4 Hour Work Week
Today marks the 2 year anniversary of when I first picked up "The 4-Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferris.
2 years ago, I was grinding through 90 hour weeks at an EB when I took a long-needed full week vacation. I casually grabbed a book to read on the plane and without a thought grabbed the 4 Hour Work Week mostly due to its sexy cover and ridiculous title.
Throughout the week I read the book cover to cover and my life changed forever.
I returned to work only to hand in my notice 2 weeks later after securing a fully remote corp dev role (remote work is one of Tim's essential modus operandi). Being single at the time and without any kids, I used my salary to fuel my R&D and small here-and-there investments into developing a product I could sell online.
After many not-so-4-hour-weeks, I found my product. Within 6 months I had manufacturing, distribution, customer service, and just about every other hands-on operation of the company outsourced to Canada & India (for the non-language intensive tasks).
Since then, I've scaled the business into a successful e-commerce shop with distribution from 2 retailers. For obvious reasons, I am not disclosing the product, retailers, or even the niche for personal security reasons.
I write this because there is hope. There is not much prestige that accompanies my role, but there are $30k months and there are weeks I work LESS than 4 hours. I'm open to any questions
Did you have any interest in starting your own business before you read this book, or was it this book alone that inspired you?
What was your time allocation between working your corp dev job vs working on your business?
Like many, it had always been in the back of my mind, but the book helped me form a definitive plan and provided tips on R&D.
As far as balancing the corp dev job, it was much easier than expected. I ultimately only kept the role for about 7 months, but the business never would've taken off if I wasn't remote.
Can you provide any details (at all) to validate your claims or establish credibility? Normally the name of business or a description are helpful, but since you say that you can’t provide either of those details, is there anything you can provide that will help us take you seriously?
Not sure I really owe you that. I'm mostly here to answer questions from people who are interested in following a similar path. But to help you out a bit, the product line is in the sports and nutrition industry.
This comment makes me want to go into a dark room and scream
What would motivate you to pursue a 4-hour work week? If you can make 30k a month working just 4 hours, how much could you make working 100 hours? 9 million a year? Why don't you think about it this way? Do you miss working on projects with work colleagues? Do you worry that if your product stops selling, you'll have to go back to the grind?
What motivates me to work 4 hour weeks is what I fill my time with. My wife and I travel the world on what we bring in and we don't require fancy things. We (usually) fly economy, book regular hotels, and indulge in whatever that location has to offer. Based on my before and after appearances, you'd guess I had more money when I was a banker.
Trust me, there is more to life than being King of the World and once money stops being a problem, you realize that.
I do miss working on projects with colleagues, but there is still A LOT of collaboration required when you run a business. And don't get me wrong, there are still fires to put out so sub 10hr weeks aren't always achievable.
I market to a niche group that tends to consistently re-purchase. So while fear of orders ceasing is always present, I haven't run into that problem yet. If I do, I imagine I'd revamp my products or start another business. My absolute fall back would likely be to return to corp dev. The banking grind just isn't for me anymore.
This approach is very interesting. I'm also an entrepreneur, though still in the industry. I've actually always known what you say to be true. So many people here don't understand how many ways there are to make money. Once you figure it out, that part is not so hard, and most people making money don't do it by working IB hours. But I think what's hard is to be happy doing what you do. I don't think I'd be happy working four hours a week. I love doing what I do, I wish there were more hours in the week to do everything I want to do. In contrast to your approach, I think the 4 hour workweek would make me depressed. But I can absolutely see why it would appeal to some, maybe most.
.
I’m incoming FT analyst at a MM. I’m also curious in trying to start my own company but it’s in the e-commerce/software space. Did you find the book or any other resources helpful that explained very vivid details on how to get your idea rolling? Even if you don’t have technical skills to develop a product/software ??
Thanks and kudos to you for your success!!
At the very least, I'd reference the 4 hour work week to get your idea rolling, but I say that because it's what worked for me.
My countless hours of R&D were spent watching YouTube videos on the development of my product, laws & restrictions, etc.
Other physical books related to your product and industry is also a must. Generally because the information is more credible, and actually reading about it gets your brain moving and thinking about possible areas of the industry to exploit / differentiate yourself.
The "For Dummies" series also offers a lot of helpful info especially when it comes to the basics of running a business.
Sounds like your typical drop shopping scam on YouTube, often promoted by “entrepreneurial gurus.”
Don’t think it’s a coincidence there’s so many vague details
What’s the scam here? I developed all the products myself, don’t engage in dropshipping, selling courses etc., and am not trying to promote anything on WSO.
I’m intentionally keeping details vague for my own personal security. Releasing the brand name would quickly disclose my identity which I’m not interested in doing on an online forum.
I’m only here to help, not self-promote. If you’re not interested in my advice, take your MS elsewhere
Congratulations! Some Q:
1. How you decided what product to launch? Was it a burst of inspiration or thorough research?
2. How you got your first 5 clients/customers?
I'm also considering a similar path down the road. My concern is that despite being extremely good w/ operations, the 'launching' part is the hardest thing to get around because of huge uncertainty on how the market will react or even if there will be enough demand to justify the effort, time, and investment.
