For those of you who have read Money & Power ...

Daniel -

How did it change your life?

Tim

PS: I really enjoy Allen's Private Post book but this one left me scratching my head.

Yes it's deep.

As far as "self-help" books go, I think Allen probably
got a lot of inspiration from the old classics, Master Key System
(Charles Haanel) and Think and Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill).

I thought that some of the concepts taught in
"Money and Power" were very inline with those
taught in the 2 above-mentioned classics.

Jag

Never heard of it.

Search didn't help much. This book??

Cool, thanks!

I've read it. Not in awhile. I enjoyed it because it gave
me some insight into Allen's story and the way he thinks -
and his long-term interest, since childhood, in direct
response.

Maybe if you've read other things about the way power
works and the way money can be got this piece is
no revelation. If you'd never thought about some of these
things or never thought to sit down and discipline
yourself to really THINK - well if it came from "Money
and Power" or some other book or source doesn't
really matter. It's the understanding of how creative
thought fits in with money-getting, and where you need
to position yourself in the business end of it that
matters.

This understanding comes over time. Most of the things
I've read about money and power were written by guys
who did their thing before the internet came along, so
as a practical matter the means they used to reach
their ends were different.

I just keep putting stuff into my brain, writing my own stuff,
explain it to myself and others. This is the way ideas
ferment and synthesize - from it you get real understanding,
stuff you can use... not somebody else's dry philosophy
about what they did and why they think it worked.
Ultimately you have to learn how to spot the points
of LEVERAGE in your own affairs and know when to
push, how hard, what tools to use, and when to stop
pushing and move on. You always have to keep your
ear to the ground... which was vexing as heck to me when
I first started making money at this game: I thought
I was a genius and had the whole world figured out,
but the market is fickle and you have to be sharp
because the leverage points are always moving on you
while you're congratulating yourself for your superiority.

I recollect from "Money and Power" the thing about this
silly book "Chicken Soup for the Soul" and how Allen
says the title is just silly and yet it's become a publishing
phenom... and when you learn the idea behind the books,
that it's a vanity-press arrangement for "authors" who
lack the discipline, ideas, or skill to write their own book -
so to get published they give Jack C. thousands of dollars
to publish their story. The books are not meritocracy, it's
a vanity deal, slots are sold off until the book is filled
with short vignettes - then Jack promotes it and does the
same thing again a couple on months later...

In all fairness, he's a marketer, and most publishers aren't
so committed to marketing - so hos success is because
he had the idea top get cash UP FRONT to finance the
marketing of the book and build the brand... promoting it
made Jack C. a wealthy man.

He found a point of leverage and was able to
exploit it very creatively, and was so far ahead of the
pack nobody's been able to knock it off with any success -
"Chicken Soup" is an inane idea, IMO, real Reader's
Digest type stuff, ie. not written for smart people - but
Jack C. managed to take a marginal idea and execute
it brilliantly and consistently.

As Stuart Wilde says (misquote from memory):
"There are millions and millions of people who aren't very
clever, but they have money. Find a way to boost them
up, make them feel good, and you can get your pile
of money." - which is exactly what Jack C. did.


On the side -
I just read Felix Dennis's book "How To Get Rich" - I really
liked it. No B.S. Recommended.

Wow this got raised from the dead. Still like the Private Post book better but your opinion might differ.

Tim