Living the 4-Hour Workweek

Case Studies, Tips, and Hacks

Zen and the Art of Rock Star Living

Hi Tim,
Here’s the story. I’m a musician based in Munich, Germany. I’m running my own label and it has been difficult to get it off the ground. While working on that, my creativity slowly decreased until I hit rock bottom (a couple of times).

While it is still difficult to survive in the music industry I find it not hard at all now to do what I want to do. And that’s all I do. I do what I want to do. It includes being a father, making music, composing, taking care of business, traveling, learning languages (mostly Italian), riding my bike, etc…. It’s all in the following paragraphs.
I read the book step by step for about two months from September/October 2008 (plus surfing your blog) and just made tabula rosa with my life. (Lots of brainvomiting on paper.)

I started outsourcing things that bothered me most (and therefore kept hanging out in my to-do list the longest). I outsourced:

research, most of which is music-industry related (research outsourced saves about 2–3 hours/day)

website maintenance (social websites like Facebook, Myspace, etc). I’m planning on doing most of my marketing through these sites in 2009 and I’m on about 25+ sites as an artist.

My VA (getfriday.com, as recommended in your book) does all the updates and checks the sites once a week to gather e-mail messages, comments, etc., filters them and sends me a report once a week including all the details for me to respond to. (Saves about one to two hours/day.)



photo retouching for my press pics is done by elance (saved five hours of work time and about $500).

management of my mailing list for gig dates, album updates, etc. (Saves about one hour for each mailing.)

I started testing muses (learning languages with music to sell online). I’m still testing!

I decided to open a publishing operation online for film companies to license music for film with just a mouse click, without having to negotiate deals for months. It will happen in 2009 (I start testing soon). People are generally surprised and amazed that a person who doesn’t seem to be very corporate (I look like a retired punk rocker, haha) outsources parts of his life and lives like a millionaire (I guess we do although we’re far from it!).
I realized that I could do it after I got the first positive feedback from my outsource VA. I got the results of my project posted on elance and a day later I got the results. I went, yeah baby, this is MINE! The biggest change is, that I now have my life under control. I take care of my little daughter (20 months) half the day (second half, my wife takes care of her), I take care of business, and I take time to do things I always wanted to do. Revenue-wise I’m pretty much the same I was before but I have a lot more spare time and a clear head (so I guess I’ve gotten a lot richer!).

I work whenever I want (no boss) about 24–30 hours/week (including office hours and music-studio hours) and what I do now is only what I really love to do. I’m still step-by-step optimizing efficiency to reduce office hours (currently about 10 hours/week). My dream is to dissolve my office altogether, go paperless, and basically only have my laptop as an office.

I eliminated all work that has gotten me down or was wearing me out (eliminated an extra workload of about 10 hours/week). I do not take on jobs (writing/producing music) unless I really love the project. I eliminated all complainers and haters (saves my stomach).

I just started my blog
juergenreiter.com,
“zen and the art of rockstarliving,” where I want to share the changes I made to my life (mostly for musicians to see the light at the end of the tunnel).

And I recorded an album of my music and for the first time in my life did all the lyrics myself! It’s going to be out in spring on my label ORkAaN Music+Art Productions.

I’ll be on mini-retirement in New York this year for six weeks. I’ll be in Sicily to learn Italian for about two weeks in May. I’ll be back in Sicily to travel the island by bike for another 2–3 weeks in September. And am planning on going to either Mexico, Central America, or Australia in the winter.

I learned to shave with a straight razor within about 30 minutes, which I wanted to do for years. Shaving is a real exciting ritual now and a lot of fun! I will do a master course for coffee experts in April (I’m a coffee junky!) and become a “maestro del café.” I helped my wife quit her teaching job and fulfill her dream to run a cafe in Munich, Germany. It’s called Frau Viola and opened its doors in October 2008. It is running great!

frauviola.wordpress.com

Can you measure all of that? I think it speaks for itself!
The general mindset of 4HWW has given me the calmness of being able to take time to play with my daughter and enjoying my “free time” without getting the fear of missing out on something or wasting my life. I’d say overall (with all the above-mentioned changes) my productivity increased at least 70% and doubt decreased by 80%.

