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Make It BIG!: 49 Secrets for Building a Life of Extreme Success (Hardcover)
by Frank E. McKinney
| Category:
Personal success, Personal achievement, Motivation, Real estate |
| Market price: ¥ 308.00
MSL price:
¥ 288.00
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Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
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| MSL Pointer Review:
Full of time tested advice on achieving success, this motivational book is a must read for all the success-bound individuals. Inpiration is always priceless. |
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Author: Frank E. McKinney
Publisher: Wiley
Pub. in: January, 2002
ISBN: 0471443999
Pages: 304
Measurements: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00113
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0471443995
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- Awards & Credential -
A sensational 5-star book from a roaringly successful developer. Well worth the investment. |
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- MSL Picks -
This is one of the best books I've ever read. There are a handful of books I read annually such as the Bible (daily); How to Win Friends and Influence Others by Dale Carnegie; Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill; The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Classon; and a few others. This book is on that list so much so that I've read at least a chapter of it weekly since reading it a few years back. It comes with 49 short, easy to read chapters with ACTION STEPS for each. For those of you that can do math- that means not counting three weeks vacation time you can read a chapter a week and DO something about it. Not getting three weeks a year off? You definitely need to read this.
But seriously, the points Frank McKinney makes in this book are simple, but profound - my personal favorite is the lost art of taking great risks to attain great rewards. In our namby, pamby culture that values the illusion of stability and security this book is a breath of fresh air, and a real, tangible insight on how you can get fantastically wealthy from someone who's done it.
Running a close second is discovering your passion or "highest calling" as early as possible in life, and developing a vision for your passion. To paraphrase Thoreau "Live Deliberately!". So many people these days live like zombies. The light is on, but nobody is home. Nothing they do is by choice, or from the standpoint of being passionate about something and having a purpose, or vision for their lives.
I could point out the virtues of the whole book, but I don't want to re-write it for a review- so I'll end with my third favorite (which may actually be number one in terms of the order of importance to success). It is in Frank's words, taking the "lunch pail approach". In short - show up to work- consistently, persistently, on time and ready to work. Having run several companies, it amazes me how few people possess the integrity and self-discipline to carry out this first and most basic requirement for success. Woody Allen once joked (paraphrasing) that "80% of success is just showing up" and while it was his brand of self-depricating humour to explain why he, of all people, had done so many hit movies - it's also very, very true. You can't hit a home run if you never step up to the plate, and you can't step up to the plate if you never show up to practice, and take the time to prepare. Showing up to the big game, or the big show - seeing your name in the lights, starts with integrity and self-discipline in the little, unpleasant tasks of life that nobody sees you doing, and you don't get any credit for, but that you know you should be doing.
(From quoting Paul Strauss, USA)
Target readers:
Anyone aspiring to be as successful as the author.
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Frank McKinney, often referred to as the "rock ’n’ roll developer, " is the number one developer and "spec" builder of ultra-luxurious residential real estate in the world. A recent spec home of Frank’s, featured in USA Today, sold for $28.5 million after being on the market for only 128 days! Because of his incredible track record, Frank has been featured twice on Oprah, CBS’s The Early Show with Bryant Gumbel, CNN, The Discovery Channel, and Paul Harvey’s radio show, to name a few. Frank makes his home in Delray Beach, Florida.
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From Publisher
Make it BIG! contains the wit and wisdom of Frank McKinney, perhaps the most contrary real estate mogul in the world. With long blond hair, rugged good looks, and colorful Versace vest, you might think McKinney was riding his motorcycle to a recording studio, rather than to close a multimillion-dollar real estate deal. He does things his own way - with a rock star's flair - and his story shows that you don't have to meet the expectations of others to achieve success; you just have to meet your own highest expectations.
McKinney started with nothing but a vision of what he wanted to be, the premier creator of ultra-luxurious "speculative" mansions in the world. With perseverance, a willingness to take enormous risks, and dedication to living life to its fullest, his dream has come true and has made him the undisputed king of luxury "spec" real estate. With a style and flair all his own and a never-say-die attitude, McKinney rode his motorcycle to riches creating and building luxury homes for those who can afford them. Uniquely, he designs, contracts, builds, furnishes, and sells each of his homes without a particular buyer in mind, risking a fortune on each deal. Having sold "spec" homes for as much as $28, 500, 000, there seems to be no shortage of people who like what McKinney does - and like the way he does it.
