product fails. Lose-
win guarantees not only remove risk for the consumer but put the company at
financial risk.
Here are a few examples of putting your money where your mouth is.
We’re so confident you’ll like CIALIS, if you don’t we’ll pay for the brand of
your choice.
(The “CIALIS® Promise Program” offers a free sample of CIALIS and then offers
to pay for competing products if CIALIS doesn’t live up to the hype.)
The lose-win guarantee might seem like a big risk, especially when someone can
abuse it for profit like in the BodyQUICK example, but it isn’t … if your product
delivers. Most people are honest.
Let’s look at some actual numbers.
Returns for BodyQUICK, even with a 60-day return period (and partially because
of it57), are less than 3% in an industry in which the average is 12–15% for a normal
30-day 100% money-back guarantee. Sales increased more than 300% within four
weeks of introducing the 110% guarantee, and returns decreased overall.
Johanna adopted this lose-win offer and came up with “Increase sport-specific
flexibility 40% in two weeks or return it for a full refund (including shipping) and
keep the 20-minute bonus DVD as our gift.”
Sherwood found his guarantee as well: “If these shirts are not the most comfortable
you’ve ever worn, return them and get 2-times your purchase price back. Each shirt is
also guaranteed for life—if it gets threadbare, send it back and we’ll replace it free of
charge.”
Both of them increased sales more than 200% in the first two months. Return
percentage remained the same for Johanna and increased 50% for Sherwood, from 2
to 3%. Disaster? Far from it. Instead of selling 50 and getting one back with a 100%
guarantee [(50 x $100) – $100 = $4,900 in revenue], he sold 200 and got six back with
the 200% guarantee [(200 x $100) – (6 x $200) = $18,800 in revenue]. I’ll take the
latter.
Lose-win is the new win-win. Stand out and reap the rewards.
Are you tired of sand being kicked in your face? I promise you new muscles
in days!
—CHARLES ATLAS, strongman who sold more than $30 million worth of
“dynamic-tension” muscle courses through comic books
Upon speaking your name or selecting the appropriate department, the caller is
forwarded to your preferred phone or the appropriate outsourcer—with on-hold
music and all.
4. Do not provide home addresses.
Do not use your home address or you will get visitors. Prior to securing an end-to-
end fulfillment house that can handle checks and money orders—if you decide to
accept them—use a post office box but leave out the “PO Box” and include the
street address of the post office itself. Thus “PO Box 555, Nowhere, US 11936”
becomes “Suite 555, 1234 Downtown Ave., US 11936.”
Go forth and project professionalism with a well-designed image. Perceived size does
matter.
COMFORT CHALLENGE
Innotrac ( www.innotrac.com )
They are currently one of the largest DR marking companies.
LiveOps ( www.liveops.com )
Pioneer in home-based reps, which often ensures more calls are answered. Provides
comprehensive service with agents, IVR, and Spanish. Often used for one-step order
taking instead of soft offers.
NexRep ( www.nexrep.com )
Highly skilled home-based sales agents that specialize in B2C and B2B, inbound and
outbound programs. If performance, speed to respond, Internet integration, and quality
customer experience are your priorities, this is a strong option to consider.
PowerPay (www.powerpay.biz)
One of the Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies. Process credit cards from
your iPhone and more.
Celebrity Brokers
Want a celebrity to endorse your product or be a spokesperson? It can cost a lot less
than you think, if you do it right. I know of one clothing endorsement deal with the
best pitcher in Major League Baseball that cost just $20,000 per year. Here are the
brokers who can make it happen:
Celebrity Finding
Contact Any Celebrity ( www.contactanycelebrity.com )
It is possible to do it yourself, as I have done many times. This online directory and its
helpful staff will help you find any celebrity in the world.
After I read the section on outsourcing, I thought it sounded like a novel idea but
would never work for me. However, since the rest of the book was “spot on,” I
decided to try it. Rather than ship my money overseas, I opted to keep it in the U.S.
and use my niece in college, with skills on computers I can’t even fathom, to test the
theory. Turns out it has been a great experience and timesaver for me, as well as
moneymaker for her. It seems I have all of the positives of out sourcing but none of
the hassles of language and such…. Being able to mold a young mind for the better
ties in well with the rest of your book …
—KEN D.
Hey Tim, You mentioned www.weebly.com a few months ago, and I’ve been using
that to build all my muse sites and think it’s great! Also, Facebook groups has
(almost) every niche imaginable. So what I have found success in doing is: (1) Finding
a niche group that would buy my muse, (2) sending a message to each admin telling
them how my muse will help their group members. Then politely asking them to put a
blurb in the “Recent News” section of the group. This makes it more trustworthy than
a wall post, and it stays up there (free advertising) until the admin removes it. One
hundred times better than a wall post. In one case, the admin purchased my muse,
posted my note for me on the groups’ “Recent News” section, then e-mailed the entire
group telling them they have to check out my site.
—GAVIN
50. Richard Tedlow, Giants of Enterprise: Seven Business Innovators and the
Empires They Built (2001; reprint, HarperBusiness, 2003).
51. This is adapted from “The Remote Control CEO,” Inc. magazine, October
2005.
52. Actually, I’m the ghost in new machines now, as I sold BrainQUICKEN in
2009 to a private equity firm.
53. “Contract outsourcing companies” can be as simple as dependable web-based
services. Don’t let the term intimidate you.
54. Sample e-mail responses for fulfillment purposes can be found at
www.fourhourblog.com.
55 Joseph Sugarman, Advertising Secrets of the Written Word (DelStar Books,
1998).
56 Depending on whose math is used (number of cars vs. gross sales), some claim
the original Volkswagen Beetle holds the record.
57. For the benefit of the customer and to capitalize on universal laziness (me
included), provide as much time as possible to consider or forget the product.
Ginsu knives offered a 50-year guarantee. Can you offer a 60-, 90-, or even 365-
day guarantee? Gauge average return percentages with a 30- or 60-day guarantee
first (for budgeting calculations and cash-flow projections) and then extend it.
Step IV:
L is for Liberation
It is far better for a man to go wrong in
freedom than to go right in chains .
—THOMAS H. HUXLEY,
English biologist; known as “Darwin’s Bulldog”
Disappearing Act
By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be a boss
and work twelve hours a day.
—ROBERT FROST, American poet and winner of four Pulitzer Prizes
Dave works among more than 10,000 employees at Hewlett- Packard (HP), and—
against all odds—he actually likes it. He has no desire to start his own company and
has spent the last seven years doing tech support for customers in 45 states and 22
countries. Six months ago, however, he had a small problem.
She measured 5′2″ and weighed 110 pounds.
Was he, like most men, afraid of commitment, unwilling to stop running around the
house in Spider-Man underoos, or inseparable from the last refuge of any self-
respecting man, the PlayStation? No, he was past all that. In fact, Dave was locked
and loaded, ready to pop the big question, but he was short on vacation days and his
girlfriend lived out of town. Waaaaay out of town—5,913 miles out of town.
He had met her on a client visit to Shenzhen, China, and it was now time to meet
the parents, logistics be damned.
Dave had only recently begun to take tech calls at home, and, well, isn’t home
where the heart is? One plane ticket and one T-Mobile GSM tri-band phone later, he
was somewhere over the Pacific en route to his first seven-day experiment. Twelve
time zones hence, he proposed, she accepted, and no one was the wiser stateside.
The second field trip was a 30-day tour of Chinese family and food (pig face,
anyone?), ending with Shumei Wu becoming Shumei Camarillo. Back in Palo Alto,
HP continued its quest for world domination, neither knowing nor caring where Dave
was. He had his calls forwarded to his newly begotten wife’s cell phone and all was
right in the world.
Now back in the U.S. after hoping for the best and preparing for the worst, Dave
had earned his Eagle Scout mobility badge. The future looks flexible, indeed. He is
going to start by spending two months in China every summer and then move to
Australia and Europe to make up for lost time, all with the full support of his boss.
The key to cutting the leash was simple—he asked for forgiveness instead of
permission.
“I didn’t travel for 30 years of my life—so why not?”
THAT’S PRECISELY THE question everyone should be asking—why the hell not?
T he old rich, the upper class of yore with castles and ascots and irritating little
lapdogs, are characterized as being well-established in one place. The Schwarzes of
Nantucket and the McDonnells of Charlottesville. Blech. Summers in the Hamptons is
sooooo 1990s.
The guard is changing. Being bound to one place will be the new defining feature of
middle class. The New Rich are defined by a more elusive power than simple cash—
unrestricted mobility. This jet-setting is not limited to start-up owners or freelancers.
Employees can pull it off, too.58
Not only can they pull it off, but more and more companies want them to pull it off.
BestBuy, the consumer electronics giant, is now sending thousands of employees
home from their HQ in Minnesota and claims not only lowered costs, but also a 10–
20% increase in results. The new mantra is this: Work wherever and whenever you
want, but get your work done.
In Japan, a three-piece zombie who joins the 9–5 grind each morning is called a
sarari-man—salaryman—and, in the last few years, a new verb has emerged: datsu-
sara suru, to escape (datsu) the salaryman (sara) lifestyle.
It’s your turn to learn the datsu-sara dance.59
Sherwood didn’t expect to get two days per week approved. He asked for two so that,
in the case his boss refused, he could ask for just one as a fallback position
(bracketing). Why didn’t Sherwood go for five days remote per week? Two reasons.
First, it’s a lot for management to accept off the bat. We need to ask for an inch and
turn it into a foot without setting off panic alarms. Second, it is a good idea to hone
your remote-working abilities—rehearse a bit—before shooting for the big time, as it
decreases the likelihood of crises and screwups that will get remote rights revoked.
2. Say that you recognize you can’t just stop working and that you would
prefer to work instead of taking vacation days.
3. Propose how you can work remotely and offer, if necessary, to take a pay
cut for that period (and that period only) if performance isn’t up to par upon
returning.
5. Make the two weeks “off” the most productive period you’ve ever had at
work.
6. Show your boss the quantifiable results upon returning, and tell him or her
that—without all the distractions, commute, etc.—you can get twice as much
done. Suggest two or three days at home per week as a trial for two weeks.
Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a mistake
that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training
him.
—THOMAS J. WATSON, founder of IBM
If you hit a brick wall with a task that doesn’t seem remote-compatible or if
you predict resistance from your boss, ask the following:
Attempt to work for two to three hours in a café for two Saturdays prior to
proposing a remote trial. If you exercise in a gym, attempt to exercise for those
two weeks at home or otherwise outside of the gym environment. The purpose
here is to separate your activities from a single environment and ensure that
you have the discipline to work solo.
This is to test your ability to work outside of an office environment and rack
up some proof that you can kick ass without constant supervision.
Consider doing this, or the following step, during a period when it would be
too disruptive to fire you, even if you were marginally less productive while
remote.
8. Extend each successful trial period until you reach full-time or your
desired level of mobility.
Don’t underestimate how much your company needs you. Perform well and
ask for what you want. If you don’t get it over time, leave. It’s too big a world
to spend most of life in a cubicle.
LIFESTYLE DESIGN IN ACTION
Consider trying Earth Class Mail, a service that you can reroute all your mail to, at
which point they scan and e-mail you everything that comes in, giving you the option
of recycling/shredding junk, getting a scan of the contents, or having specific items
forwarded to you or someone you designate. I have not personally used it yet (will be
testing it out this month in preparation for an upcoming trip in May), but a friend and
author in Portland swears by them and knows the CEO. Seems they’ve gotten good
press and the idea seems far better than relying on friends/family who, if they’re
anything like my friends/family … will surely drop the ball at some point:-).
—NATHALIE
To add to your excellent list (we’ve traveled just like that for several years
SWEET!), I’d like to add my modifications as a female traveler and a new mom (16-
month-old baby). Personal favorites: (1) Athleta carries excellent, light, quick-dry
clothing that hold up well to sports but still look very fashionable. Skorts are a must
for looking feminine but being fully covered for hiking and steep pyramid steps—you
know what I mean, ladies! Just a note, a slightly longer length will serve you well in a
lot of countries, as well as tankini tops and swim skirts for swimming. (2) Fresh & Go
toothbrush is simple to use. (3) Marsona sound machine for drowning out unfamiliar
noises is a must (regularly use with baby at home too so when they hear the sound
they know it’s sleep time!). This has been a lifesaver for us on many trips, and we now
use it regularly at home for better sleep. No more changing hotels midtrip to avoid
noise. AND, I know we have to travel light, but with baby a lot of things are
nonnegotiable. These make for smoother sailing: (1) Peanut shell sling in black
fleece—it’s more comfy than the cotton and you can pop baby in and out wherever
you are, from birth to 35 lbs. I never take mine off, it’s part of my outfit; (2) Peapod
plus portable tent—this is baby’s main bed at home and travel so baby has the same
sleep place everywhere we go, and the flaps give all travel parties privacy—great from
small babies to five-year-olds. I can still jam this onto a little wheeled carry-on and
pack mine and baby’s minimal clothing around it; (3) Go Go Kidz TravelMate (great
for wheeling car seat up to the gate for gate check or use on plane); (4) Britax
Diplomat car seat is small but kids can use it from birth to approx. four years old.
Make sure the wheeled carry-on bag you get is one size smaller than the allowed
carry-on size so you don’t get bumped to check the bag in if the plane is full. You can
always nicely argue/reason/bat your eyelashes that you will put the bag in your foot
space. Also, very helpful to give baby something to sip or munch on during take off
and landing so yours isn’t the baby screaming from ear pain. Happy travels!
—KARYL
58. If you’re an entrepreneur, don’t skip this chapter. This introduction to remote
working tools and tactics is integral to the international pieces of the puzzle that
follow.
59. This verb is used by Japanese women as well, even though female workers are
referred to as “OL”—office ladies.
60. Any reason to be home will do (cable or phone installation, home repairs, etc.)
or, if you prefer not to use a ruse, work a weekend or take two vacation days.
61. Review the Puppy Dog Close from “Income Autopilot II: Testing the Muse.”
62. Do not digress from your goal. Once you’ve addressed an objection or concern,
go for the close.
63. Friday is the best day to be in the office. People are relaxed and tend to leave
early.
64. Do not accept a vague refusal. Pinpointing the main concern in detail enables
you to overcome it.
65. Don’t jump to the defensive after an objection. Acknowledge the validity of a
boss’s concerns to prevent an ego-driven battle of wills.
66. Note this indirect threat dressed as a confession. It will make the boss think
twice about refusing but prevents the win-lose outcome of an ultimatum.
67. This removes the boss’s ability to call you to the office. This is critical for
making the first jump overseas.
Beyond Repair
KILLING YOUR JOB
All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it’s
impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of
ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things,
not the strength to suffer.
—NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI, The Prince
J ust because something has been a lot of work or consumed a lot of time doesn’t
make it productive or worthwhile.
Just because you are embarrassed to admit that you’re still living the consequences
of bad decisions made 5, 10, or 20 years ago shouldn’t stop you from making good
decisions now. If you let pride stop you, you will hate life 5, 10, and 20 years from
now for the same reasons. I hate to be wrong and sat in a dead-end trajectory with my
own company until I was forced to change directions or face total breakdown—I know
how hard it is.
Now that we’re all on a level playing field: Pride is stupid.
Being able to quit things that don’t work is integral to being a winner. Going into a
project or job without defining when worthwhile becomes wasteful is like going into a
casino without a cap on what you will gamble: dangerous and foolish.
“But, you don’t understand my situation. It’s complicated!” But is it really? Don’t
confuse the complex with the difficult. Most situations are simple—many are just
emotionally difficult to act upon. The problem and the solution are usually obvious
and simple. It’s not that you don’t know what to do. Of course you do. You are just
terrified that you might end up worse off than you are now.
I’ll tell you right now: If you’re at this point, you won’t be worse off. Revisit fear-
setting and cut the cord.
T here are several principal phobias that keep people on sinking ships, and there are
simple rebuttals for all of them.
1. Quitting is permanent.
Far from it. Use the Q&A questions in this chapter and chapter 3 (Fear-setting) to
examine how you could pick up your chosen career track or start another company at a
later point. I have never seen an example where a change of direction wasn’t somehow
reversible.
Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double
your rate of failure.
—THOMAS J. WATSON, founder of IBM
SUMMER 1999
E ven before I tasted it, I knew something wasn’t quite right. After eight hours in
the refrigerator, this cheesecake still hadn’t set at all. It swished in the gallon bowl like
a viscous soup, chunks shifting and bobbing as I tilted it under close inspection.
Somewhere a mistake had been made. It could have been any number of things:
In this case, it was probably a combination of things and the lack of a few simple
ingredients that generally make cheesecake a form of cake.
I was on a no-carbohydrate diet, and I had used this recipe before. It had been so
delicious that my roommates wanted their fair share and insisted on an attempt at bulk
production. Hence began the mathematical shenanigans and problems.
Before Splenda® and other miracles of sugar imitation came on the scene, the hard
core used stevia, an herb 300 times sweeter than sugar. One drop was like 300 packets
of sugar. It was a delicate tool and I wasn’t a delicate cook. I had once made a small
handful of cookies using baking soda instead of baking powder, and that was bad
enough to drive my roommates to puke on the lawn. This new masterpiece made the
cookies look like fine dining: It tasted like liquid cream cheese mixed with cold water
and about 600 packets of sugar.
I then did what any normal and rational person would do: I grabbed the largest soup
ladle with a sigh and sat down in front of the TV to face my punishment. I had wasted
an entire Sunday and a boatload of ingredients—it was time to reap what I had sown.
One hour and 20 large spoonfuls later, I hadn’t made a dent in the enormous batch
of soup, but I was down for the count. Not only could I not eat anything but soup for
two days, I couldn’t bring myself to even look at cheesecake, previously my favorite
dessert, for more than four years.
Stupid? Of course. It’s about as stupid as one can get. This is a ridiculous and micro
example of what people do on a larger scale with jobs all the time: self-imposed
suffering that can be avoided. Sure, I learned a lesson and paid for the mistake. The
real question is—for what?
There are two types of mistakes: mistakes of ambition and mistakes of sloth.
The first is the result of a decision to act—to do something. This type of mistake is
made with incomplete information, as it’s impossible to have all the facts beforehand.
This is to be encouraged. Fortune favors the bold.
The second is the result of a decision of sloth—to not do something—wherein we
refuse to change a bad situation out of fear despite having all the facts. This is how
learning experiences become terminal punishments, bad relationships become bad
marriages, and poor job choices become lifelong prison sentences.
“Yeah, but what if I’m in an industry where jumping around is looked down upon?
I’ve been here barely a year, and prospective employers would think…”
Would they? Test assumptions before condemning yourself to more misery. I’ve
seen one determinant of sex appeal to good employers: performance. If you are a rock
star when it comes to results, it doesn’t matter if you jump ship from a bad company
after three weeks. On the other hand, if tolerating a punishing work environment for
years at a time is a prerequisite for promotion in your field, could it be that you’re in a
game not worth winning?
The consequences of bad decisions do not get better with age.
What cheesecake are you eating?
T ens of thousands of people, most of them less capable than you, leave their jobs
every day. It’s neither uncommon nor fatal. Here are a few exercises to help you
realize just how natural job changes are and how simple the transition can be.
1. First, a familiar reality check: Are you more likely to find what you want
in your current job or somewhere else?
2. If you were fired from your job today, what would you do to get things
under financial control?
3. Take a sick day and post your resume on the major job sites. Even if you
have no immediate plans to leave your job, post your resume on sites such as
www.monster.com and www.career-builder.com, using a pseudonym if you
prefer. This will show you that there are options besides your current place of
work. Call headhunters if your level makes such a step appropriate, and send a
brief e-mail such as the one below to friends and non-work contacts.
Dear All,
Tim
Call in sick or take a vacation day to complete all of these exercises during a
normal 9–5 workday. This will simulate unemployment and lessen the fear
factor of non-office limbo.
In the world of action and negotiation, there is one principle that governs all
others: The person who has more options has more power. Don’t wait until
you need options to search for them. Take a sneak peek at the future now and it
will make both action and being assertive easier.
4. If you run or own a company, imagine that you have just been sued and
must declare bankruptcy. The company is now insolvent and you must close
up shop. This is something you must legally do, and there are no finances to
entertain other options. How would you survive?
Mini-Retirements
The simple willingness to improvise is more vital, in the long run, than
research.
—ROLF POTTS, Vagabonding
U pon Sherwood’s return from Oktoberfest, dazed from killing neurons but the
happiest he’s been in four years, the remote trial is made policy and Sherwood is
inducted into the world of the New Rich. All he needs now is an idea of how to exploit
this freedom and the tools to give his finite cash near-infinite lifestyle output.
If you’ve gone through the previous steps, eliminating, automating, and severing
the leashes that bind you to one location, it’s time to indulge in some fantasies and
explore the world.
Even if you have no ache for extended travel or think it’s impossible—whether due
to marriage or mortgage or those little things known as children—this chapter is still
the next step. There are fundamental changes I and most others put off until absence
(or preparation for it) forces them. This chapter is your final exam in muse design.
The transformation begins in a small Mexican village, in a parable that’s been
shared in various forms around the world.
I RECENTLY HAD lunch in San Francisco with a good friend and former college
roommate. He will soon graduate from a top business school and return to investment
banking. He hates coming home from the office at midnight but explained to me that,
if he works 80-hour weeks for nine years, he could become a managing director and
make a cool $3–10 million per year. Then he would be successful.
“Dude, what on earth would you do with $3–10 million per year?” I asked.
His answer? “I would take a long trip to Thailand.”
That just about sums up one of the biggest self-deceptions of our modern age:
extended world travel as the domain of the ultrarich. I’ve also heard the following:
“I’ll just work in the firm for 15 years. Then I’ll be partner and I can cut back on
hours. Once I have a million or two in the bank, I’ll put it in something safe like
bonds, take $80,000 a year in interest, and retire to sail in the Caribbean.”
“I’ll only work in consulting until I’m 35, then retire and ride a motorcycle across
China.”
If your dream, the pot of gold at the end of the career rainbow, is to live large in
Thailand, sail around the Caribbean, or ride a motorcycle across China, guess what?
All of them can be done for less than $3,000. I’ve done all three. Here are just two
examples of how far a little can go.68
$250 U.S. Five days on a private Smithsonian tropical research island with three local
fishermen who caught and cooked all my food and also took me on tours of the best
hidden dive spots in Panamá.
$150 U.S. Three days of chartering a private plane in Mendoza wine country in
Argentina and flying over the most beautiful vineyards around the snowcapped Andes
with a personal guide.
Question: What did you spend your last $400 on? It’s two or three weekends of
nonsense and throwaway forget-the-workweek behavior in most U.S. cities. $400 is
nothing for a full eight days of life-changing experiences. But eight days isn’t what
I’m recommending at all. Those were just interludes in a much larger production. I’m
proposing much, much more.
The Birth of Mini-Retirements and
the Death of Vacations
There is more to life than increasing its speed.
—MOHANDAS GANDHI
I f you are accustomed to working 50 weeks per year, the tendency, even after
creating the mobility to take extended trips, will be to go nuts and see 10 countries in
14 days and end up a wreck. It’s like taking a starving dog to an all-you-can-eat
buffet. It will eat itself to death.
I did this three months into my 15-month vision quest, visiting seven countries and
going through at least 20 check-ins and checkouts with a friend who had negotiated
three weeks off. The trip was an adrenaline-packed blast but like watching life on fast-
forward. It was hard for us to remember what had happened in which countries
(except Amsterdam),69 we were both sick most of the time, and we were upset to have
to leave some places simply because our pre-purchased flights made it so.
I recommend doing the exact opposite.
The alternative to binge travel—the mini-retirement—entails relocating to one place
for one to six months before going home or moving to another locale. It is the anti-
vacation in the most positive sense. Though it can be relaxing, the mini-retirement is
not an escape from your life but a reexamination of it—the creation of a blank slate.
Following elimination and automation, what would you be escaping from? Rather
than seeking to see the world through photo ops between foreign-but-familiar hotels,
we aim to experience it at a speed that lets it change us.
This is also different from a sabbatical. Sabbaticals are often viewed much like
retirement: as a one-time event. Savor it now while you can. The mini-retirement is
defined as recurring—it is a lifestyle. I currently take three or four mini-retirements
per year and know dozens who do the same. Sometimes these sojourns take me around
the world; oftentimes they take me around the corner—Yosemite, Tahoe, Carmel—
but to a different world psychologically, where meetings, e-mail, and phone calls
don’t exist for a set period of time.
T rue freedom is much more than having enough income and time to do what you
want. It is quite possible—actually the rule rather than the exception—to have
financial and time freedom but still be caught in the throes of the rat race. One cannot
be free from the stresses of a speed- and size-obsessed culture until you are free from
the materialistic addictions, time-famine mind-set, and comparative impulses that
created it in the first place.
This takes time. The effect is not cumulative, and no number of two-week (also
called “too weak”)70 sightseeing trips can replace one good walkabout.71
In the experience of those I’ve interviewed, it takes two to three months just to
unplug from obsolete routines and become aware of just how much we distract
ourselves with constant motion. Can you have a two-hour dinner with Spanish friends
without getting anxious? Can you get accustomed to a small town where all businesses
take a siesta for two hours in the afternoon and then close at 4:00 P.M.? If not, you
need to ask, Why?
Learn to slow down. Get lost intentionally. Observe how you judge both yourself
and those around you. Chances are that it’s been a while. Take at least two months to
disincorporate old habits and rediscover yourself without the reminder of a looming
return flight.
The Financial Realities: It Just Gets Better
T he economic argument for mini-retirements is the icing on the cake. Four days in
a decent hotel or a week for two at a nice hostel costs the same as a month in a nice
posh apartment. If you relocate, the expenses abroad also begin to replace—often at
much lower cost—bills you can then cancel stateside.
Here are some actual monthly figures from recent travels.
Highlights from both South America and Europe are shown side by side to prove
that luxury is limited by your creativity and familiarity with the locale, not gross
currency devaluation in third-world countries. It will be obvious that I did not survive
on bread and begging—I lived like a rock star—and both experiences could be done
for less than 50% of what I spent. My goal was enjoyment and not austere survival.
