In this episode we interview Timothy Ferriss from the Four Hour Work Week.
Runtime: 19:30
A quick rundown of the episode:
- We interview Timothy Ferriss from the Four Hour Work Week.
- BOOB Update – Pawn Stars
- New BOOB Challenge – Dodge Ball
- Chalk Talk – Who Kicks Ass?
- On the Next Episode – Interview with Kade Dworkin
{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
You guys ACTUALLY pulled it off! I wanted to believe, and you guys pulled through. AMAZING episode! Great interview, great content, great camera work, loved it.
Unfortunately there’s nowhere to go now…. it’s like getting the benz for your 16th birthday.. now what?
Strong work.
-Jared Colvert
Oh and the conspiracy theorists only look like crazies until the crazy stuff actually materializes.
Actually it wasn’t hard to figure out after they mentioned to the Short Sale guy that they would see him in SF.
I just sat on that one till I felt I could pull it out like a magician.
Congrats on getting the interview.
Video Reply from The Ren Men
NANCY doing WORK!
Gents,
Why didn’t you interview Paula Abdul? Maybe you could perform for her (a bit of retro, A cappella-styled “Forever Your Girl”) and let her review you ala ‘American Idol’.
While I like the Chum Mug, I miss the Eidemiller-home mugs. Luckily I’ve watched episode 16 and I realize that my mugz (gangsta-street-lingo) make a cameo in the parking lot…Likely before a Greek wedding style dinnerware smash fest!
Cheers,
Matt
Video Reply from The Ren Men
Best show yet. It will be a challenge to top it. : ) Maybe get Gary V on there on a future show.
Wanted to pass along a book recommendation – Start With Why by Simon Sinek.
Keep up the great work. I will keep following the RenMen.
Video Reply from The Ren Men
Great suggestion.
Video reply from The Ren Men
Now that is way cool guys! Lets see what you do to reel in RDPD for a talkfest……..
Video reply from The Ren Men
Great show, guys! Has Grant come down from his Tim Ferris high yet? It was like he was on crack during the entire episode. It’s great going through life being excited, isn’t it?
When you guys were standing next to Tim, I couldn’t help but notice…well, let me ask it this way. Are the two of you incredibly tall?
By the way, I got Gary V’s “Crush It!” on your recommendation and loved it. Great book! I got the audiobook and Gary goes off script quite a bit. There’s a lot of great extra stuff on the audiobook. Thanks for the recommendation!
Video reply from The Ren Men
WOW
In hindsight I can see where I might have guessed what the big surprise was… but it totally caught me off guard! What a great Interview! Definitely the best so far. I think the four (+) questions was better than just the “why” question from previous interviews!
For book recommendations, I don’t have any business ones, but two books that are on my top recommendation list are:
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Emergency: This Book Could Save your Life by Neil Strauss
Both changed the way I thought about the world and Atlas Shrugged gave me one of those Paradigm Shifting experiences despite being a work of “fiction”.
Some more interview ideas: I’d be interested in a 5 minute interview with a lawyer, CPA, realtor, etc and their thoughts on how small/startup companies should use their services.
(I’m still thinking “wow… they just interviewed Tim Ferriss!”)
Oh, this is also the first time I noticed the credits at the end. That felt really good for some reason.
anyway, just yet another great episode in general and the best interview episode yet!
Video reply from The Ren Men
Grant and Alan,
Mitch and you each noted that your questions to Tim F were more efficient than prior interviews. To me, it is always wise to have at least one standard question that you ask to everyone you interview to see how different people handle a similar question. I knew of one power executive who always asked “What is keeping you awake at night” when chatting with customers. The purpose of this question is of course to dive into what really concerns them the most, and sometimes you get surprised by the response.
Keep up the good work,
Matt
Video reply from The Ren Men
This was awesome! I just stumbled upon your blog and this was a great introduction.
Are you going to talk about what you did to get Tim’s attention? (Maybe I need to read past posts to get this answer?)
Video reply from The Ren Men
Hi Guys,
I really enjoyed the episode. Kudos on the interview. I found your site during the 4hww cold remedy, and have seen great improvement in the site and with the videos. Informative and entertaining.
One of the business books I recommend for developing business ideas is “jump start your business brain” by Doug Hall.
Thanks guys. Stay off the bench.
Impressive…
… that you got the Tim Ferris interview…I can’t fathom how you pulled that one off.
You guys are doing a great job of giving the nuts and bolts of what you do, and then throwing in the fun stuff with it, like this interview, and all the challenges…. you should have tried to sell/pawn something.
Have you read the E-Myth by Michael Gerber? Great book for any entrepreneur. If you haven’t you guys seem to be instinctively applying a lot of the principles.
I also think: Do You Matter: How Great Design Will Make People Love Your Company is a good one. Probably not what you would expect from the title. Curious what you think about it.
Keep up the good work and the energy!
Chad
Video reply from The Ren Men
Alan,
You missed the obvious opportunity on Pawn Stars to offer Grant into indentured servitude to the Vegas Pawn dealers. He didn’t require any room within your carry-on luggage and his value (offering price) is widely negotiable. Plus, most purchasers would likely return him (even at discount) within a 30 day trial period to help contribute to revenue recognition for your organization without permanently parting with your unique product offering!
Keep on keepin’ on,
Matt
Fantastic episode on a couple of fronts…
1. Obviously Tim Ferriss! Nice interview, I like the fact that you didn’t go with the traditional set of questions – btw where you next to ship?
2. B Roll/Video Footage was awesome!
3. Very well put together episode, congratz!
Book recommendations….[From the RR Archives]
1. The Art of the Deal – Donald Trump
2. Losing my virginity – Richard Branson
3. Business Stripped Bare – Richard Branson
4. The Attractor Factor – Joe Vitale [Mindset Book]
5. The Richest man in babylon – George S. Clason
I would love to do a video book review if your interested!
RR
Video reply from The Ren Men
Hi guys,
now…that, was a totally inspiring show!!!
Renaissance Men + Lifestyle Design Godfather = high for the day, and beyond.
Seriously, that was awesome
As usual, Tim showed how clear he really is on what matters most to him and the real contribution he can makes in this world (I don’t think a lot of people can give as clear and simple an answer as he does, mainly because it takes an aweful LOT of deep thinking and practice)
And the video style was great too (really felt like I was taking the trip with you
)
As for the books, I would recommend only one I read recently that made it to my top 3 after only the first few pages and that ties perfectly with your concept of being a Renaissance man.
It’s called The DA VINCI METHOD by Garret Loporto.
Guys, you clearly have the entrepreneurial spirit going on for you (ADD style baby
)…and that book is an attempt to explain why we are the way we are and how we can best leverage those traits to go after our dreams and have an impact on this earth.
Reading it, I felt like this book was written exactly for me, personnally (and I think it will do the exact same thing for any entrepreneur as we seem to share the same “DNA”). It cleared off a lot of bad paradigms I had on my strengths and weaknesses.
Why the “Da Vinci Method”? The theory is that LDV had all the same behaviors (passionate borderline obsessive, holistic, thrill and adventure seeking, easily distracted, creative…) that entrepreneurs, artists and leaders have today.
but we’ve got some typical and recurring mistakes to be aware of and avoid if we don’t to go Howard Hugues…
In that way, we share the same “DNA”. And the challenges and opportunities are the same for us. ADD is just another name for potential greatness
If you are true Renaissance Men, you can’t not read this book
Anyway, enough rambling…thanks again a lot for your show and your enthousiasm!
Have a great day guys..and keep us inspired
Damien from France
PS: one last thing about the book: it’s a little bit too much “spiritual” and woo woo from time to time…but as always, the main message is what really counts.
Video reply by The Ren Men
Ok, I’m impressed. Great stuff guys!
The things Grant say in the beginning are worth stressing: Basically that Tim made you change a paradigm from put in time – exchange for money and have security to pursue things that really matter to you, pursue dreams. My parents are both employed at univerisities working with pretty theoretical stuff (mathematics and languages) so my paradigm has been: study hard – education is very important – get a degree – and exchange time for money in a large organisation where theoretical skills are valued. So I kind of did that, spent five year at a university, got a fancy degree (so that’s why I’m good at reading thick tomes like the Intelligent Investor) and got a decent job at a big organisation. Even before hearing of Tim Ferriss or lifestyle design I had been thinking of, and taking small steps towards veering off course, but it’s good to get a kick in the back which is what you guys and Tim are providing.
Tim says that as you progress with lifestyle design your desire to have drops and your desire to do increases. That’s probably true, but I’m totally in the desire to have phase, and while I enjoy reading about multimillionaire philantropists doing cool stuff , what really gets me going is hearing about inspiring people that are in somewhat the same situation as me .
So a question for you: Where do you see yourselves on the desire to have – desire to do scale? And does the scale make sense to you? Are there more dimensions?
Video reply from The Ren Men
Mitch, get off the bench!! Emergency is Alan’s No 6 recommendation two posts ago. Atlas Shrugged on the other hand is a great recommendation, but it has to be handled with a bit of care as I have seen some people take it too far.
One more book recommendation from me: Anyone can do it – Duncan Bannatyne.
It’s an autobiographical story starting with Duncan being a 30 year old beach bum doing stray jobs on Jersey Shore (the channel island one, not Mike the Situation). Then he starts a small scale ice cream vending business in the pretty tough environment of England in the late 70s, and moves on from that to become one of the UK’s most known and successful businessmen.
Now he’s on tv all the time in a show called Dragon’s Den which is a sort of American Idol auditions for entreprenueurs. Bidding entrepreuners pitch their ideas to well known self made businessmen who reject most of it but invest real money in a few cases. I know the show would be a smash hit in the US – cant believe it hasnt been done yet.
Cool jersey shore dig
Video reply from The Ren Men
So there is/was a Dragons Den in the US – I’ll be darned! Agree that follow up is crucial.
Regarding the “desire to have”, while I don’t think there anything wrong in desiring material possessions, I meant it more like having the freedom of mastering one’s own time. To not be dependent on working for somebody else.
I’ve made a blog post of my original comment by the way, with a picture of you interviewing Tim Ferriss.
Video reply by Alan
I love you guys! Great work with the Show! I get stoked to “get off the bench” after every episode.
You guys need to read this book!!!
“Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi…It will make your Top 5 books ever list…make my words. I know that’s a bold statement but trust me. It is a must read.
Cheers from Canada!
Jeff
Never Eat Alone; Read it.. great book
I had a subcontractor give it to me, he has an entrepreneur club and that was one of the books they read.
Really shows you how to make connections and keep them 4ever!
Great read
RR
Video reply by The Ren Men
Man this show has gotten exponentially better – and it was good to start with!
Could you guys go over how you negotiate with the banks and some more details around financing. More specifically, the downpayment required.
Thanks for doing this! This show is better than anything on TV right now – besides The Office of-course.
Video reply from The Ren Men
Hi Guys!
I’m enjoying your blog and particularly the info on real estate.
How are you financing your new deals? I own five rental properties and lenders seem to be putting up the roadblocks for financing future purchases. Is there a magic secret I am missing here?
Best,
Erick Känd, Hypnotist
Video reply from The Ren Men
Nice one. Watched all your episodes since you were featured on the 4hww blog. Guess you bought enough books to get a partyticket?
As for another book that fits to this vid:
The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance – Josh Waitzkin
Oh and for a future episode, I’d love to hear how you started out and got your first money down to start your journey. Guess you need some sort of financial background for that? Especially since you had some upsets as with the cheap house you bought that cost so much to get in shape.
Video Reply from The Ren Men
Awesome Ep!
I’ve been on a RenMena-athon watching all of the eps in my free time.
Cool books:
Voyage of a Buccaneer Scholar by James Marcus Bach — talks about a HS drop out and his exploits to be awesome in his field
Tribes by Seth Godin — Another great Godin book. Talks about what you guys are doing in developing your tribe and maintaining focus.
And what do you think about this one Your First 100 Million 2nd Edtion by Daniel S. Pena Sr. http://www.danpena.com ?
We don’t know him, what do you think?