6 ms·

Does this guy bother anyone else as much as he bothers me?

rhizome 16y ago
I won't go that far, but I did notice that they completely glossed over her mention of partners in the interview with the laptop stand woman. Ferriss is certainly invested in the idea of one-person financial power, but in the laptop-stand case study there would seem to be more to the story.
- rafaelc 16y ago
  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.
  - rhizome 16y ago
    Clockspot was actually the one example that did resonate with me, as I'm working toward a similar kind of soup-to-nuts one-man app stack that he did in creating a time-clock with mobile clients. I mean, it's straightforward and doesn't involve Hard Problems other than having to use at least a couple different and possibly-newish languages, right? It's seems to be pretty much a textbook REST app. I also really like seeing improved and successful implementations of existing technology, proven in the story by the example of his dad being perfectly willing to get a punch style timeclock in this day and age. And not only is Clockspot able to leverage the history of timeclocks, it can also be seen to be a kind of "time twitter," so all of the published domain expertise about implementing that can be relied on to provide another huge chunk of the app and mobile clients. Which is why software patents are bad. ;)
    - idlewords 16y ago
      soup-to-nuts one-man app stack... porn music plays
  - ra 16y ago
    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?
    - vrikhter 16y ago
      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
- jsackmann 16y ago
  It would seem that there's almost always more to the story, and his overall message ("you, too, can have financial freedom all by yourself...now go have fun") might be stronger if he acknowledged that, yes, it's hard to build a company to that point. What I think is valuable is the constant reminder that the business/income-building is a means to an end, and there's a wide world of choices out there for what the "end" is.
  - codexon 16y ago
    is the constant reminder that the business/income-building is a means to an end, and there's a wide world of choices out there for what the "end" is I think the lesson of the story is that there are so many people and competitors now that running a business/muse as a means to an end is impossible unless you lower your expectations as to what an end is. You must either lower your expectation by living in 3rd world countries as Ferris suggests, or work 7-days a week like Tim Ferris did on his herbal supplement company. Or be plain lucky and find a niche that no one has found out like the ones shown here. Most niche ideas fail.
    - codexon 16y ago
      I don't understand the down-votes. Am I offending someone's vision of Tim Ferris's 4 hour work week?
wyclif 16y ago
Yes. http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/01/08/5-time-management-tricks-i-learned-from-years-of-hating-tim-ferriss/ http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/01/08/5-time-management-t...
jscore 16y ago
The recent trend of him outsourcing his own posts is really annoying. I don't understand how anyone can learn anything from someone who has pretty much diluted his work to appeal to the widest possible audience. I mean the guy has a weight loss book now. EDIT: Most of his recent posts have been "guest" posts, which I consider the same as "outsourced" since he didn't write it himself.
- vegashacker 16y ago
  Interesting. I didn't know he outsourced his blog posts. Can you give me the link for that?
  - limedaring 16y ago
    Most blogs call them "guest posts" — outsourcing implies that he's not explicitly saying it's written by another person. Here's an example: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/11/21/bill-clinton-reality-distortion-field/ http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/11/21/bill-clinton...
  - aik 16y ago
    Most of his best content wasn't outsourced though. There's plenty of that too.
fooandbarify 16y ago
I understand what you mean... he's earned himself a reputation as a bit of an egomaniac. To be fair though, his book is how I was first exposed to MVP ideas and his approach to life and business changed my life. Granted, it took a lot of work and a lot more digging once I got past 4HWW, but it was an eye opener nonetheless. I think a lot of blatant self promotion comes across as spammy to "people like me" (for lack of any real description of what that might be), but the more I look around, the more I realize that most people eat it up.
Construct 16y ago
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 has two books: One sells you on the dream of world travel with minimal work, interspersed with stories about how awesome he is and how you, too, can be just as awesome if you follow his instructions. Nevermind the fact that he clearly states he wrote the book because he became successful by working long hours and working very hard to make his company successful. His second (upcoming) book is all about how to 'beat the system' when it comes to eating and fitness. He talks about losing body fat while eating anything he wants using little-known secrets, among other things. Finally, his blog (and this post in particular) tell a lot of feel-good stories that feel just within reach. He's a master at weaving a narrative that makes you feel like you want his lifestyle, and that it's within reach if you just follow his simple advice. So what do these all have in common? He's a master at selling people on an idea, even when all of the facts don't quite line up. His works all make lofty promises, but they all seem just crazy enough to still be within reach. He even puts reverse-psychology disclaimers throughout his works to trip up your own sense of disbelief. Meanwhile, he has become wealthy and successful not by following his own advice, but by selling his advice to others. The takeaway: Learn from his techniques and products, not from his advice. And there's a lot to learn if you step back and look at it.
- StavrosK 16y ago
  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?
  - evgeny0 16y ago
    Yes. I mean, I think the guy is an arrogant, unethical bastard, but IF you can just get past that and keep an open mind I think he does have a few interesting points on productivity, priorities, questioning what you really want, etc. There's actually a lot of stuff in the book that I agree with, but there's a lot that really irks me, too.
callmeed 16y ago
You should have been at RailsConf '09 where he was a keynote speaker. It seemed half the audience walked out and the chatter on twitter was quite negative ... so, to answer your question, yes. http://www.railsinside.com/events/285-tim-ferriss-railsconf-2009-keynote.html http://www.railsinside.com/events/285-tim-ferriss-railsconf-...

