If you want detailed tactics and hilarity, Ramit Sethi is your man. Here one quote from this episode, to give you an idea: “Indian people don’t get punched, dude. We don’t get into fights. We’re doing spelling bees.”
Ramit Sethi built his personal finance blog up to 500,000+ readers per month, and has since turned it into a revenue generating monster. I don’t use that phrasing lightly. In this episode, we dig into the nitty-gritty tools, software, and experiments he’s used to turn a college side project into a multi-million-dollar business with 30+ employees.
You can find the transcript of Part 1 (Episode 33) here. You can find the transcript of Part 2 (Episode 34) here. Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.
Tons of amazing links and goodies below…
Stream with the player below:
If you can’t see the above, here are other ways to listen:
- Listen to it on iTunes.
- Stream Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
- Download both as MP3 by right clicking (Part 1, Part 2) and choosing “save as”.
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Also, how would you like to join me and billionaire Richard Branson on his private island for mentoring? It’s coming up soon, and it’s all-expenses-paid. Click here to learn more. It’s worth checking out.
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: Do you think I should create a course of some type? If not (and if writing a book isn’t an option), what would you like to see me create next? What would be most helpful to you? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for all show notes.
Enjoy!
Who should I interview next? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments.
Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review here. It keeps me going…
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LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
- Visit the Tim Ferriss Book Club on Audible
- www.IWillTeachYouToBeRich.com
- www.PBWorks.com
- Ramit’s compilation of the best “Freeloader Comments”
- Kevin Kelly article: 1000 True Fans
- From Geek to Freak: How I Gained 34 lbs. of Muscle in 4 Weeks
- Digg.com
- Gigaom.com
- Ramit’s post on the 4-Hour Blog: The Psychology of Automation: Building a Bulletproof Personal-Finance System
- Hacking Kickstarter: How to Raise $100,000 in 10 Days
- The $28,000 question: Why are we all hypocrites about weddings?
- Learn more about Opening the Kimono® Event
- How to Raise a Financial Wizard
- YourSurrogateAsianFather.com
- Check out Mark Bustos’ Instagram
- 50ProvenEmailScripts.com
- 12 Lessons Learned While Marketing “The 4-Hour Body”
- A special giveaway from Ramit for our listeners
Books Mentioned in the Episode
- The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
- Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think Mass Market by Brian Wansink
- The Robert Collier Letter Book by Robert Collier
- Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion by Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson
- The Social Animal by Elliot Aronson
- Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi
- Iacocca: An Autobiography Mass Market by Lee Iacocca and William Novak
- What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School: Notes From A Street-Smart Executive by Mark H. McCormack
Entrepreneur Resources Mentioned in the Episode
- Basecamp – Web-based project-management tool
- Google Docs
- Aweber – Email marketing and autoresponder software
- Infusionsoft – A complete sales and marketing automation software for small businesses
- Surveymonkey – Create and publish online surveys in minutes, and view results graphically and in real time
- GitHub – Powerful collaboration, code review, and code management for open source and private projects.
- Asana – A web and mobile application designed to enable teamwork without email.
- Screenflow – Screen recording and editing software for Mac
- Dropbox – A free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily
- Wufoo – Online form builder with cloud storage database
- Skype – A freemium voice over IP service and instant messaging client
- Visual Website Optimizer – A/B Testing Software for Marketers
- Umbel – a tool for understanding your audience
Documentaries Mentioned in the Episode
Show Notes
- Why Ramit Sethi’s parents added the “R” to his original name, Amit
- His grassroots beginnings as a personal finance teacher to friends
- How his persistence garnered exposure for his blog in the Wall Street Journal
- How his site functions like a laboratory
- Why you only need to focus on caring for 1,000 die-hard fans
- How a few world-class posts can change your life forever
- The “secret recipe” for attracting lots of people to your posts and making them fall in love with your content
- Ramit’s email practices and marketing techniques that generate 99% of his revenue
- The entrepreneurial tools and software Ramit’s team uses to systematize the daily functioning of the business
- A common email practice that people share as the “Law of God” that is completely false
- Why you should encourage people to unsubscribe from your email list
- How to sell a product without coming off like a spammy Internet marketer
- Why Ramit turns away customers who have personal debt
- What roles race and culture play in Ramit’s life
- How I Will Teach You To Be Rich is like the Asian father some of us never had
- His book recommendations for entrepreneurs
- The longest lie his father ever told and why Ramit can’t wait to do the same to his children
- The best investment he’s made for under $100
- Email tips for building respectful relationships with busy people
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than one billion downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.
Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That’s how we’re gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration.)
Hey Tim!
I loved the podcast with Ramit! My favorite so far! Very tactical.
I would pay several thousand dollars to be apart of a course teaching you how to optimize/hack your life for success.
Like how you taught ‘how to learn’ via cooking in 4HC, but do that in crazy detail for being successful.
Hope this helps!
Live long and prosper!
Keith
Good to see you’re excited.
Don’t forget that living your life with a contrarian, lateral mindset may be the best way to truly be “successful”. Live it out, and I’m sure you’ll come into your own cool strategies to share with us. 🙂
Yes, absolutely, I second Aarons opinion. Besides some basic knowledge, a few solid tactics and a good mindset, many people forget about actually doing something about it. Just soaking up stuff but completely forgetting about the application part of it! Just go for it man… you’ll be fine.
