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A Practical Way to Get Rich...and Die Trying
- A Memoir About Risking It All
- Narrated by: John Roa
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
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Publisher's summary
"A scathingly honest memoir of entrepreneurship's dark reality... I would advise every entrepreneur - or anyone who dreams of becoming one - to read this book." (Eric Schurenberg, CEO, Fast Company and Inc.)
A young tech entrepreneur's memoir of building his hugely successful company and the mental and physical price he paid for it
At the age of 26, John Roa was an aspiring but struggling entrepreneur. He was broke, racking up debt, and ready to give up on his dream of being self-made. In a final effort, he founded the design firm ÄKTA, which quickly became one of the fastest growing startups in America, and just five years later, he sold it for a fortune to Salesforce, the largest company in San Francisco.
This is his account of rising from a self-described below-average student to becoming a poster boy for the successful young entrepreneur, while nearly destroying himself in the process. His journey is an absurd, twisting, and often comical story of talent, luck, rapidly changing technology, larger-than-life personalities, sex, gambling, and excessive alcohol and drug consumption - which ultimately took their toll, resulting in a spectacular burnout that he almost didn’t survive. As he healed in the aftermath, he began to question the ethos that had brought him to that dark place, and over time, came to realize how common these debilitating issues are in entrepreneurship, even if they are rarely discussed openly.
Rather than another glamorous rags-to-riches saga, A Practical Way to Get Rich...and Die Trying is a cautionary and deeply honest memoir about the price of success for ambitious young people, who are so often unprepared for the adversity, mental health issues, and abuse that can come along with "making it". It also serves as the foundation for a campaign of honesty and vulnerability, in an industry that currently lacks both.
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Critic reviews
"A Practical Way to Get Rich and Die Trying is a scathingly honest memoir of entrepreneurship’s dark reality - the crushing stress, the minuscule odds of success, the trauma of failure that is always peering over most founders' shoulders. As editor of Inc. magazine, I followed John Roa's successful rise at ÄKTA. To learn from this book what was really going on in his heart and his company at that time is powerful and sobering. I would advise every entrepreneur - or anyone who dreams of becoming one - to read this book. There’s no better way to understand how immensely challenging the entrepreneurial path really is, and what heroes the people who undertake that journey truly are." (Eric Schurenberg, CEO, Fast Company and Inc.)
"I thought I would be reading a story about a friend and successful entrepreneur. What I got instead was One of the most honest and well-articulated narratives that I've ever read on the rollercoaster that comes along with success in our modern culture. John's vulnerability and security shine through as he gives a genuine insight into his journey of success that also reflects upon the necessary resilience to persevere through tough times as a leader, and make the journey all the more rewarding. I would encourage every leader, entrepreneur and coach to read this immediately." (Sean McVay, head coach, LA Rams)
"Business memoirs are so often heroic accounts of innovation, growth, and crushing the competition that it’s gratifying to encounter a book like Roa's A Practical Way to Get Rich, which turns the standard narrative on its head by looking at the personal costs of success rather than just its benefits. Roa's deep but hilarious look at his own failures and missteps can serve as a caution and inspiration to a generation of upcoming entrepreneurs." (Mario Lopez, actor and TV host)
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- By: Anthony Scaramucci
- Narrated by: Anthony Scaramucci
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Hopping Over the Rabbit Hole chronicles the rise, fall, and resurgence of SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci, giving you a primer on how to thrive in an unpredictable business environment. The sheer number of American success stories has created a false impression that becoming an entrepreneur is a can't-miss endeavor - but nothing could be further from the truth. Hopping Over the Rabbit Hole gives you the skills, insight, and mindset you need to be one of the winners.
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Scaramucci is Key to Making America Great Again
- By Cynthia on 07-24-17
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High-Hanging Fruit
- Build Something Great by Going Where No One Else WIll
- By: Mark Rampolla
- Narrated by: Mark Rampolla
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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When Mark Rampolla filled a notebook with potential start-up ideas, his wife asked him some tough questions. What about this idea is exciting, beyond the possibility of a profit? How will it fit into a life that makes you and your family happy? How will it change the world? Eventually Mark found his great idea: coconut water. He had seen the developing world use coconut water, but this valuable resource was being discarded in the US. While taking on the beverage industry was a big goal - high-hanging fruit - it was worth the risk.
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10 Chapter Infomercial
- By KIM WILLIAMSON on 02-16-20
By: Mark Rampolla
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How to Win at the Sport of Business
- If I Can Do It, You Can Do It
- By: Mark Cuban
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 2 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Using the greatest material from his popular Blog Maverick, Cuban has collected and updated his postings on business and life to provide a catalog of insider knowledge on what it takes to become a thriving entrepreneur. He tells his own rags-to-riches story of how he went from selling powdered milk and sleeping on friends' couches to owning his own company and becoming a multibillion-dollar success story.
