his 4-hour workweek book was on the
bestseller list for seven consecutive
years
his next books the 4-hour body and the
4-hour chef became instant bestsellers
he’s an angel investor and or advisor to
Facebook Twitter stumble upon Evernote
and uber among other companies
he’s Tim Ferriss and here are his top
ten rules for success a diversified
identity in some fashion I think this is
important so that your self-worth isn’t
only associated with your startup that’s
probably a controversial recommendation
what that means is you should actually
spend time involved with other skills so
in San Francisco for instance many
startup founders I know who are very
efficient and effective have their
startup rock climbing they get outside
they do a few things so that if one goes
well they can they can remain optimistic
each week which is very difficult if
you’re only directed at your startup I
only invest in things that I understand
and things that I use or would use
myself this is really really really
important
anytime I step outside of that is
usually when the universe kicks me in
the nuts really aren’t and I lose my
money I think it’s it’s critical to as
an entrepreneur scratch your own itch it
increases the odds of success or the
probability of success and then it’s as
an investor I look for people who are
scratching their own itch and you’re
thinking about a product launch
first thing I would ask is is it the
right time to do product launch so if
your product isn’t figured out if you
can’t hold the orders now is not the
right time to be on TechCrunch in my
opinion or in any other major media
outlet once you’re in a major media
outlet they’re not going to cover you
again for some period of time or ever if
you’re in the business section the New
York Times they’re not going to cover
you four weeks later when your product
is better and you’re ready so make sure
that you pick your timing a few things
so there’s paid exposure and unpaid
exposure I like to focus on unpaid
because it makes you it forces you to
make better decisions in the beginning
so I would read as I always say the 22
immutable laws of marketing 1,000 true
fans written by Kevin Kelly I would also
read best-selling book PR and publicity
I think it is by Rick Frischmann Fri SH
ma n all the techniques apply to more
than books and learn to tell the story
what are you focusing on are you using
yourself to tell the story and then the
product is associated is it a trend
piece are you trying to tie what you’re
doing into a greater trend which is very
effective way of getting media in which
case you’re going to need other examples
you need to get comfortable bringing in
sort of cooperative competitors to
create that trend B’s learn the art of
the pitch and of messaging only once you
have figured that out what I say then
you go out you pay to acquire people
because now if your messaging is off
it’s costing you money you need to know
what your unique strengths are and be
willing to delegate so I would say that
the question of whether you should take
a skill learn it yourself delegated
someone else or hire new team member are
determined by having a very accurate
self assessment and assessment and B
your team skills not only what you can
do but what you should be doing that’s
very important so if you’re a start-up
CEO or founder and you have a team of
say two to ten people
as soon as you have funds to hire you
should not be focused on the things that
you are bad at sounds very very
intuitive but it’s not because you might
have enough time to do those things but
the question is do you have the
attention to dedicate to this thing so
they’re not an interruption
especially if you’re a venture-backed
startup and you’re competing against
other companies that also have a lot of
funding the game the game and the race
goes to the Swift so you have to have
you have to have a lot of velocity you
need to be able to sell whether it’s
Kickstarter whether it’s New York Times
whether it’s your local newspaper you
need to be able to communicate
effectively and so which is why when
entrepreneurs ask me for books to read
outside of business books I say on
writing well bird by bird all books on
writing improving communication David
Ogilvy Ogilvy on advertising study print
ads where you have very little space I
think those are all very very effective
the best entrepreneurs I’ve ever met are
all good communicators it’s the one
perhaps one of the very few unifying
factors there are exceptional
communicators practice is the only way
to get better at communicating and
practicing speaking does not provide you
generally with something to review later
which is why the written word is so
powerful writing is thought crystallized
on a piece of paper that can then be
reviewed it’s very difficult to do that
with speech which is why I recommend
people focus on honing their skills in
writing and take time to study good
direct response ads take time to for
instance maybe develop a swipe file so
one of the things that I did for years
is any time I bought something I would
identify the ad the phone call the print
ad the the offer whatever it was that
made me decide to buy it and I would
either cut it out or record it put it
