Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From an alcoholic and a street person to...mutimillionaire and humanitarian, November 23, 2007
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"Forget about the mistakes you made yesterday; yesterday is gone. Don't dwell on tomorrow; nobody knows what it will bring. Focus exclusively on today. When you wallow in remorse over yesterday, or quake in fear about tomorrow, you lose hope."
The above is the advice a member of a self-help group for alcoholics gave Frank O'Dea (born: 1945) in 1971, now a successful entrepreneur and perhaps best known for being a co-founder of a successful, worldwide coffee shop chain. His true story as recorded by writer John L. Reynolds are on the pages of this amazing, easy-to-read book.
O'Dea describes this book as "the best possible catharsis" for him. I, as a reader, could tell this as he reveals all (and I mean all) of the "mistakes" he had made before he came to a self-help group for alcoholics from the streets of Toronto. After he heard the above advice, O'Dea tells us:
"I realized hope was all I had."
From this point on, O'Dea's tomorrows got progressively better (even though there were still rough spots) until we're told:
"My thousand-dollar Canada Savings Bond had spawned a mail-order coin-sorter business that had rolled into a coffee kiosk that had morphed into a leading edge marketing phenomenon that had expanded into a national corporation worth several million dollars."
By 2004, O'Dea received the Order of Canada. (This Order of Canada, OC, is Canada's highest civilian honor. Created in 1967, the Order was established to establish the lifetime contributions, made by Canadians, who made a major difference to Canada and, as well, recognizes efforts made by non-Canadians who have made the world better by their actions.) What was said during the presentation of the award (called the declaration) gives the potential reader a glimpse of his journey from old life to new life and a brief overview of this book:
"Frank O'Dea's triumph over adversity continues to captivate the hearts of Canadians. His personal victory over substance abuse and willingness to share his rags-to-riches story have inspired others battling addiction. He enjoyed enormous success as co-founder of the Second Cup chain of coffee shops and has gone on to other business ventures. His many good works include support of [an international street children foundation]. [He is] founding chair of the Canadian Landmine Foundation...and...has raised over $2 million for [its] cause."
Something to look for when reading this book is the life-lessons (or advice) O'Dea tells us (or that somebody tells O'Dea, such as the example above) as he goes through life. These are simple but profound.
Finally, the writing by John Reynolds is superb. O'Dea says it best in his acknowledgements section: "John was able to capture my feelings and communicate in such a beautiful way that which I was trying to say."
In conclusion, this is an inspiring book to reflect on as you are having your second cup of coffee!!
(first published 2007; 13 chapters; main narrative 220 pages; acknowledgements)
<<Stephen Pletko; London, Ontario, Canada>>
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, February 27, 2009
Is it an inspiring book ? yes it can be categorised as a book which shows the value of human desire to change direction in life.
The book is extremely honest. Even the writing style is of a person who does not want to do a play on words but just lay bare the events of his life.
I am a person who does not like self help sort of books with their exaggerated descriptions on the metaphysical and the spiritual - I like plain honest simple words which still get a message across without forcing me to believe in fairies and pixies.
This book has that kind of punch. It is a light inspiring book which should probably be passed onto any person who has fallen on hard times to make him realise that there is a way out of his predictament.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Inspirational - true rags to riches, February 4, 2009
Frank is the founder of Second Cup. That's impressive. But more impressive, is he started that business after being homeless and living on the streets of Toronto. He overcame a serious alcohol addiction problem and sexual abuse.
His seed money to start the business came from savings he invested in a manual coin sorter. He sold the coin sorter the old fashioned way. Good marketing. Figuring out who would want it (It turned out churches loved it).
His book shares his simple truths. His perceptions. It is well written. I certainly found it interesting and even inspirational.
Much of the book draws on advice given by his self help group. I am not sure if it was AA but it sounds like it.
Addictions can be terrible.
Everyone likes rags to riches stories. That said, I am not suggesting you become homeless to make your story more impressive (although that is part of the appeal). His story certainly makes me think that almost anything is possible in business.
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