A few years ago, I made an unusual friend. He was a traveling houseless graphic designer who worked very little and made far more money than I did. Everything he owned fit into a small backpack, and he was essentially in permanent vacation mode, while working online whenever he wanted to. He introduced many interesting themes in my life, but one of the best was Tim Ferriss.
Originally, I started listening to Tim Ferriss’ podcast. In it, he dissects world class performers to see how and why they do what they do. Many of his episodes have made my list of things to revisit again and again.
I keep rereading this book, and rewriting these first two paragraphs because of how challenging it is to describe my friend, Tim Ferriss, or what this book is about.
I had heard about this book in the podcast, but I finally decided to read it about a year ago. I was at burning man talking to a friend from the bay area about frustrations with my incompetent business partners and a project that seemed to be treading water and making no progress because of these disengaged absentee partners. My friend’s reply changed the way I think about business, “If you can build and sell products, why do you need these people?” I resolved in that moment to never accept a lack of progress; to do whatever it takes to accomplish my goals with or without people who need me to carry them along the way.
Simply put, this book is about radical individualism and entrepreneurship. These are two major themes in my life and career, so naturally I was eager to learn more.
If you are interested in how to build a lifestyle business that will finance endless adventure, free time, and early retirement, this book is for you. I give it an easy 10/10.