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- May 1, 2011
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Warning: a long post ahead...
My Rating: 5 stars out of 5 stars
Format: ebook
My thoughts/review:
By far one of the best business and life advice books I've ever read.
As @rogue synthetic pointed out, it feels like a "how to get rich" book in which the author actually warns you not to get rich, or perhaps only become one of the "lesser rich" or "comfortably rich" according to his definition and then stop focusing so much on making money and focus on other aspects of your life. In the book, there are more lessons from his failures than from his successes.
As he wrote in the book:
The book does have a sorrowful tone in many places, which serves as a good reminder that money is only a tool - and it's more important to know how to use it properly than collect as many tools as possible.
He also emphasizes the importance of health and the foolishness of the flashy millionaire lifestyle (parties, drugs, low-quality women, etc.). As he wrote:
And just to reiterate, here's what he wrote later in the book:
For me personally, it's by far one of the most important, if not the most important lesson from the book. In addition to appreciating your youth (Felix was 59 when he released this book, so he wasn't really that old yet - he probably referred not to youth in general, but youth and health), Felix emphasizes that getting rich didn't actually make him happy:
I have a feeling that after changing his lifestyle (giving up partying, drugs, etc.) he had too little time to create a new lifestyle and get to enjoy it. Given, say, a decade more of his new lifestyle (focused on writing poetry and philanthropy), he would have probably understood that money could have made him much happier - by properly employing this tool for fulfillment instead of a mere status symbol or greed.
This is something which is rarely discussed in most business books. In fact, most don't talk about the life "after" at all, assuming that a reader will know how to manage their new lifestyle. This is untrue - after you accomplish your financial goals, there's no "happy ever after."
It takes a lot of work to figure out how to live your life when you no longer need to worry about money. A lot of people keep seeking fulfillment in making more money, but as Felix warns about it throughout the book, the pursuit of more and more money can taint you. Moreover, it can lead to a perpetual fear of losing it all. All of this leads to stress and problems with mental health - none of which you signed up for when you started pursuing wealth, right?
That's why this piece of advice is so crucial:
Key takeaways:
Here are some of my favorite parts and some comments:
Sounds obvious, yet I really like this advice and his example (which is pertinent to my own situation as a writer). What are your natural talents? How can you exploit them to get rich in your own way?
I heeded his advice when I debated selling one of my businesses. It proved to be a very good decision, so I made a huge return by following just one piece of advice from this book.
Again - none of this matters if you're miserable. Even when focused on making money, don't forget that it's stupid to exchange your sanity for financial wealth.
And in a similar vein:
I love this part because it shows how willing to learn Felix Dennis was. So many people don't enter profitable industries because they don't know anything about them. They forget that they can learn whatever they need along the way - nobody knows anything about their industry until they enter it (even people working in the industry who might have technical knowledge of the industry don't understand the intricacies of running a business in this industry).
Made me understand that (smart) risk-taking is one of the key entrepreneurial traits. People who are too risk averse will never get rich.
My Rating: 5 stars out of 5 stars
Format: ebook
My thoughts/review:
By far one of the best business and life advice books I've ever read.
As @rogue synthetic pointed out, it feels like a "how to get rich" book in which the author actually warns you not to get rich, or perhaps only become one of the "lesser rich" or "comfortably rich" according to his definition and then stop focusing so much on making money and focus on other aspects of your life. In the book, there are more lessons from his failures than from his successes.
As he wrote in the book:
"If I had my time again, knowing what I know today, I would dedicate myself to making just enough to live comfortably (say £30 or £40 million), as quickly as I could – hopefully by the time I was thirty-five years old. I would then cash out immediately and retire to write poetry and plant trees."
The book does have a sorrowful tone in many places, which serves as a good reminder that money is only a tool - and it's more important to know how to use it properly than collect as many tools as possible.
He also emphasizes the importance of health and the foolishness of the flashy millionaire lifestyle (parties, drugs, low-quality women, etc.). As he wrote:
"Making money was, and still is, fun, but at one time it wreaked chaos upon my private life. It blocked me from beginning to write poetry until my early fifties. It consumed my waking hours. It led me into a lifestyle of narcotics, high-class whores, drink and consolatory debauchery. As a philosopher might have put it – all the usual dreary afflictions of the seeker after wealth. These afflictions, in turn, helped to undermine my health."
And just to reiterate, here's what he wrote later in the book:
"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."
For me personally, it's by far one of the most important, if not the most important lesson from the book. In addition to appreciating your youth (Felix was 59 when he released this book, so he wasn't really that old yet - he probably referred not to youth in general, but youth and health), Felix emphasizes that getting rich didn't actually make him happy:
"But then, you are to consider that I have been very poor and I am now very rich. I am an optimist by nature. And I have the ability to write poetry and create the forest I am busy planting. Am I happy? No. Or, at least, only occasionally, when I am walking in the woods alone, or deeply ensconced in composing a difficult piece of verse, or sitting quietly with old friends over a bottle of wine. Or feeding a stray cat."
