Good Reads
How to Be a Millionaire
Find out from one who knows.
By John Greenya
T
his isn’t a book, it’s a pep talk — but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad book. On the contrary, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent is a sea of motivation in an ocean of information. (Or is it the other way around?) After learning that Keller Williams Realty International is the seventh largest U.S. real estate company and was voted the industry’s Most Innovative Company in 2001 by Inman News, the reader should not be surprised that the author is a salesman at heart, not a managerial type. Indeed, Gary Keller makes that point at the beginning, anecdotally. Asked why he — a highly successful (read: wealthy) agent for years — was attending a sales conference, he provides what used to be called the Perfect Squelch. After determining that the real estate agent who is asking him the question has — like Keller — buyer specialists, listing specialists and support staff, Keller says, “If you don’t mind my asking, what was your sales volume last year?” The agent answers: “A little over $50 million,” to which Keller replies, “Wow! Congratulations! That’s really awesome! Now, if it would better help you understand why I’m here, just think of me as a multibillion-dollar producer.” Take that, smarty-pants. Keller describes himself as “a real estate agent living large,” which he defines by providing the previously
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, It’s Not About the Money, by Gary Keller with Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan, Rellek Publishing Partners, 363 pp. listed impressive statistics, put forth as the reader’s Holy Grail. He then proceeds to explain, in 363 pages, how you too can replicate his rather extraordinary success. Along the way, and within his motivational template, he offers psychology, economic modeling, budgeting, organizational techniques, financial advice and planning and, finally, five ways of “staying on top.” If you manage to read this book straight through, which I did not, you’ll probably fall to the floor under a heap of useful — but at times exhausting — information. But you will, no doubt, have been informed.
And in case you haven’t been sufficiently motivated, Keller includes a gallery of “Real-Life Millionaire Real Estate Agents,” from A to Z. Well, from C (Chris Cormack of Ashburn, Va.) to Z (Don Zeleznak in Scottsdale, Ariz.). The pre-real estate occupations of these successful agents include telemarketer, fashion designer, model, chemist, homemaker, violinist, plumber and professional baseball player (Mike Mendoza, formerly of the Houston Astros, if you must know). The variety of their backgrounds effectively reiterates Keller’s point that it is not what you are but what you can become that counts — and that this way lies happiness (and, in terms of real estate, big bucks). “It is my sincerest hope,” he writes, “that this book will prod you to think outside the box regarding your career … But regardless of whether or not you find these ideas inspirational, you may still see benefit in adopting them and choose to accept and act on them. Just like dieting, exercising or saving money, any fundamental change in our habits begins with a personal choice, an act of volition. In this case, it is choosing to think big and aim high.” Thanks, Mr. Keller. We’ll see you at the next sales conference. s John Greenya is a Washington, D.C.–based writer and frequently reviews books for The Washington Post.
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