Art Lovers Wanted

I saw my father work himself to the bone for 20 years as a garbage-man when we immigrated from Mexico. As I looked at my life in April 2007 in a lonely hotel room after another endless week of travel for my employer far from my family and those I love, I realized that at 33 I was on the same path to work myself into the ground and give up on my lifelong dream of pursuing my love of music and theater.

In life there are no accidents and that night as I was checking an e-mail from an old friend he suggested the 4HWW. I devoured the book in a few hours and began immediately to apply the key principles. When I told people about the book and about what I intended to do everyone said I was crazy. I focused most of my efforts on Dream-lining, Elimination, and Liberation. As an employee I wanted to first achieve liberation with a remote work arrangement. Despite several failed attempts I persevered (great lesson in negotiating) and was granted the opportunity to work remotely. This changed everything. I went from 9+ hours of work a day with weekly work-related travel to four hours a week, one week of travel per month, and I managed to get a $10,000 raise and deliver 2x the productivity in my job from the previous unproductive year.

As a result I now live with my once long-distance girlfriend in Seattle (my hometown). I spend my newly found time pursuing my passion for music (I sing in a choir and write my own folk-rock music), theater (I am performing in my first fully improvised 60-minute play this weekend), and fitness. I am training for my second marathon now.
Most of my friends cannot believe that I can actually spend most of my time pursuing my love for the arts and still make a full-time income on only four hours a week. The best part of this is that I have found mentally the meaning of freedom. Reality is truly negotiable and now my reality is that I can spend endless hours enjoying the company of my father, who waited twenty years till he retired to enjoy the freedom that I have found less than 24 months after reading The 4-Hour Workweek.

As an immigrant I want to spread the message that to succeed in America in the 21st century we must NOT work hard, instead we must follow the principles of the 4HWW and work smarter so that we can truly achieve the New American Dream: Freedom to enjoy the most precious resource we have in life … our time on this earth.
—I. BARRON

Photo Finish

Hey Tim,
I wanted to tell you that your book, The 4-Hour Workweek, has been a true inspiration and life-changing resource for me this year!

I bought your book in November. Before then, I didn’t know what “workflow automation” was. I had a part-time employee, but her work was actually creating more work for me. I would work until sometimes 3 A.M., and get up at 7. I’d tell you I wanted to travel, but the truth is that it seemed impossible to me. I didn’t have time or money.
I was listening to your audio book one day. I had been listening to each of the chapters, sometimes over and over again. I was jogging. I stopped in my tracks. I believe I was listening about a case study about someone who sold music files over the Internet.

I’m a photographer. Weddings mostly. I wondered how I could sell digital images over the Internet. Then I came up with a fantastic idea for a family photography company. I stopped right there, and reserved a website on my iPhone.
Two months later, I had a website, access to thousands of photographers across the country, and our first sale. Even better, I am now in the family photography business, and I never have to shoot myself. Even better +1, we are the first family photography business that doesn’t sell prints. Only digital files. It worked! I have now adopted this for my wedding photography as well. Other photographers are so offended, but I am making WAY more $, my costs are almost eliminated, and my time is free!

I know the above is vague, but it’s not the point. The point is that now I work better, faster, I have two more employees, I turned off my e-mail notifications on my computer and my iPhone, despite all of what it’s capable of, it doesn’t even ring. E-mail has been disabled. I just check it every so often to see what calls I missed.
Today, my fiance loves me because I come home in time for dinner and I leave my laptop at work. It’s a life I never thought I’d be able to live. In the meantime, systems are working in my place and this year looks to be a lot better, financially, than last.

Then I decided it was time to try my first mini-retirement. The goal: ski the Swiss Alps and spend five days in Switzerland and spend less than $1,000 total. I got a roundtrip ticket for about 500 bucks. My ski pass for one day at Engelberg was $80. Lodging was free, thanks to your suggestion

couchsurfing.com

and I ate roasted chestnuts, brats, fish and chips and drank great beer all week long. I did it!

