The Simple Hack That Made Tim Ferriss TIM FERRISS

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Tim Ferriss had just written a book.

It was kind of a weird one.

It was about how he had hacked his work life, built a supplement company that basically ran itself, hired virtual assistants for all sorts of daily tasks, cut his work hours dramatically, and started traveling the world.

But he had a problem. He couldn’t settle on a title he liked. So he did something most authors never think to do:

He ran a Google AdWords test.

Tim had a few different ideas for name for his book and so he decided to test them to see what played best. The ones he liked best were:

• Broadband and White Sand

• Millionaire Chameleon, and

• The 4-hour Workweek

He then set up a simple Google Adwords campaign for each title. When people searched for words related to the content of the book, they were shown one of the above titles.

Within a few days, with a budget of a few hundred dollars, “The 4-Hour Work Week” was by far the most popular title.

It sounded aspirational, rebellious, and a little outrageous.

That tiny experiment ended up making Tim a bestselling author and launching a personal brand empire - podcasts, courses, angel investing, even a TV show.

And it all started with a simple A/B test anyone could do.

The Takeaway

Crowdsourcing is easier than ever. You can see, for example, which of your blogs or TikTok’s gets the most engagement, or DMs, or shares. When a topic hits, that’s a big clue - or cue! Tim Ferriss’ lesson is - don’t trust your gut, let the market tell you what it wants.

Steal This Strategy

🛠️ Tool – Google Ads
Run cheap split-tests for titles, taglines, or business ideas and track what people actually click.

📖 Book – The 4-Hour Workweek
A guide to building a low-maintenance business and designing a freedom-based life.

🎧 Podcast – The Tim Ferriss Show
Interviews with world-class performers across disciplines—entrepreneurship, investing, sports, and beyond.

🎥 Video – How to Validate Ideas with Google Ads
A simple YouTube tutorial to run tests like Tim did.

Overnight Challenge

Come up with 3 possible names for your next product, business, or newsletter.
Use a free poll tool like CrowdSignal or a $20 Google Ads test to see what gets the best response.

Let’s see what happens!

About Steve

Steve Strauss is the best-selling author of The Small Business Bible (and 17 other books), Inc.’s small business columnist, a lawyer (non-practicing), and an entrepreneur. He sold his last venture, TheSelfEmployed.com to Mark Cuban & Zen Business. Need a ghostwriter or a newsletter for your business?  Contact Steve!