Product Description

PRAISE FOR
MAKE IT BIG!

"In the competitive world of ultra high-end residential real estate, Frank McKinney has managed to do what I’ve done with projects all over the world. His groundbreaking deals and brand-making attention to detail have enabled him to make it big within his chosen field. Read his book and learn how you too can become a great success."
–– Donald J. Trump

"Frank McKinney is in the vanguard of . . . multimillion-dollar spec home builders."
–– Fortune

"Frank McKinney has always liked to live on the edge ...he likes to live dangerously."
–– The Wall Street Journal

"Frank is a real estate entrepreneur extraordinaire. The vision he applies in creating his estate homes will someday be legendary. Everyone should be interested in his compelling life story."
–– George F. Valassis, founder/former CEO
Valassis Communications, Inc.

If you wish to enter the real estate profession, you will find much in these pages to help you. However, anyone can benefit from these 49 philosophies and learn from the examples Frank describes. The stories of succeeding against enormous odds, sacrificing personal comfort to put everything into your business, living according to your vision, putting in a full day’s work day in and day out, contributing to others, and enjoying your life every moment, I believe can provide great inspiration no matter what your stage or status in life.
–– Rich De Vos, cofounder
Amway, excerpted from the Foreword

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #233956 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From the Inside Flap
Make it BIG! contains the wit and wisdom of Frank McKinney, perhaps the most contrary real estate mogul in the world. With long blond hair, rugged good looks, and colorful Versace vest, you might think McKinney was riding his motorcycle to a recording studio, rather than to close a multimillion-dollar real estate deal. He does things his own way––with a rock star’s flair–– and his story shows that you don’t have to meet the expectations of others to achieve success; you just have to meet your own highest expectations.

McKinney started with nothing but a vision of what he wanted to be, the premier creator of ultra-luxurious "speculative" mansions in the world. With perseverance, a willingness to take enormous risks, and dedication to living life to its fullest, his dream has come true and has made him the undisputed king of luxury "spec" real estate. With a style and flair all his own and a never-say-die attitude, McKinney rode his motorcycle to riches creating and building luxury homes for those who can afford them. Uniquely, he designs, contracts, builds, furnishes, and sells each of his homes without a particular buyer in mind, risking a fortune on each deal. Having sold "spec" homes for as much as $28,500,000, there seems to be no shortage of people who like what McKinney does–– and like the way he does it.

Success is supposed to have its price, but McKinney shows that you can balance your work and play and keep your individuality and your personality while riding to the top of your profession–– whatever your business is. On his unconventional path to success, McKinney always remembered the lessons he learned and the spiritual guidance that got him there, turning those lessons into forty-nine secrets of extreme success. In Make It BIG! he shares the story of his rise to real estate superstardom and the forty-nine simple philosophies that have made him the success he is today, including:

• Training Yourself to Take Bigger Risks
• Creating a Niche in Whatever Marketplace You Desire
• Becoming THE "Go-To" Person in Your Industry
• Persisting and Persevering Each Day
• Learning What Makes Highly Successful People Tick
• Living a Life that Truly Rocks!
• Sharing the Successes You Have Been Blessed With
• Leaving a Legacy of a Life Lived with No Regrets

This book is a guide for creating larger-than-life results, and doing it with excitement, passion, and fun. Make It BIG! will give you the secrets for achieving extreme success–– but on your own terms.

From the Back Cover
PRAISE FOR
MAKE IT BIG!

"In the competitive world of ultra high-end residential real estate, Frank McKinney has managed to do what I’ve done with projects all over the world. His groundbreaking deals and brand-making attention to detail have enabled him to make it big within his chosen field. Read his book and learn how you too can become a great success."
–– Donald J. Trump

"Frank McKinney is in the vanguard of . . . multimillion-dollar spec home builders."
–– Fortune

"Frank McKinney has always liked to live on the edge ...he likes to live dangerously."
–– The Wall Street Journal

"Frank is a real estate entrepreneur extraordinaire. The vision he applies in creating his estate homes will someday be legendary. Everyone should be interested in his compelling life story."
–– George F. Valassis, founder/former CEO
Valassis Communications, Inc.

