Customer Reviews

Live Rich: Everything You Need to Know To Be Your Own Boss

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book in a sense is the opposite of that book called "Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow" which was published several years ago. I really liked that book, and I like this one too. So many different ideas, and yet we can pick and choose what we want from them and use them for our benefit.

Make no mistake about it, this book is about money. That's perfectly okay. If money doesn't interest you, don't read it. Above all else, this book is about putting what you do for a living in its proper perspective. As a society we've come to the point where our jobs are an extension of our family. When we introduce ourselves we state what we do for a living. We're not people, we're schoolteachers, police officers, lawyers, mechanics, etc. This is what sets this book apart and makes it worth reading. If you want to live a rich and satisfying life, your work is for money. If you're looking for love, get it from your family.

Here is my favorite passage from the book:

"My clients have been taught that their value as human beings has nothing to do with their salaries. And yet if they're offered less than they expected as a salary or in payment for their services they take it as a personal affront to their worth as a human being. They say they think it's what's inside that counts and yet they - and everyone else - respond, positively or negatively, to how people look. Someone who's dressed in expensive clothes, driving an expensive car, gets treated better than someone who isn't. Perhaps most damaging of all, my clients have been taught they should pay more attention to the emotional and psychological elements of work than to the money. They money, they were told, would take care of itself. They'd automatically be rewarded for their hard work. They thought that if they did what they loved, the money would follow. Their pay would magically match their education, their emotional gratification, and their perception of their own worth. They were told to ignore money. In this case ignorance clearly was not bliss."

In one sense this book is an all out "look out for number one." We're told that there is no job security and that money is the sole focus of work. I agree, sort of. It's not about selfishness and obsession with money as much as it is putting perspective in our lives. Human beings have a real hangup with money. A person will move across the country for a better paying job, yet we claim "the money really isn't that important." It's the "job satisfaction" "the benefits" "the positive work environment." The author asserts that work is for money. He further claims there's nothing wrong with thinking like that. If work isn't for earning a living, then what is it for? Good question.

Should you buy this book? Well that depends. If you like your work because of the great people there and the company softball team, this book will certainly open your eyes. I found this book to be more eye opening and thought provoking than anything else. It claims to be a "how to" book of sorts, and there is a lot of "how to" in here. I would have to say that this book is to employees what "The E-Myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber is to business owners. We're too tied up in what we do for a living to separate that from our personal identities. We define ourselves by what we do for a living.

I'm giving this book 4 stars. I think it's an important book and a good sequel to the author's previous book "Die Broke." The format of the book is the same as "Die Broke" in that part II is an alphabetical glossary of various subjects. I found this book's part II to be a big improvement over the part II in "Die Broke." I don't know, maybe I paid more attention this time. It's a good book, one that definitely puts things in their proper perspective. If you find yourself "overworked and underpaid" then perhaps you should read this book. There's some great advice in here.

I think Pollan and Levine have definitely tried to differentiate themselves. Like many authors and writers trying to separate from the pack, the aforementioned authors seem to clearly overemphasize their differences and underemphasize their similarities to the current self-help/enlightenment zeitgeist. This book seems to be the antithesis of "Do what you love and the money will follow," and other books of the like. The authors implore us to "Make Money" and be free-agent employees. And if you are working according to their model, you shouldn't have time to chat with your wife (husband) or other ancillary parties.

It's not that I don't agree with the authors on numerous points, I just feel that their idea of all work and then play is not realistic or the most productive. Bottom line, any cursory read of the work-curve literature, or a limited understanding of attention spans and our memory faculties, would reveal a different picture than what they try to paint. Witness the knowledge worker and their work environment for sustainable and creative growth.

Another one of their major points is the idea of "Don't grow, change." In today's dynamic work environment, and real-time learning necessities, I think this is a valuable idea. I think the idea of NOT becoming occupationally and intellectually stagnant is a valuable goal.

Part II of the book is an alphabetical examination (a page or so of writing) of ninety-one different topics related to earning money and entrepreneurship. As stated in my title for the review, the authors are quite direct in their opinions on the chosen topics (and throughout the book). This is not good or bad in its own right; it just comes across as somewhat know-it-all-ish and arrogant. Again, the authors are not coddling their readers, like many self-help books are purported to do. All in all, the book has some interesting points, and some good advice on employment contracts and other legal matters (Pollan has a law degree). My suggestion is to browse through the book at the library, and see if you want to pursue it further.

