
Has anyone successfully implemented the 4 hour workweek? - bokenator
Curious to have a discussion surrounding whether people have successfully maintained a four hour work week. Also included can be those that have completely automated businesses too. On a personal note, I find freedom in being able to not work the 9-5 job. If I were to work 9=5 this would be certainly side income with the hope to then quit the 9-5.
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akulbe
Tim Ferriss has mentioned coming up with the title as something flashy to make
for more sales.

Even he says it's not about a literal 4-hour week of work. The thrust of the
book is about how to break things down into systems, and figure out how to
make your work (and life in general) more efficient.

You do this by deconstructing things, and figuring out what pieces you can do
more easily to get bigger gains.

I'd _highly_ recommend listening to his podcast, as it's almost like the gift
that keeps on giving. I say this because of the people that he interviews, and
the questions he asks. He helps figure out what successful people do, that
makes them successful.

I'm talking him up, but it's only because there have been a few things that
I've gotten between the book and a couple of the podcast interviews that have
been very helpful in my personal life.

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jimenezjrs
Long story short: tried it twice, the second time was the charm as a
freelancer. Earning less money as I was full time, but steadily going up and
getting close. Sidenote: changed my life, I'm more productive in general.

Don't want to make a blogpost of a comment. The how? It depends on two things
mostly: lifestyle and family. As I'm 25 and single it was easier for me to do
that because I can tweak my lifestyle as I want. I think it's a bigger
challenge for those who have someone to support. And by tweaking I mean push
yourself little by little to spend less, you get used to it quickly.

~~~
bokenator
That's amazing, I have spoken to many people who have read the book, and I
haven't met anyone who has even attempted it. I have tried it a couple of
times as well, but I haven't been able to get it to sustain.

~~~
jimenezjrs
Actually I didn't know there was a book about that. I remember reading a post
of a guy doing that here on HN though. I had some savings and an opportunity
arose, after some serious doubts and thinking, I took the leap. But for those
who have a startup or do freelance work, I think it's highly probable to be
able to do it as well.

I have also a friend who does UI/UX web development who's been doing this for
a couple of years too.

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GFischer
The guy behind the BuiltWith site is probably the most succesful (not sure if
he implemented the 4-hour workweek stuff from the book, but he surely lives
it)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10316060](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10316060)

[http://www.startupdaily.net/2015/09/builtwith-is-perhaps-
one...](http://www.startupdaily.net/2015/09/builtwith-is-perhaps-one-of-
australias-most-profitable-online-companies-and-has-zero-staff/)

[https://medium.com/@andrewjrogers/the-story-of-
builtwith-e3b...](https://medium.com/@andrewjrogers/the-story-of-
builtwith-e3bbc17c239f#.7cn8cuwa2)

~~~
hacknat
If you take a look at the "Ask HN: Passive Income?" posts of the past you'll
see a few people who crack 5 digit monthly recurring profits on small, niche
SaaS businesses, and who have automated it quite well:

The guy who built this site:
[https://www.s3stat.com/](https://www.s3stat.com/)

Claims that he only puts a handful of hours a month in.

I'm not saying that I see a lot of these people, but I'd say a handful every
year seem to pop up.

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bbcbasic
I think the 4 hour week is a red herring.

IIRC the author did it by making a business more efficient and use less of his
time. But his starting point was an insanely successful business. That's the
prerequisite for following his steps!

Alternatively he suggests getting a job you can work remotely then outsource
cheaply to take yourself out of the equation. Yeah right. Good luck with that!

The goal really is to build enough wealth so that you can work 0 hours per
week. Probably doable by investing wisely and cutting back on lifestyle.

~~~
giltleaf
I'm about halfway through the process as described in an underpaid non-profit
position (ie, going remote, setting up automated systems, wasting less time in
meetings/emails). Although I'm not now because what I'm working on is
analytical and research-dependent, I will be able to outsource parts of my job
in the future. A successful business is not a prerequisite. If you give it
another read looking for other paths, they are there, they just aren't the
flashy "automate your business"

