Business Money Books

Before you give it as a gift, take the time to read it yourself and mark half a dozen pages that you consider are of special value to the recipient. It may stimulate them to read more. Oh yes, and don't forget to buy yourself a book also.

At last, there is a book for the nonfinancially astute that discusses money matters in such a clear, understandable way that it motivates people to apply some of the 101 tips to their own situations and look forward to a richer future. In GROW YOUR MONEY 101 EASY TIPS TO PLAN, SAVE, and INVEST, Jonathan D. Pond covers every aspect of handling income from first allowances to honoring heirs in estate planning. The book is a fluent reading of investment topics sprinkled with humor and illustrated with basic arithmetic. Points are well formulated, inarguable, and easy to implement. They give hope to everyone, no matter what stage in life nor how many resources to squeeze for more value. Besides the book itself, the author maintains a website for readers to get most up-to-date information for individual needs.

Everyone has to think about how they will manage money, but it is difficult to find uncomplicated material for advice. And, as the author points out, financial experts give confusing explanations that can be biased in a way that will "grow more money" for themselves from fees, sales, and/or commissions. Best objective advice is in this book. I was particularly impressed with advantageous tax savings I can take and would not have known about. I also was relieved to learn how to make affordable sound investments with a limited budget and without the risk or difficulty I previously imagined.

This is a book that will benefit everyone. It is a "must have" for every household, basic for a secure financial future.

This is a wonderful educational book on numerous areas of personal finance. It includes topics such as:

Buying and Maintaining a Home
Profiting from a Fabulous Career
Reducing Taxes
Investing in Stocks, Bonds and Real Estate
Retirement Planning
Estate Planning and Insurance
Educating Children about Money and Personal Finance

This is the most comprehensive finance book I've read and it's easy to read with some humor thrown in here and there. The author uses numerous detailed examples to illustrate his points which really help the reader understand the ideas. The book also has a companion website where the reader can go for more information or more up-to-date information as this book ages.

This is not a book that has to be read cover-to-cover. I did that, but if you want to find topics relevant to you, the author includes an age-based checklist in the front. I also really like that the end of the book includes a checklist by month of the things you should be doing throughout the year. It makes keeping up with your finances look less daunting!

The author made it easy for me to come away from the book with my own "To-Do" list, so I definitely got something out of reading this book! I also gained some new perspectives on certain areas - for example, it's a good idea to plan for early retirement because some people plan to retire later, but end up having to retire early. (You don't want to run out of money) I think the author has good insight and great ideas and I agree with his financial strategies.

Great book for all to read!

I really like the tips in this book. They work for all ages from someone just getting into learning about money to retirement. It is easy to read and you can skip around as you need to. I only give it a 4 because I wish a few tips had some more detail or at least suggestions of where to get more detail.

I liked this book's approach to changing one's perspective on life. I can relate to the author's assertion that all life is an illusion and if you are dissatisified with your life, change your illusion. It provides insight into the notion that a lot of the problems we deal with are essentially based on our perceptions. Self-defeat can be a powerful and malignant force if not kept in check. It can be overcome by harnessing one's own drive, determination, and confidence. However, I'm not certain why it was necessary for the author to discuss her romantic relationships with Bill Gates or the other CEOs. What points is she trying to get across - that sleeping with powerful people is how a "renegade" gets ahead of the pack? I believe that this section detracted from an otherwise helpful and insightful book. Overall, this is a good read. The author's style was friendly and open, and the thoughts and text come together to create a motivational read on balzing your own trail. It kept me engaged throughout, and I would recommend it to anyone needing to move their career or life out of the doldrums.

I happened to read excerpts of the book and I think this is one gutsy woman we are talking about -- but with a caveat: Reality is not an illusion. Let me state that in terms that Christine would understand, seeing as how she knows Bill Gates. Reality is the Operating System. Our lives are the Programs running under its control. (And programs have been known to ABEND - Abnormal(ly) End). To say this differenly, each individual life is a "program" or an instant of existence in Reality. One cannot push against Reality. Every time one pushes, Reality recoils and in doig so gathers strength. And when it can't recoil any more, it will spring back with a force that can destroy you. But if you use Reality as a sounding board or a point of reference, it will never let you down.

