Redefining Success: Still Making Mistakes by W. Brett Wilson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Brett’s sent out a Tweet asking for 10 interested bloggers to review his new book. I submitted my blog with no expectation in being chosen as Brett has over 50,000 followers. Much to my surprise shortly after I submitted my site, I received an e-mail from Brett’s camp saying that they had chosen my site and were sending me advance copies.

I waited in anticipation for the books to arrive. When they finally arrived I sent photos to everyone and received the best response from my sister asking if Brett put a cheque in the book as a bookmark.

I had such high expectations for this book, however now that I am done I have mixed feelings over it.

Brett was always one of my favourite dragons on the Dragon’s Den. On TV he always came across as the one you wanted to do business with. Always very respectful and carried himself with integrity. He came across as the type of guy you want to do business with. You want to sit and have a coffee with him and hear what he has to say.

This book covers many topics. It is an autobiographical, self-help, inspirational and general business book. The title of the book Redefining Success – Still Making Mistakes sounded like something I needed to read. Having just decided to take a break from my personal business, and needing to evaluate things I was hoping this book would offer some insight or inspire me to start the evaluation process.

The book was interesting going through Brett’s many ventures in business however I was expecting to learn more about the business ventures, what was successful and what failed and what lessons Brett learned from these failures. It shines through in the book that how Brett acts in the media eye is who he really is. He runs and deals his business with the upmost respect and integrity. There were sections in the book that it felt more like a name dropping session. This came across as odd because
Brett doesn’t seem like he would intentionally do this.

I also felt like Brett’s battle of prostate cancer was just a blip in the book. Maybe it was something he didn’t want share with us in detail and I can respect that.

A few things really rubbed me the wrong way in the book; however I acknowledge that Brett is probably telling the truth. He discussed that the pursuit of material success will eventually leave you empty and that we should be pursuing something more charitable. This rubbed me the wrong way because as a person of means this is an easy thing to do. I am someone who does what I can, donate when money permits and gives my time and talents to a local non-profit organization. I personally would love to do more but a certain amount of money is required to live comfortably in life. If you cannot take care of yourself you will not be able to give yourself fully to causes you want to. When the car starts to squeak and given the choice of giving money to a charity or giving the time needed to make that money most, myself included will chose to fix the car.

The other thing that drove me nuts was a grammar error. Multiple times the phrase “Arlene and Me”; where it should be “Arlene and I”. This drove me up the wall because I have spent years being corrected and find myself correcting others when this error is made.

I loved the sections on the Dragon’s Den deals. This gave a wonderful insight into what happened after the cameras stopped rolling. I think this is the section that I learned the most from. It had not only Brett’s insight to the deal but also had the insights of the actual entrepreneurs.

I also really enjoyed the Top 5 lists at the end of the book. It gave an insight to Brett and you can tell a lot about a person by the music they listen to, their life bucket lists and their best and worst moments.

I gave this book 3 out of 5. I enjoyed the book. At times I found it dry yet at the same time interesting, and I expected something different. I personally was hoping I could take more away from the book that I could apply to my own personal situation.

Now that I have ripped apart Brett’s book I did want to say on an awesome person scale, Brett gets a 10 out of 5. If more people were able to do what he does for charity and mentoring this world would be a much better place. I am inspired by what he does and I would love to be able to do the same. Maybe one day in my life I will be able to do more than what I am doing now.

I am hoping that Brett’s book tour comes close to where I am. I would love to meet him and shake his hand. There is something we can all learn from Brett and for that I applaud him.

The wonderful people at Penguin Canada and Prairie Merchant sent me 2 autographed copies of the book. One for me to review and one to give away to my loyal readers.

This is probably the easiest give away you will enter. If you would like a chance to win your own autographed copy of Redefining Success – Still Making Mistakes the only thing you have to do is email your name to oneofthosememories@gmail.com or if you read this from my Facebook page like the link. I will take e-mails and likes until Saturday, November 10th, 2012 at 11:59 EST. All the names will go into a draw and then I will contact the winner to arrange delivery of the book. I will announce the winner on Monday, November 12th, 2012.

The book is available TODAY for purchase at your favourite bookstore.

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