How to Get Rich: One of the World's Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets [Paperback]

Felix Dennis (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 26, 2009

Felix Dennis is an expert at proving people wrong. Starting as a college dropout with no family money, he created a publishing empire, founded Maxim magazine, made himself one of the richest people in the UK, and had a blast in the process.

How to Get Rich is different from any other book on the subject because Dennis isn't selling snake oil, investment tips, or motivational claptrap. He merely wants to help people embrace entrepreneurship, and to share lessons he learned the hard way. He reveals, for example, why a regular paycheck is like crack cocaine; why great ideas are vastly overrated; and why "ownership isn't the important thing, it's the only thing."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is not your usual get-rich-quick manual. Though Dennis, a poet (When Jack Sued Jill: Nursery Rhymes for Modern Times) and the founder of a publishing empire (including Maxim magazine), wants to help the reader rank at least among the lesser rich (equal to a net worth of $30 million–$80 million by his definition), he isn't himself motivated by money. With his own fortune estimated at between $400 million and $900 million, he doesn't have to be. Instead, Dennis wants to demystify the money-getting process, and his straight-talking, honest advice makes a refreshing change in this oversaturated field. Using humorous examples from his own business life, Dennis's advice, from The Five Most Common Start-Up Errors to The Power of Focus, might sound like conventional fare, but delivered in his signature bawdy, British style, it's altogether more entertaining—and more practical. Dennis highlights the right strategies and mindset to get readers their millions, but he won't air-brush his story or soften the bitter truth along the way. As he says, when it comes to acquiring wealth, being a bit of a shit helps. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Imagine an audio with a thundering Charlton Heston–type voice imploring all listeners to fear nothing and no one. That’s the essence of British poet (A Glass Half Full, 2002, and Lone Wolf, 2004) and magazine publisher Dennis’ advice on getting—and staying—rich. Inspirational to the nth degree, Dennis launches his entertaining and anecdote-filled memoir-narrative with a definition of rich, from two tables showing the comfortable poor to the superrich in wealth, either measured by cash in hand/quickly realizable assets or wealth in true net worth. ($2.4 million, in the latter category, by the way, classifies you as the comfortable poor.) He then deliberately destroys every getting-rich myth extant. There is no great idea (witness Ray Kroc and the founding of McDonald’s). And there is no luck or accident in accumulating wealth—just plain hard work and smarts. His other rules? Focus, sell before you need to, and hire talent smarter than you (among others). Common sense abounds, as do stories and snippets of T. S. Eliot, Samuel Beckett, and others, befitting a poet and a self-made man. --Barbara Jacobs --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Trade; Reprint edition (May 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591842719
• ISBN-13: 978-1591842712
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #62,244 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

137 of 140 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An honest account from a person who has been there and done that April 19, 2008

By Ray Djajadinata

Format:Paperback

This book is different from all the other get rich books that I have read because it is written by an author who is truly rich (he's one of the richest men in Britain).

Felix Dennis is very honest about what he thinks are absolutely required to become rich, and it's not a walk in the park. It is HARD work. There ARE sacrifices to be made. Desire alone is not enough, you need COMPULSION if you want to become truly rich.

That, and other things that he shares in this book are truly a lot more valuable because they are his personal accounts about his journey from rags to riches, written by the man himself. He really sat down and wrote this book.

It's not one of those Donald Trump books that were authored by some unknown guy who is not rich himself. (Come on, between doing The Apprentice, dating Knauss, dealing with his business, you think The Donald would actually sit down and write a book like this? Get real. It's most probably a ghost writer who chats with him a few times and make it into a book.)

It's not a book written by some guy who made a few millions doing Velcro business and started dreaming up a rich dad and some silly board game that was so bad I stopped playing after 10 minutes.

It's not a book written by some guy who sold his business for a few million then started doing seminars about fixing your mindset to become rich.

Felix Dennis doesn't need your money unlike countless other (in his words) get rich authors--and that is why this book is so honest, and in the long run, useful. Because unlike those countless get rich books, this book doesn't sell an easy dream.... It doesn't give you the illusion that if only you do these simple 7 or 14 steps or install this mindset or watch your cash flow or whatever, then you'll become rich.

No.

Instead, it's the opposite--it forces you to really think and look into the deepest of your self: do you really want to be rich? Because if you really, really want to, THESE are the things that you HAVE to go through. THESE are the sacrifices that you may need to make. And THIS is what it's really like when you have more than half a billion dollars, and how it's not all what you think it is going to be.

