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How To Get Rich
'Making money is a knack, a knack that can be acquired. And if someone like me can become rich, then so can you - no matter what your present circumstances. Here is how I did it and what I learned along the way.' So writes Felix Dennis, who believes that almost anyone of reasonable intelligence can become rich, given sufficient motivation and application. "How To Get Rich" is a distillation of his business wisdom. Primarily concerned with the step-by-step creation of wealth, it ruthlessly dissects the business failures and financial triumphs of 'a South London lad who became rich virtually by accident'. Part manual, part memoir, part primer, this book is a template for those who are willing to stare down failure and transform their lives. Canny, infuriating, cynical and generous by turns, "How To Get Rich" is an invaluable guide to 'the surprisingly simple art of collecting money which already has your name on it'.
277 pages, Paperback
First published June 12, 2008
About the author
Felix Dennis
29 books121 followersFelix Dennis (born 1947 in Kingston-upon-Thames, United Kingdom) was a British magazine publisher and philanthropist. His privately owned company, Dennis Publishing, pioneered computer and hobbyist magazine publishing in the United Kingdom. In more recent times the company has added lifestyle titles such as its flagship brand The Week, which is published in Britain, the United States and Australia.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 434 reviews
January 27, 2012
I don't have much interest in "How to get rich" books, in part because they are so often written by people who a.) overestimate the skill and underestimate the luck that brought them their own success or b.) made more money writing books telling people how to get rich than they ever did at whatever business they were previously in.
I decided to give this one a try, however, since it was written by Felix Dennis, a man who had the foresight to purchase a major stake in the crack-like news periodical The Week, hands down my favorite magazine of all time.
The subtitle of Dennis' book is "Hint: You won't get rich working for your boss." This is a book about entrepreneurship, as told by someone who has been wildly successful in that arena.
The opening chapters were rather on the folksy side, making me wonder if there was going to be any really useful information in this book or if it was going to turn out to be just another rich man's vanity project. As soon as Dennis started getting into the meat of his material, however, I began to sit up and take notice.
Dennis started out as a young man with few resources and enormous ambition. He has a very clear-eyed view of his subsequent journey to multi-millionaire status, and shares valuable insight about both the things he did right and the things he did wrong. He also has a very realistic understanding of the role luck played in his fortunes (his first big financial success came from being in the process of co-writing a biography of Bruce Lee when the star suddenly died), as well as the steps he took to maximize those breaks.
Dennis is brutally clear that getting rich is horribly hard work and you shouldn't undertake it unless you really are committed, since it will probably ruin your marriage, friendships and health. This is the kind of advice that most people will ignore, human beings having that tendency to think they will be the exception. Most people who read this book will not believe him when he says that being rich really won't make you happier (though he does admit it will up your chances of having sex.)
So while I don't know how valuable this book will be to people who have no entrepreneurial experience, as someone who is two years into the grueling process of running a start-up, I found a lot of useful information in this book. Some of it is practical - such as how he handled the 4 employees who politely threatened to leave his firm and start a competing company if he didn't give them a quarter of his equity, or the rules he requires all board members to adhere to.
What I really enjoyed about this book, however, was that I found it oddly reassuring. When my husband and I started our shoe company, we were, like all other entrepreneurs, completely in denial about what we were in for (despite having both started businesses before). Building this company has turned out to be one of the hardest things I have ever done. Reading Dennis' stories about his journey - and being reminded that, no, it's not just you, that's just the way it is - was profoundly comforting.
This isn't a perfect book - parts of it could probably be condensed, and I'm not sure he really succeeded in his attempt to explain that key point of how to know when you need to persevere and when it's really time to throw in the towel - but despite these flaws, I think it's quite useful reading for anyone who is thinking about starting or who has recently started a business.
Fun fact - Dennis has made much of his fortune in the publishing industry, starting out with computer magazines and ultimately founding Maxim. To my great surprise, he said that The Week is the most profitable magazine he has ever owned.
I decided to give this one a try, however, since it was written by Felix Dennis, a man who had the foresight to purchase a major stake in the crack-like news periodical The Week, hands down my favorite magazine of all time.
The subtitle of Dennis' book is "Hint: You won't get rich working for your boss." This is a book about entrepreneurship, as told by someone who has been wildly successful in that arena.
The opening chapters were rather on the folksy side, making me wonder if there was going to be any really useful information in this book or if it was going to turn out to be just another rich man's vanity project. As soon as Dennis started getting into the meat of his material, however, I began to sit up and take notice.
Dennis started out as a young man with few resources and enormous ambition. He has a very clear-eyed view of his subsequent journey to multi-millionaire status, and shares valuable insight about both the things he did right and the things he did wrong. He also has a very realistic understanding of the role luck played in his fortunes (his first big financial success came from being in the process of co-writing a biography of Bruce Lee when the star suddenly died), as well as the steps he took to maximize those breaks.
Dennis is brutally clear that getting rich is horribly hard work and you shouldn't undertake it unless you really are committed, since it will probably ruin your marriage, friendships and health. This is the kind of advice that most people will ignore, human beings having that tendency to think they will be the exception. Most people who read this book will not believe him when he says that being rich really won't make you happier (though he does admit it will up your chances of having sex.)
So while I don't know how valuable this book will be to people who have no entrepreneurial experience, as someone who is two years into the grueling process of running a start-up, I found a lot of useful information in this book. Some of it is practical - such as how he handled the 4 employees who politely threatened to leave his firm and start a competing company if he didn't give them a quarter of his equity, or the rules he requires all board members to adhere to.
What I really enjoyed about this book, however, was that I found it oddly reassuring. When my husband and I started our shoe company, we were, like all other entrepreneurs, completely in denial about what we were in for (despite having both started businesses before). Building this company has turned out to be one of the hardest things I have ever done. Reading Dennis' stories about his journey - and being reminded that, no, it's not just you, that's just the way it is - was profoundly comforting.
This isn't a perfect book - parts of it could probably be condensed, and I'm not sure he really succeeded in his attempt to explain that key point of how to know when you need to persevere and when it's really time to throw in the towel - but despite these flaws, I think it's quite useful reading for anyone who is thinking about starting or who has recently started a business.
Fun fact - Dennis has made much of his fortune in the publishing industry, starting out with computer magazines and ultimately founding Maxim. To my great surprise, he said that The Week is the most profitable magazine he has ever owned.
August 16, 2008
This is a book that I am going to pass straight on to my seventeen year old son, not because of its insights into business (although it rings true on that account) but because of its insights into human nature and into the world 'out there' that he is going to have to negotiate in the coming years.
Like all sons, he won't listen to his Dad (and no real reason why he should) but he might listen to 'uncle' Felix.
Why should he? Because Felix Dennis is going to stop him wasting a lot of time believing that some people are nicer and cleverer than they are or that reading those idiotic books about leadership from people who could not navigate their way to an ice cream parlour on a hot day is going to make an iota of difference to his wealth.
Self-made rich people are different but only because they are rich and have a peculiar personality type - not because they are cleverer or more intelligent than you or I. If anything, traditional intelligence and 'book-larning' are disadvantages because they distract and displace intuition. I read about Tao, Tantra and Jung (and a lot besides) while I am not trying to get rich. That, in itself, is one good reason why I am not rich.
Dennis is clever, very clever, but he knows his limitations (a skill in itself). He is an acute natural psychologist and he can laugh at himself. Above all, he looks at himself and others without illusion yet with an odd sort of existentialist compassion that makes what he says in this book ring true and be useful. You get the impression that he would quite like it if the world was different but it is not and he has adapted.
That long preamble is necessary because this book won't make you rich at all. People like Dennis get rich because they are driven to making money. It is in their hard wiring. Society can stop such people and constrain them from wealth creation but it cannot create them at will out of the raw stock of society. Government funding of business education is useful in improving technical skills and management but the best thing it can do to increase innovation is to remove constraints and get out of the way - and I consider myself a hard line socialist!
What this book will do is either help you throw off the psychological and social constraints, especially fear and the carping negativity of others, that hold you back if you are on the cusp of entrepreneurship (and oh how I could have done with that sort of support in my deadly family circumstances of thirty years ago).
More usefully still, it will make it crystal clear, if you don't have a certain drive and ability to handle fear, that you really should not bother. You should stop dreaming uselessly of what could be or might have been and just get on with your life as either a functionary in the system or as a creative in some field of endeavour in which you have certain talent. Or be poor but honest.
Dennis makes it brutally clear that having money does not bring happiness - not in a moralistic condemnation of wealth per se (it certainly brings a lot of pleasure and experience and he clearly respects the personal service workers who helped him in this respect). True happiness, once a modicum of security is achieved, is about who you are and how you relate to the world regardless of how many things you have. Getting rich is not a path to happiness, it is just another neurotic drive much like that of the politician that all entrepreneurs (including Dennis) affect to despise.
But if you want pleasure and experience, need excitement and to 'feel the fear' and you see anything and anyone as potential tools to the satisfaction of your desires, then entrepreneurship is for you. Dennis' book will, if read with attention, do a great deal to point out all those mistakes that a live wire will make (and will probably make anyway because entrepreneurs tend not to listen to their Dads) long before they have to be made.
Unlike most of the boring ghosted and whitewashed 'how I did it and aren't I wonderful' books from senior managers and, that dread word, 'leaders', Dennis details his mistakes and errors of judgements - that alone is worth the price.
Would it have made a difference to me if I had had this book and its basic wisdom in, say, 1979? I doubt it. The book is accurate and resonant only because, as a lifestyle entrepreneur myself, my drives are very different from Mr. Dennis' and his ilk. I would have valued Mr. Dennis in 1979 because of his brutal insights into what people are about and why they do what they do. He would have saved me a lot of wasted time being nice to people who were useless or malign. But it would not have changed my essential dilettante nature, talented and effective though I am in many ways.
Rightly, he has very harsh words for the whiner who blames others - especially his family - for not being rich: it doesn't work like that. I can have a legitimate go at my lot (not my current lot but the preceding crowd) on grounds of the provision of basic security and happiness but not on the grounds of stopping me being rich or 'successful'.
To get rich, you have to think money is important but not in itself (it is just a scam like all absurd abstract concepts such as the nation or the brand). You have to believe in it as a marker of self-worth and a necessary tool for self-pleasuring because of a driving need for external stimulation and to be the centre of attention, the ordering force in your little world ... the rest is a mere pipe dream and you should really sell your soul to the company store or, like me, follow crazier dreams and take different risks rather than go down the Dennis path.
So, despite the much lower ratings given by other readers, I strongly recommend this book. It is a fast read. You can skip the poetry if that is not your thing (it certainly is Dennis' thing in self-indulgent mode but, hey, when you are worth the millions he is, who does he have to please?), though sometimes a poem makes a point well.
By all means photocopy the "eight secrets to getting rich" and stick it on your wall if you are serious about business, let alone getting rich. But the heart of the book is in one injunction - applicable whether you are creator (like him) or creative (like GoodReads people) - face fear and make it work for you. Otherwise, just be the man who switches the trains from track to track without having to know what is in the cattle trucks ... and then sleep soundly at night until you die, grey but calm, in the arms of your loving family.
Like all sons, he won't listen to his Dad (and no real reason why he should) but he might listen to 'uncle' Felix.
Why should he? Because Felix Dennis is going to stop him wasting a lot of time believing that some people are nicer and cleverer than they are or that reading those idiotic books about leadership from people who could not navigate their way to an ice cream parlour on a hot day is going to make an iota of difference to his wealth.
Self-made rich people are different but only because they are rich and have a peculiar personality type - not because they are cleverer or more intelligent than you or I. If anything, traditional intelligence and 'book-larning' are disadvantages because they distract and displace intuition. I read about Tao, Tantra and Jung (and a lot besides) while I am not trying to get rich. That, in itself, is one good reason why I am not rich.
Dennis is clever, very clever, but he knows his limitations (a skill in itself). He is an acute natural psychologist and he can laugh at himself. Above all, he looks at himself and others without illusion yet with an odd sort of existentialist compassion that makes what he says in this book ring true and be useful. You get the impression that he would quite like it if the world was different but it is not and he has adapted.
That long preamble is necessary because this book won't make you rich at all. People like Dennis get rich because they are driven to making money. It is in their hard wiring. Society can stop such people and constrain them from wealth creation but it cannot create them at will out of the raw stock of society. Government funding of business education is useful in improving technical skills and management but the best thing it can do to increase innovation is to remove constraints and get out of the way - and I consider myself a hard line socialist!
What this book will do is either help you throw off the psychological and social constraints, especially fear and the carping negativity of others, that hold you back if you are on the cusp of entrepreneurship (and oh how I could have done with that sort of support in my deadly family circumstances of thirty years ago).
More usefully still, it will make it crystal clear, if you don't have a certain drive and ability to handle fear, that you really should not bother. You should stop dreaming uselessly of what could be or might have been and just get on with your life as either a functionary in the system or as a creative in some field of endeavour in which you have certain talent. Or be poor but honest.
