Many people are skeptical about the value of self-help business books. They may not work for everyone, but they certainly work for some people. A self-made real estate developer who worried about paying a $200 debt 10 years ago is worth about $6 million today because of a self-help book.

Greg B. Randle, owner and president of home-based Monex Land Development in Los Angeles, California, lives in a million-dollar house he paid for in one year and drives a Mercedes Benz 560 that he owns free and clear.

But it wasn't always this way. Twelve years ago his wife Debbie, worked full-time as a nurse while Greg sold life insurance. When they had their first child, their bills quickly mounted, and buying a washer and dryer became their biggest goal.

Then Greg's boss and mentor, life insurance salesman Bob Larsen, introduced him to the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. "The book teaches you to set goals," says Randle.

Following the book's advice, Randle focused on a few goals at a time, writing them down and telling people about them. He pulls out a poignant memento: the index card on which he listed his first goals-paying off the $200 debt and buying that washer and dryer. Randle had the card laminated long ago, and he keeps it as a reminder of how far he's come.

After reading Think and Grow Rich, he continued selling life insurance and began buying fixer-uppers in downtown Long Beach, which was then in the early stages of redevelopment. An ex-marine exhilarated by physical labor, he razed or refurbished and rented those early junkers, all the time focusing on the big goal he had set. Randle was going to become a real estate developer and a millionaire.

Today he is both. "I owe it all to the book," he says, "and Bob Larsen." And to his own determination, one might add.

Randle is building a $10 million condominium complex this year and is working diligently toward attaining his next goal, "50 at 50." The 40-year-old intends to be worth $50 million by the time he's 50.