Top 10 Best Must-Read Books for Real Estate Agents from Kevin Ward

Hi there. It's Kevin Award with yes Masters Real Estate Success Training, helping you get more yeses and more successes in your business and in your life. And today I'm going to do something a little bit different. And that is, rather than just teach you something, I want to share with you what I believe are the top 10 books that every real estate agent should read and study and internalize. Because I get asked that question a lot, you know, what book are you reading? Or what are some books that you recommend for a real estate agent? And so what I'm reading, right, may or may not have any relevance to what a real estate agent should be reading at any given point. And so I've compiled what I believe are my stack of the 10 must read books for every real estate agent, regardless of where you are in your business or in your life. Because at any given point, you know, if you're new in real estate or you've been selling real estate for 25 years, if you're doing exceptionally well or if you're struggling like crazy, you may be at a different point in your business, at a different point in your life. So what at any one time, the 10 books that would be more most relevant and most powerful for you at that moment may not be the same for someone else or it may not be the same for you a year or two from now. And yet, as I look at over time, what are the books that are ageless, that are timeless, that are classic, that regardless of where you are in your business, where you are in your life, how long you've been in the business, how well you're doing in your life and all of that, what are the key books that will help you along the journey to success and abundance in your business and in your life? And that's really what it took to make the top 10 list for me. So I'm going to start with at the very top of it is the number one best selling book, the Book of Yes, by yours truly, Kevin Ward, the ultimate real estate agent conversation guide. Now, I've got to tell you, I'm not just saying it's one of the top 10 because I wrote it. I may be a little biased on that, I will acknowledge, but here's why I believe this is a must read top 10 book for every real estate agent. And that is because when it comes right down to it, how do you make your money in real estate? And ultimately, no matter where you get your business from, the ultimate skill of real estate is talking to people. This is above all Else A talk to people business. And it doesn't matter whether you do Internet lead generation and you find them online or however you find your business, at some point you're going to have to have a conversation with them. And at some point to get them to hire you, you're going to have to be able to connect with them and communicate in a way that inspires them to want to work with you and to hire you. That leads them to a yes. And that has been my area. I've studied that for years and years, frankly, because I hated being told no. I hated rejection, I hated the thought of rejection. And so I was just determined to master it. I studied influence, communication and how to lead people to a good decision without bs. And that's where this book came from. The Book of Yes. The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Conversation Guide. Number one best seller. That is a book that is a must read and a must addition to every real estate agent's library. Get it. Go to thebookofyes.com you can get your copy of it with a lot of bonus training videos that come with it that you can only get there. It's awesome and it'll be great for you. Now moving right along to number two. Number two, and these are not necessarily in any particular order. Mainly it's just from the little book to the big book on my stack here. But this book is a game changer. It's called how to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Now this copy, you can't get a copy that looks like this because this copy was given to me by my dad when I was a kid. And the book was when it was published. The sticker price on it, the price on the book says. I don't know if you can see that, it says 95 cents. So this book was actually published back. This book was not new when my dad gave it to me. It was an old book even then it had been his copy. And I can't even see the date on it. But I think this one was printed a long, long time ago. It's older than me. I'll say that it's stained, it's old, but I read it every single year. It's all taped together to hold it together. A lot of some of the pages are loose, but this book right here was actually right here, chapter five. So if you go to chapter five, it's called the Secret of Socrates. And this was part of the inspiration of where I came up with my company named yes Masters and the book of Y. Because in this Book. Here's something that Dale Carnegie said back in the 1930s, 40s, 50s, whenever he wrote the book, he said, and I'm not, I'm starting down a paragraph. He said, get the other person saying yes, yes at the outset. Keep him, if possible, from saying no. A no response is a most difficult handicap to over come. And then it goes on. And then at the bottom of the page it says the skillful speaker gets at the outset a number of yes responses. And when I read that, and I read that years ago, and I always thought about that, that so many of the oops, my books falling apart there, that so many of the things that real estate agents we ask get, they get a no. And then you got to overcome getting somebody after they've said no to you. How do you get them to say yes to you again? And so I actually created a process that I called the three magic words, and that is getting somebody to say to you three times in a row. Which is what I teach in the book of yes. But that concept came from this book right here. This is still the best book ever written on relationships and on how to connect with people, how to establish a relationship, and how to influence people to say yes to you. You got to read this book. This is a book to be not just read, but to be studied. Which in fact, let me just say this because this is true with all of these books. I read a lot of books and I know a lot of people talk about, you know, reading a book a week. You should read a book a week, or you should read two books a month, or, you know, you should read a lot. Here's the reality. One, you should read every day. You should read at least 15 minutes every day. And some of the greatest and most successful people in the world, they read an hour or two hours or even more every single day. Every day. They read, they read, they read. But it's not just about seeing how many books you can read. I believe that for most of us, we probably need to spend more time reading fewer books. In other words, we need to read more. But we don't need to try to get into a bunch of different books is we need to spend more time getting in the good books, the best books, the game changer