Book Notes : Happy Sexy Millionaire

👉 Full disclosure on these book notes – I’m running a little behind with my notes so I’m writing this now in September. In a lot of ways – this means the review will be more honest, but if there’s an important part you think I’ve missed – do let me know!

Book Summary (in 3 lines)

The book covers Steven’s assertion from school through to running and ultimately selling his social marketing company. The book provides no tips on how to run your own digital marketing or social agency (I know I was disappointed!). Instead focusing on the personal life lessons Steven has learnt about himself.

How did this book change me?

Although I can’t lie – the humble bragging contained in this book was frustrating (YES STEVEN I KNOW YOU OWNED A RANGER ROVER). However the book still contains powerful lessons that I agree with (below are just a few) —

You can make your own luck and reach your goals,

Money doesn’t bring happiness

Gratitude and values matter

Should you read this book?

My lasting memory of this book is that of a huge humble brag from Stephen Bartlett. Although I have a huge amount of respect for him and what he’s achieved, he spends far too much of this book talking about the fact he owned a Ranger Rover before he was 30, has sold his company for billions and is now in a jungle writing this book.

If that kind of attitude is hard to get past for you – skip this book, it doesn’t stand out above many of the other self help or self-biography books out there today.

However – if you’re a fan of Steven (and I’d bet many of you are) – and you need a brief reminder that any one can make it like he has – then pick this up. The book overall could be significantly shorter and repeats itself in places – so don’t feel like you’re missing out much if you pick this up on Blinkist or similar platforms.

Top 3 Quotes

There’s a fairly new social narrative emerging that hard work is inherently toxic – and that if you promote hard work as a successful person, you’re being dangerously irresponsible. As tempting as it may be to conform with that narrative, I simply can’t. I am not against hard work; there’s little doubt in my mind that I will always work hard. I get tremendous fulfilment, stimulation and joy from the work I do and the sense of accomplishment it brings me – that too is part of being human. I also have to admit that I don’t believe I would have achieved the level of success I have had I not worked excessively hard over the past years.

Why this spoke to me : I also agree with Stevens view here. There’s the current view (in 2022) that you can still be “soft” and make progress. I believe (as Steven does) that mastery takes passions and effort (or “Grit”).

He went on to say: ‘The first step to making those hard decisions is being comfortable with the fact that you’re not going to make a perfect decision – not all the time, maybe never; and understanding that you’re dealing with probabilities, so that you don’t get paralysed trying to think that you’re going to actually solve it perfectly.’

Why this spoke to me : I think its important to make progress – and sometimes that means making imperfect decisions – getting feedback and moving on.

The power of consistency over time is both profound and underrated. It’s profound because it’s the most common factor in the story of every ‘successful’ person I’ve ever met, but it’s underrated because it’s totally invisible.

Why this spoke to me : As Albert Einstein once said – compound interest in the eighth wonder of the world – and this doesn’t just apply to money.