Dennis makes it brutally clear that having money does not bring happiness - not in a moralistic condemnation of wealth per se (it certainly brings a lot of pleasure and experience and he clearly respects the personal service workers who helped him in this respect). True happiness, once a modicum of security is achieved, is about who you are and how you relate to the world regardless of how many things you have. Getting rich is not a path to happiness, it is just another neurotic drive much like that of the politician that all entrepreneurs (including Dennis) affect to despise.
But if you want pleasure and experience, need excitement and to 'feel the fear' and you see anything and anyone as potential tools to the satisfaction of your desires, then entrepreneurship is for you. Dennis' book will, if read with attention, do a great deal to point out all those mistakes that a live wire will make (and will probably make anyway because entrepreneurs tend not to listen to their Dads) long before they have to be made.
Unlike most of the boring ghosted and whitewashed 'how I did it and aren't I wonderful' books from senior managers and, that dread word, 'leaders', Dennis details his mistakes and errors of judgements - that alone is worth the price.
Would it have made a difference to me if I had had this book and its basic wisdom in, say, 1979? I doubt it. The book is accurate and resonant only because, as a lifestyle entrepreneur myself, my drives are very different from Mr. Dennis' and his ilk. I would have valued Mr. Dennis in 1979 because of his brutal insights into what people are about and why they do what they do. He would have saved me a lot of wasted time being nice to people who were useless or malign. But it would not have changed my essential dilettante nature, talented and effective though I am in many ways.
Rightly, he has very harsh words for the whiner who blames others - especially his family - for not being rich: it doesn't work like that. I can have a legitimate go at my lot (not my current lot but the preceding crowd) on grounds of the provision of basic security and happiness but not on the grounds of stopping me being rich or 'successful'.
To get rich, you have to think money is important but not in itself (it is just a scam like all absurd abstract concepts such as the nation or the brand). You have to believe in it as a marker of self-worth and a necessary tool for self-pleasuring because of a driving need for external stimulation and to be the centre of attention, the ordering force in your little world ... the rest is a mere pipe dream and you should really sell your soul to the company store or, like me, follow crazier dreams and take different risks rather than go down the Dennis path.
So, despite the much lower ratings given by other readers, I strongly recommend this book. It is a fast read. You can skip the poetry if that is not your thing (it certainly is Dennis' thing in self-indulgent mode but, hey, when you are worth the millions he is, who does he have to please?), though sometimes a poem makes a point well.
By all means photocopy the "eight secrets to getting rich" and stick it on your wall if you are serious about business, let alone getting rich. But the heart of the book is in one injunction - applicable whether you are creator (like him) or creative (like GoodReads people) - face fear and make it work for you. Otherwise, just be the man who switches the trains from track to track without having to know what is in the cattle trucks ... and then sleep soundly at night until you die, grey but calm, in the arms of your loving family.
March 8, 2016
How to get rich
I listened to the audio version. It had a British accent. Fun to listen to. I don’t know if the narrator and the author was the same or not.
It starts with personal characteristics necessary for getting rich; Pig-headed determination, stamina, boldness, self-belief, persistence, and of course, execution.
Then it shows you how to get capital, upsides and downsides of every method, errors entrepreneurs usually make, cash flow, how to negotiate, importance of ownership, delegation, incentives, competition, focus, human capital, etc.
Last three chapters were gold. I’m going to go back to them later. He talks about fear, focus, and time.
No sugarcoating, no bullshit. Frank to the point of almost offending and condescension. But hey, if someone who made more than 500 million dollars from scratch gives me advice on how to get rich, I can ignore the condescension.
I needed it. Should’ve read it sooner. I lost my focus, chased stuff that ultimately doesn’t matter. Reminded me that I’m not a manager. I get involved in trivial matters. I should delegate more. A whole lot more.
I listened to the audio version. It had a British accent. Fun to listen to. I don’t know if the narrator and the author was the same or not.
It starts with personal characteristics necessary for getting rich; Pig-headed determination, stamina, boldness, self-belief, persistence, and of course, execution.
Then it shows you how to get capital, upsides and downsides of every method, errors entrepreneurs usually make, cash flow, how to negotiate, importance of ownership, delegation, incentives, competition, focus, human capital, etc.
Last three chapters were gold. I’m going to go back to them later. He talks about fear, focus, and time.
No sugarcoating, no bullshit. Frank to the point of almost offending and condescension. But hey, if someone who made more than 500 million dollars from scratch gives me advice on how to get rich, I can ignore the condescension.
I needed it. Should’ve read it sooner. I lost my focus, chased stuff that ultimately doesn’t matter. Reminded me that I’m not a manager. I get involved in trivial matters. I should delegate more. A whole lot more.
June 9, 2017
A book that I read twice before starting my own business (now valued at $180M). It is a must read for anyone ever seriously considering starting their own business. Looking back I can clearly see just how much I took away from Felix's story. He helped me manage my expectations for becoming rich and I feel that without this book I wouldn't have come as far as I have. Thank you, RIP.
August 7, 2017
I first encountered this book through codewise founder - Rob Gryn and his vlog. Since he obviously got rich and recommended that book i was interested in it. Then i found out that it was written by Felix Dennis who's net worth was around 750m in 2007 when he wrote it. And he made a big chunk of his money in publishing. He managed to become rich while in publishing. In XXI century. What an accomplishment. Since he made his money himself he has something to back his claims.
Since most of the people of wealth and power in business care about their status too much to write a controversial book this was a pleasent suprise. Although i must warn you that most of the people who will read this book won't take any of Dennis advice into consideration, let alone into action. I must warn you. This is not an easy read. And i don't mean the content. I mean mostly the form. This book contains a lot of poetry, both by Felix and other poets. English that is used is probably the most british version of english i've encountered in my adventours. If the spectrum of british english is from "Great accent!" to "What did you say?" the book is way on the "What did you say?" side of the spectrum.
Since most of the people of wealth and power in business care about their status too much to write a controversial book this was a pleasent suprise. Although i must warn you that most of the people who will read this book won't take any of Dennis advice into consideration, let alone into action. I must warn you. This is not an easy read. And i don't mean the content. I mean mostly the form. This book contains a lot of poetry, both by Felix and other poets. English that is used is probably the most british version of english i've encountered in my adventours. If the spectrum of british english is from "Great accent!" to "What did you say?" the book is way on the "What did you say?" side of the spectrum.
August 3, 2018
Don’t get fooled by the title. This book is different from other books with similar titles (or so I would assume as I have not read the others) because the author has actually done it in real life.
The book contains many useful – and sometimes brutally honest – truths. I know this from personal experience and have seen many of the principles discussed at work in real life.
This book is for you that have a strong urge to quit your current job which is not challenging and developing to instead be your own boss and go do what you were really meant to do in this life.
Felix has intentionally focused on the "getting rich" part in this book – I happen to think that such a starting point has very bad odds for success and that the starting point must be a subject/industry that you simply can't resist – but it’s all written in good humor, and to be fair, Felix stresses the importance of going towards what you are absolutely drawn to as a mandatory requirement.
If you are interested in entrepreneurship and financial freedom coupled with some fun – you should read this book. If you have no interest whatsoever in these subjects, you’ll still get many good laughs out of it. But if the latter is the case, you would probably never have picked up this book in the first place.
The book contains many useful – and sometimes brutally honest – truths. I know this from personal experience and have seen many of the principles discussed at work in real life.
This book is for you that have a strong urge to quit your current job which is not challenging and developing to instead be your own boss and go do what you were really meant to do in this life.
Felix has intentionally focused on the "getting rich" part in this book – I happen to think that such a starting point has very bad odds for success and that the starting point must be a subject/industry that you simply can't resist – but it’s all written in good humor, and to be fair, Felix stresses the importance of going towards what you are absolutely drawn to as a mandatory requirement.
If you are interested in entrepreneurship and financial freedom coupled with some fun – you should read this book. If you have no interest whatsoever in these subjects, you’ll still get many good laughs out of it. But if the latter is the case, you would probably never have picked up this book in the first place.
August 14, 2010
While it sounds like one of those "get rich quick" books that often make it to the top of bestseller lists, "How to Get Rich" by Felix Dennis is the real thing.
Dennis is a British multi-millionaire AND poet. The combination makes for intriguing reading.
Most importantly, he doesn't cut corners or beat around the bush. He tells the reader what it really takes. And, for most people, the commitment, sacrifice and pure energy required to become rich will simply be too much.
But, if you're interested in seeing how one insightful and introspective fellow made in into the big time, this is an excellent read. Well-written. Full of good information. Useful if you're in that "get rich" mood.
Dennis is a British multi-millionaire AND poet. The combination makes for intriguing reading.
Most importantly, he doesn't cut corners or beat around the bush. He tells the reader what it really takes. And, for most people, the commitment, sacrifice and pure energy required to become rich will simply be too much.
But, if you're interested in seeing how one insightful and introspective fellow made in into the big time, this is an excellent read. Well-written. Full of good information. Useful if you're in that "get rich" mood.
May 11, 2018
I was really excited by this book, because already in first few pages Felix was telling me that in this book we will discover HOW TO GET RICH. Unfortunately, as many books promise ''something'' Felix is swift at saying what the reader wants to read, but not delivering it. This book is suitable for someone who already has a business, and not a small business but probably something like a small corporation. In fact, he gives his example how he got rich through magazines industry which he was/is in but did not give any tip to HOW TO GET RICH but he definitely gives tips on HOW TO REMAIN RICH. Nothing that I personally did not know already. The author condemns motivation speeches but then he delivers nothing more than that in this book. Disappointed to be honest.
October 23, 2010
An absolute must read.
Do you really want to be rich. Before you start this, ask yourself if there is a way to get what you want without getting rich. You have to know what you want first though.
Quotes:
"Money is always welcome. But no. Very, very few authors become rich. The odds against it are too steep."
"Just how quickly can I become rich? Quicker than you probably deserve, but slower than you would like."
"Do I have to read your book from beginning to end? No. Dip in and out as you like. Make notes. Jot down points you think apply, particularly to your situation and your personality. Or make no notes at all-just highlight sentences or examples that catch your fancy."
"A book is a tool, not an artifact."
"Tunnel vision helps. Being a bit of a shit helps. A think skin helps. Stamina is crucial, as is a capacity to work so hard that your best friends mock you, your lovers despair and the rest of your acquaintances watch furtively from the sidelines, half in awe and half in contempt. Luck helps - but only if you don't seek it."
"Rich enough to live where you want, to go where you want, to do what you want, to meet who you want. Rich enough to buy the only two things apart from health and love worth fussing about in life. Time. And the option of not having to be in any particular place on any particular day doing any particular thing in order to pay the rent or the mortgage."
"Never trust the vast mountain of conventional wisdom. It contains great nuggets of wisdom, it is true. Bu they lie alongside rivers of fool's gold. Conventional wisdom daunts initiative and offers far to many convenient reasons for inaction, especially for those with a great deal to lose. Fortunately for you, you do not have anything to lose and can afford to ignore the "jobsworths" and Jeremiahs who have lived upon the mountain for so long that they have come to worship it."
"Anyone not busy learning is busy dying. For as long as you foster a willingness to learn, you will ward off sclerosis of the brain and hardening of the mental arteries."
"You have little time left in which to make up your mind. Your youth and stamina are ebbing away. You are getting too comfortable."
"And you know what? The kids and the house and the mortgage and your retired parents and the love you your life (whether a man or a woman) and all your current responsibilities - they are not the real problem. They are either inanimate, or they love you, or they don't love you. They will not love you less (or more) if you decide to surprise everyone around you and seize the time. As you could seize it, if you truly wished to. Then you'd show them." (Is this just narcissism? Why would they care more about you and yours than them and theirs.)
"If you are unwilling to fail, sometimes publicly, and even catastrophically, you stand very little chance of ever getting rich. If you care what your neighbors think, you will never get rich. If you cannot bear the thought of causing worry to your family, spouse or lover while you plow a lonely, dangerous road rather than taking the safe option of a regular job, you will never get rich. If you have artistic inclinations and fear that the search for wealth will coarsen such talents or degrade them, you will never get rich. (Because your fear, in this instance, is well justified.) If you are not prepared to work longer hours than almost anyone you know, despite the jibes of colleagues and friends, you are unlikely to get rich. If you cannot convince yourself that you are "good enough" to be rich, you will never get rich. If you cannot treat your quest to get rich as a game, you will never be rich. If you cannot face up to your fear of failure, you will never be rich."
"For make no mistake, if you will not confront and harness this all-too-human emotion in one way or another, they you are doomed to remain relatively poor. You either get over it, go around it, go at it, mount it, duck under it or cozy up to it. But you cannot surrender to it. That way lies paralysis, prevarication, ignominy and defeat."
"If you shy away for any reason whatever, then the way is blocked. The gate is shut - and will remain shut."