If you wish to enter the real estate profession, you will find much in these pages to help you. However, anyone can benefit from these 49 philosophies and learn from the examples Frank describes. The stories of succeeding against enormous odds, sacrificing personal comfort to put everything into your business, living according to your vision, putting in a full day’s work day in and day out, contributing to others, and enjoying your life every moment, I believe can provide great inspiration no matter what your stage or status in life.
–– Rich De Vos, cofounder
Amway, excerpted from the Foreword

About the Author
FRANK McKINNEY, often referred to as the "rock ’n’ roll developer, " is the number one developer and "spec" builder of ultra-luxurious residential real estate in the world. A recent spec home of Frank’s, featured in USA Today, sold for $28.5 million after being on the market for only 128 days! Because of his incredible track record, Frank has been featured twice on Oprah, CBS’s The Early Show with Bryant Gumbel, CNN, The Discovery Channel, and Paul Harvey’s radio show, to name a few. Frank makes his home in Delray Beach, Florida.

Customer Reviews

The Best Ever
I am an avid reader of business, self improvement and property books and have read literally hundreds from from Kiyosaki to Ken Blanchard etc. I have to say that this book deserves to be a classic in the mould of The Richest Man in Babylon.

This book is amazing considering his education and background. It is so inspirational and full of "substance", contrary to the image that he portrays. It shows you can't judge a book by its cover!! It contains gems for life. Well done Frank, you are amazing for where you have come from and what you have become. Thanks for telling us the meaning of "true wealth" and showing us that success in all areas of one's life can be achieved.

I know that I will be referring to the "secrets" in the book for the rest of my life. Thank you Frank. You are a true champion. It seems from reading the other reviews that many others are "as in awe" as me.

A Classic For Anyone Who Wants to Make it BIG
This is one of the best books I've ever read. There are a handful of books I read annually such as the Bible (daily); How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie; Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill; The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Classon; and a few others. This book is on that list so much so that I've read at least a chapter of it weekly since reading it a few years back. It comes with 49 short, easy to read chapters with ACTION STEPS for each. For those of you that can do math- that means not counting three weeks vacation time you can read a chapter a week and DO something about it. Not getting three weeks a year off? You DEFINITELY need to read this.

But seriously, the points Frank McKinney makes in this book are simple, but profound-- my personal favorite is the lost art of taking great risks to attain great rewards. In our namby, pamby culture that values the illusion of stability and security this book is a breath of fresh air, and a real, tangible insight on how you can get fantastically wealthy from someone who's done it.

Running a close second is discovering your passion or "highest calling" as early as possible in life, and developing a vision for your passion. To paraphrase Thoreau "Live Deliberately!". So many people these days live like zombies. The light is on, but nobody is home. Nothing they do is by choice, or from the standpoint of being passionate about something and having a purpose, or vision for their lives.

I could point out the virtues of the whole book, but I don't want to re-write it for a review- so I'll end with my third favorite (which may actually be number one in terms of the order of IMPORTANCE to success) It is in Frank's words, taking the "lunch pail approach". In short- show up to work- consistently, persistently, on time and ready to work. Having run several companies, it amazes me how few people possess the integrity and self-discipline to carry out this first and most basic requirement for success. Woody Allen once joked (paraphrasing) that "80% of success is just showing up" and while it was his brand of self-depricating humour to explain why he, of all people, had done so many hit movies-- it's also very, very true. You can't hit a home run if you never step up to the plate, and you can't step up to the plate if you never show up to practice, and take the time to prepare. Showing up to the big game, or the big show-- seeing your name in the lights, starts with integrity and self-discipline in the little, unpleasant tasks of life that nobody sees you doing, and you don't get any credit for, but that you know you should be doing.

Time Tested Advice
I was told by a friend that Mr. Mckinney's book was different than most of the success literature on the market today and judging by the cover I thought my friend was crazy. Who is this rock and roll looking guy? I trust this friend and bought the book and immediately lost the cover to my girlfriend who liked it for her own obvious reasons.

Cover aside, I absolutely loved the book! Here is guy who can walk his talk, who is not a motivational guy but one who has actually done what he suggests in the book. I like that. It is an easy read as each chapter is short (there are 49 of them). Buy it, remove the cover and give it to your wife or girlfriend, then implement what is between the pages. You will be glad you did!