I can relate. Found Tim and Ramit about a year ago, had a mind blast at the same time. So much I have learned!
Would be great to see them live speaking at a conference or event. Let’s do it guys!
Keep up the good work.
Vitor
Great show, Ramit was a great guest.
I like the longer episodes, keep it up bro.
#timtimtalktalk
+1 on Ramit. Having initially been turned off by the “Four Hour” aspect of your brand, I’ve since become a rabid consumer of your material after being tipped to it by a close friend — Work Week and Body so far, plus of course the podcast and blog. Ramit was wonderfully tactical, funny and inspirational. Longer episodes are the best, but grateful you take the time for “inbetweenisodes”, too. Something is better than nothing when lifting, rowing or commuting 2+ hours in Cairo gridlock.
In terms of courseware: Anything related to entrepreneurism / risk mitigation or health. Maybe retirement planning for owners of “lifestyle” businesses? Big issue for those of us who launched businesses I’m our late 30s.
Yes, you should create a course. I know you touch on the subject in 4HC, but I think a course on accelerated learning would be great. Or, maybe accelerated learning on specific subjects, such as learning a language. You have given tips and hints on how to do it in your books and blog, but I think a more hold-my-hand approach would be beneficial.
Could you please write or speak more about batching and minimizing time spent on household chores? You mention batching your laundry in 4HWW, but how else? I am a stay at home mom with two kids- 6 and 3. Working without distraction is not really an option for me- can’t batch potty requests or advise them that you’ll be handling such requests at 12 and 4 only, but I am looking to apply your ideas in ither ways. Thoughts?
Hi Tim! I’d love a course on how to collaborate with others in our field to reach and help more people. Who is willing? How do we approach them? What works best?
Thank you so much for all that you do. You are one of my gurus and although we’re in totally different industries (I help people heal from “chronic” illnesses like Fibro, MS, Lyme, etc. etc. after healing myself), I totally respect and dig all the awesome information you share.
You rock!
This was one of my favorite podcast episodes. You both have a candidness and a penchant for cutting through BS that is really refreshing to listen to and sets you apart from other podcast hosts.
As far as your next creation, if books are off the table, then video-format how-tos would be great. Your podcasts and books are appealing not only because they’re useful and applicable, but it gives your fans better insight into your life. It’s not just your wisdom that makes you desirable, but your whole persona. Video versions of your lessons or things from your life would give us a deeper look into the seductive life of Tim Ferriss.
I don’t care about quote wealth creation unquote In the photo , whats he looking at and why is he grinning?
Simple answer: abandoning poverty mentality.
4 Hour Family
Just because I’m reading on this now, but I’d be very interested in seeing a course or instructional toolkit by you on sustainable living. I think if there were anyone who could do it and in an entertaining way, it’s you.
Firstly, hope your Lyme disease recovery is going well, and secondly, Well done! This was my favorite podcast so far. It was cool to hear that you read 3-4 books in a week, that’s awesome. I also checked out the Checklist Manifesto, and in 3 days I’ve just about finished it; it has turned out to be a really good book. When you read it, did you start making checklists for everything? Because, that’s what I’m about to do.
Thanks,
Erich
I feel sorry for Richard Branson. To have the title “billionaire” perpetually attached to your name seems like it would be such a drag. Hey look, it’s the IMMENSELY RICH Richard Branson! Why not “serially successful entrepreneur”?
Perhaps. But he does seem to enjoy “Sir Richard Branson,” and Sir would seem to refer to knighthood. I would argue that billionaires hold a much more revered position today that knights did when they were at their zenith. Billionaires are the capitalist kings of this age, and they wield arguably more power. I’m sure there are worse prefixes to have.
Just my two cents,
Tim
Two cents well spent.
Tim, in response to what should you create next, I agree with what Ramit said in the episode. We want to know more about YOU. What does a day, or week in the life of Tim Ferriss look like? You are obviously very successful and have designed a great lifestyle. I would like to see the curtain pulled back a bit to take a look at the Oz of lifestyle design. All the best!
Loved this podcast episode, you came off very comfortable and natural. Keep up the good work!
I had listened to Ramit’s Audiobook version (amazing talent to narrate his own work btw). Then I read yours, and to my surprise you did a podcast together. Come to think of it, it’s no wonder you’re good friends. For once it’s refreshing to hear that you wouldn’t accept someone’s money if they actually can’t afford it. Other “famous” authors would do that without giving it a second thought.
It would be great to see something about how you organized your trips around the world. You mention a few pointers on 4HWW but, would it be a pain to ask for a whole book on it?
Hey Tim,
Absolutely loving the podcast (just struggling to find time to get through them all at the moment!) – please do keep them coming…
My suggestion for a potential guest would be Erlend Bakke (Book: Never Work Again) – he credits you with changing his life in the acknowledgements and evangelizes the lifestyle set out in the Four Hour Workweek , so I think he would be an ideal guest for your show!
Thanks again for the great show and look forward to future content.
Alton
!URGENT!
Dear Tim sorry for disturbing on this blog post.
I need your guidance on rehydration following my weight in (I believe I have about two hours to rehydrate only) which is why I feel confused about the blog post regarding this issue, which is talking about a wider timeframe.