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy; the chance to draw back; always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elemental truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one commits oneself, Providence moves all. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of incidents and meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would come his or her way."
"If you want to be rich, you are not looking for a "career," except as a launch pad or as a chance to infiltrate and understand a particular industry. A job for the rich-in-training is merely something to keep you ticking over, to put food on your plate and wine in your glass."
"Working for others is a reconnaissance expedition; a means and not an end in itself. It is an apprenticeship and not a goal."
"Team spirit is for losers, financially speaking. It's the glue that binds the losers together. It's the methodology employers use to shackle useful employees to their desks without having to pay them too much. While lives may depend on it in a few professions, like soldering or firefighting, in commerce it acts as a subtle handicap and a brake to ambitious individuals. Which, in a way, is what it's designed to do."
"First off, forget glamorous. One of the riches self-made men I know digs holes in the ground to dispose of household waste. That's not how his company describes itself in its annual report, but essentially that is what it does, along with building incineration plants. Glamorous? No. But in a good year he puts 20-30 million pounds on the bottom line and earns a gross margin of over 20 percent. That's a sensational result for a small, wholly owned private company. Not to mention that the relentless growth of the packaged-goods industry ensures that his business will grow and grow virtually by default - providing he can find enough places to dig holes, that is. While you may not necessarily want to be in a glamorous sector of any market, and they are often very crowded sectors, it helps to be in a growing one. Swimming with the tide rather than against it, so to speak. A swelling tide raises all boats, including yours. On the other side of the "glamorous" coin, very few of those who want their picture on the front cover of Vogue, or wish to become a movie director or to run the coolest PR company in the world, get to achieve anything. The reason is obvious. The laws of supply and demand are absolute - and they apply not only to commodities, but to people. Too many people want to make a blockbuster movie and live in Beverly Hills. Not enough people want to dig holes."
"So how do you judge your own aptitudes? Trial and error is the only way I ever heard of. The problem is that we create an image of ourselves in our childhood and youth (often at the urging of parents, siblings or friends), and subsequently attempt to graft reality onto this image. More often than not, the graft doesn't take and the result is bewilderment and disappointment. Far better ruthlessly analyze what your particular aptitudes are and act upon them rather than attempt to graft an oak tree onto a dandelion."
"You must choose. Life is comfortable enough in the Western world for most people. In most parts of Europe there are the safety nets of the social services and of government-subsidized medical care. There are decent jobs at decent salaries with decent colleagues and a decent retirement; and all without the heart-stopping fear of bankruptcy, of years of risk amid fears of ignominious failure. Why do handstands on the rim of hell? Why bother to punish yourself in such a way? Nobody else does it - why should you? Go on, make everyone around you happy. Why not give in?"
"Talent is usually conscious of its own value. But the currency of that value is not necessarily a million-dollar salary. The opportunity to prove themselves, and sometimes the chance to run the show on a day-to-day basis, will often do the trick just as well. This holds true even if talent is placed in the driver's seat of a small division within an existing operation. What talent seeks, as often as not, is the chance to prove itself and the opportunity to excel."
"Truly. Do you believe in yourself? Do you? If you do not, and, worse still, if you believe you never can believe, then by all means go on reading this book. But take it from me, your only chance of getting rich will come from the lottery or inheritance. If you will not believe in yourself, then why should anyone else. Without self-belief nothing can be accomplished. With it, nothing is impossible. It is as brutal and as black and white at that. If you take no other memory from this book, then take that single thought. It was worth a damn sight more than the price you paid for it."
"Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It's too high!
COME TO THE EDGE!
And they came
and he pushed
and they flew..."
pg 164 Negotiation tips.
"Choose a rogue element to your advantage and bring it into the negotiation at a late stage. You'll be amazed at how often this tactic produces results."
"But a public company exists only to boost its share price, and its share price is determined, incredibly enough, by "analysts" - spotty-faced youths who live on another planet where growth-at-any-price is the only deity one is encouraged to worship. Medium- or longterm strategies were for wimps and amateurs, in their estimation. This quarter's results, this quarter's growth, were the only things that mattered to them. It almost seemed, at times, as if profit was a dirty word. If we were making "profits," asked the "analysts," weren't we in danger of "wasting" money that could have been invested to produce more "growth"?"
"You won't get far if you attempt to financially "incentivize" the salt of the earth. Praise, the ability to discern when a good job has been done and the courtesy to say so, fairness, integrity and camaraderie should be employed instead. It takes more trouble than mere bribery, but it produces wonderful results."
"If I were writing a book about how to be happy, then I would recommend much to you along the same lines. Love of any work, diligently undertaken, no matter what it is, brings contentment and, eventually respect. But it will rarely bring you riches. And that is what you are reading this book for, is it not?"
Pg 250 onwards.
"There is no fortress so strong that money cannot take it. [Cicero]."
"Seeking substantial wealth is almost always a fool's game. The statistics show that very few people ever succeed. Most of them should never have made the attempt in the first place. They aren't suited to it, and if that sounds defeatist, then consider the fact that the search will take up a great deal of your waking life for many, many years."
"Time is finite. Which is a fancy way of saying that you only have so much of it - then it will run out. When you are young, time seems to stretch into the distance for so far that surely it will always be on your side? When the young catch the old unawares, they may sometimes glimpse a look of naked envy, which is then instantly disguised. And the old have reason to be envious. Truly, truly, they do. Ask me what I will give you if you could wave a magic wand and give me my youth back. The answer would be everything I own and everything I will ever own."
"If you are young and reading this then I ask you to remember just this: you are richer than anyone older than you, and far richer than those who are much older. What you choose to do with the time that stretches out before you is entirely a matter for you. But do not say you started the journey poor. If you are young, you are infinitely richer than I can ever be again."
"And yet you wish to waste your youth in the getting of money? Really? Think hard, my young cub, think hard and think long before you embark on such a quest. The time spent attempting to acquire wealth will mount up and cannot be reclaimed, whether you succeed or whether you fail."
"Wealth makes many demands and, by the time you have acquired it, you will be prey to certain habits. You will fear to lose it and must spend a great deal more time to defend it. No one is "independent" of the human race. "No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." Heed the words of John Donne, finest of poets: "And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls: it tolls for thee.""
"No luxury of choices for rich little you. You will be too busy keeping the sea from washing away the sand you have spent so long collecting at such terrible cost to your health and your sanity and your relationships with others. It is always thus. There is no escape. You believe (I know you do) that it will be different for you. But it won't be. It never is."
"I could do all those things without wealth. So why do I not give it all away? Because I worked too hard for it. Because I am tainted by it. Because I am afraid to. All those reasons and more. Perhaps, if I am lucky enough to become old, I will accumulate something else: the courage to give it all away before I die. That would be a good thing, I think."
"You have to cut loose to get rich. There isn't any other way."
"Firstly, they fear that you are placing yourself in harm's way - and, to them, that cannot be a good thing. Secondly, they fear that if you should succeed, you will expose their own timidity to the light of day."
"It isn't the money, you see. It is because you have humiliated them, in their minds anyway, both by succeeding and by valuing the time it took for you to succeed over their part in your life. And that, in a nutshell, is why it is so important to cut loose, especially in the early days."
"Commit or don't commit. No half-measures. Cut loose from all negative influences. Choose the right mountain. Fear nothing. Start now. Go!"
"1. Analyze your need. Desire is insufficient. Compulsion is mandatory.
2. Cut loose from negative influences. Never give in. Stay the course.
3. Ignore "great ideas." Concentrate on great execution.
4. Focus. Keep your eye on the ball marked "The Money is Here.
5. Hire talent smarter than you. Delegate. Share the annual pie.
6. Ownership is the real "secret." Hold on to every percentage point you can.
7. Sell before you need to, or when bored. Empty your mind when negotiating.
8. Fear nothing and no one. Get rich. Remember to give it all away."
Do you really want to be rich. Before you start this, ask yourself if there is a way to get what you want without getting rich. You have to know what you want first though.
Quotes:
"Money is always welcome. But no. Very, very few authors become rich. The odds against it are too steep."
"Just how quickly can I become rich? Quicker than you probably deserve, but slower than you would like."
"Do I have to read your book from beginning to end? No. Dip in and out as you like. Make notes. Jot down points you think apply, particularly to your situation and your personality. Or make no notes at all-just highlight sentences or examples that catch your fancy."
"A book is a tool, not an artifact."
"Tunnel vision helps. Being a bit of a shit helps. A think skin helps. Stamina is crucial, as is a capacity to work so hard that your best friends mock you, your lovers despair and the rest of your acquaintances watch furtively from the sidelines, half in awe and half in contempt. Luck helps - but only if you don't seek it."
"Rich enough to live where you want, to go where you want, to do what you want, to meet who you want. Rich enough to buy the only two things apart from health and love worth fussing about in life. Time. And the option of not having to be in any particular place on any particular day doing any particular thing in order to pay the rent or the mortgage."
"Never trust the vast mountain of conventional wisdom. It contains great nuggets of wisdom, it is true. Bu they lie alongside rivers of fool's gold. Conventional wisdom daunts initiative and offers far to many convenient reasons for inaction, especially for those with a great deal to lose. Fortunately for you, you do not have anything to lose and can afford to ignore the "jobsworths" and Jeremiahs who have lived upon the mountain for so long that they have come to worship it."
"Anyone not busy learning is busy dying. For as long as you foster a willingness to learn, you will ward off sclerosis of the brain and hardening of the mental arteries."
"You have little time left in which to make up your mind. Your youth and stamina are ebbing away. You are getting too comfortable."
"And you know what? The kids and the house and the mortgage and your retired parents and the love you your life (whether a man or a woman) and all your current responsibilities - they are not the real problem. They are either inanimate, or they love you, or they don't love you. They will not love you less (or more) if you decide to surprise everyone around you and seize the time. As you could seize it, if you truly wished to. Then you'd show them." (Is this just narcissism? Why would they care more about you and yours than them and theirs.)
"If you are unwilling to fail, sometimes publicly, and even catastrophically, you stand very little chance of ever getting rich. If you care what your neighbors think, you will never get rich. If you cannot bear the thought of causing worry to your family, spouse or lover while you plow a lonely, dangerous road rather than taking the safe option of a regular job, you will never get rich. If you have artistic inclinations and fear that the search for wealth will coarsen such talents or degrade them, you will never get rich. (Because your fear, in this instance, is well justified.) If you are not prepared to work longer hours than almost anyone you know, despite the jibes of colleagues and friends, you are unlikely to get rich. If you cannot convince yourself that you are "good enough" to be rich, you will never get rich. If you cannot treat your quest to get rich as a game, you will never be rich. If you cannot face up to your fear of failure, you will never be rich."
"For make no mistake, if you will not confront and harness this all-too-human emotion in one way or another, they you are doomed to remain relatively poor. You either get over it, go around it, go at it, mount it, duck under it or cozy up to it. But you cannot surrender to it. That way lies paralysis, prevarication, ignominy and defeat."
"If you shy away for any reason whatever, then the way is blocked. The gate is shut - and will remain shut."
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy; the chance to draw back; always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elemental truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one commits oneself, Providence moves all. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of incidents and meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would come his or her way."
"If you want to be rich, you are not looking for a "career," except as a launch pad or as a chance to infiltrate and understand a particular industry. A job for the rich-in-training is merely something to keep you ticking over, to put food on your plate and wine in your glass."
"Working for others is a reconnaissance expedition; a means and not an end in itself. It is an apprenticeship and not a goal."
"Team spirit is for losers, financially speaking. It's the glue that binds the losers together. It's the methodology employers use to shackle useful employees to their desks without having to pay them too much. While lives may depend on it in a few professions, like soldering or firefighting, in commerce it acts as a subtle handicap and a brake to ambitious individuals. Which, in a way, is what it's designed to do."
"First off, forget glamorous. One of the riches self-made men I know digs holes in the ground to dispose of household waste. That's not how his company describes itself in its annual report, but essentially that is what it does, along with building incineration plants. Glamorous? No. But in a good year he puts 20-30 million pounds on the bottom line and earns a gross margin of over 20 percent. That's a sensational result for a small, wholly owned private company. Not to mention that the relentless growth of the packaged-goods industry ensures that his business will grow and grow virtually by default - providing he can find enough places to dig holes, that is. While you may not necessarily want to be in a glamorous sector of any market, and they are often very crowded sectors, it helps to be in a growing one. Swimming with the tide rather than against it, so to speak. A swelling tide raises all boats, including yours. On the other side of the "glamorous" coin, very few of those who want their picture on the front cover of Vogue, or wish to become a movie director or to run the coolest PR company in the world, get to achieve anything. The reason is obvious. The laws of supply and demand are absolute - and they apply not only to commodities, but to people. Too many people want to make a blockbuster movie and live in Beverly Hills. Not enough people want to dig holes."
