I hate to say it but “I told you so…”

I’ve been talking about Frank McKinney “Palm Beach Experience”  for awhile and telling my friends, Mastermind members and subscribers they had to be there. I had about 10 of you guys take me up on it and for the people there, including me, it truly was life changing.

Yes, that gets thrown around a bit too much – but let me just recap the weekend and give you a few solid take-aways.

First, a quick background. Frank McKinney is truly a Maverick real estate “artist”. He builds 8, 9 and even now 10-figure oceanfront properties for the ultra wealthy on spec (meaning no buyer). Even more amazing is the man is like a modern Robin Hood. He takes many of those profits and channels them to the desperately poor and homeless in Haiti. It’s part of his Caring House Foundation Project.

A couple highlights from the event….

First off, I stayed at Frank’s house in one of his guest cottages, and for some reason I couldn’t sleep. So I ended up awake at 4 AM and decided I’d make a cameo appearance and go for a 5-mile jog with Frank and some of the other crazy attendees who got up that early. I figured this would be the only time Frank would see me awake at that hour unless we passed each other when I was going to bed and he was getting up. This is the guy who just came back from the 135 mile Badwater Ultramarathon. and I probably haven’t run in 5 years. Surprisingly I didn’t even notice the mileage because I was talking business & life with a bunch of people as we were running. Frank videotaped the entire event (including this run) so I have real proof for Missy.

After hitting the showers we all boarded luxury motor coaches to check out Frank’s meager beginnings in real estate investing with his first $50,000 fixer-upper. A lot of people will see someone as successful as Frank McKinney and never believe he started in the exact same place everyone else does…at the beginning. He told us he passed up several deals because he was so scared to part with his “hard earned” money. He was nearly shaking when he pulled the trigger to buy his first house in one of the rougher areas of Palm Beach County.

Then we traveled forward in time and up (significantly) in price touring 3 mansions worth over $75 million. Truthfully, I’ve never been in a house valued at more than probably $7-$8M. It really was something to sit there for a moment and truly visualize yourself being able to afford one of these magnificent properties. In the brief time I’ve known Frank I’ve learned some powerful things from him but during an off-comment I picked up something huge.

Frank said at every house he creates “conversation pieces”.

Now stop and think about that for a second. To me that was profound. A quick example will help here. In one of the homes (actually John Ferber’s who you’ll hear about in a second) we toured there was a floor to ceiling custom fish-tank and the actual bar top was an adjoining tank. You could be sitting there at this bar and watching the tropical fish through your Jack & Coke. Plus, when you were behind the bar it looked like you were walking on water because there was a clear plexi-glass floor with a thin layer of water and a shark head image. I wish I took a picture. It was pretty damn cool!  You walk into the house and you have to talk about this feature.

[Update: I got pics from one of the other attendees]

It got me thinking about what I could do for Maverick Business Adventures™ that would create conversation pieces. People want to be able to ‘show off’ just a little bit to their friends and get that ego stroke.

Moving on…

Lunch that first day was on the site of Frank’s $135 M spec house. Yes, that means a 10-figure house without a buyer – I have to give the guy credit. In his book (that’s well worth reading) he talks about flexing your risk muscle and strengthening it. He’s done that in spades here. [Side note – you can listen to a special interview I did with Frank here. He talks about this success secret and several others.]

Right next door to his $135 spec house is his current $30 million ‘green home’. Currently the world’s largest green home. If there was any house on this tour that I wanted – my heart had a little flutter for this one. But I’d need to sell a few more ebooks to cover the mortgage on this bad boy. ;) 

Here’s a pic of the model in the meantime: (One of the conversation pieces on this house is you can drive into your subterranean garage and there will be a clear wall where you can see into the pool above. Cool!)

The next morning there was a special VIP breakfast with coach Don Shula. Here’s a few moments of his inspiration and a quick pic:

 
For lunch that day we boarded a yacht to make a 2 ½ hour cruise down the Intracoastal Waterway to arrive at the Governor’s club. That’s where Rich DeVos, co-founder of Amway and owner of the Orlando Magic, shared his insights.