Contrary to the Merkin-class quality of promotion which serves to promote 'Rules for Renegades' by way of its jacket blurb and associated websites, it is actually commendably sober in its breeziness. Team America: World Police - Unrated (Widescreen Special Collector's Edition)

It is full of good humour and was not particularly salacious, as some other commentators have suggested. I very much liked the criticism of the Underpants Gnomes' school of entrepreneurship, since it is so often the downfall of many a good idea which fails to achieve a profit. 'I hate people like that, they remind of me' (Body Heat, William Hurt :-)Body Heat

The book can be gotten through pretty quickly as a read, is straightforwardly laid out, has exercises to work through at the end of each chapter including URLs to download examples, worksheets, etc.

Although 'Rules for Renegades' does not dwell especially on such details, it does allude to the collegiality and bottom up management advocated as good management practice in Kenneth and William Hopper's 'The Puritan Gift', for example. The Puritan Gift: Triumph, Collapse and Revival of an American Dream

That said, this is definitely one of the strangest business books I've read in a long time - and this is the genre I read about 95% of the time. About half way through the book I was saying to my friends "can you believe she's writing about sleeping with Bill Gates in this book?" - but you know what? I was talking about it, I was creating buzz for the book and I certainly couldn't put it down. I don't know if you'd describe the author Christine as likeable, nor would I say she's trying to be: she's flawed, but she knows it (and aren't we all), she's a character (wait a minute, she's a monk, a geisha, a burnout, a tech-head, an investor, an entrepreneur - make that she's multiple characters), but by the end of the book I really connected with the message that she was trying to put out. Interesting and slightly shocking reading, definitely not predictable.

Kirsty Dunphey, Author - Retired at 27, If I can do it anyone can

I used to review business books for a management magazine, so I've read a ton of books like this -- the "secrets" to getting ahead. Unfortunately, this book reads like more of a kiss-and-tell than a business how-to guide to success (the author lost all credibility when she started name-dropping about her affairs with Bill Gates and Larry Ellison).

I was eager to read this slim volume because the author -- a model-turned-monk-turned-programmer-turned-millionaire -- seemed to have a heck of a background to draw from. But instead of this being a concise instruction manual, it's a catch-as-catch-can recounting of various "rules" the author learned over her somewhat schizophrenic life. I wasn't sure if it was "do as I did" or "don't do as I did." Nothing was presented in any sort of cohesive fashion, so I found it nearly impossible to follow. Also, often major pieces of the story seemed to be missing (what was up with her guru-turned-criminal??).

I would skip this book unless you want a bit of an insider's look at how Bill Gates' mom used to plan his life (via whiteboard).

Epstein gives a fascinating account of the rise of Hollywood in the early part of the 20th century, focusing on the role intellectual property law played in the that development (the fact that patents in technology related to the making and showing of movies were controlled by the Edison Trust, located on the East coast, forced would-be movie moguls to relocate to the West coast away from courts sympathetic to the Edison Trust). He also explains how historical and legal developments (studio ownership of the means of production and the resulting anti-trust lawsuit brought by the federal government) led to the rise and fall of the studio system by the 1950s, and how federal legislation made it impossible for television networks to produce their own shows in the 1970s, a void the movie studios rushed to fill. Epstein details of the creative accounting methods and other legalisms that the six major movie studios use to maximize profit in the modern world of movie finance, where licensing revenue and home video sales far outweigh box office receipts.

jeffbrownlegal@gmail.com

Edward Jay Epstein's book provides an excellent overview of how business has changed in Hollywood since the 1970s. The book will give the reader a chance to think about how the industry moderates its relentless pursuit of money occasionally in order to pursue loftier goals. The book is particular strong in identifying key industry leaders, such as Lew Wasserman, who were able to respond quickly to changing circumstances and to rebuild the studio system in a new form after the rise of television. For a more complete history of the studio system, see Douglas Gomery's recently published book. But this one is a good read and it does a good job of recounting the recent history of the industry.

This is a good book about the evolution and the workings of the modern Hollywood system. (For summaries, see the other reviews.) I enjoyed the first third of the book a lot, but then it became more and more repetitive. A lot of the information contained in Part 4 ("The Economic Logic of Hollywood"), Part 5 ("Social Logic"), and Part 6 ("Political Logic") had been already presented in the preceeding parts. For example, I don't know how many times Epstein mentions the 29 million USD Arnold Schwarzenegger received for "Terminator 3" - it sure seems like a million times. In the end, you get the impression that the author had access to more detailed information about a limited number of movies (T3, Gone in 60 seconds) and then used them as examples for each and every point he is trying to make. All in all, some serios editing would have turned this really good book into an excellent one.

