This was my biggest complaint about Four Hour Work Week. Although a really useful book, it seems like examples include a lot more hooking people into subscriptions or videos or digital content that really go back to “single site/channel, force subscriptions, exploit subscription, profit.”
This is not really FHWW’s fault as there are many genuine businesses referenced in the book and after publishing, but the pattern is similar to what you describe.
Huh? I find Tim's content to be refreshingly innovative. He probably wasn't rich rich before 4HWW, but if what he claims in the book is true, he had a fully-remote mostly automated business and he could spend his time travelling the world - definitely a lifestyle I would enjoy. His next book introduced e.g. the "slow carb" diet, which is a very sensible realistic diet (kind-of generic low carb with a bit of paleo mixed in). I haven't read his newest book but judging by his podcast (he interviews a lot of extremely successful people), it's very likely it has a few valuable insights.
Sure, he's optimising for marketing; can't blame him for that. But IMO it's definitely backed by actual content.
Not just four hour work week - almost all of Tim Ferris's content rubs me this way. I think he's good at writing books that will sell - not necessarily books that contain a lot of meaningful information; the latter being more boring and not nearly as sexy. It's enough fact to keep you going, but a noticeable thread of bullshit throughout.
Um, they are obviously in the self-help book genre. Being irritated by the self-promotion and shallow insights of a self-help author is like saying you are irritated by the local pastor because he is so preachy in the sunday mass and talks of religion all that time :)
Well, if you want to help abolish something bad, you got to be irritated by it first, not just take it's badness for granted because "self-help will be self-help".
Indeed. It's possible, there are businesses out there doing it and it's the dream (who wouldn't want that kind of amazing work/life balance?). But the overwhelming majority of businesses just don't work that way.
This is not really FHWW’s fault as there are many genuine businesses referenced in the book and after publishing, but the pattern is similar to what you describe.