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The 4-hour workweek: review by Jon Gillespie-Brown, Author "So you want to be an entrepreneur"

By Jon Gillespie-Brown | October 23, 2008

What an interesting book. I have to say that I bought this as I was intrigued by the title and the strong claim as I am sure most people must be – A triumph of copywriting for a start!

I also have to say I have got my money’s worth from it already – some of the references in the book reminded me to take some actions on outsourcing that I when actioned made me significant savings in time and money.

And frankly some of these lessons or reminders in my case were the best bits about the book for me. I wish I had read this many years ago when I was single and "footloose and fancy free", unlike now with kids in school and a number of demanding businesses that root me to the spot.

The reminders worked to re-kindle some of my needs to re-focus certain areas of my life and time plus to try and push out time wasters and distractions.

The rest of the book was fun to read but will not help me until maybe later in life now when I can once again roam the world to my heart’s content and setup businesses to enable that to happen on automatic pilot – as the heart of the book suggests is the way to go!

I have been lucky to do many of the things suggested in the book like travel and live many of my dreams already but for most of us this book points to some extraordinary things we could if we just asked "why not" and got on with living our dreams rather than holding back. If you are in a dead end job and have nothing to lose then why hold back and look at ways to live your dreams?

If I my kids were in their 20’s I would hand them this and tell them to get on with it – start a business that is totally focused on delivering what you need financially without preventing you doing what you want, when you want and where you want…a great way to fund round the world travel and to drop out of the stereotypical view of life after university!

That could lead to a life lived like that forever or maybe just a spell of total freedom financed by the right type of business. Frankly some of these ideas are discussed in my own books "So you want to be an entrepreneur" I.e. "create a business that works for you and not the other way around"

On the flip side, for many of us in middle age this is less likely to be the tonic we hope for as we have the need for stability and a routine we have to stick too – think school holidays!

However, it still makes for great reading and real world advice on how to achieve the lifestyle – the only thing it can’t really help you with is creating a business to finance the idea. But hey if the book lights your fire for travel and freedom you will work something out.

In summary, it’s a fun book with real insights and it covers ground for those wanting to become "time rich" now rather than waiting until they retire to achieve all their goals in life while having the time do them.

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Last 3 posts by Jon Gillespie-Brown

• A small gift can go a long way… - February 4th, 2010
• Videocast: how to raise angel funding with Jon Gillespie-Brown - December 11th, 2009
• Want an Angel Investment? this is the video 101 - December 3rd, 2009

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	About the Author:
	Jon Gillespie-Brown is a published Author, Lecturer, Founder/CEO and Mentor on Entrepreneurship. He currently mentors at Stanford, UC Berkeley and the London Business School. Visit his site for tips by email/twitter, blog updates, detailed articles, worksheets, news, a free quiz and more! Go now to http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/

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