If you want to understand how Hollywood became what it is today then this book ticks all the boxes: it tracks Hollywood from its beginnings in the early-20th century and the early part of the book focusses on the development of the big six media corporations in the world and who runs them and why TV and DVD are now far more important to the bottom line than straight theatrical release.

Some of the real examples of Hollywood's incredible loss-making ability are startling: one studio's 'greatest success' actually lost over US$60m, and you learn that the drivers of money and power are not the strong but actually it all boils down to children: what they want and don't want fuels the whole industry.

Fascinating stuff and very easy to read...five stars, no questions asked.

Hollywood quality controlled by the bottom line? Gee, what an original concept. The question is, does Tinseltown point its checkbook any which way new media outlet winds blow or does it take a moral philosophical stance in a chaotic evil-is-hip era defined by a fantasy video game role playing culture of death?

Do most films today suck because they're only made for kids? And should it not matter because they're an easy target audience? That's a cop out. In the days of old Hollywood, moguls created demand across a wide demographic spectrum. Only advances in home media in the past 30 years have disaffected the issue of quality.

Epstein's new age filmic disorder tome basically applies cold harsh statistical reality to a cultural traffic accident and doesn't make a reasonable value judgment on what's happening. He's too busy dotting his is and crossing his ts with stat data to care. His beef is to say that's the way it is. Tough cookies.

As such, stating the facts and stressing the obvious is not rocket science when the largest demographic of Americans in 40 somethings are left out in the cold in ageist exclusion. Mature adults would rather stay at home because suits have decided only kids are worth making movies for. So they fear good filmmaking.

Any entertainment consumer with a clue is staying away in droves because the current generation of talent have no brains, style, taste or creativity for anything except that which will appeal to the lowest common denominator. And when the dream machine's quality control chicken is its egg, apathy becomes its own vice.

So don't blame the the demise of Americana on the rise of home video. Instead, blame the missing vision and low IQ of modern media decision makers and end users. Generations X and Y rule the roost. At the end of the alphabet, only Z is left. Does this signal our end days? Take in the latest 50 Cent flick to decide.

If we live in a world where movies and music contain no more important civil messages and merely serve as escapist pastime and we experience societal downfall as a result, soon there will be no bottom line to speak of. A show business peddling dreck to kids while good will falls to ruin doesn't deserve to survive.

The only useful thing this book has to say is that corporate entities make most of their profits in direct home DVD sales. So if you're making a movie, bypass bohemian green lighters who set the substandards and go straight to digital video. Not only is quality old hat these days. Film itself is an endangered species.

Guide to getting out of debt and staying out of debt - much needed advice!

This book is filled with great guidance and help in planning a budget. I have never been able to figure one out and make it work before this book. This is a must have book!!

Do these people live in the ice ages or what. There are some good suggestions and worksheets but this book gave me no soild plan. Ordered another book from him, guess I am out of that money too.

This book is probably the best and most practical book I've ever read on budgeting. It doesn't just tell you what to do, it actually guides you step by step and even gives you all the tools you need to make a budget work. It's very easy to read and the ideas are easy to apply. Buying this book will be one of the best decisions you've ever made.

This is an easy read with good forms but is directed at individuals who have no experience with budgets or other financial planning. Very basic and a good tool for college age or young just married.

This book contains an excellent summary of what Keynes emphasized in the GT -the impact of uncertainty on long run investment spending,on the rate of interest(liquidity preference and the speculative demand for money),and the subsequent dominating role that various forms of speculation,based on margin account financing and leveraging,would obtain periodically in financial markets both in the USA and the world.
The main criticism of the book is that Minsky had absolutely no idea about the technical analysis that Keynes presented in the GT in chapters 19(appendix to chapter 19)20,and 21 in the form of elacticities which demonstrated the special case nature of neoclassical economics.However,this criticism applies to practically all economists,historians,etc.None can follow Keynes's mathematical analysis,although Meade came very close to duplicating Keynes's results in 1937.

This is a great book. But it is a book about the views of Minsky, and not really on Keynes. The first chapter examines the way in which Keynes' 1936 book was received and interpreted, and Minsky's explanation is for the most part correct, namely, that Keynes' work represents more a revolution than an extension of "classical" economics. However, as is argued throughout Minsky's book, The General Theory contained only "the seeds for a deep intellectual revolution in economics and in the economists' view of society." According to Minsky, the Keynesian revolution was aborted and the seeds were prevented from reaching their full fruition due to the "bastardization" of Keynes' seminal message. Minsky sets himself the task in this book to bring these ideas back to life.