books for us, and studying them and internalizing them so that it's not just the ideas are not just in our head, but they're in our heart. They're in our solar plexus, they're in our molecules. It becomes a part of who you are and how you think and when you internalize this at that level. So this is a book I've read every single year since I was a senior in high school. How to win friends and influence people. You got to read this book over and over again, study it, get into it, internalize it. The same with the book of. Yes, the same with this next book by Napoleon Hill called Think and Grow Rich. Napoleon Hill was mentored by a guy named Andrew Carnegie, who was one of the most successful, wealthiest men in the world at that time, Nearly. We're talking nearly 100 years ago now. And he gave Napoleon Hill the opportunity to learn from him and from the most successful business people in America or in the world. He said, if I help you meet those people and learn from them, would you be willing to commit to compiling a philosophy of success from me and the greatest people in the world? And Napoleon Hill said, absolutely, I'll do it. Story of that is in the book, and this book is the result of that. Now, this book is the condensed version of the Law of success in 16 lessons, which Napoleon Hill, that was his real life comprehensive work. But it's two books about that thick and most people probably couldn't make it through it. So this is the version that is easier to read, easier to digest. But again, this is a book that should be read not just once, but it should be read every single year. In fact, I recommend you read this book three times in the next three months. Just read it, read it, read it, read it. It's that much of a game changer for the way you think. Because understand that the reason that most real estate agents don't succeed is not because of skill. It's not because of strategy. It's not because of technique. It's because of the way they think. You change the way you think if you want to grow rich. Does that make sense? It doesn't say the book is not Work and Grow Rich. It's not that. It's Think and Grow Rich. That how we think is dramatically powerful in the outcomes that we get. The next book, also by Napoleon Hill, is a book called Outwitting the Devil. This book was written shortly after Think and Grow Rich. But his, which was now we're talking 60 or 70 years ago. But his wife begged him not to publish it when he wrote it, because the world was. She said, the world's not ready for this book. And if they get it, she was afraid of what would happen to her husband if he published this book. And so literally, this book was not published until years and years after Napoleon Hill was passed away, the Napoleon Hill foundation had this. And finally, in 2011, this book was published. Over 50 years. I think it was over 50 years after it was written. It's called Outwitting the Devil. Here's the reason this book is so relevant, which is crazy considering that it's so old already. It's relevant because we live in a world of distraction. And this book is the best thing I've ever seen about how distraction and lack of clarity kills our life. And this book is just amazing. And we're so distracted because of our. Because of our smartphones, our tablets, our computers, our televisions. I call them the four screens that rule our lives in distraction. Your smartphone, your tablet, your computer screen, and your television screen. They just dominate us. But the worst thing is they're full of distractions for us. And this book talks about the power of clarity and how to get clarity in your life and how to outwit the devil, which is all the distraction and the drift that can come along and just take our lives where we're just now, we're just drifting along through the day. We're just moving around without really any clear sense of purpose. This book must read. Unbelievably powerful book, this book. I just stumbled onto this book from my coach, Bo Eason, this year called Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield. This book, they're all game changers, ladies and gentlemen. Okay, I'm just going to say this. They're all. These books will all change your brain. They'll change your life if you take. Not just read it, but you've got to study it, internalize it. I've had this book probably for less than six months. Well, June. No, I've had it. Yeah. So I got it in June 2015. So it's been a little over six months. June 2015. I've already read it three or four times all the way through. And it's highlighted like crazy. It's tabbed. Why? Because this book is powerful. Turning Pro. It's about. Look, we are in an industry in real estate where there's so much amateurism, there's so many real estate agents that they really approach their business as amateurs. And this book talks about the difference between being an amateur and being a pro. It's not about sports, it's about success. And this book is so critical that you understand and internalize the principles of how do you go pro as a real estate agent? And it will change how you think about how you approach your business. And it will change the results that you get because of it. Turning pro. And again, you can't just read this book. And by the way, it's very easy to read. This is a typical chapter. It's like one page, every page is one. I love it. It's my favorite kind of book, one page chapters. But it's a game changer. I think they're all game changers. We already established that, right? Next book, the Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz. This book, if you need to overcome fear, fear of success, fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of whatever, this book is unbelievably doing that. The Magic of Thinking Big. Most of us simply don't think big enough. We think too small. And we think small because of our upbringing, because of our limiting beliefs, because of scarcity mentality, and because of fear. And this book will teach you how to conquer fear, how to get over fear. Again, a book you got to study, a book you got to internalize. The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz. Book number, I think six here on the list is. This is the only book on sales that I have in my top 10. And it's the book by Jeffrey Gittamer called the Little Red Book of Selling. It was a number one best selling book. 12 and a half Principles of Sales Greatness. Now here's the reason I like it because Jeffrey Gittamer is a. He's a thinker, he's creative, he thinks outside the box. But he's not just into technique, he's into thought. He's into how you approach what you do as somebody who sells stuff as a salesperson. And it's not just about sales techniques, it's about sales greatness. And this book, it's fun, fun, it's easy to read, it's colorful. I mean everything about it is creative. And this again is a book that must be studied. It's just an amazing book. Jeffrey Ginimer, the Little Red Book of selling. Next