Airfare
Housing
Meals
Education
Transportation
Monthly subway pass and daily cab rides to and
from tango lessons in Buenos Aires: $75 U.S. per
month
Monthly subway, tram, and bus pass in Berlin with
student discount: $85 U.S. per month
2. For each stop, arrange a week of language classes that begin upon arrival
and take advantage of transportation from the airport if available. The school
staff will often handle apartment rentals for you, and you will be able to make
friends and learn the area before setting off on your own.
But what if your concern isn’t so much losing your children but losing your mind
because of your children?
Several families interviewed for this book recommended the oldest persuasive tool
known to man: bribery. Each child is given some amount of virtual cash, 25–50 cents,
for each hour of good behavior. The same amount is subtracted from their accounts for
breaking the rules. All purchases for fun—whether souvenirs, ice cream, or
otherwise—come out of their own individual accounts. No balance, no goodies. This
often requires more self-control on the part of the parents than the children.
2. Purchase tickets far in advance (three months or more) or last minute, and
aim for both departure and return between Tues day and Thursday.
Long-term travel planning turns me off and can be expensive if plans change,
so I opt for purchasing all tickets in the last four or five days prior to target
departure. The value of empty seats is $0 as soon as the flight takes off, so true
last-minute seats are cheap.
If going to Europe on a tight budget, you could get three tickets. One free
Southwest ticket (from transferring AMEX points) from CA to JFK, the
cheapest ticket to Heathrow in London, and then an übercheap ticket on either
Ryanair or EasyJet to a final destination. I have paid as little as $10 to go from
London to Berlin or London to Spain. That is not a typo. Local airlines will
often offer seats on flights for just the cost of taxes and gasoline. To Central or
South American destinations, I’ll often look at local flights from Panama or
international flights from Miami.
I know the son of one deca-millionaire, a personal friend of Bill Gates, who now
manages private investments and ranches. He has accumulated an assortment of
beautiful homes over the last decade, each with full-time cooks, servants, cleaners,
and support staff. How does he feel about having a home in each time zone? It’s a
pain in the ass! He feels like he’s working for his staff, who spend more time in his
homes than he does.
Extended travel is the perfect excuse to reverse the damage of years of consuming
as much as you can afford. It’s time to get rid of clutter disguised as necessities before
you drag a five-piece Samsonite set around the world. That is hell on earth.
I’m not going to tell you to walk around in a robe and sandals scowling at people
who have televisions. I hate that kashi-crunching holier-than-thou stuff. Turning you
into a possession-less scribe is not my intention. Let’s face it, though: There are tons
of things in your home and life that you don’t use, need, or even particularly want.
They just came into your life as impulsive flotsam and jetsam and never found a good
exit. Whether you’re aware of it or not, this clutter creates indecision and distractions,
consuming attention and making unfettered happiness a real chore. It is impossible to
realize how distracting all the crap is—whether porcelain dolls, sports cars, or ragged
T-shirts—until you get rid of it.
Prior to my 15-month trip, I was stressed about how to fit all of my belongings into
a 14 x 10-foot rental storage space. Then I realized a few things: I would never reread
the business magazines I’d saved, I wore the same five shirts and four pairs of pants
90% of the time, it was about time for new furniture, and I never used the outdoor grill
or lawn furniture.
Even getting rid of things I never used proved to be like a capitalist short-circuit. It
was hard to toss things I had once thought were valuable enough to spend money on.
The first ten minutes of sorting through clothing was like choosing which child of
mine should live or die. I hadn’t exercised my throwing-out muscles in some time. It
was a struggle to put nice Christmas clothing I’d never worn into the “go” pile and
just as hard to separate myself from worn and ragged clothing I had for sentimental
reasons. Once I’d passed through the first few tough decisions, though, the momentum
had been built and it was a breeze. I donated all of the seldom-worn clothing to
Goodwill. The furniture took less than 10 hours to offload using Craigslist, and though
I was paid less than 50% of the retail prices for some and nothing for others, who
cared? I’d used and abused them for five years and would get a new set when I landed
back in the U.S. I gave the grill and lawn furniture to my friend, who lit up like a kid
at Christmas. I had made his month. It felt wonderful and I had an extra $300 in
pocket change to cover at least a few weeks of rent abroad.
I created 40% more space in my apartment and hadn’t even grazed the surface. It
wasn’t the extra physical space that I felt most. It was the extra mental space. It was as
if I had 20 mental applications running simultaneously before, and now I had just one
or two. My thinking was clearer and I was much, much happier.
I asked every vagabond interviewee in this book what their one recommendation
would be for first-time extended travelers. The answer was unanimous: Take less with
you.
The overpacking impulse is hard to resist. The solution is to set what I call a
“settling fund.” Rather than pack for all contingencies, I bring the absolute minimum
and allocate $100–300 for purchasing things after I arrive and as I travel. I no longer
take toiletries or more than a week’s worth of clothing. It’s a blast. Finding shaving
cream or a dress shirt overseas can produce an adventure in and of itself.
Pack as if you were coming back in one week. Here are the bare essentials, listed in
order of importance:
1. One week of clothing appropriate to the season, including one semiformal
shirt and pair of pants or skirt for customs. Think T-shirts, one pair of shorts,
and a multipurpose pair of jeans.
3. Debit cards, credit cards, and $200 worth of small bills in local currency
(traveler’s checks are not accepted in most places and are a hassle)
4. Small cable bike lock for securing luggage while in transit or in hostels; a
small padlock for lockers if needed
5. Electronic dictionaries for target languages (book versions are too slow to
be of use in conversation) and small grammar guides or texts
That’s it.73 To laptop or not to laptop? Unless you are a writer, I vote no. It’s far too
cumbersome and distracting. Using GoToMyPC to access your home computer from
Internet cafés encourages the habit we want to develop: making the best use of time
instead of killing it.
J osh Steinitz74 stood at the edge of the world and stared in amazement. He dug his
boots into the six feet of sea ice and the unicorns danced.
Ten narwhals—rare cousins of the beluga—came to the surface and pointed their
six-foot-plus spiral tusks toward the heavens. The pod of 3,000-pound whales then fell
into the depths once again. The narwhals are deep divers—more than 3,000 feet in
some cases—so Josh had at least 20 minutes until their reappearance.
It seemed appropriate that he was with the narwhals. Their name came from Old
Norse and referred to their mottled white and blue skin.
Náhvalr—corpse man.
He smiled as he had done often in the last few years. Josh himself was a dead man
walking.
One year after graduating from college, Josh found out that he had oral squamous
carcinoma—cancer. He had plans to be a management consultant. He had plans to be
lots of things. Suddenly none of it mattered. Less than half of those who suffered from
this particular type of cancer survived.75 The reaper didn’t discriminate and came
without warning.
It became clear that the biggest risk in life wasn’t making mistakes but regret:
missing out on things. He could never go back and recapture years spent doing
something he disliked.
Two years later and cancer-free, Josh set off on an indefinite global walkabout,
covering expenses as a freelance writer. He later became the cofounder of a website
that provides customized itineraries to would-be vagabonds. His executive status
didn’t lessen his mobile addiction. He was as comfortable cutting deals from the over-
water bungalows of Bora-Bora as he was in the log cabins of the Swiss Alps.
He once took a call from a client while at Camp Muir on Mt. Rainier. The client
needed to confirm some sales numbers and asked Josh about all the wind in the
background. Josh’s answer: “I’m standing at 10,000 feet on a glacier and this
afternoon the wind is whipping us down the mountain.” The client said he’d let Josh
get back to what he was doing.
Another client called Josh while he was leaving a Balinese temple and heard the
gongs in the background. The client asked Josh if he was in church. Josh wasn’t quite
sure what to say. All that came out was, “Yes?”
Back among the narwhals, Josh had a few minutes before heading to base camp to
avoid polar bears. Twenty-four-hour daylight meant that he had much to share with
his friends back in the land of cubicles. He sat down on the ice and produced his
satellite phone and laptop from a waterproof bag. He began his e-mail in the usual
way:
“I know you’re all sick of seeing me have so much fun, but guess where I am?”
It is fatal to know too much at the outcome: boredom comes as quickly to the
traveler who knows his route as to the novelist who is overcertain of his plot.
—PAUL THEROUX, To the Ends of the Earth
I f this is your first time considering a commitment to the mobile lifestyle and long-
term adventuring, I envy you! Making the jump and entering the new worlds that
await is like upgrading your role in life from passenger to pilot.
The bulk of this Q&A will focus on the precise steps that you should take—and the
countdown timeline you can use—when preparing for your first mini-retirement. Most
steps can be eliminated or condensed once you get one trip under your belt. Some of
the steps are one-time events, after which subsequent mini-retirements will require a
maximum of two to three weeks of preparation. It now takes me three afternoons.
Grab a pencil and paper—this will be fun.
2. Scout a region and then settle in your favorite spot. This is what I did with
a tour of Central and South America, where I spent one to four weeks in each
of several cities, after which I returned to my favorite—Buenos Aires—for six
months.
Check current health insurance coverage for extended overseas travel. Get the
wheels in motion to rent, swap, or sell your home—renting out is most recommended
by serial vagabonds—or end your apartment lease and move all belongings into
storage.
In all cases where doubts crop up, ask yourself, “If I had a gun to my head and had
to do it, how would I do it?” It’s not as hard as you think.
First morning and afternoon after check-in Take a hop-on-hop-off bus tour of the
city followed by a bike tour of potential apartment neighborhoods.
First late afternoon or evening Purchase an unlocked80cell phone with a SIM card
that can be recharged with simple prepaid cards. E-mail apartment owners or brokers
on Craigslist.com and online versions of local newspapers for viewings over the next
two days.
Second and third days Find and book an apartment for one month. Don’t commit to
more than one month until you’ve slept there. I once prepaid two months only to find
that the busiest bus stop downtown was on the other side of my bedroom wall.
Move-in day Get settled and purchase local health insurance. Ask hostel owners and
other locals what insurance they use. Resolve not to buy souvenirs or other take-home
items until two weeks prior to departure.
One week later Eliminate all the extra crap you brought but won’t use often. Either
give it to someone who needs it more, mail it back to the U.S., or throw it out.
CFares ( www.cfares.com )
Consolidator fares with free and low-cost memberships. I found a round-trip ticket
from California to Japan for $500.
1–800-FLY-EUROPE ( www.1800flyeurope.com )
I used this to get the $300 roundtrip from JFK to London that left two hours later.
Otalo ( www.otalo.com )
Otalo is a search engine for vacation rentals that searches across the Internet’s many
different vacation rentals sites and 200,000+ homes. Otalo is like a Kayak.com for
vacation rentals. The site scours a variety of other rental search sites and aggregates
the results in one easy-to-use search tool.
Hostels.com ( www.hostels.com )
This site isn’t just for youth hostels. I found a nice hotel in downtown Tokyo for $20
per night and have used this site for similar housing in eight countries. Think location
and reviews (see HotelChatter next) instead of amenities. Four-star hotels are for
binge travelers; this site can offer a real local flavor before you find an apartment or
other longer-term housing.
HotelChatter ( www.hotelchatter.com )
Get the real scoop on this daily web journal with detailed and honest reviews of
housing worldwide. Updated several times daily, this site offers the stories of
frustrated guests and those who have found hidden gems. Online booking is available.
Craigslist ( www.craigslist.org )
Besides local weekly magazines with housing listings, such as Bild or Zitty (no joke)
in Berlin, I have found Craigslist to be the single best starting point for long-term
overseas furnished apartments. As of this writing, there are more than 50 countries
represented. That said, prices will be 30–70% less in the local magazines—if you have
a tight budget, get a hostel employee or other local to help you make a few calls and
strike a deal. Ask the local helper not to mention you’re a foreigner until pricing is
agreed upon.
Rentvillas.com ( www.rentvillas.com )
Provides unique renting experiences—from cottages and farmhouses to castles—
throughout Europe, including France, Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal.
This software facilitates quick and easy remote access to your computer’s files,
programs, e-mail, and network. It can be used from any web browser or wireless
device and works in real time. I have used GoToMyPC religiously for more than five
years to access my U.S.-based computers from countries and islands worldwide. This
gives me the freedom to leave all computers at home.
WebExPCNow ( http://pcnow.webex.com )
WebEx, the leader in corporate remote access, now offers software that does most of
what GoToMyPC offers, including cut and paste between remote computers, local
printing from remote computers, file transfers, and more.
Skype ( www.skype.com )
Skype is my default for all phone calls. It allows you to call landlines and mobile
phones across the globe for an average of 2–5 cents per minute, or connect with other
Skype users worldwide for free. For about 40 euros per year, you can get a U.S.
number with your home area code and receive calls that forward to a foreign cell
phone. This makes your travel invisible. Lounge on the beach in Rio and answer calls
to your “office” in California. Nice. Skype Chat, which comes with the service, is also
perfect for sharing sensitive log-in and password information with others, as it’s
encrypted.
Meet Up ( www.meetup.com )
Search by city and activity to find people who share similar interests all over the
world.
LiveMocha ( www.livemocha.com ),
EduFire (www.edufire.com), and
Smart.fm (http://smart.fm/)
I particularly like their BrainSpeed learning game.