Chapter two explores the more orthodox (conventional) view of Keynesian economics. Chapter three is very good, as it spells out the concepts that are to be used later in Minsky's analysis of capitalism: the recurrence of the business cycle, uncertainty, and investment and disequilibrium.

Chapters 4 - 7 develop Minsky's theory of capitalism. Minsky argues that booms are inevitably followed by crises and debt deflation not because of certain institutional weaknesses, but because of the fundamental nature of capitalism. In other words, "Keynes visualized [the imperfections of the financial system] as systemic rather than accidental or perhaps incidental attributes of capitalism." Minsky explores the way investments are made, and examines how they are financed. Central to Minsky's analysis is the importance of uncertainty. Financing and liability structures cannot insulate themselves from danger (excessive risk) precisely because the future is uncertain. Another important element in Minsky's book is the importance of money, which he describes as as "insurance policy." This is consistent with Keynes' definition of liquidity. In the event that sales proceeds cannot meet existing liabilities, the possession of money becomes essential due to the frequent revaluations of capital assets making their quick sale at certain prices nearly impossible.

I really enjoy Minsky's work, but this book gives me the impression that Minsky was more concerned with fitting Keynes in his (minsky's) own analysis than in explicating very clearly and honestly Keynes' own economic views. This can best be seen in the last two chapters on social policy. Nevertheless, Minsky is the most important expositor of the "Financial Instability Hypothesis" and this book is a great place to begin.

This book is exactly what I was looking for. I was interested in getting started in buying and selling real estate options and this book gets to the heart of it. There are a multitude of great suggestions, tips, and instruction. I would be lost without it. There are even sample forms. Worth twice the price!!

Real estate options are a very little used tool in the business, possibly because many people confuse them with land contracts. RE Options are nothing like land contracts, in a land contract you are obligated to buy. In an option you have the option of purchasing at a preset price. A number of examples are given and this is a well written book for people who have never attempted this. I recommend this book to all RE investors and Realtors.

I don't know, I thought this seemed like a great idea. And maybe in some markets it is. In Philadelphia, it's different from the authors home of Florida and I just didn't get anything out of reading this book. When he says options are a little known used RE tool, he ain't lying! After reading Mr. Lucier's book I realized that this was a concept that was completely impractical for me. Some of his stories about finding warehouses that sat vacant for years, cleaning the floor and a coat of pain and voila! $25000 profit, well, they just seem totally out there to me. If you think you can make a go of it, yes, it takes little money but this concept is seldom used and not going to work in many places.

Like Lucier's other book on finding preforeclosure properties, this book on real estate options, while full of useful information, is so hard to read because of the terrible writing style that it is hard to recommend very strongly. His uneducated writing style causes me to wonder if he really knows what he is talking about. Prepare to be educated by torture if you choose to read this book.

I've heard good things about Thomas Lucier's books, so I approached this one with high expectations and he didn't let me down. He illuminates the argument for this powerful investing tool -- namely, real estate options.

Good even for beginners, Lucier starts with a basic introduction to real estate option investing before moving on to the details. I especially liked the chapter on how you can use options to profit from problem properties that other investors might shy away from -- knowing how to put deals together where other investors can't or won't can give you a leg up on the competition in a time when I'll take what I can get.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I should say that I am an attorney, real estate broker, investor, trainer, and author of another unique and highly readable book on real estate investing that can also be found here on Amazon -- The WealthLoop Series Beginner's Guide to Building Wealth Buying Houses: The Foolproof Roadmap to Real Estate Riches Without the Risks and Hassles of Landlording.

Lucier has written an informative book that's worthy of your time. Buy it if you are serious about making a success of real estate investing.

This book does an excellent job encouraging young children to create a secure financial future for themselves. It sparks interest in the toddlers who were previously bored with the topic of personal financial planning. They'll have their calculators out and be balancing the books in NO TIME!! Great introduction for youngsters.

Looking to make some money? If you're a cheerful and willing helper, Marlen the magician will gladly take you on and show you jobs; from feeding fish to taming ogres and how much money you can make doing them. This book will take you on a mathematical adventure in making money and earning interest.
This is a great book for kids 4-6 who want to read picture book or even older kids who want to know how interest and banking works. Older readers can just refer to the back where author David Schwartz explains the math behind the book. This book also features great pictures with a colorful star border all around.
All in all, If you Made a Million is an awesome book about banking and money and was one of my personal favorite books in kindergarten.
If you like this book, then you might like How Much is a Million also by David Schwartz.

