Tim Ferriss is a serial entrepreneur, author and public speaker with an estimated net worth of $20 million. He runs a multinational business from online locations worldwide. He is also a Kickboxing Chinese world record holder and an actor with hit cinema projects in Hong Kong.
Tim Ferriss is one of the most influential writers of our generation. He’s been described as “the Indiana Jones of the digital age.” He’s the author of The 4-Hour Workweek, (#1 New York Times Bestseller), and “The 4-Hour Body”. Being named Wired Magazine’s “Greatest Self-Promoter of All Time,”
Here are 10 Success lessons from Tim Ferriss – “The Indiana Jones of Digital Age” for entrepreneurs,
1. The customer isn’t always right
Many entrepreneurs subscribe to the customer is always right philosophy. However, Tim Ferriss believes that the customer is not always right –nor do they get to call the shots.
Ferriss taught us that some customers aren’t worth it, and you don’t need to take abuse to provide good service. Firing difficult customers gives you more time to nurture your relationships with the good ones, ultimately making more money in the long run.
2. Money is not the solution we need for our problems in life
Even if most people start making a lot of money, their level of happiness may stay the same. In fact, they’ll have much more work, worries and responsibilities.
That’s because they don’t know how to spend and enjoy this money once they’ve earned it.
In order to increase your wealth, you need to have a clear idea of what you want your lifestyle to be like before you actually have it.
3. We tend to choose misery over uncertainty
Almost a decade later that’s still true.
When something isn’t certain, we choose not to do it even if it’s what we’ve always been dreaming of.
But guess what? Life is uncertain, security is an illusion, tomorrow is unpredictable and the only way to live freely and thrive is to accept that and feel comfortable with it.
Lifestyle designers are okay with risks, new stuff, failing and not knowing how things will work out.
4. 80/20 your way to success
Otherwise known as Pareto’s Law, the 80/20 rule says that 80 percent of the results for any given activity come from just 20 percent of the inputs.
This is the foundation for many of Ferriss’ guiding tenants. One example of the rule in action for entrepreneurs is 80 percent of your business’s revenue typically comes from just 20 percent of your client/customer base.
Ferriss argues that you should eliminate the 80 percent of things you’re doing that aren’t yielding significant results.
And instead you should focus exclusively on the 20 percent of activities that are. In doing so, you free up A TON of your time to focus on duplicating those actions/clients/processes that yield high returns. The 80/20 rule works in the opposite way as well.
5. Interview other people who can provide value to your audience
No one can expect you to do absolutely everything by yourself, and if you’re the only person appealing to your audience, after a while they’ll get tired of it as well.
Keep your content fresh and do yourself a favor by having other people join you from time to time. This can include anything such as interviewing other people, especially people who can provide value and something different to your audience.
Tim Ferriss keeps his content fresh by interviewing different people on both his television show and his podcast, adding new and interesting content with every new episode to keep his audience entertained.
6. Create your own lifestyle that works for you
The entire story of Tim Ferriss’ success begins with the change that he decided to make in his own life in regards to his career.
Having come up with the idea of the Four Hour Work Week as a solution to his workaholic lifestyle, Tim Ferriss completely changed his lifestyle to fit his needs and desires. At the end of the day, the most important thing in life is you. You have to do what’s right for you personally and everything else will fall into place.
7. YOU are your best marketer
Which route do you think Tim went when it came time to market and promote his book?
A: He hired an expensive PR firm to promote it for him while he sat on the beach.
B: He got into the trenches, made his own new and traditional media contacts, and was his own best marketer.
The answer is B…actually with a smattering of A. Tim told that he actually DID hire a PR firm for $18,000…and they accomplished literally nothing. Instead, Tim got busy.
He went to BlogWorld and met some of the world’s most interesting bloggers. He formed genuine relationships with them. He became a one-man relationship-building machine
8. Quality matters
Quality matters in everything you do and honestly, (pun sort of intended) it rises to the top. The 4-Hour Workweek was tirelessly researched, refined, and written. Most of Tim’s blog posts are like little miniature pieces of art.
Is any of it perfect? Not possible. Striving for perfection? Possibly futile. Creating the best possible piece of art of you can? That sounds like something to strive for.
9. Human-centered design and usability
This one is often overlooked. But, if you head over to Tim’s blog, there are many things you will see: articles, comments, links to Facebook, etc. One thing you won’t see? Crappy design.
Tim obsesses over usability and has put in a smattering of little of touches on the blog that enhance the user experience and the connection with the audience.
10. Don’t wait for a green light
It’s natural to want to wait until everything is just right before making that big change in your life. For Ferriss, running a nutritional supplements company 80 hours a week meant that it was never the right time to do the things he really wanted to (like dancing the tango or riding a motorcycle).
Ferriss decided that life shouldn’t wait for perfect timing:
“For all of the most important things, the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job? The stars will never align and the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time… ‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you.”
Ferriss picked an imperfect time to start cutting down on the amount of time he spent running his business and the rest is history: Tim used the extra time to become a tango champion, motorcycle across China, and write a best-selling book.
