Building

Lessons Learned in Real Estate and Life

By: Brian Watson

Narrated by: Brian Watson

Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

A Blueprint for Opportunity 

Building a successful life is often like constructing a skyscraper. Both require a firm foundation to support the structure rising above it. Both benefit from using the best materials available. And both fulfill the builder's vision with a carefully drafted blueprint based on the collaborative wisdom of others. 

Brian Watson knows how this construction process works, for both life and business, and in Building: Lessons Learned in Real Estate and Life, he shares some of the design details you need to build your best life.

©2019 Brian Watson (P)2019 Brian Watson

Practical Approach to Successful Entrepreneurship

I really enjoyed listening and learning from Brian Watson in this audiobook! While I don't work in commercial real estate, I found a lot of his concepts and strategies to be applicable to me. He does a great job simplifying these concepts and ensuring the reader fully understands the idea. One of my favorite themes presented in the book was his focus on giving back to others. He touches on success versus significance and leaving a legacy. Brian easily identifies himself with the reader by focusing on the same struggles and challenges that many of us face. I highly recommend listening to this audiobook!

Good story, great points

I appreciated that this didn’t come across as a lecture. All of his stories about his upbringing and life made the points he made more relatable. Some of his concepts aren’t ones all can put into play, but they give something to aspire to further down the road in their journey. Why all the side notes for the audio version? These points would have been great in the printed version as well and didn’t seem to take up much time/room. Put them in! It was a quick listen thank kept my attention throughout.

A fabulous motivational tool.

I chose to listen to this audiobook while I was doing some work around my house, figuring that it would be a good way to multi-task. However, several times I stopped to grab a pen and write a few notes down. It’s one of the things I truly enjoyed about this narrative. Mr. Watson shares about his life from the early days in a small town, on up to how he chose his career path all the way to how he built his business.

I personally enjoyed the fact that he mixed in stories, anecdotes and just well thought out advice. I didn’t feel like I was being lectured or talked down to, but rather like I was listening to a friend or co-worker share their experiences. One of the best things I took away from all of this, was learning how to balance life with work. It’s hard for me to delegate certain tasks as I’ve always done them myself. But with the way that Mr. Watson has explained how to pass out tasks and motivate, I felt like it will be a lot easier. Overall I really enjoyed this and have notes to reflect on. I also made sure to mark down time stamps to go back for clarification. This is a fabulous book to listen to if you need even just a minimal amount of direction. Well done!

Building: Lessons Learned in Real Estate and Life

In Building: Lessons Learned in Real Estate and Life, Brian Watson, a successful entrepreneur and CEO of NorthStar Commercial Partners, shares his insights into preparing for and building a successful business. Watson weaves together his family background, work history, and travels to share how a kid from a rural community learned the importance of things like hard work, goals, respecting and seeking diversity, and generosity can all come together to shape a strong business and mind.

Watson delivers his advice both through stories and direct tips, never relying on any gimmick. A story can start from a college opportunity to work and travel on a semester abroad and the beginning of seeing the power of diversity in culture translating to new ideas, relationships, and business opportunities, to the specific memory of learning to haggle tying to the underlying business principle to understand that in each situation you must identify the rules at hand, because they are always changing. Another chapter focuses on twenty lessons and questions to ask yourself before starting a business, giving broad and concrete points to focus on to understand what you must work on. He even touches on ways to make a work/life balance, discussing ideas like the social contract of positive impact, and how he makes sure to invest his time and purpose in helping others.

I really enjoyed this book and felt like Watson’s way of telling his story and highlighting what can help others felt like a great mentor passing on his knowledge to someone following in his footsteps. It was very thoughtful and approachable advice.

Full of knowledge and experience

I enjoyed listening to this book written and narrated by Brian Watson, founder and CEO of Northstar Commercial Partners. His voice was filled with confidence and encouragement as he shares his philosophy and experiences. He states a firm foundation makes for a successful life. This concept along with his insight of building structures, making strong relationships and perseverance help you to build your best life. One concept that impressed me the most was the emphasis on re-investing in communities and making a lasting impact. It was powerful and really touched on something that was close to me. I recommend this book. It was encouraging and uplifting but also full of helpful tips and knowledge.

