READ THIS: The Accidental Millionaire: How to Succeed in Life Without Really Trying by Gary Fong
Someone once told us if you fail to plan, you should plan to fail, and we firmly believe that. But for circumstances beyond your control, you should develop a way of looking at them that allows you to reinvent yourself and think outside the box. This is just what Gary Fong did, and he tells his tale in The Accidental Millionaire.
Since he gave up hope, he feels much better. We particularly like his vanishing sweater ball trick. You need to read the book to understand these! By being an unconventional entrepreneur and his own parent, Fong in thinking outside of the box and understanding the real world as opposed to his parents fantasies, reaches his goals in a unique manner. Throughout the book, you will be routing for him. Now a world-famous photographer, Gary Fong turns traditional self-help on its ear in memoir, The Accidental Millionaire.
In The Accidental Millionaire, photographer, entrepreneur and inventor Gary Fong, turns traditional self-help upside down, his life story a delightfully refreshing testimonial to the power in all of us to harness our fate by not allowing ourselves to be so driven, that we lose the divine clumsiness necessary to stumble into hidden opportunity.
Gary Fong, a first-generation Asian-American was raised by two immigrant parents in one of Los Angeles’ least desirable neighborhoods. Their plan for him was that he become a doctor and provide them with grandchildren. At University of California, Santa Barbara, he discovered women mom wouldn’t approve of and met young men whose aspirations were no better defined than having a life of excitement and daring. Thus began an exhilarating adventure to wealth and acclaim by way of becoming the most famous and highly paid wedding photographer in America. They say you can’t get here from there, but Gary did and his road map will show others how they too can reach their destinations of choice.
In The Accidental Millionaire, Fong recounts with self-deprecating humor and grace the unexpected trajectory of his life and career: launching his first photography studio out of his parents’ back bedroom that was soon earning hundreds of thousands of dollars annually; the mistake that becomes a bonanza when he buys a printer that far exceeds his needs and uses the excess capacity to start a new business he eventually sold for a startling profit; developing his signature “storybook” system of wedding photography that he transformed into a lucrative software company, which has since become the industry standard; and founding a multimillion-dollar international plastics enterprise through his invention of the Lightsphere, now considered a standard piece of equipment for photographers worldwide, that began as a doodle on a paper napkin while he was flying across country.
The Accidental Millionaire is also a marvelous ride. At times hilarious, other times heartwarming, Gary brings readers inside his world, from some of his most ridiculous bridezilla moments, to his disastrous first two marriages, to his soaring successes. Gary Fong’s unwitting tale of accomplishment is a persuasive testimonial to the power in all of us to let go and let in the unexpected opportunity that can lead to windfall. And he still can have a pager and drive a BMW, even though he is not a doctor!
Book Details:
Title: The Accidental Millionaire: How to Succeed in Life Without Really Trying
Author: Gary Fong
Publisher: BenBella Books, Distributed by Perseus Distribution
Publication: October 2009, $14.95, Trade paperback, ISBN-13: 9781933771915
Memoir, 6X9
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BenBella Books is an independent press specializing in high impact nonfiction and intelligent popular culture, distributed by Perseus Distribution.
