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Tim Ferris
Tim Ferriss is mainly an American author but is also an entrepreneur and angel investor. He has published three successful books that have all make the New York Times bestseller list. He is an advisor to Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Evernote, and Uber. His blog is home to over 1 million monthly readers. His podcast “The Tim Ferriss Show” is the number one business podcast in all of iTunes. He is a world record holder in tango, speaks over seven languages fluently, and was the 1999 Chinese kickboxing champion.
Tim Ferriss’ book “The 4-Hour Workweek” is what he is best known for and will be the main focus of this blog post. The principles he outlines in this book are very similar to the principles Eric Reis points out in “The Lean Startup.” Tim learned these principles by applying them to his own startup BrainQuicken. Before applying these principles Tim was a typical workaholic working over 80 hours a week, chasing hundreds of clients, and occasionally sleeping for only a few hours under his desk before starting the next workday. Although he was making good money, Tim was miserable and new something had to change.
The first step Tim took to change his lifestyle was to define the exact lifestyle he wanted. Several items on his list included a Aston Martin DB9, a “mini-retirement” to Buenos Aires, hire a personal assistant, and become fluent in Greek among other things. Using these goals he set a target monthly income to strive to, $2,000 a month for the DB9, $400 for the personal assistant, and $1,000 for the trip to Buenos Aires. Adding another 30% to the above to account for monthly expenses brought him to roughly $6,000 per month or $200 per day. Now that Tim’s dream was clearly defined he could properly define 2-3 critical mission tasks to do per day that will lead him to his dream.
Second step is to eliminate all the unnecessary clutter from your everyday life. Using Pareto’s Principle Tim defined the 20% of tasks that caused 80% of problems and unhappiness, the 20% of sources that produced 80% of Tim’s desired outcomes and happiness, and focused on the 20% of clients that produced 80% of the profits. Using this principle he found that out of his 120 wholesale clients, only 5 of them were producing 95% of the income. In other words he was spending 98% of his time chasing 115 clients. He realized he was working 9 to 5 because he felt he needed to be doing something, but that is not the goal, it is just the structure that most people use. The goal is to use your time most effectively not to fill your time with menial tasks. He eliminated multitasking all together to make sure he was completely focused on the task at hand. He made it a point to only check his email twice per day instead of 40 times per day. The tasks he would focus on were chosen by asking the question, “if this is the only thing I got done today, would I be satisfied with my day.” Only focus on the tasks that you would answer yes to this question and get them done first thing in the morning.
The third step Tim defines is automation. In other words, set up your business to run on “auto-pilot” through outsourcing and giving employees the freedom to solve problems on their own. Tim used sites like www.asksunday.com or www.yourmaninindia.com to find a reliable outsource team that costs $5-$8 an hour to process online orders and other personal tasks to give you more freedom. He calls this type of business a “muse” and its sole purpose is to produce passive monthly income to be used to pursue true passion projects. Although this is much more difficult than Tim let’s on, it is not impossible and he provides several successful case studies in his book and on his blog that give great examples of this type of business. (One of my favorite examples can be found here: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2011/09/12/engineering-a-muse-volume-4-case-studies-of-successful-cash-flow-businesses/)
The most important part about creating a muse is to choose your market before you choose your product. Filling demand is much more easier than creating demand. Find your market, define your customers, and create a product for them. You will also find it much easier if you are part of your target market because you will be creating a product for yourself. You will already have one customer, yourself. Tim goes into much more detail in his book if you are interested in the details of creating an automated business.
The final step is the least applicable to this class because it is focused on liberating 9 to 5 employees from that type of lifestyle. It combines the first three steps into a strategy to prove to your boss that you can be more effective working a few hours a day in order to liberate yourself from traditional expectations. This section of the book tries to answer the question “what do you do with this free time?” This is the main theme of the book, that time is the most valuable asset we have, not money. Time allowed Tim to follow his dreams and his goal through this book is to move more and more time into your personal life in order to follow your dreams. I recommend this book to all of you and even if you don’t read it I hope you will check out his blog, http://fourhourworkweek.com/blog/ because it has a lot of valuable information for all entrepreneurs.
Questions:
What are 3 things that would define your dream lifestyle and what would your target monthly income (TMI) be?
What are the 20% of sources that are eating up 80% of your time?
What are the 20% of sources that are bringing you 80% of your excitement and happiness?
If you had a sizeable passive income that requires four hours of your time per week, what things would you do to fill the free time in your life?
Thank You
What an interesting philosophy to follow. I think that Tim Ferriss hits the nail on the head when he explains how much time people waste on daily tasks that do not contribute to activities that would be more productive and beneficial to the individual. Ferriss also brings up a valid point, one in which we have discussed in Practicum: "Choose your market before you choose your product. Filling demand is much easier than creating demand." I decided to check out the blog site you recommended.
ReplyDeleteI listened to one of The Tim Ferriss Show Podcasts: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2014/09/09/peter-thiel/
This was an interview with Peter Thiel. Peter Thiel is the cofounder of PayPal, which he sold to eBay for $1.5 Billion. Thiel has also invested in more than 100 startups and wrote the book "Zero to One." Thiel promotes being bold and gave his input on many questions. Thiel was asked what he thought was important that few people focus on and he answered: "Technology is far more important than globalization." Thiel stressed the focus be shifted from globalization to creating more technological advances. Thiel was also asked what his opinion was on unemployment and he said: "Technology is the key driver for growth." There were other great topics Thiel elaborated on but he really focused on technology and development of it.
What an interesting read Florence, thank you. To answer your third question:
What are the 20% of sources that are bringing you 80% of your excitement and happiness?
I am a mother and between school and running a household I have few, quality time, moments with my family. I would say that of all the time my husband, children and I spend together only about 20% of it is real quality time together, enjoying each others company. However, this 20% brings 80-100% of happiness to my life. My family is the reason I wake up everyday and work hard to, hopefully, turn that 20% quality time into 50% quality time, some day.
I completely agree that we waste so much time on thinking about things we can do or just literally wasting time! We should be executing instead of just thinking. A way to execute is to have a clear mind on what you need to do. That is what I think Tim is achieving here. He outlined all his activities and he simply organized his life in a lean way. Its hard to execute an idea when you don't have a clear focus of what you need to accomplish.
ReplyDeleteIf I had a large income and required only 4 hours of work per week... I would definitely spend my time getting to know myself. Exercising would also be a big part of my days, and travel as much as possible! Especially while im young and dont have a family to worry about.
The 20% that make me 80% profit would definitely be playing or doing some kind of sport or physical activity. And the 20% that brings me 80% of my problems is thinking too much. I have to learn to not overthink situations and just let life happen.
- Pablo Rangel
I think that my target income is difficult to specifically decide. As an adult with more expenses I'm sure I would need more than I think I would need now. But if that means 50,000 or 100,000 or 1,000,000, I don't really know. I guess the point would be whatever amount I need. So then it would be whatever my expenses are. Personally, I believe that what Tim Ferris thinks everyone should do is great, but more difficult than he lets on. Isn't it everyone's goal already to work less and make more?
ReplyDeleteThree things that would define my dream lifestyle are being able to never sacrifice my health or mental stress levels by always being able to focus on my body and mind. I would also have some sort of craft. And finally, I would focus on my family and friends.
Sometimes I feel like school eats up a lot of my time, but that is only a temporary situation. I often feel like menial tasks that everyone must devote time too are the most consuming. I can see why Ferris was so interested in getting a personal assistant. If I could have someone pay my bills, make my appointments, or even do my laundry I would have half my day back.
80% of my enjoyment comes from hobbies which I probably get less than 20% of my time for. It would be awesome if I could spend 100 percent of my time on them and then enjoy my life 320% more!
I feel like some work hard or some are lucky and end up with this income level that allows them to engage in the entrepreneurial pursuits. However, I feel most of the successful entrepreneurs would say that they simply dropped everything and devoted their time to their venture until it encompassed all of their time, but also, eventually made them financially wealthy.
- Trent Walker
Great blog post Florence! Tim Ferriss is an interesting man with amazing experience/advice. I agree with you that his 4-hour workweek principles are very similar to that of Eric Ries’ The Lean Startup principles. I agree that filling demand is easier than creating demand and by defining your market and customers; you can create a better product for them. Which in turn makes things easier for you, especially with time management.
ReplyDeleteI really like his philosophy on time management. We spend too much time wasting time and sometimes we leave the most important tasks for the very end. In the blog post, you mention that Ferriss focuses his attention by asking himself this question, “If this is the only thing I got done today, would I be satisfied with my day?” I totally agree with this statement, especially the part about the amount of time we waste checking emails.
In regards to one of your questions, if I had a sizeable income that only required four hours of my time per week, I definitely would travel more. I agree with Pablo, we are young and this is the best time to travel. You not only enjoy it, you learn from it as well. I would spend more time with my family because it’s one of the things I value most and I would read and write more. I feel like there isn’t enough time throughout the day but using Ferriss’ 4-hour workweek principles, I bet I could make more time available than I thought I actually had.
Kim Zapata
I really like this blog because I feel I am struggling to understand how to manage my time. When I first started at my current job, I received project after project to work on, often times I will received multiple things at once that were all due at the same time. Some days I felt like I didn't get anything done. After a few months I started to figure out that if I solely focused on the project with the closest deadline, I felt more productive and satisfied with my day.
ReplyDeleteIf I only had a 4 hour work week that provided for a good lifestyle, I would choose to become an ems pilot to fill my free time. Right now, I'd say that 20% that brings me 80% of my happiness would be my internship. Everyday is different and it keeps me on my toes
-Brian Masterson
Definitely an interesting philosophy, and of course I like the idea of spending less time and making more money. I know it can't be as easy as Ferris makes it sound, but his methods and principles do make sense.
ReplyDeleteIn my ideal situation, I would be able to travel out of the country for extended traveling at least once, maybe twice a year. I would like to be able to buy my own house, and I would like to be my own boss. I don't really know what my desired monthly income would be based off of that, but I'm going to go with what Ferris said at $6,000 a month.
To answer your second question, I would say that the 20% of activities that eat up 80% of my time would be work and school/homework. I don't really see this as good or bad. Sometimes I enjoy work and school, sometimes I hate them.
I would say the 20% of activities I do that bring me 80% happiness would be riding my bicycle and having time to myself. Sometimes I like being around other people too much and forget that having time to myself keeps me from going insane. I suppose Ferris's ideas could help me realize that if I eliminate some of the unnecessary activities or time I spend doing other things, I could have more time to myself.
And for your last question, I think that if I had a sizable passive income coming from something that only requires four hours a week, I would use my free time to start another business. I like the idea of having a steady stream of money coming from something that doesn't require much work, that would allow me to live somewhat comfortably while starting a new venture. And I think I would also use some free time to do a little bit of traveling.
Nice blog, Florence. I had never heard of Tim Ferris, and his philosophy definitely gives me something to think about. I like that you can apply it to your personal lifestyle as well as a business approach.
Very interesting stuff! Glad to know someone else has heard of Tim Ferris before this class also. The 20% of sources that eat away at my joy definetly come from financial worries and school work, although they are very minimal. The 20% of sources that attribute to my happiness and excitement are excersize, sleep, and having deep memorable talks with people that are close to me. If I had a stable passive income that required minimal work, I would become a trainer that focuses on gymnastic exercises not just picking up heavy weights and putting them back down. I would also spend most of my time partying and trying to meet interesting entrepreneurs in Austin that have valuable information and lessons that I can soak up. I would also definitely consult an investment broker to keep generating more income through my investments in new startup companies. I really enjoyed this blog post and feel like Tim has much more gems of knowledge to give us. Thank you!
ReplyDelete-Louis Mendoza
1. The three things that would define my ideal lifestyle are a BMW X6, a comfortable household and travelling to the seven wonders of the natural world. For the first I would allot $2,200, the second would be $1300 and $1200 to the third. A 25% will be added for operating expenses, as I would need food for my day to day operations. My TMI would be $5,750.
ReplyDelete2. Video Games, cooking/eating and Homework eat 80% of my time. One of these is just another proof of how meaningless things tend to eat out your time.
3. Exercise, Soccer, Learning and Socializing/Networking bring 80% of my happiness.
4. The free time in my life would be allotted to getting a good workout, reading a book( one per week), and for studying-either financial markets or for my professional formation.
Eduardo M
1) A few items that would define my ideal lifestyle would be a budget that allows me to travel different places in the world on a monthly basis, be able to hire a personal assistant that i can delegate tedious tasks to and the time available to dedicate to my family. Its hard to estimate how much money that would require monthly but i would estimate it at $8000
ReplyDelete2)I would say that 20% of activity that takes 80% of my time are tv/video-games, school work and social activity.
3)i would say that 20% of activity that takes 80% of my happiness is traveling, mixing/listening to music and going to live music performances.
4) If i had the free time to dedicate on whatever i wanted I would focus on trying to create businesses that would create a positive change and give people things that they need, like introducing efficiency based products that will conserve resources like energy or water. First I would focus on my home country of Honduras and then try to help in other places.
-Alejandro joya
The first question you ask can have many different answers depending on the type the person answering is. I liked a lot this post because it is seen as a normal guy who lined up his goals and dreams and went for them. For my dream lifestyle, the first thing I would choose is to be really connected and happy with my family and friends. For me, family and friends are the most important things that bring me happiness and teach me many different lessons through life. The second thing I choose is to work in a job position that makes me happy and learn everyday something new. With all the experience I can then start my own business in whatever I want. The third thing I choose is to travel to many different places and learn from different cultures. For me happiness is not measured by money but to achieve most of the things I want in life I would say that the monthly income should be between 8,000 and 10,000 dollars
ReplyDeleteThe sources that eat up most of my time are definitely golf practice with the Men's Golf Teanm of St. Eds, school projects, classes, and homework, and finally the internship I'm taking this semester. I think all that are my everyday activities.
Again, I have to mention that golf practices bring me a lot of happiness because I'm training and working hard on something that I love to do. I think this is a key point when deciding your future job or business venture that you want to start. It needs to be something that you love because if you do not like it then you won't be able to learn or progress. Another activities are like hanging with friends and going out but most of it is just on weekends.
To fill the free time in my life I would love to create any kind of product or service that could help community. As some of you already know, I come from Venezuela and it is facing really hard moments right now in terms of economy, politics, life quality, and many other aspects. My dream is to work on some project that could help build the re-construction of Venezuela improving most of the aspects that have been damaged by the difficult situation is facing right now.
-David Arismendy
Great blog post!
ReplyDeleteThe three things that would define my ideal life style are: (1) comfortable household (2) a Mercedes Benz AMG SLS (3) and having enough free time to travel the world as much as I want. I think my targeted monthly income would have to be enough to life my ideal life style and have extra money to invest and spend in things I enjoy.
Parties and being with friends, working out, watching soccer matches bring 80% of my excitement happiness.
Social media, attending classes, homework, and reading is where I spend the other 80% of my time. Most of my time I try to be as productive as possible but there are always distractions that make that difficult.
David Grijalva
Nice post!
ReplyDelete1. 3 things that describe my dream lifestyle: being able to spend time with family and friends, working on projects that change the world, and the ability to always do exactly what I want to do. My TMI is difficult to think about. I obviously want to make as much money as possible; however, it is more important that what I do benefits society. Ideally, that would create a nice monthly revenue as well.
2. Too many small tasks take up the majority of my time (emails etc)
3. Spending time with friends and family brings me the most happiness. I also enjoy brainstorming ideas and coming up with creative solutions to problems.
4. I would fill my free time with other projects to work on that can change and benefit the world. A 4 hour work week sounds appealing; however, it takes more than that to really be successful. Even if 4 hrs of work a week provided me with a nice comfort level of living, I would always want more. My hobbies, passions, etc are also my work. I really can't get enough!
Jeran S
I find Tim Ferris's philosophy inspiring. It's so easy to get caught up in menial tasks, that simply waste time and produce little to no results. His philosophy directly goes against the current American work culture, which stresses work, work, work, work as much as you can to earn so much money, but in reality a lot of people can't enjoy that money. What I feel lacks in our culture is a respect for self and a realization for balance.
ReplyDeleteFerris's approach helps someone evaluate their schedule. It's simple, but how often do we take the time to sit down and reflect on our choices and how we structure our day? The innovation in his method is it is subversive to our current culture's thinking. We are control freaks, and sometimes letting go of the reigns can free one up to let others creativity thrive (especially in business). Cutting to the essentials can be difficult because in business everything can feel feel essential.
1. Three things that would define my goals: monthly shopping spree, trips to either New Mexico or California, and an expansive food budget to develop my culinary talents. The monthly income I would need is probably around $4000.
2. I would say school is the 20% that is eating 80% of my time. I have a lot of homework this semester and am taking 18 hours, but there really isn't much I can do about that.
3. I would have to say 80 percent of my happiness and excitement comes from cooking and spending time with my boyfriend and friends. I work so much and have so much school work that it is just so great to me when I can unwind and cook and do the things I love to do.