Tim Ferriss, author of the #1 bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek, shares on his blog 11 tenets for reaching or doubling profitability in three months. Tim has assembled these tenets – based on his interviews with high-performing (using profit-per-employee metrics) CEOs in more than a dozen countries – into what he calls the ‘Margin Manifesto’: “a return-to-basics call that gives permission to do the uncommon to achieve the uncommon: consistent profitability (or doubling of it) in 3 months or less.”
Doing the “uncommon to achieve the uncommon” is Tim’s specialty! Here are the 11 tenets:
- Niche is the New Big – The Lavish Dwarf Entertainment Rule
- Revisit Drucker – What Gets Measured Gets Managed
- Pricing before Product – Plan Distribution First
- Less is More – Limiting Distribution to Increase Profit
- Net-0 – Create Demand vs. Offering Terms
- Repetition is Usually Redundant – Good Advertising Works the First Time
- Limit Downside to Ensure Upside – Sacrifice Margin for Safety
- Negotiate Late – Make Others Negotiate Against Themselves
- Hyperactivity vs. Productivity – 80/20 and Pareto’s Law
- The Customer is Not Always Right – “Fire” High-Maintenance Customers
- Deadlines over Details – Test Reliability Before Capability
Tim says he reviews these principles any time he’s facing operational overwhelm or declining/stagnating profits. “Operational overwhelm” and “declining/stagnating profits” are familiar to many business leaders and organizations in the current economic climate. For further insight into these 11 tenets, check out Tim’s “Margin Manifesto” post on his Four-Hour Workweek blog.
And if you’re interested in bringing Tim to your next meeting or conference to talk about how you and your organization can “do the uncommon to achieve the uncommon,” learn more by viewing his speaker profile on The Speakers Group’s web site, or submit the inquiry form in the right margin of this page.
