Ryan Blair, author of “Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain: How I Went from Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur,” did not always dream of making money or being successful. He grew up as an average kid with less-than-average ambitions.
He had a middle-class upbringing until his father succumbed to drug addiction and abandoned his family. Blair and his mother moved to a dangerous 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 Blair under his wing. Blair never went to business school but, with his mentor’s help, he became a very successful multimillionaire, starting and selling three companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
In his book, Blair provides insightful tips on surviving in business including: “When you’re dealing with an investor’s money, you have to act as if God himself wrote you the check,” and “Efforts don’t pay the rent. Have no sympathy for employees who talk about how hard they’re trying.”
The book is available at Amazon.com for $16.50.