I live in Angola and things are not easy to come by. I read your post on weight-cutting (water) however I would like to know how to approach this tight timeframe – rehydration wise. Pharmacy may have somethings but Im not very hopefull.
Could you give me some guidelines please?
Sorry for any spelling mistakes!
Kind regards,
André
QOTD: Yes, I think you should absolutely do a course. More than likely it’ll be out of my price range, but of a huge benefit to others. Teachers teach
The transcripts that were made available for the previous couple of interviews were really great – Tim, are you planning on publishing the transcript for this episode of the show? Would love to be able to read through the interview, never had the patience to listen to a 2 hrs long audio podcast.
First post on your blog. My (very first world) problem, that I’d love your thoughts on:
I love BJJ. I know you’re into it too. I trained up to be a solid blue belt by training ~4-5 five times a week for a few years. However I have diverse hobbies and a time-demanding, busy career that I love and can no longer train more than 2x per week. I’ve noticed my level really fall. I read the book you recommended (submit everyone) but would be really, really interested in how you would advise someone that only trains 2x per week to progress as fast as that time might allow.
Thanks for all you do. Hope you’re smiling.
Max
Tim Loved the opening of the Alexis Ohanian Podcast… I think you are hilarous.. I am doing my first half Ironman in 2015.. Join me :)???
Tim –
Another great podcast, well done! Regarding an online course (not even sure if this is course-worthy), but I was wondering if you could give some time to an “older” demographic, and explain why all of the strategies you and your guests expound for hacking a successful life don’t necessarily have age constraints. I say this because, as a loyal fan approaching 50, so many colleagues and friends in my age bracket (Gen X, I suppose) simply don’t think they can pursue a successful 4HWW type life. I often push Tim Ferris material to them (books, podcasts, etc)…but their impression is often “well that’s nice for 20 or 30 somethings”. Maybe something of a case study? I guess I want to empower my generation to think bigger. So many Gen X’ers that I know are weighed down with financial burdens, etc…that they aren’t living life to the fullest, or bluntly just don’t know how. Anyway, that’s the thought. Please keep up the amazing work Tim, you are an inspiration.
Best,
Ron
Hey Tim,
I got so much value from your two podcasts with Ramit that I went back a second time to just take notes for my own benefit. Because you keep asking your regular listeners/readers for feedback and what they are gaining from these, I thought I’d write this post. Specifically:
1. It was encouraging to hear both of you (who are superstars in my book) admit that you messed up by not keeping good email lists in your early business years. I’ve been beating myself up on this lately with my first business, but now I feel able to give myself a pass (while getting down to work).
2. As someone who is starting a second business involving blogging (alongside my primary consulting business), I’ve been trying to establish realistic expectations about how long I should expect to put good free content out there before monetizing. Ramit’s comment about three years for his own work and seven years on your part gave me some food for thought.
3. I bought two of the books Ramit mentioned (Mindless Eating and Collier’s Guide). For many years now, I’ve made a habit of reading what my heroes are reading and it has served me well. Thanks for including questions about books in your interviews.
4. Because you and Ramit are good friends, I thought this was one of your best podcasts to date. You were simply relaxed and the interview flowed effortlessly. (In comparison, for example to your Catmull interview in which it seemed there were too many mmm hmms and less ease overall.)
In summary, THANKS FOR DOING THESE PODCASTS man! I’m gaining so much value for FREE that I feel like I’m giving myself the education I never formally had.
A true fan,
Brian L. Carpenter, PhD
Another great podcast.
As for what type of class, something similar to your course on Creative Live “The 4 Hour Life” would be awesome – essentially applying the Pareto approach to learning and life.
Cheers
Tim you asked who you should interview next. I think you should interview me. I am a very successful IT Project Manager. What make me unique has been my inate ability to transform myself from Mechanical Engineer to Futurist to IBM Consultant to Project Manager. The skill is natural to me and I can share my secrets with you and your readers. I’ve been a big fan since 2007. Hope you’ll consider it. Jim
I am curious to “hear” Tim and/or Ramit’s brief thoughts on Asprey’s brand (BulletproofExec) growth and how that growth may or may not turn off his (1) Broad or (2) Defined audience. His brand experience is a prime example of grass-roots content explosion into a multi-product/service brand.
It seems to me that folks like Ferris, Ramit, Asprey and kind – are continually balancing reasonable returns or significant growth against the perception of being yet another “snake oil” salesman. Leading me to another question…..How do folks like Ferris and Ramit combat the inevitable, natural heuristics and subsequent bias that can often make individuals cling to misinformation, cognitive-error and their most cherished belief-set?
The greatest advice I have ever been given in my life was from Charlie Munger, Buffet’s right-hand man – when he told me several years back – “Develop a mental checklist to combat cognitive error against heuristics, affects and tendencies”. There’s nothing more important to the aspiring intellectual entrepreneur than building your own mental checklist. See Robert Cialdini’s work for a good beginning or check out my blog, theidealstate.com.
After a long spell of drive-by posts and blogging as a hobby, I plan on developing my content in a more formal way. Great folks like Ferris and Ramit have inspired me to offer my bizarre experience to the masses.
Timmy, the podcasts have been nothing but fucking phenomenal. Please, I beg you, excuse my french because I have had a few drinks… and I think you should too! It is all part of a balanced diet, not to mention you seem much more affable after you’ve had a few in ya. All of your guests have been nothing but amazing, and they keep getting better and better. Anyways, keep doing it big my friend. I doubt this will make it through the iTunes review process (cause their assholes), so I’ll post on the landing page comments.
