Four Hour Work Week?

The interesting thing about marketers is that most of them actually quite enjoy working, and wouldn't want to abandon it to work less than four hours. What they value instead is the flexibility of internet marketing; that is, to set their own hours and place of employment. So, that's why you don't see that many people who really are just working four hours a week.

Thom

the main message from the 4 hour work week which i love is about doing the 20% that nets you 80% of the results. If you are JUST doing it for the cash you won't get there - and also 4 hours a week is MAINTAIN - not BUILD ;-)

While many people may say they want a four hour work week, few actually want the lifestyle outlined in the book. If memory serves, the 4 hour work week was designed to allow for a basic, trouble free lifestyle, spent travelling and experiencing different cultures. Paying a mortgage, driving two cars, and paying for the kids to go to the best and most expensive schools was not what the author had in mind.

For all of these material things, you'd actually require 5-10 times the income the author had in mind for the lifestyle he lived, which translates to 20-40 hour work weeks. At which point, you defeat the whole purpose of the exercise and become just another worker and super-consumer.

I could do that now...

Literally 2-3 hours of work/week would be enough to bring in $24k-$28k in profit (yearly). That's not a lot though. Enough to live on, but not a whole lot. I would also get extremely lazy, and that's never a good thing.

It is possible to create multiple "tiny" income streams ($12k-$18k/year each). It takes a bit of work (initially), but once set up - weeeeeeeeeeeee!

In my opinion the whole "4 hour work week" thing is massively overrated. Those that have the ability to make it happen - they don't want a 4 hour work week. They enjoy what they do, know how to do it well and have no plans to just stop at a certain point.

It's just another "myth" aimed at desperate people (cry much) who are "oh so sick of their dreadful jobs, etc". I know a lot of people like that.

So yeah, it can be done, but it's pointless to just focus on that. Wrong mindset.

Hey,

I can maintain my income at around 4 hours a week, but typically I always want to grow so I put in the hours. Getting down to that four hour week is all about using resources that are available to you to scale your actions. Outsourcing is a great and if you find a good worker to can make sure you make money while you sleep.

I personally think that the 4-hour-week mantra is total B.S. There is no chance you can build, manage, expand and run your business in 4 hours a week, no matter how much of your workload you outsource.

PS: by the way, I can indeed sustain my sites in 4 hours a week (maybe 6), but I could not expand, seek JVs, create new projects, etc. Basically, my business would become stagnant and eventually it'd die off.

Thanks for the insight guys

I think the advantage of working in IM is not less hours but flexi hours

The 4 hour work week is great marketing or a great book title. Practically, it's extremely difficult. 10 hours work week is feasible but not nearly as compelling as saying "the 4 hour work week"

I treat my online business like a business .... because it is ... well, a business. I've made my living online for 12 years full time. I have never wanted to work only 4 hrs per week. I like what I do and I've never looked for the flash in the pan kind of crap that gets a bit of money for the short term and then you have to find something else.

This book was OK but it was sort of in the dream world where your outsourcing staff are great at their jobs and nothing ever goes wrong .

They not doing it for work for work sake, the most of them just enjoy working. Its not like they don't know anything about outsourcing.

I found The 4 Hour Work Week to be inspiring, not because of the 4 hrs per week of working, but the way the author outlines a new way to think about work, career, and especially how a lot of people (obviously not on this thread) put off thier dreams.

We all know, or will find out, that IM may be simple, but not necessarily easy to do - once you find a system that works for you.

I agree that if you are doing something you enjoy, you may find you do it more than 4 hours a week, and not call it work, but others might. So it's up to you to define "work" and decide how and when you want to do it.

The time freedom that is possible from IM is more important to me than how many hours I actually "work" at it. I too have a day job, and some of the "work" is just staying motivated after a day of "working" for someone else.

My two cents,

Dan

Isn't the 'reality' behind the 4 hour work week not that your business only does 4 hours work per week - you do 4 hours work per week.

Your business could be doing hundreds of hours per week.

Employ 4 ppl x 40 hours per week = 160hours labour

You spend your 4 hours managing these guys and coming up with ideas for them to implement.

