Comments on: Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Work Week: Fact or Fiction

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 03:56:50 +0000

another book to consider that is out of print but is good to read along with Tim’s book is Peter Treveyllian’s book Portable Trades and Occupations

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 03:52:01 +0000

I’ve implemented some of Tim’s ideas after buying and reading the book. I will admit though that I am a bit ambitious and always have to have my hands in a million pots, so I didn’t go the way that Tim did of a 4 hour work week. However since I enjoy my work, it never seemed like work to me. I have however followed his advice in some areas and have gone from a 60 hour plus work week down to about a 25 hour work week. It’s taken some adjusting to a drop in income doing so though. I’m working my muses to make that income up but as with anything it takes time.

By: Tina T

Tina T — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 22:20:57 +0000

I started reading this book today. Im on the train shaking me head. I am thinking to myself “this man is nuts”! I will get back to you when I finish reading.

By: Rafe

Rafe — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:29:40 +0000

4 hour work week is worth it for the links alone.

The website he advises you to look at are pretty amazing and I would have never heard of most of them.

For example, http://www.weebly.com

Build websites in minutes! Nice looking ones! Like mine!

Did you guys know about that?

By: Kerry

Kerry — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 18:23:39 +0000

I read this book while travelling in uruguay before i started a new hourly intensive job for an oil and gas service company. The book inspired me to implement his principles. The truth is the concept is amazing. The hours required to get the principle in place are quite substantial. The end result if you work hard enough, is hopefully the 4 hour work week. What Tim doesnt emphasize much is that in order to get to a 4 hour work week and a well oiled machine you must put in the hours in the first place. He is an inspiration and the book has changed my life. I also have developed a second website for the oil and gas industry that is on its way to becoming my new career focus.
Good luck to everyone… its possible if you believe in it.

By: Rasmus

Rasmus — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:58:49 +0000

I am currently down to working 6 months of the year, and I have a plan for getting lower.
My family and I also recently bought our second home in Hua Hin, Thailand with the goal of spending 3-4 months there per year.
The biggest issue is actually convincing my girlfriend that she should get more days “working from home” at her job. If this does not happen, it is a bit hard to spend 3-4 months in another country each year. But this is the biggest issue.

I am currently working hard on getting muses up and running so I can get some more passive income (you can also follow my struggle over at http://my4hours.com)

By: David

David — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:52:33 +0000

I’m only half way through so my answer may be premature, but I agree with your original comparison to a lottery ticket. A lot of the book has hopeful ideas that sound exciting, but would take a strongwilled (risktaking) personality to achieve. I like the simple exercises of looking people in the eye when you talking with them, cutting multitasking, and enabling ways of going outside your comfort zone. I also like setting goals on what you’re working toward and re-evaluating passions/interests. Very inspiring, but to answer your questions I’d err on laziness.

By: Marie

Marie — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:11:42 +0000

As a small business owner/runner, I read this book hoping to get insights into how to better manage my own busy life. And since my business provides freelance executive-assistant and personal-assistant services to other small business owners, I was also interested in learning how else I could help my clients.

Unfortunately, I think this book is geared towards a product-based business. Many of his points and methods are for self-sustaining supply chains. I haven’t figured out how to adapt his ideas to a service-based company.

The use of contract assistants (virtual or otherwise), however, is a good one. For example, I had a client go away to Europe for a month, and I was able to keep the (product-based) company running. I also use assistants myself. But as Lee said in a comment above, it’s not always easy finding the right support team.

There’s a lot of work to get done before any type of decrease in work week hours is possible. But to his credit, I think Ferriss does put this across in the book.

By: Christos Constantinou

Christos Constantinou — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:32:38 +0000

I got a lot out of the 4HWW. However, like most of Tim’s blog posts, the book is only half the truth. Its a good read together with Good to Great which contradicts some of Tim’s suggestions based on an actual 5-year research. Tim does not cover how you handle change, which requires changing your business processes which seems to me impossible in a 4HWW. Its change or die. However, Tim is talking out of experience and unlike most authors, he gives unique value that you can only get from entrepreneurs that are also book authors. I enjoyed every single page of his book and has affected my mentality on how you can run a business. Still no implementation though… I have a one-year plan on how to start and run a streamlined web development company. We’ll see how that goes.

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:11:50 +0000

I read his book and like it. I found it a very helpful companion to books like Rich Dad Poor Dad that offer more spiritual advice. But Ferris offers very practical advice. However, Ferris states that any idea you have can be done by a VA. But when I tried to take advantage of VAs for my business ideas, I got shot down hard twice. They simply would not do what I needed or tell me who else I could go to. My ideas are a little out there, but I found this frustrating. I think the VAs have a much more rigid structure of what they will and won’t do than Ferris discovered.