KEEP THE TOASTS COMING… and fuck the haters who can’t handle their booze.
Cheers,
Mickey
Hello from your newest subscriber! Found you by way of James Altucher & Ramit. The ScreenFlow mention was the icing on the cake. Thanks for the inspiration today!
-Christine
Thanks for having Ramit on, I’m looking forward to listen to this Podcast soon! Last year I came across Ramit’s blog and I’ve been very impressed by his newsletters and articles. A few months ago I purchased his video course Zero to Launch, which teaches you how to turn your passion into a successful online business. It’s a very systematic approach and after watching the first course videos and working through his assignments, I already learned many new things that I was able to implement. Keep it going with all these awesome Podcasts! Cheers
On the Bond/Bourne choice…regardless of your movie favorite, don’t miss the original 14 Bond novels from Ian Fleming. The books are some of the most well written “light” fiction anywhere in English and perfect to end the day with.
Hi Tim, I’m fan of your work. Love everything you do. You’re such an inspiration! So what I would like to see you do next is work in finding new ways and solutions of the most important problems we as the human race are facing: war, global warming, famine, sickness, poverty… choose any! I’m from Mexico and as anyone probably know, corruption is one of our biggest issues. We find ourselves complaining in Facebook about how our government is just completely out of it’s mind but it seems impossible to find a solution. Many, many of us want to do stuff to make life better for every single human being, but don’t know where to start. May be you can help finding a fast/reliable solution to any of our evils! Thanks.
I can’t thank you enough for all the great information you gave in this interview. Its a good feeling to have you both in a guru level and at the same time being so open and natural when hearing you talking.
Keep up the great work, love all the shows and particularly the show notes.
I do believe this is the first blog post i’ve ever commented on. I’m a huge fan of all of your podcasts, but for some reason this one really compelled me to leave a positive comment on your page. Ramit seems like a funny guy. I actually laughed out loud a few times during the podcast (this doesn’t happen often). Keep up these podcasts Tim! I feel inspired and motivated after listening to each and every one of them. I’m 24 and still unsure of what direction I’m heading towards in life, but these interviews are really helping me out.
Very raw and real.. “you are being self indulgent.. we are talking about ourselves for 2 hours ” hahaha love it
Thank you for the great interview. It was not long ago that I first heard of Ramit, now he seems to be everywhere.
Ramit, thank you for the great resource you included with the interview. I have just started session 3.
All the best.
Great podcast!
HACKING LANGUAGE – that would be a perfect new project for you (and us as your audience). Dissecting accelerated language learning in detail, like in Tagalog episode of your TV show + more similar goodies and techniques
Tim I would love to take a practical course on how to effectively memorize words to enhance my vocab. I’ve always admired how articulate you and the most successful people out there are. I understand it would be something worth achieving in order to become an effective leader in my micro niche as a health blogger.
Tim tim talk talk, first thing I hope you have,or will get a dog. Unconditional love, nothing like it. Second thing, observational, don’t really know you at all, but agree with your friend Ramit… Let yourself and your voice shine through. As crazy as it may seem, b/w your books, lectures, pod casts…. Etc, my guess is you are a introvert ( takes one to know one). Push yourself to the next level, get out of your comfort zone. You have mentioned a few times that you are not part / or on the same level, of the “awesomeness” of the fellow participants of the necker island crew. You are going bc you are of the same caliber , and level as your fellow crew. Do not downplay your achievements! You are awesome, this is not a fad, Embrace it 🙂 that’s my 2 cents.
I recently signed up for Seth Godin’s “Modern Marketing” course on skillshare. I enjoyed it very much and found it very helpful. Taking your content into consideration, I would definitely pay to take a course on finding and testing muse ideas.
As for the podcast, I’d like to hear an interview Robert Greene.
Get him on!
Hope this helps!
– Jeremy
Great stuff, I will agree with the masses good tactical info and do like the longer episodes with good meat to chew on
A question regarding the Lyme disease, are you using any non traditional method of treatment as an accelerator to your recovery? You always seem to have something in your back pocket to hack the system or in this case your system.
Hey Tim, first episode I tuned into, as I was not familiar with Ramit. Haven’t crossed paths again – since our brief chat at Samovar at Yerba Buena.
Anyway, I caught your tidbit on Lyme’s…
Here’s what I used to cure my Mycoplasma (Lyme’s co-infection), in less than 3 months, vs 1-2 years on rotated antibiotics every 6 weeks. (*I did not swallow ONE single pill, as I also had severe candidiasis, and antibiotics may have killed me). Many people have used it very successfully to rid various Lyme’s as well.
XE or SE model, with food pads:
http://zap.intergate.ca/
(*not an affiliate link, etc)
It uses low-voltage square waves to “kill/explode” all negatively-charged pathogens in your body. *If you’d like to see my blood slides – taken via live-blood-analysis “before & after”, shoot me an email. *Use “Re: Tim” as subject line – to ensure I receive/see it. The slides are SCARY to say the least.
Below are also a few good books I read from herbalist Stephen Buhner, though I didn’t agree with 100% of everything in them, in my case, only because of contradictions… which brings me to another likely possibility…
Chronic mercury toxicity makes you susceptible to Lyme’s, and root canals can breed it. If you have root canals, have em pulled, and potentially seek ozone therapy, as your jaw may need sterilization. (Not to be replaced with implants). A bridge can suffice.