I loved it! He is Frank’s personal mentor and I could see why. I took a few key notes with his presentation. A couple of the biggies for me were:

1. Become the biggest cheerleader in your organization
2. Plan your yearly calendar with family events first
3. Buy a huge yacht and then an island so your family (kids, grandkids) can’t get away and they are ‘forced’ to spend time with you.
 
I grabbed a quick pic with Mr. DeVos before we had to sprint back to the boat.

On the return trip John Ferber, co-founder of Advertising.com, talked about how he survived and thrived through the dot-com bubble. Oh did I mention the guy sold his business for $500 Million to AOL? Pretty sweet. John and I exchanged cards in the buffet line and he’s definitely got a sense of humor. He named his company “Vandelay Industries”. (Any Seinfeld fans out there get it?)

This was the guy Frank said I had to meet and as luck would have it we ended up sitting right next to each other because my first seat got taken by an attendee’s husband.

I took a few minutes of his presentation to share:

[Side note: I must mention again Frank videotaped the entire event so my little snippets aren’t  even close to what was shared there and it’s worth getting the recordings when he makes them available.]

That night all the guests took part in Michael Israel’s “Art in Concert”. Really cool! The guy painted 6 original portraits on the spot with rock music going. I’ve never seen anything like it. The guy is an amazing talent - you can see some video of what he does on his site.

Of course I just had to purchase one of the pieces during the auction especially since it went to a good cause to benefit the Caring House. I called Missy after the auction and used a little “compare/contrast”. Here’s how the conversation went:

Me: “Hi honey – just checking in and letting you know I bought a few things at the auction.”

Missy: “I knew you would.”

Me: “Yeah, I spent $100k. It’s okay though – it all went to charity.”

Missy: “Shut up!”

Me: “Okay. It was $50k.”

Missy: “Right…how much?”

Me: “It was $20k.”

Missy: “Um….I have a charity for you. It’s called Zak & Zoe’s college education.”

She was kidding obviously. I think.

The auction raised over $140,000 for Caring House Project Foundation.   And after the auction there was a “Midnight PJs, Pizza & Popcorn” session where attendees and co-host presenters could hang in a casual environment. We left at 1:30 and barely had time to hit last call down the road. Mike Litman was buying shots for the whole bar in honor of me selling my “dot-com” business. I told people it was my ChicksinChickensuits.com site. I said there were a lot of people with weird poultry fetishes.
 
I was hanging out with Mike and Frank’s brother, Bob, until 3:30 AM. Believe it or not, he was considering going running the next morning….errr….in 1 hour. I told him to count me out! Of course, he didn’t make it up either. 

The next morning we finished up with a question and answer session on the beach. It was killing me because 50 feet away was a beach volleyball net – but good thing the guys playing pretty much sucked or I might have been really tempted.

Not sure if Frank will ever do an event like this again – but if he does I’ll be the first one to sign-up. Oh, and if any of you buy the $30M green house I sure hope I get an invite to your party!

* Update I’ve added 2 more books that I somehow missed *

I’ve always believed your life is changed by the books you read, experiences you create and the people you meet. One of my earliest mentors (in print & audio) was Earl Nightingale and he said, “If you want to become an expert read for 1-hour per day for 3 years on your given subject. If you want to become a world expert read for 1-hour per day for 5 years.” Well, I took his advice to heart and early-on I wondered what would happen if I read 2 or 3 hours per day?

Today I still strive to get through at least one book/week sometimes more (or sometimes less like when Zoe is screaming her head off). My library is filled with hundreds and hundreds of books. In fact, when we moved houses this summer – getting built-in bookshelves done before we moved in was a top priority.

I agree when Brian Tracy says rich people have big libraries and poor people have big televisions. Though I might amend that to rich people have big libraries that buy them BIG televisions.