I am forever grateful, and am excited for more mini-retirements. Here’s to living during the best years of my life.
P.S. I leave May 11 for a month-long work vacation to Italy (I have been hired to photograph two weddings in Siena). I plan on vacationing a LOT more than I will be working.
— MARK CAFIERO, Photographer

Virtual Law

I used to work at a large Silicon Valley law firm, but one day I woke up and decided that I wanted to travel for a year and learn a foreign language. Six weeks later I was living in Cali, Colombia—I’d never visited Cali before and hardly spoke a word of Spanish, but that’s what made it exciting to me. Well, almost two years later, I still spend 95%+ of my time living and working from Cali, Colombia (I recently bought a gorgeous apartment here that I could never afford if I lived in California). I also have a full-time maid/cook (well, five hours per day, five days per week), which costs me less than US $40 per week!

I started my own virtual law practice and then joined forces with my old boss. My U.S. number rings through to me wherever I am in the world (originally I’m from New Zealand so I travel back there a lot, too), and all my U.S. mail is delivered to Market Street, San Francisco, and scanned so I can view it online. If I need to mail letters, I have another service which prints the letter and sends it within the U.S. so there are no international shipping delays.
Definitely use

earthclassmail.com

for mail receipt/scanning. They have different packages but it’s around $20-$30/month. You can also choose one or more P.O. boxes or physical addresses. My Market Street address is actually an earthclassmail address.

For printing small letters and mailing within the U.S. I use

postalmethods.com.

It’s a little clunky at first but it’s fine when you get used to it. It’s very cheap since you only pay when you send (a four-page letter works out to just over $1 including the postage).

Come visit me sometime. Colombia is nothing like what you hear about—I feel a lot safer walking around late at night here than a lot of places in San Francisco. But don’t tell anyone, those of us living here want to keep it a secret!
—GERRY M.

Taking Flight with Ornithreads

Tim—

My mentor gave me your book this past July and it had a tremendous impact on my life, its arrival could not have had better timing. About the time I read it, I was a few weeks away from competing in my first Olympic distance triathlon. I had trained for five months, felt and looked strong, but even more

RESTRICTED READING: The Few That Matter

I know, I know. I said not to read too much. Hence, the recommendations here are restricted to the best of the best this book’s interviewees and I have used and named when asked, “What is the one book that changed your life the most?”

None of them are required to do what we’ve talked about in this book. That said, consider them if you get stuck on a particular point. The page counts are listed, and if you practice the exercises in “How to Read 200% Faster in 10 Minutes” in Chapter 6, you should be able to read at least 2.5 pages per minute (100 pages thus equals 40 minutes).

For additional categories, including practical philosophy, licensing, and language learning, be sure to visit our comprehensive companion site.

The Fundamental Four: Let Me Explain

The Fundamental Four are so named because they are the four books I recommended to aspiring lifestyle designers prior to writing The 4-Hour Workweek. Still well worth reading, here is the sequence I suggest:
The Magic of Thinking Big (192 pages)
BY DAVID SCHWARTZ

This book was first recommended to me by Stephen Key, an ultrasuccessful inventor who has made millions licensing products to companies, including Disney, Nestlé, and Coca-Cola. It is the favorite book of many superperformers worldwide, ranging from legendary football coaches to famous CEOs, and has more than 100 5-star ratings on Amazon. The main message is don’t overestimate others and underestimate yourself. I still read the first two chapters of this book whenever doubt creeps in.

How to Make Millions with Your Ideas:

An Entrepreneur’s Guide

(272 pages)
BY DAN S. KENNEDY

This is a menu of options for converting ideas into millions. I read this when I was in high school and have read it five times since. It is like steroids for your entrepreneurship cortex. The case studies, from Domino’s Pizza to casinos and mail-order products, are outstanding, even if outdated in a few instances.

