The how-to is a bit dubious, particularly as he underplays the risks of having all your financial data in the hands of someone in New Delhi. Having met Ferriss recently, he seems like a bright young man, but the key word is "young."
This is one of those "new manifesto", "new paradigm" books where everything conventional is wrong. This is written from a young and high performing author's point of view. Create an instructional DVD or CD (and of course he shows you the best places to produce them for you), or perhaps write an instructional book, and then sell this book to the masses. I'm sitting there reading this book and it occurred to me - this guy just DID EXACTLY THAT to me! Sure, the author is multi-talented and now even sells books for good money, unless you are also born talented and good at "selling" things and phony, expecting the balanced life and good result is, sorry, a remote dream. The author and the book remind me of the gold digging years in California. The author would have us believe that he personally rediscovered in some forgotten time (probably while motorcycle kung-fu rock climbing in Bora Bora--between kendo lessons) and was just about the first to ever apply it to his life. Later in the book we get some basic info (all easily found in more detail in other books) about starting a web business, outsourcing your workload, etc.
After that the book turns into a "lifestyle-for-dummies" book on setting up a shell company to sell someone else's products. This works well unless his book becomes a best seller and many people decide they want to do the same thing (can you say, We Buy Ugly Houses"). He's hood-winked us all and is laughing all the way to the bank. I agree completely with a previous reviewer who nailed it nicely: a get-rich-quick scheme for the shallow. Finally, I know there is a lot of criticism about his ideas on outsourcing tasks, but we live in an outsourced world. The shirt you're wearing was made in Indonesia, your fruits and vegetables were picked by migrant workers from Mexico, and your computer that you're reading this from right now was manufactured in China.
But I was miserable and was secretly contemplating a career-change. Then I read this book.
He tells you to find a market, find the demographics of your product, make a product and sell it.
Guy Kawasaki is better - start a good business, claim tax benefits, and work hard, and you'll be happy. Did anyone really think you can make enough money to live and support a family when you only work four hours a week"
There will always be people who are materialistic and just want more and more useless "stuff." But then there are others who acquire money and more personal freedom who use a good portion of both of those assets to help others. The core of the book remains nearly the same as the first book - the additional 100 pages primarily consist of examples from others and testimonials taken from the blog. While these are certainly great additions - they don't change or update the core content. The rest of the book is essentially a money making plan for white collar workers who hate their jobs. If Mr Ferriss had restricted this book to a discussion of how to eliminate unproductive efforts from the workplace and shorten the workweek for everyone, he could have written a much briefer and significant book.
Why do all your own research when you can pay a Virtual Assistant in India $10 an hour to do so" Overall, while this book may not be for everyone, it's a useful blueprint for defining and living out your dreams.
This is one of those "new manifesto", "new paradigm" books where everything conventional is wrong. This is written from a young and high performing author's point of view. Create an instructional DVD or CD (and of course he shows you the best places to produce them for you), or perhaps write an instructional book, and then sell this book to the masses. I'm sitting there reading this book and it occurred to me - this guy just DID EXACTLY THAT to me! Sure, the author is multi-talented and now even sells books for good money, unless you are also born talented and good at "selling" things and phony, expecting the balanced life and good result is, sorry, a remote dream. The author and the book remind me of the gold digging years in California. The author would have us believe that he personally rediscovered in some forgotten time (probably while motorcycle kung-fu rock climbing in Bora Bora--between kendo lessons) and was just about the first to ever apply it to his life. Later in the book we get some basic info (all easily found in more detail in other books) about starting a web business, outsourcing your workload, etc.
After that the book turns into a "lifestyle-for-dummies" book on setting up a shell company to sell someone else's products. This works well unless his book becomes a best seller and many people decide they want to do the same thing (can you say, We Buy Ugly Houses"). He's hood-winked us all and is laughing all the way to the bank. I agree completely with a previous reviewer who nailed it nicely: a get-rich-quick scheme for the shallow. Finally, I know there is a lot of criticism about his ideas on outsourcing tasks, but we live in an outsourced world. The shirt you're wearing was made in Indonesia, your fruits and vegetables were picked by migrant workers from Mexico, and your computer that you're reading this from right now was manufactured in China.
But I was miserable and was secretly contemplating a career-change. Then I read this book.
He tells you to find a market, find the demographics of your product, make a product and sell it.
Guy Kawasaki is better - start a good business, claim tax benefits, and work hard, and you'll be happy. Did anyone really think you can make enough money to live and support a family when you only work four hours a week"
There will always be people who are materialistic and just want more and more useless "stuff." But then there are others who acquire money and more personal freedom who use a good portion of both of those assets to help others. The core of the book remains nearly the same as the first book - the additional 100 pages primarily consist of examples from others and testimonials taken from the blog. While these are certainly great additions - they don't change or update the core content. The rest of the book is essentially a money making plan for white collar workers who hate their jobs. If Mr Ferriss had restricted this book to a discussion of how to eliminate unproductive efforts from the workplace and shorten the workweek for everyone, he could have written a much briefer and significant book.
Why do all your own research when you can pay a Virtual Assistant in India $10 an hour to do so" Overall, while this book may not be for everyone, it's a useful blueprint for defining and living out your dreams.
No comments:
Post a Comment