Episode · The Tim Ferriss Show · 2025-06-25
Books mentioned on #817: 4-Hour Workweek Success Stories — Charlie Houpert on Building “Charisma on Command” to 10M+ Subscribers, From Charging $10 for Seminars to Making Millions, Living in Brazil, Critical Early Decisions, and The Secret to Freedom
Charlie Houpert is the co-founder of Charisma on Command, a company that helps people develop confidence, charisma, and strong social skills.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The 4-Hour Workweek
The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss is a lifestyle design guide that encourages readers to escape the traditional nine-to-five and build automated online businesses.
Discussed“I'm working as a management consultant in Washington DC and I have been a 4-hour work week acolyte for probably six months. Like evangelical. Everyone needs to read this book. We're all entrepreneurs.”
Where to get it
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The Game
The Game by Neil Strauss is a non-fiction account of the author's infiltration of the underground pickup artist community.
Discussed“I've read Neil Strauss is the game by Neil Strauss.”
Where to get it
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Essentialism
Essentialism by Greg McKeown is a personal development and productivity guide that advocates for disciplined pursuit, teaching readers how to focus on the vital few tasks while eliminating the trivial many in order to live and work more intentionally.
Recommended“The first ones, this was I'd read Essentialism, and it was like, just do the thing. Great book. Amazing. Greg Mchuan, so good. Read it. Read it four times. Need to read it again.”
Where to get it
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Six Pillars of Self-Esteem
Six Pillars of Self-Esteem is a comprehensive self-help book by Nathaniel Branden that outlines core practices for building and maintaining personal self-worth.
Recommended“I've actually Never read this book, but Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Brandon. Amazing.”
Where to get it
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Running Lean
Running Lean by Ash Maurya is a practical business guide that applies lean startup principles to help entrepreneurs systematically test their assumptions, validate business ideas, and build products customers actually want.
Recommended“Running Lean helped a lot with the interviews.”
Where to get it
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How to Win Friends and Influence People
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is a classic self-help guide focused on empathy, human connection, and effective communication.
Recommended“Still Dale Carnegie. Still, you know, classic. Which Dale Carnegie? For me, it was How to Win Friends and Influence People was the one.”
Where to get it
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The 80/20 Principle
The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch explores the Pareto distribution, demonstrating how a small minority of inputs typically leads to the majority of results in business and daily life.
Recommended“And if you combine that with Richard Kosha's book, The 8020 Principle, like those those two will take you a long way.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (5) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“You're like, 'Sorry, I'm in town. I'm just doing the 4-hour body. I've got some meetings tomorrow, so I can't do it.' And politely excuse yourself.”
“I believe his first mega bestseller was I hope they serve beer in hell.”
“And I gave him a early galley copy of the 4-hour work week.”
“I'm not recommending people go buy this book. book. I think it's out of print anyway, but Entrepreneur magazine had this book called Young Millionaires”
“Let my people go surfing. I think this is the title of the book by Ivon Shinard.”