About.com ( www.about.com )
Some of the more popular languages have excellent tutorials on About.com:
http://italian.about.com
http://spanish.about.com
http://german.about.com
http://french.about.com
68. The dollar figures in this chapter are all from a period immediately following
President Bush’s reelection in 2004, which correlated to the worst dollar exchange
rates of the last 20 years.
69. I refer, of course, to the amazing bike-riding opportunities and famous pastries.
70. Coined by Joel Stein of the LA Times.
71. By all means, go ahead and take a post-office celebratory trip and go nuts for a
few weeks. I know I did. Rock on. Ibiza and glow sticks here I come. Have some
absinthe and drink lots of water. Following that, sit down and plan an introspective
mini-retirement.
72. Muses are low maintenance but often expensive in one or both of two tactical
areas: manufacturing and advertising. Shop for providers of both that are willing to
accept credit cards as payment, and negotiate this up front if necessary by saying,
“Rather than trying to negotiate you down on pricing, I just ask that you accept
payment by credit card. If you can do that, we’ll choose you over Competitor X.”
This is yet another example of a “firm offer,” and not a question, that puts you in a
stronger negotiating position. For a detailed explanation of how I multiply points
for travel using concepts like “piggybacking” and “recycling,” search for both
terms on www.fourhourblog.com.
73. To see a video of how I pack to travel the world with less than 10 pounds, click
on “travel” at www.fourhourblog.com.
74. Founder of www.nileproject.com.
75. http://www.usc.edu/hsc/dental/opfs/SC/indexSC.html.
76. Brazilian shantytowns. See the movie City of God (Cidade de Deus) to get a
taste of how fun these are.
77. This is a serious step and should not be taken with those you do not trust. In
this case, it helps because your accountant can then sign tax documents or checks
in your name instead of consuming hours and days of your time with faxes,
scanners, and expensive international FedEx’ing of documents.
78. There are also services like www.earthclassmail.com, which will receive, scan,
and e-mail all of your non-junk mail to you as PDFs.
79. This would be used if you leave your computer at home or in someone else’s
home while traveling. This step can be skipped if you bring your computer, but that
is like a recovering heroin addict bringing a bag of opium to rehab. Don’t tempt
yourself to kill time instead of rediscovering it.
80. “Unlocked” means that it is recharged with prepaid cards instead of being on a
monthly payment plan with a single carrier such as O2 or Vodafone. This also
means that the same phone can be used with carriers in other countries (assuming
the frequency is the same) with a simple switch of the SIM memory card for $10–
30 U.S. in most cases. Some U.S.-compatible quad-band phones can use SIM
cards.
I’ve Got More Money and Time Than I Ever Dreamed Possible … Why Am I
Depressed?
It’s a good question with a good answer. Just be glad you’re figuring this out now and
not at the end of life! The retired and ultrarich are often unfulfilled and neurotic for
the same reason: too much idle time.
But wait a second … Isn’t more time what we’re after? Isn’t that what this book is
all about? No, not at all. Too much free time is no more than fertilizer for self-doubt
and assorted mental tail-chasing. Subtracting the bad does not create the good. It
leaves a vacuum. Decreasing income-driven work isn’t the end goal. Living more—
and becoming more—is.
In the beginning, the external fantasies will be enough, and there is nothing wrong
with this. I cannot overemphasize the importance of this period. Go nuts and live your
dreams. This is not superficial or selfish. It is critical to stop repressing yourself and
get out of the postponement habit.
Let’s suppose you decide to dip your toe in dreams like relocating to the Caribbean
for island-hopping or taking a safari in the Serengeti. It will be wonderful and
unforgettable, and you should do it. There will come a time, however—be it three
weeks or three years later—when you won’t be able to drink another piña colada or
photograph another damn red-assed baboon. Self-criticism and existential panic
attacks start around this time.
O nce you eliminate the 9–5 and the rubber hits the road, it’s not all roses and
white-sand bliss, though much of it can be. Without the distraction of deadlines and
co-workers, the big questions (such as “What does it all mean?”) become harder to
fend off for a later time. In a sea of infinite options, decisions also become harder—
What the hell should I do with my life? It’s like senior year in college all over again.
Like all innovators ahead of the curve, you will have frightening moments of doubt.
Once past the kid-in-a-candy-store phase, the comparative impulse will creep in. The
rest of the world will continue with its 9–5 grind, and you’ll begin to question your
decision to step off the treadmill. Common doubts and self-flagellation include the
following:
1. Am I really doing this to be more free and lead a better life, or am I just
lazy?
2. Did I quit the rat race because it’s bad, or just because I couldn’t hack it?
Did I just cop out?
3. Is this as good as it gets? Perhaps I was better off when I was following
orders and ignorant of the possibilities. It was easier at least.
6. Why am I not happy? I can do anything and I’m still not happy. Do I even
deserve it?
Most of this can be overcome as soon as we recognize it for what it is: outdated
comparisons using the more-is-better and money-as-success mind-sets that got us into
trouble to begin with. Even so, there is a more profound observation to be made.
These doubts invade the mind when nothing else fills it. Think of a time when you
felt 100% alive and undistracted—in the zone. Chances are that it was when you were
completely focused in the moment on something external: someone or something else.
Sports and sex are two great examples. Lacking an external focus, the mind turns
inward on itself and creates problems to solve, even if the problems are undefined or
unimportant. If you find a focus, an ambitious goal that seems impossible and forces
you to grow,81 these doubts disappear.
In the process of searching for a new focus, it is almost inevitable that the “big”
questions will creep in. There is pressure from pseudo-philosophers everywhere to
cast aside the impertinent and answer the eternal. Two popular examples are “What is
the meaning of life?” and “What is the point of it all?”
There are many more, ranging from the introspective to the ontological, but I have
one answer for almost all of them—I don’t answer them at all.
I’m no nihilist. In fact, I’ve spent more than a decade investigating the mind and
concept of meaning, a quest that has taken me from the neuroscience laboratories of
top universities to the halls of religious institutions worldwide. The conclusion after it
all is surprising.
I am 100% convinced that most big questions we feel compelled to face—handed
down through centuries of overthinking and mistranslation—use terms so undefined
as to make attempting to answer them a complete waste of time.82 This isn’t
depressing. It’s liberating.
Consider the question of questions: What is the meaning of life?
If pressed, I have but one response: It is the characteristic state or condition of a
living organism. “But that’s just a definition,” the questioner will retort, “that’s not
what I mean at all.” What do you mean, then? Until the question is clear—each term
in it defined—there is no point in answering it. The “meaning” of “life” question is
unanswerable without further elaboration.
Before spending time on a stress-inducing question, big or otherwise, ensure that
the answer is “yes” to the following two questions:
1. Have I decided on a single meaning for each term in this question?
“What is the meaning of life?” fails the first and thus the second. Questions about
things beyond your sphere of influence like “What if the train is late tomorrow?” fail
the second and should thus be ignored. These are not worthwhile questions. If you
can’t define it or act upon it, forget it. If you take just this point from this book, it
will put you in the top 1% of performers in the world and keep most philosophical
distress out of your life.
Sharpening your logical and practical mental toolbox is not being an atheist or
unspiritual. It’s not being crass and it’s not being superficial. It’s being smart and
putting your effort where it can make the biggest difference for yourself and others.
I believe that life exists to be enjoyed and that the most important thing is to feel
good about yourself.
Each person will have his or her own vehicles for both, and those vehicles will
change over time. For some, the answer will be working with orphans, and for others,
it will be composing music. I have a personal answer to both—to love, be loved, and
never stop learning—but I don’t expect that to be universal.
Some criticize a focus on self-love and enjoyment as selfish or hedonistic, but it’s
neither. Enjoying life and helping others—or feeling good about yourself and
increasing the greater good—are no more mutually exclusive than being agnostic and
leading a moral life. One does not preclude the other. Let’s assume we agree on this. It
still leaves the question, “What can I do with my time to enjoy life and feel good
about myself?”
I can’t offer a single answer that will fit all people, but, based on the dozens of
fulfilled NR I’ve interviewed, there are two components that are fundamental:
continual learning and service.
T o live is to learn. I see no other option. This is why I’ve felt compelled to quit or
be fired from jobs within the first six months or so. The learning curve flattens out and
I get bored.
Though you can upgrade your brain domestically, traveling and relocating provides
unique conditions that make progress much faster. The different surroundings act as a
counterpoint and mirror for your own prejudices, making weaknesses that much easier
to fix. I rarely travel somewhere without deciding first how I’ll obsess on a specific
skill. Here are a few examples:
O ne would expect me to mention service in this chapter, and here it is. Like all
before it, the twist is a bit different. Service to me is simple: doing something that
improves life besides your own. This is not the same as philanthropy. Philanthropy is
the altruistic concern for the well-being of mankind—human life. Human life has long
been focused on the exclusion of the environment and the rest of the food chain, hence
our current race to imminent extinction. Serves us right. The world does not exist
solely for the betterment and multiplication of mankind.
Before I start chaining myself to trees and saving the dart frogs, though, I should
take my own advice: Do not become a cause snob.
How can you help starving children in Africa when there are starving children in
Los Angeles? How can you save the whales when homeless people are freezing to
death? How does doing volunteer research on coral destruction help those people who
need help now?
Children, please. Everything out there needs help, so don’t get baited into “my
cause can beat up your cause” arguments with no right answer. There are no
qualitative or quantitative comparisons that make sense. The truth is this: Those
thousands of lives you save could contribute to a famine that kills millions, or that one
bush in Bolivia that you protect could hold the cure for cancer. The downstream
effects are unknown. Do your best and hope for the best. If you’re improving the
world—however you define that—consider your job well done.
Service isn’t limited to saving lives or the environment either. It can also improve
life. If you are a musician and put a smile on the faces of thousands or millions, I view
that as service. If you are a mentor and change the life of one child for the better, the
world has been improved. Improving the quality of life in the world is in no fashion
inferior to adding more lives.
Service is an attitude.
Find the cause or vehicle that interests you most and make no apologies.
Adults are always asking kids what they want to be when they grow up
because they are looking for ideas.
—PAULA POUNDSTONE
The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green
earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.
—THICH NHAT HANH
B ut I can’t just travel, learn languages, or fight for one cause for the rest of my life!
Of course you can’t. That’s not my suggestion at all. These are just good “life hubs”—
starting points that lead to opportunities and experiences that otherwise wouldn’t be
found.
There is no right answer to the question “What should I do with my life?” Forget
“should” altogether. The next step—and that’s all it is—is pursuing something, it
matters little what, that seems fun or rewarding. Don’t be in a rush to jump into a full-
time long-term commitment. Take time to find something that calls to you, not just the
first acceptable form of surrogate work. That calling will, in turn, lead you to
something else.
Here is a good sequence for getting started that dozens of NR have used with
success.
Firstgiving (www.firstgiving.com)
Firstgiving.com allows you to create an online fund-raising page. Donations can be
made through your personal URL. I have used Firstgiving in coordination with a
nonprofit called Room to Read to build schools in both Nepal and Vietnam, with more
countries pending: www.firstgiving.com/timferriss and
www.firstgiving.com/timferriss2. If you specifically want to help animals, for
example, you can click on a related link and access websites for hundreds of different
animal charities, and then decide which one you want to donate to. The UK version of
the website is http://www.justgiving.com.
What makes you most angry about the state of the world?
What are you most afraid of for the next generation, whether you have children or
not?
What makes you happiest in your life? How can you help others have the same?
There is no need to limit yourself to one location. Remember Robin, who traveled
through South America for a year with her husband and seven-year-old son? The three
of them spent one to two months doing volunteer work in each location, including
building wheelchairs in Banos, Ecuador, rehabilitating exotic animals in the Bolivian
rain forest, and shepherding leather-back sea turtles in Suriname.
How about doing archaeological excavation in Jordan or tsunami relief on the
islands of Thailand? These are just two of the dozens of foreign relocation and
volunteering case studies in each issue of Verge Magazine
(www.vergemagazine.com). Reader-tested resources include:
5. Based on the outcomes of steps 1–4, consider testing new part- or full-time
vocations.
Full-time work isn’t bad if it’s what you’d rather be doing. This is where we
distinguish “work” from a “vocation.”
If you have created a muse or cut your hours down to next to nothing, consider
testing a part-time or full-time vocation: a true calling or dream occupation. This is
what I did with this book. I can now tell people I’m a writer rather than giving them
the two-hour drug dealer explanation. What did you dream of being when you were a
kid? Perhaps it’s time to sign up for Space Camp or intern as an assistant to a marine
biologist.
Recapturing the excitement of childhood isn’t impossible. In fact, it’s required.
There are no more chains—or excuses—to hold you back.
81. Abraham Maslow, the American psychologist famous for proposing “Mas-
low’s Hierarchy of Needs,” would term this goal a “peak experience.”
82. There is a place for koans and rhetorical meditative questions, but these tools
are optional and outside the scope of this book. Most questions without answers are
just poorly worded.
83. Ellen Bialystok and Kenji Hakuta, In Other Words: The Science and
Psychology of Second-Language Acquisition (Basic Books, 1995).
If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems.
And that’s a big mistake.
