If at First You Don't Succeed...: The Eight Patterns of Highly Effective Entrepreneurs

Since I was lucky enough to be briefly profiled in one of Brent Bowers' NY Times' business columns, I was curious to read an entire book by this former Wall Street Journal reporter. I found his approach to a how-to business book both original and fun to read. Each chapter is organized around an essential trait key to the successful entrepreneur such as - seizing opportunities, running your own show, tenacity, willingness to take calculated risks and an ability to tolerate uncertainty until the final pay-off. Colorful characters inhabit this book and serve as catalysts to our own grand ideas. We find ourselves thinking, Gee, if that particular individual could be so courageous about the validity of his ideas, I can too. It's also a comfort to know that most of these successes evolved from learning from failure.

A friend told me this was the antidote to boring business books and he has a point. The book has some pluses: Good warnings about vulture capitalists and the value of the "double P's" passion and pragmatism. I liked his analysis of what makes succesful entrepreneurs tick and examples of how tenacious people turned ideas into fortunes. My favorite was the guy who makes diamonds out of cremated remains as keepsakes for the bereaved. Where did the author find these people? America should stop whining about the decline of big business jobs and get off its collective butt like these entrepreneurs who showed spunk and made millions.