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Mistakes that Made Me a Millionaire: How to Transform Setbacks into Extraordinary Success
USA TODAY Bestseller
Publishers Weekly Bestseller
Are you ready to turn your mistakes into millions and fast-track your way to success?
Mistakes That Made Me a Millionaire is your permission slip to fail forward, dream bigger, and discover that behind every mistake is a million-dollar lesson. Through powerful stories, proven strategies, and real-world advice, self-made millionaire Kim Perell reveals the untold Success is built in the messy middle, between your worst moments and your best decisions.
Ten chapters. Ten mistakes. Ten secrets no millionaire talks about—until now.
In these pages, you will
How to stop playing small, overcome imposter syndrome, and own your success The mindset shift that turns mistakes into million-dollar lessons The ultimate tool kit for handling mistakes and setbacks How to remove barriers to take your professional career to the next level The secret to unlocking the power of relationships to multiply your success
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, aspiring leader, high-achieving professional, executive climbing the corporate ladder, or starting your next big chapter—these lessons will meet you where you are and take you where you want to go.
Kim’s tenacious and triumphant story serves as an essential guide to elevate your leadership, empower your teams, and embrace life’s toughest challenges. Mistakes That Made Me a Millionaire is a must-read master class from a world-class entrepreneur.
Publishers Weekly Bestseller
Are you ready to turn your mistakes into millions and fast-track your way to success?
Mistakes That Made Me a Millionaire is your permission slip to fail forward, dream bigger, and discover that behind every mistake is a million-dollar lesson. Through powerful stories, proven strategies, and real-world advice, self-made millionaire Kim Perell reveals the untold Success is built in the messy middle, between your worst moments and your best decisions.
Ten chapters. Ten mistakes. Ten secrets no millionaire talks about—until now.
In these pages, you will
How to stop playing small, overcome imposter syndrome, and own your success The mindset shift that turns mistakes into million-dollar lessons The ultimate tool kit for handling mistakes and setbacks How to remove barriers to take your professional career to the next level The secret to unlocking the power of relationships to multiply your success
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, aspiring leader, high-achieving professional, executive climbing the corporate ladder, or starting your next big chapter—these lessons will meet you where you are and take you where you want to go.
Kim’s tenacious and triumphant story serves as an essential guide to elevate your leadership, empower your teams, and embrace life’s toughest challenges. Mistakes That Made Me a Millionaire is a must-read master class from a world-class entrepreneur.
- GenresNonfictionSelf Help
272 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 12, 2025
52 people are currently reading
289 people want to read
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November 18, 2025
BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front)
Perell’s core lesson is to move when you’ve got about 70% clarity. Wait too long and you stall; move on pure instinct and you spin out.
Executive Summary
Kim Perell’s book blends memoir and practical entrepreneurship, arguing that smart risk-taking and well-analyzed missteps are engines for personal and professional transformation. Key ideas include:
- Action over paralysis:Mistakes aren’t roadblocks but feedback loops. Progress requires momentum. Feel like you’re always moving toward something.
- Learning vs. earning: If an experience isn’t building your skills or sustaining your livelihood, reassess your path.
- Customer pivots:Know what your customers need and be ready to pivot—similar to how Shopify shifted from snowboards to merchant tools, YouTube from video dating to broad video hosting, and Starbucks from beans to cafés.
- Resilience as strategy: Failure fuels pattern recognition, sharper judgment, and adaptive confidence.
Review
As a learning scientist, I’m obsessed with how people absorb feedback—especially the painful kind—and turn it into better decisions. Perell’s stories aren’t just business anecdotes; they’re case studies in cognitive flexibility.
The line that hit me hardest—“you’re either learning or earning”—maps perfectly onto how I design curriculum at WGU. Learners grow most when they sit right at the edge of difficulty: challenged enough to stretch, supported enough to keep going (Csikszentmihalyi’s flow state). Perell’s view of career progression mirrors this zone of proximal development surprisingly well. When she realizes she’s stuck in a space where she’s doing neither, she moves. I’ve had seasons like that in my own career, and her framing makes the pivot feel less like failure and more like a recalibration of purpose.