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It

(288 pages)
BY MICHAEL E. GERBER

Gerber is a masterful storyteller and his classic of automation discusses how to use a franchise mind-set to create scalable businesses that are based on rules and not outstanding employees. It is an excellent road map—told in parable—for becoming an owner instead of constant micromanager. If you’re stuck in your own business, this book will get you unstuck in no time.

Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel

(224 pages)
BY ROLF POTTS

Rolf is the man. This is the book that got me to stop making excuses and pack for an extended hiatus. It covers bits of everything but is particularly helpful for determining your destination, adjusting to life on the road, and re-assimilating back into ordinary life. It includes great little excerpts from famous vagabonds, philosophers, and explorers, as well as anecdotes from ordinary travelers. This is the first of two books (the other was Walden, below) that I took with me on my first 15-month mini-retirement.

Reducing Emotional and Material Baggage

Walden (384 pages)
BY HENRY DAVID THOREAU

This is considered by many to be the masterpiece of reflective simple living. Thoreau lived on the edge of a small lake in rural Massachusetts for two years, building his own shelter and living alone, as an experiment in self-reliance and minimalism. It was both a huge success and a failure, which is what makes this book such a compelling read.

Less Is More: The Art of Voluntary Poverty—An Anthology of Ancient and Modern Voices in Praise of Simplicity

(336 pages)
EDITED BY GOLDIAN VANDENBROECK

This is a collection of bite-sized philosophies on simple living. I read it to learn how to do the most with the least and eliminate artificial needs, not live like a monk—big difference. It incorporates actionable principles and short stories ranging from Socrates to Benjamin Franklin and the Bhagavad Gita to modern economists.

The Monk and the Riddle: The Education of a Silicon Valley Entrepreneur

(192 pages)
BY RANDY KOMISAR

This great book was given to me by Professor Zschau as a graduation gift and introduced me to the phrase “deferred-life plan.” Randy, a virtual CEO and partner at the legendary Kleiner Perkins, has been described as a “combined professional mentor, minister without portfolio, in-your-face investor, trouble-shooter and door opener.” Let a true Silicon Valley wizard show you how he created his ideal life using razor-sharp thinking and Buddhist-like philosophies. I’ve met him—he’s the real deal.

The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less

(288 pages)
BY RICHARD KOCH

This book explores the “nonlinear” world, discusses the mathematical and historical support for the 80/20 Principle, and offers practical applications of the same.

Muse Creation and Related Skills

Harvard Business School Case Studies

http://hbsp.harvard.edu (click on “school cases”)

One of the secrets behind Harvard Business School’s teaching success is the case method—using real-life case studies for discussion. These cases take you inside the marketing and operational plans of 24-Hour Fitness, Southwest Airlines, Timberland, and hundreds of other companies. Few people realize that you can purchase these case studies for less than $10 apiece instead of spending more than $100,000 to go to Harvard (not that the latter isn’t worth it). There is a case study for every situation, problem, and business model.

“This business has legs”: How I Used Infomercial Marketing to Create the $100,000,000 Thighmaster Craze: An Entrepreneurial Adventure Story

(206 pages)
BY PETER BIELER

This is the story of how a naïve (in the best sense of the word) Peter Bieler started from scratch—no product, no experience, no cash—and created a $100-million merchandising empire in less than two years. It is a mind-expanding and often hysterical case study that uses real numbers to discuss the fine points of everything from dealing with celebrities to marketing, production, legal, and retail. Peter can now finance the media purchases for your product: mediafunding.com.

Secrets of Power Negotiating: Inside Secrets from a Master Negotiator

(256 pages)
by ROGER DAWSON

This is the one negotiating book that really opened my eyes and gave me practical tools I could use immediately. I used the audio adaptation. If you’re hungry for more, William Ury’s Getting Past No and G. Richard Shell’s Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People are outstanding. These are the only negotiating books you’ll ever need.