I heartily subscribe to the authors' philosophy that you "work for yourself," and that your career should be governed by putting your own self-interest first, not by blind loyalty to a company that has no corresponding loyalty to its employees. On the other hand, I have real problems with their idea that you should work for money and seek self-actualization and meaning from other things in your life. This is based on a number of assumptions that I believe are false: (1) "Jobs" are created by employers and/or the marketplace, not by the people who do them; (2) the way things are is the way things are going to stay; and (3) the satisfaction you get from, say, coaching your kid's soccer team is more "genuine" than what you can or should get from your work.
This is the 1950's suburban paradigm that I grew up with -- but the world of work is changing and the concept of "job" (let alone "company" and "industry") is shifting. If people detach themselves emotionally from their jobs now, they'll miss the opportunity to transform the work place into something more human-centered -- and I think we have a window of opportunity to do this now that may not last forever.
Also, just in practical terms, I think it's naive to believe that an activity that takes up at least 50 hours a week (when you count in lunch breaks with co-workers, commuting time, dressing and undressing, etc.) can be NOT meaningful to you! (This reminds me of Quentin Crisp's dictum: "It's no good running a pig farm badly for 30 years while saying 'Really, I was meant to be a ballet dancer.' After 30 years, pigs will be your style.")
My own approach to career selection would be to start by saying "What's most important to you in life?" Then I'd ask (1) Can you make a job out of it? If so, great; you're one of the lucky ones. (2) If not, can you find work that's related to it? If so, you're also lucky. (3) If not, what job can you take to make enough money to live on and still have enough time to do what's important to you? Pollan and Levine address #3 well -- but for those of us fortunate enough to have found #2 (as I did) or even #1, their advice is laughable.

A number of negative reviews of this book mention Pollan's affinity for making money. They also point out that he may be heartless, cold-blooded, un-loyal, and uncaring because money drives the theme behind lvining rich.

Welcome, finally, to corporate America people. The fact is, as hard as it may be to digest, work IS about money and has been since we stopped bartering centuries ago. Corporations are loyal to employees insofar as they can make money with them (note the recent issues with wholesale offshoring of technology jobs...do you really think other countries do it better than the richest, most educated populace in the world? No, but they CAN do it cheaper). Companies are loyal to their bottom line. They don't cry over laying you off, restructuring your job, right-sizing, or anything else you read about everyday in the business section.

I happen to like my job...to Pollan and Levine, I'm one of those people that should consider themselves fortunate because I do gain some emotional satisfaction from the work I do; however, after reading the book and agreeing with the authors that emotional satisfaction can be derived from many, many other things but money is acquired only through work, I completely changed my attitude about my job. No longer do I get upset about inane decisions that are made by management, the nonsensical policies that make up the paradigm of the week, the prepubescent co-workers: I work for money. I enhance my skill-set for money. I look for promotions for money.

I don't worship money and never have. Nor do the authors; they draw a clear distinction of why money is valuable and why you should obtain it (legally, of course, though other reviewers may have you think otherwise).

I recommend this book to anyone that works in our new (past 12 years?) economy. It's helped me through two reorganizations in my company, and I expect it will continue to help me through the next.

The first chapter is worth the price of the book. The rules of life have been permanently changed by technology, but we're all living like the old rules apply. Businesses today CANNOT be loyal to their work forces, unless the workers keep up with the changes. By knowing that we work for ourselves, we can remain competitive in our careers and/or in our own businesses. I also recommend Robert Kiyosaki's books. These authors are trying to get us to, as Kiyosaki says, "...mind our own businesses." If we truly are looking out for ourselves, we will provide the best value for others.

I've purchased and read both Live Rich and Die Broke and it was Stephen Pollan's advice - to quit a job in one's head - that prompted me to switch from daily news reporting to specialized newsletter publishing. OK, so the specialized publishing proved to be a little much for me to handle, but I'm still richer for the experience. I'm no longer with the newsletter company. My point here is that I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Pollan's idea that one shouldn't get too emotionally wrapped up in a job and that an occupation should be primarily for the purpose of earning money. Journalists like I once was are especially vulnerable to the mindset that money matters little. A common mantra we heard in J-school was "you're not going to get rich doing this.'' Being young and idealistic, we didn't care. So many of us settled for relatively low-paying reporting and editing jobs that demanded most of our waking hours. The lucky ones among us landed at better-paying unionized papers. We compensated by telling ourselves that our true rewards were of the pyschic variety, e.g., bylines, the satisfaction of seeing one's work in print the next day, and maybe exposing some official involved in wrongdoing. For me, all that was true until a daily paper laid me and eight others off three years ago to shore up the parent company's bottom line. It was like a slap in the face. I experienced an extended period of unemployment that financially devastated myself and my family. Even though I've worked at a couple of other papers since then, my heart no longer was really into reporting. I've spent my off-hours exploring ways of becoming a free agent/mercenary and of starting my own business. Bravo to Mr. Pollan and his partner Mr. Levine for their thought-provoking books, which validated my recent reassessments of work. I hope more people at least open their minds to the authors' ideas.

