Last night I was at Tim Ferriss‘ pre-book launch drinks party (the book being Four Hour Work Week). I got there a little late and the event was in full swing. Tim was there surrounded (and I really do mean surrounded… there was no way out without a bit of a fight ;) ) . For once I actually sat and wrote down a few notes… now that’s very unusual for me… sitting down with a pen and paper! (legacy writing implement and all that!)

So here goes… Sarah’s notes!!! Now please note I’m paraphrasing and not everything will be word for word perfect, so if I’ve misinterpreted my notes or something I apologize in advance! It is NOT intentional.

The hardest things about blogging & some advisories:
Finding his voice which came through practice. Doesn’t like long paragraphs.
Think of the blog as a long term project not a short term thing.
Write for your readers.
Stumbleupon is better than Digg – in terms of no of referrals.
Study Headlines
Don’t BS your readers, be honest and open with them.
Who not how many… quality of readers.
Audience, reputation, niche and easy to remember URL are a currency.

Innovation & Entrepreneurs:
Defined: People who dare to try.
Try lots and see what sticks
Watch out for Digg in the near future…. lots of potential to be purchased.

Mistakes He’s made:
Starting an audio book business straight out of uni and plowing student savings. The mistakes were that he chose to create a product without first finding out whether there was a market for it or even a need for it.
Other mistakes included not listening to advice at school about where to apply to for college.

Lifestyle Challenges:
Lack of travel in the next 12 months
Lonely when on your own

Random comments:
Judge people on what they do not what they say.

Hours worked per week:
Depends on the definition of work: Tim’s definition -
Work is something that you would like to do less of because there’s too much volume or it’s financially motivated.
His answer was close to Zero!

Economic Climates:
Recessions are a great time for startups. Companies cut costs but look for safe places to invest in… therefore look to startups rather than the property or financial markets! Also everything is cheaper for a startup during a recession, less risk and more reward!

Tim then went off into a random conversation about midgets & gymnastics (not that he has anything against either midgets or gymnastics) and other random mumblings as the questions came in at a faster pace! He stopped with the public speaking thing shortly after that and did some book signings and chatted to people on a one to one basis. All in all it was an interesting and enjoyable event.

Now I know some of you think Tim is cute so just for all the girls I got a reasonable close up.(courtesy of Steve Lamb) Anyway, back to the purpose… lots of interesting content and a great blog to go and read!

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 2:50 pm and is filed under Inspiration, Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.