—FRANK WILCZEK, 2004 Nobel Prize winner in physics
Ho imparato che niente e impossibile, e anche che quasi niente e facile …
(I’ve learned that nothing is impossible, and that almost nothing is easy …)
—ARTICOLO 31 (Italian rap group), “Un Urlo”
M istake are the name of the game in lifestyle design. It requires fighting
impulse after impulse from the old world of retirement-based life deferral. Here are
the slipups you will make. Don’t get frustrated. It’s all part of the process.
1. Losing sight of dreams and falling into work for work’s sake (W4W) Please
reread the introduction and next chapter of this book whenever you feel yourself
falling into this trap. Everyone does it, but many get stuck and never get out.
2. Micromanaging and e-mailing to fill time Set the responsibilities, problem
scenarios and rules, and limits of autonomous decision-making—then stop, for the
sanity of everyone involved.
3. Handling problems your outsourcers or co-workers can handle
4. Helping outsourcers or co-workers with the same problem more than once, or
with noncrisis problems Give them if-then rules for solving all but the largest
problems. Give them the freedom to act without your input, set the limits in writing,
and then emphasize in writing that you will not respond to help with problems that are
covered by these rules. In my particular case, all outsourcers have at their discretion
the ability to fix any problem that will cost less than $400. At the end of each month
or quarter, depending on the outsourcer, I review how their decisions have affected
profit and adjust the rules accordingly, often adding new rules based on their good
decisions and creative solutions.
5. Chasing customers, particularly unqualified or international prospects, when
you have sufficient cash flow to finance your nonfinancial pursuits
6. Answering e-mail that will not result in a sale or that can be answered by a
FAQ or auto-responder For a good example of an auto-responder that directs people
to the appropriate information and outsourcers, e-mailinfo@fourhourworkweek.com.
7. Working where you live, sleep, or should relax Separate your environments—
designate a single space for work and solely work—or you will never be able to
escape it.84
8. Not performing a thorough 80/20 analysis every two to four weeks for your
business and personal life
9. Striving for endless perfection rather than great or simply good enough,
whether in your personal or professional life Recognize that this is often just
another W4W excuse. Most endeavors are like learning to speak a foreign language:
to be correct 95% of the time requires six months of concentrated effort, whereas to be
correct 98% of the time requires 20–30 years. Focus on great for a few things and
good enough for the rest. Perfection is a good ideal and direction to have, but
recognize it for what it is: an impossible destination.
10. Blowing minutiae and small problems out of proportion as an excuse to work
11. Making non-time-sensitive issues urgent in order to justify work How many
times do I have to say it? Focus on life outside of your bank accounts, as scary as that
void can be in the initial stages. If you cannot find meaning in your life, it is your
responsibility as a human being to create it, whether that is fulfilling dreams or finding
work that gives you purpose and self-worth—ideally a combination of both.
12. Viewing one product, job, or project as the end-all and be-all of your
existence Life is too short to waste, but it is also too long to be a pessimist or nihilist.
Whatever you’re doing now is just a stepping-stone to the next project or adventure.
Any rut you get into is one you can get yourself out of. Doubts are no more than a
signal for action of some type. When in doubt or overwhelmed, take a break and 80/20
both business and personal activities and relationships.
13. Ignoring the social rewards of life Surround yourself with smiling, positive
people who have absolutely nothing to do with work. Create your muses alone if you
must, but do not live your life alone. Happiness shared in the form of friendships and
love is happiness multiplied.
84. To avoid the living room and coffee shop as offices, consider using a social
“co-working” space on occasion: http://coworking.pbwiki.com.
There is nothing the busy man is less busied with than living; there is nothing
harder to learn.
—SENECA
For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked
myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am
about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many
days in a row, I know I need to change something … almost everything—all
external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these
things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly
important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to
avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
—STEVE JOBS, college dropout and CEO of Apple Computer, Stanford
University Commencement, 200585
I f you’re confused about life, you’re not alone. There are almost seven billion of
us. This isn’t a problem, of course, once you realize that life is neither a problem to be
solved nor a game to be won.
If you are too intent on making the pieces of a nonexistent puzzle fit, you miss out
on all the real fun. The heaviness of success-chasing can be replaced with a
serendipitous lightness when you recognize that the only rules and limits are those we
set for ourselves.
So be bold and don’t worry about what people think. They don’t do it that often
anyway.
Two years ago, I was forwarded the following poem—originally written by child
psychologist David L. Weatherford—by a close friend. He quit his own deferred-life
plan after reading it, and I hope you will do the same. Here it is.
SLOW DANCE
Time is short.
The music won’t last.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.
85. http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html.
L ong time no see! I just landed back in California from a long overdue mini-
retirement through London, Scotland, Sardinia, the Slovak Republic, Austria,
Amsterdam, and Japan. Some unpleasant surprises awaited me when I checked in on
the evil e-mail inbox. Why? I let them happen.
I always do.
Here are just a few of the goodies that awaited me this time:
2 008 was one of the most exciting years of my life. I did more dealmaking and met
more people than in the last five years combined. This produced many surprise
insights about business and human nature, especially as I uncovered dozens of my
own false assumptions.
Here are some of the things I learned and loved in 2008.
Favorite reads of 2008: Zorba the Greek and Seneca: Letters from a Stoic. These
are two of the most readable books of practical philosophies I’ve ever had the fortune
to encounter. If you have to choose one, get Zorba, but Lucius Seneca will take you
further. Both are fast reads of 2–3 evenings.
Don’t accept large or costly favors from strangers. This karmic debt will come
back to haunt you. If you can’t pass it up, immediately return to karmic neutrality with
a gift of your choosing. Repay it before they set the terms for you. Exceptions: über-
successful mentors who are making introductions and not laboring on your behalf.
You don’t have to recoup losses the same way you lose them. I own a home in San
Jose but moved almost 12 months ago. It’s been empty since, and I’m paying a large
mortgage each month. The best part? I don’t care. But this wasn’t always the case. For
many months, I felt demoralized as others pressured me to rent it, emphasizing how I
was just flushing money away otherwise. Then I realized: You don’t have to make
money back the same way you lose it. If you lose $1,000 at the blackjack table, should
you try and recoup it there? Of course not. I don’t want to deal with renters, even with
a property management company. The solution: Leave the house alone, use it on
occasion, and just create incoming revenue elsewhere that would cover the cost of the
mortgage through consulting, publishing, etc.
One of the most universal causes of self-doubt and depression: trying to impress
people you don’t like. Stressing to impress is fine, but do it for the right people—
those you want to emulate.
Slow meals = life. From Daniel Gilbert of Harvard to Martin Seligman of Princeton,
the “happiness” (self-reported well-being) researchers seem to agree on one thing:
Mealtime with friends and loved ones is a direct predictor of well-being. Have at least
one 2-to-3-hour dinner and/or drinks per week—yes, 2–3 hours—with those who
make you smile and feel good. I find the afterglow effect to be greatest and longest
with groups of five or more. Two times that are conducive to this: Thursday dinners or
after-dinner drinks and Sunday brunches.
Related: Money doesn’t change you; it reveals who you are when you no longer
have to be nice.
It doesn’t matter how many people don’t get it. What matters is how many
people do. If you have a strong informed opinion, don’t keep it to yourself. Try to
help people and make the world a better place. If you strive to do anything remotely
interesting, just expect a small percentage of the population to always find a way to
take it personally. F*ck ’em. There are no statues erected to critics.
Related: You’re never as bad as they say you are. My agent used to send me every
blog or media hit for The 4-Hour Workweek. Eight weeks after publication, I asked
him to only forward me positive mentions in major media or factual inaccuracies I
needed to respond to. An important correlate: You’re never as good as they say you
are, either. It’s not helpful to get a big head or get depressed. The former makes you
careless and the latter makes you lethargic. I wanted to have untainted optimism but
remain hungry. Speaking of hungry …
I should not invest in public stocks where I cannot influence outcomes. Once
realizing that almost no one can predict risk tolerance and response to losses, I moved
all of my investments into fixed-income and cashlike instruments in July 2008 for this
reason, setting aside 10% of pretax income for angel investments where I can
contribute significant UI/design, PR, and corporate partnership help. (Suggested
reading: Rethinking Investing—Part 1, Rethinking Investing—Part 2 on
www.fourhourblog.com.)
Rehearse poverty regularly—restrict even moderate expenses for 1–2 weeks and
give away 20%+ of minimally used clothing—so you can think big and take “risks”
without fear (Seneca).
It’s usually better to keep old resolutions than to make new ones.
To bring in a wonderful 2009, I’d like to quote an e-mail I received from a mentor of
more than a decade:
While many are wringing their hands, I recall the 1970s when we were suffering from
an oil shock causing long lines at gas stations, rationing, and 55 MPH speed limits on
federal highways, a recession, very little venture capital ($50 million per year into VC
firms), and what President Jimmy Carter (wearing a sweater while addressing the
nation on TV because he had turned down the heat in the White House) called a
“malaise.” It was during those times that two kids without any real college education,
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, started companies that did pretty well. Opportunities
abound in bad times as well as good times. In fact, the opportunities are often greater
when the conventional wisdom is that everything is going into the toilet.
Well… we’re nearing the end of another great year, and despite what we read about
the outlook for 2009, we can look forward to a New Year filled with opportunities as
well as stimulating challenges.
H auling a five-piece Samsonite set around the planet is hell on earth. I watched a
friend do this up and down dozens of subway and hotel staircases in Europe for three
weeks, and—while I laughed a lot, especially when he resorted to just dragging or
throwing his bags down stairs—I’d like to save you the breakdown. Trip enjoyment is
inversely proportionate to the amount of crap (read: distractions) you bring with you.
Practice in 30-plus countries has taught me that minimalist packing can be an art.
I returned from Costa Rica last Wednesday and have since landed in Maui, where
I’ll stay for one week. What did I pack and why? (See the companion video at
www.fourhourblog.com.86)
I practice what I’ll label the BIT method of travel: Buy It There.
If you pack for every possible contingency—better bring the hiking books in case
we go hiking, better bring an umbrella in case it rains, better bring dress shoes and
slacks in case we go to a nice restaurant, etc.—carrying a mule-worthy load is
inevitable. I’ve learned to instead allocate $50–200 per trip to a “settling fund,” which
I use to buy needed items once they’re 100% needed. This includes cumbersome and
hassle items like umbrellas and bottles of sunscreen that love to explode. Also, never
buy if you can borrow. If you’re going on a bird-watching trip in Costa Rica, you
don’t need to bring binoculars—someone else will have them.
Here’s the Maui list.
Therefore:
What to do? There are six basic rules or formulas that can be used:
1. Set rules for yourself so you can automate as much decision making as possible
[see the rules I use to outsource my e-mail to Canada, included at the end of this
section, as an example of this].
“N ot-to-do” lists are often more effective than to-do lists for upgrading
performance.
The reason is simple: What you don’t do determines what you can do.
Here are nine stressful and common habits that entrepreneurs and office workers
should strive to eliminate. The bullets are followed by more detailed descriptions.
Focus on one or two at a time, just as you would with high-priority to-do items.
1. Do not answer calls from unrecognized phone numbers.
Feel free to surprise others, but don’t be surprised. It just results in unwanted
interruption or poor negotiating positions. Let it go to voicemail, and consider using a
service like GrandCentral (you can listen to people leaving voicemail or receive them
as text messages) or Phonetag.com (receive voicemails as e-mail).
9. Do not expect work to fill a void that non-work relationships and activities
should.
Work is not all of life. Your co-workers shouldn’t be your only friends. Schedule life
and defend it just as you would an important business meeting. Never tell yourself
“I’ll just get it done this weekend.” Review Parkinson’s Law and force yourself to
cram within tight hours so your per-hour productivity doesn’t fall through the floor.
Focus, get the critical few done, and get out. E-mailing all weekend is no way to spend
the little time you have on this planet.
It’s hip to focus on getting things done, but it’s only possible once we remove the
constant static and distraction. If you have trouble deciding what to do, just focus on
not doing. Different means, same end. —AUGUST 16, 2007
P rofitability often requires better rules and speed, not more time. The financial goal
of a start-up should be simple: profit in the least time with the least effort. Not more
customers, not more revenue, not more offices or more employees. More profit.
Based on my interviews with high-performing (using profit-per-employee metrics)
CEOs in more than a dozen countries, here are the 11 basic tenets of the “Margin
Manifesto” … a return-to-basics call that gives permission to do the uncommon to
achieve the uncommon: consistent profitability, or doubling of it, in three months or
less.
I review the following principles whenever facing operational overwhelmingness or
declining/stagnating profits. Hope you find them useful.
W hat if you never had to check e-mail again? If you could hire someone else to
spend countless hours in your inbox instead of you?
This isn’t pure fantasy. For the last 12 months, I’ve experimented with removing
myself from the inbox entirely by training other people to behave like me. Not to
imitate me, but to think like me.
Here’s the upshot: I get more than 1,000 e-mails a day from various accounts.89
Rather than spending 6–8 hours per day checking e-mail, which I used to do, I can
skip reading e-mail altogether for days or even weeks at a time … all within 4–10
minutes a night.
Let me explain the basics, followed by tips and exact templates for outsourcing
your own inbox.
1. I have multiple e-mail addresses for specific types of e-mail (blog readers vs. media
vs. friends/family, etc.). tim@ … is the default I give to new acquaintances, which
goes to my assistant.