It’s always tough when you have so many great books to pick out a handful as the “all-time” best but here goes…

Drum roll please…

“Top-10” Most Essential Business Books for Successful Entrepreneurs:

#1: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Not really a business book but probably one of the biggest influences for top CEOs and entrepreneurs who have cited this numerous times. I’ve read this several times and even threw out calling our daughter Dagny – but Missy didn’t go for that. I loved Atlas Shrugged for instilling the philosophy that productive value should be compensated and revered instead of these individuals being coerced into self-sacrifice because of their talent and other’s “needs”. It really cemented the argument in my mind that the more laissez-faire approach to governing is ultimately best for a free marketplace and productive society. Yes, this is a thick read but well worth it.

#2: Influence: The psychology of persuasion by Robert Cialdini, PhD

I’ve read it at least 9 times and it will truly help you understand the psychological triggers to a sale. Very powerful stuff. Written by a self-proclaimed “sucker” and professor of psychology to help consumers avoid being taken “in” by marketers – this instantly became a classic for us marketers to apply each of the psychological tactics to success. This truly is a power that should only be harnessed for good. If I was to start at zero again and if you stripped away all the knowledge from every book I’ve read – I would start by reading this one and get it all back!

#3: How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur’s Guide by Dan Kennedy

Yes, even though this was published in 1996 and some of the new-fangled technology sections like broadcast fax are out-of-date – this is a top ten for sure! I’ve spent probably $150k or more with Dan and every product or resource I buy from him gives me back at least a 10-to-1 return. This is one of my favorite Dan books (along with #7 on the list) but you really can’t go wrong buying any of his books. When I first stumbled onto Dan I was so excited because he finally provided more of the true ‘nuts & bolts’ I was looking for. Sure, he’s grumpy and not the most sociable guy – but his information is priceless no matter what type of business you are in.

Side note: I also strongly recommend getting Dan’s newsletter. You can get a free 3-month trial here. (Fair disclosure – I do write a damn good column for it on Internet marketing each month)

#4: “Tested Advertising Methods” by John Caples

Absolute classic for any direct marketer or anyone that doesn’t want to waste a dime on untrackable ads. Devour this one and also look for Caples’ other books that are out of print. A true professional who generously published his directly-traceable results for everybody to benefit from. Many people might think there’s nothing to be gained from a book written decades ago – WRONG! Everything Caples reveals applies online in spades.

#5: Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins

Yes another “old time” marketing book but the gems in here are absolutely brilliant if applied today. Remember, human nature does not change – just the ways to activate our buying does. This is a short read and available online for free in many places since it’s in the public domain. Hopkins was one of the true advertising pioneers and this little guide really distills the essence of why you cannot use conjecture or opinion but actual tested, scientific methods to discover what your customers/prospects want.

#6: 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

I have to admit it, I love Tim’s book because this is the book I wish I wrote. Tim’s a friend of mine and we met over our love of marketing, living life to the fullest and extreme adventures. There’s a reason this book has literally taken on a life of it’s own and achieved best-seller status so quickly. To me, it’s because the concepts in here are so compelling.

I’ve given away a ton of copies of this book and a lot of people have actually gotten pissed at me for giving to them. One of my hockey teammates said that to me again a few nights ago. He’s gets really mad when he looks at it on the nightstand because he’s not living his life the way it could be using the ideas in this book.

This book is designed to get you to stop and think if you are really putting the right things in the right priority. Tim has a concept of the “New Rich” and that’s people who have time to do the things they want & they’re passionate on. There’s some exciting concepts about life design, dumping the email habit, outsourcing and creating online “muses” that pay for it all.

#7: Rich Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki

A lot of people might say “Rich Dad/Poor Dad” is more influential but I would argue this second book in the series really hits the concepts explained there harder. If you’re looking for a book to shake you or someone who needs it out of the typical 9-to-5 mindset – this will do it. The Cashflow Quadrant is all about creating enough passive income to pay for your needs and truly creating financial independence. It’s a simple concept explained by Kiyosaki’s drawing depicted on the cover.