"So how do you judge your own aptitudes? Trial and error is the only way I ever heard of. The problem is that we create an image of ourselves in our childhood and youth (often at the urging of parents, siblings or friends), and subsequently attempt to graft reality onto this image. More often than not, the graft doesn't take and the result is bewilderment and disappointment. Far better ruthlessly analyze what your particular aptitudes are and act upon them rather than attempt to graft an oak tree onto a dandelion."
"You must choose. Life is comfortable enough in the Western world for most people. In most parts of Europe there are the safety nets of the social services and of government-subsidized medical care. There are decent jobs at decent salaries with decent colleagues and a decent retirement; and all without the heart-stopping fear of bankruptcy, of years of risk amid fears of ignominious failure. Why do handstands on the rim of hell? Why bother to punish yourself in such a way? Nobody else does it - why should you? Go on, make everyone around you happy. Why not give in?"
"Talent is usually conscious of its own value. But the currency of that value is not necessarily a million-dollar salary. The opportunity to prove themselves, and sometimes the chance to run the show on a day-to-day basis, will often do the trick just as well. This holds true even if talent is placed in the driver's seat of a small division within an existing operation. What talent seeks, as often as not, is the chance to prove itself and the opportunity to excel."
"Truly. Do you believe in yourself? Do you? If you do not, and, worse still, if you believe you never can believe, then by all means go on reading this book. But take it from me, your only chance of getting rich will come from the lottery or inheritance. If you will not believe in yourself, then why should anyone else. Without self-belief nothing can be accomplished. With it, nothing is impossible. It is as brutal and as black and white at that. If you take no other memory from this book, then take that single thought. It was worth a damn sight more than the price you paid for it."
"Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It's too high!
COME TO THE EDGE!
And they came
and he pushed
and they flew..."
pg 164 Negotiation tips.
"Choose a rogue element to your advantage and bring it into the negotiation at a late stage. You'll be amazed at how often this tactic produces results."
"But a public company exists only to boost its share price, and its share price is determined, incredibly enough, by "analysts" - spotty-faced youths who live on another planet where growth-at-any-price is the only deity one is encouraged to worship. Medium- or longterm strategies were for wimps and amateurs, in their estimation. This quarter's results, this quarter's growth, were the only things that mattered to them. It almost seemed, at times, as if profit was a dirty word. If we were making "profits," asked the "analysts," weren't we in danger of "wasting" money that could have been invested to produce more "growth"?"
"You won't get far if you attempt to financially "incentivize" the salt of the earth. Praise, the ability to discern when a good job has been done and the courtesy to say so, fairness, integrity and camaraderie should be employed instead. It takes more trouble than mere bribery, but it produces wonderful results."
"If I were writing a book about how to be happy, then I would recommend much to you along the same lines. Love of any work, diligently undertaken, no matter what it is, brings contentment and, eventually respect. But it will rarely bring you riches. And that is what you are reading this book for, is it not?"
Pg 250 onwards.
"There is no fortress so strong that money cannot take it. [Cicero]."
"Seeking substantial wealth is almost always a fool's game. The statistics show that very few people ever succeed. Most of them should never have made the attempt in the first place. They aren't suited to it, and if that sounds defeatist, then consider the fact that the search will take up a great deal of your waking life for many, many years."
"Time is finite. Which is a fancy way of saying that you only have so much of it - then it will run out. When you are young, time seems to stretch into the distance for so far that surely it will always be on your side? When the young catch the old unawares, they may sometimes glimpse a look of naked envy, which is then instantly disguised. And the old have reason to be envious. Truly, truly, they do. Ask me what I will give you if you could wave a magic wand and give me my youth back. The answer would be everything I own and everything I will ever own."
"If you are young and reading this then I ask you to remember just this: you are richer than anyone older than you, and far richer than those who are much older. What you choose to do with the time that stretches out before you is entirely a matter for you. But do not say you started the journey poor. If you are young, you are infinitely richer than I can ever be again."
"And yet you wish to waste your youth in the getting of money? Really? Think hard, my young cub, think hard and think long before you embark on such a quest. The time spent attempting to acquire wealth will mount up and cannot be reclaimed, whether you succeed or whether you fail."
"Wealth makes many demands and, by the time you have acquired it, you will be prey to certain habits. You will fear to lose it and must spend a great deal more time to defend it. No one is "independent" of the human race. "No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." Heed the words of John Donne, finest of poets: "And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls: it tolls for thee.""
"No luxury of choices for rich little you. You will be too busy keeping the sea from washing away the sand you have spent so long collecting at such terrible cost to your health and your sanity and your relationships with others. It is always thus. There is no escape. You believe (I know you do) that it will be different for you. But it won't be. It never is."
"I could do all those things without wealth. So why do I not give it all away? Because I worked too hard for it. Because I am tainted by it. Because I am afraid to. All those reasons and more. Perhaps, if I am lucky enough to become old, I will accumulate something else: the courage to give it all away before I die. That would be a good thing, I think."
"You have to cut loose to get rich. There isn't any other way."
"Firstly, they fear that you are placing yourself in harm's way - and, to them, that cannot be a good thing. Secondly, they fear that if you should succeed, you will expose their own timidity to the light of day."
"It isn't the money, you see. It is because you have humiliated them, in their minds anyway, both by succeeding and by valuing the time it took for you to succeed over their part in your life. And that, in a nutshell, is why it is so important to cut loose, especially in the early days."
"Commit or don't commit. No half-measures. Cut loose from all negative influences. Choose the right mountain. Fear nothing. Start now. Go!"
"1. Analyze your need. Desire is insufficient. Compulsion is mandatory.
2. Cut loose from negative influences. Never give in. Stay the course.
3. Ignore "great ideas." Concentrate on great execution.
4. Focus. Keep your eye on the ball marked "The Money is Here.
5. Hire talent smarter than you. Delegate. Share the annual pie.
6. Ownership is the real "secret." Hold on to every percentage point you can.
7. Sell before you need to, or when bored. Empty your mind when negotiating.
8. Fear nothing and no one. Get rich. Remember to give it all away."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 26, 2022
Been wanting to read this for 6 years! Crazy lol it's a great book, fairly simple, easy to read, big main points, not much detail.
I love Britain's Felix Dennis take on things, he makes it simple and clear, with a poetic flair.
He owned and operated a publishing company that sold magazines.
Felix was a greedy negotiator lol
Delegate your weaknesses, and the goal should be to delegate almost everything. Make sure you delegate well, micromanagement is the worst and it shows distrust in your colleagues
He was always so determined to get rich. It was his top priority. He dedicated his life to it and once he was he overspent lol on drugs, hookers, alcohol, etc. and it wasn't worth it. But he learned from it and now time is his most valuable commodity.
"Ownership is not the most important thing. It is the only thing that counts." "To become rich, every single % of anything you own is crucial."
I love Britain's Felix Dennis take on things, he makes it simple and clear, with a poetic flair.
He owned and operated a publishing company that sold magazines.
Felix was a greedy negotiator lol
Delegate your weaknesses, and the goal should be to delegate almost everything. Make sure you delegate well, micromanagement is the worst and it shows distrust in your colleagues
He was always so determined to get rich. It was his top priority. He dedicated his life to it and once he was he overspent lol on drugs, hookers, alcohol, etc. and it wasn't worth it. But he learned from it and now time is his most valuable commodity.
"Ownership is not the most important thing. It is the only thing that counts." "To become rich, every single % of anything you own is crucial."
January 8, 2022
4 out of 5, I really liked it.
This book is the strangest mixture of poetry, ego, wine, sex (barely mentioned with numbers), money and business that I read. I disliked the poetry, I laughed at ego, I was astonished by wine consumption, I ... 14?, I liked the proof of the reality behind money and business.
This is not a self help book, this is not a beautiful story about amazing world. It's a book about getting rich. I'm sure that after reading this book, some people will loose the interest in making this happen.
This book is the strangest mixture of poetry, ego, wine, sex (barely mentioned with numbers), money and business that I read. I disliked the poetry, I laughed at ego, I was astonished by wine consumption, I ... 14?, I liked the proof of the reality behind money and business.
This is not a self help book, this is not a beautiful story about amazing world. It's a book about getting rich. I'm sure that after reading this book, some people will loose the interest in making this happen.
September 4, 2018
What a book! Full of though truths that people who want to accumulate wealth and big build businesses need to know.
Even though I have read many books on the topic, I must admit this cuts short on the woo-woo stuff. On top of that, I must admit it was also very entertaining.
Felix Dennis is not someone who I want to emulate, but certainly someone who earned my respect and that I have lots to learn from.
P.S.: I'm aware of his death.
Even though I have read many books on the topic, I must admit this cuts short on the woo-woo stuff. On top of that, I must admit it was also very entertaining.
Felix Dennis is not someone who I want to emulate, but certainly someone who earned my respect and that I have lots to learn from.
P.S.: I'm aware of his death.
June 5, 2023
A great book for someone who thought they want to get rich.
October 14, 2022
This book reminds me of the lyrics of a popular rap-
"I came, I saw
I praise the Lord, then break the law
I take what's mine, then take some more
It rains, it pours, it rains, it pours"
Felix is no hack, he's the real deal.
"I came, I saw
I praise the Lord, then break the law
I take what's mine, then take some more
It rains, it pours, it rains, it pours"
Felix is no hack, he's the real deal.
March 16, 2013
It takes the immortal words of C Montgomery Burns of The Simpsons to summarise this book: "Family, religion, friends.. these are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business." Felix Dennis is an eccentric, a character, a legend in his own wine-fueled lunchtime, and let's be thankful for it. In terms of having a voice, this book is one of the most forceful, and enjoyable books I've read for a long time. Felix harangues you from almost every page. So you want to be rich? Okay. First thing then, accept that you are a moron for having this shabby personal goal. There's so much more that you could do with your life, and you want to spend it gathering the money that is hanging from trees out there with your name on it? Fine, Felix has written the book for you. Unfortunately, if you don't get the irony in the title, nor the poking fun at the absurdity of the quest in these pages, then you might just make it. You might be rich in money at the end of it. But that's all you might be rich in.
I chuckled my way through this book and looked forward to returning to it to read more on how Felix "made it". But oh, with rue his heart is laden at the speed time has rushed by. He'd give his whole fortune away to get just ten years more to focus on writing poetry, the real love of his life. How sad it was then, to discover when I went onto his website to find out that he is now suffering from skin cancer. It seems clear that the Grim Reaper is about to appear and tap him on the shoulder, just as he's worked out that what he really wants to do with life - write serious poetry and do his equivalent of a bit of gardening (plant a forest in England). All that time spent gathering money to enjoy a few sweet milliseconds of time at his writer's cottage in Mustique, when he could have spent his whole life doing that in a shack on the beach, if he'd had other priorities apart from getting rich.
As far as serious advice goes about business and working life, there is some good common sense and reflection buried in these pages. Whether or not you have the relentless drive and energy needed to achieve what you will need to achieve to get rich, that's another matter. It's up to you though. You can do it if you really want. That's certain, and an easy answer to the question of "How to be rich?". What's difficult though, is answering the question "Is being rich, in monetary terms, what you really want?" This book seems to be an attempt to make you ask yourself that question and therefore the title shouldn't have been "How to Get Rich", it should have been "Why to Get Rich?" It seems in the end though, that if you have the self-awareness and motivation to really, really understand your deepest and most heart-felt desires in life, then money is the last thing you'll use your short time on this Earth chasing.
I chuckled my way through this book and looked forward to returning to it to read more on how Felix "made it". But oh, with rue his heart is laden at the speed time has rushed by. He'd give his whole fortune away to get just ten years more to focus on writing poetry, the real love of his life. How sad it was then, to discover when I went onto his website to find out that he is now suffering from skin cancer. It seems clear that the Grim Reaper is about to appear and tap him on the shoulder, just as he's worked out that what he really wants to do with life - write serious poetry and do his equivalent of a bit of gardening (plant a forest in England). All that time spent gathering money to enjoy a few sweet milliseconds of time at his writer's cottage in Mustique, when he could have spent his whole life doing that in a shack on the beach, if he'd had other priorities apart from getting rich.
As far as serious advice goes about business and working life, there is some good common sense and reflection buried in these pages. Whether or not you have the relentless drive and energy needed to achieve what you will need to achieve to get rich, that's another matter. It's up to you though. You can do it if you really want. That's certain, and an easy answer to the question of "How to be rich?". What's difficult though, is answering the question "Is being rich, in monetary terms, what you really want?" This book seems to be an attempt to make you ask yourself that question and therefore the title shouldn't have been "How to Get Rich", it should have been "Why to Get Rich?" It seems in the end though, that if you have the self-awareness and motivation to really, really understand your deepest and most heart-felt desires in life, then money is the last thing you'll use your short time on this Earth chasing.
December 28, 2020
Felix Dennis is a bootstrapped entrepreneur. The book did not sugarcoat a thing. It is truly the best book I’ve read regarding wealth creation. There are no sugarcoating methods and many hard truths.
