Review

Rating: 8

I’ll start off by saying, there’s probably no way in the world I would ever pick up this book in the bookstore if it’s weren’t recommended to my by my very good friend, Bill Bodri (http://www.uspnichemarketing.com). As with most of the books I read, I hear about them from friends and colleagues and it saves me a lot of time. I know the book is going to be at least “not bad” and I don’t have to waste time reading bad books.

Bill recommended this book to me at the end of 2006 as a way to help me get into planning mode for 2007. Now, as I said, I would never pick this book up in a store. Frank McKinney is the long-haired real estate mogul that you’ve all seen on late night TV and other shows. Frank’s a celebrity, and my first judgment on him was, “not interested”. That proves that you should never judge a book by it’s cover, or what you’ve simple observed or surmised about a person.

In a nutshell, after reading this book, I am now a fan of Frank McKinney. He’s a caring, religious, sincere, humble (yet highly confident), and highly intelligent businessman and human being. I gained a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for this man by reading what’s on his heart and mind, and I’m very thankful to have read this book when I did.

As I was working my way through this book, I was working on my own personal and business vision and mission for 2007 (Who says who have to start January 1?) I had a session with my success coach, Rob Berkley (http://www.visionday.com), and this book was extremely helpful in helping me gain clarity and focus on what I wanted to accomplish in 2007.

This book contain his 49 Secrets of building a life of extreme success. He is able to quote the secrets (and it’s number) to people in conversation - a nice bit of proof he just didn’t whittle these out one afternoon. If he’s successful and uses these 49 secrets in his life and career, that’s admirable.

If you aren’t familiar with Frank, he’s made his fortune in real estate, focusing entirely on luxury homes in Palm Beach, Florida. It’s a stark contrast to most “flippers” who like to take dumps and put some polish on them and turn them for a profit. Rather, Frank takes million, and multi-million dollar properties and adds in opulence and high-end luxury and sells these properties for multiple millions to the wealthiest people in the country. As he says, why work little deals for little profits when you can work bigger deals for bigger profits? The work isn’t much different, it’s just a different scale, and the rewards are much greater.

This book isn’t about real estate, though, it’s about being successful. You certainly will benefit from reading Frank’s 49 success tips, so take time to do that, but I’ll mention the first 3 got hooked me and got me through the book.

Number 1 secret - Find Your Highest Calling in Life.

The ability to discover why you were put on earth (it isn’t always one thing) is the most amazing discovery a human can make. Being able to live your life’s purpose is a key to a successful and happy life. I can attest to that - I’m doing it, and I’d love to share that with all of you sometime. For now, I’d urge you to seek out and look to fulfill your life’s purpose.

Number 2 secret - Know Where You are Going - Create a Personal Vision and Mission Statement.

Amen, brother. Tell me about it. Nothing help keep you more focused, more on track, and more determined than a personal vision and mission statement. All of your goals and priorities, personal and business, seem to fall into place when you create an overriding vision for your life. For me, it was mapping out how I wanted my life to look, then putting a plan in place within my business and personal life to make it happen. For the first time in my life, I’m finally in place where I am doing what I want, the way I want it done, with the results I want. Through God’s blessing, and deliberate planning (and help from great coaches) I’ve doing it!

Number 3 secret - Figure Yourself Out - Spend Time on Introspection

Frank urges people to take deliberate time and energy to look within and take inventory on a regular basis. Asking yourself things like, “Am I living the way I want? Am I doing what I want? Am I serving my clients like I should? Am I caring for my family as I should?” More than that, what he suggests is that once a year, you take a personal retreat — away from all distractions of home and office — and look back on the previous year, evaluating what went well and what can be improved on (he urges people to look for lessons learned), and look toward setting new plans in place for the upcoming year and crafting a new vision and mission statement for the year. This year was the first time I’ve done this, and I plan on doing it every year for the rest of my life. You should too.

So don’t judge a book by it’s cover. This book will get you thinking and gives you solid tips and actionable steps to achieve success in your life and business.–Bob