My decision on the product came from some introspective analysis on what subcultures / niches I belonged to, because why not sell something you're already interested in? From there I thought about products that exist within those niches that could be profitable, scalable, and would be easy enough for me to produce & sell. After some brainstorming and a lot of research and (often self) testing, I picked a product line to pursue. Many of my ideas did come from further research via books on my product & industry and of course YouTube videos.
My first clients/customers were of course unpaying because they were my friends who knew I was developing the product (unless you consider this R&D still). The first time I received payment was from one of my friend's friends and a good amount of unintentional word of mouth advertising occurred which is always helpful.
Your point stands. The first $100 is much harder than what follows, but it is 100% worth the grind IMO.
How did you actually figure out how to manufacture the product and outsource it? This is super interesting
I initially invested a lot on developing the product myself by choosing exactly what I wanted to go into it. I've already disclosed that the product is in the sports & nutrition industry and I will also say it's ingestible. So finding the right ingredients was my first step. After creating a repeatable, effective formula, I found a few domestic manufacturers who I ordered samples from and chose the best one based on cost and quality.
My particular manufacturer will also package and ship the product directly to where it was ordered.
reality is negotiable 😎
When you say 30k, is that top line or bottom line? Your WLB sounds amazing either way
This number obviously fluctuates, but in my example I was referring to bottom line.
How did your day-to-day look like/changed with these time periods:
Congrats on all the success!
how much capital did you start with?
I'm curious about this as well. How much did he have to sink into the business before he had a sale? I've had an idea rolling around in my head for a specific subculture, but it's pretty manufacturing-heavy and would probably take a lot of money to develop/patent/market before it becomes self-sustaining.
Was everything smooth sailing? What were the key roadblocks? Was there ever a time where you thought you were in over your head?
Any other resources or youtube channels you'd suggest referencing? Do you at any point think that you jumped too early? Do you worry about the commoditization of whatever product you are working on?
Congratulations man. This is inspiring
I'm less interested in the "how I built this" and more interested with what you do with the rest of your time. some weeks I'm sure you're grinding if there's a manufacturing issue or a huge customer, but others you said you don't work, so what do you during those times?
How much capital would you say is necessary to comfortably undergo the R&D and product launch process?
Can you add the only piece of color we care about?
Annual income.
So you sell some sort of pill or supplement. Cool. Questions for you:
1) Assuming your product is not the only one of its kind on the market, why do you think it is selling well? Luck? Went viral? All products of the same type sell well?
2) Honest answers only: Do you really believe your product helps? Where would you put it on a scale of
1) Correct, it's definitely not one of a kind but it does possess a few differentiators that I truly believe to be unique. I believe it is selling well and I'm fortunate to have a marketing guru for a wife so I have had a few posts go "viral" across a couple platforms depending on what your standards are of course.
2) My product 100% helps those who are in the market for my product. I sell to a niche who generally knows what they want when they're in the market and while I've received my share of criticism, the general feedback is positive. The second part of your question is hard to answer because it's subjective, but in my opinion it would be between clearly beneficial and maybe useful.
You mentioned the early adopter were from friend's friends and word of mouth. Did you need any additional marketing to get the word out?
How did you did you get distribution from 2 retailers?
The only marketing I had at the time was the Instagram page which started with a following from my friends and their friends. So to answer your question, yes scaling the product required a significant ramp in marketing, but at the time it was just an IG page
I did not expect this post to blow up. I will get to as many of these comments as I can. Thanks guys!
Thanks for the post, really inspiring especially as someone who's been toying with a similar idea for a while. Recently thought of taking a 6 month career break to try make it happen, I have the product, idea, etc. but my concern is current inflationary climate and impact on consumers. I currently advise start-ups on capital raises, and VCs are not interested in CPG plays for the foreseeable... Given this context:
Thank you!!!!
What do your 4 hours of work look like?
How did you go from "okay I'm starting this" to your current position?
Funnily enough, I also recently started a supplement line in a (fairly big?), but under marketed area. Am yet to deal with any suppliers (working an an algorithm for college first), but am not really sure where to go after. At the moment, it seems like idea --> develop/supplier --> marketing/cold emailing/cold calling customers --> Sell --> Repeat. How far off am I?
Dolores voluptatum eos neque eveniet non. Eius minus autem accusantium voluptas. Illum in et similique sequi reprehenderit blanditiis vel. Eligendi quod culpa dolor sint ut laudantium asperiores quod. Et in rerum veritatis eos saepe perspiciatis consequuntur.
Maiores maiores molestiae libero aut inventore. Rem dolore blanditiis deserunt quo qui voluptatum voluptates natus. Assumenda non vitae quo inventore doloremque non enim. Quae voluptatem non enim maiores sequi quisquam ut.
Nobis beatae a in ullam. Officiis consequatur quibusdam esse blanditiis ut cupiditate sit. Laudantium omnis fuga provident.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Pariatur asperiores nam est consequuntur. Dicta accusamus est magnam harum ut voluptatibus tempore. Aperiam placeat vel quas. Porro enim harum praesentium consequatur quia.
Qui hic mollitia alias praesentium. Exercitationem repellat fuga voluptas dolor vitae deleniti. Neque omnis possimus et expedita voluptatem ea. Asperiores modi alias fugiat neque ullam. Sint dolorum ipsam aut architecto aliquid.