When Timothy Ferriss wrote The 4-Hour Workweek, it wasn’t a big surprise to me that the book had become the #1 New York Times Bestseller, #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller, and #1 BusinessWeek Bestseller.
In my opinion, the huge success behind this book was the title. Title promised a result most readers were looking for and it was the smart marketing move by Timothy Ferriss.
Every single day, hundreds of new internet marketing courses, ebooks, and trainings are becoming available to people who want to start living the dream life of an internet marketer. They all sell on the promise of the 4-hour workweek.
Whether you want to learn affiliate marketing, achieve passive income by SEO, or excel in any type of internet marketing, get ready to hear the hurtful truth;
The 4 Hour Workweek Promise is a Huge Lie
Most people think internet marketing is the dream job where we work whenever we want, wherever we want. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
I agree, making money online has some invaluable advantages over a regular 9 to 5 job. It is very flexible compared to a regular job and it is rewarding as hell when you succeed.
But, being successful in internet marketing needs a certain type of mindset, and it’s definitely not the 4 hour workweek mindset when you are just starting.
Are You Ready for the 80 Hour Workweek?
Probably, you have recognized the picture of a very happy guy on the hammock by the beach. This is a classic picture used on many make money online websites.
Let’s start with erasing this picture in your mind, and using a more realistic one:
Instead of having fun on a tropical island beach, this is where you will be spending your days and nights for a long time. So, get ready to a 80 hour workweek.
I have met so many people who were so eager to start making money online, but failed working enough to achieve their dreams. You know yourself better than anybody around you, if you are lazy and you are not ready to make some serious changes in your lifestyle, online marketing is not for you.
Especially if you are new to the game, you have to forget about the 4 hour workweek, and get ready to the idea that you will work more than anybody around you.
But, when you start understanding the internet marketing, getting more experienced by the day, it doesn’t hurt to start adapting the 4 Hour Workweek Mindset.
How to Achieve the True 4 Hour Workweek Mindset
- Adopt the Correct Business Mindset
- Focus on Increasing Your Productivity
- Always Use the Pareto Principle
- Create a Team & Learn to Trust Them
- Automation is the Key to Passive & Long Term Income
Whether it’s internet marketing or any business you are getting into, you have to have the correct mindset to be able to succeed. Don’t let excuses to be the barrier to your success. Keep your focus on creating a business, and dream about your long term goals, but always setup short term goals.
Sometimes the bottlenecks to keep you from achieving ultimate productivity are easily fixable. Find the bottlenecks, and constraints that keep you from being productive and fix them no matter what. Here’s an example of how I have increased my productivity by fixing 2 bottlenecks in my workflow.
The Pareto Principle (80-20 Rule) is the key to working less for the same amount of tangible & intangible success. Never waste your time on small, unnecessary details and never miss the big picture.
Many people who make money online are smart and perfectionist. Creating team is not that hard. Whether you outsource or hire full time employees, you can find the right people to work for you. But, trusting your team, giving them some serious responsibilities, and rewarding them for the achievements is the hardest part for an entrepreneur. If your team of employees feel that you trust them, they will take more responsibilities, and help you achieve your goals faster.
When you start excelling the ins and outs of internet marketing, your goal should be focusing on creating automation. For every new project opportunity, find ways to automate the business processes to achieve the long term success. Find and use the right tools and software to implement automation in your business, such as the best project management software. When you start analyzing the possible projects from the automation perspective, you will get close to reaching the 4-Hour Workweek mindset.
Today is the day to make a decision. Whether keep dreaming about the 4-hour workweek on a tropical island beach, or keep it real and start working the 80 hour workweek, and learn how to adopt the 4 hour workweek mindset to take your internet business to the next level.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree. I would not say it’s a “lie” per-se, as much as a consistent misrepresentation of the facts. Yes, it’s possible to get a 4 hour workweek – that part is true, in my opinion… But the fact it, 90% of the people who try won’t succeed in making money at all, and of the remaining 10%, 99% will work far more than 4 hours.
Personally I work way more than I ever did. Probably more than 80 hours a week. However, I can also say I’m much happier working like this than jobs that required “only” 50 hours a week. And there’s no commute which is a time killer as well.
Your tips are great as well! I would only add the standard “Take action!” – even though you can say some of the tips include it, it’s important enough for emphasis
Udi, I totally agree with being much happier part.
Recipe to being successful in any business is; Being happy with what you are doing, plus putting hard work on top of that,
I’m tired of saying “TAKE ACTION”
Most people fail, because they simply don’t try at the first place.
Thanks for the great comment.
Do you think Tim Ferriss worked 4 hours a week to promote his book? Hell no. But how he gets away with it, is that he calls alot of what he does “social networking” or “industry meetups”. He tries to throw this away as “not work” when in reality. He is going to these events to push his own agenda, push his own products aka working.
Wherever you are, whatever you do. If you want success you have to do all the dirty work of your business. And dirty things take time, So you need 80 hours work week as Kirtok said. Don’t worry Ahmet, we’re the entrepreneurs and we’re here. Because we don’t believe the 4 hour work week. Most of us ready for the 80!
And I think that Tim Ferriss is smart because of getting paid for selling something he never had before. What does he sell? The dreams! And with the book people starts to dream the same things too.
So if we think like that, are the VCs the biggest buyers of startup’s dreams?
Well, all I can say is that I’ve done it to a certain extent. I’m 45 years old and have a lovely supportive wife and two super kids. I used the tenets of the Four Hour Workweek and E-Myth together to build a company that enables me to work two to four hours a day (becoming less and less each year) and brings in a nice six figure income. It’s not four hours a week yet, and it took me three years to build the company, but I thank Tim Ferriss for some of the help. Seeing me take twelve weeks a year off (as an American no less!), my friends asked me to help them do it – so I’m cloning my business, website, and processes for them. In the meantime, my wife and me are taking our two boys on an eighteen-month tour around the world. It wasn’t the only thing necessary to achieve our goals, and by itself isn’t the magic bullet, but the Four-Hour Workweek certainly helped.
Hey Kent, first of all congratulations. You’ve done a fantastic job as far as I understand from your comment.
I agree 100% with you. 4 Hour Workweek is definitely doable if you have the right mindset, and that’s what I was also trying to explain. Congrats again and good luck with your future projects, and have fun traveling around the world with your family.
I absolutely agree. The title was extremely good. A marketing ploy in itself – made me buy the book!
And yes, it is about mindset. You’re words are wisdom orientated, thats for sure!
Great Blog Post! I agree with you Kirtok, It sure does take more than 4 hours a day to get your internet marketing efforts profitable…
Looking forward to your next blog post…
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