The illlustrations are fun. The text talks about situations to which kids can relate. The book gives some good lessons about money and how to use it. Yet, the book never bogs down. Children find it interesting and fun.

I strongly think you should read this book because it is funny. It has a wizard that does magic and he helps kids learn how to save their money. You should extremely like this book because the kids make things and they get money. They also babysit a giant baby for one thousand dollars. A boy makes a bridge and they do their chores. They also do incredible things.

Mulford and Comiskey have delivered a tour de force for the financial and accounting community in this book. Whether you are a financial analyst, corporate accountant, auditor or an executive with a small or large firm, you absolutely will benefit from this book. It is one of the most important books of the last 20 years, and in my opinion, it is the finest book ever written on the concepts and methods of deciphering Operating Cash Flow, it's relationship to earnings, calibrating and measuring free cash flow, as well as the mechanics and drivers (and sometimes deliberate manipulation by unscrupulous management) within the business system that can lead to distortions in the Cash Flow statement.

What about earnings supported by artificial means? What are the core drivers of cash flows? What should our view be, vis a vis the Operating Cash flows, regarding non recurring charges and depreciation? Are capital expenditures really as cut and dry as we like to think they are, under GAAP? How does it impact our cash flows, in the real world? How is it sometimes manipulated, to distort the underlying cash flow realities?

If you are a financial or accounting professional, read this book. Read it twice. Read it three times. An absolutely extraordinary book. Well written, insightfull, never boring, always intriguing with unique content. The authors have such an extraordinary grasp of accounting and financial flows, and bring such groundbreaking concepts and ideas to the field, that you won't put this book down, and there are not many accounting or finance books we can say that about !! "Creative Cash Flow" by Mulford and Comiskey is absolutely a virtuoso performance. Amongst, and compared to, the entire literature that exists in the field of accounting and financial analysis, this book is an extraordinary achievement.

While most accounting books tell you the basic mechanics of cash flow (not to mention being extremely dry), and most finance/investing books basically stop at `earnings can be manipulated wildly, cash is king, and thus free cash flow is paramount', this is the best book I have read that is focused on how cash flow can be manipulated/misclassified and how to think about sustainable cash flow from operations. For example, learn how an acquisition of a company can boost operating cash flow (CFO) by more than the CFO of the acquired company. Or how messing around with vendor financing can increase reported CFO. Representative chapter titles include: "Is It Operating or Investing Cash Flow", "Is It Operating or Financing Cash Flow?", "Nonrecurring Sources and Uses of Operating Cash Flow", "Measuring Sustainable Operating Cash Flow".

In summary, this is a well-written book with great examples of how cash flow can and has been manipulated by companies. I highly recommend this book for advanced and professional investors who focus on fundamental analysis, and anyone else who is interested in improving their ability to analyze cash flow.

I was a student of Dr. Mulford during my MBA, and I can say that the book is as great as his class. He definitvely was one of the best professors I ever had.
We are used to see in many valuation books to take Free Cash Flow as a given; therefore not understanding the real implication of FCF manipulation in enterprise value.
This book explains how the FCF can be calculated and what are the usual "tricks" that companies do in order to show better (or worse?) results. And that is what is all about: building financial criteria for managers in order to make the best decisions.

This is not your typical accounting/finance book (i.e., unclear, unfocused and boring). Creative Cash Flow Reporting is the best and most important accounting/finance book I've read in many years. The authors are certainly focused on the right area (determining sustainable cash flow from operations). The interesting nuances of cash flow reporting are laid out in simple terms (e.g., debt funding and repayments are reported with Financing cash flows, but the related interest expense is reported with Operating cash flows). The authors also go beyond the numbers to provide good background re: a number of strategic alternatives (e.g., why one might enter into a sale/leaseback transaction). There are many other reasons to recommend the book.

In summary, this book is a "must have" for accountants and financial analysts, and I would strongly recommend for CEOs, COOs, corporate and securities attorneys, and corporate middle managers.

this book serves more as a dictionary of cash flow related items rather than offering any prescription for active monitoring of cash flow related mischief.

save your time and money.