Success is supposed to have its price, but McKinney shows that you can balance your work and play and keep your individuality and your personality while riding to the top of your profession - whatever your business is. On his unconventional path to success, McKinney always remembered the lessons he learned and the spiritual guidance that got him there, turning those lessons into forty-nine secrets of extreme success. In Make It BIG! he shares the story of his rise to real estate superstardom and the forty-nine simple philosophies that have made him the success he is today, including:
- Training Yourself to Take Bigger Risks
- Creating a Niche in Whatever Marketplace You Desire
- Becoming THE "Go-To" Person in Your Industry
- Persisting and Persevering Each Day
- Learning What Makes Highly Successful People Tick
- Living a Life that Truly Rocks!
- Sharing the Successes You Have Been Blessed With
- Leaving a Legacy of a Life Lived with No Regrets
This book is a guide for creating larger-than-life results, and doing it with excitement, passion, and fun. Make It BIG! will give you the secrets for achieving extreme success - but on your own terms.
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Part One: Have a Vision for Your Passion
In the mid-1950s, my grandfather was offered a chance to get in on a business deal by a man he met through his good friend Bing Crosby. The man and my grandfather took an airboat out into the middle of the Everglades, where the gentleman said, “I envision a huge castle here, amusements rides the likes of which no one has ever experienced, a cartoon mouse, and all these other characteristics. People from around the world will come here and visit the park I’m going to build. Would you like to be part of it?” My grandfather turned to him and said, “Are you crazy? A castle? In the middle of Everglades? Orlando as a tourist destination? I don’t think so!” And he turned Walter Disney down on his offer to invest in Disney World.
A few years later, when Disney World was getting ready to open, Walt unfortunately had passed away, but his brother, Roy Disney, was there. Supposedly a reporter asked Roy about the sad fact that his brother wasn’t there to see what had been created in Disney World. “Oh, Walt saw it,” Roy replied. “ You’re seeing it now because he saw it years ago.”
To make it big, you have to know where you want to go and have endless passion for getting there. You not only have to be able to go into the Everglades and see a Magic Kingdom; you also have to be excited and passionate about making that dream a reality. Each project I undertake has a vision driving it. For me, the most exciting moment of a multimillion-dollar project isn’t when I sell it; it’s when I buy the property that will give me the opportunity to create it. Walking in the door of a house I’ve just bought, or walking across the raw dirt of a plot of land, and seeing in my mind’s eye what that land or property will be transformed into when I’m through - that is the true magic moment. I literally see myself a year or 18 months later handing the house keys to the new owner, with this magnificent estate in the background. But I also know I will need plenty of passion, drive, and hard work to take that vision out of my head and create it on that plot of land. If your have one without the other - vision without passion, or passion without vision - you’ll never have extreme success.
What Walt Disney called vision others (like my grandfather, unfortunately) called dreams. To me, a dream is a great fantasy with no possibility of coming true. I can dream I’m the King of England, but unless there’s been a vast genealogical mistake somewhere I’m unlikely to sit on the throne. But what I would consider vision and aspiration far too many people call dreams. And here’s the problem: Most people put their dreams up on pedestals, out of reach, and consider them unattainable. “I’ll never get a date with him,” they think, or “I’ll never own my own home.” (I made quite a bit of money showing people how to turn that last dream into reality. You’ll learn more about that in Part Two.) But all of those dreams are eminently attainable, aren’t they? The only two things holding most people back are fear and lack of passion. The difference between those who attain their dreams and those whose dreams remain either entertaining fantasies or factories of regret is simply the vision to see a dream as something you can and will turn into reality.
I have never considered anything I’ve ever aspired to as a dream, because I knew that with enough vision and passion I could make it happen. In 1991 I had been in the distressed real estate business for six years. I had bought foreclosed and tax-sale houses at auction, renovated them nicely, and then sold them to first-time home buyers at a profit. I was doing very well for myself, but my vision was much bigger than that. One day, I was walking on the beach, looking at the gorgeous homes overlooking the water. Some of them were gorgeous anyway; others looked a little weather-beaten. I thought, I could do the same thing on the oceanfront: buy property at the right price, fix it up, and then sell it. I’ll bet I can make more profit in one sale of oceanfront property than I can in 20 of the smaller deals I’m doing now!
But there was just one catch: I discovered I’d need 20 times the capital to put into that one oceanfront project up front. So I sold my own house, maxed out my credit, and bought my first piece of oceanfront property for $775,000 - a big jump from paying $30,000 for a foreclosure property at auction. And all the $775,000 bought me was a house everyone considered a teardown, even if it was right one the water! A lot of people thought I was crazy. But I had a vision of what I could do, and I had the passion to carry through with it. And that vision has gotten me where I am today.
I am proud of the fact that people here in South Florida have called me a visionary, but everyone has the gift of vision. A visionary is just someone who makes a conscious effort to look to the end of the deal and see it succeeding in a manner consistent with his or her plan. In other words, a visionary thinks in terms of big picture. We have “big picture” meetings at our company all the time, and I insist that everyone take part in creating the vision. “Don’t sit back and let me give you the big picture,” I’ll say. “Where do you think we ought to go?” When people get used to thinking in a visionary way, looking past their own personal concerns and seeing how everyone can work together to create something great, not only their work but also their lives can be transformed.
