How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis | Book Summary & PDF

What you will learn in the downloadable How to Get Rich PDF Summary:

• The top reasons people fail to get rich
• How to correct the mistakes many people make in terms of wealth
• A critical mindset that puts you at risk of not getting rich
• 6 paradoxes that ensure success in an entrepreneurial journey and life in general

About the Author and the Book:

Felix Dennis was a British publisher. By the time of his death, he owned 50 different magazine titles including FHM, as well as a number of digital properties and websites. He started selling magazines on the streets at the age of 20 and went on to be worth around $500 million from his media empire.

How to Get Rich doesn’t really center on the author’s rags-to-riches story but is a collection of stories and his philosophy, understanding, and ideologies on how to become truly rich.

KEY IDEAS

1) Albert’s Story

The book tells about Felix’s friend Albert and why he failed in life despite being really intelligent, sharp, and having a college degree.

Albert failed where Felix succeeded. You might be doing what Albert was prone to, so his story might lead you to reflect on things to correct in your endeavor or your entrepreneurial venture.

Why Albert Failed

Albert was someone who would stop himself at the first sight of an obstacle. He did not understand that the first step in any endeavor is always the hardest or the toughest.

This is the stage when our subconscious tries to sabotage our limbic system, causing us to say, “I don’t like this new thing. I don’t want to do it.”

• Not Taking the First Step

Albert wouldn’t even take the first step. Instead, he would always wait for a great idea. He would think, “Let me just figure out this great idea and make it all work. Then I can be really successful.”

But Felix Dennis says that great ideas are a dime a dozen.

An amazing analogy found in the book says:

“Great ideas are like running shoes while you’re still in the competition.”

Execution is like running while great ideas are like great running shoes. If you refuse to run and just hope that you would get you to your dream, obviously nothing will happen.

Unfortunately in today’s society, we’re led to believe that in order to enjoy a successful life, we just need to have a great idea. This is probably how great entrepreneurs such as Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates and others became successful.

The truth is while they all started somewhere, they also executed on the ideas and kept on building on them. They executed and executed even more.

• Worrying About What Others Think

Albert also feared what others would think, which stopped him from carrying out his ideas. He would get worried about the thought that his friends would make fun of him or gloat in case of failure. He also worried they might get jealous if he got successful.

It’s one of life’s certainties that there will be people who will mock you no matter what you do. People will make fun of you or will gloat at your failures.

Waiting for the moment until you are free from mockeries and people’s opinions might take forever. You cannot stop people from talking negatively about your success or even about your failures.

• Lacking Compulsion

Albert might have had a desire to have more money, but he did not have a compulsion.

Compulsion is very much different from desire. It’s compulsion that says, “I will do whatever it takes to get to this goal that I’m after.”

Compulsion is way more intense than just a regular desire.

In his classic book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill explained the value of having a desire, but just a desire is not enough. It should be a burning desire and obsession.

And that is compulsion. It releases so much of your energy into the system, giving you an intense focus and causing you to work much harder. It gives you great power in what you are doing.

• Having an ‘I’m Unlucky’ Mindset

Albert always considered himself unlucky.

“I’m unlucky because I don’t have a great idea. Others have all the wisdom and the knowledge which I don’t have.”

This constant thought is then reflected on his appearance. He would always carry the look of an unlucky and sad person.

You cannot carry the look of sadness and lack and expect that life will work out fine. You ultimately become the mask that you wear.

If you think that you are unlucky, then you will become unlucky. If you continue to believe that things are not working out for you, then that becomes your reality.

Instead, put on a mask of a hero and feel like a hero.

In the early times, Greek theater actors would put on the masks of characters they were portraying. The masks made them come alive for that role, making them feel and act out those roles even more intensely.

In the same manner, although more often unconsciously, this is what we also do to ourselves. When we are in a certain belief system and wear the masks of what we believe about ourselves, we become exactly that. Examples of these beliefs of ourselves:
     – “an unlucky person”
     – “not good enough”
– “someone else is always a hero”

• Worrying About Loss or Failure

Aside from people’s opinions and mockery, Albert also worried about loss and failure. His fear of loss was incredible.