This is a very helpful and insightful read. It contains some very useful information for new coaches who are developing their businesses. However, I must be terribly honest. While the content is awesome, it is very apparent that Milana is not a good writer, and it does seem somewhat "rushed." You will encounter very poor editing quality in general. This is constant throughout and can get on your nerves because it is distracting.

However, based upon the actual content presented, I would recommend purchasing this book for the learning opportunity for coaches new to the industry.

And she does go on quite a bit about herself in this book, but I believe this is done so that she can develop rapport with the reader. She wants them to feel that she can relate to what they're experiencing.

I found myself reading the great novel of the century! How can that be for a how to book? Every page was engaging and filled with so much helpful advice for a real novice like me. The pointers and the resources throughout the book have made is so dog-eared that I may have to purchase another copy, since will surely lose pages from my worn and torn edition.

The book provides common sense approaches to individuals who want to start a successful coaching business.

I feel compelled to write a review for this book because all of the reviews, thus far, are so positive. These same reviews convinced me to buy the book. I feel misled. After two evenings with the book, I've packed it up to send it back to Amazon.

I consider a book valuable under two conditions: (1) it's aesthetically pleasing and/or (2) it contains great insights. This book fits neither criteria. It looks like a word document, printed out and bound at Kinkos. The text is huge and the writing is poor. At one point the author brags that while she wrote her first book in 6 months and her second in 6 weeks, her third book took mere hours. Unfortunately it shows. I also found the information and "insights" in the book tired regurgitations of what's said better elsewhere. Except in this book we have to hear much too much about how skillful the author is in her own business practices.

My main take-away from this book is that the barriers to getting a book published are not nearly as high as I'd imagined. I suppose, in a back-handed way, that is a good lesson to have learned.

There are so many coaching books out there, many well informed with great, implementable insights for new and experienced coaches. With so many to choose from, I do not recommend this one.

Instead, try "The Business and Practice of Coaching: Finding Your Niche, Making Money, and Attracting Ideal Clients".

I loved this book. It's a gem. As a SCORE volunteer counselor I regularly look for small business books that talk about how to start a successful coaching business. Up until I read this book my favorite was "Four Steps to Building a Profitable Coaching Practice (ISBN: 0595296602). Now I have two favorites. If you are looking to start a successful coaching business, then I highly recommend you get a copy of both books.

Both books talk about the importance of creating a program so you have a product to sell. People generally don't buy coaching services without having already sampled a product that the coach has authored. The idea is that coaching clients will devour the coach's product or products and ultimately want some one-on-one instruction. It's when the clients seek the personal instuction that the coach starts making money as a coach.

In Coaching Millions the author points out eloquently that successful coaches start out selling products online. They start by selling an ebooklet or ebook or even a regular book. When they find a winner that sells, then they build a "program" around it. You know, the kind of program that has books, cassette tapes or audio CDs. Maybe a DVD video would be included. They sell such a program for a couple hundred dollars or more. If sales for that product take off, then they ultimately will get people calling them for personal coaching services.

The author in this book explains how this all works. There is really a goldmine of information contained in this book. I have recommended this book to a number of my SCORE clients already. And I expect I will be recommending it to many more in the foreseeable future. Other titles I suggest are complimentary to this wonderful tome are: Web Business Success (ISBN: 0974924504), Secrets of Successful Blogging (ISBN: 0978806018), The Entrepreneurial Itch (ISBN: 1551807351), and The Chic Entrepreneur (ISBN: 9781934759042). 6 stars!

When I read the forward by Joe Vitale I was immediately put off by the book. I am NOT a Vitale fan and don't like his marketing tactics at all.

When I read the first line of the book to my husband -- "This is the most dangerous book you'll ever read..." (or something to that affect) -- he told me that if it were him he'd throw the book in the trash instantly. He's not a big fan of bullsh**, clearly.

As I began reading the book I almost wanted to throw it in the trash. Especially when I read the section on "What is an e-book?" If someone doesn't know that then they don't deserve any opportunity to make money online.

I'll admit: There's no specific step-by-step to use in this book and it is very incomplete. Pat (the author) doesn't talk about his specific successful online campaigns through Google Adwords. He doesn't talk about what kind of info products he sells (although I wouldn't either). He misleads people into believing that you could make tons of money selling ebooks on topics like "how to sleep better" which is NOT a topic that would sell well at all.

My theory: He sells "money making" info products online and doesn't want anyone else to crowd how he makes his money online.

Why did I give this book 5 stars?

Two reasons:

1) He does a good job covering successful copywriting which will make or break your success with online (or any) marketing. Copywriting is the key.

2) In the lateral half of the book he discusses "mindset" in a way I have never read before. I've read hundreds of self-help titles and this book is unique in providing a different view of changing your mindset which made this book well worth it.

Buy this book if you want to be successful financially. No, it won't give you any instruction other than to create your own info products and sell them via Google Adwords. However, it will open your mind to the possibilities and help you change your mindset for success. That, alone, is worth reading this book.

I have a habit of over complicating things. Pat breaks it down to the most basic steps. It's still a lot of work, but if you just do what Pat says and stick with it. You'll end up with a successful product or two. Just remember not every product is successful, so stay with it.

If you wanted every tip known to man on how to be a broke blues guitarist, Pat O'Bryan is your man. Here's a guy that has played music professionally for the better part of 30 years, toured Europe, landed recording contracts. And he's been so broke that he had a trailer repossessed. That's broke. Pat today would be the first to tell you that "a career in music is as dangerous as a crack habit" for him. Why? He explains it in his book, Your Portable Empire. Written after the broke guitarist stage, O'Bryan is able to sell his narrative with grace and humor.

Which leads us to Pat O'Bryan, rich Internet marketer.

This Pat O'Bryan is a hugely successful marketer who does his best work by the pool with a cigar in his mouth and wine in his hand - though it's a struggle to call that work. O'Bryan has developed a consistent system to deliver products to willing buyers. Not just any products but products that he has created to answer the specific questions that they are asking. His reward has been to make more money than he ever thought possible.

O'Bryan's book, Your Portable Empire, is both autobiographical - he doesn't spare himself embarrassment describing his life as an aging hippie musician- and informational as he explains his system, the steps to build it and how to duplicate it. It's also a genuinely fun read - a quality that is lacking in many "how-to" business books.

The first half of the book deals with the "how-to's". How to create a product. How to get a list. How to find mentors. How to find a joint venture. It's the "how-to" toolbox for anybody that is looking to create an internet business in information products.

Not interested in information products? Then take his same techniques and apply them to marketing your product or service. The key is automating your systems to remove you from the machine. By automating, you free yourself to take advantage of opportunities as they come at you instead of chasing your tail with unproductive tasks. In this sense, he is preaching from the same book as Tim Ferris, author of "The Four Hour Workweek". Automate, automate, automate. Look constantly to streamline your systems.

Each of the "how-to's" are written by experts in their field: Craig Perrine for marketing, Joe Vitale, author of the Attractor Factor and star from the movie The Secret, for copywriting and a cascade of others, each with a unique point to make. The only complaint about these sections is a lack of a call to action.

It's in the second half of the book that Pat O'Bryan shines. All the skills training in the world won't help you create Your Portable Empire unless you combine them with the mental and emotional skills to apply them consistently and successfully. Starting with a chapter titled "Your Inner Game" and moving to topics such as Self-sabotage Solutions, the Gold Zone, Failing Up and The Magical Marketing Tour, he takes you through the mental tools that you'll need. Every lesson is one he learned the hard way - by living it.
That's powerful in telling and he's brilliant at teaching it.

This is a terrific motivational book with a ton to recommend it for skills building especially for the beginning infoprenuers. More advanced marketers will recognize and appreciate the emphasis on the Inner Game.

I have only read the first 2 chapters and already it is a really great book. This book explains everything so you can understand it, and apply it to your own business. I will update this as I go.

Overall it is pretty good. My biggest complaint is the bombardment of look alike products with different names. This is another book for creating an information product business-selling how-to-sell information products.
There is a number of well networked individuals selling the same kind of dream-specifically creating passive income streams mostly through automated internet e-books and information products that can be downloaded instantly and the proceeds deposited into a bank account. This group has smartly cross-promoted each others work including good reviews and glowing testimonials.

So if you can create an appealing set of products to promote ongoing to a database of suckers(potential customers) over and over you can create your own "Portable Empire" as Mr O'Bryan has. The overall premise and approach might work in the real world but a couple of examples just didn't hold up for me; for example he says to take a hobby or area of interest and build a group of products around it. One example he uses is golf- I just couldn't see a set of information products with golf as the main theme being a regenerative information product stream-not enough to build the income stream to have the lifestyle that he espouses. Felt insincere and disingenious for me but there are some people for whom this book will provide enough of a blueprint to actually create something of value.