is. Let me do this one first. I'm going to do this first. Gary Keller. Well, the next book is Gary Keller, the millionaire real estate agent. Now I'm holding here in my hand another one of his books called Shift. Because as I was getting ready to record today I realized that his copy, that my copy of his book, the millionaire real estate agent isn't actually here, it's at my place in Las Vegas. But this book is the stand in for it. Okay, so Shift is another great book that Gary Keller wrote, but it's not the one that's in the top 10. I just needed a book as a placeholder. So Gary Keller, Gary Keller's millionaire real estate agent. Now, the reason it's so critical and that book is so valuable is Gary Keller took and he interviewed. He didn't just write a book based on, you know, here's my wisdom for the ages of how to be a Millionaire Real Estate agent. What Gary Keller did was he actually interviewed and met with real estate agents all over the country from all different companies, not just his own company, but from all different companies who were making over a million dollars a year over 10 years ago. And from that he took and compiled basically the best practices of all of these dozens of real estate agents, their best practices. And he put them together and compiled and basically created systems models from the best practices of these agents that were literally millionaire real estate agents. And he put that together in a book called the Millionaire Real Estate Agent. And that book is probably the groundbreaking book, probably the most significant book written in the real estate industry in the last 50 years. I don't know when there was ever one written. It was more significant because he teaches you how to take real estate and not just how to sell a lot of houses, but how to create a legitimate business model that's sustainable and scalable. And that book is a must. It is a resource book that every single real estate agent has got to have if you plan to actually make good money in real estate and have a profitable, successful business. The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller is a must read. The next book is a book by T. Harv Ecker called the Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. And again, not a book about real estate, but this is a book about your thought, your mindset, how you think. And the reason I think this book is so important is because if somebody reads the Millionaire Real Estate Agent, but they don't see themselves really as worthy of making a million dollars a year if they have scarcity mentality or limiting beliefs about making a lot of money, you're never going to be able to break through that ceiling of your thinking. And the very first part of Gary's book, the Millionaire Real estate Agent, is called the first step is basically think a million. You have to think, you know, see yourself and envision yourself making a million dollars a year. Well, unless you grew up in a very affluent home where you are around millionaires, or your parents made over a million dollars a year or they were millionaires, or you were exposed to that as you were growing up, you, like me, probably have a lot of limiting beliefs around Money. And this book will help you identify and remove those limiting beliefs about money. So, T Harv Eker, the Secrets of the Millionaire Mind if you ever had a hard time where it seems like you just can't start making a lot of money and sustain it and keep it and actually create wealth, this book is a major game changer in helping you identify what are the thought patterns that I'm having in my brain that are stopping me from making a million dollars or from making a lot of money because it's look, making a lot more money is not about being smarter. Millionaires are not millionaires because they're smarter than everyone else or even because they work harder than everyone else. So it's not about working harder or working smarter. That's kind of a myth that we've created. You know, don't work harder, work smarter. Well, if you work smart, but your brain, your beliefs still don't allow you to become a millionaire because of limiting beliefs. Those limiting beliefs, even with all the intelligence in the world, will still stop you from having the success that you want. This book is the best book I've ever seen on helping you to address those thoughts, those limiting beliefs about making and keeping a lot of money and enjoying the true wealth and true abundance that is not self centered, it's not selfish, it's not greedy, it's powerful, it's game changing. This book T Harv Eker the Secrets of the Millionaire Mind and then the last book is another book by Gary Keller called the One Thing. And when Gary Keller published this about four or five years ago now, this book is not even really about real estate. It's about how to be successful and it's about how do you learn to identify and focus on the one thing that you should be doing at any given point in your day, in your life, in your business and so forth. This book is full of wisdom and literally laws and principles of success that you cannot ignore. So that is why this book again is a must read book. So let's go back real quick. Recap. Gary Keller Millionaire Real Estate Agent I know that's not the book you're looking at, but Gary Keller Millionaire Real Estate Agent Gary Keller the One Thing T Harv Eker Secrets of the Millionaire Mind Jeffrey Gitter the Little Red Book of Selling David J. Schwartz the Magic of Thinking Big Steven Pressfield Turning Pro Napoleon Hill Outwitting the Devil Napoleon Hill Think Grow Rich Dale Carnegie how to Win Friends and Influence People and the Book of Yes, the Ultimate Real Estate Agent Conversation guide by yours truly, Kevin Ward. Those are the ten ladies and gentlemen. Now as I said before, I want to say it again. Don't just get them and put them on a bookshelf shelf. Help is useless for you. You got to get in these books. You need to read them, you need to highlight them, you need to study them, you need to internalize them. You want to implement them. That's how they will make a difference and impact in your life. Make reading. Make internalizing and growing by reading great books and getting into them. Make it a part of your day, make it a part of your life and it will change. Look, when you do that regularly and that becomes a habit, you will learn more, you will succeed more, you will win more. So let me know what you think about the video. Give it a thumbs up if you want to comment on it. I would like to hear what your top books are. If you've got a book or two that you think you know what you missed one. Look, I had so many books over on the bookshelf there, there's like there could. I could easily have 50, but I had to pick what I believe are the 10 most significant. But I would love to hear what your books would be added to it. So please put them in the comments below and I look forward to seeing those and we'll talk soon.