To rule out mercury toxicity, get both a hair, and provoked urine test via “Doctors Data Labs” in Chicago. *You’ll need to use a physician to order, or you can use this website – to order directly, as they operate as a liaison: http://www.chelationmedicalcenter.com/doctors_data.html
Books:
http://www.amazon.com/Healing-Lyme-Prevention-Borreliosis-Coinfections/dp/0970869630
http://www.amazon.com/Healing-Lyme-Disease-Coinfections-Complementary/dp/1620550083/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y
Shoot me a line if you want to connect…
Best of luck brother,
I can also vouch for Stephen Harrod Buhner’s work, he is a very well respected and internationally known herbalist who resides in Vancouver Island BC Canada, right in my backyard of Vancouver. Tim Maybe if you reverse your Lyme Disease you could have him on the podcast, he’s a very intriguing man. My fav videos of his was the series when he was interviewed by Daniel Vitalis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asw0_DaA85Y
Probably one of the most interesting people I have ever heared of.
Hi Tim, it’s an outstanding and very inspiring podcast and thanks for the same. I am a recent entrepreneur (tiny now 🙁 ) in the education and training domain. I am not here only for making money but I am because, I love it and I also love to see people succeed.
I am also hoping that someday, sometime I would also have privilege to share my views and story to inspire other just like you and Ramit do regularly.
I wish you both, all the very best and looking forward to read/listen such inspiring journeys more.
Regards
Soumya
Nice Show. I like this hope you keep it continue….
Hi Tim,
I am really enjoying this podcast and am glad you are doing it. I hope Tim Tim Talk Talk is paying for itself and that I can look forward to listening to it for a long time to come. I also really appreciate the blog posts around the episodes and concise breakdown of links.
A course would be great. You cover a lot of amazing topics but I am not exactly sure what would make the best next topic. This is maybe more of a good blog post but I am always amazed how you find so many useful processes, tools, tips, sites, information sources and topics to cover with what feels like very little lost time. Whenever I attempt to do something similar I tend to get lost in the woods before finding a useful gem, especially when it comes to fitness, tech or business heavy subjects. How do you avoid “den Wald vor lauter Bäumen nicht sehen?”
Keep up the great work,
Brad
You guys are the best! Both of you are being so inspiring to me since I have all that insecurity, impostor syndrome and paralysis by analysis issues that keeps most of us of doing things we are capable of doing. I’m in the middle of a transition from my 8 year stable career to trying to figure out what I really want to do. So thank you both very much =)
Hi Tim,
Not sure if I’m missing it, but is there a transcript for anybody who wants to read these interviews, for us folks in the jungles of Fiji with slow internet connections? All are sad for me, I know 😉 I’d love this because many of the tropical hot spots where I live for a bit don’t have the best connectivity.
Thanks!
Ryan
Another suggestion TS….going with a Disqus or ComLuv commenting system would be wonderful. Yep, spam would increase but you’d also attract more quality, kick butt comments that’d grow your community, and it’d be a more professional look for your brand, especially among us island hopping bloggers/digital nomads, who revere you as a cyber deity 🙂
Even though I log into WordPress, I get asked to log in again and again, and have to use an old email address from like 10 years ago,to comment here. If not ComLuv for spam fears, totally go with Disqus. Your community will grow even more quickly, methinks 😉
Thanks for listening dude! Of course, tweeting this, because you rock.
Ryan
Holy SMOKES – Great article – well done on your persistence Ramit and not giving up what you believed in – going to download your free guides now – thank you,
Also pointed me to the simply sublime article on Hacking Kickstarter – this is perfect timing for me – thanks again.
So
Tim
I am not giving up until you take a quick look at one of my hacked visual recipes – it is right up your street (hacking, food, education)
I have been working for 2 years at reinventing the recipe into a graphical form anyone can understand in seconds (on version 5.8)
Getting ready to launch on Kickstarter very soon but would really appreciate 5 minutes of your time to check 1 or 2 recipes out.
PS – Not giving up 🙂
PPS – Love your work man
PPPS – Not giving up 🙂 🙂
Tim this is honestly your best one yet.
I’ve been a huge fan since 4HWW and started listening to the podcast… well because it was you.
One of your skills is taking technical, scientific, hard to understand data and make it easily digestible.
I’ve honestly found many of the podcasts too technical / boring / not applicable.
It’s kind of like the behind the scenes of TF.
It’s great to be on the journey with you but what I’m missing is you distilling what these people are saying and making it make sense and applicable to me.
In 5% of the time.
That’s the power of TF and your awesome books.
This, however, was great.
Ramit was a great speaker, shared lots of great info, you had tons of great questions and lots of it was immediately applicable and easy to digest.
Instead of stopping the podcast halfway through like I usually might, this one I listened all the way through (both parts) and took notes.
Keep it up!
Looking forward to more great content as you continue on your podcast journey.
Cheers,
Evan
Believe.
If you crossed Richard Branson’s last book (about making business AND making this world a better place – saving it) and the 4H philosophy, I guess we would have a truly useful tool to help saving this world.
I’m traveling through the US from France and this country is amazing but also crazy. 7+ billions humans can not live like american citizens do.