into Evernote whatever it might be and
save it so I had a record of everything
that I bought and why I bought it and
then I could go back and review it and
I’d be like oh looks like I fell for
this this and this not a bad way it
looks like this tipped
me from or not interested – yeah I’ll
spend five fifty five hundred five
thousand dollars on that I save all that
everything that works in sales has been
done already you do not need to reinvent
the wheel so just keep track of the crap
that you buy or the awesome stuff that
you buy and decide what was the trigger
what push me over the edge and then just
sell to people like you that’s what I do
it’s really easy
people are like who’s your market I
might well you know I’m a 30-something
SF based tech savvy male so I don’t I
just solve those people it’s a lot
easier than trying to guess ideas are
worth nothing
I mean ideas are really they’re not a
dime a dozen are just nothing all the
good founders I know even the bad
founders can come up with ideas all day
long it doesn’t mean anything you have
to be able to execute and you know one
of the sort of Maxim’s that I was told
once was you know your success will be
measured in the number of uncomfortable
conversations you’re willing to have so
I think it asked if an entrepreneur
should say start a business based on one
of their passions or if they should find
the most attractive market opportunity
and build a business out of that whether
they like it or not I don’t think it’s
either/or I think you need both I would
say liquor and credit card statement
identify where you spend an unusual
percentage of your income where you
price insensitive then how old are you
what gender are you where do you live
and design a product that has all of
those things intersecting it’s it’s very
easy to be seduced by doing things
efficiently trying to do a lot of things
well I don’t believe that’s the most
important thing the most important thing
is picking the right things to do in the
first place and that’s being effective
versus just being efficient so within a
start-up its success I don’t think is
measured by how many things you can do
it once it’s measured by how effectively
you’re able to pick the one or two
things into the highest priority
and there’s always going to be a
seduction to get distracted and focus on
20 things at once and the most effective
entrepreneurs I know are very good at
focusing on one or two things and either
eliminating the rest delegating to other
people or outsourcing it so it’s not
done within the team but it’s actually
two third parties
first time entrepreneurs tend to
miscalculate is everything what I mean
by that is optimism has a place but I
think even more so for the first time
entrepreneur you need to be
pragmatically pessimistic what I mean by
that is you need to define all the
worst-case scenarios in terms of
financial loss time loss etc look at
what you will learn if that happens and
accept and come to terms with that
before you ever start if you don’t do
that and you go straight into battling
the world trying to conquer the world
with rose-colored glasses on the first
time you hit a major hiccup you’re going
to become really demoralized and you
will quit so optimism all that rah rah
rah that’s awesome but you need to hope
for the best and prepare for the worst
before you ever get started I always
recommend that I think it’s important to
have at least one or two numbers that
you track on a weekly basis so that
could be for web-based properties or
services or products it could be weekly
average uniques what it is doesn’t
matter that much but matters less than
having a metric that you try to improve
every week you can have one or two of
them you really shouldn’t have many more
than that I don’t think it could be
conversion from sign up to let’s say
first stage of sign up to completion of
sign up there are many different metrics
that you can use but you I think that to
keep the team focused especially in the
small company it’s very important to
have one or two the folks on a weekly
basis
I think failure would be a big piece
even though I fail yer differently than
I think many people I view it as a
feedback mechanism but if you look at
even let’s say the 4-hour workweek
didn’t start off called the 4-hour
workweek it was also turned down by 26
out of twenty-seven publishers and
hopefully pretty soon it’ll be
celebrating four years
unbroken on the New York Times
bestseller list and I like to whenever
possible illustrate those failures
because people will everyone will face
failure or mistakes and those are the
divergent points from which they can
either go in a good direction or a bad
direction and I want to illustrate that
oftentimes the finish line is only 100
feet from where you stand but it might
seem that it’s 100 miles away thank you
guys for watching I made this video
because Chris 7820 asked me to so if
there’s a famous entrepreneur that you
want me to profile next leave it in the
comments below and I’ll see what I can
do I’d also love to know what you think
of Tim Ferriss as an entrepreneur and
what your favorite Tim Ferriss book is
mine is a 4-hour work week what’s yours
leave it below
