3 Key Takeaways – The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort

This is part of my ongoing video series of Three Key Takeaways from books I’ve read – the lessons we should take as authors from what worked and what didn’t work. You can view the original video here with the transcript below: https://www.tiktok.com/@rhiannondaverc/video/7359167917671451937

I’m a professional ghostwriter and these are my three key takeaways from The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort. I just want to say that I hated this book, I hated this man, and it genuinely makes me sick to my stomach that he is still a renowned speaker, made a lot of money from the movie, and has any kind of career after this. Anyway, let’s get into the secret of how a man who clearly does not deserve to have anything at all in the world, continued to have such an amazing career after releasing this book, which is the book that made all the difference.

Let me tell you about it. The first key takeaway I have from this book is to speak in a unique voice. When you’re reading this book, it is undeniable that you are listening to Jordan Belfort.

His voice is so strong and so unique. He is present in every single scene, every line of description, everything he says, you know it’s him genuinely giving you that delivery. And guess what? Having a unique voice like that makes it a lot easier for the reader to identify with you, to see you as a person, a brand that they can identify with and follow, and it makes it much more likely that you’re going to get something like a book deal, and following on from that, a movie deal.

And if you are looking to continue a career as a speaker, then it is really excellent to speak in such a unique voice that is actually the voice you’re going to be using when you are delivering those speeches, delivering those workshops, whatever it is that you’re doing. The person who books you will know what to expect from your voice. My second key takeaway is this, be bold, be shocking.

Now, if you’ve seen the movie, there are some really stand-out shocking moments in it, and they are actually described in the book to a T. So for example, there is a pretty famous scene with Margot Robbie in the playroom when she doesn’t realise that she’s being caught on camera and she’s teasing him, and that scene happens in the book and it happens exactly as it is shown in the film. It is described in such a clear, bold way that you can see it unfolding, even if you haven’t seen the movie, you can picture it moment by moment, and it’s a shocking moment. And it is very, very, very far from being the most shocking moment of the book.

This actually ties back to a lesson that I had from a mentor that I worked with back when I was starting to write my own books. When I was writing the Serial Investigations series, the first serial killer was almost fully formed, compared to how he was in the final book, but my mentor said to me, it’s not shocking enough, take it one step further. What’s one more shocking thing he could do that would make this even more incredible? And that’s what I did in the final text, is actually give him another shocking element to the case, which was further beyond what I had already thought was probably quite shocking.

So go bold, go shocking, and you are going to get a lot of attention. And of course, again, we can see how such bold, shocking scenes translated themselves so well to becoming a Hollywood movie. This is the kind of story where people don’t believe it happened.

And that’s great, because that’s going to incite discussion. So the more shocking you can be, especially if it’s based on truth, that’s even better. But even if you’re writing fiction, the more shocking you can be, the better.

But obviously, to a point, we don’t want to end up making it into a bit of a caricature. The third key takeaway I can offer you from this book is that insider stories are gold. Everyone wants to know the insider track on these glamorous lifestyles and occupations, or on these people that were caught up in international headline making events.

So this insider look at trading, especially during a time when trading was very controversial, leading up to the recession, leading up to the housing market crash, and things like that, when you could almost get away with doing whatever you wanted. That’s an incredible time that people want to hear more about. What was it like to be there? And look at some of the most popular memoirs, for example, that come out.

Everyone wants to know what it’s like to be a member of the SAS, taking part in secret missions. Everyone wants to know what it’s like to be a Formula One driver winning a championship. Everyone wants to know what it’s like to be the prince of the United Kingdom and caught up in international press headlines.

Everyone wants to know what it was like to found Nike, or to be the forensic pathologist at some of the UK’s biggest crime scenes. I could go on, but if you are an insider in an industry that is renowned, that makes headlines, that involves celebrities, anything where people are really interested about that industry, you could make a best-selling book very easily with your insider stories. One day I’m going to write a book about being the editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine, and it’s going to be a hit, I’m sure, but not until I’ve finished being the editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine, because I should probably finish first before I start bad-mouthing everyone, right? Those are my three key takeaways from The Wolf of Wall Street.

Are there any other big, bold memoirs that you have read that you would recommend to me? Let me know, because I would love to read them, even if I hate the protagonist of the memoir as much as I hated Jordan Belfort while I was reading his book. I’d still like to read them. Let me know.