It’s great to teach people how to make money and enjoy a better life, but what’s the point if all our entire world is falling (and it is, much faster than we think)? What the point of making money if our lifes are, at the end of the day, useless ?
Then, as a big fan of the great entrepreneur Richard Branson and the great writer Tim, I really think your next big move Tim should face the climate change. People don’t give a sh**t about Earth but you sir could make them change. You have the writer genius, the influence and a great entrepreneurial mind.
Go for it, you could really make a difference to save the world.
– By the way, when we met in Amsterdam 1 year ago or something, you gave me a great piece of advice. I just wanted to thank you again, it was great meeting you in real and having this little chat. Since then I’m “evangelizing” the 4 Hour way of thinking in several French Universities and I always tell students to get your books. Their feedback is awesome 🙂
Hey Tim,
Enjoying the Tim(Tim) Podcast and tnx for the books.
As a 21yrs & following up ur work around a year, I think you can do a course which I don’t think I can afford but I can pay for the online version of materials related to it (Like DISSS).
Maybe you can do a course for mastering a skill that is also new to you. So that would be interesting to me.
Tnx for everything.
My key takeaway for online based growth was:
“You don’t need tens of mediocre posts. You need a few **great posts**. A few of which should be on your blog (for when people actually find you). And a few great guest posts, to lead people to your blog from blogs with an audience.
And make the posts as niche as possible.
This I’m taking away.
Also, Tim & Ramit, thank you for sharing. I feel like I’ve grown a lot this past year by listening “in” on these talks; experience takes years to accumulate and suddenly through these talks we have access to this consultancy-like information!
Best,
Cem
Hola Tim
Just a fun note on your Spanish idiomatic expression at the beginning of the podcast
“Ni en pedo”
I’m sure you know that you know the literal translation is “Not even if fart”
In Mexico we also use the idiomatic expression as they do in Argentina but it by slightly tweaking it, it has many other applications/meanings (At least in Mexico)
1. Ni pedo “oh well….” “whatever…..”
2.Que pedo? “Whats up” “Whats going on”
3. Que pedoooo (depending on how its said, voice tonality= “wow! No way” (disbelief)
4. No la hagas de pedo “stop making a big deal out of it, stop making things difficult”
5. No hay pedo “Everything is good, no problem”
Your Spanish is quite good for a Gringo haha =b Although I have noticed that you don’t talk with an Argentine accent XD
Hahaha… that’s true! Funny you mention the Argentine accent. Due to time in Spain and also elsewhere (Panama, etc.), I only really sound Argie with a few specific words, usually with “ll” or “y”.
loved the episodes with Ramit, would love for you to have Grant Cardone on the show, he’s full of energy !!!!
Hi Tim,
Informative, funny, inspirational..what more one can ask for ?
The choice of guests, questions asked, topics discussed, everything helps to remind one ( me) by how much good, creativity and altruism we’re surrounded with…if we choose to look and see.
I’m sorry to hear about you having Lyme disease..I’m certain that you did extensive research on this and if you already tried it or dismissed it as an alternative, I apologise, but I have to mention HBOT. It works..
Good luck with everything and a huge thank you for your work !!!
Looks like your podcast has driven enough traffic to Amazon to alter their “related searches” algorithm for each of the books mentioned during the podcast: http://imgur.com/uKINEDS
Having not heard of Ramit Sethi previously, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Now I’m taking his courses. This was an excellent interview that moved fast and covered a lot of ground. Thanks for introducing me to him.
Love the links. Thanks! I’ve ordered books from them.
I’ve had a successful life (work+luck) and now balance an outdoor country life with indoor writing (changing minds website). I know I could make much more money but I have enough and value calm as well as excitement. I wonder: is this a British thing? Your energy and that of people like you is amazing and I wonder how much of your drive comes from the American culture.
Best wishes, Dave
Hey Tim, I really enjoy how you digg into those conversations [ 4h week mode] to get the best out of it.
You should interview with your unorthodox questions :
(Highly unreachable people) Warren Buffet, Sara Blakely, Donald Trump, Evan williams, Jeff Bezos, or all those business guys mentionned by Tony Robbins.
But if you could interview Elon Musk or even Ray Dalio with your style, it will be kind of Chrismas has come early for all of us !
Otherwise the bloggers Matt Marshall, Pete Cashmore, Gina Trapani, Michael Arrington are also great ones.
As authors : Malcolm Gladwell, Robert Greene, Robert Wright, Dan Ariely, David Perlmutter, Stephen Hawking, Ben Goldacre (a really smart + outgoing guy)
I’m also a big fan of Ray Kurzweil, he writes about the processus of aging. He is a big avant-gardist !
To finish, randomly : a sleep specialist, someone who live a pure ZEN life and please get A.J JACOBS !!! I know he is a friend of yours and I really love how he design his lifestyle, where did he gets all of his inspiration ?! On a top of that he is kind and funny or isn’t it ? :).
So if you just could interview one of this guys, I think the audience would really enjoy it (but maybe not as much as me hehe) but if you don’t….
I’ll put you on a plane and send you back to Denmark ! Just kidding, love your work and i really appreciate that you make all this stuff for free.
Have a great day.
A rat tail? Oversharing.