The kind of vision I’m talking about isn’t confined to your profession, however; it touches every aspect of your life. It revolves around something I call a highest calling: the purpose of your life, why you were born. When you have a vision for your life includes family, work, spirituality, and civic and charitable contribution, it’s easy to have a passion for who you are and what you do. You can be comfortable even with the riskiest decisions because you know why are making them, and you’re driven to do whatever it takes to turn your vision into reality. (Here’s one of the greatest things about vision: when people tell you no, you only get stronger.) A clear vision of your highest calling enables you to live with integrity. I won’t say decision making becomes easier, as some decisions are always going to be difficult to make. But the right decision becomes a whole lot clearer when you have a vision for your life.
In this section, you’ll learn how you can create a vision for your life that will keep you passionate enough to make it big. You’ll discover how to find your highest calling, the ultimate vision for your life. You’ll learn how to take that highest calling and turn it into a personal vision or mission statement that you can use to direct your focus and actions on a daily, weekly, and yearly basis. You’ll understand the need for introspection, spending time with yourself to evaluate how you’re living up to your vision and mission. You’ll see how to make decisions and take actions that reinforce your integrity rather than tear it down. You’ll learn how to seek out the lessons life is trying to teach you and master them as quickly and painlessly as possible. You’ll see how you must never compromise your beliefs or person just to close a deal or get ahead or any of the other excuses other people make. And you’ll learn the importance of balancing your professional talents with your spiritual ones, and how both can help you succeed.
Before I set foot on a tennis court to start my tennis business, before I opened a newspaper to look for my first foreclosure, before I sought out my first oceanfront property, I always had a strong, clear vision of what I wanted to create and the passion to make the vision real. In this section, you’re going to hear many examples drawn from my own career; you’ll learn ideas that I hope you’ll be able to apply should you be in (or seek to enter) the real estate profession. But vision is so much more than any one profession or project. When your vision encompasses your life as well as your work, then no matter what - the market falls apart, the hurricane hits, your prosperities take a while to sell - you’ll keep right on dreaming, creating, and passionately living a life that will make a difference. And like Walt Disney, you may create a Magic Kingdom where one never existed before.
1. Recognize Your Highest Calling As Early As Possible in Life
This philosophy is first on my list because this is where it all starts. Why were you born? What were you put on this earth to do? What kind of legacy were you meant to leave? A highest calling is beyond your personal vision or mission. It’s your destiny. It takes into account all of your life; it is literally the reason you were born. Recognizing your highest calling as early as possible should be your first priority. There is nothing sadder than seeing people in their thirties or even forties wandering aimlessly, with no idea why they were put on this earth.
There are five criteria you should bring to bear when figuring out your highest calling. First, it should involve your heart; it should be something you’ll find emotionally fulfilling; Second, your head needs to get involved as well; Your highest calling should be something you have potential for. Are you going to be able to succeed in this calling? Are you suited for it physically (in some cases), emotionally, and intellectually? If you want to be an opera singer but you can’t carry a tune, perhaps that’s not your highest calling. Third, it needs to be something you want to do for a long time. While a highest calling may change over the years, for anything to be classified as a highest calling you must be willing to put in time (perhaps a lifetime) pursuing it. Fourth, it must be something you feel will utilize all your God-given gifts and talents. I don’t believe we’re given certain aptitudes for nothing; your talents may provides a good indication of where your highest calling lies. And fifth, it must be something that will make a difference in your life and ideally the lives of others. Your highest calling will be a significant part of your time here on earth; make sure it has significance for both you and others.
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| View all 11 comments |
Donald J. Trump (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
In the competitive world of ultra high-end residential real estate, Frank McKinney has managed to do what I’ve done with projects all over the world. His groundbreaking deals and brand-making attention to detail have enabled him to make it big within his chosen field. Read his book and learn how you too can become a great success. |
Fortune magazine (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
Frank McKinney is in the vanguard of... multimillion-dollar spec home builders. |
Rich De Vos (Co-founder Amway) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
If you wish to enter the real estate profession, you will find much in these pages to help you. However, anyone can benefit from these 49 philosophies and learn from the examples Frank describes. The stories of succeeding against enormous odds, sacrificing personal comfort to put everything into your business, living according to your vision, putting in a full day’s work day in and day out, contributing to others, and enjoying your life every moment, I believe can provide great inspiration no matter what your stage or status in life.
(Excerpted from the Foreword) |
The Wall Street Journal (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
Frank McKinney has always liked to live on the edge... he likes to live dangerously.
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