Frank McKinney’s BIG journey began with a newspaper picture of a needy man. A successful real estate “artist” and creator of some of the most magnificent oceanfront homes on speculation (he just finished Acqua Liana the world’s largest and most expensive certified green home at $24.3 million!), McKinney was reading a profile about himself in his local newspaper in 1998. The article next to that profile included a photo of a homeless man being fed by soup kitchen volunteers out of a beat up old van.

McKinney felt what he now describes as The Tap.

“I saw that picture, and I thought ‘That could have been me. I could have ended up living under a bridge,’” said McKinney who was kicked out of three high schools before graduating with a 1.8 GPA from his fourth. McKinney had turned his life around. By 1998, he was established as one of the world’s most bold and innovative real estate investors. McKinney specializes in high-risk, speculative real estate deals, building multi-million dollar luxury estates without advance buyers. Since 1992, he has created 36 oceanfront homes with an average selling price of $14 million.

But on that day in 1998, while the newspaper celebrated his business success, McKinney was discovering a BIG calling, “I thought, ‘I need to be doing something other than filling my garage with more cars and my closet with more clothes.’” Soon after his “tap moment,” McKinney was volunteering every week, serving food out of the back of that van to homeless people.

It was a small step on a journey that quickly grew BIGger. “As I started sharing my time, I started realizing I had a responsibility.”

A deeply religious man, McKinney now cites the Gospel of Luke, 12:48, as his guiding principle: “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more demanded of the person entrusted with more.”

Soon after he began to serve meals, McKinney began organizing crews to fix homes in impoverished neighborhoods.

“Then I took it to another level,” McKinney said.

He founded the Caring House Project Foundation months after his epiphanous tap moment. The Foundation started by providing housing for $1 per month to elderly homeless people. CHPF has evolved to focus most of its energies overseas, building self-sufficient villages in some of the world’s neediest places – primarily in Haiti, as well as Honduras, Nicaragua, Indonesia and Africa.

CHPF was on track by the end of 2010 to have built 14 sustaining villages in the Haitian cities of Gonaives(2), Port au Prince (Cite Soleil), Testasse,  Ft. San Michael, Los Cacaos, Cap Haitian (Blue Hills), Paroty, Terre Rouge, Fond Rouge Torbek, Chameua, Mannual and Mahotiere/Rampa, all at no cost to the beneficiaries.

The Jan. 12 earthquake has changed CHPF’s focus, but has reinforced McKinney’s commitment to Haiti. McKinney was at his home in Florida when the quake hit. He didn’t stay there for long. “I was watching CNN coverage and thought, ‘I can sit here and watch Anderson Cooper or I can get proactive.”

He organized a recovery team and on was the ground in Haiti less than 48 hours after the quake. His team helped rescue four people from the rubble. (Here’s a video clip of news coverage about the team’s work). Now McKinney is working through CHPF to rebuild Haiti.

Everyone who saw images from Haiti felt compassion for those who suffered, McKinney said. “But compassion without action is a waste of emotion.”

That’s a BIG way to look at the world.

BIG Inspiration from Frank McKinney:

Bold: In every facet of his life, Frank McKinney is bold. He constantly strives to maximize the impact of the work he’s doing. When he chooses to play his hand, he’s all in. 

Innovative: McKinney has applied lessons learned in business to the operations of his foundation. “I’m not a philanthropist; I’m a PhilanthroCapitalist,” he said. “I’m in the business of dealing in human capital, as well as financial capital. It is a business…When we first started, we focused on the USA, but then we saw we could make the greatest impact overseas. I feel a huge responsibility to maximize the ‘return on donation.’ We are out of the charity business, and in the self-sufficiency business.”

Generous: The results of his work speak for themselves. But don’t assume McKinney does this for the personal benefit or to enhance his real estate business. “If you are involved in charity just for an increase in your business, you’ve got the wrong idea. You’re not sharing, your lending. The altruism has to be pure,” he said.

Must Read: In his latest book, The Tap, www.The-Tap.com, McKinney shares his story and reveals how you can recognize and act on life’s great tap moments that you experience. It’s a fantastic call to action for you to recognize when the generous seed in your heart is ready to blossom. It’s a great read with a BIG message. And don’t get me wrong, this is not pulpit pounding sermon of a book. It teaches a masterful lesson on succeeding in the business we are all in, the business of life!

Web site: http://frank-mckinney.com/caring_project.aspx or http://frank-mckinney.com/index.aspx

Facebook: http://ko-kr.facebook.com/pages/Frank-McKinney/34522737178

Twitter: http://twitter.com/FrankMckinney

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Bold, innovative and generous people like Frank McKinney are in every corner of America. We want to find them, celebrate them, and connect them with you. If you know people who are BIG, please share their stories with us.

Posted in BIG Across America, BIG Blog, Inspiration, Vision and Mindset