The prose occasionally leans motivational-platitude, but the heart is honest, and the stories have traction. Perell’s willingness to name her missteps without glamorizing them gives the book its staying power. I left with a clearer sense of how I want to coach learners—and myself—through moments of uncertainty.
Similar Reads
- Originals by Adam Grant — on creative risk-taking and reframing failure.
- The Messy Middle by Scott Belsky — a grounded look at navigating the foggy middle of big projects.
- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries — the classic framework for pivots, iteration, and evidence-based decision making.
Authorship Note: This review was co-authored using a time-saving GPT I built to help structure and refine my thoughts.
Perell’s core lesson is to move when you’ve got about 70% clarity. Wait too long and you stall; move on pure instinct and you spin out.
Executive Summary
Kim Perell’s book blends memoir and practical entrepreneurship, arguing that smart risk-taking and well-analyzed missteps are engines for personal and professional transformation. Key ideas include:
- Action over paralysis:Mistakes aren’t roadblocks but feedback loops. Progress requires momentum. Feel like you’re always moving toward something.
- Learning vs. earning: If an experience isn’t building your skills or sustaining your livelihood, reassess your path.
- Customer pivots:Know what your customers need and be ready to pivot—similar to how Shopify shifted from snowboards to merchant tools, YouTube from video dating to broad video hosting, and Starbucks from beans to cafés.
- Resilience as strategy: Failure fuels pattern recognition, sharper judgment, and adaptive confidence.
Review
As a learning scientist, I’m obsessed with how people absorb feedback—especially the painful kind—and turn it into better decisions. Perell’s stories aren’t just business anecdotes; they’re case studies in cognitive flexibility.
The line that hit me hardest—“you’re either learning or earning”—maps perfectly onto how I design curriculum at WGU. Learners grow most when they sit right at the edge of difficulty: challenged enough to stretch, supported enough to keep going (Csikszentmihalyi’s flow state). Perell’s view of career progression mirrors this zone of proximal development surprisingly well. When she realizes she’s stuck in a space where she’s doing neither, she moves. I’ve had seasons like that in my own career, and her framing makes the pivot feel less like failure and more like a recalibration of purpose.
The prose occasionally leans motivational-platitude, but the heart is honest, and the stories have traction. Perell’s willingness to name her missteps without glamorizing them gives the book its staying power. I left with a clearer sense of how I want to coach learners—and myself—through moments of uncertainty.
Similar Reads
- Originals by Adam Grant — on creative risk-taking and reframing failure.
- The Messy Middle by Scott Belsky — a grounded look at navigating the foggy middle of big projects.
- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries — the classic framework for pivots, iteration, and evidence-based decision making.
Authorship Note: This review was co-authored using a time-saving GPT I built to help structure and refine my thoughts.
Read
November 18, 2025In "Mistakes that Made Me a Millionaire" by Kim Perell, the author argues that most people don’t fail because of one dramatic error but because of small, everyday patterns that slowly drain momentum. These habits feel safe and familiar, yet they quietly stall progress: waiting until you feel perfectly ready, doing everything yourself, letting fear make your decisions, staying too long in comfortable roles, refusing to pivot when circumstances shift, hiring the wrong people, and treating business like a cold transaction instead of a human connection. Throughout the book, Perell reframes these patterns as opportunities for improvement and demonstrates how replacing them with simple, deliberate actions creates compounding advantages over time. Her central message is that success is built not by eliminating mistakes but by learning to recognize them early and respond with clarity, courage, and humility.
One of the most damaging behaviors she highlights is the instinct to wait until circumstances feel ideal before taking action. Many people hold off on starting a project, launching a business, or making a decision because they want more confidence, more time, or more certainty. Perell argues that readiness isn’t something you achieve before you begin; it’s something you grow into by starting with what you have. Acting at roughly '70 percent confidence' becomes a working rule: if the conditions are good enough, move forward and let real-world feedback refine your direction. Perfectionism, procrastination, mental paralysis, and pessimistic thinking often masquerade as preparation, yet they lead to lost time and missed momentum. By taking small steps consistently, breaking big goals into manageable pieces, and challenging negative assumptions, people build capability faster than by waiting for perfect clarity.