I may not ever get as rich as Felix Dennis. But I'm glad and thankful to him for writing this kind of book because it gives me a true, honest peek into the world of the rich--including the darker and uglier side of it. Read more ›

133 of 139 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best RoI you will ever see January 3, 2008

By Saravanan Balakrishnan

Format:Paperback

This is an unusually insightful and "straight-talking" book. Consider the following nuggest taken from this book:

*If it flies, floats or fornicates, always rent it - it's cheaper on the long run
*The follow-through...is a thousand times more important than a 'great idea'...if execution is perfect, it sometimes barely matters what the idea is
*Many paths can lead to riches, few in sunlight, most in ditches
*Paul Getty: If you can actually count your money, you are not really a rich man
*Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex. You thought of nothing else if you didn't have it, and thought of other things if you did
*Nearly all the great furtunes acquired by entrepreneurs arose because they had nothing to lose
*Conventional wisdom is often right. But when it is wrong, it can offer quite extraordinary opportunities
*Making money is a drug. Not the money itself. The making of the money
*Prompt decisions and orders, right or wrong, are far healthier than endless demate and prevarication
*Team spirit is for losers, financially speaking
*You may not necessarily want to be in a glamorous sector of any market, and they are often very crowded
*How do you judge your own aptitude? Trial and error is the only way I ever heard of
*Your credit rating is extremely precious
*While it may not look like it to you, too much...capital seeking too few investment opportunities
*Obtaining capital...is the worst part of the whole business of getting rich......(but) there is no avoiding it
*By continually wishing and never delivering, you risk denting your confidence
*Once you lose control of a business, then no bank, white knight, investor or new owner is likely to permit you to gain control again
*Cash flow is the heart beat of your company
*Regular, even obsessive, monitoring is the key. I hated every minute of doing it in those eaerly days

All of the above were taken from just the first third of the book.

When was the last time I saw all this wisdom collected in one single book? Never. I had to discover many of these through, what else, trial and error! So much wasted time and wasted opportunities!!

So, brothers and sisters, if you are serious about getting rich (by becoming an entrepreneur), the investment (both money and time) you will be making into "Uncle Dennis'" book will easily give you one of the best RoI you will ever see.

However, I want to leave you a few words of caution:

1. There is so much wisdom in this book that if you are a beginner, you will find it difficult to grasp/retain all of it in just one reading (though the language is very easy to deal with). You should consider keeping it as a permanent reference in your library, which you can go back to from time to time (like Warrent Buffer goes back to "Security Analysis").

2. I think it is better suited to play the role of a navigator and less suited to play the role of a motivator.

3. I must reprimand "Uncle Dennis" for his rants. On and off, he meanders off topic and into his favourite war stories. Though the stories may be well said, the digressions show that the author looses "Focus, Focus, Focus" needlessly. But "Uncle Dennis" has been such a good soul otherwise, I'd certainly put up with his rants. Like I put up with so many of my other uncles' :-)

Despite the rants, this book still deserves five stars for its life changing ability. Read more ›

118 of 125 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A quick summary of ideas April 9, 2007

By H. Wang

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm almost done reading it, and I would like to say that it's a really amusing book (not the Anthony Robbins type). Some take aways:

1) You gotta really really want to make money, more than you want to be happy if needs be. Be compulsively determined.

2) Don't try to cheat the IRS.

3) Delegate. Hire smarter people than you, and pay them very well, but keep ownership.

4) Get rich. Give it away.

5) Timing is very important, more than talent?

6) Execution is more important than the idea. Just go do it.

7) Self-belief is priceless. Confront doubts for facts.

8) Time is the most important thing.

45 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Business Book November 15, 2006

By Robert E. Kinney

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

After suffering through a few books by Robert Kiyosaki and even reading the one that he co-authored with the Donald recently, this was entirely refreshing. Felix is an outstanding writer who, in addition to having gotten himself filthy rich, has clearly spent a lot of time with his reading. His review of the matters one must keep in mind while getting to the top, and his refreshing honesty about many of his personal situations, are just too good to pass up. If you read only one business book this year, make this one it.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars But this book !! March 10, 2008

By A UK reader

Format:Paperback

Unlike so many of the hucksters out there who made a small fortune through writing books telling others how to get rich, this book is different. The difference being that the author became very rich before writing it. Very rich indeed.

If anything this is an anti self-help book. It doesn't sugar coat the truth or pretend that success is for everyone - but it can be!

Despite being very entertaining and well written, the book really drills down into the issues that make massive achievement so tough as opposed to so many other books that tell us how easy it all is..

He gives us examples of his own business struggles and offers examples from history of people who achieved great things but trod a long frustrating and lonesome path littered with rejection and failures. And we must accept the same if we are to grab the tiger by the tail and cut loose and go for it.

If you are reading this and are someone facing numerous business challenges, are frustrated at your lack of progress, maybe your struggling to win new customers or secure those all important meetings with key buyers? If so, this book is for you. A great insight into the tough road you will have to tread but a very rewarding one if you've the guts to do it.

If you are persuing a worthy goal, then when the going gets tough, this book will give you heart and offer an empoweriing perspective so that you'll really feel your not alone.

Great Read!