Fear is very powerful in our lives because it can do either of these 2 things:

1. It can either stop us from taking necessary actions
2. Or it can compel us to take bigger, more massive and powerful action.

Instead of allowing ourselves to be stopped by the fear of failure, we have to harness that fear and make it work for us, knowing that it can drive us into becoming a better person.

2) 6 Paradoxes that Ensure Success in an Entrepreneurial Journey and Life in General

Life’s interesting paradoxes, such as the paradox of trying to become rich or the paradox of struggle, are all around us. I love these paradoxes because they are quite real in our lives. We have to embrace and live with these paradoxes and at the same time we need to manage them.

1.     Laugh at your struggles but be willing to die for your goals

In this life there will be moments when we fail and struggle. We will encounter problems. But we need to have the ability to laugh at ourselves in those moments.

The paradox:

• While we are able to laugh at ourselves, we have to be willing to die for what we’re going after.
• We have to have so much compulsion that we’re going to go for it.

This is such an important paradox.

2.     Life is a game that needs compulsion

Acknowledge that life, including this whole money-making business, is a game. You win some but you also lose some. It’s just the way a game works.

Despite that, however, you need to have a massive compulsion to win. You need to do whatever it takes to make your dreams happen.

This is a game you could win or lose, but no matter what, you can’t lose the drive or massive desire.

3.     No money but happy

Even when you don’t have the money, you’re happy. You will not be wearing the sad and unlucky mask and believe that you’re not okay.

On the other side of this paradox, you are willing to die for the attainment of your goal. You’re going to do whatever it takes to make your dream a reality. That’s what you’re going to live for.

Again these are 2 opposing ideas that are powerful.

Albert failed in this paradox.

• He was miserable without the money.
• Moped and carried around a sad appearance or mask
• Felt unlucky, which at the same time gave an impression that he was not willing to die for his dreams
• Not living on the extreme ends of the paradox but somewhere in the gray zone where none of the things that make life meaningful really come alive

4.     Fun and intensity

Life is a journey and is supposed to be fun. Expect to go through its ups and downs. You’re going to fail but you’re also going to rise.

While you enjoy the ride, however, you need to go through it with great intensity.

Fun and intensity are paradoxical because fun and lightheartedness are on the opposite side of intensity. But you have to be lighthearted and intense at the same time.

It’s best to keep these paradoxes in mind. One amazing guy who fondly talks about paradoxes is retired Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. He shared in his biography how he had to feel like a champion but at the same time have a certain hunger for that championship as though he had never been a champion before.

5.     Fine with losing it all but also a predator

While you’re prepared to lose it all, on the other side of the paradox you’re a predator — an animal that’s ready to charge and make things happen.

• You will stop at nothing in achieving your goals.
• You’re going to attack the problem and at the same time you adopt an attitude of “If I lose it, so be it.”
• The most important thing is you did what needed to be done.

6.     Feel the fear but have the courage

Know that you can overcomeProbably one of the most fundamental paradoxes is having the willingness to feel fear on one side but having the courage on the other side. Going along this journey called life, we will encounter lots of fears.

Similarly, as we go and grow in this entrepreneurial journey, we will be stepping into zones where fear is inevitable. Unless we’re going into the zones of more fear, we’re not really living a full life.

Thus we have to feel the fear but at the same time we have to do courage. This is a paradoxical idea and they don’t exist independent of each other.

In contrast, here’s what Albert did:

• He avoided the fear instead of feeling it.
• In the face of fear, he just walked away.
• He didn’t tap into his courage. In effect, he was living in the gray zone.

That’s where all the Alberts of this world are living in — a place where they don’t experience both fear and courage. But as a result:

• They are not living intensely.
• Fun is out of the picture.
• Overall, they are not living like predators.

Living in the gray zone of life can be numbing and deadly. It doesn’t ensure success in any entrepreneurial adventure and in life in general.

There you have it. Go and pick up this beautiful book filled with amazing insights by the late Felix Dennis (he passed away in 2014). I am highly recommending this to anyone who is a starting and ambitious entrepreneur.

Related Readings

1. The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ Demarco
2. Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
3. The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz