Review

Rating: 9

Aspiring book authors - take note - if you want to sell a lot of books, pick a headline that people just can’t pass up. That’s what Tim Ferriss did, and buy are people talking! Listen - if you don’t know who Tim Ferriss is, and you are a business owner, you must have been on a long sabbatical somewhere. Tim has been everywhere and his book is splattered on best seller lists and takes up space on book store shelves, if they can keep them in stock.

Tim has energized a movement of people in the their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, and maybe their 50’s - to swear off the career paths their parent took, and lay claim to a new lifestyle — a lifestyle he calls, “the new rich”. In this book, he shares his secret for how to work less, play more, yet get more done.

Look - if you believe a 4 hour workweek is possible, you are probably collecting unemployment, or destined to do so soon. Don’t let me burst your bubble, but this book IS NOT about how to only work 4 hours per week. That title is laughable.

What this book is all about is how to be super-productive as a business owner or an employee - getting more done in less time, with less waste, and allowing yourself to have the freedom to actually enjoy life!

It’s funny, but the very thing that allows Tim to live this lifestyle is the Internet, yet it’s the Internet (and most new technology) that actually enslaves most people and has them tied, nay, ball-and-chained to their office and jobs. Time calls these people “wage slaves”. Very cool term - you get the picture right away. Who would, in their right mind, ever want to be considered a wage slave - yet, most business owners I know certainly are. In fact, most business owners are more slaves to their business than their employees. We are the abusers, not our staff.

Don’t expect to read this book and figure out how to trim 36 hours from your week (or 56 for you business owners). DO expect to read this book and seriously look at how productive you ARE NOT, and why that it. Also, get ready to be convinced that working day-in, day-out in the same routine, for the same output, and not ever give yourself a break is probably going to kill you, at least ruin your good life.

Hey - we all love to work. Especially business owners. I love my company and love to make it grow. I love my staff and love to challenge them with exciting projects that help them grow, and my company grow at the same time. What we need to realize is that the constant go-go-go we demand will burn ourselves out, and seriously damage our quality of life.

Tim opens the doors to a new way of thinking, one that seriously challenges what you’ve learned, experienced, and observed.

I certainly cannot give you a summary of everything I loved about this book. However, I will share with you the things I want you to look out when YOU read the book — and you must read this book.

First, pay attention to what he calls, “mini-retirements”. Challenge yourself to think about how you can take more than a few days off from work at any given time, and whether or not the company would stop without you.

Second, pay attention to how disciplined he is about e-mails. This is one area I need to improve on — all e-mails are not priority 1, yet we treat them as such and we are constantly distracted by incoming messages and lose hours of productivity each day we allow e-mail to schedule our time. (While you read about e-mail, cell phone abusers should listen to the message as well - Tim has a word for you too!)

Third, you will learn more about outsourcing your work than any book you;ve read in the past 5 years. Tim lays it all out for you, and why this is so important — if you can outsource lower level tasks to someone else, you are freed up to work on the highest value tasks, which for a business owner, usually are the ones that affect profitability the most. I read this section several times and have already implemented it in my business. I’ve got at least 1 dozen outsourcers working for me every day, and I’m more productive than I have ever been (and my business is growing bigger than it’s ever been!)

Fourth - pay attention to the lessons about wages versus passive income. Tim is all about leverage, and like many teachers, instructs us about trading hours for dollars and leveraging our time, money, and resources to get more done and generate passive income — income that produces wealth without constant work.

If you haven’t read this book, you better soon. My guess is that you have not read it because you are too busy, so do yourself a favor. Read this book an hour in the morning before work, read it at lunch, and read it an hour after you put the kids to bed. DO NOT READ IT BEFORE BED - YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO FALL ASLEEP!

I look forward to hearing what you think about the book. Feel free to comment on the blog, or send me an e-mail before next month’s newsletter is published — Bob.