Thread: The 4 Hour Work Week Vs. Millionaire Fastlane

Originally Posted by Jill

He has said himself that he definitely "works" more than 4 hours per week because he chooses to. But he has before, and could again. Most people don't have that choice.

Seriously? 4HWW alone has been on the best seller list for over 2 years; it has gone thru 40 printings and has been translated into 35 languages. You really don't think he's made a million dollars from that? Are you high? He was recently listed as #13 on a list of top 100 most influential Venture Capitalists. I'm pretty sure it requires a little money to be a full time angel inverstor.

Okay?? Is there something wrong with this?

Where is your animosity coming from? Did he steal your girlfriend before prom?

Originally Posted by Rickson9

So far I think MJ is saying, do something, many things, eventually something special will appear. He is trying to explain all the variables in his book. MJ did not grow up thinking he can change the world wide limo service. He fell upon it as a driver, came up with an idea and ran with it. It happened to have worked for him. It could have gone the other way if one of the elements were missing or out of sequence. But it all fell in place. He re-engineered and documented his thoughts, experiences and processes and he has a book. Now he's out and about promoting his get rich concept. Great idea...

Originally Posted by Jill

He has said himself that he definitely "works" more than 4 hours per week because he chooses to. But he has before, and could again. Most people don't have that choice.

Seriously? 4HWW alone has been on the best seller list for over 2 years; it has gone thru 40 printings and has been translated into 35 languages. You really don't think he's made a million dollars from that? Are you high? He was recently listed as #13 on a list of top 100 most influential Venture Capitalists. I'm pretty sure it requires a little money to be a full time angel inverstor.

Okay?? Is there something wrong with this?

Where is your animosity coming from? Did he steal your girlfriend before prom?

Here's my thought - you can either take the info for what is is and use it for yourself if it works or not, but the information is not the author.

Tim does not work 4 hours a week, hasn't since the book came out. He did and that worked for him at a point in his life. To Tim's credit he doesn't go around saying this is what I do today and come to my mega seminar where I will teach you what I do. The 2nd edition of the book was just a minor update that updated some of the resources.

Is there some fluff in the 4hww - no doubt but to say there is nothing valid in there that could substantially improve peoples lives because the author doesn't stay frozen in time is silly.

He DOES seminars

Originally Posted by domular

Tim does not work 4 hours a week, hasn't since the book came out. He did and that worked for him at a point in his life. To Tim's credit he doesn't go around saying this is what I do today and come to my mega seminar where I will teach you what I do. The 2nd edition of the book was just a minor update that updated some of the resources.

Originally Posted by valuegiver

He DOES seminars

There's a difference between being a speaker at a seminar pushing your book and putting on seminars which cover the same things in the book and try to sell additional crap which is exactly what Robert Kiyosaki does. If I'm wrong and you can show me a link to an event he's put on then I stand corrected.

The fact that his new book has nothing to do with the 4hww proves he's moved his attention elsewhere.

The "something else" is selling how to be #1 best selling author. So, he is teaching others how to be successful at selling books.

=> Opening the Kimono to 200 People and Baring It All

Ferriss is no different from Frank Kern and invented a persona that would appeal to lazy, gullible people.

Originally Posted by biophase

He does have a 3 day seminar that costs $10,000 to attend. He is not going over methods mentioned in his book at this seminar though. It's about something else.

Having read both books, I think there is useful information in 4HWW. But you have to look beyond the hype.

When Ferriss talks about developing a "muse," he's talking about a simple business that, in my view, is a baby step toward a Fastlane business. Unless I'm reading him incorrectly, he doesn't claim that the process is easy or guaranteed to work. What he means by a "muse" is an online retail business that is sustainable without a tremendous deal of direct work by the business owner.

He talks about how you need to find a product that meets a need. If it's a product, he discusses how to source it. If it's an information product, he talks about how to produce it. Then there's discussion of how to use Google AdWords to see if there is sufficient interest to take it to the next level. The goal is to have a complete system -- source the product, handle transactions, deliver the product -- that doesn't require you to individually make the product, go to the Post Office and ship each order yourself, manage each transaction. For it to be a working "muse," you should be the business owner, not the shopkeeper or stock clerk. You don't want to replace your day job with another day job.

I think it's useful information. To turn a "muse" into a Fastlane business, you need to find something of greater scale than the examples given in the book, but the principles are valid. The key is scalability.

Also, I want to add that Ferriss' seminar isn't about "how to start a business." It's about him explaining how he's managed to put two books on top of the best seller lists. It's about the techniques he used to promote himself and his books. And, love him or hate him, I think he's an expert on that.

Both books are great, anybody who disagrees is narrow-minded. End of story.

I read MJ's first and I'm currently reading 4hww now. Funny thing, I stumbled upon 4hww as an audio book and listened to it on a road trip. I am 10 chapters in and though I feel a lot of the outsourcing he talks about puts YOUR company at risk. MJ talks about never relinquishing control of your business and I believe him 100%. I still find valuable information in 4hww but i'm glad I read fastlane first. It's hard to give a comparison between the two because it seems like MJ's direction with his book was kind of like a ratrace(matrix) disconnect. He wants you to think for yourself and most importantly ACT. 4hww has its points so far and provides a lot of resources to help the Joe's out there get the ball rolling. The biggest point they both drive home is to get out there and get something going!

my thoughts

I dont understand, why theres always a need to compare things , both books are different , just apply what you can from each book.

I agree that the 2 books should not be compared. They both represent different notions and ends of a spectrum.

It seems as if Mr. Ferris has many accomplishments in many different areas, each of which have the winning end result. He may be implying that we need to take action where we stand, in whatever we may do.

Mr. DeMarco on the other hand, had a large winning result. IMO, this is the main difference. Many accomplishments with the end result in mind, or one big accomplishment with execution and procedure in mind.

Would you prefer to be a Jack of all trades, or an Ace.

I could be totally incorrect though...To each his own.

I knew a post like this would come to pass. The two books are really different from one another. I could go on and on about it but i think I' ll pass on this one as many of you have made the necessary comparisons already.

Most people read the 4HWW the wrong way.

The point of the book is NOT to tell you to only work 4 Hours a Week, the point is that you spend so much of your time on pointless stuff that you could generate the same income with only 4 hours/week.

It's really a time management book. In fact, many of the people who read the book regularly work 60+ hours/week, and use the material from the book to MAXIMIZE that time, so that it is spent generating revenue, rather than e-mailing and doing other worthless tasks that don't add to the bottom line.

I'm a big fan of Tim Ferris, but I never really liked his first book until I realized this.

You can't compare Millionaire Fastlane to it. Millionaire Fastlane teaches you how to build a successful company, while 4HWW teaches how to maximize your time within that business.

I think the Fastlane book has some hints in there that the writer does not really like the philosophy of Tim Ferris.