Another pattern that blocks progress is the belief that doing everything alone proves competence. Perell dismantles the idea of the lone genius by showing how refusing help slows performance, creates unnecessary stress, and prevents scale. Many people avoid seeking assistance because they fear judgment, worry about burdening others, or feel exposed when admitting uncertainty. However, she emphasizes that asking for support is a strategic skill: it multiplies strength, builds trust, and accelerates results. People who share responsibility develop more resilient teams and avoid preventable mistakes. Even a simple system of reaching out, following up, and following up again can open doors that would otherwise remain closed. Collaboration isn’t a weakness; it’s an advantage that compounds as ambitions grow.
Fear of failure fuels several of the mistakes described in the book, especially hesitation, overthinking, and excessive caution. The brain responds to imagined risks with the same alarm as real ones, giving fear an outsized influence on decisions. Perell encourages acknowledging fear instead of pretending it isn’t there, because denial only makes it louder. She recommends writing down fears, separating facts from stories, and asking which regret would feel worse: trying and missing the mark or never trying at all. She reminds readers that every achiever has accumulated mistakes on the way to mastery; the difference is that they kept moving forward, using failures as data instead of judgments. Strengthening your inner voice, leaning on intuition when information overload sets in, and valuing courage over comfort help gradually neutralize the fear that stops progress before it starts.
A recurring theme is the danger of staying too long in situations that no longer offer growth. Many people stay because the salary feels safe, the routine is predictable, or loyalty to a team feels honorable. Yet stagnation builds quietly, often disguised as stability. Perell explains that job security is more fragile than people believe, and career advancement usually favors those willing to move before they feel fully ready. Whether in a job or a relationship, remaining in place after the learning curve has flattened leads to wasted time and shrinking ambition. Building an exit plan, setting measurable thresholds for leaving, and creating a one-year vision for personal advancement prevent years from slipping away unnoticed. Staying can still be beneficial, but only if you continue to stretch, rotate roles, or expand responsibilities; staying without growing is simply staying stuck.
The book also explores the costly mistake of refusing to pivot when new information appears. Plans are useful, but clinging to them when circumstances change drains resources and erodes competitive advantage. Adaptability becomes a performance skill, not a last resort. Perell suggests treating every plan as a hypothesis rather than a fixed commitment. When markets shift, customer preferences evolve, or feedback contradicts expectations, the strongest companies and individuals respond quickly. She outlines how product pivots, market pivots, people pivots, pricing adjustments, and customer shifts keep businesses relevant. Fear of looking wrong and ego tied to the original plan often slow necessary changes, yet history shows that the organizations that adapt survive while rigid ones fade. Clear criteria for when to alter course help prevent emotional attachment from overriding practical judgment.
Another mistake she examines is choosing people based on charisma, familiarity, or surface-level credentials instead of true capability and cultural fit. Hiring the wrong person, whether as an employee, consultant, or partner, drains time, money, and morale. First impressions highlight strengths but hide flaws, and urgency can make a shiny résumé look like a solution. Perell recommends structured evaluation with probing questions about failures, learning, and interpersonal behavior; looking for specifics rather than vague claims; and resisting pressure to make quick decisions that feel relieving but aren’t right. Early warning signs such as inconsistent communication, defensiveness, overpromising, or evading details often predict poor performance later. Addressing concerns early, setting clear expectations, and acting decisively when necessary protect the team and the business. Good hiring multiplies strength; bad hiring multiplies problems.
Perell also emphasizes that business is fundamentally personal. Treating professional interactions as purely transactional overlooks the human motivations, emotions, and relationships that ultimately determine outcomes. Deals close because trust is present, teams stay engaged because they feel valued, and partnerships endure because each side understands the other. When leaders prioritize empathy, curiosity, and consistent follow-through, they build credibility and loyalty that no data dashboard can replace. Making time for meaningful conversations, investing in the most important relationships, showing reliability through action, and expressing appreciation transform routine communication into long-term connection. Relationship capital produces returns in referrals, renewals, goodwill, and collaboration that numbers alone cannot achieve.
In "Mistakes that Made Me a Millionaire" by Kim Perell, the overarching lesson is that success expands when you replace ingrained, limiting habits with intentional behaviors that build momentum. Acting before you feel fully prepared, inviting support instead of struggling alone, and moving despite fear create forward motion. Leaving stagnant environments, adapting when reality shifts, choosing people with discipline and clarity, and putting relationships at the center of your work ensure that progress compounds instead of stalling. The book argues that greatness isn’t achieved by avoiding mistakes but by responding to them with honesty, adaptability, and courage. By choosing action over hesitation and connection over isolation, you create outcomes that accumulate into extraordinary success.