2. 99% of e-mail falls into predetermined categories of inquiries with set questions or
responses (my “rules” document is at the bottom of this post—feel free to steal, adapt,
and use). My assistant(s) checks and clears the inbox at 11 A.M. and 3 P.M. pst.
3. For the 1% of e-mail that might require my input for next actions, I have a once-
daily phone call of 4–10 minutes at 4 P.M. pst with my assistant.
4. If I’m busy or traveling abroad, my assistant leaves the action items in numerical
order on my voicemail, which I can respond to in a bullet-point e-mail. These days, I
actually prefer the voice-mail option and find that it forces my assistant to be more
prepared and more concise.
Each night (or early the next morning), I’ll listen to my assistant’s voicemail via
Skype and simultaneously write out the next actions (1. Bob: Tell him that … 2. Jose
in Peru: Ask him for … 3. Speaking in NC: Confirm …, etc.) in a Skype chat or quick
e-mail. How long does the new system take? 4–10 minutes instead of 6–8 hours of
filtering and repetitive responses.
If you only have one e-mail account, I recommend using a desktop program like
Outlook or Mail instead of a web-based program like Gmail for a simple reason: If
you see new items in your inbox, you’ll check them. Like they say in AA: If you don’t
want to slip, don’t go where it’s slippery. This is why I have a private personal
account that I use for sending e-mail to my assistant and communicating with friends.
It’s almost always empty.
E-mail is the last thing people let go of. Fortune 500 CEOs, best-selling authors,
celebrities—I know dozens of top performers who delegate everything but e-mail,
which they latch onto as something only they can do. “No one can check my e-mail
for me” is the unquestioned assumption, or “I answer every e-mail I receive” is the
unquestioned bragging right that keeps them in front of a computer for 8–12 hours at a
stretch. It’s not fun, and it keeps them from higher-impact or more rewarding
activities.
Get over yourself. I had to. Checking e-mail isn’t some amazing skill that you alone
possess.
In fact, checking e-mail is like everything else: a process.
How you evaluate and handle (delete vs. archive vs. forward vs. respond) e-mail is
just a series of questions you ask yourself, whether consciously or subconsciously. I
have a document called “Tim Ferriss Processing Rules,” to which my assistants add
rules when I send them a note via e-mail with “ADD TO RULES” in the subject. Over
the course of a week or two with a virtual assistant (VA), you will end up with an
externalized set of rules that reflect how your brain processes e-mail. It often shows
you how haphazard your processing is. I’ve included my “rules” here to save you
some time. A few tips:
1. Setting appointments and meetings takes a lot of time. Have your assistant set
things up for you in Google Calendar. I input my own items via my Palm Z22 or iCal,
then use Spanning Sync and Missing Sync for Palm OS to sync everything. On my
überlight Sony VAIO, which I still use for travel, I use CompanionLink for Google
Calendar. I suggest batching meetings or calls in one or two set days, with 15 minutes
between appointments. Scattering them throughout the week at odd times just
interrupts everything else. (Update 2009: The Palm Z22 has been discarded, and I now
use a 13-inch MacBook and BusySync to synchronize iCal with Google Calendar.)
2. If you jump in your assistant’s inbox and answer anything, BCC them so they are
aware that you handled it.
3. Expect small problems. Life is full of compromises, and it’s necessary to let small
bad things happen if you want to get huge good things done. There is no escape.
Prevent all problems and get nothing done, or accept an allowable level of small
problems and focus on the big things.
Ready to jump in and test the holy grail? Here are the steps.
1. Determine exactly which accounts you will use and how you want them to respond
to (or just categorize or purge) e-mail for you.
2. Find a virtual assistant.
3. Test for reliability before skill set. Have the top three candidates do something on
tight deadline (24 hours) before hiring them and letting them in your inbox.
4. Use a probationary period of 2–4 weeks to test the waters and work out the
problems. Again: There will be problems. It will take a good 3–8 weeks to get to real
smooth sailing.
5. Design your ideal lifestyle and find something to do other than let your brain fester
in the inbox. Fill the void.
Team Requirements
[I often have exec-level assistants manage 4–5 other “sub VAs” who handle certain
repetitive tasks, often at half the exec VA’s hourly rate. The exec VA takes on an
office manager or, in some cases, COO-level function.]
Tim Ferriss
[mailing address]
Purchases
ASK [head VA], for his AMEX NUMBER. SHE WILL ADVISE WHETHER
PURCHASES CAN BE APPROVED.
Question and Answer (Preferences)
1. How do you feel about joint ventures?
I’m open to them, but my brand and respectability is #1. I will not do anything
with anyone who comes off as deceptive or amateur. “Make millions while
you sleep in our super-insane foreclosure program!” on the website
disqualifies someone. I cannot be associated with anyone who might be seen as
a liar or snake-oil salesman. Just ask yourself: If the CEO of a well-known
company saw this, would he lose interest in speaking with me? If so, it won’t
work.
For those who pass that criteria, what have they done already? I’m not
looking for first-timers, generally, unless they have an excellent track record
and reputation elsewhere.
No. I also look for prestige (Harvard, government, etc.), wide exposure, as
well as building networks with people who have world-class skills in some
area.
4. What is your optimal response rate (i.e., respond to all e-mails no later
than 48–72 hours after received)?
Yes, but I’ll want you to filter them first, respond to all you can, then mark the
ones I should look at with the label “TIM” in Gmail. [Note earlier in this
article how I am now asking VAs to leave to-do’s via voicemail.]
Yes, but I expect I will move more and more to having you do it.
I’ll try to give the list to you to take care of. I NEED confirmations that you
received the task (“on it—will be done at X P.M.” is enough) and like status
updates on larger projects with milestones.
Me, the publishing team, and some PR folk at this point. I might have you get
involved with my other businesses later, but that’s it for now.
9. Who do we have to collaborate with on a regular basis?
See above. 90% me, then possibly my publicist(s), tech support and web staff,
and my book agent. More will come, I’m sure, but that’s it for now.
You can decide anything under $100. Use your judgment and report the
decisions.
Let’s shoot for no appointments on Fridays, but let’s play it by ear. [Update: I
now only have appointments on Mondays and Fridays.]
Me. I haven’t had any in-person meetings for close to four years. Things have
changed with the book:)
13. Explain to us your “optimal” work week (i.e., how long between phone
calls, how many meetings per week, travel preferences, etc.)?
15. What are “all” the e-mail addresses we respond to for you? See earlier
text.
16. Do you like us to respond as “you” or something like “client support for
Timothy Ferriss.”
The latter, probably something like “Executive Assistant to Tim Ferriss” below
your name—I’m open to suggestions.
Twice should be fine to start. Let’s aim for a minimum of at 11 A.M. and 3 P.M.
in your time zone.
10 A.M.-6 P.M. pst, then often 11 p.m.-2 A.M. pst. [Before you cry, “What
happened to the four-hour workweek?!” realize that “work hours” here could
be replaced with “active and available-by-phone hours.” I have lots of projects
and do not preach idleness. I am VERY active. See the sixth comment on this
post on www.fourhourblog.com for more elaboration or reread the “Filling the
Void” chapter in this book.]
19. Do you like using IM?Not really, unless it’s a scheduled discussion. Just
leave yourself logged in, and I’ll log in if I need something. [I tend to use
Skype chat these days, as it’s encrypted and I can avoid a separate IM
program.]
24. Label all e-mails from “Expert Click” for Tim. No need to respond or
forward.
26. For start-up inquiries in the health and wellness industry (or
BrainQUICKEN start-up inquiries) please see the templates in
27. For language inquiries, please see the templates in Gmail titled: Reader
Question on Language Resources—Language Templates.
28. When Tim types “dictate” in the e-mail response, this means that we can
say to the recipient: As Tim is traveling at the moment and not able to
personally respond to your e-mail, I mentioned your message while on the
phone to him, and he asked me to dictate. This makes the process easier as we
do not have to change the context of the person responding.
29. If someone e-mail blasts a bunch of people and I am one of them, usually
safe to ignore or delete. Read them carefully, of course, but if it says for
example “a few influential people I know” or something like that then if
someone can’t take the time to personalize for me, forget them. If Tim is
copied, of course, that’s a different story.
31. Mark anyone from Princeton for me to look at (TIM label). [Note: I’ve
since had to modify this due to volume.]
32. If I decline someone and they persist, give them one more reply—“Tim
appreciates the persistence, but he really can’t…” etc.—and then archive
future requests. Use your judgment, of course, but that’s the general rule.
Some people don’t know when persistent turns into plain irritating.
33. Please also create a rule to respond with “scheduled” for all items I send to
be put in the calendar (when they’re put in the calendar). Missing calendar
items can cause big problems, so this is a check and balance to confirm.
34. No need to follow up with someone after a call has taken place unless Tim
instructs otherwise, or they request something from us.
35. Send all speaking requests to XXXX and ensure that he confirms receipt.
(However, also see items 38 and 39).
36. Foreign language requests (i.e., purchasing rights, if the book is available
in a particular language, etc.) send to [the appropriate person at my publisher].
38. Inquire with Tim first before booking any speaking gigs on a specific date,
as he may be traveling.
39. When booking appointments in the calendar, be sure to also ask which
topics they would like to discuss, and put them in the calendar description for
Tim so he can prepare. Also be sure to ask for a backup phone number in case
they are not able to reach Tim. [I almost always have people call me unless I
am abroad, as this is another safeguard against missing appointments.]
40. Put initials in the subject line of calendar events so we know who (which
virtual assistant) put the item in the calendar.
41. Prepare inquiries for Tim before sending to him for his review, i.e., get
their Alexa ranking, possible dates of the event, a link to past events they have
held, their budget, other confirmed speakers, etc. Then send this info to Tim
for his review.
Hi [name],
Thanks for your inquiry about the PX Method, however the PX Method
page is designed as just a template others can look at as a reference for testing
their own product ideas.
We are not sure if or when Tim will offer the PX Method for sale, but there
are no plans at this time. We appreciate your inquiry nonetheless. Thanks!
[I get quite a few e-mails from readers who do not see the disclaimer on the
PX Method mock-up page and thus attempt to order a product that isn’t ready
to ship.]
43. Download eFAX viewer to view Tim’s faxes. His fax number is: XXXX.
Thanks for your e-mail and for your invitation to Tim. In looking at the event
online, I see that the event is April X and X, 20XX in Portland, Oregon [for
example]. Before I present this to Tim, could you answer a few questions for
me, so we can make a more informed decision?
Warmly,
[Name]
[name]
(http://www.fourhourworkweek.com)
(Random House/Crown Publishing)
I am more than happy to discuss different ways to make this possible and I have some
suggestions if [company name] would be willing to consider them. We can test this
arrangement for a few months to see if it works for both of us, since that would make
the most sense.
Expectations:
Print materials will be completed on time.
Responsibility:
Coordinate design projects with program directors and outside graphic
artists/designers.
Expectations:
Print materials designs are suitable for the audience, accurate, and
appealing.
Print materials are professional quality and produced within set timelines.
Responsibility:
Maintain relationships with print vendors to minimize cost relative to time and quality
in producing program print materials.
Expectations:
Print materials are printed within the established budget, unless budget
overages are specifically approved by the Director of Marketing.
Contract Solution:
By using e-mail and web-based programs such as
*ConceptShare, I can continue to coordinate these design projects from a distance. I
currently maintain relationships with print vendors and designers at a distance so
physical presence is not necessary for this to continue. For meetings with program
directors and the marketing team, I would use a free video and phone conferencing
service called *Skype. We usually meet once or twice to discuss changes to their
marketing materials and the rest of the process is continued through e-mail and
ConceptShare.
Expectations:
Images needed for marketing materials and websites are anticipated and
acquired.
Contract Solution:
I am still able to complete this task remotely by doing images searches on web
databases such as *iStockphoto.com. If the experiment with the *Seminar Photo
Contest fares well, I could also manage that process via the web using Aptify, e-mail,
and Skype.
Responsibility:
Identify and implement new opportunities to leverage marketing materials.
Expectations:
Ideas are researched for feasibility and effectiveness.
Chosen projects are designed and sent out within the budget and timeline.
Contract Solution:
I would utilize e-mail and Skype to communicate any new ideas and opportunities to
leverage marketing materials. I have recently proposed creating a one-page calendar
of our program deadlines to distribute to our recent seminar alumni in a fall mailing.
This way students will have an easy way to remember all of our deadlines for our
programs and may potentially boost our number of applicants.
Contract Solution:
I am familiar with our online advertising efforts and can continue to help with this
process from a distance. I will be able to access Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Blog Ads
and aid Keri in gathering and entering data. I have experience working with our
Facebook and Google Ads and have created images for Blog Ads in the past.
Launching new Ads will be easily managed abroad.
Responsibility:
Compile collection of updated, appropriate web photos.
Expectations:
Attractive, updated photos will be available for program and marketing
uses.
Contract Solution:
As stated above with the stock photo inventory, I am still able to complete this task
remotely by conducting image searches on web databases such as iStockphoto.com.
The Seminar Photo Contest will also be used as a tool to aid in this compilation of
images while I am abroad.
In order to more effectively track the cost of production of our print materials, I think
[company name] would find value in transitioning to a contract basis for this position.
