I finally got the chance to meet Tim Ferris himself! Great man!
Timothy “Tim” Ferris is one of the world’s sensational authors of various self-help books, one of which is his famous, “The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich” Book which impressively stays on The New York Times Best Seller List for four years. Tim shares to us a lifestyle design which has put thousands of people to reflect and reexamine their lives and what do they really want to get out of it. Tim used to be a “cliche” workaholic (Deferrers): “a no time for other things” type of workaholic. When he took action and took a vacation from this unhealthy work lifestyle, he established a labor-saving system by outsourcing everyday tasks to virtual assistants, teaching us how to work smart and as productive but not necessarily hard.
As he says it in his writings, “Fun things happen when you earn dollars, live on pesos, and compensate in rupees, but that’s just the beginning.”
He proposed four main chapters in his book: DEAL, Definition, Elimination, Automation and Liberation. Definition is the initial step. Figuring out what is it you want and what is that you do not want in your life ie. fears, personal obstacles, etc. Elimination is about the 80/20 Time Management Rule. Focus on what contributes the majority of the benefits. Automation is where he encourages you to build your business where it doesn’t require your presence. Business Management focusing around automatic source of income. Liberation is the final step where you encourage to liberate yourself geographically. Travel. Meet new people. Basically, he encourages us to create a business or as he refers to it as “muse” that we can automate and separate ourselves from: a hands free business. In other words, keeping control but removing it as far from our lives as possible. He explains we should practice DEAL and not DELA which most of people do. You can be as productive in the Philippines enjoying Boracay beaches as sitting in your work desk in the US.
He encourages outsourcing to developing countries like the Philippines where people can skillfully do different tasks for you: administrative, Graphics work, Programming, Telemarketing, Customer Support, etc. As long as the job can be performed remotely, outsourcing is possible—and is a viable and cost-effective automation and liberation option.
Check out more outsourcing lessons and discussion on our outsourcing blog.