Why Tim Ferris is a marketing genius fraud

You've all probably heard of Tim Ferris. He used to be quite big a few years ago with his lifestyle engineering philosophy, which you can read about in his blog and his bestseller book, The 4 Hour Workweek.

Tim Ferris is a fraud. More than 80% of what he says is bullshit. Tim Ferris is also a marketing genius. Of course he is. How else could one turn raw bullshit into a bestseller book and a few millions in the bank?

These are serious accusations, but I can prove them. According to his book, Tim Ferris made some money with his company called BrainQuicken, through which he sold nutritional supplements. He probably doesn't own this company anymore, but you can still buy his products online.

Take a look at this product presentation: BodyQuick from BrainQuicken. Read carefully the white and green text over the black background. More specifically, pay attention to the little stars that follow almost every sentence. Here, I'll make it easy for you:

I have counted 8 paragraphs and 9 little stars.

Now, I want to take a look at what a little star means:

Which should be translated into "these statements are utter bullshit, because nobody bothered to test them, but hey, people don't read the fine print, so they'll believe them anyways. Oh, and the star here allows us to legally cover our ass."

Here, let's try changing each * with the phrase "(this is a lie)" and see how the description looks like now:

Improve your Mental performance with out neural accelerator (this is a lie). BodyQuick is a lab-tested performance product scientifically engineered to quickly increase the speed of neural transmission and information processing (perceptual focus, memory storage, and recall), with a prolonged effect of 2-6 hours following each dosage (this is a lie). 

Clinically supported science used by students at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Oxford and by 17 world champions. Active compounds in the patent-pending BodyQuick complex are supported by clinical research and have been cited in over 4,050 scientific studies. Just 1 of the 18 active components alone has been demonstrated with computer-administered testing to safely increase short-term memory and reaction speed in excess of 35% (this is a lie).

We Guarantee results within 60 minutes of the first dose (this is a lie).

Reason #1. Clinical research and over 60 years of manufacturing experience have combined to create our science-driven neural accelerator (this is a lie).

Reason #2. Just 1 of the 18 active components of BodyQuick alone has been demonstrated with computer-administered testing to increase short-term memory and reaction speed in excess of 35% (this is a lie).

Reason #3. For the first time in the field of cognitive enhancement, you do not need to take a product for weeks or months before experiencing results; every bottle of BodyQuick may produce results in 30 minutes or less (this is a lie).

Reason #4. No adverse side effects have been reported in the 6 years since its original product design (this is a lie).

Reason #5. All full-time staff of BodyQuick LLC use BodyQuick, at minimum, 4 times weekly for increased work productivity and time efficiency. No adverse side effects have been reported in the 6 years since its original product design (this is a lie).

If you look at the product reviews, you will notice there are a lot of 10-s and 9-s and quite a bunch of 1-s. The 10-s and 9-s are probably faked, whereas the 1-s tell a truer story. I quote:

I read the 4-Hour Work Week and [...] saw the reviews [...] which were excellent [...]. I got [...] 2, 3, 4 pills at a time. No effects at all. I was extremely disappointed and frustrated that I was scammed out of $60. Don't waste your money or get your hopes up - this product does not deliver.

In other words, the product is an expensive placebo. A sugar pill scam. Of course, what else would you expect from a "science driven neural accelerator *"?

However, I have to admit that I actually admire Tim Ferriss. I mean, the guy has balls. Like, giant balls, the kind that I only wish I had. You need a lot of courage to pull something like this off - tell the most outrageous lie, admit to it, and then charge 60$: "increases reaction speed in excess of 35% - star * (I just lied) - now give me your money, bitch".

However, the true genius of Tim Ferriss is his ability to speculate and profit from popular fantasies. His 4-hour work week book is nothing but a well-written fantasy about how to automatically earn money selling shirts online, while traveling the world, learning foreign languages and meeting attractive strangers. I don't know how he does it, but he nails it. And he makes it all sound so believable.

Looking for a way to turn shit into money? Ask Tim Ferriss and his friends to teach you marketing - it is the new age philosopher's stone.