Author: Brian Sher
Publisher: Prima Publishing
Reviewer: Goke Ilesanmi
It is said that rich people apply some principles that others either ignore or are ignorant of. My resolve to unveil these principles informs the choice of this book tagged “What Rich People Know & Desperately Want to Keep Secret” for review this week.
It is written by Brian Sher, who bagged a degree in Marketing from the University of New South Wales. Sher’s subsequent business travels overseas sparked his interest in consultancy. He says most people dream of being rich. Sher adds that in the end, many of these dreams are also shattered due to ignorance about what rich people know.
This book has six parts of 44 chapters. Part one is christened “The basics of success”, and contains four chapters. Chapter one is interrogatively entitled “What are riches, and what do rich people do?” According to Sher here, nearly everyone in life wants to make more money and the truth, however, is that being truly rich in life is not just about having more money but striving for balance in all aspects of your life.
Chapter two examines your first step on the road to riches. Here, Sher says in everything we do, we have to consider where we are coming from, what business conditions are now and what we have to know before we begin.
In chapters three and four, Sher discusses why more businesses fail than ever succeed and four critical advantages your competitors can never have.
Part two is conceptually summarised as “You”, and covers 14 chapters, that is, chapters five to 18. Chapter five is based on the starting point for all riches. Here, the author says one thing he discovered early in his business career is that there is no point in reinventing the wheel. Sher stresses that for this reason, you must learn all you can from successful people, in the form of reading their books, learning about their lives, talking to them, etc. He expatiates that as a result of his studying successful people very well, he has been lucky enough to discover many of the habits they have in common.
The author says the richest and the most successful people are the most-rounded people. Sher educates that he has found out that most successful people have 36 personal qualities, some of which are: practising perfectly to make perfect; having an open mind; flexibility; focusing on continuous self-improvement; dreaming big dreams; having a clear sense of direction; setting goals; becoming self-employed, etc.
In chapters six to 18, Sher identifies education as the only one shortcut to success; stresses the need for you to dream big and be unique or be nothing at all. He advises you to ask for help, adding that you will be surprised at what will happen. Sher says you need something far more valuable than money before you get rich. He stresses that passion is the secret weapon of the rich, adding that rich people feel alive and exhilarated because of risk. Sher advises you to take responsibility and take charge.
Part three is tagged “Your marketing”, and contains eight chapters, that is, chapters 19 to 26. Chapter 19 is entitled “The machine that drives your business”. According to Sher here, marketing is the second critical area of your business and the machine that drives your business.
In chapters 20 to 26, this author defines marketing and reflects on the number one reason why most people never get rich. Sher also examines concepts such as the death of market share; making it easy for customers to buy; how advertising can kill your business; 50 per cent of something being better than 100 per cent of nothing, etc.
Part four is conceptually summarised as “Your people”, and contains five chapters, that is, chapters 27 to 31. In chapter 27 based on how to get your employees to fall in love with your company, Sher says he has always stressed that your people are your greatest asset and one of the four critical ways you can gain a competitive advantage. In his words, “No one … can compete with individuals who actually enjoy their work, who have fun with customers, and who actually care about customers.”
In chapters 28 to 31, Sher examines the concepts of how to hire the right people; getting good people, then holding on like Hell; frequent use of all your resources, including your entire brain pool; and the redundancy of one person if two people think the same way.
Part five is generically christened “Your systems”, and contains nine chapters, that is, chapters 32 to 40. Chapter 32 is entitled “Why systems are so important”. “Systems are one of the four competitive advantages you have…Drawing on your experience, learning from trial and error, or using meticulous planning, you can use systems to maximise your efficiency and minimise waste,” submits Sher.
In chapters 33 to 40, this author examines concepts such as how to make the complex seem easy and sell your business quickly and easily; leverage as a word that makes people millionaires; focusing on money-making activities and delegating to others; tendency for problems to happen once; how to measure performance; the need for you not to gamble your profits away; the need for everyone to know your business, etc.
Part six is conceptually woven together as “Things to remember”, and contains four chapters, that is, chapters 41 to 44. Chapter 41 is based on the need for you to realise that growing too quickly could mean getting too big for your boots. According to Sher here, “Although it’s fun and exciting to grow, growing too fast can also kill you….”
In chapters 42 to 44, this author X-rays concepts such as the possibility of the word “Trust” to be a four-letter word; the need not to go it alone; and the impossibility of creating successful people.
The ideas offered in this book are very creative, effective and pervasive. Stylistically, this book is a success. Sher includes boxed messages where he radiates powerful messages and recapitulates his major gist in every chapter. The use of black and grey colours on the outer cover of the book reinforces the subject matter. Black is for ignorance and grey for knowledge because “grey matter” means “intelligence” or “brain”.
However, Sher should have used the coordinating conjunction “And” instead of the symbol “&” in the book’s title. Generally, this book is fantastic. If you want to get rich through knowledge of the secret of getting rich, you need to read this book.
GOKE ILESANMI (FIIM, FIMC, CMC), CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Professional Public Speaker, Career Mgt Coach and Certified Mgt Consultant. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.
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