One of the most damaging behaviors she highlights is the instinct to wait until circumstances feel ideal before taking action. Many people hold off on starting a project, launching a business, or making a decision because they want more confidence, more time, or more certainty. Perell argues that readiness isn’t something you achieve before you begin; it’s something you grow into by starting with what you have. Acting at roughly '70 percent confidence' becomes a working rule: if the conditions are good enough, move forward and let real-world feedback refine your direction. Perfectionism, procrastination, mental paralysis, and pessimistic thinking often masquerade as preparation, yet they lead to lost time and missed momentum. By taking small steps consistently, breaking big goals into manageable pieces, and challenging negative assumptions, people build capability faster than by waiting for perfect clarity.
Another pattern that blocks progress is the belief that doing everything alone proves competence. Perell dismantles the idea of the lone genius by showing how refusing help slows performance, creates unnecessary stress, and prevents scale. Many people avoid seeking assistance because they fear judgment, worry about burdening others, or feel exposed when admitting uncertainty. However, she emphasizes that asking for support is a strategic skill: it multiplies strength, builds trust, and accelerates results. People who share responsibility develop more resilient teams and avoid preventable mistakes. Even a simple system of reaching out, following up, and following up again can open doors that would otherwise remain closed. Collaboration isn’t a weakness; it’s an advantage that compounds as ambitions grow.
Fear of failure fuels several of the mistakes described in the book, especially hesitation, overthinking, and excessive caution. The brain responds to imagined risks with the same alarm as real ones, giving fear an outsized influence on decisions. Perell encourages acknowledging fear instead of pretending it isn’t there, because denial only makes it louder. She recommends writing down fears, separating facts from stories, and asking which regret would feel worse: trying and missing the mark or never trying at all. She reminds readers that every achiever has accumulated mistakes on the way to mastery; the difference is that they kept moving forward, using failures as data instead of judgments. Strengthening your inner voice, leaning on intuition when information overload sets in, and valuing courage over comfort help gradually neutralize the fear that stops progress before it starts.
A recurring theme is the danger of staying too long in situations that no longer offer growth. Many people stay because the salary feels safe, the routine is predictable, or loyalty to a team feels honorable. Yet stagnation builds quietly, often disguised as stability. Perell explains that job security is more fragile than people believe, and career advancement usually favors those willing to move before they feel fully ready. Whether in a job or a relationship, remaining in place after the learning curve has flattened leads to wasted time and shrinking ambition. Building an exit plan, setting measurable thresholds for leaving, and creating a one-year vision for personal advancement prevent years from slipping away unnoticed. Staying can still be beneficial, but only if you continue to stretch, rotate roles, or expand responsibilities; staying without growing is simply staying stuck.
The book also explores the costly mistake of refusing to pivot when new information appears. Plans are useful, but clinging to them when circumstances change drains resources and erodes competitive advantage. Adaptability becomes a performance skill, not a last resort. Perell suggests treating every plan as a hypothesis rather than a fixed commitment. When markets shift, customer preferences evolve, or feedback contradicts expectations, the strongest companies and individuals respond quickly. She outlines how product pivots, market pivots, people pivots, pricing adjustments, and customer shifts keep businesses relevant. Fear of looking wrong and ego tied to the original plan often slow necessary changes, yet history shows that the organizations that adapt survive while rigid ones fade. Clear criteria for when to alter course help prevent emotional attachment from overriding practical judgment.
Another mistake she examines is choosing people based on charisma, familiarity, or surface-level credentials instead of true capability and cultural fit. Hiring the wrong person, whether as an employee, consultant, or partner, drains time, money, and morale. First impressions highlight strengths but hide flaws, and urgency can make a shiny résumé look like a solution. Perell recommends structured evaluation with probing questions about failures, learning, and interpersonal behavior; looking for specifics rather than vague claims; and resisting pressure to make quick decisions that feel relieving but aren’t right. Early warning signs such as inconsistent communication, defensiveness, overpromising, or evading details often predict poor performance later. Addressing concerns early, setting clear expectations, and acting decisively when necessary protect the team and the business. Good hiring multiplies strength; bad hiring multiplies problems.