I have a feeling that after changing his lifestyle (giving up partying, drugs, etc.) he had too little time to create a new lifestyle and get to enjoy it. Given, say, a decade more of his new lifestyle (focused on writing poetry and philanthropy), he would have probably understood that money could have made him much happier - by properly employing this tool for fulfillment instead of a mere status symbol or greed.
This is something which is rarely discussed in most business books. In fact, most don't talk about the life "after" at all, assuming that a reader will know how to manage their new lifestyle. This is untrue - after you accomplish your financial goals, there's no "happy ever after."
It takes a lot of work to figure out how to live your life when you no longer need to worry about money. A lot of people keep seeking fulfillment in making more money, but as Felix warns about it throughout the book, the pursuit of more and more money can taint you. Moreover, it can lead to a perpetual fear of losing it all. All of this leads to stress and problems with mental health - none of which you signed up for when you started pursuing wealth, right?
That's why this piece of advice is so crucial:
Develop a passion outside of making money. Fast. If I had made the time earlier to discover that I could write poetry that thousands of people would be kind enough to purchase and enjoy, I would have saved myself many torments of the pit. People who can make money are often easily bored. That is true of me. So when the day’s work was finally done, I used to make my own entertainment. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with orgies, parties, narcotics and booze – but they will kill you in the end. If I had spent the thousands of nights writing poetry that I spent playing the fool to keep boredom at bay, I would be a happier, healthier man today. And a better poet to boot!
Key takeaways:
Here are some of my favorite parts and some comments:
One thing is for sure, you must avoid the trap of going into what you think will make you money if you have no empathy or feeling for what you are about to do. There’s no future in that.
I know an editor and writer. He’s a great editor and writer. But he feels he has to be a publisher and do all the stuff that publishers do – like wear suits, write cheques and hire and fire people. He’s crazy. He will never be rich because he will not use his vast writing and editing talent to the full. He’s always too busy being a lousy businessman.
Avoid that trap. Don’t do anything because you feel you have to. Go for what attracts you. Go for something that exploits your natural talents.
Go to the mountain which produces money. Money that has your name on it.
Sounds obvious, yet I really like this advice and his example (which is pertinent to my own situation as a writer). What are your natural talents? How can you exploit them to get rich in your own way?
19. Sell early. Real money rarely comes from horsing around running an asset-laden business if you are an entrepreneur. You are not a manager, remember? You are trying to get rich. Whenever the chance comes to sell an asset at the top of its value, do so. Things do not keep increasing in value for ever. Get out while the going is good and move on to the next venture. More money is usually lost holding onto an asset than is made waiting for the zenith of its value. I should know – it’s my own biggest defect.
I heeded his advice when I debated selling one of my businesses. It proved to be a very good decision, so I made a huge return by following just one piece of advice from this book.
20. Enjoy the business of making money. The loot is only a marker. Time cannot be recaptured. There is no amount of pie in the world worth being miserable for, day after day. If you find you dislike what you are doing, then sell up and change your life. Self-imposed misery is a kind of madness. The cure is to get out.
Again - none of this matters if you're miserable. Even when focused on making money, don't forget that it's stupid to exchange your sanity for financial wealth.
The truth is I led myself to believe I had fallen in love with publishing. That wasn’t a tragedy in itself, but I allowed my liking for the magazine publishing business to blinker me from so many other avenues where I could have coined cash.
If you have entrepreneurial flair, then you can go into just about any business and make money. But instead of rushing to where the money was, I kept on digging in the relatively poor pit of ink-on-paper until the money, reluctantly, came to me.
This is so important, gentle reader. It pains me to think about it. If you wish to become rich, look carefully about you at the prevailing industries where wealth appears to be gravitating. THEN GO TO WHERE THE MONEY IS! That is where you should focus your efforts. On the ball marked ‘The Money is Here.
And in a similar vein:
The magazine business will have faded to a shadow of its former glory within a decade or three. It is a mature business, and few fortunes are made in mature industries, unless you are lucky enough to create a monopoly in one. I was luckier than I knew.
So what businesses should I have gravitated towards? Computer software, technology and dot com start-ups, cable and satellite television, property, environmental waste clean-up, alternative energy services … any one of these might have created a much larger fortune for me in less time than I took with magazines. Do I know anything about these industries? No. But, then, I didn’t know anything about magazines in 1967 either.
I love this part because it shows how willing to learn Felix Dennis was. So many people don't enter profitable industries because they don't know anything about them. They forget that they can learn whatever they need along the way - nobody knows anything about their industry until they enter it (even people working in the industry who might have technical knowledge of the industry don't understand the intricacies of running a business in this industry).
But why would clever, cunning and adept people work for a mug like you? Simple. There are many clever, cunning and adept people who are risk averse. You are not risk averse because you are dedicated to becoming rich. Believe it or not, much, much cleverer people than you will come and work for you if you ask them.
Made me understand that (smart) risk-taking is one of the key entrepreneurial traits. People who are too risk averse will never get rich.