GET UP AND GET ON IT

In this guide, Frank offers insights into the pursuit of real estate investment, with a focus on building wealth for Black families.

In 1989, the author and her mother took over a successful real estate business founded by her father, who had established it in 1950 with only one single-family home. She now oversees hundreds of multifamily apartments and continues to expand the business with a vision of growing generational wealth. This book shares Frank’s financial advice, with which she aims to teach readers how to build their own wealth, despite institutional obstacles. Frank’s story begins with her parents, whom she defines as “fire starters”—people who ignite a flame for their future against the narrative that society has given them. She tells of how her father came to Seattle to build a business after leaving Detroit and its Jim Crow laws; she also references the success of her uncle, music legend Quincy Jones. Each chapter begins with an original poem by Frank and ends with a list of takeaways and action steps to help them put the author’s wisdom into practice. In these pages, readers can dive into the benefits of real estate investment, as well as her “R.E.A.L.” method—an acronym for a multistep process of researching, expanding one’s business, amplifying requests, and leveraging connections. Along the way, the author offers an inside look into what it’s like to be a landlord and run a family real estate business, particularly in Washington state and Arizona. Frank artfully blends her advice with discussions of diversity, equity, and inclusion, boldly speaking out against racism, sexism, and other prejudices that one may encounter while pursuing one’s full wealth potential. Ultimately, Frank encourages readers to hold a big financial picture in mind, envisioning a legacy of intergenerational wealth and philanthropy. This will be an empowering story that will provide inspiration to a wide range of readers, and particularly to Black families and entrepreneurs seeking to achieve their financial dreams. Although Frank’s advice is specific to real estate investment, readers interested in other wealth-building methods will also find motivation in this book’s vignettes.

A deeply personal and upbeat entrepreneurial manual.