Perell also emphasizes that business is fundamentally personal. Treating professional interactions as purely transactional overlooks the human motivations, emotions, and relationships that ultimately determine outcomes. Deals close because trust is present, teams stay engaged because they feel valued, and partnerships endure because each side understands the other. When leaders prioritize empathy, curiosity, and consistent follow-through, they build credibility and loyalty that no data dashboard can replace. Making time for meaningful conversations, investing in the most important relationships, showing reliability through action, and expressing appreciation transform routine communication into long-term connection. Relationship capital produces returns in referrals, renewals, goodwill, and collaboration that numbers alone cannot achieve.
In "Mistakes that Made Me a Millionaire" by Kim Perell, the overarching lesson is that success expands when you replace ingrained, limiting habits with intentional behaviors that build momentum. Acting before you feel fully prepared, inviting support instead of struggling alone, and moving despite fear create forward motion. Leaving stagnant environments, adapting when reality shifts, choosing people with discipline and clarity, and putting relationships at the center of your work ensure that progress compounds instead of stalling. The book argues that greatness isn’t achieved by avoiding mistakes but by responding to them with honesty, adaptability, and courage. By choosing action over hesitation and connection over isolation, you create outcomes that accumulate into extraordinary success.
November 18, 2025
Meh read
Phone notes:
You stick to a plan because changing course looks like weakness. You trust a dazzling résumé over the quiet red flags in your gut. And when results dip, you double down on spreadsheets instead of relationships. The pattern is familiar because it’s human. The trick is learning to spot and replace the habits that quietly stall your growth.
if you have roughly 70% of the information, resources, or confidence, take the first step and refine with real feedback. Great outcomes come from launching, listening, and iterating, not polishing forever.
Paralysis comes from overwhelm and fear. Most fears never land. In a Penn State study, participants logged worries for 10 days and tracked outcomes for 30. 91% percent didn't happen, and a third of the rest turned out better than expected
Rejection stings, but persistence can be rewarding. Think of “no” as information rather than a verdict.
Treat asking as a skill. Try using the simple triple tap technique when asking for help: reach out, follow up, follow up again, then move on.
identity lock-in – when title equals self, leaving feels like erasing yourself
A practical way to do that is the three-step loop of rethink, reorganize, and react. First, step back and analyze the situation without bias toward the original plan. Then decide the best course and reorganize people and resources to match it. Finally, implement promptly
Poor hiring is tied to about 60% of startup failures. Money hurts, but momentum and morale take the deeper hit: people work longer, deliver less, and stop believing.
Yes, measure ROI. Also measure return on relationship: renewals, referrals, response times, community engagement, and unsolicited praise
data shows what’s profitable, but relationships decide what becomes possible. Prioritize people, and the numbers follow.
Phone notes:
You stick to a plan because changing course looks like weakness. You trust a dazzling résumé over the quiet red flags in your gut. And when results dip, you double down on spreadsheets instead of relationships. The pattern is familiar because it’s human. The trick is learning to spot and replace the habits that quietly stall your growth.
if you have roughly 70% of the information, resources, or confidence, take the first step and refine with real feedback. Great outcomes come from launching, listening, and iterating, not polishing forever.
Paralysis comes from overwhelm and fear. Most fears never land. In a Penn State study, participants logged worries for 10 days and tracked outcomes for 30. 91% percent didn't happen, and a third of the rest turned out better than expected
Rejection stings, but persistence can be rewarding. Think of “no” as information rather than a verdict.
Treat asking as a skill. Try using the simple triple tap technique when asking for help: reach out, follow up, follow up again, then move on.
identity lock-in – when title equals self, leaving feels like erasing yourself
A practical way to do that is the three-step loop of rethink, reorganize, and react. First, step back and analyze the situation without bias toward the original plan. Then decide the best course and reorganize people and resources to match it. Finally, implement promptly
Poor hiring is tied to about 60% of startup failures. Money hurts, but momentum and morale take the deeper hit: people work longer, deliver less, and stop believing.