I have really enjoyed working at [company name] thus far and would like to continue
working for this organization from a remote location. Thank you for your
consideration of this proposal.
Explanation of Software and Programs Mentioned:
*ConceptShare—www.conceptshare.com, ConceptShare allows you to set up secure
online workspaces for sharing designs, documents, and video and invite others to
review, comment, and give contextual feedback anytime and anywhere without a
meeting. [Company name] has used this site for a few months to test its usability and
has also been tested on multiple computers in Argentina (thanks to my sister testing it
out for me while she was in Argentina).
*Skype—www.skype.com, Skype is a free software that allows you to talk for free via
the Internet. You can also use Skype with regular phones to make calls internationally
for a low rate of about .04 cents a minute. Skype also has video chatting capabilities
and conference call capabilities for meetings. The setup requires downloading the
Skype software free) and buying a headset with microphone ($10) and webcam ($
ranges) for each computer. I have tested this software with my sister and it works well
for her in Argentina and for me here.
*iStockphoto—www.istockphoto.com, iStockphoto is an Internet royalty-free image
and design stock photography website. This is one of the many sites I use to find
photos for [company name]. We have already used a few photos from this site for our
marketing materials.
*Seminar Photo Contest—This contest was created by me and developed with Keri as
an experiment to collect more relevant and usable photos for our marketing and
publication efforts. Since we have found it to be a bit invasive to try and take the
photos ourselves, we wanted to try a new approach to capture photos for our needs.
All participants of our Summer Seminars 2008 are able to submit photos they have
taken at their seminar with a chance to be rewarded with a $5 Amazon Gift Certificate
for each image we choose.
86. This video explains how and why I pack the items in the list that follows. Links
for all items are also included.
87. This company filed for Chapter 11 in June 2009.
88. For the exact breakfast, just serach “slow-carb” on www.fourhourblog.com or
both “slow-carb” and “Ferriss” on Google.
89. This has thankfully decreased to 2,000–3,000 per week as of this writing.
90. This post is, of course, available on the blog for those who would like to copy
and paste the rules for their own use.
4. stick to what excites you no matter what people say. It’s your life, live it
the way you know is right for you.
5. read 4-Hour Workweek, obviously! —J. REITER
PHOTO FINISH
Hey Tim,
I wanted to tell you that your book, The 4-Hour Workweek, has been a true
inspiration and life-changing resource for me this year!
I bought your book in November. Before then, I didn’t know what “workflow
automation” was. I had a part-time employee, but her work was actually creating more
work for me. I would work until sometimes 3 A.M., and get up at 7. I’d tell you I
wanted to travel, but the truth is that it seemed impossible to me. I didn’t have time or
money.
I was listening to your audio book one day. I had been listening to each of the
chapters, sometimes over and over again. I was jogging. I stopped in my tracks. I
believe I was listening about a case study about someone who sold music files over
the Internet.
I’m a photographer. Weddings mostly. I wondered how I could sell digital images
over the Internet. Then I came up with a fantastic idea for a family photography
company. I stopped right there, and reserved a website on my iPhone.
Two months later, I had a website, access to thousands of photographers across the
country, and our first sale. Even better, I am now in the family photography business,
and I never have to shoot myself. Even better +1, we are the first family photography
business that doesn’t sell prints. Only digital files. It worked! I have now adopted this
for my wedding photography as well. Other photographers are so offended, but I am
making WAY more $, my costs are almost eliminated, and my time is free!
I know the above is vague, but it’s not the point. The point is that now I work better,
faster, I have two more employees, I turned off my e-mail notifications on my
computer and my iPhone, despite all of what it’s capable of, it doesn’t even ring. E-
mail has been disabled. I just check it every so often to see what calls I missed.
Today, my fiance loves me because I come home in time for dinner and I leave my
laptop at work. It’s a life I never thought I’d be able to live. In the meantime, systems
are working in my place and this year looks to be a lot better, financially, than last.
Then I decided it was time to try my first mini-retirement. The goal: ski the Swiss
Alps and spend five days in Switzerland and spend less than $1,000 total. I got a
roundtrip ticket for about 500 bucks. My ski pass for one day at Engelberg was $80.
Lodging was free, thanks to your suggestion www.couchsurfing.com, and I ate roasted
chestnuts, brats, fish and chips and drank great beer all week long. I did it!
I am forever grateful, and am excited for more mini-retirements. Here’s to living
during the best years of my life.
P.S. I leave May 11 for a month-long work vacation to Italy (I have been hired to
photograph two weddings in Siena). I plan on vacationing a LOT more than I will be
working.
— MARK CAFIERO, Photographer
VIRTUAL LAW
I used to work at a large Silicon Valley law firm, but one day I woke up and
decided that I wanted to travel for a year and learn a foreign language. Six weeks later
I was living in Cali, Colombia—I’d never visited Cali before and hardly spoke a word
of Spanish, but that’s what made it exciting to me. Well, almost two years later, I still
spend 95%+ of my time living and working from Cali, Colombia (I recently bought a
gorgeous apartment here that I could never afford if I lived in California). I also have a
full-time maid/cook (well, five hours per day, five days per week), which costs me
less than US $40 per week!
I started my own virtual law practice and then joined forces with my old boss. My
U.S. number rings through to me wherever I am in the world (originally I’m from
New Zealand so I travel back there a lot, too), and all my U.S. mail is delivered to
Market Street, San Francisco, and scanned so I can view it online. If I need to mail
letters, I have another service which prints the letter and sends it within the U.S. so
there are no international shipping delays.
Definitely use www.earthclassmail.com for mail receipt/scanning. They have
different packages but it’s around $20-$30/month. You can also choose one or more
P.O. boxes or physical addresses. My Market Street address is actually an
earthclassmail address.
For printing small letters and mailing within the U.S. I use
www.postalmethods.com. It’s a little clunky at first but it’s fine when you get used to
it. It’s very cheap since you only pay when you send (a four-page letter works out to
just over $1 including the postage).
Come visit me sometime. Colombia is nothing like what you hear about—I feel a
lot safer walking around late at night here than a lot of places in San Francisco. But
don’t tell anyone, those of us living here want to keep it a secret!
—GERRY M.
OFF-THE-JOB TRAINING
I used concepts from the 4HWW to work remotely from August of ’08 until
January of ’09. I went to Portugal, Europe, Spain, Sweden, and Norway surfing and
snowboarding my brains out. Best part about it? I came home with three times as
much money in the bank than I would have had if I continued the normal 9 to 5. I
work for [world-famous design company] as a software developer, and was able to put
the concepts to use and really change my life. I paired my iPhone + Fring (Fring is
voice over IP on the iPhone, it allows you to use one device for everything, and have a
local number abroad).
I spent four months prior to departure being sure to never be at my cube, but always
be just around the corner. I made a point to ALWAYS be available on Instant
Messenger, so when people would walk over to my cube and look for me in person
they would see I was somewhere else, then hop online and ask, “Where are you?” My
response was always similar, just down the hall in the cafeteria … just down the block
at the coffee shop, or at co-worker X’s desk. After two months of this a magical thing
happened: People always looked to get me via Instant Messenger and stopped
dropping by my desk altogether. That allowed me to be 6,000 miles away without
anyone noticing.
Something else to consider… how time zone affects remote work environments. I
noticed, while in Norway (nine hours away), that it was the perfect amount of time. I
was, in a sense, living in the future. My day was almost over by the time my boss
woke up … this allowed me to explore Norway’s fjords, mountains, and undiscovered
frigid surf spots in complete peace and without ever having to worry about getting a
call from overseas. It was perfect … If I wanted, I could explore all day, come home
and have some dinner, then ichat with my boss for 20–30 minutes and check in. The
few times he needed something urgently, he was able to give me work when he went
to bed, and have it completed in the morning when he woke up. —B. WILLIAMSON
DOCTOR’S ORDERS
Hi Tim:
Here’s my story …
My dream started about four years ago. I was in the process of taking my
psychology licensing exam, and after speaking to a friend, decided that I would
reward myself with a trip to South America. We were both exhausted from our 9-to-5
(and sometimes 6, 7, or 8 p.m.) hospital and clinic jobs.
I had traveled extensively throughout the United States and some parts of Europe,
but I had never experienced South American culture.
My trip there was absolutely fantastic and really opened my eyes to other ways of
living and culture. During my trip, I spent a lot of time speaking to expatriates about
how they used their retirement funds and pensions to live the lives of kings there. One
thing was evident: Most of the expatriates who attempted to “set up a business” to
help fund their lifestyle had failed miserably. I hypothesized that there just wasn’t
enough currency (pesos) in the marketplace to really sustain a “gringo”-oriented
business.
After my trip, I told my friend that I needed to dedicate all my energies to
developing a method of receiving income from U.S. citizens while living elsewhere.
VOIP had recently been introduced to the marketplace and Internet service was
improving in South America and other parts of the third world.
The business had to be based upon absolute mobility. I boiled the whole business
down to two basic functions: reliable telephone via VOIP and high-speed Internet.
At the time I had a small research consultation practice where I was helping
doctoral students on the phone and via e-mail to complete their dissertations, theses,
and statistical analyses. I had a small website that was getting traffic but I was relying
on others for web and marketing services. I subsequently learned more about search
engine optimization and web marketing and eventually took control of all web
marketing and promotion of my website, http://www.ResearchConsultation.com,
allowing me to expand my business substantially.
During the next three years I conducted numerous “mobile tests” … traveling to
Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Colombia in order to fine-tune
my system of conducting business from abroad.
I finally left my job last November, the day before Thanksgiving, vowing to never
return to the mundane 9-to-5 structure. My job had even recently instituted a “bio-
metric fingerprint” identification system where you had to “punch in and out” at the
beginning and end of your hospital shift with your fingerprint to ensure that you were
working your eight hours. This was just another sign that I had to leave.
I now live in NYC and Colombia and travel to other parts of the world throughout
the year: speaking to customers, managing my contractors (U.S. and Colombian) in
order to acquire U.S. dollars while living for a fraction of the cost abroad. I’m also
developing other websites and businesses (community forums) that will hopefully be
more automated, requiring less day-to-day interaction and monitoring.
Well, that’s my story for now … today South America, tomorrow anywhere I can
get a high-speed connection (banda ancha)! My stress level has dropped significantly
since leaving my old job and my quality of life has improved enormously.
My family and friends in NYC still think I’m out of my mind, and I continue to
fully agree with them…. —JEFF B.
FINANCIAL MUSING
I graduated from Stanford University and started working in investment banking in
July 2006, and, in a sick way, almost enjoyed it at first. Yes, it was a terrible lifestyle
and all, but I was learning a lot and moving up very quickly. I have (had) a type-A
personality, so it appealed to me on some level.
As the year progressed, though, I realized it wasn’t sustainable and that I wanted
out… but like so many other people, I failed to take action immediately.
In May 2007, I was driving home at 3 A.M. one night after having pulled 4–5 all-
nighters previously, and crashed into a tree on the side of the road. If you’ve never
crashed into an inanimate object while asleep at the wheel, just imagine waking up
five feet from the ground while bungee jumping as the cord is about to snap to get an
idea of what it feels like.
“At the ER”
That was the subject line of the e-mail I sent out the next day to my entire office.
Luckily, everyone understood and told me to take a rare three-day weekend. Luckily I
survived with no major injuries, but at that point I decided it was time for a change.
I met up with some friends for dinner a week or two later and relayed my story. One
friend there (who recently quit her job to pursue professional acting—her dream—
while selling information products online) told me about this book she recently read
called The 4-Hour Workweek.
I thought it was a scam, of course, but I really hated my life and decided I needed to
check it out at the very least. I read it in one sitting. And then I read it again, just to
make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. Before ever getting into finance, I had done some
work online with graphics and web design and I had a technical background, so
nothing in the book seemed outrageous to me—I just didn’t realize how easy and
accessible it all was. Also, I had lived in Japan for half a year in college and loved it—
and long-term world travel had always been one of my goals.
I sat on the ideas in your book for a while, took a quick vacation to return to Japan
in October 2007, and when I came back decided that I had to get started. My muse:
sell an investment banking interview guide. It’s a niche, high-demand subject and I
knew I could make a better guide than anything else out there. One problem: I had to
stay anonymous since I was still working, and advertising with Pay-Per-Click would
be way too expensive given the high CPCs for related keywords.
In November 2007 I decided to start a blog, Mergers & Inquisitions
(http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com), about the investment banking industry and
how to break in, aimed at a mix of college students, MBAs, and working
professionals. While I built my audience, I never had the time to finish my muse—the
interview guide. But I was getting tons of requests to do consulting from my readers,
so I started with resume editing and expanded into mock interviews—yes, not very
“muse-like” but I charged high rates and could make my old salary in a fraction of the
time. I did this ALL while staying completely anonymous out of necessity—because I
didn’t want to get fired without an alternative income stream. Amazingly, my services
took off even though I couldn’t tell anyone who I was.
At the same time, I decided I would not get another job in finance, and would
instead leave in June 2008. So I had a very short amount of time to make everything
work. Almost every single one of my friends, roommates, and family doubted me and
said it would never work. I decided they were all wrong and I would just do it
anyway—worst-case scenario, I could always reduce my expenses and move to
Thailand to teach English.