bestseller list for seven consecutive
years
his next books the 4-hour body and the
4-hour chef became instant bestsellers
he’s an angel investor and or advisor to
Facebook Twitter stumble upon Evernote
and uber among other companies
he’s Tim Ferriss and here are his top
ten rules for success a diversified
identity in some fashion I think this is
important so that your self-worth isn’t
only associated with your startup that’s
probably a controversial recommendation
what that means is you should actually
spend time involved with other skills so
in San Francisco for instance many
startup founders I know who are very
efficient and effective have their
startup rock climbing they get outside
they do a few things so that if one goes
well they can they can remain optimistic
each week which is very difficult if
you’re only directed at your startup I
only invest in things that I understand
and things that I use or would use
myself this is really really really
important
anytime I step outside of that is
usually when the universe kicks me in
the nuts really aren’t and I lose my
money I think it’s it’s critical to as
an entrepreneur scratch your own itch it
increases the odds of success or the
probability of success and then it’s as
an investor I look for people who are
scratching their own itch and you’re
thinking about a product launch
first thing I would ask is is it the
right time to do product launch so if
your product isn’t figured out if you
can’t hold the orders now is not the
right time to be on TechCrunch in my
opinion or in any other major media
outlet once you’re in a major media
outlet they’re not going to cover you
again for some period of time or ever if
you’re in the business section the New
York Times they’re not going to cover
you four weeks later when your product
is better and you’re ready so make sure
that you pick your timing a few things
so there’s paid exposure and unpaid
exposure I like to focus on unpaid
because it makes you it forces you to
make better decisions in the beginning
so I would read as I always say the 22
immutable laws of marketing 1,000 true
fans written by Kevin Kelly I would also
read best-selling book PR and publicity
I think it is by Rick Frischmann Fri SH
ma n all the techniques apply to more
than books and learn to tell the story
what are you focusing on are you using
yourself to tell the story and then the
product is associated is it a trend
piece are you trying to tie what you’re
doing into a greater trend which is very
effective way of getting media in which
case you’re going to need other examples
you need to get comfortable bringing in
sort of cooperative competitors to
create that trend B’s learn the art of
the pitch and of messaging only once you
have figured that out what I say then
you go out you pay to acquire people
because now if your messaging is off
it’s costing you money you need to know
what your unique strengths are and be
willing to delegate so I would say that
the question of whether you should take
a skill learn it yourself delegated
someone else or hire new team member are
determined by having a very accurate
self assessment and assessment and B
your team skills not only what you can
do but what you should be doing that’s
very important so if you’re a start-up
CEO or founder and you have a team of
say two to ten people
as soon as you have funds to hire you
should not be focused on the things that
you are bad at sounds very very
intuitive but it’s not because you might
have enough time to do those things but
the question is do you have the
attention to dedicate to this thing so
they’re not an interruption
especially if you’re a venture-backed
startup and you’re competing against
other companies that also have a lot of
funding the game the game and the race
goes to the Swift so you have to have
you have to have a lot of velocity you
need to be able to sell whether it’s
Kickstarter whether it’s New York Times
whether it’s your local newspaper you
need to be able to communicate
effectively and so which is why when
entrepreneurs ask me for books to read
outside of business books I say on
writing well bird by bird all books on
writing improving communication David
Ogilvy Ogilvy on advertising study print
ads where you have very little space I
think those are all very very effective
the best entrepreneurs I’ve ever met are
all good communicators it’s the one
perhaps one of the very few unifying
factors there are exceptional
communicators practice is the only way
to get better at communicating and
practicing speaking does not provide you
generally with something to review later
which is why the written word is so
powerful writing is thought crystallized
on a piece of paper that can then be
reviewed it’s very difficult to do that
with speech which is why I recommend
people focus on honing their skills in
writing and take time to study good
direct response ads take time to for
instance maybe develop a swipe file so
one of the things that I did for years
is any time I bought something I would
identify the ad the phone call the print
ad the the offer whatever it was that
made me decide to buy it and I would
either cut it out or record it put it
into Evernote whatever it might be and
