About
I'm not writing this from the top of the mountain.
I've closed 1,800 transactions in thirty years. I've also lost a house, left the industry altogether for two years, and come back. Then I did a version of it again. I'm still climbing, and that is exactly why what's in this book is worth something — every piece of it was paid for.
The short version
I grew up in a house where nobody told us any of this. There was no money, no network, and no adult position open above me — I was the top of the org chart by the time I was eleven or twelve. I learned one strategy and ran it for forty years: don't ask, over-deliver instead, and never let anyone see inside.
It worked, in the way that kind of thing works. I built a thirty-year career in real estate on it. It also meant that when everything came apart — and it came apart twice — I had no reserves and nobody to call.
I'm fifty-something now, rebuilding again, and I've finally worked out what I was missing. Not the knowledge. I had the knowledge the whole time. I'd even written it down.
The through line
Poor is having to ask.
Rich is not having to.
Everything in the book runs back to that one sentence. It took me most of my life to find the words for it.
The notebook
When my daughter was small I started keeping a notebook for her. Life advice, mostly. How to handle money, who to keep close, how to get back up. I'd write in it four or five times a year — in the good years and in the worst ones — and the plan was always to hand it to her one day as a book.
In 2018 I apologised to her on the page for not being better at keeping it up, and promised I'd work harder at it. I'm eight years late. This is me keeping that promise at full length.
Here's the part that makes it honest. On page two I wrote: take 10% of every paycheck and give it away, take 15% and invest it. Always save something. I wrote that in my own hand, years before I managed to do any of it. Knowing was never the problem. The gap between the advice and the life is the book.
Lines from the notebook
"There are so many life lessons to teach or tell you about. Many you will just need to learn on your own."
"You will have seasons of life… the tuff ones will pass soon."
"Have your own Executive Board of 3–4 people who are older & wiser."
"The magic is in the work you are avoiding!"
Why I'm doing it this way round
The book first
I started with the idea of a podcast. Then it became obvious the book had to come first — it's the playbook, and the show is the argument about it. Without it I'd just be a man with a microphone and some opinions.
Spoken, not typed
Nearly all of this was dictated, three hours a morning, before the day started. I've always struggled to read for long stretches; I learned everything I know by listening. So the audiobook isn't an afterthought here — it's closer to the original than the print will be.
No triumphant ending
I'm not going to pretend I've arrived. The last chapter is called Still Climbing because that's where I actually am. Earn the advice with the scar, don't claim the trophy.
Start with Chapter 1.
It opens in the street outside my house, before school, with a pair of pliers. Free, and then one short note a week.