I don't know a single Internet Marketer (including myself) that only works 4 hours a week. I put in a lot of time for my business, but I enjoy it and what Tom said (and others I believe) is that it's not so much less hours, but it's flexible hours.

If I want to take a vacation.. there's no one to ask permission. I just take it.

I hope the 4 hour work week guy does not literally mean 4 hours. I don't think I could outsource my life and most of my work to other people. Or maybe I just love what I do.

The "Four Hour Work Week" did hit upon some great points.

1. Work Effectively and Efficiently.
2. Create a lifestyle that you enjoy.
3. Focus on the things you do well and outsource the rest.

This lifestyle is a reality depending upon the business model you choose.
If you choose to focus on SEO, then you have created a job for yourself
and you will work more.
If you choose to buy traffic as an affiliate
and set up an automated sales funnel, after initial set up has been completed (takes time) then you can definitely create this kind lifestyle. I have been doing it for years.

I think you'd be very hard pressed to find people making really good money AND only working 4 hours/week. Now, I don't want to discount the book because I find it to be an excellent read. In fact, this book really hammers the importance of systems in your every day life. If you don't have a good system, then really how much can you grow?

By the way, I've been on their forum and there have been some great nuggets of information over there...Anyone ever check it out?

Internet Marketing as your bread and butter can make you a good earner if you really spend time with it especially if you really did quit your day job. If you enjoy it, I don't think you would only work 4 hour week. I love internet marketing and at the same time having fun.. so it makes me spend 5 to 8 hours per day. It did made me earn a steady stream of income.

I could run my business on 4 hours a week... Actually, I could run it on about 1. But I have people working in it that I trust... The business itself couldnt run on just 4 hours... But as another poster put it, the 4 Hour WW is based on a specific set of criteria and experiences of the author. Namely, he was a 20-something, single male when he wrote the book. TO that person, seeing the world with no obligations and a lifestyle built just on cashflow is not only possible and attractive - but a fine objective. When you are 39 and have 3 kids and all that comes with that - then priorities are different... You cant just think cashflow - you have to think reserves. You have to think college. You have to think neighborhoods and schools... You cant just rent some "hostel" like he talked about in the book...

Now, on the flip side - I do think you should have realistic goals - and you should run away from W4WS (work for work sake)... And use this lifestyle to really do the things you say that you want to do- like spend time with your family. I think most people say they want to do that, but when the rubber hits the road - they dont really want to be with their family all the time - they like being away :-)

And to answer your first question - yes, I have a full time income all generated online. For many years now...

This is possibly the most useful thread I have read on WF. Ever.

Everyone should read all the posts here. Twice.

Don't get into IM if you don't want a job. Cause it is a lot of work. It is as much work as a normal job, and you will probably earn the same (or less) than a decent paying one.

What it gives you is some flexibility.

Brilliant thread.

guys,

you can outsource just about anything. Unless the specific task at hand requires your sole attention and energy and nobody else can do it, it can be outsourced. Working4 hours per week is actually quite possible if you take what I wrote above into consideration. But, as already mentioned, it depends on your business model and what make's you feel fulfilled.

Respectfully
Chris

If I were satisfied with my income, I could live the 4 hour work week now.

That being said however, as someone had mentioned above (I just skimmed)... I don't think I could just sit around and do nothing all day!

Solomon Huey

Interestingly, the guy that wrote the four hour workweek probably works 20 times that amount on his blogging, writing, speaking and everything else he does to promote the 4 hour workweek ...

Ok i'll put my hand up, I only work a couple of hours every week. University takes up a lot of my time during the week. Friday and Saturday nights we head into the city to get drunk and go clubbing. On the weekend I can't work with a hangover.

It is certainly possible to run a business in 4hrs, particularly with PPC. I was maintaining a $3-$5k weekly income for 5 or 6 months recently, until Google decided to slap me Time to get back into it I think!

If you want to GROW your business, you need to put in more hours. I think a lot of people fall into the trap of being satisfied with their level of income, and not bothering to improve it (me included).

But being honest here, I find IM boring. I don't know how you guys can put in so many hours per week. I hate the isolation of this work and I hate being stuck at home all day. I want to go out and meet people through work, travel internationally etc.. Is it just me?

In a bid to streamline my business, I came very close a couple of years ago. i am close again now but this is not what I want. It is just that there is not much more I can do at the moment. Even if there were no work, I would still spend 4-6 hours online per day.

The big danger here is that streamlining your business quite often leads to "putting your eggs in one basket". This is what happen to me a couple of years ago when I put all my sites on a couple of servers. When Google came after my sites, I was just a sitting duck and my business almost got wiped out.

You need to understand the point that Tim Ferris is trying to put across. Tim still works more than 4 hours a week, but the thing is that he does what he loves so it's not work to him.

Can you imagine just working 4 hours a week, what would you do with your life?

The point is to replace it with things that you really like doing my friend.

Tim Ferriss described in four hour work week a great approach to the mindset behind internet business.

He says that there hasn't need to be a relationship between the hours you work and the results it gives. That's way you can put yourself aside from your business and watch from the sideline. You just take action, sit back and watch how the process continues.

With that in mind it's not a crazy idea that you can only work 4 hours :-)

I suppose that depends on your definition of "work"...


Most of what I do is done because I like it... the stuff that I do because i have to (which is what i consider work) is probably in the neighborhood of 2-3 hours of work.


I spend considerably more time behind my computer than that... but it's not spent doing what I consider to be "work".


If that makes any sense.


For instance... posting on the warrior forum... Is that "work"? I spend a lot of time doing that, and it does increase the revenue in my business... but is it "work" if I'm doing it because i enjoy it?

It's all relative to the definition of "work" that you're using.

Like many above me have said, it is possible to maintain a currently profitable internet business with 4 - 6 hours of work a week. It is not possible to grow said business and expand it. Your business will eventually stagnant and die.

I think that anyone who has to even ask this question has the wrong mentality. Those who seek to pursue internet marketing as a means to an end (never working) are doomed to failure. You truly have to have a passion for this business to start making 6 figures.

If anyone reading this is under the impression that they can put a few months into internet marketing and retire rich for the rest of their life, you are deeply mistaken and probably have a better chance at winning the lottery.

Cheers,
Matt

Its only been a bit and I am already hooked.
Four hours? Blasphemy!

Don't take things literally as written in books. The main thing that book delivered is minimizing your work you don't enjoy doing and instead concentrating on thing you love to do.

I read Tim's book (Actually listened on a long trip.) and thoroughly enjoyed most of it.

What most people fail to overlook in Tim's story is the grueling hours he put in building the business, doing most of the work himself, and making it a success first.

Then he started streamlining, outsourcing, and replacing himself.

I believe he even admits during the book, if I'm remembering correctly, it is not constantly only 4 hours per week, but it is when he travels, when he "wants it to be". It is the goal of his business style.

I don't have a minimum time or maximum duration as far as working is concerned. I really enjoy working. It makes me feel good. However, I don't play with my health.

Its been said before....

"Internet marketers work 20 hours a day, so they can be paid the 4 they sleep"

I work betweek 6-8 hours a week at most.

However, if I spend 8 hours a day I would make much more money doing it.

As it stands right now... I make much more than I spend... so I have no need for more hours.

As far as I am concerned, I am financially free.

The Four Hour Work Week is one of the few books that I have taken my biggest lessons from.

First of all, I love doing my Internet Business. There's been some weeks I've put in less than 4 hours but I sharing the same opinion with some other marketers who already posted to this thread; that's just "maintaining". I have absolutely no complains nor problems putting in more hours in a week to grow my business.

That already clarified, here are my biggest take aways:

* In the culture I grow up in, being hardworking is everything and honorable. It's not uncommon to see extremely rich people still working their butts off. And people working for the sake of working regardless of their social status. For the first 3 years of my online marketing, I worked around the clock. Even after I made more money than I needed, I continued working... for the sake of working. I wasn't living life to its fullest.

* Up to this point, I was staying in a sub urban area and my social life was near embarrassing zero. And years of just staying at home made me highly ignorant of the exciting things happening outside. Sure I went to a couple of countries and took some holidays but that's just it.

* This year, I spend less time working compared to all my previous years and I focused on doing what I've always wanted to do when I wished I had the money and time. I started to learn basic Mandarin, something even as a Chinese I absolutely didn't know how to speak. I picked up video editing. I traveled out of Malaysia more often this year; in fact next month I'm going to Indonesia and Egypt. I make it a habit to reward myself with fun every week. Early next year, I'm going into short film producing.

* Having gone through my own 'hell' in my teenage years - my parents broke up and money was always tight - when my friends approached me for help thank God I have the time, resource and experience to help them and be there for them. This is one perk of 'time freedom' I haven't seen any book or anyone else talk about. I remember I was troubled last time and other people were just "too busy" to help or "I wish I can help but I'm not exactly in good shape either". I made a silent, solemn promise to myself back then that when I get richer and in better circumstances, I won't turn away others who need help with the same excuses.

* The 80/20 rule, though discussed in many other books, I think Tim Ferris defined it a lot better with clarity. This is one reason why I moved from doing big launches to smaller launches, which require less time and effort to pull off, in exchange for effective results. I rather make $14,000 - $20,000 for 4 days effort vs. $100,000 for 3 months effort. This is also my plan to distribute my 'mini retirements'. My goal early this year was to visit at least one country every quarter. (it's hard to leave Malaysia too often when there are actually so many more cool things to do right here)

* As said in the first point, yea where I come people here value hardwork over everything. I'm not against hardwork at all, in fact I still continue to work hard. But I play just as hard now. It sucks to be making a lot of money but don't enjoy the rewards.

* Learning from the Four Hour Work Week, it also taught me to dream big, measure them and make goal setting more realistic and achievable. To my surprise, most of the dreams I had in mind don't really cost as much as I had initially thought. Pays to quantify and measure.

Hope my opinion is worth something to the right people. Just typed all these out of my mind.

Author Tim Ferriss says the title was marketing hype - it isn't meant to be taken literally.

I don't think it's really feasible for any internet marketer to consistently work only 4 hours or less a week, and I doubt that they'd want to. They'd enjoy running their business too much and would want to expand and take it to further new heights, instead of just keeping the status quo!

However, this book has many golden nuggets about time efficiency and prioritizing/delegating tasks which many entrepreneurs tend to neglect. It focuses on working in an intelligent manner where we make maximum use of our time and resources, which is something we should all strive to do!

Paul

The truth is that if your starting out I don't believe you can create success with just 4hrs a week. You could easily spend 4 hours a week just learning from a forum like this. To get yourself off the ground in this game you need to be working every spare hour you have, something they don't mention in the sales letters.

it is very possible that you work at least 4 hours a wek.. you can run your business
Four hours a week.. specially with affiliate business,.

I love what I do. It's not considered working if you love it. Plus I am not tied down to hours I don't want.

I really love that book as it changed my thinking - and then my life!

You CANNOT create, manage and expand a business in 4 hours a week, it's just not feasible, and an online business is not different. Don't let the marketing hype fool you. This is a business and should be treated as such.

Anyway, the point of the book is not to be taken literally (specially the title!) but to stress on the importance of the 80/20 Pareto rule: dedicate your personal efforts to the 20% that embodies the core of your business, and outsource the other mundane 80%.

Everyone seems to be missing the point of the 4 hour work week. Tim never means you can only ever work 4 hours a week but you sure can work up to that.

I have one site that consistently brings in about $2,000 a month and I pay about $300 a month in expenses out of that. But it all happens completely automatically. Zero promotion. Zero support. NOTHING.

But to get it to that point, I worked 10-12 hours a day 6-7 days a week for a whole month.

Maybe it is possible to reach that point without such hard work, but I've certainly never managed it. But it's definitely possible to maintain a business at that level with such little input.

I personally feel a bit let down by Tim Ferris, the 4-hr ww is a good read if you want to get a bit of motivation but It is far from realistic and I think could actually damage some peoples efforts when trying to build their own income and leave their 9-5 job, read with caution I say. Still, it's inspired me in other ways in terms of optimising my effort, skills like that I can apply in every day life and it's certainly hellped in that sense.

I have it down to 20 hours a week for five months of the year and a comfortable lifestyle.