The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9 to 5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich was written by Timothy Ferriss in 2006.
Then Tim revised the book in 2009.
Tim’s book inspired, perhaps, the greatest side business income movement that the world has seen.
His book is loaded with stories of encounters with the new rich.
The concept of a 4-hour workweek has been taken out of context by people who never read the book.
Its key concept was based on learning to optimize your time. In essence, separate your time from income generation.
He and other authors like M.J. DeMarco make the point that working an entire lifetime in 9 to 5 drudgery with the hope of enjoying a handful of years in retirement is insanity.
Then, of course, you can add these statistics to the discussion:
- Only 28% percent of Americans feel on track, financially, for retirement.
- Most people have chronic conditions such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease by retirement age.
The 4-Hour Work Week demonstrates how to have more time and more mobility.
These are two of the defining attributes of what Ferriss refers to as the “New Rich.”
The New Rich have abandoned the deferred-life plan to create luxury lifestyles in the here and now.
What is the difference between the New Rich, and the Deferrers, those who save up everything for the end?
It comes down to how one defines their philosophy of life.
This means how you set objectives and priorities:
Here are some comparisons from the book:
Deferrers: Work for yourself.
New Rich: Have others work for you.
Deferrers: Work when you want.
New Rich: Avoid work for work’s sake and do the minimum required for maximum effect.
Deferrers: Take early retirement.
New Rich: Take mini-retirement periods throughout life. Do what we are passionate about.
Deferrers: Buy everything you want.
New Rich: Do everything we want, and be all the things we want to be.
Deferrers: Be the boss rather than the employee.
New Rich: Don’t be the boss or the employee, be the owner.
Deferrers: Have more.
New Rich: Have better quality and fewer useless things.
Being financially rich and having the capacity to live like a millionaire are two separate things.
The value of money is multiplied by four things:
1) what you do.
2) when you do it.
3) where you do it.
4) and with whom you do it.
This is the multiplier of freedom.
Retirement is rainy day insurance: it should be viewed as capital to be used in the absolute worst-case scenario in other words, your total physical inability to work.
The vision of retirement as the ultimate redemption is flawed from the outset because.
- it asks you to sacrifice the best years of your life on tasks that you do not enjoy.
- In the majority of cases people who retire have to adopt a mediocre middle-class lifestyle.
- And if, on the contrary, you ensure that you have a good lifestyle for your retirement, there is a strong chance that you are an ambitious work machine and that one week after you retire you will be so bored that you hop on the first opportunity to take on a new job.
- Interest and energy are cyclical: you must alternate between periods of activity and rest.
Because your capacity, interest, and mental endurance ebb and flow.
That is why the New Rich seeks to sprinkle a series of mini-retirement periods throughout their life.
Tim discusses his “muse business” principles in his book.
One common challenge for readers of The 4-Hour Workweek is the creation of a “muse”.
Which Tim describes as a low-maintenance business that generates significant income.
Such a muse is leveraged to finance your ideal lifestyle, which we calculate precisely based on Target Monthly Income.
Tim Ferriss is a perfect example of how you can manifest the life of your dreams from an idea.
He will be the first one to tell you that he is no genius. He is also forthcoming about all of the mistakes he has made along the way.
But in his ever self-effacing modest way, he reveals how anyone of average intelligence can create a muse to liberate oneself from an unwanted life.
He outlines the process in the acronym he calls.
D.E.A.L.
The process of becoming a member of the New Rich is known as DEAL:
D for Definition – turns the idea that you need to work for a company you don’t like waiting to retire to enjoy life! Introduces you to the “lifestyle hack”.
E for Elimination – like a zen master get rid of all of the obsolete notions holding you back like trading time for money!
A for Automation – puts cash flow on autopilot letting you finally breathe again and start to enjoy life.
L for Liberation – yes, this is the true freedom that you have always wanted. Now you are out of “the matrix” and ready to live life on your own terms.
But can you do it?
Can you have the life that you have always wanted with all of the money you will ever need in this day and age with so many outer and inner challenges that confront you?
A Single Operated Newsletter fits perfectly into the Tim Ferriss muse model.
Why is a Single Operated Newsletter the new way to create financial freedom online?
1 – You can create a subscription base without becoming a social media influencer.
2 – You can control the platform. This is something you can not do with YouTube, Facebook, and yes, even Instagram.
3 – You can get paid directly for the content provided to your readers. This eliminates the possibility of getting knocked off the big platforms.
Many people have trouble believing and accepting that a person of average intelligence can generate a salary on their own through a Single Operated Newsletter.
This is where the CENTS model enters the picture.
What is the CENTS model?
The C.E.N.T.S. approach to entrepreneurship means:
C – Control – to create true financial freedom you must control the “product”.
E – Entry – or more properly put: “create a barrier to entry”. This is sometimes called a moat. With a single operated newsletter, this moat is your subscriber base!
N -Need – You must create the content that your readers will eagerly pay to access.
T -Time – As Tim Ferriss so aptly described in The 4-Hour Workweek you must find a muse that will allow you to separate your time from your income.
S – Scale – Many physical product entrepreneurs are learning hard lessons about the complexity of importing, warehousing, and shipping. And the high costs associated with them.
There are ways to figure out what type of business is best suited to you and forego the pain of investing years into something that brings you zero satisfaction. There are ways to build something that excites you, a business model that fits with your particular personality traits, lifestyle design, and unique talents.
To create a Single Operated Newsletter you will need to use these principles:
- Apply the 80-20 rule.
- Automate and delegate certain tasks.
- Set clear priorities.
- Find your passion or become passionate about what works!
Click here to get a free week of the single operated newsletter that our subscribers read.