The following is a phone interview with Timothy Ferris, who is the New York Times bestselling author of The Four-Hour Workweek.

Tim: I’m happy to do this. What is your first question?

Rob: Is there anything you included in your book The Four Hour Work Week that you regret in retrospect?

Tim: [Thinking for a few minutes…] No, I can’t think of anything I regret, there are a few typos that need to be fixed, but that’s about it.

Rob: Okay, next question. What is the biggest drawback of your new celebrity?

Tim: That’s a good question, it hasn’t been asked of me either. Well, I would say that I am getting better at saying NO. I would also say having to filter out false friends.

Rob: Interesting. Ok, next question. I watched your interview with Donnie Deutsch on the Today Show and couldn’t help but notice that he was really intense with you and gave the 4HWW philosophy a hard time. What do you wish Donnie had ‘got’ from you that he just wasn’t ‘getting’? And, as a continuation, what it was like when the cameras were turned off.

Tim: Well, I would like you to understand that growth is not the only measure of a company’s value. There is more than one metric to measure a business other than whether it is going up or down. There are many ways (and metrics) that I use to determine the success of a business. Is it at the service of my life? I’m happy? Is my life better for that, etc.? As for what happened when the camera went off. It actually went very well. Donnie is very supportive of his friends and he is a great guy. He was incredibly elegant with me. In fact, the producers of The Big Idea (his show) called me to be a few weeks later. So all is well.

Rob: Good. I guess those are my three questions.

Tim: Ahhh, that was quick. You can ask me a couple more.

Rob: What means offline [exactly] Do you recommend that people use to help grow the company?

Tim: Things like radio, television, newspapers, magazines, etc.

Rob: How do you recommend doing that?

Tim: There’s a great book in Rick Frishman’s Author 101 series that explains it very easily.

Rob: I just want to thank you for doing this, but more for the work you’re doing to change people’s lives.

Tim: That made this whole phone call for me, Rob. It was very nice for me to hear that. Thank you!

Rob: So, there it is. That was the essence of the call. He was everything and more than he expected him to be. He was very elegant and undeniably intelligent. He continues to inspire and motivate me to eliminate work for the sake of works.