Perhaps this is very encouraging! Thank you Ramit Sethi. 🙂
Couple things here that I hope get to you guys. First, I have been reluctant to join the recent podcast “craze.” I didn’t think it was a good fit for me for whatever reason. Today I had a long drive so I figured WTH, and started with this podcast because I know of Ramit. I’m hooked. The content was great and it was great to doing something somewhat “productive” while I drove.
Second, to put it bluntly, I have always thought Ramit was a pompous douche, really for no other reason than that I saw a Youtube clip of him in 2009 celebrating his book hitting the NYT best sellers list and it reminded me of an episode of the Jersey Shore. It shows that I was in fact the douche because I judged him based on my initial reaction to a 30 second video that most likely was based out of jealousy. I definitely was the loser in the situation because I missed out on several years of great stuff from Ramit.
The podcast was fantastic. You both were fantastic. Thanks for dealing with idiots like me. Keep up the good work. The end.
Such a wealth (pun intended) of advice, knowledge and inspiration. Thank you both for this life changing podcast.
Just finished listening to this podcast – fantastic interview! I love all the psychology stuff especially. One course I wouldn’t mind seeing you create would be a course on speed reading. I buy so many books mentioned on your podcast, I can’t keep up reading them! I’m always amazed when you talk about how you read multiple books a week.
Also, I’d love to go through a course from you that was about taking things to the next level, going from a 6-figure business to a 7-figure business, and how the strategies change as you grow.
I followed your 4hww playbook, completely stopped consuming news or television, defined my north star, started a business, and moved to Rio de Janeiro with my newfound geographic freedom 🙂 . From how to set up the site, incorporate, hire a VA, etc., it really laid out a great foundation for the novice entrepreneur (which was 100% me at the time)
The book does a great job of showing the reader how to go from $0 revenue to [something positive]. A course on where to go from there would be awesome. Just my two cents, but I think that would be epic 🙂
Hi Tim: I am not sure how I originally heard about you. I am an ESOL Teacher and listen to your podcast in my 1 hour commute. You have such amazing guests. You also have a wealth of information. I just bought your books mainly because I want to learn as much as I can from you. After this term (I am also working on my MA in TESOL) I plan on diving in to your books. I am so excited to hear about what is coming up next. Keep doing what you are doing. I love it. I am curious about how your Lyme’s disease is going and how you are being treated. My dad also has Lyme’s and is struggling with it. Any suggestions you may have would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Tim,
I just went back and listened to this podcast episode again. There’s a lot of great saw-sharpening tactical material here (like the 50 proven email scripts)!
You guys started on an especially interesting subject at one point: you started talking about the dos and don’ts of contacting busy people, and how to make connections with being annoying or trying to get something for yourself. Which brings me to the following thought:
I think your audience would love to hear more detailed thoughts from you on the subject of networking. What, after all, could be more important to lifestyle design than a strong personal and professional network?
I’m an introvert and not a natural networker, so I read blogs and books about it, like Never Eat Alone. A lot of the advice out there is generic or unelaborated upon, e.g.:
1) “Always offer value first” – great, but when you’re starting out and you don’t have a hugely popular blog or podcast following, what can you possibly offer that’s valuable to the person you’re trying to connect with?
2) “Cultivate at Least 10 ‘Strategic Relationships'” – What defines strategic, and how do you build networking relationships with people when you don’t have natural reasons to keep in contact with them. I know the president of a P.R. company, for example, but other than sending him interesting articles from time to time, contacting him regularly would be more of an intrusion on his time than a step forward in a relationship.
I would love to see what 4HWW principles like 80/20 and automation would look like when effectively applied to networking, and I think a lot of your audience would. I think you could do a particularly excellent podcast on it.
So, I hope I can add this two cents to the mix. I love your books, and I follow the podcast religiously. Thank you for all the great info!
Take it easy!
-Scott
Great suggestion, Scott. I’ll do some thinking 🙂
Tim
Regarding your question, yes I would like to see you create a course. I’m interested in a course on the following themes:
1) Tim Ferriss’s Approach To Learning From Experts (this is a recurring theme in your writing, especially “Four Hour Chef” and I’d like to know more)
2) Building An Internet Muse Business. “The Four Hour Work Week” suggests ideas at a high level – more detail and feedback would be helpful.
In any case, I suggest offering a VIP option where students can gain 1/1 feedback from you or something along those lines.
Dear Tim!
As we started our biz, and growing it successfully, we are wondering what you would recommend as the best product to handle accounting, inventory which would synch with all selling platforms (shopify, amazon, ebay, etsy for example) and would also include the information and sales to retail stores we wholesale to (purchase orders, invoices, etc). Guidance is welcome because in our research, there is no such specific tailored product and Microsft Accounting is not available anymore.
thank you in advance for recommendations
and super happy amazing 2015!
Cheers!
Jen
Hey Tim – this was a great episode. Look forward to reading Ramit’s blog. Small point – the link to his site above doesn’t have your /tim in and the link 404’s
I want to see you hack “spirituality” (ie meditation, philosophy, personal growth, outlook on life …)
This was not only a nourishing, detailed and ultimately inspiring conversation to listen to – but I scroll down and find a link to everything referenced in the discussion?!?!!
It makes complete sense, but the extra effort you gave to provide that value is very much appreciated. – Thank you!
I think you should make a video series-type course. That would be very awesome! Long time fan btw!