save it so I had a record of everything
that I bought and why I bought it and
then I could go back and review it and
I’d be like oh looks like I fell for
this this and this not a bad way it
looks like this tipped
me from or not interested – yeah I’ll
spend five fifty five hundred five
thousand dollars on that I save all that
everything that works in sales has been
done already you do not need to reinvent
the wheel so just keep track of the crap
that you buy or the awesome stuff that
you buy and decide what was the trigger
what push me over the edge and then just
sell to people like you that’s what I do
it’s really easy
people are like who’s your market I
might well you know I’m a 30-something
SF based tech savvy male so I don’t I
just solve those people it’s a lot
easier than trying to guess ideas are
worth nothing
I mean ideas are really they’re not a
dime a dozen are just nothing all the
good founders I know even the bad
founders can come up with ideas all day
long it doesn’t mean anything you have
to be able to execute and you know one
of the sort of Maxim’s that I was told
once was you know your success will be
measured in the number of uncomfortable
conversations you’re willing to have so
I think it asked if an entrepreneur
should say start a business based on one
of their passions or if they should find
the most attractive market opportunity
and build a business out of that whether
they like it or not I don’t think it’s
either/or I think you need both I would
say liquor and credit card statement
identify where you spend an unusual
percentage of your income where you
price insensitive then how old are you
what gender are you where do you live
and design a product that has all of
those things intersecting it’s it’s very
easy to be seduced by doing things
efficiently trying to do a lot of things
well I don’t believe that’s the most
important thing the most important thing
is picking the right things to do in the
first place and that’s being effective
versus just being efficient so within a
start-up its success I don’t think is
measured by how many things you can do
it once it’s measured by how effectively
you’re able to pick the one or two
things into the highest priority
and there’s always going to be a
seduction to get distracted and focus on
20 things at once and the most effective
entrepreneurs I know are very good at
focusing on one or two things and either
eliminating the rest delegating to other
people or outsourcing it so it’s not
done within the team but it’s actually
two third parties
first time entrepreneurs tend to
miscalculate is everything what I mean
by that is optimism has a place but I
think even more so for the first time
entrepreneur you need to be
pragmatically pessimistic what I mean by
that is you need to define all the
worst-case scenarios in terms of
financial loss time loss etc look at
what you will learn if that happens and
accept and come to terms with that
before you ever start if you don’t do
that and you go straight into battling
the world trying to conquer the world
with rose-colored glasses on the first
time you hit a major hiccup you’re going
to become really demoralized and you
will quit so optimism all that rah rah
rah that’s awesome but you need to hope
for the best and prepare for the worst
before you ever get started I always
recommend that I think it’s important to
have at least one or two numbers that
you track on a weekly basis so that
could be for web-based properties or
services or products it could be weekly
average uniques what it is doesn’t
matter that much but matters less than
having a metric that you try to improve
every week you can have one or two of
them you really shouldn’t have many more
than that I don’t think it could be
conversion from sign up to let’s say
first stage of sign up to completion of
sign up there are many different metrics
that you can use but you I think that to
keep the team focused especially in the
small company it’s very important to
have one or two the folks on a weekly
basis
I think failure would be a big piece
even though I fail yer differently than
I think many people I view it as a
feedback mechanism but if you look at
even let’s say the 4-hour workweek
didn’t start off called the 4-hour
workweek it was also turned down by 26
out of twenty-seven publishers and
hopefully pretty soon it’ll be
celebrating four years
unbroken on the New York Times
bestseller list and I like to whenever
possible illustrate those failures
because people will everyone will face
failure or mistakes and those are the
divergent points from which they can
either go in a good direction or a bad
direction and I want to illustrate that
oftentimes the finish line is only 100
feet from where you stand but it might
seem that it’s 100 miles away thank you
guys for watching I made this video
because Chris 7820 asked me to so if
there’s a famous entrepreneur that you
want me to profile next leave it in the
comments below and I’ll see what I can
do I’d also love to know what you think
of Tim Ferriss as an entrepreneur and
what your favorite Tim Ferriss book is
mine is a 4-hour work week what’s yours
leave it below
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