Felix always gave personal anecdotes which made the lessons stick even harder.
The book is divided into 5 sections (reasons not to get rich, getting started, getting rich, troubleshooting & endgame) with a prologue called “How Rich?”.
The four different sections covered:
- Part One—> Reasons not to get rich (pole positions,a million to one)
- Part Two —> Getting started (harnessing the fear of failure,the search,the fallacy of the great idea, obtaining capital, never give in, the five most common startup mistakes (mistaking desire for compulsion - what is your purpose behind getting rich? -over-optimism concerning cashflow —> if you lose control over the cashflow you will be relagated to the status of minority investor or salaried employee - reinforcing failure —> think small and act big - stay in touch and constantly examine how your company could do better - identify talent, hire it, nurture it, reward it and protect it —>give it the opportunity to excel —> give it responsibility to grow (purpose is extremely important for talent)
- Part Three —> getting rich (cardinal virtues —> self belief and persistence is everything —> trust your instincts —> own your company outright (bootstrap) and begin to make more baskets (diversify/ innovate with products etc.) - a few words about luck (pimp her don’t court her, make your own luck, stay the course (stop looking for the green grass), delegate -don’t do it all by yourself, just do it and ask for forgiveness later, treat the quest to wealth as a game and don’t take it too serious) - the art of negotiations ( their need will outweigh my greed - leverage is everything, know who you’re negotiating with, keep the period of non-compete as short as possible, set a limit on what you’ll pay and don’t deviate—> your first thought is your best thought , most negotiations are unnecessary and don’t enter into them —> save serious negotiations for serious occasions , what you don’t know or haven’t bothered to find out can kill you in a negotiations (do your homework and do it rigorously, in serious negotiations —> the devil is in the details (get all the professions help you can get but do not surrender the control of the negotiation to them —> they are not the one who will live with the consequences, never fall in love with a deal, avoid auctions, the negotiator opposite of you is not your friend —> you have no obligation to please him (there are real winners and losers that emerge from negotiations - be on the right side), listen when engaged in serious negotiation —> use silence as a weapon (they can’t decipher silence), choose a rouge element to your negotiation and bring it in at a late stage, get to know the other side (divide and rule) —> permit no such weakness in your own camp, establish where the balance of weakness lies in any negotiation —> hold them up to the light and make a battle plan, whatever you agree to during the argument follow it, never break a covenant (pacta sunt servanda), when dealing with cunning person —> understand their ends to decipher their speeches (say little to them and only that which they’re not looking for)
—> The Joys Of Delegation- delegating to help others become better whilst making the money through ownership of the company is virtuous (win-win for both parties) - don’t delegate to people who are similar to you (delegate to people who’s strengths are your weaknesses) - delegation is leading workers to doing the right work in order to scale the company - power of veto (if you own the company outright, you choose if you want to attend senior management meetings or not)
—> A Piece Of The Pie- back up your managers in public and criticize in private (with delegation comes responsibility) - set a bounty on talent on the managers - interview your rivals talent (pouch whilst beating able to figure out what the rival is up to) - save. A little blt of pie for the supplier (treat your suppliers at the end of the year) - sell early and move on to the next venture (things do not keep increasing in value)
- Part 4: Troubleshooting & Endgame (your youth is everything- the time waisted chasing wealth cannot get back (spend your time wisely)
- How To Stay Rich - always look for talent - keep security for you and your family - stay healthy to enjoy your wealth - If you fall out of love with a business sell it, you won’t be able to hide your lack of passion - always hire people smarter than you and listen to them - the key to staying rich is balance
- The Eight Secrets To Getting Rich (analyze your needs ,desire is insufficient, compulsion is mandatory —> cut loose from negative influences, never give
in and stay the course —> ignore great ideas, concentrate on great execution —> focus, keep your eye on the ball marked “the money is here” —> hire talent smarter than you, delegate and share the annual pie —> ownership is the real secret, hold on to every percentage point you can —> sell before you need to or when bored, empty your mind when negotiating —> fear nothing and no one, get rich and remember to give it all away
How to improve cashflow (13 steps):
1. keep payroll down to an absolute minimum.
2. never sign long-term rent agreements or take upmarket office space.
3. never indulge in fancy furniture, unless your particular business demands that you make such an impression on clients.
4. never buy a business meal if the other side offers to -you can show off later.
5. pay yourself just enough to eat.
6. do not be shy to call customers who owe you money personally -it works
7. always meet payroll, even at the expense of starving yourself that week
8. issuing staff credit cards, company mobile phones or cars is the road to ruin
9. leaving lights, computers, printers and copiers on overnight is just stupid
10. get used to groveling - tough times
11.play one supplier off against another-ruthlessly
key takeaways: on your way to your riches you will gain envy from loved ones; keep going anyways, fear is an illusion; get out of your mind and execute, fear is binary; stay on the right side, the search is important (past 4,5 years; you learn lessons and gain perspective, execution is much more important than a great idea; the “great idea” is a fallacy, focus on getting better at executing, never ever give in (Vincent Van Gogh), never ever give up equity, venture capital will diminish your influence in your own company; find other creative solutions (like Felix did in the beginning of his company; hiring lawyer for 20 pounds etc., whoever controls a business can: force its sale, implement a merger, fire you and take a great deal of money out of it, DO NOT GIVE IN TO FEAR, START NOW, CUT OFF NEGATIVE INFLUENCES
Felix always gave personal anecdotes which made the lessons stick even harder.
The book is divided into 5 sections (reasons not to get rich, getting started, getting rich, troubleshooting & endgame) with a prologue called “How Rich?”.
The four different sections covered:
- Part One—> Reasons not to get rich (pole positions,a million to one)
- Part Two —> Getting started (harnessing the fear of failure,the search,the fallacy of the great idea, obtaining capital, never give in, the five most common startup mistakes (mistaking desire for compulsion - what is your purpose behind getting rich? -over-optimism concerning cashflow —> if you lose control over the cashflow you will be relagated to the status of minority investor or salaried employee - reinforcing failure —> think small and act big - stay in touch and constantly examine how your company could do better - identify talent, hire it, nurture it, reward it and protect it —>give it the opportunity to excel —> give it responsibility to grow (purpose is extremely important for talent)
- Part Three —> getting rich (cardinal virtues —> self belief and persistence is everything —> trust your instincts —> own your company outright (bootstrap) and begin to make more baskets (diversify/ innovate with products etc.) - a few words about luck (pimp her don’t court her, make your own luck, stay the course (stop looking for the green grass), delegate -don’t do it all by yourself, just do it and ask for forgiveness later, treat the quest to wealth as a game and don’t take it too serious) - the art of negotiations ( their need will outweigh my greed - leverage is everything, know who you’re negotiating with, keep the period of non-compete as short as possible, set a limit on what you’ll pay and don’t deviate—> your first thought is your best thought , most negotiations are unnecessary and don’t enter into them —> save serious negotiations for serious occasions , what you don’t know or haven’t bothered to find out can kill you in a negotiations (do your homework and do it rigorously, in serious negotiations —> the devil is in the details (get all the professions help you can get but do not surrender the control of the negotiation to them —> they are not the one who will live with the consequences, never fall in love with a deal, avoid auctions, the negotiator opposite of you is not your friend —> you have no obligation to please him (there are real winners and losers that emerge from negotiations - be on the right side), listen when engaged in serious negotiation —> use silence as a weapon (they can’t decipher silence), choose a rouge element to your negotiation and bring it in at a late stage, get to know the other side (divide and rule) —> permit no such weakness in your own camp, establish where the balance of weakness lies in any negotiation —> hold them up to the light and make a battle plan, whatever you agree to during the argument follow it, never break a covenant (pacta sunt servanda), when dealing with cunning person —> understand their ends to decipher their speeches (say little to them and only that which they’re not looking for)
—> The Joys Of Delegation- delegating to help others become better whilst making the money through ownership of the company is virtuous (win-win for both parties) - don’t delegate to people who are similar to you (delegate to people who’s strengths are your weaknesses) - delegation is leading workers to doing the right work in order to scale the company - power of veto (if you own the company outright, you choose if you want to attend senior management meetings or not)
—> A Piece Of The Pie- back up your managers in public and criticize in private (with delegation comes responsibility) - set a bounty on talent on the managers - interview your rivals talent (pouch whilst beating able to figure out what the rival is up to) - save. A little blt of pie for the supplier (treat your suppliers at the end of the year) - sell early and move on to the next venture (things do not keep increasing in value)
- Part 4: Troubleshooting & Endgame (your youth is everything- the time waisted chasing wealth cannot get back (spend your time wisely)
- How To Stay Rich - always look for talent - keep security for you and your family - stay healthy to enjoy your wealth - If you fall out of love with a business sell it, you won’t be able to hide your lack of passion - always hire people smarter than you and listen to them - the key to staying rich is balance
- The Eight Secrets To Getting Rich (analyze your needs ,desire is insufficient, compulsion is mandatory —> cut loose from negative influences, never give
in and stay the course —> ignore great ideas, concentrate on great execution —> focus, keep your eye on the ball marked “the money is here” —> hire talent smarter than you, delegate and share the annual pie —> ownership is the real secret, hold on to every percentage point you can —> sell before you need to or when bored, empty your mind when negotiating —> fear nothing and no one, get rich and remember to give it all away
How to improve cashflow (13 steps):
1. keep payroll down to an absolute minimum.
2. never sign long-term rent agreements or take upmarket office space.
3. never indulge in fancy furniture, unless your particular business demands that you make such an impression on clients.
4. never buy a business meal if the other side offers to -you can show off later.
5. pay yourself just enough to eat.
6. do not be shy to call customers who owe you money personally -it works
7. always meet payroll, even at the expense of starving yourself that week
8. issuing staff credit cards, company mobile phones or cars is the road to ruin
9. leaving lights, computers, printers and copiers on overnight is just stupid
10. get used to groveling - tough times
11.play one supplier off against another-ruthlessly
key takeaways: on your way to your riches you will gain envy from loved ones; keep going anyways, fear is an illusion; get out of your mind and execute, fear is binary; stay on the right side, the search is important (past 4,5 years; you learn lessons and gain perspective, execution is much more important than a great idea; the “great idea” is a fallacy, focus on getting better at executing, never ever give in (Vincent Van Gogh), never ever give up equity, venture capital will diminish your influence in your own company; find other creative solutions (like Felix did in the beginning of his company; hiring lawyer for 20 pounds etc., whoever controls a business can: force its sale, implement a merger, fire you and take a great deal of money out of it, DO NOT GIVE IN TO FEAR, START NOW, CUT OFF NEGATIVE INFLUENCES
Read
November 25, 2018How To Get Rich by Felix Dennis is about becoming rich but not about being a good person nor a great leader or manager. It’s Felix reflections about how to get rich. I don’t necessarily agree with everything but with some I do. Here are a few of his advice:
- Cut loose from negative influence and never give in.
- ignore “great ideas”. Concentrate on great execution!
- Focus.
- Hire talent smarter than you. Delegate and share the annual pie.
- Ownership is the real “secret”. Hold on to every percentage point you can!
- Sell before you need to, or when bored.
- Fear nothing. Get rich and give it all away.
It’s very interesting how he writes a lot about doing everything to own 100% of your company. And the fact that he also agrees about the fact that’s it’s not about money and getting rich. That you should give it all away.
Book challenge: 135/1000
- Cut loose from negative influence and never give in.
- ignore “great ideas”. Concentrate on great execution!
- Focus.
- Hire talent smarter than you. Delegate and share the annual pie.
- Ownership is the real “secret”. Hold on to every percentage point you can!
- Sell before you need to, or when bored.
- Fear nothing. Get rich and give it all away.
It’s very interesting how he writes a lot about doing everything to own 100% of your company. And the fact that he also agrees about the fact that’s it’s not about money and getting rich. That you should give it all away.
Book challenge: 135/1000
July 1, 2019
This is not a bad book, it's actually more like 3.5, but I gave it 2 stars because of the disingenuous title. it's really a book about successful entrepreneurship and competitive mindset. basically, the entire long book can be summarized in one sentence; you MUST start and own a business, sometimes being selfish as a manager is a good thing. that's it.
March 25, 2021
The title may make you scoff, but Felix Dennis is actually a terrific writer and poet. He focuses on the psychological toll the getting of wealth can take on one, and provides great practical advice for those that are interested in the journey to getting wealth.
October 1, 2022
Some decent tips, nothing spectacularly mind blowing. Main issue I have is it’s the selfish way to get rich.
And yes, it IS challenging to just get rich.
But for me, it’s more fun to figure out the selfless way to get rich…“if my homies ain’t winnin then I ain’t winnin”
And yes, it IS challenging to just get rich.