To boost my income, I completely revamped my site to sell more of my offerings,
which took me from pocket change to full-time income from part-time consulting over
July-August 2008. This allowed me to travel to Hawaii and Aruba to go snorkeling,
surfing, and shark-cage-diving and visit friends in other parts of the U.S. all while
making an investment banker’s income from part-time work.
As the recession and economy worsened, my business picked up because it was
counter-cyclical—anything that helps people find jobs is in huge demand in a poor
economy. I’ve since helped scores of laid-off bankers and other financiers find work
elsewhere. However, I was also starting to work a lot more because I was effectively
trading time for money … so over the fall I started to work on my original product
idea—my interview guide—and released it to great success later in 2008.
It has gone on to free up a ton of time, double my revenues, and put the majority of
my income on autopilot. If I didn’t do any further work from this point onward, I
could make 2–3x my previous monthly income simply by writing once or twice a
week for my site (4–5 hours) and doing limited consulting on the side (10 hours). So
you could say I’ve increased my income almost 3x while reducing my hours 6x-9x
and making myself completely mobile.
I admit that often I do “work” more than this, but it’s all on related educational
projects that I want to work on, not anything that I have to work on. And if I don’t feel
like working one week, I can reduce my hours to the 5–15 hour range and spend my
time on learning languages, sports, or traveling to exotic destinations.
This setup allowed me to take an amazing trip to China, Singapore, Thailand, and
Korea in December-January and get in some ridiculous adventures. I’ll be moving to
Asia in a few months and after that, traveling the world indefinitely while running my
business from coffee shops.
Incidentally, I met up with a lot of customers in Asia who thought this was the
coolest thing ever!
Your book has changed my life and infinitely improved my lifestyle, and I just
wanted to thank you for everything.
—B. DECHESARE
WORKING REMOTELY
One month and one year ago, I read 4HWW on the recommendation of my sister’s
boyfriend after I had been talking for months about changing my life drastically and
moving to Argentina to learn Castellano. After reading the book I stopped talking
about my dreams and immediately started setting short-term and long-term goals. I
bought a notebook to track my monthly goals and tasks. I did lots of research on
potential remote working situations and I started telling my close friends and family
about my new plans. Everyone that I told thought it was just an idea and I wasn’t
actually going to go through with it. They thought it was a “some day I’d like to do
this” idea and that I wasn’t actually setting daily goals to get me there. They knew that
I loved my job so why would I leave it for a life of uncertainty? I didn’t think of it that
way. I wasn’t scared, I was excited at the prospect of a new way of life, a fresh start,
and even though I loved my job I also had other things I wanted to accomplish in my
life. At first I thought about teaching English to make a living down there, but deep
down inside all I really wanted to do was continue working for my current company,
just doing it remotely. The book gave me the confidence to think this was actually
possible, when everyone around me thought it was impossible.
I decided to write up a proposal92 and present it to my boss even at the advice not to
do it from everyone I knew. If my boss rejected my proposal, I had enough money
saved up to live in Argentina for at least six months to get me by until I could figure
out how I wanted to make money there. I was not giving up on my dream of living a
freer, happier life with less work and more time for myself. All odds were against me
but I took a calculated risk and had faith in myself. After I handed in my proposal, I
was ready to expect the worst. Everyone around me was waiting with baited breath
and words of encouragement after I got rejected. When I left the meeting with my
boss I couldn’t believe it. She accepted and was eager to talk to me about the details.
She even had a smile on her face and told me how awesome my proposal was. No one
else could believe it when I told them. After the shock wore off, I realized that I could
actually do this, and a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. The hardest part was
over and now I could start thinking of more possibilities for my new life.
I set my goal to move to Argentina for September 2008. I arrived here on
September 3 and have been here for about six months now. I live in the capital city of
Jujuy, Argentina, a small province in the northwest of Argentina. I work about 5–10
hours a week and I find that I am much more focused now that I am out of the office
and working alone. I have a private Spanish tutor that I meet with for two hours, five
days a week. I have a handful of friends that I spend time with, practicing my Spanish.
I go to the gym three times a week and go to yoga two times a week—something I
didn’t do in the States because I didn’t have enough time. I eat healthier because I
have more time to focus on what to eat. I have more time to dream up bigger things
that I want to do with my new free time. I have dreams of owning a bar or cafe, so
maybe a few years from now that will be my next endeavor.
My advice to 4HWW readers is to take from my experience. I rely heavily on the
advice of my friends and family, but sometimes you have to ignore the advice of your
loved ones to really make some thing happen. If you believe the impossible can be
made possible, it will happen. —A.K. BROOKMIRE
RESTRICTED READING
The Few That Matter
I know, I know. I said not to read too much. Hence, the recommendations here are
restricted to the best of the best this book’s interviewees and I have used and named
when asked, “What is the one book that changed your life the most?”
None of them are required to do what we’ve talked about in this book. That said,
consider them if you get stuck on a particular point. The page counts are listed, and if
you practice the exercises in “How to Read 200% Faster in 10 Minutes” in Chapter 6,
you should be able to read at least 2.5 pages per minute (100 pages thus equals 40
minutes).
For additional categories, including practical philosophy, licensing, and language
learning, be sure to visit our comprehensive companion site.
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do
About It (288 pages)
BY MICHAEL E. GERBER
Gerber is a masterful storyteller and his classic of automation discusses how to use a
franchise mind-set to create scalable businesses that are based on rules and not
outstanding employees. It is an excellent road map—told in parable—for becoming an
owner instead of constant micromanager. If you’re stuck in your own business, this
book will get you unstuck in no time.
Less Is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty—An Anthology of Ancient and Modern
Voices in Praise of Simplicity (336 pages)
EDITED BY GOLDIAN VANDENBROECK
This is a collection of bite-sized philosophies on simple living. I read it to learn how to
do the most with the least and eliminate artificial needs, not live like a monk—big
difference. It incorporates actionable principles and short stories ranging from
Socrates to Benjamin Franklin and the Bhagavad Gita to modern economists.
The Monk and the Riddle: The Education of a Silicon Valley Entrepreneur (192
pages)
BY RANDY KOMISAR
This great book was given to me by Professor Zschau as a graduation gift and
introduced me to the phrase “deferred-life plan.” Randy, a virtual CEO and partner at
the legendary Kleiner Perkins, has been described as a “combined professional
mentor, minister without portfolio, in-your-face investor, trouble-shooter and door
opener.” Let a true Silicon Valley wizard show you how he created his ideal life using
razor-sharp thinking and Buddhist-like philosophies. I’ve met him—he’s the real deal.
The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less (288
pages)
BY RICHARD KOCH
This book explores the “nonlinear” world, discusses the mathematical and historical
support for the 80/20 Principle, and offers practical applications of the same.
“This business has legs”: How I Used Infomercial Marketing to Create the
$100,000,000 Thighmaster Craze: An Entrepreneurial Adventure Story (206 pages)
BY PETER BIELER
This is the story of how a naïve (in the best sense of the word) Peter Bieler started
from scratch—no product, no experience, no cash—and created a $100-million
merchandising empire in less than two years. It is a mind-expanding and often
hysterical case study that uses real numbers to discuss the fine points of everything
from dealing with celebrities to marketing, production, legal, and retail. Peter can now
finance the media purchases for your product: www.mediafunding.com.
Secrets of Power Negotiating: Inside Secrets from a Master Negotiator (256 pages)
BY ROGER DAWSON
This is the one negotiating book that really opened my eyes and gave me practical
tools I could use immediately. I used the audio adaptation. If you’re hungry for more,
William Ury’s Getting Past No and G. Richard Shell’s Bargaining for Advantage:
Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People are outstanding. These are the only
negotiating books you’ll ever need.
Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big (256 pages)
BY BO BURLINGHAM
Longtime Inc. magazine editor-at-large Bo Burlingham crafts a beautiful collage and
analysis of companies that focus on being the best instead of growing like cancer into
huge corporations. Companies include Clif Bar Inc., Anchor Stream Microbrewery,
rock star Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records, and a dozen more from different
industries. Bigger is not better, and this book proves it.
BONUS MATERIAL
T his book is not just what you hold in your hands. There was much more I wanted
to include but couldn’t due to space constraints. Use passwords hidden in this book to
access some of the best I have to offer. Here are just a few examples that took me
years to assemble:
For this and much more reader-only content, visit our companion site and free how-
to message boards at www.fourhourblog.com. How would you like a free trip around
the world? Join us and see how simple it is.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
F irst, I must thank the students whose feedback and questions birthed this book,
and Ed Zschau, übermentor and entrepreneurial superhero, for giving me the chance to
speak with them. Ed, in a world where deferred dreams are the norm, you have been a
shining light for those who dare to do it their way. I bow down to your skills (and
Karen Cindrich, the best right-hand woman ever) and look forward to cleaning your
erasers whenever the call comes—I’ll make a 220-pound bodybuilder of you yet!
Jack Canfield, you are an inspiration and have shown me that it is possible to make
it huge and still be a wonderful, kind human being. This book was just an idea until
you breathed life into it. I cannot thank you enough for your wisdom, support, and
incredible friendship.
To Stephen Hanselman, prince among men and the best agent in the world, I thank
you for “getting” the book at first glance and taking me from writer to author. I cannot
imagine a better partner or cooler cat, and I look forward to many more adventures
together. From negotiation to nonstop jazz, you amaze me. LevelFiveMedia is the new
breed of agenting, where first-time authors are developed into bestselling authors with
the precision of a Swiss watch.
Heather Jackson, your insightful editing and incredible cheer-leading has made this
book a pleasure to write. Thank you for believing in me! I am honored to be your
writer. To the rest of the Crown team, especially those whom I bother (because I love
them) more than four hours a week—Donna Passannante and Tara Gilbride in
particular—you are the best in the publishing world. Doesn’t it hurt when your brains
are so big?
This book couldn’t have been written without the New Rich who agreed to share
their stories. Special thanks to Douglas “Demon Doc” Price, Steve Sims, John “DJ
Vanya” Dial, Stephen Key, Hans Keeling, Mitchell Levy, Ed Murray, Jean-Marc
Hachey, Tina Forsyth, Josh Steinitz, Julie Szekely, Mike Kerlin, Jen Errico, Robin
Malinosky-Rummell, Ritika Sundaresan, T. T. Venkatesh, Ron Ruiz, Doreen Orion,
Tracy Hintz, and the dozens who preferred to remain anonymous within corporate
walls. Thanks also to the elite team and great friends at MEC Labs, including, but not
limited to, Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, Aaron Rosenthal, Eric Stockton, Jeremiah
Brookins, Jalali Hartman, and Bob Kemper.
Refining the content of this book from pulp to print has been torturous, especially
for my proofreaders! Deep bows and sincere thanks to Jason Burroughs, Chris
Ashenden, Mike Norman, Albert Pope, Jillian Manus, Jess Portner, Mike Maples,
Juan Manuel “Micho” Cambeforte, my brainiac brother Tom Ferriss, and the countless
others who honed the end product. I owe particular gratitude to Carol Kline—whose
keen mind and awareness of self transformed this book—and Sherwood Forlee, a
great friend and relentless devil’s advocate.
Thanks to my brilliant interns, Ilena George, Lindsay Mecca, Kate Perkins
Youngman, and Laura Hurlbut, for meeting deadlines and keeping me from imminent
meltdown. I encourage all publishers to hire you before their competition does!
To the authors who have guided and inspired me throughout this process, I am
forever a fan and indebted: John McPhee, Michael Gerber, Rolf Potts, Phil Town, Po
Bronson, AJ Jacobs, Randy Komisar, and Joy Bauer.
For helping to build schools around the world and for funding projects for more
than 15,000 U.S. public school students, I wish to thank—among countless others—
the following readers and friends: Matt Mullenweg, Gina Trapani, Joe Polish, David
Bellis, John Morgan, Thomas Johnson, Dean Jackson, Peter Weck and
SimplyHired.com, Yanik Silver, Metroblogging, Michael Port, Jay Peters, Aaron
Daniel Bennett, Andrew Rosca, Birth & Beyond, Inc., Doula Services, Noreen
Roman, Joseph Hunkins, Joe Duck, Mario Milanovic, Chris Daigle, Jose Castro, Tina
M. Pruitt Campbell, Dane Low, and all of you who believe karmic capitalism is
possible. It is.
To all of the readers and lifestyle designers who shared their experiences and helped
create this expanded edition—thank you! It wouldn’t have been possible without you,
and I am humbled beyond words by your generosity. I hope you never stop thinking
big and doing the uncommon.
To Sifu Steve Goericke and Coach John Buxton, who taught me how to act in spite
of fear and fight like hell for what I believe, this book—and my life—is a product of
your influence. Bless you both. The world’s problems would be far fewer if young
men had more mentors like the two of you.
Last but not least, this book is dedicated to my parents, Donald and Frances Ferriss,
who have guided me, encouraged me, loved me, and consoled me through it all. I love
you more than words can express.
CROWN and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
THE 4-HOUR WORKWEEK is a trademark of Timothy Ferriss and is used under license.
Originally published in slightly different form in the United States by Crown Publishers,
an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York,
in 2007.
eISBN: 978-0-307-59116-6
v3.0