Customer Reviews

How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a collection of the questions and answers that entrepreneurs all ask from time to time answered by multimillion producing entrepreneurs. How did you start? When did you know it was time to leave your job? How did you make it? What mistakes did you make? What advice would you give to a new entrepreneur? If you could start over, what would you do different? Tell me about your experience. I found this book to be one of the best books in my library.

I read from it everyday because it gives me motivation to keep going. The biggest thing I learned from reading the advice of multimillionaires is start where you are with your vision. All of these people started wherever they were (broke or had investors) and never gave up on their dream. If you are an entrepreneur and you don't have this book, you will do your self a disservice.

Book: The font is nice and clear. The layout is eye catching and marketable. The text is so friendly that you can scan the pages and find what you need quickly. It is made to be either read or scanned for the answers you are looking for. A famous self help saying is, "if it is already done, then all you have to do is find out what others did to get the result and get busy doing the same thing." Here is the result. Get busy!

It was very refreshing to read all of these stories of Midwest entrepreneurs. This would be a great read for those on the coasts who are committed to a well-rounded view of entrepreneurship and high-growth ventures, as well as those in the heartland who feel the only place they can succeed is elsewhere. As an entrepreneurship professor, I especially enjoyed how page after page, these founders exemplified much of what is taught in the classroom. This book will be a great supplemental/case study read for my students.

This Book is Awesome!!! This book gives amazing detail and insights on businesses from the owners point of view. The Business Owners talks about their ups and downs and struggles they overcame while eduring there ventures. My only knock on the book is that they could have given just a little more advice for startups and less more info on their businesses. This is very important because a lot of new business owners like myself look for advice especially from the highly successful business owners who overcame what were going through.

There has never been a more important time to understand these success stories, told from those who took them from vision to inception. Whether you are an entrepreneur, an aspiring entrepreneur, or a booster for Chicago business, these interviews will prove insightful and enjoyable to read. Chicago has an amazing base of successful business, and the stories of the fruitful enterprises from this region must be told!

Jordan does an excellent job of weaving candid and brass tacks points of view on entrepreneurship and first principals for success from a group of amazing company founders. Any business person looking to build value in a current or future enterprise would be well served to attend this virtual fireside chat.

Are you an entrepreneur? Are you considering being an entrepreneur? Either way this book is for you. I found that it was inspiring to read a few pages of this book each day. As an entrepreneur I really enjoy the insights of the 40+ highly successful individuals. We often need reminders of the various things that we must do to be successful with our companies. I was also impressed with the variety of entrepreneurs. As a country we need to remember that there have been a multitude of success stories for entrepreneurs and not just the few that we hear about time after time. Well done Bob. I highly recommend this book. Also consider sending a copy to a friend or business connection.

I received this book as a gift, and have had a great time reading through it. Some of those interviewed I had heard of, many I hadn't. Each of the interviews contains quotes by people who have started businesses and created hundreds of millions of dollars in value from scratch. Their insights, advice, perspectives, and experiences are fun to read, thought provoking, entertaining and instructive. I find myself constantly picking up the book and re-reading a few pages at a time. It's a great read.

Tremendous insight into personal motivations and persistent traits that catapult successful entrepreneurs. Each of the 45 has their own 'secret sauce' ranging from gut instinct to idea fermentation, to product/industry knowledge, to hiring, to taking business tangents, to knowing when to sell and to move on. Oh! and, when reading, definitely keep your favorite note-taking instrument nearby when your own ideas start to ferment from your gut instinct. But the best is Jordan's own secret sauce.

An easy to read, serious but also entertaining book. As recommended in the introduction, this is a book to be read with a pen and a sheet of paper at hand, since inspiring ideas materialize as you read.

Bob Jordan has delivered a great read for anyone who is a teacher or student of entrepreneuism, as well as anyone who is living the life of or aspires to be an entrepreneur. It is written in a fun, thought provoking and clever way. You get 45 views on highly successful entrepreneurs who set up shop in the Midwest and not in traditional better know entrepreneurial "hotbeds". Jordan offers a little something for just about anyone, regardless of personal business DNA. His amazing contributors clearly demonstrate, entrepreneurs come in "all shapes, sizes and styles" and should serve as inspirational fuel to anyone who wants to take the plunge into doing their own thing or for those who have and need reinforcement, not to give up hope. You truly come to appreciate the value of character traits like optimism, charisma and tenacity each of the entrepreneurs share and the culture they create around it.

I find each time I read this book, I get something more from it. If you take the time you can derive a "Blueprint for Success", based on best practices born of others business journey's. I've already bought a number of copies of this book and given them to others, the response from them has been nothing short of "viral" in they have gone on to buy copies for others as well....great job Bob!!