But for me, it’s more fun to figure out the selfless way to get rich…“if my homies ain’t winnin then I ain’t winnin”
February 21, 2020
This is one of the most useful and certainly most entertaining books I have ever read in this genre. Felix Dennis is frank, both about the trials and tribulations of getting rich, and his own life.
Here is an animated video summary I made of this great book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JImkl...
Key takeaway points:
• Don’t let your life be ruled by fear. You can’t care what the neighbours think. Starting a business with the aim to make millions will often mean you’ll be shamefully grovelling for capital early on. To become rich you need to become fearless.
• Ownership is everything. You can’t get rich unless you own a business – ideally 100%. Only give away shares if absolutely necessary.
• Remove yourself from negative influences and ignore “conventional wisdom”. Think for yourself and have the courage to do what you believe in.
• Do something you enjoy, you’re good at, and where there is good potential to make a lot of money e.g. software and tech. You need to enjoy it because getting rich is a long-term process.
• Stay healthy. What’s the point in getting rich if you don’t stay healthy enough to enjoy it?
Here is an animated video summary I made of this great book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JImkl...
Key takeaway points:
• Don’t let your life be ruled by fear. You can’t care what the neighbours think. Starting a business with the aim to make millions will often mean you’ll be shamefully grovelling for capital early on. To become rich you need to become fearless.
• Ownership is everything. You can’t get rich unless you own a business – ideally 100%. Only give away shares if absolutely necessary.
• Remove yourself from negative influences and ignore “conventional wisdom”. Think for yourself and have the courage to do what you believe in.
• Do something you enjoy, you’re good at, and where there is good potential to make a lot of money e.g. software and tech. You need to enjoy it because getting rich is a long-term process.
• Stay healthy. What’s the point in getting rich if you don’t stay healthy enough to enjoy it?
September 14, 2017
Mary Iannarino
Mrs. Smeenk
AP Lang
11 September 2017
A Book Review on Felix Dennis’s: How to get Rich
How to get Rich, a book published in 2006 by Felix Dennis, is a portrayal of not only the steps one must take to acquire wealth, but is also focused on the sacrifices made in order to be successful. The realism of his writing is unlike any other book I have read on the process of becoming wealthy. This is due to Dennis’s many paradoxes and analogies, which are used to portray a rather pessimistic picture of what the realities of having money actually are. It is also interesting to read a book that is based on an individual who speaks from their own experience and is credited by their success. In fact, at the time of Felix Dennis’s death in 2014 he was worth over $500,000,000. Believe it or not, this is not always the case, and many manual styled books are written by those who have not achieved the tasks they describe in their tutorial like guides of basic knowledge and and often times limited perspective. It is because of this and the wisdom found within Dennis’s book, that How to get Rich is so unique in the way it explains the methods and consequences of obtaining capital.
This genre of literature is nonfiction business as it shares the advice of a multi millionaire, while at the same time explores the many philosophical incentives of being rich. Each chapter outlines a new step to becoming rich and as the book progresses more and more paradoxes appear to better explain the psychological concepts which conflict what Dennis calls, the “Alberts” of the business world. An “Albert” is one who can never become rich simply because they lack the personality or drive to do so; they exist in a grey zone between desire and compulsion. He outlines this abstraction throughout the progression of the text through contradicting ideas such as the need to “feel the fear” yet having the courage to pursue your dreams anyway. Also, being okay with losing everything but still maintaining a “predator” like ambition, which will force you to attack the problems at hand and make your dream into a reality. Another example is, treating the journey to higher finance as if it's a game and to have fun, while at the same time being obsessed with winning and constantly strategizing. These are all challenges that the majority of Dennis’s audience are familiar with, so it is nice that he tells the aspiring entrepreneurs reading his book that they can overcome overwhelming fears, and even use them to their advantage.
There are other works similar to Dennis’s How to Get Rich, one of which is How to Get Rich on Purpose, a book by a motivational speaker named DeWayne Owens. There is, of course, an obvious difference in author occupation which contributes to the two varying viewpoints on the process of making more money; Dennis writes from a place of experience, while Owens takes a more impartial viewpoint on achieving success through an individual’s ability to control their own destiny. The two books, while both aimed at obtaining affluence differ in their methodology to achieving such lofty goals. How to Get Rich on Purpose is centered upon the idea that by conquering your mind and spiritual being, that you can climb the financial ladder to a higher life style. While much of Dennis’s How to get Rich is also focused on the power of the mind, it is more so in relation to an individual’s confidence rather than in a spiritual sense.
Dennis has written many other works of literature in regards to money, which allows him to explore similar concepts of economics and finance in more detail. For instance his book, The Narrow Road, he wrestles with the pros and cons of deciding whether or not wealth is in your best interests. He explains the difficulties he had of achieving a wealthy status without a degree or formal education and how those in similar circumstances face many obstacles. The Narrow Road is as deeply philosophical as How to get Rich, but is more concentrated on the negative aspects of having an abundance of money. For instance Dennis discusses how his fortune has affected his health, even stating that his cancer was a result of decades of constantly trying to further grow his fortune. Both How to get Rich and The Narrow Road are aimed to inform the audience of both economic and psychological consequences of pursuing wealth, but differ in the amount of focus they place on the negative factors of elitism.
I recommend that anyone who has thought about becoming an entrepreneur or is simply curious on ideologies correlating with wealth, read this book. It is especially useful for young people who are just beginning in business, so that they can be aware of the challenges ahead of them and the sacrifices they will likely have to make as their careers advance. Although Dennis does not use an overly complicated writing style, a book on economics and finance typically has more appeal towards those who aspire to a lifestyle of wealth and a better understanding of other factors that go along with it. The content of How to get Rich is appropriate for all, but can be considered controversial by those who believe that becoming rich should not be encouraged because they think that the desire to be wealthy is to sacrifice your happiness. In conclusion Felix Dennis’s How to get Rich is a work of literature that opens the reader to the world of wealth in a such a way that the reader can decipher whether or not money is their true desire in life.
Mrs. Smeenk
AP Lang
11 September 2017
A Book Review on Felix Dennis’s: How to get Rich
How to get Rich, a book published in 2006 by Felix Dennis, is a portrayal of not only the steps one must take to acquire wealth, but is also focused on the sacrifices made in order to be successful. The realism of his writing is unlike any other book I have read on the process of becoming wealthy. This is due to Dennis’s many paradoxes and analogies, which are used to portray a rather pessimistic picture of what the realities of having money actually are. It is also interesting to read a book that is based on an individual who speaks from their own experience and is credited by their success. In fact, at the time of Felix Dennis’s death in 2014 he was worth over $500,000,000. Believe it or not, this is not always the case, and many manual styled books are written by those who have not achieved the tasks they describe in their tutorial like guides of basic knowledge and and often times limited perspective. It is because of this and the wisdom found within Dennis’s book, that How to get Rich is so unique in the way it explains the methods and consequences of obtaining capital.
This genre of literature is nonfiction business as it shares the advice of a multi millionaire, while at the same time explores the many philosophical incentives of being rich. Each chapter outlines a new step to becoming rich and as the book progresses more and more paradoxes appear to better explain the psychological concepts which conflict what Dennis calls, the “Alberts” of the business world. An “Albert” is one who can never become rich simply because they lack the personality or drive to do so; they exist in a grey zone between desire and compulsion. He outlines this abstraction throughout the progression of the text through contradicting ideas such as the need to “feel the fear” yet having the courage to pursue your dreams anyway. Also, being okay with losing everything but still maintaining a “predator” like ambition, which will force you to attack the problems at hand and make your dream into a reality. Another example is, treating the journey to higher finance as if it's a game and to have fun, while at the same time being obsessed with winning and constantly strategizing. These are all challenges that the majority of Dennis’s audience are familiar with, so it is nice that he tells the aspiring entrepreneurs reading his book that they can overcome overwhelming fears, and even use them to their advantage.
There are other works similar to Dennis’s How to Get Rich, one of which is How to Get Rich on Purpose, a book by a motivational speaker named DeWayne Owens. There is, of course, an obvious difference in author occupation which contributes to the two varying viewpoints on the process of making more money; Dennis writes from a place of experience, while Owens takes a more impartial viewpoint on achieving success through an individual’s ability to control their own destiny. The two books, while both aimed at obtaining affluence differ in their methodology to achieving such lofty goals. How to Get Rich on Purpose is centered upon the idea that by conquering your mind and spiritual being, that you can climb the financial ladder to a higher life style. While much of Dennis’s How to get Rich is also focused on the power of the mind, it is more so in relation to an individual’s confidence rather than in a spiritual sense.
Dennis has written many other works of literature in regards to money, which allows him to explore similar concepts of economics and finance in more detail. For instance his book, The Narrow Road, he wrestles with the pros and cons of deciding whether or not wealth is in your best interests. He explains the difficulties he had of achieving a wealthy status without a degree or formal education and how those in similar circumstances face many obstacles. The Narrow Road is as deeply philosophical as How to get Rich, but is more concentrated on the negative aspects of having an abundance of money. For instance Dennis discusses how his fortune has affected his health, even stating that his cancer was a result of decades of constantly trying to further grow his fortune. Both How to get Rich and The Narrow Road are aimed to inform the audience of both economic and psychological consequences of pursuing wealth, but differ in the amount of focus they place on the negative factors of elitism.
I recommend that anyone who has thought about becoming an entrepreneur or is simply curious on ideologies correlating with wealth, read this book. It is especially useful for young people who are just beginning in business, so that they can be aware of the challenges ahead of them and the sacrifices they will likely have to make as their careers advance. Although Dennis does not use an overly complicated writing style, a book on economics and finance typically has more appeal towards those who aspire to a lifestyle of wealth and a better understanding of other factors that go along with it. The content of How to get Rich is appropriate for all, but can be considered controversial by those who believe that becoming rich should not be encouraged because they think that the desire to be wealthy is to sacrifice your happiness. In conclusion Felix Dennis’s How to get Rich is a work of literature that opens the reader to the world of wealth in a such a way that the reader can decipher whether or not money is their true desire in life.
August 28, 2023
The title doesn't say all about the content. There is much more to be found between the pages. It is written by an entrepreneur for budding entrepreneurs. The contrast between its content and typical self-help books stood out - you have to be self-centered; only when one is wealthy, comes the ability to provide. Furthermore, unlike books that quote statistics and research by academics to back up theories, the author speaks from experience and recites poems to call you to action.
September 2, 2020
A humorous, crass, but honest approach to giving advice on how to make money, but more importantly how to figure out what you want in life. This book doesn't sugar coat a thing and for that I love it.
January 24, 2022
I quite enjoyed this anecdotal book on how a titan of the publishing industry made his fortune. The main takeaways I got were
1) Don't be scared of starting a business
2) You need equity / ownership over everything else to actually get rich. Everything else is wage slavery.
1) Don't be scared of starting a business
2) You need equity / ownership over everything else to actually get rich. Everything else is wage slavery.
May 10, 2018
nothing special
July 12, 2021
Pragmatic guidance interwoven with great selections of poetry. Like the author says in the third chapter, "this is not a calling for the faint-hearted. There is no shame in turning away. After all, if everyone was willing to make the necessary sacrifices, who would be around to work for my own companies?"
January 14, 2023
No BS, hard facts - recommended strongly by multiple people and now I know why.
July 14, 2023
A fun, entertaining book about entrepreneurship by a kind of an extreme character, Felix Dennis, an English Publisher, telling his own stories, luck, and mishaps. I listened to the audiobook narrated beautifully by Roy McMillan.
December 1, 2023
One of my favourite book on the money genre
The way it's written, the crazy rich Dennis and everything it's way more useful thsn books like think and grow rich and others.
From the book
Knowledge learned the hard way combined with the avoidance of error, whenever and wherever possible, is the soundest basis for success in any endeavor.
Whatever qualities the rich may have, they can be acquired by anyone with the tenacity to become rich. The key, I think, is confidence. Confidence and an unshakable belief it can be done and that you are the one to do it.
Tunnel vision helps. Being a bit of a shit helps. A thick skin helps. Stamina is crucial, as is a capacity to work so hard that your best friends mock you, your lovers despair and the rest of your acquaintances watch furtively from the sidelines, half in awe and half in contempt. Luck helps—but only if you don’t seek it.
The answer to the question, then, is perhaps this: not those who want to and not those who need to, but those who are utterly determined to—whatever the cost.
The follow-through, the execution, is a thousand times more important than a “great idea.” In fact, if the execution is perfect, it sometimes barely matters what the idea is. If you want to get rich, don’t sit around waiting for inspiration to strike. Just get busy getting rich
Many paths can lead to riches,
Few in sunlight, most in ditches.
Rich enough to live where you want, to go where you want, to do what you want, to meet who you want. Rich enough to buy the only two things apart from health and love worth fussing about in life. Time. And the option of not having to be in any particular place on any particular day doing any particular thing in order to pay the rent or the mortgage.
