Business Lessons from Tim Ferriss

Rokform’s love for Tim Ferriss goes back several years. It was 2010 when Jeff, CEO of Rokform, first came across The 4 Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. Curious about all the hubbub, he visited his local bookstore to pick up a copy. Once he picked it up, he couldn’t put it down. He continues to be a fan of Tim's podcast and has read all of his other books. In the years since The 4-Hour Workweek's release, Tim Ferriss has blown up as a successful angel investor, podcaster, and most recently as host of his own TV series, Fear[less]. 

The Rokform team has watched his brand grow, read his books, and soaked up his life lessons. Recently, Rokform even participated in Shopify’s Build a Bigger Business, a small business e-commerce competition where Tim is one of the main mentors. Suffice it to say, as avid Tim Ferriss fans, we love Tim and want to share some of the top lessons we’ve taken away from him over the years. We are breaking down our top Tim Ferriss takeaways into three parts that will be helpful for everyone in our community, from individuals to businesses.

Who is Tim Ferriss?

If you’ve never heard of Tim Ferriss, don’t worry! According to Tim Ferriss' website: 

Tim Ferriss has been listed as one of Fast Company‘s “Most Innovative Business People” and one of Fortune‘s “40 under 40.” He is an early-stage technology investor/advisor (Uber, Facebook, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ others) and the author of four #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers, including The 4-Hour Workweek and his latest, Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers. The Observer and other media have called Tim “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, which is the first business/interview podcast to exceed 100 million downloads.

Define company/business goals and decide what’s important

Do you have a clear company goal that everyone is striving to achieve? The 4-Hour Workweek starts off with ‘Definition.’ Define your fears and dreams clearly so you know exactly what failure and success look like. Then, break down your dreams into tangible achievements to see how close you are to your dreams. In doing so you will have clear steps to reach your goals.

Pareto’s Law, Parkinson’s Law & productivity at work

In The 4-Hour Workweek Tim talks about Pareto’s Law, which is also known as the 80/20 Principle. According to Pareto’s Law 80% of productivity results from 20% of your time, while the other 20% of productivity eats up 80% of your time. Ferriss argues that when you successfully eliminate the 20% of productivity eating up most of your time, you will be able to accomplish more with your newfound free time.

 Meanwhile, Parkinson’s Law says that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation the amount of time allotted for completion. When you take these two laws into consideration, you should use both together to achieve peak productivity at work—identify the critical tasks that contribute most and schedule them with short, clear deadlines.

In the workplace, how can you use these laws to your advantage? Think about the biggest distractions or time wasters for any work deadlines your currently have in your daily work routine—maybe you’re constantly checking your emails or feel like you’re always attending meetings but realize these are necessary for the project to be completed. How can you make your emails or meetings more effective, thereby giving you more time to work on the actual project?

Eliminate distractions and free up time

Tim writes about ‘empowerment failure’ – instances where someone at work needs approval to make something small happen. If some examples of empowerment failure in your own workplace come to mind, what can you do to re-empower your team? One of the most effective ways is simply to give employees access to any necessary information and as much autonomy as possible.

Applying Tim Ferriss' tips at Rokform

Many of the things we've read by Tim connected with our entire team, so it's been pretty easy to apply new lessons learned to running Rokform. Our company goals and objectives are well-defined and shared with everyone on the entire team. By focusing on our strengths, namely design and customer experience focus and power sports industry background, we've been able to become the leader in magnetic, mountable cases and accessories. We've received some great tips from Tim and can't wait for his next book, Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World when it comes out next month!

Have you followed some of Tim’s advice as an employee or in your own business? If so, let us know what’s been most helpful for your own work flow by commenting in the section below!