The Risk Takers: 16 Women and Men Who Built Great Businesses Share Their Entrepreneurial Strategies For Success [Hardcover]

Renee Martin (Author), Don Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2010

The Risk Takers is about ordinary people, all with good ideas, who faced daunting challenges, but took a leap of faith and started their own business. The book tells the stories of the personal and professional journeys of sixteen fascinating men and women who built hugely successful, multimillion dollar companies. They started with very little, opted to strike out on their own, and struggled with disappointment and failure. Yet, they overcame adversity and through persistence and resiliency determined their own destiny.

You’ll meet the founders of companies familiar to most Americans: Geek Squad, Curves, Liz Lange Maternity, Kinko’s, Paul Mitchell, Spanx, Amy’s Kitchen, along with nine others. Don and Renee Martin, successful entrepreneurs in their own right, personally interviewed these men and women whose inspiring stories demonstrate it’s never been easy to start your own business and navigate it through all the inevitable storms to ultimate success—in any economy, in any era. But can be done.

The personal stories in this volume remind us of what is possible when you combine an inspired business idea with faith and tenacity. It’s the right book at the right time—it’s time to resurrect The American Dream.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Don Martin epitomizes the rags-to-riches entrepreneur success story. Raised in poverty in a small town in the Ohio Valley, over the next four decades he founded and built the largest privately held insurance brokerage in California: Cal-Surance. Ranked in the top fifty of insurance brokerages in the U.S., Cal-Surance generated over $200 million in annual revenue.

Renee Martin was a dynamic real estate broker when she switched careers entirely, to work in community service. She became a rape counselor, a court-appointed special advocate for The Children’s Court (CASA), a director of community relations of a child abuse crisis center, and a public relations spokesperson for many community organizations. After publication of the book, she and Don coauthored, The Survival Guide for Women, she became a frequent and popular speaker at women’s seminars across the country.

The Martins also collaborated on TeamThink: Using the Sports Connection to Develop, Motivate, and Manage a Winning Business Team. They live in Palos Verdes, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Vanguard Press (April 6, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593155875
• ISBN-13: 978-1593155872
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #835,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great stories with practical takeaways, April 2, 2010

By 

Tony Deblauwe (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Risk Takers: 16 Women and Men Who Built Great Businesses Share Their Entrepreneurial Strategies For Success (Hardcover)

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Do you think you don't have the right background or education to pursue your ideas and find success on your own? After reading Risk Takers, you will feel motivated and empowered to take the first step.

Packed with stories from 16 influential profiles of multimillion dollar companies such as Kinkos, Geek Squad, Curves International, and Paul Mitchell, you will learn how these individuals positioned themselves properly to build their businesses, often with little capital and no previous experience.

Despite poor economic conditions, authors Renee and Don Martin believe now is the time to start fresh. Their decision to pursue a business of their own came from a determination to win and positive attitude to make it through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. They boil their knowledge down into ten principles or strategies for success:

1. Trust Your Gut
2. Buck the Conventional Wisdom
3. Never Let Adversity or Failure Defeat You
4. Go on a Treasure Hunt and Find an Underserved Niche
5. Spot a New Trend and Pounce
6. Hit `Em Where They Ain't
7. Just Start
8. Save Your Bucks and Get Noticed Without Expensive Advertising
9. Exploit Your Competitor's Weakness and Make It Your Strength
10. Never Stop Reinventing Your Company

These strategies are woven into the summary of each entrepreneur's story so you see exactly how they addressed a particular area. It will help inspire you to review your own goals and realize how similar your thoughts, fears, and setbacks are to these risk takers.

My favorite profile was of David L. Steward, Founder and Chairman of World Wide Technology Inc. Like so many people these days, Steward found himself out of college and caught in an endless job search. After sending out four hundred resumes in three years, he finally got a sales job that formed the basis of his experience. An African-American, David faced adversity in the 1960's, but he learned how to push through drawbacks and never give up on his dreams. Strong values gave him the confidence to remove obstacles that helped transform World Wide Technology Inc into the $3B powerhouse it is today.

This is a great collection of experiences that frame what success looks like from a variety of angles. The stories connect with the heart and the mind to deconstruct the assumptions of what risk taking is and provides an outline for helping you achieve your dreams.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Lessons for Everyone, April 19, 2010

By 

Esme - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Risk Takers: 16 Women and Men Who Built Great Businesses Share Their Entrepreneurial Strategies For Success (Hardcover)

The Risk Takers tells the stories of 16 men and women who built multimillion dollar companies. As a business owner I was excited to read this book. While all the 16 men and women offer a product to the customers and I offer a service I was curious and intrigued to read this book.

Whether or not you are a business owner or an employee this book was fantastic. I found their stories to be incredible and inspiring. Every single person in this book took a chance-a chance on an idea and themselves. Each of the owner's companies featured are a business we have more than likely patronized whether it be Kinko's or Geek Squad, Liz Lange Maternity or Build a Bear to name a few. Many of these individuals had their idea initially rejected-through believing in their idea and great customer service they built an empire.

I thought this book was a fantastic read and enjoyed reading every owner's story.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pioneers Get Great Land, April 6, 2010

By 

Luther J. Nussbaum (Long Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Risk Takers: 16 Women and Men Who Built Great Businesses Share Their Entrepreneurial Strategies For Success (Hardcover)

Wow! Did I ever underestimate the impact that a collection of successful risk taking stories could have. The stories are crisp, clean, interesting and engaging. The themes are highlighted as they naturally recur throughout the book. It's a fun and rewarding read. The stories are pretty balanced with each representing a $50 million plus success. I felt the entrepreneurial instinct rise about about page 20 and it bubbled until the end. I would write more, but I'm preparing my business plan. Great job!