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Tim Ferris: 3 More Case Studies of Successful Cash-Flow Businesses

fourhourworkweek.com

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Re: Tim Ferris: 3 More Case Studies of Successful Cash-Flow Businesses

#51

Post by lachyg »

eavc wrote: post #46
PStamatiou wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admire Tim as a person. He has done an amazing job making a name for himself. Everything he talks about is ridiculously well-researched. He's not a snakeoil salesman. For example, I have a copy of his book 4 Hour Body.. the thing is 600 pages, mentions no less than 50 doctors with whom he consulted while writing the book and endless citations that support what he says. He has personally helped with some aspects of…

"He's not a snakeoil salesman." This is an ironic endorsement. One of his enterprises is called 'Brain-Quicken,' and it's the quintessential snake oil operation. I have no respect for people with the ability of Tim Ferris when they also have the scruples of Tim Ferris.

Could you back that up with some evidence? I'm a firm follower in a lot of what Tim says, and everything in his book so far seems to be well researched, and provides a lot of scientific reasoning.

Re: Tim Ferris: 3 More Case Studies of Successful Cash-Flow Businesses

#52

Post by lachyg »

hugh3 wrote: post #39
pier0 wrote: post #21

Tim Ferriss started by selling people the idea that they could be successful too. Except that his entire career and success is based on telling people what they want to hear. First it was "you can be successful and you don't even need to work hard", more recently he's turned his attention to lifestyle advice such as how to lose weight, how to swim faster, how to look better. Why would anyone take advice from him beat…

It's the old trick. You get rich by selling people a book that tells them how to get rich. The book says "You should get rich by selling people a book which tells them how to get rich".

He got rich by creating a supplement company, and subsequently selling that. Then creating himself a profile with his book.

Re: Tim Ferris: 3 More Case Studies of Successful Cash-Flow Businesses

#53

Post by lachyg »

I do expected to be down voted for what I say, but hey, who cares. Reading a lot fo the comments on this really do disgust me, a bit.

"Tim Ferriss started by selling people the idea that they could be successful too" -- His career was actually started by starting a supplements company. All of the information he gives in the Four Hour Work Week was pre-4HWW. Which means he had to have some income to travel the world, and outline all the feats he does in the blurb.

"Why would anyone take advice from him beats me, but that's another story." -- Because he has a huge amount of previous experience in the topics he preaches. He backs them up with case studies, data and scientific evidence (especially the 4HBody).

A lot of people see a self-help book and immediately cry snake oil salesman!.

This guy may bother a lot of people, but who cares. I know a lot of people that bother me. Ergh, I'm ranting.

Re: Tim Ferris: 3 More Case Studies of Successful Cash-Flow Businesses

#54

Post by shard »

PStamatiou wrote: post #40
pier0 wrote: post #21

Tim Ferriss started by selling people the idea that they could be successful too. Except that his entire career and success is based on telling people what they want to hear. First it was "you can be successful and you don't even need to work hard", more recently he's turned his attention to lifestyle advice such as how to lose weight, how to swim faster, how to look better. Why would anyone take advice from him beat…

I admire Tim as a person. He has done an amazing job making a name for himself. Everything he talks about is ridiculously well-researched. He's not a snakeoil salesman. For example, I have a copy of his book 4 Hour Body.. the thing is 600 pages, mentions no less than 50 doctors with whom he consulted while writing the book and endless citations that support what he says. He has personally helped with some aspects of…

He came out with a book about fitness? Here's my response to his blog post on how he gained 34lbs of muscle in 4 weeks: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=529040 (tl;dr summary: He made outrageous claims and employed photographic tricks.)

Re: Tim Ferris: 3 More Case Studies of Successful Cash-Flow Businesses

#55

Post by allwein »

StavrosK wrote: post #23
Construct wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real value in Tim Ferriss' work for me is not usually in the actual content (This blog posts talks about where to register domain names rather than nitty-gritty business details, for example) but rather in observing how well he sells himself and understand what people want. He obviously does a lot of research and testing, and his posts are carefully tailored to sell dreams to large portions of the population. He…

I was just pondering getting his book, but then I read the comments here and reconsidered. Is it worth reading? Obviously you won't get a 4-hour work week, but is there anything of value in it?

Stavros, you're in the UK, right? If you want a copy of his book, send an email to books (at) allwein dot org with your mailing address and I'll get a copy sent off to you.