Yes, measure ROI. Also measure return on relationship: renewals, referrals, response times, community engagement, and unsolicited praise
data shows what’s profitable, but relationships decide what becomes possible. Prioritize people, and the numbers follow.
November 21, 2025
As an entrepreneur myself I’m always drawn to books about or by people who have become successful through hard work, determination and grit. I’ve never heard of Kim Perell but appreciated her candor as she describes her journey from college graduate to millionaire.
Reframing setbacks as stepping stones isn’t new content to me but I enjoyed the book and her personal stories in each chapter. This would be a great book to recommend to anyone starting out in entrepreneurship.
Reframing setbacks as stepping stones isn’t new content to me but I enjoyed the book and her personal stories in each chapter. This would be a great book to recommend to anyone starting out in entrepreneurship.
August 21, 2025
I received this book when I filled out a form to join Kim Perell's email list and she sent this out the day of it's release.
I'll start by saying I am no fan of self-improvement books but after reading the first chapter I realized this isn't a self-improvement book, it's a book about a woman's business journey where she not only made countless mistakes but she didn't let them define her. She not only learned from the mistakes but they helped her become successful and she shares what she went through in this book. As an author myself, I read this looking for help, looking for clarity to see if she too suffered some of my struggles and If I've made mistakes similar to her. To my surprise I have and not only that but each chapter serves as a mistake and lesson to be learned. What makes this book so good is that Kim doesn't constantly talk about her successes and achievements to boost her own ego like you see a lot of fiction writers do in these type of books, she's real and write with emotion and tells you what you went through and even says you may experience it to but not to let it control you or get you down.
There are several helpful steps and lists within this book from basic things such as interacting with people, trying to be positive and less negative to making an important business decision at just 70%. The lessons throughout this book really spoke to me, some more than others, and for me it was the boost and motivation I needed. One thing as an author that I have struggled with is promoting and marketing. Writing the book is easy it's promoting it that's difficult. In one chapter, Kim talks about how she ran her business herself because she felt she had to since she created it and asking for help is a sign of weakness. This chapter spoke volumes to me, and made me realize I cannot keep trying to promote and market my books myself so I took initiative and finally got help.
There are so many great examples and lessons in this book that I could list but it would be better if you read it yourself. Are there certain moments in this book I found myself shaking my head? Of course, but again author Kim Perell comes off as relatable, real, authentic and genuine so there's only a small amount of those shaking my head moments. Overall, if you need a morale booster, need to hear someone tell you that you could be missing out on certain things that you want to do but need that extra boost then pick up a copy of this book. It really makes you question a lot of things in your life but it's a good thing.
I'll start by saying I am no fan of self-improvement books but after reading the first chapter I realized this isn't a self-improvement book, it's a book about a woman's business journey where she not only made countless mistakes but she didn't let them define her. She not only learned from the mistakes but they helped her become successful and she shares what she went through in this book. As an author myself, I read this looking for help, looking for clarity to see if she too suffered some of my struggles and If I've made mistakes similar to her. To my surprise I have and not only that but each chapter serves as a mistake and lesson to be learned. What makes this book so good is that Kim doesn't constantly talk about her successes and achievements to boost her own ego like you see a lot of fiction writers do in these type of books, she's real and write with emotion and tells you what you went through and even says you may experience it to but not to let it control you or get you down.
There are several helpful steps and lists within this book from basic things such as interacting with people, trying to be positive and less negative to making an important business decision at just 70%. The lessons throughout this book really spoke to me, some more than others, and for me it was the boost and motivation I needed. One thing as an author that I have struggled with is promoting and marketing. Writing the book is easy it's promoting it that's difficult. In one chapter, Kim talks about how she ran her business herself because she felt she had to since she created it and asking for help is a sign of weakness. This chapter spoke volumes to me, and made me realize I cannot keep trying to promote and market my books myself so I took initiative and finally got help.
There are so many great examples and lessons in this book that I could list but it would be better if you read it yourself. Are there certain moments in this book I found myself shaking my head? Of course, but again author Kim Perell comes off as relatable, real, authentic and genuine so there's only a small amount of those shaking my head moments. Overall, if you need a morale booster, need to hear someone tell you that you could be missing out on certain things that you want to do but need that extra boost then pick up a copy of this book. It really makes you question a lot of things in your life but it's a good thing.