Response Magazine

http://responsemagazine.com

This magazine is dedicated to the multibillion-dollar direct response (DR) industry, with a focus on television, radio, and Internet marketing. How-to articles (increasing sales per call, lowering media costs, improving fulfillment, etc.) are interspersed with case studies of successful campaigns (George Foreman Grill, Girls Gone Wild, etc.). The best outsourcers in the business also advertise in this magazine. This is an excellent resource at an excellent price—free.

Jordan Whitney Greensheet

http://jwgreensheet.com

This is an insider secret of the DR world. Jordan Whitney’s weekly and monthly reports dissect the most successful product campaigns, including offers, pricing, guarantees, and ad frequencies (indicative of spending and, thus, profitability). The publication also maintains an up-to-date tape library from which infomercials and spot commercials can be purchased for competitive research. Highly recommended.

Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big

(256 pages)
BY BO BURLINGHAM

Longtime Inc. magazine editor-at-large Bo Burlingham crafts a beautiful collage and analysis of companies that focus on being the best instead of growing like cancer into huge corporations. Companies include Clif Bar Inc., Anchor Stream Microbrewery, rock star Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records, and a dozen more from different industries. Bigger is not better, and this book proves it.

Negotiating World Travel and Preparing for Escape

Six Months Off: How to Plan, Negotiate, and Take the Break You Need Without Burning Bridges or Going Broke

(252 pages)
BY HOPE DLUGOZIMA , JAMES SCOTT , AND DAVID SHARP

This was the first book to make me step back and say, “Holy sh*t. I can actually do this!” It steamrolls over most fear factors related to long-term travel and offers a step-by-step guide to taking time off to travel or pursue other goals without giving up your career. Full of case studies and useful checklists.

Verge Magazine

http://vergemagazine.com

This magazine, formerly known as Transitions Abroad, is the central hub of alternative travel and offers dozens of incredible options for the non-tourist. Both the print and online versions are great starting points for brainstorming how you will spend your time overseas. How about excavating in Jordan or eco-volunteering in the Caribbean? It’s all here.

From the website: “Each issue takes you around the world with people who are doing something different and making a difference doing it. This is the magazine resource for those wanting to volunteer, work, study, or adventure overseas.”

BONUS MATERIAL

This book is not just what you hold in your hands. There was much more I wanted to include but couldn’t due to space constraints. Use passwords hidden in this book to access some of the best I have to offer. Here are just a few examples that took me years to assemble:

How to Get $250,000 of Advertising for $10,000
(includes real scripts)

How to Learn Any Language in 3 Months

Muse Math: Predicting the Revenue of Any Product
(includes case studies)

Licensing: From Tae Bo to Teddy Ruxpin

Real Licensing Agreement with Real Dollars
(this alone is worth $5,000)

Online Round-the-World (RTW) Trip Planner

For this and much more reader-only content, visit our companion site and free how-to message boards at fourhourblog.com. How would you like a free trip around the world? Join us and see how simple it is.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, I must thank the students whose feedback and questions birthed this book, and Ed Zschau, übermentor and entrepreneurial superhero, for giving me the chance to speak with them. Ed, in a world where deferred dreams are the norm, you have been a shining light for those who dare to do it their way. I bow down to your skills (and Karen Cindrich, the best right-hand woman ever) and look forward to cleaning your erasers whenever the call comes—I’ll make a 220-pound bodybuilder of you yet!

Jack Canfield, you are an inspiration and have shown me that it is possible to make it huge and still be a wonderful, kind human being. This book was just an idea until you breathed life into it. I cannot thank you enough for your wisdom, support, and incredible friendship.

To Stephen Hanselman, prince among men and the best agent in the world, I thank you for “getting” the book at first glance and taking me from writer to author. I cannot imagine a better partner or cooler cat, and I look forward to many more adventures together. From negotiation to nonstop jazz, you amaze me. LevelFiveMedia is the new breed of agenting, where first-time authors are developed into bestselling authors with the precision of a Swiss watch.

Heather Jackson, your insightful editing and incredible cheer-leading has made this book a pleasure to write. Thank you for believing in me! I am honored to be your writer. To the rest of the Crown team, especially those whom I bother (because I love them) more than four hours a week—Donna Passannante and Tara Gilbride in particular—you are the best in the publishing world. Doesn’t it hurt when your brains are so big?

