Book Review: Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain

He had a bad childhood, a criminal record being a kid, was involved in gang fights, emotionally scarred, and yet with the right attitude, mentors, values and beliefs, he is one of the most successful entrepreneurs our time. This is not a Bollywood film but the story of multi-millionaire Ryan Blair - founder of ViSalus - an MLM health products company in the USA.

‘Nothing To Lose, Everything to Gain’ is an autobiography of how Ryan went from being a gang member to entrepreneur, his values, beliefs, lessons and learnings. Candidly written, the book not only goes into Ryan’s life, but also tips and learnings that are extremely valuable for anybody who wants to achieve success in entrepreneurial ventures. He goes into details that are very easy to overlook, and draws attention to those matters which need serious understanding and thought.

Without beating around the bush and getting increasingly philosophical, Blair gives readers 10 steps to becomes successful - Work Hard. Never give up. When faced with defeat, rise to your feet. Keep angling till you find your angle, then tune it. Sacrifice. No matter how bad it is, you will survive. Accept your mistakes but don’t make them again. Always be grateful. Your are not safe, don’t sit there and get run over. Finally, go big and have fun. 

The tone of the book is set by establishing certain Golden Rules:

• Communication and Management - While you work in a team, its not just the team lead who is important, but all team members. Ask a question, only if you have answer to it. When you don’t know the answer to a question, make sure you get back with it. Get things started to get ahead, see why you fail if you do, take action when needed, use different modes of communication differently and effectively, know when and where to praise and reprimand. Business models - be a company driven by a model, create a retention based sales model, know your customer and be close to him/her, cherry-pick your markets. Recognize the relationship between sales and marketing - marketing exists to create sales and most brand building activities ultimately aim at increase in sales, identify how compensation drives behavior.
• Customers - use customer service as a differentiator, become people oriented, worry about your customer, not competition.
• Strategies - have extreme focus, patience, recognize and reward talent, go out and grab attention.
• Personal Rules - know who are the right people to embrace, the finish line never exists so keep working, don’t buy stocks make them, don’t focus on efforts look at the result, don’t let money control you, figure out which ideas are worth going after, be a pro and keep learning. 

Ryan has shown great honesty by sharing not only successes but also failures and mistakes. He highlights the importance of mentorship, something we assume for granted, and how we should utilize our mentor(s).

The book is written in a manner which goes into the finer details of being and becoming an entrepreneur - the mental make-up that one needs to have while considering entrepreneurship as an option,the identification of strengths, weaknesses and assets, recognizing what are the drivers and motivations for hard work, what it takes to become one, what sort of an entrepreneur one should, what are the hardships and sacrifices involved on the personal, professional and financial front, where and how to start and end. 

Blair delves into intricate details of starting a business and what one must consider. From how your business plan should be, to what name you should choose for your business and how, the business strategy to follow, the pros and cons of home businesses, raising the required finances (the do’s and the don’ts), launching your company how to staff your company and finally how to exit, Blair has shared it all. 

Being the founder of SkyPipeline to Visalus, and now an investor in many other companies, Blair knows it all and has shared it in his book. Thus, there is no doubt as to why this book is a bestseller. Once you pick it up, it is hard to let go until you finish. It not only helps people become better entrepreneurs but also serves as checklist - personally and professionally. Anybody aspiring to be their own boss, and even those who work for their boss must read this book if they want to become better at what they do.