His Journey to the Brink and Back
This week’s Global Entrepreneurship Week (as you’ll know if you read my post on Monday) and having finished my latest read from Duncan Bannatyne last week, I thought a review might be due.
Duncan, as you’ll find out below and in the book is an incredibly successful, yet realistic guy. He’s achieved a lot in his life and has been through many high and lows to do so. Duncan and his business acumen has always been inspiration to me, yet I think his success and his journey to it can be of inspiration and value for any self-developer; entrepreneurial or not.
Who is Duncan Bannatyne?
“Born in Clydebank, Scotland, Duncan Bannatyne is best known as one of the stars of BBC entrepreneurship programme Dragons’ Den. His own business career began in his twenties, when he brought an ice cream van for £450. He soon expanded by buying more vans and eventually sold the business for £28’000, founding a chain of care homes instead.
Quality Care Holmes subsequently sold for £26 million on 1997 and another business, children’s nursery chain Just Learning, sold for £22 million. He has since built the well-known Bannatyne’s Health Clubs chain, as well as investing in bars, hotels and property.
He has been honored with the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to charity and is heavily involved with Comic Relief and UNICEF.”
The Book
However, no matter how well this introduction may present Duncan and his highly successful career in enterprise, he’s had a hard few years recently. And it’s these struggles that we often neglect when considering the successes of our idols.
Having dealt with the financial crisis which hit the UK in 2008 and caused huge ripples for his business, and getting through a financially and emotionally costly divorce, Bannatyne feels like he is now back on the road to a stable and successful future. But it came at great cost, and it’s these costs we often don’t expect in our great life plans.
“Riding the storm is the inspirational account of how Duncan overcame these set backs.” It’s says towards the beginning of the book, “It’s a survival story, full of insights into how he adapted his businesses and his life to new financial realities.”
After reading just a few pages of his book, I was instantly hooked and went on to finish the book in just two weeks; a rare and unusual thing for me as a non-reader. He talks extremely openly, honestly and down-to-earth about his life and career up until the storm hit, and I believe teaches some valuable lessons about life and success in what he does to follow.
“In it, Duncan explains exactly how a working-class boy from Clydebank built himself a multimillion-pound business empire, and talks with incredible frankness about the current strategies, goals and finances of his companies. He reveals the true nature of his feuds and friendships with the other Dragons and uses his experiences from Dragons’ Den to offer advice to start-up entrepreneurs in today’s market.
He speaks openly about the terrible pain of his divorce and how his children’s love gave him the strength to get through it. He discusses the opportunities that success has given him, from learning to dance for Sports Relief to trekking up Kilimanjaro with his daughter. And finally he explains why, in spite of having just gone through the toughest years of his life, he feels positive about the future – and why you should to.”
My Conclusive Opinion
I feel this book to be a great one and definitely at the top of my best reads along side Steve Jobs’ Biography. The book is certainly not only for people interested in business though, but also for anyone interest in life, success and achievement to.
It gives some great lessons on life and dealing with the situations we always hope we wont have to, and is an addicting story of inspiration to achieve and succeed like Duncan has himself.