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Short and precise.
- By Mariam on 04-27-15
By: Mark Cuban
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All In
- How Great Leaders Build Unstoppable Teams
- By: Mike Michalowicz
- Narrated by: Mike Michalowicz
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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ALL IN is the pinnacle book in Mike Michalowicz's Entrepreneurship Simplified series, setting the standard for building high-performing teams in today’s challenging work environment. Whether dealing with remote work, flex schedules, or generational divides, ALL IN provides a proven framework for recruiting top talent, transforming underperformers into superstars, and cultivating a culture where every employee is as dedicated as an owner.
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Outstanding
- By Lance Lawshe on 06-27-24
By: Mike Michalowicz
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This Is Not a Fashion Story
- Taking Chances, Breaking Rules, and Being a Boss in the Big City
- By: Danielle Bernstein
- Narrated by: Danielle Bernstein
- Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Danielle Bernstein spent her youth shopping at discount department stores, getting boozy in suburban backyards, and proposing marriage to every boy she dated. By age 19, she was a college dropout living in a West Village shoebox with three roommates and only six months to prove that her blog, @WeWoreWhat, could become a full blown career...or else board the train back to her mom's house. This Is Not a Fashion Story is the down and dirty tale of how a Long Island-born teenager became one of the most recognizable names in fashion.
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Waste of time
- By Leena on 05-18-20
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It's Your Move
- My Million Dollar Method for Taking Risks with Confidence and Succeeding at Work and Life
- By: Josh Altman
- Narrated by: Josh Altman
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Josh "the Shark" Altman has achieved extraordinary success in a traditional industry and in the most competitive real estate market in the country - all without being "discovered" or catching the proverbial big break. He worked for it. He figured it out. He failed. He learned. He wrote his own script. The key to his success? Confidence - informed, intelligent, calculated confidence. Calculated confidence means training yourself in your chosen field, knowing it so well that you can trust your gut instincts to guide you toward the best possible option.
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Overall a good book but recommend a title change
- By Reginald on 06-19-18
By: Josh Altman
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Mentor to Millions
- By: Kevin Harrington, Mark Timm
- Narrated by: Kevin Harrington, Mark Timm
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Kevin Harrington, one of the original "sharks" of the TV hit Shark Tank, and serial entrepreneur Mark Timm take you on a journey that radically redefines what it means to truly succeed - at work, at home, and in every area of life.
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Listen at 1.4x
- By Mark Fry on 09-26-20
By: Kevin Harrington, and others
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Total Focus
- Making Better Decisions Under Pressure
- By: Brandon Webb, John David Mann
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain, Brandon Webb
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Over his four deployments as a Navy SEAL sniper, Brandon Webb learned all about performing while experiencing heart-pounding stress. After returning to civilian life, he started his first business venture - and failed miserably. He realized that his big mistake was neglecting to apply what he already knew about focus under pressure. By drawing on the lessons of his SEAL training and early business struggles, Webb went on to build a second business, a media network called Hurricane.
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Biography/ sales pitch.
- By Dennis on 01-10-18
By: Brandon Webb, and others
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Ahead of the Curve
- Two Years at Harvard Business School
- By: Philip Delves Broughton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2004 Philip Delves Broughton abandoned a post as Paris bureau chief of the London Daily Telegraph to join 900 other would-be tycoons on the Harvard Business School's plush campus. With acute and often uproarious candor, he assesses the school's success at teaching the traits it extols as most important in business: leadership, decisiveness, ethical behavior, and work/life balance.
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On one breath.
- By Atkins on 05-17-22
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Unlabel
- Selling You Without Selling Out
- By: Marc Ecko
- Narrated by: Todd Haberkorn, Marc Ecko
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Instructive as it is innovative, Unlabel will empower you to channel your creativity, find the courage to defy convention, and summon the confidence to act and compete in any environment. This blueprint will teach you how to grow both creatively and commercially by testing your personal brand against the principles of the Authenticity Formula. Marc Eckō shares the bruising mistakes and remarkable triumphs that reveal the truth behind his success, growing from a misfit kid airbrushing T-shirts in his parents' garage to the bold creator of two hugely successful branded platforms.
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...So Real, It Should Be Illegal
- By 2Fresh on 01-20-16
By: Marc Ecko
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Working Together
- Why Great Partnerships Succeed
- By: Michael D. Eisner, Aaron R. Cohen
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson, Michael D. Eisner (introduction and epilogue)
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Dig deep and you will find the most compelling argument for working together: Happiness. In business there are always unique individual achievers, but pull down the veil and you'll often find someone alongside them. Michael Eisner does just that in Working Together. Using his own collaboration with Frank Wells at Disney as a launching point for examining other famously successful partnerships, Eisner offers us an intimate and deeply personal look at some of the most rewarding business partnerships.