I won't go that far, but I did notice that they completely glossed over her mention of partners in the interview with the laptop stand woman. Ferriss is certainly invested in the idea of one-person financial power, but in the laptop-stand case study there would seem to be more to the story.

rafaelc 16y ago
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.
- rhizome 16y ago
  Clockspot was actually the one example that did resonate with me, as I'm working toward a similar kind of soup-to-nuts one-man app stack that he did in creating a time-clock with mobile clients. I mean, it's straightforward and doesn't involve Hard Problems other than having to use at least a couple different and possibly-newish languages, right? It's seems to be pretty much a textbook REST app. I also really like seeing improved and successful implementations of existing technology, proven in the story by the example of his dad being perfectly willing to get a punch style timeclock in this day and age. And not only is Clockspot able to leverage the history of timeclocks, it can also be seen to be a kind of "time twitter," so all of the published domain expertise about implementing that can be relied on to provide another huge chunk of the app and mobile clients. Which is why software patents are bad. ;)
  - idlewords 16y ago
    soup-to-nuts one-man app stack... porn music plays
- ra 16y ago
  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?
  - vrikhter 16y ago
    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
jsackmann 16y ago
It would seem that there's almost always more to the story, and his overall message ("you, too, can have financial freedom all by yourself...now go have fun") might be stronger if he acknowledged that, yes, it's hard to build a company to that point. What I think is valuable is the constant reminder that the business/income-building is a means to an end, and there's a wide world of choices out there for what the "end" is.
- codexon 16y ago
  is the constant reminder that the business/income-building is a means to an end, and there's a wide world of choices out there for what the "end" is I think the lesson of the story is that there are so many people and competitors now that running a business/muse as a means to an end is impossible unless you lower your expectations as to what an end is. You must either lower your expectation by living in 3rd world countries as Ferris suggests, or work 7-days a week like Tim Ferris did on his herbal supplement company. Or be plain lucky and find a niche that no one has found out like the ones shown here. Most niche ideas fail.
  - codexon 16y ago
    I don't understand the down-votes. Am I offending someone's vision of Tim Ferris's 4 hour work week?

wyclif 16y ago

Yes. http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/01/08/5-time-management-tricks-i-learned-from-years-of-hating-tim-ferriss/ http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/01/08/5-time-management-t...

jscore 16y ago

The recent trend of him outsourcing his own posts is really annoying. I don't understand how anyone can learn anything from someone who has pretty much diluted his work to appeal to the widest possible audience. I mean the guy has a weight loss book now. EDIT: Most of his recent posts have been "guest" posts, which I consider the same as "outsourced" since he didn't write it himself.

vegashacker 16y ago
Interesting. I didn't know he outsourced his blog posts. Can you give me the link for that?
- limedaring 16y ago
  Most blogs call them "guest posts" — outsourcing implies that he's not explicitly saying it's written by another person. Here's an example: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/11/21/bill-clinton-reality-distortion-field/ http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/11/21/bill-clinton...
- aik 16y ago
  Most of his best content wasn't outsourced though. There's plenty of that too.

fooandbarify 16y ago

I understand what you mean... he's earned himself a reputation as a bit of an egomaniac. To be fair though, his book is how I was first exposed to MVP ideas and his approach to life and business changed my life. Granted, it took a lot of work and a lot more digging once I got past 4HWW, but it was an eye opener nonetheless. I think a lot of blatant self promotion comes across as spammy to "people like me" (for lack of any real description of what that might be), but the more I look around, the more I realize that most people eat it up.

Construct 16y ago

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 has two books: One sells you on the dream of world travel with minimal work, interspersed with stories about how awesome he is and how you, too, can be just as awesome if you follow his instructions. Nevermind the fact that he clearly states he wrote the book because he became successful by working long hours and working very hard to make his company successful. His second (upcoming) book is all about how to 'beat the system' when it comes to eating and fitness. He talks about losing body fat while eating anything he wants using little-known secrets, among other things. Finally, his blog (and this post in particular) tell a lot of feel-good stories that feel just within reach. He's a master at weaving a narrative that makes you feel like you want his lifestyle, and that it's within reach if you just follow his simple advice. So what do these all have in common? He's a master at selling people on an idea, even when all of the facts don't quite line up. His works all make lofty promises, but they all seem just crazy enough to still be within reach. He even puts reverse-psychology disclaimers throughout his works to trip up your own sense of disbelief. Meanwhile, he has become wealthy and successful not by following his own advice, but by selling his advice to others. The takeaway: Learn from his techniques and products, not from his advice. And there's a lot to learn if you step back and look at it.

StavrosK 16y ago
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?
- evgeny0 16y ago
  Yes. I mean, I think the guy is an arrogant, unethical bastard, but IF you can just get past that and keep an open mind I think he does have a few interesting points on productivity, priorities, questioning what you really want, etc. There's actually a lot of stuff in the book that I agree with, but there's a lot that really irks me, too.

callmeed 16y ago

You should have been at RailsConf '09 where he was a keynote speaker. It seemed half the audience walked out and the chatter on twitter was quite negative ... so, to answer your question, yes. http://www.railsinside.com/events/285-tim-ferriss-railsconf-2009-keynote.html http://www.railsinside.com/events/285-tim-ferriss-railsconf-...