One Year Older and 10 Years Wiser

February 4, 2009 · 2 comments

After reading Tim Ferris’ book The 4-Hour Workweek, everything seemed so simple! Find your muse, eliminate waste, automate everything, and travel the world while money comes pouring in. I was fired up and ready to start building my fortune. In fact, I was so sold on Tim’s methods that I started a new company, Soccer Charge LLC. I used The 4-Hour Workweek as my playbook. Toll free number? Check. Pay-per-click advertising? Check. Scalable business model? Check.  Customers?  Double check.

But here I am, a year older (and ten years wiser), and I’m neither rich nor traveling the world. Did I fail?

Absolutely not! The book had a tremendous positive impact on me. It helped me reinvent myself, my passions, and my approach to business. For that I am thankful.

But here’s the problem. At the end of the day, people care about people. You can’t build relationships without putting in time. Not even Tim Ferris can do that.

What do you think? Have you read the 4 Hour Workweek? What changes have you made because of the book? What techniques in the book worked for you? Which ones didn’t work so well? Is it possible to build a company putting in 4 hours a week? Is the book meant to be taken literally, or does it represent an ideal?

Tagged as: business development, challenge, optimism, reflection

  • Eric

    Hehe, Tim Ferriss.

    I read the book, but it’s more of a pep talk than anything, like the rich dad, poor dad dude (though Ferriss actually had a couple details in his book, points for that). I think if you put in serious effort before going off on your 4 hour work week, it can work out for you. And that’s what he did, he talked about putting in 80 hour weeks getting his biz off the ground, then he was like, man this sucks. I’m betting if he started off saying, man this sucks, he wouldn’t have a book to write.

    The only thing I really got out of it was try, because most won’t. Like his story about trying to get a class to reach rich and famous people, and no one even trying. Kind of a prisoner’s dilemna in a way, if 30 people are told do this and get $$$, you, along with everyone else, assume about 29 people will do it and it isn’t worth the effort.

  • Eric

    Hehe, Tim Ferriss.

    I read the book, but it’s more of a pep talk than anything, like the rich dad, poor dad dude (though Ferriss actually had a couple details in his book, points for that). I think if you put in serious effort before going off on your 4 hour work week, it can work out for you. And that’s what he did, he talked about putting in 80 hour weeks getting his biz off the ground, then he was like, man this sucks. I’m betting if he started off saying, man this sucks, he wouldn’t have a book to write.

    The only thing I really got out of it was try, because most won’t. Like his story about trying to get a class to reach rich and famous people, and no one even trying. Kind of a prisoner’s dilemna in a way, if 30 people are told do this and get $$$, you, along with everyone else, assume about 29 people will do it and it isn’t worth the effort.

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