Nick Hutchison reviews Anthony Joseph's "Take Charge," a real-estate guide built on Joseph's rags-to-riches story: born in the U.S., raised in Lebanon, he moved to Dubai with nothing and became a top agent. Joseph argues success needs hard work and courage, not luck or money. He teaches systematic prospecting with the mantra "the more hands you shake, the more money you make" and pushes creators to use video to build trust and overcome fear.
Chapters
Happy New Year, Book Thinkers family! And if you want to take charge of 2022 and kick it off the right way, which we all want to do, then you are going to love today's book review. Today I'm reviewing Take Charge by Anthony Joseph, and the subtitle reads, The Proven Action Plan to Secure Your Future Through Real Estate Transactions. And if you're not involved in real estate, that's okay. This book has a ton of information that can be applicable to almost any industry. The only prerequisite for this book is that you're willing to learn and that you're willing to improve and make progress in any area of your life, because Anthony is a role model in health, in wealth, in happiness, mind, body, spirit— whatever the trilogy is that you think about, Anthony's got it covered in this book. In fact, the introduction was very motivational for me when I read it. I was like, let's go! I can't wait to dive into the rest of the book. He says, quote, If you are someone who dreams of making it big like me, go ahead and turn the page. This book will teach you what they don't teach you in schools or universities. It will teach you how to change your mindset and become the best version of yourself, just like I did. Well, who is Anthony? He's one of the most celebrated and most successful real estate agents in all of Dubai. But he didn't just start like that. He was born in the U.S., moved to Lebanon, up in Lebanon, was sort of down on his luck. He had that rags-to-riches story. He moves to Dubai with a couple hundred dollars in his pocket. He ends up in just a few years being one of the most celebrated real estate agents. That is a story that you want to follow. That is a story that you want to replicate in your own life. So what I'd like to do through the rest of today's review is share 3 of my biggest takeaways from the book. That'll give you as a listener or as a potential reader A good understanding of what you can learn and if this is going to be a good read for you. I think it's a good read for everybody, but I'll let you make that call. So the first thing that I really enjoyed, Anthony addresses some misconceptions in the beginning of the book that we might be experiencing if we're down on our luck. He says, number one, misconception number one, I need to be lucky to make it big in life. Well, that's not true. We know that's not true, but sometimes we feel like that. Anthony says every single successful person has one of those rags-to-riches moments. Everybody has to get out there and take risks, and you don't really need to be lucky. You just need to put in hard work. You need to put your nose to the grindstone and start working. Maybe the first step in that direction is reading this book. Misconception number 2 is that you need money to make money. He says that's not true. You need courage to make money. And when I read that, I was like, oh, let's go! I've got the courage. You don't need money to make money, although it says that in some books. On personal finance and investing. It's not always true. Anthony didn't have any money and he's sure got a lot of money now. And misconception number 3, I need to live day to day or day by day and hope for the best. Come on, take life by the horns, take control of it, break it down into daily executables and go to work, which is exactly what Anthony did. Brick by brick, eventually you'll have a wall. And And then the second thing that I wanted to talk about was the importance of prospecting. Anthony in chapter 3 has a ton of great information on prospecting, especially through different channels. And he kicks off the chapter with a story where he says when he was a new real estate agent, a couple of his friends wanted him to go to this networking event and he did not want to go at all, but they kind of forced him to go. He gets cleaned up, he puts on nice clothes, he goes to the event and he overhears a conversation in pure Lebanese Arabic. His native language. So he turns around, introduces himself, has a great conversation, hands off a business card. Nothing. Silence. Guy doesn't call him. Well, a month later, out of the blue, he gets a phone call. That guy had given the, uh, given the card to somebody else who called Anthony. They end up doing a ton of business together. It's worth its weight in gold. And Anthony says to himself, now I understand the importance of prospecting. You never know who's in the audience and where your business card is going to go. So if you're looking to drive more sales, drive more growth in your business, whether it's real estate or not, that prospecting chapter is gold. And I love the way that he kicks it off. He says, the more hands you shake, the more money you make. And in fact, I actually met Anthony while prospecting through Instagram. So you can prospect through any channel. And Anthony says that in the chapter. Now I'm friends with Anthony. We're hanging out a little bit on Zoom. And I ended up reading the book. I'm going to follow his journey. I'm going to learn from him. Hopefully we're going to hang out in Dubai sometime soon. So Like I said, you never know what's going to happen, but prospecting has to be part of that equation. And the last thing that I wanted to mention in today's review was a section that Anthony calls Conquering Your Fear of the Camera. Well, just like Anthony, when I was first starting off, I had a ton of insecurities around the camera. I didn't know if people were going to want to watch my content. And when I look back on my first videos, it's almost like embarrassing at how bad I was. But you grow. You can't get to video 100 without your first 99. Every single time you record and put it out there with transparency and vulnerability, you will improve. You'll get feedback. Yes, you'll get critiques sometimes, and then you change, you adapt, you move on. And I was attracted to Anthony's profile when it popped up on my feed because of his video content. I'm like, this guy's living the life. I see mansions and beaches and crazy experiences all over Dubai. That's the kind of guy that I want to know. So video content builds more affinity and trust with people as well. You definitely want to conquer it. So if you're a motivated young individual who's overcoming these misconceptions, you're prospecting, but you're still not using video content, the advice inside of this chapter is going to be gold for you. And so those are 3 of the things that I learned from Take Charge by Anthony Joseph. I hope that you found some value in today's video review. I hope you grab a copy of the book, you read it, you follow Anthony on Instagram like I am, and we can all hang out in Dubai sometime soon. And with that, that's the end of today's video review. Go read something. Bye!
