The 4-Hour Workweek (by Tim Ferriss)

The subtitle of the book says,

"Escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich."

It sounds too good to be true and maybe like a scam, but is it possible?

Yes, it is.

How do I know?

Because I've researched and studied numerous success stories of people who have done it.

So, yes, it's possible.

But can most people do it?

No, they can't.

Some people think this means the book is bad or a scam.

Think about it this way:

If you spill coffee on your favorite shirt in the morning and then your car won't start, can you still be happy?

Sure, but most people can't.

But that doesn't mean books like Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning or Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People are bad or scams.

Still, it's important to be careful and not be too trusting.

Now before we start, this is Ivan here from the Vanilla Investor, a former investment analyst and with over $100k invested in the markets.

My goal is to bring you simple finance at your fingertips.

So, today we will be going over some key lessons from the book The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss.

The first thing we will cover is how do you define rich? Is it a specific number?
Next, we will go into the core concept of the book—entrepreneurship and its importance.
Third, how things can become misleading when seen from a different perspective.
Lastly, we will touch on the 2 most important takeaways from the book:
1. elimination
2. and outsourcing.
3. And how they can allow you to make more money while working less.

So without further ado, let's get into it.

Who’s Really Richer?

Imagine I tell you,

"I make $30,000 a year, and my friend Nick makes $150,000 a year. Who's richer?"

You'd probably say,

"Nick is, because he makes more money."

He makes 5 times more, to be exact.

But let's look closer.

What if I told you,

"I work 10 hours a week, and Nick works 80 hours a week."

Now, Nick makes about $36 an hour, and I make $58 an hour.

That's interesting, right?

Then, what if I told you Nick lives in New York City for his job, while I can live anywhere and still earn my money?

Nick can't move because he needs to be in New York to make that money, while I can live anywhere in the world and still earn my money?

When Nick takes his girlfriend out to a nice restaurant in New York City, it costs him $200, but in the country where I live, a similar meal costs just $20.

Who's richer now?

In this case, I am.

To make this even clearer, let me give you an extreme example, imagine if I offered you a job in Arizona for $5 million a year.

Sounds great, but what if bread costs $1 million a loaf there?

You wouldn't feel rich at all.

This is the main idea of the book:

In absolute terms, Nick makes more money, but in relative terms, I might be wealthier.

The Core Concept Of The Book

The main idea here is simple:

You create something and sell it—just basic business.

The trick is to earn money in strong currencies like dollars but spend it in cheaper currencies like pesos or bahts.

Instead of showing you how to sell a strange supplement, let me give you an easier example you'll get.

You're reading this blog now, which is an article about a self-help book.

You can use this same idea.

You don't need a totally new business idea—just take this and use it for something you like.

So, let’s say you love philosophy and know a lot about it.

You could explain philosophical ideas in a fun and teaching way.

I think that could be really successful.

Start with ads, then add in affiliate marketing, and maybe even sell a small product.

I can see how you could do really well with this plan.

How This Idea Can Be Misleading

Here's why that can be misleading, and the book says the same thing.

I'm not making things up, but I'm telling you from my point of view.

I have to remember that most people don't know how to earn money online.

So when I say,

"You could do this in a few months and get some attention,"

I'm talking about what I know from my experience.

For someone who hasn't tried it before, making a good-looking website might be tough.

And if you're new to YouTube, it could take longer than a few months to get noticed on your channel.

Be realistic about that, but also know you can learn how to do it.

You can do lots of planning and study.

So, maybe it won't happen in six months, but let's say you start a channel.

It doesn't work out in a year, but you learn a lot from it.

Then you try again and build a successful channel in another year.

That's two years altogether.

Even if it takes three years, what's the other option?

Working for someone else for 40 years like a corporate worker, if this is really what you want to do.

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1: Elimination

Here's another important idea from the book:

Things don't always take as much time as we think.

I used to work for a very successful organization where they had people spend 8 hours on tasks that could be done in just 1 hour if done alone.

To be effective, you need to focus on two main ideas: elimination and outsourcing.

In other words, cutting things out and getting help.

Elimination means focusing on the tasks that give you the best results and not doing the others.

This is where the 80/20 rule comes in.

The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, says that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts.

Knowing this can help you find the most important tasks and stop doing the ones that don't help much.

Here's how I used these ideas to work less on my channel from all day, seven days a week, to just six hours a week with nearly the same results.

I used to spend all day, every day, putting my long videos on every website I could.

Then I found out that most of my viewers came from just one website.

So now I only spend about 5 minutes on this, but I still get most of my viewers.

2: Outsourcing

The second part of this is outsourcing.

The book talks about hiring virtual assistants, who can handle all sorts of tasks for you, like:

scheduling things for you
and checking emails.

Some people worry about their privacy and security, asking,

"What about my information?"

But when you aim for bigger rewards, there's usually some risk involved.

You can manage it smartly, but if you're still unsure, think about the bigger picture of outsourcing.

Think of something in your life that feels like a chore, like:

washing dishes
or mowing the lawn.

You can hire someone else to do those tasks as long as it costs less per hour than what you earn.

For example, I haven't asked someone to help with my video animations because I enjoy doing it myself.

Writing the script takes about one or two hours, and making the animation takes around eight hours.

That's a lot of time.

I could ask a high school student with extra time to help with the animation and use my time for other things.

This way, I spend only two hours on each video.

If I make two videos a week, that's just four hours of writing plus a few minutes of marketing, and that's all!

But I didn't know this when I started, so I did everything myself all day long.

With outsourcing, it will only take me about four to six hours a week, depending on the work.

Even if you think you can do it all, try outsourcing.

It's a good experience.

Sometimes people brag about doing tasks like mowing the lawn on a Sunday to save money.

But is your whole day really worth just $20?

Get used to outsourcing.

You'll learn a lot, like picking the right person for the job and meeting deadlines.

Even if things don't go perfectly, you'll gain valuable experience.

So, don't think,

"I can't do it, but others can."

Is it possible?

Absolutely.

Will most people be able to do it?

Probably not, just like most people find it hard to stay calm when bad things happen around them.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn’t try.

If you love this book summary for The 4-Hour Workweek, then get the book from Amazon here.

Also, I have a feeling you will love how this next book explains the three ways to earn money in life, and how only one of them can make you very rich.

It's somewhat like the 4-Hour Workweek but with its own unique ideas.

So, make sure to check it out here.

Thank you for reading, cheers!

- Ivan