On the left-hand side are the people who trade time for money. That’s the “E” or employee quadrant and the “S” or Small business quadrant. Then on the right-hand side are the people creating passive wealth by being “I” – Investors or “B” Business owners (who work on in their business not in it). While Kiyosaki’s books are pretty short on specific details – I think the philosophy and mindset is way more powerful and important.

#8: “Magic Words that Bring You Riches” by Ted Nicholas

There are 3 main people I’d give credit for opening my eyes to the enormous power of direct response marketing and helping me achieve financial independence before I was 31. And one of those is definitely Ted Nicholas. I cannot begin to tell you how many dozens of times I listened and read Ted’s material over and over again. He’s one of my all-time marketing heroes. Ted took the guts of his $197/year newsletter on direct marketing and distilled it into this single book. When I checked this morning there were a few used copies available on Amazon but you can now find it as an ebook or real book on Ted’s site.

#9: No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs by Dan Kennedy

Yes, Kennedy makes the list twice. Let’s face it, for entrepreneurs we’ve got no greater asset than our time. And even if you’ve read a 100 other time management books I guarantee you’ll get something out of this one. Here’s Dan’s unique & ruthless approach to time management that might give some people pause. I don’t follow all of Dan’s advice here because I’m a little too nice at times but reading this book will really let you understand that you create the rules at all time. You decide how you want customers to work with you, people to contact you, etc. Fact is, if you don’t set the rules – then someone else will for you by default.

#10: “Winning Through Intimidation” by Robert Ringer

I know the title of this book is a bit off putting and that’s probably why Robert renamed the latest edition. I love the way Ringer objectively looks at other people’s success advice in here. For instance, the advice of “work hard and you’ll succeed”. He asked himself what “working hard” really means since one person’s definition of working hard is a 18-hour shift while someone else might have a totally different notion. Ringer threw out typical advice like this to work on his own theories for figuring out success.

Plus, there is one chapter in here “the Leapfrog theory” that is essential reading. It explodes the myth of “working your way to the top”. Basically this is a waste of time to keep the status quo. You can leapfrog over any competitors by proclaiming yourself at their same level – but you’ve got to be able to back it up with the goods. For some reason people are always waiting to be anointed the “expert” – it doesn’t happen. And Ringer’s book is packed with even more hard-hitting realities for street smart entrepreneurs.

Like I said it’s super tough to pick just 10 so here’s a bonus selection. I kinda cheated since this isn’t a book but an audio program.

Bonus: The Strangest Secret & Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale. I can’t even begin to count the times I’ve listened to these programs. Earl was really the first person who game me ‘permission’ to think and behave differently. He talks about how the top 5% of achievers don’t do the things ordinary people do and that’s why they are extraordinary. Or they are willing to do the things the other 95% aren’t willing to do (like read/listen for hours per day honing my expertise).

#11 Unique Ability: Creating the Life You Want by Catherine Nomura, Julia Waller, Shannon Waller

Not sure how I forgot this one – probably because it’s not on my bookshelf now. (I think it’s somewhere in the dozens of boxes still left to be unpacked) This is my absolute favorite book about simply focusing on what your unique abilities are and then bringing in others who are strong in areas that are not unique abilities. Now “Unique Ability” is different than simply finding your strengths like the book “Now Discover Your Strengths” (which is also quite good for their online test).

Unique ability is not only about something that is a strength for you but something you love and that gives you more energy when you do it! Critical difference. You could have a strength but you don’t necessarily want to keep doing that activity. This book walks you the process of discovering your own unique abilities. Highly recommended. (At some point I’ll do a post just on this concept and share with you my own ‘unique ability’ statement I’ve come up with from this.)

This book is put out by Dan Sullivan’s company “Strategic Coach” and they have an excellent group of other ‘knowledge’ products. If you can find it the CD set “Pure Genius” is remarkable.

