Preneur Marketing Blog – Pete Williams | Author Entrepreneur

With the release of Tim Ferriss‘ newly updated Four Hour Work Week; I wanted to answer a question I’ve often been asked:

“What’s the difference between the Thirty Day Challenge and the 4 Hour Work Week?”

Before I jump down this rabbit hole, for those who are not familiar with the phenomenon that is Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week…

The 4HWW in a nutshell talks around the acronym DEAL (coined by Ferriss) which stands for: Definition, Elimination, Automation, and Liberation.

The book (like the acronym) starts with Definition; figuring out what you really want for your lifestyle, and doing the sums to figure out what it will really cost to get there. It’s amazing how much it doesn’t cost to live like a king in Argentina.

Elimination is all about time management, or rather about not managing time. In my opinion this is the main take-away from the book; and is achieved by applying the 80/20 rule to focus YOUR time only on those tasks that contribute to your goal; and leaving the rest to an outsourced team (by taking advantage of geo-arbitrage)

The thirst section of the book is focused on Automation; and is about building a sustainable, automatic source of income. It’s here that the similarities with the 30DC appear.

Finally Tim ties everything together with Liberation; the goal of the ‘new rich’ = successful automation of one’s lifestyle and the liberation from a geographical location and job.

As I said above, The 30 Day Challenge relates to only one element of the 4HWW D.E.A.L. – the Automation component.

It’s in this section of the book that Tim does a great job of giving an overview of the ‘online business building’ process in the context of the entire ‘new rich’ philosophy, and making the process look achievable for everyone, because it really is.

This new rich philosophy, presented in the ‘Definition’ section, really drives home the ‘why’ in ‘why should I be doing this’ …

And it’s the WHY which is missing around the current 30DC format, which in my opinion, is one of the driving factors behind us putting together our own book (due out mid 2010) – Although Ed try’s to set the context during the pre-season and Day 1, the book will give us an outlet to give a much more detailed, detached and objective commentary on the 30DC philosophy, what it takes to create a successful business online, and our definition of ‘WHY’

Having said that, there is only so much step-by-step you can cover in a book – and where the 4HWW is weak the 30DC is strong (stronger than any other online training program period. Paid or Free) The 30 days of the 30DC is a lot more detailed on the ’steps’ you need to do it get your ‘muse’ off the ground and make your first $1 online.

Tim provides links to some great ‘tools’ in his book, but can’t go into a lot of detail on ‘how (and why) to use these tools’, which leaves the reader fending for themselves – and this is the void which the 30DC fundamentally fills.

With over 20 hours of free step-by-step (screen capture) video tutorials, the 30DC is the best partner for implementing the ‘Automation’ section of the 4HWW, and making a dent in that automated income goal.

… but more than simply being a online course (library), the 30DC is as much about ‘testing a niche’ as it is about starting a business – but more on this in the upcoming book.

So… What’s your take on the 4HWW and the 30DC – and how have either made a difference to your life? [Leave a comment below]

Ever wonder what actually goes on when the leading internet marketers catch up, plan the evil schemes and get upto shenanigans ?

Well a few years ago, everyone got together to try and beat the ‘Google Slap’ – This is an very exact, accurate and unequivocal rendering of the conversations that where occurring during that meeting.

Click To Enlarge

Actually – I just came across this cartoon on my backup drive – I had it created a few years ago, for a launch that never eventuated… Anyway, I thought I would dust it of and throw it up here.

For those that can’t work it out; the characters here are: (left to right)
John Carlton, Brad Fallon, John Reese, Andy Jenkins (looking kinda pregnant – sorry about that mate – not not sure why you’re not talking about your Emmy.), Ed Dale, Frank Kern (apparently no-one wants to see his face ?!?) , Jason MoFo, Dan Raine (and his little pick thong), Mike Filsame, Rich Schefren, Jeff Walker, Armond Morin, Yaro Starak , Yanik Silver (was doing some part-time stand-up at the time), Guy Kawasaki, Alex Mandossian, Scott Ginsberg, Seth Godin and Perry Marshall.

HARO (Help a Reporter Out) is a great tool for getting yourself out there and in touch with journos needing expert opinions and quotes…

But I’ve been testing it as a source for unique, high quality blog content – Check out the video for more info..

What would you say if you had just 5 minutes to give a presentation about the Web?

The slides below were from a recent presentation I did at Ignite Web – You may have heard of the Ignite format. It’s a presentation night in the unconference style of Web Jam and Pecha Kucha. Pioneered in Seattle in 2006, it has quickly become a worldwide phenomenon.

The unique feature of Ignite is that each presentation contains 20 slides, each of which changes automatically after 15 seconds, giving a guaranteed 5 minute presentation.

The presentation covers how to assess new Web 2.0 tools using the ‘Marketing Symphony’ and ‘Cialdini’s Influence Factors’ – and it’s been taken from a chapter of my up-coming book, with Ed Dale and Co.

I just saw this tweet from Ed (via Jason Van Preen).

And yes it’s true… It appears that Google is now indexing the Apple Itunes App Store.

Now This Is BIG News….

See, one of the ‘keys’ that a lot iPhone Application developers have missed when trying to sell/market/distribute their applications is that have relied on the App Store itself to generate the sales…

They are coders, not marketers – and this is where you and I have the upper hand.

Making the type of money you can ($37,000USD in one day) with an iPhone App is not another Kevin Costner ‘baseball’ movie…

If You Built It… They Will Not Come.

Just like any other business project, it’s not about the product….

It’s the marketing that typically makes the difference between success and failure.

Market Research and Traffic are the first two steps for any business project for a reason.

And with Google now indexing the App Store… here comes the traffic.

What will be interesting to see, is ‘how much’ traffic people start to get, what the conversion rates will be, and ‘how to’ influence your Apps position in the SERPs.

Side Note: The name you give your app and the keywords you use in your Apps description have never been so important:

p.s. I’ll have an update on the 30DC Book, along with a more detailed report (and maybe some interviews) on iPhone App marketing up here in the coming weeks.

p.p.s. I also wanted to let you know about a bundle of free gifts worth over $1,500 that my buddy Shaun is giving away – You can check them out at
http://www.internetmarketingcoaching.com.au/PreneurMarketing … WARNING! While you are there you will see a pitch.. a pitch for a coaching program I can highly recommend. Shaun is one of the few Australian internet marketers that have the runs on the board. Anyway, check it out and at least consider the offer.