Negotiating World Travel and Preparing for Escape
Six Months Off: How to Plan, Negotiate, and Take the Break You Need Without Burning Bridges or Going Broke (252 pages)
BY HOPE DLUGOZIMA, JAMES SCOTT, AND DAVID SHARP
This was the first book to make me step back and say, “Holy sh*t. I can actually do this!” It steamrolls over most fear factors related to long-term travel and offers a step-by-step guide to taking time off to travel or pursue other goals without giving up your career. Full of case studies and useful checklists.
Verge Magazine (http://vergemagazine.com)
This magazine, formerly known as Transitions Abroad, is the central hub of alternative travel and offers dozens of incredible options for the non-tourist. Both the print and online versions are great starting points for brainstorming how you will spend your time overseas. How about excavating in Jordan or eco-volunteering in the Caribbean? It’s all here.
From the website: “Each issue takes you around the world with people who are doing something different and making a difference doing it. This is the magazine resource for those wanting to volunteer, work, study, or adventure overseas.”
This book is not just what you hold in your hands. There was much more I wanted to include but couldn’t due to space constraints. Use passwords hidden in this book to access some of the best I have to offer. Here are just a few examples that took me years to assemble:
How to Get $250,000 of Advertising for $10,000
(includes real scripts)
How to Learn Any Language in 3 Months
Muse Math: Predicting the Revenue of Any Product
(includes case studies)
Licensing: From Tae Bo to Teddy Ruxpin
Real Licensing Agreement with Real Dollars
(this alone is worth $5,000)
Online Round-the-World (RTW) Trip Planner
For this and much more reader-only content, visit our companion site and free how-to message boards at www.fourhourblog.com. How would you like a free trip around the world? Join us and see how simple it is.
First, I must thank the students whose feedback and questions birthed this book, and Ed Zschau, übermentor and entrepreneurial superhero, for giving me the chance to speak with them. Ed, in a world where deferred dreams are the norm, you have been a shining light for those who dare to do it their way. I bow down to your skills (and Karen Cindrich, the best right-hand woman ever) and look forward to cleaning your erasers whenever the call comes—I’ll make a 220-pound bodybuilder of you yet!
Jack Canfield, you are an inspiration and have shown me that it is possible to make it huge and still be a wonderful, kind human being. This book was just an idea until you breathed life into it. I cannot thank you enough for your wisdom, support, and incredible friendship.
To Stephen Hanselman, prince among men and the best agent in the world, I thank you for “getting” the book at first glance and taking me from writer to author. I cannot imagine a better partner or cooler cat, and I look forward to many more adventures together. From negotiation to nonstop jazz, you amaze me. LevelFiveMedia is the new breed of agenting, where first-time authors are developed into bestselling authors with the precision of a Swiss watch.
Heather Jackson, your insightful editing and incredible cheer-leading has made this book a pleasure to write. Thank you for believing in me! I am honored to be your writer. To the rest of the Crown team, especially those whom I bother (because I love them) more than four hours a week—Donna Passannante and Tara Gilbride in particular—you are the best in the publishing world. Doesn’t it hurt when your brains are so big?
This book couldn’t have been written without the New Rich who agreed to share their stories. Special thanks to Douglas “Demon Doc” Price, Steve Sims, John “DJ Vanya” Dial, Stephen Key, Hans Keeling, Mitchell Levy, Ed Murray, Jean-Marc Hachey, Tina Forsyth, Josh Steinitz, Julie Szekely, Mike Kerlin, Jen Errico, Robin Malinosky-Rummell, Ritika Sundaresan, T. T. Venkatesh, Ron Ruiz, Doreen Orion, Tracy Hintz, and the dozens who preferred to remain anonymous within corporate walls. Thanks also to the elite team and great friends at MEC Labs, including, but not limited to, Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, Aaron Rosenthal, Eric Stockton, Jeremiah Brookins, Jalali Hartman, and Bob Kemper.
Refining the content of this book from pulp to print has been torturous, especially for my proofreaders! Deep bows and sincere thanks to Jason Burroughs, Chris Ashenden, Mike Norman, Albert Pope, Jillian Manus, Jess Portner, Mike Maples, Juan Manuel “Micho” Cambeforte, my brainiac brother Tom Ferriss, and the countless others who honed the end product. I owe particular gratitude to Carol Kline—whose keen mind and awareness of self transformed this book—and Sherwood Forlee, a great friend and relentless devil’s advocate.
Thanks to my brilliant interns, Ilena George, Lindsay Mecca, Kate Perkins Youngman, and Laura Hurlbut, for meeting deadlines and keeping me from imminent meltdown. I encourage all publishers to hire you before their competition does!
To the authors who have guided and inspired me throughout this process, I am forever a fan and indebted: John McPhee, Michael Gerber, Rolf Potts, Phil Town, Po Bronson, AJ Jacobs, Randy Komisar, and Joy Bauer.
For helping to build schools around the world and for funding projects for more than 15,000 U.S. public school students, I wish to thank—among countless others—the following readers and friends: Matt Mullenweg, Gina Trapani, Joe Polish, David Bellis, John Morgan, Thomas Johnson, Dean Jackson, Peter Weck and SimplyHired.com, Yanik Silver, Metroblogging, Michael Port, Jay Peters, Aaron Daniel Bennett, Andrew Rosca, Birth & Beyond, Inc., Doula Services, Noreen Roman, Joseph Hunkins, Joe Duck, Mario Milanovic, Chris Daigle, Jose Castro, Tina M. Pruitt Campbell, Dane Low, and all of you who believe karmic capitalism is possible. It is.
To all of the readers and lifestyle designers who shared their experiences and helped create this expanded edition—thank you! It wouldn’t have been possible without you, and I am humbled beyond words by your generosity. I hope you never stop thinking big and doing the uncommon.
To Sifu Steve Goericke and Coach John Buxton, who taught me how to act in spite of fear and fight like hell for what I believe, this book—and my life—is a product of your influence. Bless you both. The world’s problems would be far fewer if young men had more mentors like the two of you.
Last but not least, this book is dedicated to my parents, Donald and Frances Ferriss, who have guided me, encouraged me, loved me, and consoled me through it all. I love you more than words can express.
TIMOTHY FERRISS, nominated as one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People of 2007,” is an angel investor and author of the #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek, which has been sold into 35 languages.
He has been featured by more than 100 media outlets, including the New York Times, The Economist, TIME, Forbes, Fortune, CNN, and CBS. He speaks six languages, runs a multinational firm from wireless locations worldwide, and has been a popular guest lecturer at Princeton University since 2003, where he presents entrepreneurship as a tool for ideal lifestyle design and world change.