The Peebles Principles: Tales and Tactics from an Entrepreneur's Life of Winning Deals, Succeeding in Business, and Creating a Fortune from Scratch
Wiley, April 2007
At the tender age of nineteen, Donahue Peebles entered the business jungle with no resources beyond his native smarts, a decent education, and a powerful drive to succeed. Seven years later he became a multimillionaire. Today, with a net worth of more than a quarter-billion dollars, he commands a real estate empire stretching from the boulevards of Washington, D.C., to the sparkling beaches of Miami Beach to the glitzy strips of Las Vegas. How did this determined young entrepreneur achieve such spectacular success so quickly? Can others learn his secrets and emulate his accomplishments? Can you?
Part The Art of the Deal and part Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun, The Peebles Principles distills the lessons Mr. Peebles has learned on his journey from congressional page to CEO of the largest Black-owned real estate development firm in the nation. These crisp, straightforward principles can help any motivated entrepreneur go from dirt poor to filthy rich in a hurry.
In entertaining first-person accounts of his most important deals, Mr. Peebles reveals how each transaction required him to find new resources within himself to ensure its success. Through this process, he discovered valuable principles that would aid him in all of his future endeavors. Some lessons are motivational and inspirational; many are hardball business how-to's that apply in any industry and any type of transaction.
Key Peebles Principles include:
- Make your money going into the deal
- Control of the deal is more important than cash
- Being lucky means being ready
- If the key doesn't fit, change the lock
- Be a bulldog on details
- Listen to your first instinct
- Respond quickly to attacks
- Find out what the other side really wants and give it to them
- Turn vinegar into wine; setbacks are opportunities in disguise
- Seeing value is everything
- Be the last man standing
Colorful and detailed behind-the-scenes accounts of each transaction provide a real-world business context for each principle and show you how to apply them in practice.
Complete with a unique discussion of the importance of politics in business and how to make it work in your favor, The Peebles Principles is the indispensable resource for anyone eager to turn dreams of business success into reality very, very fast.
hardcover | ISBN: 9780470099308 | Publication Date: April 2007
Reviews:
"Don Peebles is an example of what entrepreneurs are all about. In this
engaging and witty book, Peebles shares insights from his own success in the
world of high-powered real estate. What makes this book different is Peebles
doesn't just focus on the positive, he discusses the failures too -- something
every entrepreneur can expect in his journey to success. This book should be on
every aspiring business person's bookshelf to be read again and again."
--Robert L. Johnson, Founder, BET and Owner, Charlotte Bobcats
"The Peebles Principles provides a fun read and a bird's-eye view
of the ever-changing world of a real estate entrepreneur. It is a good gut check
for would-be entrepreneurs to ask if they have what it takes."
--Dr. Peter D. Linnemann, Albert Sussman Professor of Real Estate, Wharton School
of Business, University of Pennsylvania
"Wow! What a magnificent inspiration The Peebles Principles is
for anyone seeking to be involved in business. The ground rules found in each
chapter are absolute gems, and those alone make the book worth buying."
--Cathy Hughes, Founder and Chairperson, Radio One, Inc.
"This book is a brilliant example of entrepreneurship, creativity, and
principles. Peebles walks you through many of his successful deals, from their
inception to their completion. Once you start the book you won't be able to put
it down until you've finished the last page."
--Dr. Sanford L. Ziff, Founder and Chairman, Sunglass Hut International Inc.
