Big Bucks!

Rating:
Summary: Big Bucks Here I Come!
Review: Back in January a reviewer of Big Bucks! convinced me I wasn't going to get on Do You Want To Be A Millionaire with Regis so I decided to follow his advice and read Big Bucks! Having read it I was convinced the authors, who apparently did their research over a number of years with The Young President's Organization which seems to be a club for millionaires, knew their stuff.

The first and most important lesson they say is that you can't make big money unless you're having fun. It's the old do what you love advice, but for the first time I now understand what this means. And I know why it works: If you enjoy your work you have the energy needed to be a huge success. Rather than working hard the authors say money makers enjoy their work so much that they're playing hard. I always thought I was in a dead end job. Now I understand the job wasn't dead end. I was! I didn't like it much and I didn't have the energy. I love cars though, so I took a chance and quit for an automotive related job. And at less money. But within three months I'd got two raises and I'm already making more than I was. All because I'm giving the job 12 hours of effort every eight hour shift, rather than the two I gave the other job. Best of all the eight hours passes like two and it used to seem like 12. I'm not a millionaire yet, but if this keeps up who knows I may make it. Even if I don't I'm a way happier than I was, so whoever the millionaire is who wrote the January third review, thanks. Thanks a million I guess.

Rating:
Summary: A Charming Extension of Raving Fans and Gung Ho
Review: Big Bucks! is the third in the series that started with Raving Fans and proceeded on to Gung Ho. Although you can certainly read Big Bucks! as a standalone, I recommend that you read the other two fine books first.

The subject is pretty simple: How to earn, keep, and enjoy substantial wealth. That description will probably sound like any of several hundred thousand self-help books written in recent years. In true Ken Blanchard style, Big Bucks! manages a refreshing new take on an old subject.

Len, our future multimillionaire, meets three spiritual leaders in a card game, who introduce him to three role models who teach him the three initial, and four eventual, rules of of getting, keeping and enjoying his Big Bucks!

Simple messages are powerful, because we can remember them. I subscribe to the themes in this book, and enjoyed reading how they were articulated.

Big Bucks! makes the pursuit of wealth seem downright spiritual, which of course it can be. In practice, the book is at its best in encouraging you to eventually have your own business. The perspective is certainly more that of an owner/manager than an employee. But the latter is addressed.

Those who do not like The One Minute Manager format will really hate this book, because it takes that format even further into simple stories and humor than usual. As such, the format is almost a satire on itself.

On the other hand, I greatly appreciate authors who can boil down important information into the gist of what needs to be done. Having considered those I know who have lived the Big Bucks! ideal, it is clear that they followed these principles unconsciously, if not consciously. I think Blanchard and Bowles have really put their finger on the pulse of the positive pursuit of wealth.

This book would be a wonderful gift for a young person starting on a career, an older person thinking about starting a business, or anyone who seems serious about acquiring wealth.

Even if you are not interested in having Big Bucks! for yourself, I think you will enjoy reading the book. And you never know. You just may decide that you are interested in Big Bucks! after all.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoy the process or do something else...
Review: I received this book along with three others for free upon joining a real estate investors group. Thus, I was not expecting too much from the volume. I also was blissfully ignorant of the authors and their prior successful works, and have not read the other two volumes in this motivational trilogy.

As such, I was pleasantly surprised by the narrative and novel style. The use of the protagonist "Len" is quite refreshing and works extremely well. His visits to the "three Wise Men/Woman" are amusing. The three lessons learned are absolute truths in the working world and totally reinforced my personal belief that having fun while making money is essential. If you love what you do you will be great at it.

I highly recommend this book to everyone with a open mind. It is a quick read (about a weekend ought to do it) and if read and followed, is sure to enrich your life both spiritually and financially.

About my only criticism is that it is somewhat derivative of other motivational types such as Lou Tice (reticular activating systems); Ivan Meisner (givers gain);and the grandaddy of them all: Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich).

Rating:
Summary: Ranks # 3 in the list
Review: This book is meant to be the third leg of a three-legged stool, the other two legs being Gung Ho! and Raving Fans by the same authors. After taking care of people who work for the organization, who in turn take care of customer delight, this book now aims at making big money both for the employee and the company. Logically this is a good sequence. The style is the same, powerful concepts explained through a parable. In Big Bucks our hero is Len who is a simple person with an ambition to make big money.

Expectations at the beginning of the book makes one align Len with the Area Manager (Raving Fans) or with Andy (Gung Ho!). This comparison may let you down. I should confess that Big Bucks is not a story as powerful as Gung Ho! where Andy Longclaw with the squirrels, the beavers and the geese saves Walton Works # 2. Andy still lives in our hearts. In Raving Fans, it is sheer customer delight straight from first principles applied with absolute clarity and focus, and a feeling of joy that recharges anyone to see the customer in a new perspective. Big Bucks lags behind these two great books in creating such an impact.

The third leg needs a bit of reinforcement. May be I will read the book again when I really decide to go after big money. Till then, Gung Ho! friends.

Rating:
Summary: A quickly read business parable
Review: This is another book in the tradition of The One Minute Manager (co-authored by Blanchard): A quickly read business parable about a young man on a quest. This one is on the always interesting subject of how to get rich, which is quite simple (not easy, mind you, but simple) according to the authors of Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization and Raving Fans - A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service: First of all make sure you have fun. If you don't there is no way that you can create the intensity and work the long hours that are necessary in order to be really successful. This is the starting point of the book, which makes a lot of sense and even manages to keep a good perspective on ethics and meaning at the same time. Highly recommended!