Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain, Don Yaeger
Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain, Don Yaeger
7 Rating(s)
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Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain
How I Went from Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur

Author: Don Yaeger, Ryan Blair

Narrator: Johnny Heller

Unabridged: 6 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/30/2011


Synopsis

Ryan Blair knows about building a business from the ground up. Like many entrepreneurs he had no formal business education. But he had great survival instincts, tenacity, and, above all, a "nothing to lose" mindset.

Blair's middle-class childhood came to an abrupt end when his abusive father succumbed to drug addiction and abandoned the family. Blair and his mother moved to a bad neighborhood, and soon he was in and out of juvenile detention, joining a gang just to survive.

Then his mother fell in love with a successful entrepreneur who took Ryan under his wing. With his mentor's help, Blair turned himself into a wildly successful businessman. He started his first company, 24/7 Tech, at the age of twenty-one, and since then has created and sold several companies for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Now Blair teaches listeners how to start and grow their own profitable businesses by following his often contrarian philosophies. For instance:

—In juvenile detention, if you let someone take your milk the first day, he'll take it every day. The same is true in business.

—When you're dealing with an investor's money, you have to act as if God Himself wrote you the check.

—Most business plans aren't worth the paper they're written on.

—Efforts don't pay the rent. Have no sympathy for employees who talk about how hard they're trying.

—Entrepreneurship is great because you can set your own hours—any seventeen hours of the day, seven days a week. But if you're doing what you love, it doesn't drain you as much as the nine-to-five death cycle.

This is an inspirational guide for people who are willing to put in the hard work, time, and dedication needed to see their vision through to the end. Blair shares lessons from his mentors and advice from his own life-changing experiences and provides a road map for entrepreneurial success.

About Don Yaeger

Don Yaeger is a former associate editor for Sports Illustrated. He is the author of seven books and coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Under the Tarnished Dome as well as the critically acclaimed Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lisa on November 12, 2011

Ryan Blair started his life in the middle class until his engineer Dad got hooked on meth and started beating his Mom. Previously Ryan had always been enterprising, taking on paper routes and other jobs. When his life was disrupted by poverty, Ryan got caught up in the gang life all around him. He w......more

Goodreads review by Chien on September 15, 2012

Pretty quick read. While you may question the validity of the multi-level marketing business model, you should come away from this book having a good sense of what being an entrepreneur means. He speaks frankly about sacrifice,reinvestment and being a guardian for your investors. Many business owner......more

Goodreads review by Landon on October 17, 2011

As a recent MBA graduate, I have read countless books, articles, HBR studies, etc, regarding business. One complaint I have had is the lack of entrepreneurial conversation in business studies. This book helps rectify that. It is a well writen, clear, concise melding of Porter, Hill, Carnegy, Gladwel......more

Goodreads review by Andrea on April 04, 2013

I spent quite a bit of time pondering what I wanted to say about Ryan's book, and the impact it had on me. That's mainly because there are so many things I found helpful and inspiring. It was hard to narrow it down to one specific thing, or even just one generalization. It's true that the book offer......more

Goodreads review by Ben on December 29, 2012

This one literally turned up on my doorstep. Twice! The book fairies don’t visit often, but when they do it’s a fantastic surprise. (I still don’t know who sent me this, but thank you – whoever you are!!!) Looking at the cover, the first thing that sprung to mind was The 50th Law – a book I intended......more