September 14, 2025
“Mistakes don’t stop you from succeeding - it’s failing to move forward after making them that does.”
This book is written from an entrepreneur viewpoint but as in any good book it “can be equally applied to … anything into which you’ve invested time, energy, and emotion.” Building a strong team, the importance of focusing on personal relationships (and how that it is done), and tips on dealing with procrastination, facing fear, realizing the power of your intuition are all included as she makes it personal by speaking from 10 of her own (major) business mistakes and how she used them to adapt, learn, and grow . As a YNAB certified coach, I found that this book also includes helpful thoughts from someone searching for a valuable mentor. I also like that she gives credit to quotes/ books that she found valuable. A couple book examples include:
“Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg
“Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill
This book is written from an entrepreneur viewpoint but as in any good book it “can be equally applied to … anything into which you’ve invested time, energy, and emotion.” Building a strong team, the importance of focusing on personal relationships (and how that it is done), and tips on dealing with procrastination, facing fear, realizing the power of your intuition are all included as she makes it personal by speaking from 10 of her own (major) business mistakes and how she used them to adapt, learn, and grow . As a YNAB certified coach, I found that this book also includes helpful thoughts from someone searching for a valuable mentor. I also like that she gives credit to quotes/ books that she found valuable. A couple book examples include:
“Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg
“Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill
October 10, 2025
The book is short and accessible - credit where it’s due - but that’s about where the strengths end.
Its so - called insights, packaged as "common mistakes" - rely on stretched logic and recycled ideas that offer little real value. The framing feels more like a gimmick than genuine guidance.
The anecdotes - particularly the story about the sales leader’s failure - feel selectively edited, conveniently omitting crucial context to force - fit the author’s narrative.
Instead of illuminating meaningful lessons, they come across as oversimplified and intellectually dishonest.
Its so - called insights, packaged as "common mistakes" - rely on stretched logic and recycled ideas that offer little real value. The framing feels more like a gimmick than genuine guidance.
The anecdotes - particularly the story about the sales leader’s failure - feel selectively edited, conveniently omitting crucial context to force - fit the author’s narrative.
Instead of illuminating meaningful lessons, they come across as oversimplified and intellectually dishonest.
December 28, 2025
It’s so true that we often chase after success formula but forgot about how we can actually learn a lot more from mistakes we made. Sure enough, no one wants to try every mistakes if someone else could give you advice not to fall into that hole. Kim’s book certainly did the job by sharing mistakes she made throughout her entrepreneurial journey, and that makes the book and the lessons less preaching but more relevant.
November 19, 2025
Mistakes That Made Me a Millionaire (2025) reframes failure as fuel, outlining ten common missteps and the mindset shifts that turn them into million-dollar lessons. Through stories and practical frameworks, it shows how to move faster, avoid perfectionism, and leverage relationships to level up a career or business.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 29, 2025
Kim Perell’s Mistakes That Made Me a Millionaire came at the perfect time in my life. After a tough few months in transition, her stories reminded me to CARE again and to stop letting the past define the future. Honest, practical, and inspiring — a book I’ll keep coming back to.
October 28, 2025
The author give some advice about being an entrepreneur. Often we will have problems when we tried to be an entrepreneur. The most important is not to be afraid of the failure and learn about it and also to have empathy to others. We need to focus in the personal relationship.
October 30, 2025
Kim had great ideas for not only how to be successful in business but how to become successful in life. Her advice is simple but sound; systematic as well as creative; most importantly it is a testimony to believe in yourself.
Want to read
September 3, 2025O, SM
September 30, 2025
This book was a surprisingly great read with lots of good advice and stories from the author on her journey to becoming a successful entrepreneur
October 7, 2025
I'd read this 3 times over
October 8, 2025
surprisingly good
October 15, 2025
A great reference (4 stars) for entrepreneurs or side hustlers without any formal corporate business knowledge or practice.
If you have that plus leadership already- skip it.
If you have that plus leadership already- skip it.
December 13, 2025
I think this book is very useful and an easy read!
January 29, 2026
This is an excellent book for any entrepreneur. Kim writes with honesty and vulnerability. I felt like she was literally in my corner, cheering me on (even though I'm not a traditional entrepreneur).
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews