Join the New Rich: Outsource Your Life

Timothy Ferriss is the author of  The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, a guide to improving your professional and personal life by focusing on doing what you love... and outsourcing the rest.  His book has already hit several bestseller lists including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com. 

At the age of 29, Ferriss has accomplished more than most have in a lifetime. With the help of outsourcing, he's been able to build a $1.2 million sports nutrition business, become a cage fighter in Japan, hold a Guinness World Record in tango and star as an actor in mainland China and Hong Kong.

Interview Highlights with Timothy Ferriss

Q. How did you get started with virtual outsourcing?
A. From the beginning I've used Elance for graphic design, coding, as well as virtual assistants. Even so, in 2004 I was still working 80 to 90 hours a week.  I was burning out so I made a resolution: I only wanted to run my business if I could do it from anywhere in the world… and on my terms.  I chose to quit being busy and focus on being productive.  So I moved to London and started running my business by wireless internet.

Q. That was a bold move. Weren't you afraid of the risk? 
A. To be honest I thought I would fail.  But I was committed to the idea.  I outsourced customer service for order tracking and returns.  I cut down on meetings and conference calls.  I even decided I would only handle email once a week for a maximum of two hours.  I made massive changes to how I worked – and profits rose by 30% the first month.  It pointed out to me just how much time I had wasted in my professional and personal life. 

Q. Your book focuses on outsourcing personal and professional tasks.  What personal tasks have you outsourced?
A. Lots of things – at one point I even outsourced online dating.  I developed a set of 'standards' and a profile of my ideal date.  I then assigned a different provider to represent me, each on a different online service.  They did all the legwork, sifted through the responses, and short-listed the people who seemed like a great match for me. 

Q. Any final thoughts or advice you can give the Elance community?
A. Time is our greatest resource… and it's non-renewable.  I have so many things I want to accomplish, and they all take time.  I learned I could travel around the world and run a business from wherever I found myself. There are a lot of things you can do to streamline your personal and professional life; here are some of the big ones:

Tips from Tim: Streamline Your Personal and Professional Life

• Go on a low-information diet.  Focus on your output instead of consuming info.  Even though technology has made it easy to have news and information at your fingertips doesn't mean you have to consume all that information.
• Focus on elimination instead of organization.  Bottlenecks pop up quickly in a digital world.  Eliminate things first.  Then worry about organizing what's left.
• Create a Not To Do List.  I like to flip the 80/20 rule around:  20% of the people take up 80% of your time.  So, for example determine who takes up all of your time and put them on your Not to Talk To List.
• Delegate anything that can be done for half of your wage.  Calculate how much you make per hour; say it's $20.  Then, for example, if you can have non-critical emails answered for $10 or less, hire a virtual assistant.
• Calculate your Target Monthly Income.  Add up all the things that would contribute to your ideal lifestyle – homes, cars, trips, etc.  Determine how much you need to make to reach that lifestyle and then create a plan to get there.  If you calculate you're already there, beware:  You've entered the Working for Work's Sake zone. If you're where you want to be, focus on spending more time on personal goals.  The point of "making it" is not to be rich – it's to live a richer life.