Customer Reviews

The Hippie Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder & Other Mountains: How JanSport Makes It Happen

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Baby boomers who remember the sixties will enjoy this book. So will hikers, campers, students and anyone else who has ever used a JanSport backpack or tent. Skip reveals the serendipity story of how to succeed `without a business plan'.

I was a highschool classmate of Skip's but lost track of him till 13 years ago. I am amazing to see how far a person can go in a lifetime, how close they can stay to a dream and how he developed an idea/company into a houseold name. Skip was and still is a modest guy who built something truely worth boasting about and had many great adventures along the way. And as an "organizational person" I am glad to see his thoughts on customer service, communications and first hand knowledge of his market, its customers and the application of his product.

Skip Yowell writes about the evolution of JanSport as it morphs from an idea into an internationally known brand. Throughout, his identification of corporate principles as applied by JanSport easily applies to anyone hoping to create their own business in an authentic, personally meaningful and ethically responsible way. His advice derives from experience. It's a real-world, real-people success story that offers a guide for anyone who is interested in pursuing a long-shot dream.

This book is more an autobiography of Skip Yowell, one of the co-founders of Jansport. Honestly, the writing style is extremely elementary. And lacked any depth. To his credit he didn't use a ghost writer. But Skip definitely lacks any skill in telling a coherent story. I picked up the book because I'd like to think that I'm a hippie of sorts. And while I don't want to climb the corporate ladder, I certainly am interested in learning more about the small business world that I'm living in. Plus the artwork for the book is amazing in my opinion. So I picked it up. Overall, the book isn't bad. And despite the writing style, I have to admit that reading the stories of a young start-up in the 70's was mildly entertaining. As far as imparting any great wisdom . . . there isn't much of that. But you can tell that Skip and the other founders of Jansport had/have a fun time doing what they do. Their spirit of entrepreneurship and desire to make money all while attempting to be environmentally and socially sound was encouraging to me . . . with my little start-up.

The book i received was a hardback and everything was in good order. I received it in a very short period of time. A+.

This book is a must read! If you enjoy the outdoors and have ever wondered how you can jump into the corporate world while staying true to self, read this! It is a very quick read and you can't go wrong with the excitement and grassroots business philosphy laid out here.

This is a great, easy read that will inspire you. If it doesn't motivate you to start your own company or climb mountains it will inspire you enough to get off of the couch and find ways to have more fun at your current job.

I thought this was a pretty good book. Very positive reinforcement for running your own company with allthe challenges involved.

I was visiting my record label and the marketing guy had two books on his desk that he offered me. He had gotten them for free. One was on FUBU and one was this. I took this one. The cover art really is attractive enough alone. Skip tells the interesting story of how Jansport came to be. I had no idea they started the trend to use backpacks at school. Along with this story comes several stories of climbing different mountains. If this sounds disjointed, it kinda is. I think Skip has just looked back on his life and wrote about what he found he did that was most interesting. Found Jansport, climb some mountains, the end. Having said that, I went from having zero interest in the brand to reading the book in two days. I wasn't able to put the thing down. It's very interesting, simple to read and even a little inspiring. I felt like building backpacks and climbing mountains for weeks.