Never trust the vast mountain of conventional wisdom. It contains great nuggets of wisdom, it is true. But they lie alongside rivers of fool’s gold. Conventional wisdom daunts initiative and offers far too many convenient reasons for inaction, especially for those with a great deal to lose. Fortunately for you, you do not have anything to lose and can afford to ignore the “jobsworths” and Jeremiahs who have lived upon the mountain for so long that they have come to worship it.
Anyone not busy learning is busy dying. For as long as you foster a willingness to learn, you will ward off sclerosis of the brain and hardening of the mental arteries. Curiosity has led many a man and women into the valley of serious wealth.
what does the future hold for a young man or woman determined to become far wealthier than their parents? Here is how I see it:
The way will most likely be hard, your failures many. It will be fun and it will get a little hairy, even scary, at times. But the earlier you start and the more risks you are prepared to run, tempered by listening hard and choosing the right mountain (we’ll come to that later), the more certain it is that, sooner or later, you will find yourself with a small success on your hands.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it!
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
No matter how much faculty of idle seeing a man has, the step from knowing to doing is rarely taken.
There are so many reasons not to do anything, many of them highly persuasive, especially in the mouth of a Jeremiah. And the world is full of Jeremiahs. They infest our planet. In the living room, in the pub, in the office, at the boardroom table. Everywhere you look, you will find men and women who appear to take perverse pleasure in pointing out the shriekingly obvious: that if a new venture does not succeed, it may result in failure.
Fear of failure and the avoidance of blame, then, is what drives Jeremiahs and haunts them. To be fair, it haunts all of us. In essence, it comprises two components. The first is our natural desire to avoid letting ourselves or others down, perhaps with calamitous financial repercussions. The second is the exposure of that failure to the outside world.
“When you got nothin’, you got nothin’ to lose.”
if you wish to be rich, you must grow a carapace. A mental armor. Not so thick as to blind you to well-constructed criticism and advice, especially from those you trust. Nor so thick as to cut you off from friends and family.
But thick enough to shrug off the inevitable sniggering and malicious mockery that will follow your inevitable failures, not to mention the poorly hidden envy that will accompany your eventual success. Few things in life are certain except death and being taxed. But sniggering and mockery prior to any attempt to better yourself financially, followed by envy later, or gloating during your initial failures—these are three certainties in life. It hurts. It’s mindless. And it doesn’t mean anything. But it will happen. Be prepared to shrug it off.
• If you are unwilling to fail, sometimes publicly, and even catastrophically, you stand very little chance of ever getting rich.
• If you care what the neighbors think, you will never get rich.
• If you cannot bear the thought of causing worry to your family, spouse or lover while you plow a lonely, dangerous road rather than taking the safe option of a regular job, you will never get rich.
• If you have artistic inclinations and fear that the search for wealth will coarsen such talents or degrade them, you will never get rich. (Because your fear, in this instance, is well justified.)
• If you are not prepared to work longer hours than almost anyone you know, despite the jibes of colleagues and friends, you are unlikely to get rich.
• If you cannot convince yourself that you are “good enough” to be rich, you will never get rich.
• If you cannot treat your quest to get rich as a game, you will never be rich.
• If you cannot face up to your fear of failure, you will never be rich.
of these parental and family concerns. The truth is that the vast majority of people doing the asking did not choose their own career. Either they stumbled into it or they were pushed.
We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our nationality. We do not choose who we fall in love with. We do not even choose the personality or character of the children we bring into the world or our own personal characteristics—random configurations of DNA do it for us.
A regular paycheck and crack cocaine have things in common.
working too long for other people can blunt your desire to take risks. This last factor is crucial, because the ability to live with and embrace risk is what sets apart the financial winners and losers in the world.
If you want to be rich, you are not looking for a “career,” except as a launch pad or as a chance to infiltrate and understand a particular industry.
A job for the rich-in-training is merely something to keep you ticking over, to put food on your plate and wine in your glass.
if you want to be rich, working a damn sight harder than the punk next to you is the only sensible option .
Team spirit is for losers, financially speaking. It’s the glue that binds the losers together. It’s the methodology employers use to shackle useful employees to their desks without having to pay them too much. in commerce it acts as a subtle handicap and a brake to ambitious individuals. Which, in a way, is what it’s designed to do.
Those who can never be rich may not want you to become rich.
It’s the same with close friends and family members. Consciously and outwardly they may want you to succeed beyond your wildest dreams. But subconsciously, often without being aware of it themselves, they might be far happier if you failed or only succeeded to a limited degree.
The laws of supply and demand are absolute—and they apply not only to commodities, but to people. Too many people want to make a blockbuster movie and live in Beverly Hills. Not enough people want to dig holes.
New or rapidly developing industries, whether glamorous or not, very often provide more opportunities to get rich than established sectors. The three reasons for this are availability of risk capital, ignorance and the power of a rising tide.
Investors are drawn to emerging industries in the hope of making a fast buck. To get rich, you will need capital, and to acquire capital you need to be where loose capital is searching for a home. In addition, the combination of ignorance and misconception that surrounds any new market or technology works in your favor. If you are quick at grasping concepts and jargon, you become an “instant expert.” The owners of capital love “experts.”
Finally, the power of a rising tide masks many start-up difficulties, putting individuals and small companies on a more even footing with conglomerates and established operators; for a while, at least.
growing industries with relatively low start-up costs offer more opportunities for those who want to get rich than declining industries, or those that require huge start-up investment.
More important than any particular industry are the sectors within each industry. A sizable fish in a growing sector, however small, is more attractive to prospective purchasers and investors than the same size fish in a diminishing or static pond.
After all, what are banks and venture capitalists but usurers who offer you an umbrella when the sun is shining and snatch it away the instant a few rain clouds appear?
Capitalism demands that whoever takes the most financial risk calls the piper’s tune. The biggest rewards go not to those individuals who came up with the idea, nor to those individuals who built the empire. They go to those entities or individuals who funded the enterprise and own the most stock. Always bear this in mind during the Search.
bear in mind that impartiality is a better guide than parental pride.
Inclinations are easy to list. Aptitude is far less so. Trial and error, combined with fierce determination and a willingness to discard cherished perceptions about ourselves, is the best that I can suggest.
It is the instinct to seize an opportunity when it presents itself that perhaps sets apart the self-made filthy rich from the comfortably poor, the willingness to ignore conventional wisdom and risk everything on what others consider to be folly
they were lucky in the Search and skillful in their follow-up. Boldness helped. Conquering fear of failure helped. Persistence helped. But, without some luck, no one can get anywhere in the search to discover the exact arena in which to do battle, the arena that suits an individual’s aptitudes and inclinations.
When the chance came, they recognized an opportunity, weighed the odds swiftly and placed their lives and careers on the line to snatch a victory.
All around us, every day, opportunities to get rich are popping up. The more alert you are, the more chance you have of spotting them. The more preparation you have done, the more chance you have of succeeding. The more bold you are, the better chance you have of getting in on the ground floor and confounding the odds. The more self-belief you can muster, the more certain will be your aim and your timing. And the less you care what the neighbors think, the more likely you are to take the plunge and exploit an opportunity.
Here is the key, then, in the Search. Whatever your inclinations, your aptitude, your abilities or your preferences, never shrink when opportunities arrive. If you have weighed the odds and find yourself convinced, ignore the protestations of sensible people and their conventional caution.
Seize Lady Luck by the forelock and hang on for your life. More men and women have become rich by this single tactic than all “the best-laid plans of mice and men” guided by plodding strategy.
Chances come to everyone in life, in all shapes and sizes, often disguised, and more often radiating risk and potential humiliation. Those who are prepared to analyze the risk, to bear the humiliation and to act in deadly earnest—these are the “lucky” ones who will find themselves, when the music stops, holding a potful of money.
But then, in reality, they made their own luck. They never stopped searching. Perhaps they spent months or even years searching in the wrong place. Or possibly they hit upon the object of their search at the first attempt. No matter.
Having found what they needed where they needed it, and having done what they judged needed doing, their search is over. And it is they who will become rich.
More important, it really does not matter who gives birth to any particular idea. This is borne out by the laws relating to patents and inventions. You cannot patent an idea. You can only patent your own method for implementing an idea. It is for this reason that so many people have become rich despite never having had a single great idea in their lives. As it happens, I count myself among them.
Having a great idea is simply not enough. The eventual goal is vastly more important than any idea. It is how ideas are implemented that counts in the long run.
There is another side to the subject of ideas in commerce. Stealing them. Or to put it more pleasantly, emulating them. The error of failing to emulate a winning idea pervades every industry at all levels. Mainly this is due either to indolence or to folly. Of indolence, no more need be said. The folly, on the other hand, often takes the shape of a peculiar affliction, known colloquially as the “it wasn’t invented here” syndrome. I would place this affliction very high on the list of reasons preventing individuals and companies from achieving major success
The lesson is clear. Despite the words of the old rock ’n’ roll song, the original is not the greatest. Not always. If you want to be rich, then watch your rivals closely and never be ashamed to emulate a winning strategy. They may josh you a little for doing it, but that’s a price well worth paying.
Ideas are certainly of immense importance, but I have seen so many people attempting to create a start-up company become obsessed with proving that their idea is “right” rather than obsessed with making money. And I have watched them wasting years doing
Even so, beware of the great idea. You must encourage great ideas and search for them diligently. But either you control and develop such ideas or the ideas will come to dominate your waking thoughts.
If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbor, tho’ he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.
The operative verb is “make.” It is not “think up,” or “dream up.” It is “make.” The idea would be worthless, no one would beat a path to any door, unless they heard that the mouse-trap had been made.
If you never have a single great idea in your life, but become skilled in executing the great ideas of others, you can succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Seek them out and make them work. They do not have to be your ideas. Execution is all in this regard.
If, on the other hand, you spend your days thinking up and developing in your mind this great idea or that, you are unlikely to get rich. Although you are likely to make many others rich. That is usually the way of it. Ideas don’t make you rich. The correct execution of ideas does.
There are only six ways of obtaining capital. You can be given or inherit it; you can steal it; you can win it; you can marry it; you can earn it; you can borrow it.
The first four of these are beyond the compass of this book. All I will say about “winning it,” presumably by gambling, is that the odds are very bad indeed. It’s no way to get rich.
It is true that certain people exhibit incredible ability in games of skill like poker. But in the end, the losing streaks always seem to become longer and the winning streaks shorter. Gambling, even for those at near-genius level, is time-consuming and totally exhausting. As for games of chance, I will not insult your intelligence by discussing them. The lottery is merely a pleasant name for organized racketeering.
As to theft, leaving aside the morality of it, I do not believe the light to be worth the candle. The downside is too high and the upside too uncertain. Should you succeed in stealing a great deal of money, you will then spend many years looking over your shoulder in fear of discovery. As Shakespeare put it:
Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;
The thief doth fear each bush an officer.
Persistence is a powerful tool in the hands of a hungry young hustler on the make.
Look on the bright side. Those lazy bastards who turn away from this odious task are going to be your employees. They are going to make you rich. In a sense, this exhausting and miserable search is what separates the wannabes from the gonnabes. The only way through it is to keep trudging. “When going through, hell,” Winston Churchill once remarked, “keep going.”
If you cannot bear the thought of prostrating yourself to obtain the seed corn, then you will almost certainly never own the farm. “To get what you need / You toady to greed.”
Or else, you ask; very, very nicely indeed.
That was the secret ingredient. I would not be a wage slave. I would not take “no” for an answer. I would not give in. I was going to be rich. Some how. Some way. Someday soon. And I would not retreat to the safety of a decent job until I was starved out of house and home.
What fueled me was the desperation of knowing that unless I found a way around my lack of capital, unless I could pour my energy into a venture of my own, I would be condemned to a life of wage slavery. There is absolutely nothing more likely to dampen the prospects of becoming rich than a nice, fat, regular salary check.
It was depressing meeting with them, listening to stories of their latest promotion, never able to buy a round in the pub as they were so generously willing and able to do. Month after month I soldiered on, while “the new ploughed fields smelt dank as the grave; and I wished I were dead.”
But I would not give in.
That is what it is like in the beginning. Always. It is desperate and it is humiliating. As you will find, in your own way, unless you were born with a rich mommy
The way it's written, the crazy rich Dennis and everything it's way more useful thsn books like think and grow rich and others.
From the book
Knowledge learned the hard way combined with the avoidance of error, whenever and wherever possible, is the soundest basis for success in any endeavor.
Whatever qualities the rich may have, they can be acquired by anyone with the tenacity to become rich. The key, I think, is confidence. Confidence and an unshakable belief it can be done and that you are the one to do it.
Tunnel vision helps. Being a bit of a shit helps. A thick skin helps. Stamina is crucial, as is a capacity to work so hard that your best friends mock you, your lovers despair and the rest of your acquaintances watch furtively from the sidelines, half in awe and half in contempt. Luck helps—but only if you don’t seek it.
