4 Hour Work Week

[thebbqguy]

Has anyone read the book 4 Hour Work Week?

I've seen it around, but I dismissed it based on the title.  I've been doing a little research and it seems that he may be on to something. The title is a little gimmicky, but after flipping through the book at the store yesterday there seems to be some value in it.

I wondered what others think, especially if you've read the book.

There are several nice blogs along the same lines by people trying to put some of the suggestions into action.  Like many things in life, I realize theories are not worth much until you put them into practice.

[Tyler]

One of the greatest books ever!  I highly recommend it! 

[thebbqguy]

I started reading this book yesterday around 3 p.m. and except for purchasing a new mattress, which took about 1 hour, I didn't put the book down until nearly midnight. I am enjoying the book a lot.

[Tyler]

Yeah, the book is hard to put down!  Have you started thinking of your muse yet?

[thebbqguy]

I've had a bbq themed website for 8 years. It earns about $100 a month including revenue from Adsense, Amazon, and Clickbank. My page views are consistently 500+ per day. That may not sound like much, but there are millions of sites that can't do that consistently. The site has been ranked #1 on Google for more than 5 years and about #4 or #5 on Yahoo for keywords BBQ Blog. 

I used to sell a bbq spice rub too, but needed to sell 100's of bottles per month to amount to significant profit. BBQ sauce is more profitable, but the start-up is high and requires using a distributor (more money), not to mention a "gimmick". I'm not a gimmicky person.

I absolutely love electronic selling. It's unbelievably low cost and takes very little time. I'm not going to abandon bbq, but it's not going to be "the right answer". After 8 years of hoping and praying, I think that's a safe and accurate conclusion.

As for a muse, a lot of my interests are pretty mainstream...bbq, home brewing, blogging, motorcycles, listening to blues music, and very amateur nature photography.  I've had 10 blogs, but none have had the success of my bbq blog.

Originally when reading the book my brainstorming ideas centered around outsourcing the research for blog articles, but it seems the book is focused on product sales.  Rightfully so it appears, because it's hard to make significant money from blogging.

The ideal product in my mind is photography. But, you'd need to sell high #'s per month. A $50 target product price sounds tough from a first reading of the book.

[Tyler]

Mango, I can assure you that this book has nothing to do with the work ethic of the NY workers.

My muse is the following:

http://www.kruglu.com
http://www.sportsglu.com
http://www.bandglu.com
http://www.gossipglu.com
http://www.greekglu.com

[thebbqguy]

I checked out the links Tyler. Pretty cool.

I've been researching an idea for the past 4 or 5 months involving "Buy American".  Today while watching the news a light bulb clicked and I thought of a new twist that I hadn't considered before.

It's funny how that works -- some of the freshest ideas "show up" when you least expect them.

[Tyler]

It's funny how that works -- some of the freshest ideas "show up" when you least expect them.

Yeah, it really is funny how that can happen.  I get ideas from the most unlikely sources. 

[fcb2001]

a freind has recommendend that i read the 4 hour work week, is it worth y time, iam trying to get about 3-5 different income streams, iam new to this but i need a little help, i would like to make about 500-1500 extra dollars a month

[thebbqguy]

Here's an idea that may help:

www.easiestgarden.com

This is a simple idea, but I'll bet you he sells a lot of them. (I bought one too.)

[quickz]

I've read the book.  I liked it to.  I'm 24 so a bit younger then you guys but I don't think it makes much difference.  I'm out of university with a business degree but I've been off work for a year or so and I'm finding it really hard to get a job! 

I'm at a point now where I think I mine as well start my own business to get money coming in, not much risk at my age.  I want to start on simple importing and selling on our 'ebay' (I'm from New Zealand) it's not exactly a muse in the sense the book writes.  As I will have to put a decent amount of time into building the business but I generally like business and doing deals so it wouldn't seem like work.  I've read a few books and most have the common theme that if you find something your passionate about you'll never have to 'work' a real day in your life.  I tend to agree.

After reading 4HWW I did create a website that offered logo design and I was going to take the work and freelance it out on elance.  I only got literally one reply (I advertised on our ebay site) but I don't really have a passion for that, so gonna let that die out.  I however really like to buy and sell things for a profit I've been doing it since I can remember.  Currently I'm using alibaba to source suppliers and then checking the hot selling products on the online auction site, then working out after shipping tax duty etc whether I can make a decent profit.

I'm finding importing is it's own little world, so much to learn.  I've learnt a lot already about incoterms, customs, duty rates, tariffs, freight forwarding etc.  It's all quite overwhelming but certainly not impossible.  My parents are behind me and willing to loan me some money to start, so in 2011 I'm pretty sure I'll ship my first container!  At the moment I have small items coming via air mail but that is VERY expensive compared to sea frieght.

Of course after a year or so I can easily create a muse out of this, either by employing people and working remotely or by writing a guide/book to importing into NZ for the small business owner.  So many ways to make a little bit extra.

Anyhow this post seemed to get me to post here!  I had an account I posted about 2 years ago but forgot the login.  I'm currently down to no blade on the clippers with the guard set to as short as possible, I'm liking the look enough that I won't go sly yet I'll post a pic sometime soon. 

But good to see there are some business minds here to have a chat to.

Cheers