What about the Four Hour World, a concise course on what can be done regarding poverty, famine, depression, in the World, where are the economic breaks and why are they there, can something be done in the soil of third world countries to improve quality of life, what are the environmental factors and what part do the richer countries have in them, essentially what can be done to fix the big picture.
Hi Tim,
Want a great idea ? May be a million dollar idea ?
Go for a mastermind and do What nobody does in masterminds, make The content available for everyone. I mean get someone with a situation in a mastermind of yours, record the mastermind answers and make it available to us. What do you think ?
Weird synchronicity kind of day… so I have a virtual flash card deck (SRS) of quotes and excerpts that I like to read every so often. One of the cards in that deck is a quote from the Four Hour Body:
“Job not going well? Company having issues? Some idiot making life difficult? If you add ten laps to your swimming, or if you cut five seconds off your best mile time, it can still be a great week.”
This quote exists in my brain now, since I’ve put it on a flash card. Anyways, today I deadlifted 300 lbs, the first time I’ve hit that weight in years, and tying my personal best. And I immediately thought of the quote, and it was a good day.
Fast forward to this evening, and I’m going through my flash card reviews for the day, and that exact card shows up. I expect it to show up in review about every 3-4 months, so the odds of that are pretty low.
To finish off the Tim Ferriss triple synchronicity, I also happened to listen to this podcast today, which is the first of your podcasts that I’ve ever listened to.
Why am I telling you this? I have no idea… but it made me feel pretty cool. And this was a fantastic podcast; I’m a big fan of Ramit as well.
I have followed your stuff for the last year. But I have never left a comment. Going to try to stop being selfish and start giving back.
One thing that I believe you should create is a paid community of like minded people. I am a part of a paid community and I believe there is something that fundamentally changes within the dynamic of the group when we have skin in the game so to say. If there was a community that was like “For 50 dollars a month, you get a forum of people who are serious about optimization and behavioral change for the good of the human race.” I would join that.
Very similar to what Ramit has with Ramit’s Brain Trust.
Ramit hit it on the head around the 1 hour mark on Part 1. We want to hear about Tim’s personal, everyday experiences. I think we have since this time podcast was created. This is also coming from the “Target” demographic, 25 – 40 year old male. We can relate and want to hear similar experiences others in this demographic are having. I think that’s what made the 4HWW (now franchise) so popular!
Hey Tim,
I really enjoy your podcasts.
This one in particular was a blast to listen to.
I see you have been in Argentina, when you can, come by to Chile.
Best of success (more success can’t be a bad thing) to you,
Gaspar
If you were self-indulgent in a self-aggrandizing and needy for attention way I would unsubscribe but because you sincerely give, share, encourage, and educate for the sake of (here’s the sexy word for responsibility) empowerment I can’t wait and can’t keep up with the cool shit you do.
Hello. I am an eclectic guy, with passion for health & wealth. Currently I am working on what it will be my book and I am immersed in your 4 hours work week book, based on the interest your podcast triggered in me. I bought the 4 hour body right away, without even thinking and keep listening to some of your podcast episodes, videos of your key notes, etc… YOU HAVE TO CREATE A COURSE. My doubts is the format: Only live course? or you might want to record it and also sell it on digital format…. THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR WORK.
Wow, this is a lot of useful information, thank you for sharing so much of your experience.
even though i feel you are an out and out soulless creature I really love your podcasts and an avid listener. I love it. Would be awesome if you could do an interview with Richard Branson.
Great podcast….Ramit, I LOVE the lie your dad gave you about being allergic to dogs. My parents told me the same lie and I found out after about 30 years, that it was a lie. Now that I look back, it all makes sense, when my dad was in the army, dogs were under his control and care! they even have a newspaper clipping with a picture…..
So many take aways from this podcast, I think a big thing is bringing things to ‘front of mind’ and perhaps reigniting that sense of want/desire to find my own definition of success, regardless of any and all obstacles.
Cheers.
Hello Tim,
As you seem to have a recipe to succeed in everything you set your mind to, and are connected with so many influent people, could you imagine a way to spread peace into this world ? It is so necessary and it looks like an interesting challenge for you. If I m too idealistic, don t bother.
Tim, you could do a course on pretty much anything and if you priced it right you would make a zillion bucks. Right now it might be about something like “Tim teaches you how to develop a morning ritual for success” with like 5 videos and one 45 minute webinar and you would be golden. Another great one would be “How to turn 40” with like tons of personal content about your life journey to middle age. People would eat that up. You can pretty much talk about anything and get enough subscribers to make it pay. What is the obstacle in your way and how can you make it your way really?
Tightly focused ‘mini-courses’ on specific business and lifestyle topics would be cool…. Integrating principles, examples, action/application questions and checklists along with maybe a few relevant inspirational quotes. And some resource links. Also, more graphics/visuals/charts would be great.
Well Tim this podcast was liberating.Ramit is very straightforward.Thats what I enjoyed most about the interview.Thank you both!you especially for sharing all you learn….
I think you should interview Denise Duffield-Thomas. [Moderator: link removed.]
For those of you (like me) who listened to this podcast after delicious was shutdown, I found out that delicious was bought by Pinboard and that Ramit moved his collection of links over to the new service.
You can find his “freeloaders” links here:
https://pinboard.in/u:ramitsethi/t:freeloaders/
Well..Its quite interesting