For US folk, I've got two other copies of his book, one of the original release and then a copy of the updated ones from last year. Claim it here and then send me an email with your address and I'll send them out.

Re: Tim Ferris: 3 More Case Studies of Successful Cash-Flow Businesses

#56

Post by steveklabnik »

shard wrote: post #54
PStamatiou wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I admire Tim as a person. He has done an amazing job making a name for himself. Everything he talks about is ridiculously well-researched. He's not a snakeoil salesman. For example, I have a copy of his book 4 Hour Body.. the thing is 600 pages, mentions no less than 50 doctors with whom he consulted while writing the book and endless citations that support what he says. He has personally helped with some aspects of…

He came out with a book about fitness? Here's my response to his blog post on how he gained 34lbs of muscle in 4 weeks: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=529040 (tl;dr summary: He made outrageous claims and employed photographic tricks.)

I haven't read it yet, but it seems more 'body hacking' than 'fitness,' exactly: http://www.amazon.com/4-Hour-Body-Uncommon-Incredible-Superh...

Re: Tim Ferris: 3 More Case Studies of Successful Cash-Flow Businesses

#57

Post by steveklabnik »

lachyg wrote: post #51
eavc wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"He's not a snakeoil salesman." This is an ironic endorsement. One of his enterprises is called 'Brain-Quicken,' and it's the quintessential snake oil operation. I have no respect for people with the ability of Tim Ferris when they also have the scruples of Tim Ferris.

Could you back that up with some evidence? I'm a firm follower in a lot of what Tim says, and everything in his book so far seems to be well researched, and provides a lot of scientific reasoning.

He's referring to Tim's first "4-hour" business, which was a suppliment/energy drink business. http://www.brainquicken.com/

Re: Tim Ferris: 3 More Case Studies of Successful Cash-Flow Businesses

#58

Post by steveklabnik »

anthonycerra wrote: post #44
pier0 wrote: post #21

Tim Ferriss started by selling people the idea that they could be successful too. Except that his entire career and success is based on telling people what they want to hear. First it was "you can be successful and you don't even need to work hard", more recently he's turned his attention to lifestyle advice such as how to lose weight, how to swim faster, how to look better. Why would anyone take advice from him beat…

It bugs me that the 4HWW advocates finding a "muse" to earn your living instead of creating something of actual value. That book explains why there are so many fitness ebooks written by The Situation and friends. That being said, "ask for forgiveness, not permission" is great advice. It changes the way you approach problems. Anything that gets you to question the way you think is gold. In that way, the book is awesom…

> instead of creating something of actual value.

Not to bring up this old discussion again, but all of these business provide 'value.' This is capitalism; if someone pays for it, they find it valuable. You're creating some sort of secondary game where certain businesses are below you, Tim's just trying to tell everyone to play the real game.

Re: Tim Ferris: 3 More Case Studies of Successful Cash-Flow Businesses

#59

Post by anthonycerra »

steveklabnik wrote: post #58
anthonycerra wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It bugs me that the 4HWW advocates finding a "muse" to earn your living instead of creating something of actual value. That book explains why there are so many fitness ebooks written by The Situation and friends. That being said, "ask for forgiveness, not permission" is great advice. It changes the way you approach problems. Anything that gets you to question the way you think is gold. In that way, the book is awesom…

> instead of creating something of actual value. Not to bring up this old discussion again, but all of these business provide 'value.' This is capitalism; if someone pays for it, they find it valuable. You're creating some sort of secondary game where certain businesses are below you, Tim's just trying to tell everyone to play the real game.

I'm not saying writing and selling ebooks is an inferior business. I've bought a lot of great ebooks. But if you read the 4HWW closely, he recommends rehashing content from other sources and claims by doing so it justifies you to call yourself an expert. That's disingenuous at best and plagiarism at worst.

Re: Tim Ferris: 3 More Case Studies of Successful Cash-Flow Businesses

#60

Post by vrikhter »

ra wrote: post #14
rafaelc wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll weigh in because I know Jason, one of the people profiled. His modesty obscures the fact that starting, running, and growing Clockspot wasn't an easy ride by any means. But Jason did pull this off almost entirely on his own.

Clockspot looks really nice and by the numbers quoted it sounds very successful. I'm quite intrigued by how he arrived at the current pricing model. It looks like it's been through a few iterations and I'd be really interested to learn more about it. Does anyone know if this has been discussed anywhere online?

I work with Jason. If you're interested, ping me and we'll be happy to tell you about it. vladik at clockspot dot com
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