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Interesting to see what all partners had in common
- By Amazon Customer on 06-01-13
By: Michael D. Eisner, and others
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Double or Nothing
- How Two Friends Risked It All to Buy One of Las Vegas' Legendary Casinos
- By: Tom Breitling, Cal Fussman
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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If Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn had come of age at the end of the 20th century looking for an all-American adventure, they probably would've headed for Vegas. However, they'd have been hard-pressed to go on a wilder ride than the one taken by Tom Breitling and Tim Poster to the top of the famed Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino. Call them the Odds Couple.
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A look at lives of 2 guys who bought casino
- By Eric A, on 01-05-21
By: Tom Breitling, and others
What listeners say about A Practical Way to Get Rich...and Die Trying
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 10-18-20
Great story from an unsympathetic character
This is an entertaining story as told by a stereotypical "soy boy" Millennial "tech bro." While most entrepreneurs, particularly younger ones, will find useful elements, the author comes across as a wimpy, "poor little man couldn't handle the pressures of success." I tuned out as soon as he started whining about "toxic masculinity" and finished the book strictly for entertainment value.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-30-20
Felt This.
This was an amazing story!! Heard of John on a Podcast I follow and was super intrigued about his story. So glad I got the audible version to listen to him tell it. While I can't relate on the scale of his journey I can relate to the amount of personal sacrifice in a personal and career journey. Emotional, funny and honest. Great Read!
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- D.
- 04-03-21
Spot on!
The is an amazing story, no detail left out. As an entrepreneur, it hits home as well as addresses the importance of mental health and self care in a very subtle way at the end. I was captivated and couldn’t stop reading/listening. I read chapters in the book and listened to other chapters while
driving.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-30-20
Dive Deep
Refreshing take on the shadows of business success. Understand the message beyond the narrative. Wild stories were necessary.
I discovered John from a podcast ad and jumped into his story. After two episodes I had to read the book. Highly recommend if you are business thirsty or have been plagued by mental fatigue from your working world
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- Sabriya Dobbins
- 10-03-20
Love this book so much! So raw and real
This book is finally the breath of fresh air that I have been looking for! As a startup founder, I am so sick of the world trying to create this vision of how an entrepreneur should act and feel. Literally it has been isolating and frustrating! Finally someone is really to share the mental health battle, the deep down fears, and the emotional battles. It’s exactly what I need to read instead of all of these books that glamorize entrepreneurship.
John thank you for truly taking the time to write a book that captures the REAL truths of running and business and not that “work and grind til you die motivational read!”
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- Jenny
- 05-19-22
Insight into a world unknown
As a small business owner I’m interested in the entrepreneurs of these fast growing companies. Mr. Roa shares his story in depth. I appreciate his candor though he speaks of the ugly parts of his past with a bit of ego. This is a straight narrative from the beginning of his entrepreneurial life to the sale of his business. The biggest issue I have is that Roa isn’t a great audiobook narrator. He accents odd words and emphasizes most words. A different narrator would have been easier to follow and would have kept me a bit more invested. Overall though, I’m happy to have heard this story.
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- Reeka
- 09-21-20
a very down to earth tale
about some meteoric and astronomical circumstances and catapults to riches. I'm glad the book wasn't filled with anecdotes and successtories quotes, but I would have liked to have heard more about the doubts and times that weren't great. I appreciate the highlight that stress can have on someone in their life and what pursuing the Almighty dollar can do to somebody.. thanks for telling the story.
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- Amazon Customer
- 10-24-20
If you are an entrepreneur...
If you are an entrepreneur stop reading this and buy the book. As one myself I wish I had read this book in the first year of starting my company. John Roa unveils the ugly truth of entrepreneurship while providing you practical advice on how to handle major key decisions and the mental weight of entrepreneurship. It’s not all butterflies and roses. I’m not saying this book will suddenly turn you into a amazing CEO, what I am saying is this book provides a lot of life experience of someone who has been there and was able to exit with millions. He shares his insights on how he made decisions and the weight of those decisions had on his mental state. The nuggets of gold in this book are more like diamonds. 10 out of 10 recommend.
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- MHS
- 10-20-20
Use caution with my review...
...because I held out as long as I could giving this book a chance. Ultimately unable to make it through the first quarter of this book.
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- Richard
- 04-08-21
Gave this book a chance
Nothing great or unusual here. Just another 'poor' me from a rich kid who never really had to work for it.
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