This book couldn’t have been written without the New Rich who agreed to share their stories. Special thanks to Douglas “Demon Doc” Price, Steve Sims, John “DJ Vanya” Dial, Stephen Key, Hans Keeling, Mitchell Levy, Ed Murray, Jean-Marc Hachey, Tina Forsyth, Josh Steinitz, Julie Szekely, Mike Kerlin, Jen Errico, Robin Malinosky-Rummell, Ritika Sundaresan, T. T. Venkatesh, Ron Ruiz, Doreen Orion, Tracy Hintz, and the dozens who preferred to remain anonymous within corporate walls. Thanks also to the elite team and great friends at MEC Labs, including, but not limited to, Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, Aaron Rosenthal, Eric Stockton, Jeremiah Brookins, Jalali Hartman, and Bob Kemper.

Refining the content of this book from pulp to print has been torturous, especially for my proofreaders! Deep bows and sincere thanks to Jason Burroughs, Chris Ashenden, Mike Norman, Albert Pope, Jillian Manus, Jess Portner, Mike Maples, Juan Manuel “Micho” Cambeforte, my brainiac brother Tom Ferriss, and the countless others who honed the end product. I owe particular gratitude to Carol Kline—whose keen mind and awareness of self transformed this book—and Sherwood Forlee, a great friend and relentless devil’s advocate.

Thanks to my brilliant interns, Ilena George, Lindsay Mecca, Kate Perkins Youngman, and Laura Hurlbut, for meeting deadlines and keeping me from imminent meltdown. I encourage all publishers to hire you before their competition does!

To the authors who have guided and inspired me throughout this process, I am forever a fan and indebted: John McPhee, Michael Gerber, Rolf Potts, Phil Town, Po Bronson, AJ Jacobs, Randy Komisar, and Joy Bauer.

For helping to build schools around the world and for funding projects for more than 15,000 U.S. public school students, I wish to thank—among countless others—the following readers and friends: Matt Mullenweg, Gina Trapani, Joe Polish, David Bellis, John Morgan, Thomas Johnson, Dean Jackson, Peter Weck and SimplyHired.com, Yanik Silver, Metroblogging, Michael Port, Jay Peters, Aaron Daniel Bennett, Andrew Rosca, Birth & Beyond, Inc., Doula Services, Noreen Roman, Joseph Hunkins, Joe Duck, Mario Milanovic, Chris Daigle, Jose Castro, Tina M. Pruitt Campbell, Dane Low, and all of you who believe karmic capitalism is possible. It is.

To all of the readers and lifestyle designers who shared their experiences and helped create this expanded edition—thank you! It wouldn’t have been possible without you, and I am humbled beyond words by your generosity. I hope you never stop thinking big and doing the uncommon.

To Sifu Steve Goericke and Coach John Buxton, who taught me how to act in spite of fear and fight like hell for what I believe, this book—and my life—is a product of your influence. Bless you both. The world’s problems would be far fewer if young men had more mentors like the two of you.

Last but not least, this book is dedicated to my parents, Donald and Frances Ferriss, who have guided me, encouraged me, loved me, and consoled me through it all. I love you more than words can express.

About the Author

TIMOTHY FERRISS, nominated as one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People of 2007,” is an angel investor and author of the #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek, which has been sold into 35 languages.

He has been featured by more than 100 media outlets, including the New York Times, The Economist, TIME, Forbes, Fortune, CNN, and CBS. He speaks six languages, runs a multinational firm from wireless locations worldwide, and has been a popular guest lecturer at Princeton University since 2003, where he presents entrepreneurship as a tool for ideal lifestyle design and world change.




The 4-hour workweek: escape 9–5, live anywhere, and join the new rich
Timothy Ferriss—Expanded and updated ed.

1. Quality of work life.
2. Part-time self-employment.
3. Self-realization.
4. Self-actualization (Psychology).
5. Quality of life.