Having read and benefited from the ideas presented in "Die Broke" by Stephen Pollan, I brought an attitude of expectancy to his newest book,"Live Rich," only to be disappointed in its crass, almost heartless approach to work. With the solitary goal of making money the key to work, Pollan goes on to present a plan for success that downplays any emotional or non-monetary payoff from work. He suggests that satisfaction in life can come from other sources: family, hobbies, outside interests, but not from work--work is for money--the more, the better. He presents his topics in alphabetical order and covers a wide range of subjects pertaining to today's business world. Many suggestions are sound and are worth absorbing, but the overall philosophy, doesn't offer much consolation for anyone who is in a highly paid profession which he may hate. I wouldn't want to work for Stephen Pollan!

I read this book over a period of about 2 weeks, and during that time I had a chance to post for another job within my company. At first I was hesitant, but I reread the chapter "Be A Mercenary" and my attitude changed. The new job was for a little more money and that was good, but even better - it was a new experience. I applied for it, and a month later I was sitting at my new desk.

That's basically the whole idea of this book, to diversify your job experiences so that you can demand a higher salary, which is the bottom line of most everyone's agenda. I took the "don't take more responsibilty, take on a new task" to heart and it worked. I am only 23 years old so I probably can't appreciate this book like someone who's been working for 30 years or so, but it is nice to see someone dissolve the old working fables like "Do what you love and the money will follow." I am sure I will recognize these lessons as invaluable as I get older. It's nice to know I started off my working career on the right foot.

The first part of this book is its meat and potatoes, the part you should keep reading from time to time. The second part is just little pointers that really only need to be reviewed individually when that particular situation arises. I wish Part 1 was longer, that way it would have been less of a tease since it plays like an introduction to Part 2 rather than a whole different book, which it seems like to me.

My main negative criticism with the book is the it tries to be a book both for entrepeneurs (yourself.com's) and regular workers (mercenary employees). Me being the latter I found this book to be reading away from me much of the time. Pollan tries combine the two throughout the book, but sometimes the result is clumsy.

But as I mentioned before, the book is tried and true. I half-heartedly applied a single principal from it to my working life and my attempt was victorious. What really limited me to giving Live Rich a 3-star rating was how it led me to believe it was going to end up being much more than it was.

"Live Rich" was published 2 years after the monumental book "Die Broke" by Steve Pollan and Mark Levine. The latter comprising of the most common-sense, statistically backed-up, and realistic approaches to life, career, and finances for the New Economy. Most people then, and still now, follow an outdated philosophy designed for an economic environment that began the dissolve in the early 1970s.

How many MBAs do you know who that have job security today? Which job # are they on? How about those lovely stock options? How many have blown their chance of retiring by their late 30s (unless they switch models soon)? Pollan's model for the new economy: "quit today, pay cash, don't retire, die broke." Mass firings, down-sizing, and layoffs have been rampant in the 1990s when this book was written (1998), and they will continue as companies will have to cut their costs, oft-times quickly, in order to remain competitive and survive today (2003).

In "Live Rich," Pollan has 98 short but informationally full chapters ranging on lifestyle, employment, to investing. The first seven are philosophical and the latter ninety-one are "Putting Theory To Practice." Some chapter titles are: insurance, networking, benefits, financial ratios, mentoring, creditor relations, negotiating, receivables, payables, and seed money among many more.

The first chapter, is entitled "buying your freedom," and notes that freedom is subjective and means a different thing to different people. For some it's a dream house on the beach, or being able to make a living from sculpting and painting. Perhaps, spending more time with family, traveling the world, or starting one's own business. Freedom involves doing what one wants to be doing. Is being a W-2 worker, paying high amounts of taxes throughout your life, and waiting for the end of it to do what you want, freedom? Some folks can tremendously benefit from reading this latest work if they can change the way they've been conditioned. For those who haven't read Stephen Pollan yet, it's better to read "Die Broke" first.

Well, I picked up this book thinking I'd find some clever way to buy a BMW and a townhouse without really having to pay for it. Turns out, Stephen Pollan's "Live Rich" is not about fast money but financial and emotional intelligence.

The richness of "Live Rich" truly comes across in part one where Pollan explains how we are not living in the financially stable past, but a turbulent present that demands that we can re-create ourselves, and re-market ourselves for the chameleon economy in which we live.

Perhaps Pollan's most novel advice is not just to take a promotion for the sake of money, but to take the job opportunity that requires you to learn a new skill set, even if it means less pay. This counsel goes against the idea that we are living in a highly specialized world and the more deep and narrow your skill set, the more appealing and valuable your skill set.

But as Pollan writes, you can't rely on an employer, a job consultant or even "Live Rich" to tell you how to prepare yourself to lead a financially rewarding career. You must educate and create yourself as Pollan explains.

However, part two of "Live Rich" contained chapters too short and too broad to prove productive for rich living. I imagine chapters such as "Advertising" and "Job Interviews" are included only to encourage the reader to seek out other books or experts to educate them in particular areas that can directly impact their financial success.