Solid inspirational speaker tone in this audiobook

I pictured the author, Brian Watson, standing at a podium with a bluetooth microphone addressing a large corporate audience throughout much of the book. That's not necessarily a bad thing. For me it means that he's got that captivating-speaker-tone down pat and knows how to address people. Not just specific, targeted audiences, but any person. Listening to his personal encounters and lessons he applied to life after them as he focused on the business aspect of his novel was pleasant and quite down-to-earth. While I couldn't relate to his seasoned, global travel objective, he was still impactful at making his point. I did, however, feel as though he had a few too many sidebars, which would have been absolutely fine in a print book, but in this format it lent to more of a "where did this topic even start?" vibe.

The author did not make a mistake in narrating the book himself; his voice, tone, and production were all very natural and well-done. I also liked the pace at which he discussed various topics. The most profound take-away from the book for me was his outlining how one should focus on the specialized tasks and skills that are not able to be delegated and to try to delegate the more generic things as a means to manage time and productivity better. I tend to be a "I'll just do it myself really quick..." person rather than let things go into someone else's hands. I needed the pep talk from the author to focus more on this point in 2020.

I recommend this audiobook for anyone looking to freshen their approach to the way the manage their day-to-day.

Delightful mix of business and personal stories

I'll admit that when I came across this audiobook I wasn't exactly sure what it was exactly that I would be listening to. Would it be focused heavily on owning a real estate? The first chapter was meh but I'll have to admit that once I felt a personal connection to the author, I was hooked. I too was born in Orange County, NY and have spent many times driving through Roscoe (Trout Town USA) on my way to and from college. From there, he probably could have read me the dictionary and I would have kept listening, kidding, but you get the idea.

Overall the book was very easy to listen to. It was something I could have playing while my toddler was napping, or listen in the car while I was out running errands. The flow back and forth between his business experiences and his personal life was perfect and did not feel forced. He did go on a few tangents, but because I listened to this book over a few days it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Even though some of the tips he offered cannot be applied to my work life currently, it is something to consider for the future. This was a great audiobook, especially since it was the first that I have listened to in 2020.

Interesting Connections & Weaving The Story Together

Interesting listening to this audiobook - I appreciated the author’s connections he made between business and normal life. He was able to weave together stories and lessons while connecting his personal life, things he learned in business and ways that it may translate into the reader’s life as well.

A few notes I took:
Press the easy button to allocate your time and talent more wisely.
“Smart Work” finding the most efficient and productive use of YOUR time.
Only do what only you can do - simple statement but so impactful. Can you delegate? What is your unique skill and talent that has the most impact? That is what you should concentrate on. Beyond that, can you delegate other tasks?

Include your current staff in preliminary hiring.

One criticism I had of this audiobook:
I don’t love the side notes the author mentions - he often veers off course from his text and adds anecdotes. I didn’t find the anecdotes all that informational and, if they were important, then they should have been written in the original text.
It was distracting and always ended with “back to the book!”

In a World of Ramblers, be a Skyscraper

This book is full of practical and useful advice for anyone looking to make an impact in their community and improve their lives.

Brian Watson does a wonderful job narrating his own story. He fills in bits and pieces throughout, making you feel like you’re sitting on his couch listening to a really good story.

I loved how relatable his messages were- applicable to both business and life. I was worried it would be a full story focused on real estate, but found it to be inspiring and helpful as I plan out my intentions for 2020.

Unexpectedly Empowering

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this audiobook. The author narrates his own book and does so very well. I personally loved the empowering messages that he shares through his own personal life experiences. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book, but it is definitely more than I was hoping for! The authenticity and vulnerability that Watson shared was unexpected yet quite meaningful behind every point that he had to make. Many may overlook this book thinking what could they possibly learn from life in real estate... I’m here to tel you that this is one of the most empower books I have listened to or read in a long time. I personally loved how he’d explain something a bit more in depth and then get back to the book itself. Without those asides, the book wouldn’t be as meaningful. There is definitely great life advice given! Sometimes, a gentle reminder is all that we need. This author doesn’t seem to sugarcoat anything and is a great speaker as well. The time for this book honestly flew by for me because I found it so interesting and deep.