PRAISE FOR The 4-Hour Workweek

“It’s about time this book was written. It is a long-overdue manifesto for the mobile lifestyle, and Tim Ferriss is the ideal ambassador. This will be huge.”
—JACK CANFIELD, cocreator of Chicken Soup for the Soul®, 100+ million copies sold

“Stunning and amazing. From mini-retirements to outsourcing your life, it’s all here. Whether you’re a wage slave or a Fortune 500 CEO, this book will change your life!”
—PHIL TOWN, New York Times bestselling author of Rule #1

“The 4-Hour Workweek is a new way of solving a very old problem: just how can we work to live and prevent our lives from being all about work? A world of infinite options awaits those who would read this book and be inspired by it!”
—MICHAEL E. GERBER, founder and chairman of E-Myth Worldwide and the world’s #1 small business guru

“This is a whole new ball game. Highly recommended.”
—DR. STEWART D. FRIEDMAN, adviser to Jack Welch and former Vice President Al Gore on work/family issues and director of the Work/Life Integration Program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
“Timothy has packed more lives into his 29 years than Steve Jobs has in his 51.”
—TOM FOREMSKI, journalist and publisher of SiliconValleyWatcher.com

“If you want to live life on your own terms, this is your blueprint.”
—MIKE MAPLES, cofounder of Motive Communications (IPO to $260M market cap) and founding executive of Tivoli (sold to IBM for $750M)

“Thanks to Tim Ferriss, I have more time in my life to travel, spend time with family, and write book blurbs. This is a dazzling and highly useful work.”
—A. J. JACOBS, editor-at-large of Esquire magazine and author of The Know-It-All

“Tim is Indiana Jones for the digital age. I’ve already used his advice to go spearfishing on remote islands and ski the best hidden slopes of Argentina. Simply put, do what he says and you can live like a millionaire.”
—ALBERT POPE, derivatives specialist at UBS World Headquarters

“Reading this book is like putting a few zeros on your income. Tim brings lifestyle to a new level—listen to him!”
—MICHAEL D. KERLIN, McKinsey & Company consultant to Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund and a J. William Fulbright Scholar

“Part scientist and part adventure hunter, Tim Ferriss has created a road map for an entirely new world. I devoured this book in one sitting—I have seen nothing like it.”
—CHARLES L. BROCK, chairman and CEO of Brock Capital Group; former CFO, COO, and general counsel of Scholastic, Inc.; and former president of the Harvard Law School Association

“Outsourcing is no longer just for Fortune 500 companies. Small and mid-sized firms, as well as busy professionals, can outsource their work to increase their productivity and free time for more important commitments. It’s time for the world to take advantage of this revolution.”
—VIVEK KULKARNI, CEO of Brickwork India and former IT secretary of Bangalore; credited as the “techno-bureaucrat” who helped make Bangalore an IT destination in India

“Tim is the master! I should know. I followed his rags to riches path and watched him transform himself from competitive fighter to entrepreneur. He tears apart conventional assumptions until he finds a better way.”
—DAN PARTLAND, Emmy Award–winning producer of American High and Welcome to the Dollhouse

“The 4-Hour Workweek is an absolute necessity for those adventurous souls who want to live life to its fullest. Buy it and read it before you sacrifice any more!”
—JOHN LUSK, group product manager at Microsoft World Headquarters

“If you want to live your dreams now, and not in 20 or 30 years, buy this book!”
—LAURA RODEN, chairman of the Silicon Valley Association of Startup Entrepreneurs and a lecturer in Corporate Finance at San Jose State University

“With this kind of time management and focus on the important things in life, people should be able to get 15 times as much done in a normal workweek.”
—TIM DRAPER, founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, financiers to innovators including Hotmail, Skype, and Overture.com

“Tim has done what most people only dream of doing. I can’t believe he is going to let his secrets out of the bag. This book is a must read!”
—STEPHEN KEY, top inventor and team designer of Teddy Ruxpin and Lazer Tag and a consultant to the television show American Inventor