The answer to the question, then, is perhaps this: not those who want to and not those who need to, but those who are utterly determined to—whatever the cost.
The follow-through, the execution, is a thousand times more important than a “great idea.” In fact, if the execution is perfect, it sometimes barely matters what the idea is. If you want to get rich, don’t sit around waiting for inspiration to strike. Just get busy getting rich
Many paths can lead to riches,
Few in sunlight, most in ditches.
Rich enough to live where you want, to go where you want, to do what you want, to meet who you want. Rich enough to buy the only two things apart from health and love worth fussing about in life. Time. And the option of not having to be in any particular place on any particular day doing any particular thing in order to pay the rent or the mortgage.
Never trust the vast mountain of conventional wisdom. It contains great nuggets of wisdom, it is true. But they lie alongside rivers of fool’s gold. Conventional wisdom daunts initiative and offers far too many convenient reasons for inaction, especially for those with a great deal to lose. Fortunately for you, you do not have anything to lose and can afford to ignore the “jobsworths” and Jeremiahs who have lived upon the mountain for so long that they have come to worship it.
Anyone not busy learning is busy dying. For as long as you foster a willingness to learn, you will ward off sclerosis of the brain and hardening of the mental arteries. Curiosity has led many a man and women into the valley of serious wealth.
what does the future hold for a young man or woman determined to become far wealthier than their parents? Here is how I see it:
The way will most likely be hard, your failures many. It will be fun and it will get a little hairy, even scary, at times. But the earlier you start and the more risks you are prepared to run, tempered by listening hard and choosing the right mountain (we’ll come to that later), the more certain it is that, sooner or later, you will find yourself with a small success on your hands.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it!
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
No matter how much faculty of idle seeing a man has, the step from knowing to doing is rarely taken.
There are so many reasons not to do anything, many of them highly persuasive, especially in the mouth of a Jeremiah. And the world is full of Jeremiahs. They infest our planet. In the living room, in the pub, in the office, at the boardroom table. Everywhere you look, you will find men and women who appear to take perverse pleasure in pointing out the shriekingly obvious: that if a new venture does not succeed, it may result in failure.
Fear of failure and the avoidance of blame, then, is what drives Jeremiahs and haunts them. To be fair, it haunts all of us. In essence, it comprises two components. The first is our natural desire to avoid letting ourselves or others down, perhaps with calamitous financial repercussions. The second is the exposure of that failure to the outside world.
“When you got nothin’, you got nothin’ to lose.”
if you wish to be rich, you must grow a carapace. A mental armor. Not so thick as to blind you to well-constructed criticism and advice, especially from those you trust. Nor so thick as to cut you off from friends and family.
But thick enough to shrug off the inevitable sniggering and malicious mockery that will follow your inevitable failures, not to mention the poorly hidden envy that will accompany your eventual success. Few things in life are certain except death and being taxed. But sniggering and mockery prior to any attempt to better yourself financially, followed by envy later, or gloating during your initial failures—these are three certainties in life. It hurts. It’s mindless. And it doesn’t mean anything. But it will happen. Be prepared to shrug it off.
• If you are unwilling to fail, sometimes publicly, and even catastrophically, you stand very little chance of ever getting rich.
• If you care what the neighbors think, you will never get rich.
• If you cannot bear the thought of causing worry to your family, spouse or lover while you plow a lonely, dangerous road rather than taking the safe option of a regular job, you will never get rich.
• If you have artistic inclinations and fear that the search for wealth will coarsen such talents or degrade them, you will never get rich. (Because your fear, in this instance, is well justified.)
• If you are not prepared to work longer hours than almost anyone you know, despite the jibes of colleagues and friends, you are unlikely to get rich.
• If you cannot convince yourself that you are “good enough” to be rich, you will never get rich.
• If you cannot treat your quest to get rich as a game, you will never be rich.
• If you cannot face up to your fear of failure, you will never be rich.
of these parental and family concerns. The truth is that the vast majority of people doing the asking did not choose their own career. Either they stumbled into it or they were pushed.
We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our nationality. We do not choose who we fall in love with. We do not even choose the personality or character of the children we bring into the world or our own personal characteristics—random configurations of DNA do it for us.
A regular paycheck and crack cocaine have things in common.
working too long for other people can blunt your desire to take risks. This last factor is crucial, because the ability to live with and embrace risk is what sets apart the financial winners and losers in the world.
If you want to be rich, you are not looking for a “career,” except as a launch pad or as a chance to infiltrate and understand a particular industry.
A job for the rich-in-training is merely something to keep you ticking over, to put food on your plate and wine in your glass.
if you want to be rich, working a damn sight harder than the punk next to you is the only sensible option .
Team spirit is for losers, financially speaking. It’s the glue that binds the losers together. It’s the methodology employers use to shackle useful employees to their desks without having to pay them too much. in commerce it acts as a subtle handicap and a brake to ambitious individuals. Which, in a way, is what it’s designed to do.
Those who can never be rich may not want you to become rich.
It’s the same with close friends and family members. Consciously and outwardly they may want you to succeed beyond your wildest dreams. But subconsciously, often without being aware of it themselves, they might be far happier if you failed or only succeeded to a limited degree.
The laws of supply and demand are absolute—and they apply not only to commodities, but to people. Too many people want to make a blockbuster movie and live in Beverly Hills. Not enough people want to dig holes.
New or rapidly developing industries, whether glamorous or not, very often provide more opportunities to get rich than established sectors. The three reasons for this are availability of risk capital, ignorance and the power of a rising tide.
Investors are drawn to emerging industries in the hope of making a fast buck. To get rich, you will need capital, and to acquire capital you need to be where loose capital is searching for a home. In addition, the combination of ignorance and misconception that surrounds any new market or technology works in your favor. If you are quick at grasping concepts and jargon, you become an “instant expert.” The owners of capital love “experts.”
Finally, the power of a rising tide masks many start-up difficulties, putting individuals and small companies on a more even footing with conglomerates and established operators; for a while, at least.
growing industries with relatively low start-up costs offer more opportunities for those who want to get rich than declining industries, or those that require huge start-up investment.
More important than any particular industry are the sectors within each industry. A sizable fish in a growing sector, however small, is more attractive to prospective purchasers and investors than the same size fish in a diminishing or static pond.
After all, what are banks and venture capitalists but usurers who offer you an umbrella when the sun is shining and snatch it away the instant a few rain clouds appear?
Capitalism demands that whoever takes the most financial risk calls the piper’s tune. The biggest rewards go not to those individuals who came up with the idea, nor to those individuals who built the empire. They go to those entities or individuals who funded the enterprise and own the most stock. Always bear this in mind during the Search.
bear in mind that impartiality is a better guide than parental pride.
Inclinations are easy to list. Aptitude is far less so. Trial and error, combined with fierce determination and a willingness to discard cherished perceptions about ourselves, is the best that I can suggest.
It is the instinct to seize an opportunity when it presents itself that perhaps sets apart the self-made filthy rich from the comfortably poor, the willingness to ignore conventional wisdom and risk everything on what others consider to be folly
they were lucky in the Search and skillful in their follow-up. Boldness helped. Conquering fear of failure helped. Persistence helped. But, without some luck, no one can get anywhere in the search to discover the exact arena in which to do battle, the arena that suits an individual’s aptitudes and inclinations.
When the chance came, they recognized an opportunity, weighed the odds swiftly and placed their lives and careers on the line to snatch a victory.
All around us, every day, opportunities to get rich are popping up. The more alert you are, the more chance you have of spotting them. The more preparation you have done, the more chance you have of succeeding. The more bold you are, the better chance you have of getting in on the ground floor and confounding the odds. The more self-belief you can muster, the more certain will be your aim and your timing. And the less you care what the neighbors think, the more likely you are to take the plunge and exploit an opportunity.
Here is the key, then, in the Search. Whatever your inclinations, your aptitude, your abilities or your preferences, never shrink when opportunities arrive. If you have weighed the odds and find yourself convinced, ignore the protestations of sensible people and their conventional caution.
Seize Lady Luck by the forelock and hang on for your life. More men and women have become rich by this single tactic than all “the best-laid plans of mice and men” guided by plodding strategy.
Chances come to everyone in life, in all shapes and sizes, often disguised, and more often radiating risk and potential humiliation. Those who are prepared to analyze the risk, to bear the humiliation and to act in deadly earnest—these are the “lucky” ones who will find themselves, when the music stops, holding a potful of money.
But then, in reality, they made their own luck. They never stopped searching. Perhaps they spent months or even years searching in the wrong place. Or possibly they hit upon the object of their search at the first attempt. No matter.
Having found what they needed where they needed it, and having done what they judged needed doing, their search is over. And it is they who will become rich.
More important, it really does not matter who gives birth to any particular idea. This is borne out by the laws relating to patents and inventions. You cannot patent an idea. You can only patent your own method for implementing an idea. It is for this reason that so many people have become rich despite never having had a single great idea in their lives. As it happens, I count myself among them.
Having a great idea is simply not enough. The eventual goal is vastly more important than any idea. It is how ideas are implemented that counts in the long run.
There is another side to the subject of ideas in commerce. Stealing them. Or to put it more pleasantly, emulating them. The error of failing to emulate a winning idea pervades every industry at all levels. Mainly this is due either to indolence or to folly. Of indolence, no more need be said. The folly, on the other hand, often takes the shape of a peculiar affliction, known colloquially as the “it wasn’t invented here” syndrome. I would place this affliction very high on the list of reasons preventing individuals and companies from achieving major success
The lesson is clear. Despite the words of the old rock ’n’ roll song, the original is not the greatest. Not always. If you want to be rich, then watch your rivals closely and never be ashamed to emulate a winning strategy. They may josh you a little for doing it, but that’s a price well worth paying.
Ideas are certainly of immense importance, but I have seen so many people attempting to create a start-up company become obsessed with proving that their idea is “right” rather than obsessed with making money. And I have watched them wasting years doing
Even so, beware of the great idea. You must encourage great ideas and search for them diligently. But either you control and develop such ideas or the ideas will come to dominate your waking thoughts.
If a man write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mouse-trap than his neighbor, tho’ he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.
The operative verb is “make.” It is not “think up,” or “dream up.” It is “make.” The idea would be worthless, no one would beat a path to any door, unless they heard that the mouse-trap had been made.
If you never have a single great idea in your life, but become skilled in executing the great ideas of others, you can succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Seek them out and make them work. They do not have to be your ideas. Execution is all in this regard.
If, on the other hand, you spend your days thinking up and developing in your mind this great idea or that, you are unlikely to get rich. Although you are likely to make many others rich. That is usually the way of it. Ideas don’t make you rich. The correct execution of ideas does.
There are only six ways of obtaining capital. You can be given or inherit it; you can steal it; you can win it; you can marry it; you can earn it; you can borrow it.
The first four of these are beyond the compass of this book. All I will say about “winning it,” presumably by gambling, is that the odds are very bad indeed. It’s no way to get rich.
It is true that certain people exhibit incredible ability in games of skill like poker. But in the end, the losing streaks always seem to become longer and the winning streaks shorter. Gambling, even for those at near-genius level, is time-consuming and totally exhausting. As for games of chance, I will not insult your intelligence by discussing them. The lottery is merely a pleasant name for organized racketeering.
As to theft, leaving aside the morality of it, I do not believe the light to be worth the candle. The downside is too high and the upside too uncertain. Should you succeed in stealing a great deal of money, you will then spend many years looking over your shoulder in fear of discovery. As Shakespeare put it:
Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;
The thief doth fear each bush an officer.
Persistence is a powerful tool in the hands of a hungry young hustler on the make.
Look on the bright side. Those lazy bastards who turn away from this odious task are going to be your employees. They are going to make you rich. In a sense, this exhausting and miserable search is what separates the wannabes from the gonnabes. The only way through it is to keep trudging. “When going through, hell,” Winston Churchill once remarked, “keep going.”
If you cannot bear the thought of prostrating yourself to obtain the seed corn, then you will almost certainly never own the farm. “To get what you need / You toady to greed.”
Or else, you ask; very, very nicely indeed.
That was the secret ingredient. I would not be a wage slave. I would not take “no” for an answer. I would not give in. I was going to be rich. Some how. Some way. Someday soon. And I would not retreat to the safety of a decent job until I was starved out of house and home.
What fueled me was the desperation of knowing that unless I found a way around my lack of capital, unless I could pour my energy into a venture of my own, I would be condemned to a life of wage slavery. There is absolutely nothing more likely to dampen the prospects of becoming rich than a nice, fat, regular salary check.
It was depressing meeting with them, listening to stories of their latest promotion, never able to buy a round in the pub as they were so generously willing and able to do. Month after month I soldiered on, while “the new ploughed fields smelt dank as the grave; and I wished I were dead.”
But I would not give in.
That is what it is like in the beginning. Always. It is desperate and it is humiliating. As you will find, in your own way, unless you were born with a rich mommy
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