#12 – 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management by Hyrum Smith

Another ‘MIA’ book from my bookshelf after the house move so it got overlooked. This book has probably had one of the most profound effects on my inner values starting in 1998 when I got introduced to Hyrum’s company, now-called “Franklin Covey”. This book really made me examine what my value was and most importantly in what order should those values be. I look at them nearly every day when I get up to make sure my decisions are on track with my inner compass. This isn’t a half-hour read and then you’ve ‘got it’. I spent some time really considering what type of values and life legacy I’d like to leave. Excellent exercises.

There you have it. That’s my list updated list– what do you think? What did I leave off? Have you read any of these works and how has it influenced your life? Leave a comment – would love to hear it!

* * Important Charity Help * *

One more thing – I couldn’t imagine not having these books and resources I’ve learned from over the years. The wisdom of the most successful ‘doers’ & experts distilled down into the pages of a simple book. I’m passionate about helping others hopefully discover the joy and excitement of books that change their lives and inspire them to new heights. That’s why I’m proud to be helping my friend Tim Ferriss with his charity project at DonorsChoose.org where teachers request assistance for their teaching projects.

I’ve picked quite a few ‘entrepreneurial’ related projects to help fund and I hope you’ll join me. I’ve committed to donating $10,000 of my own money to support this. Now I’m not expecting a donation that large (we’ll certainly take it) from you but I’m hoping you’ll consider donating $50 or $100 to help fully fund some of the requests from teachers. Here’s the page to donate.

Wow! And double wow!

We had over 500+ entries…

I’m totally floored by the outpouring here. I really & truly wish I could give out 500 sets of the new courses.  Unfortunately my highly-paid cadre of advisors and experts (see below) at the Internet Lifestyle “nerve center” have strongly recommended against it.

* Update: This couch is now on eBay – here’s the listing * 

I’m excited to report I have the 4 winners (remember I’m upping it to 4 instead of 2 winners because of so many incredible entries)…

Drum roll please…

Category One  – already successful information marketing business looking to go to the next level

Winner #1 – Greg Watson. Great insight into just how simple it is to present your customers with something they really want by asking them. He’s making $500k in little niches – great stuff! (Oh btw Greg give yourself some credit – $500k is damn good! But let’s see if we can’t hit 7-figures this year!)

Winner #2 – David Rachford. Wow! Talk about massive action. Excellent example of going back and selling “where you came from”.

Category Two – The ones just getting started with information marketing. Picking these 2 winners was even harder than category one  – but here goes…

Winner #3 – Josh Lewis. He’s targeted a tiny niche which means he can make a big splash in that marketplace. I liked the background and attitude – hope to hear a success story out of this one.

Winner #4 – Binky Doyle. Stick with the FOREX market – proven winner but you need a good ‘hook’. Okay you got the course –  now let’s see some more action…

And I’m also going to award an extra bonus 5th package…

It goes to Robert Yarborough. I like somebody with a publishing background who is ready to step up into the big leagues and create high-profit info products. Hope this puts a fire under you.

I would love to hear an update from all the winners. Congratulations again!

Each of you will be contacted by our office for your addresses to send the hefty “Yanik’s Ultimate A-to-Z Information Marketing Brain-in-a-Box” package out to you. (If for some reason you don’t hear from us – please contact our support staff.)

I truly want to thank everyone for taking the time and entering here and providing your thoughts. Some people really shared so much from their hearts and it really made my day to read all these incredible stories and excited readers. I hope you’ll keep the conversation going on this blog in the future.

Just a quick note to let you know of a some good stuff we just added to the blog for you. I’ve conducted numerous interviews with super successful entrepreneurs and I figured it’d be a great addition here. So look on the right-hand side for interviews I’ve added under the “Top-Gun Entreprenuer Category”. 

Right now I’ve got these up:

• Eben Pagan ($20M information publishing empire) 
• Cameron Johnson (started 12 successful businesses with the first one at age 9)
• Frank McKinney (builds and sells 8-figure and even 9-figure houses on spec)

Just look on the right-hand menu from the home page of our blog

And more to come when I go through my archives…