An earnest, if conventional, reflection on one business owner’s journey and lessons learned.
Brown charts the uneven, often unpredictable path to entrepreneurial success in this memoir / self-help manual / business guide.
Raised by a determined and resourceful mother, the author credits much of his professional philosophy to her example—particularly her emphasis on discipline, resilience, and the value of a strong educational foundation. These early influences echo throughout the book, shaping both his approach to business and his belief in the power of personal branding as a driver of opportunity. While many of Brown’s anecdotes will resonate strongest with those in the real estate world, the broader lessons extend beyond any single industry. His reflections on leadership—especially the emotional and legal weight of decision-making—are among the book’s more compelling elements. He doesn’t shy away from difficult realities, such as the isolation that can accompany executive roles or the burden of terminating employees, framing these issues as necessary, if painful, aspects of responsibility. That said, the guidance often leans toward the familiar; maxims like “Never hire anyone you can’t fire” and “You need people who believe in you when you’re struggling to believe in yourself” are practical but well worn, offering reinforcement rather than revelatory insights. Readers seeking innovative frameworks or novel strategies may find the advice somewhat surface-level. The memoir portions occasionally lack balance—certain business dealings and legal entanglements are recounted in detail, while other potentially illuminating experiences feel passed over quickly. Readers may push back against Brown’s insistence that success is attainable through hard work alone; his own stories suggest that timing, circumstance, and access played a meaningful role in his early wins, a situation that’s somewhat antithetical to the book’s more meritocratic assertions. Still, what the book lacks in originality, it makes up for in sincerity. Brown’s voice is direct and unpretentious, and his desire to mentor and uplift aspiring entrepreneurs is evident throughout. At just over 100 pages, the text remains accessible and digestible, culminating in a straightforward but effective call to action for those who are in pursuit of their own dreams: Start now, stay committed, and stick to your vision.
An earnest, if conventional, reflection on one business owner’s journey and lessons learned.Pub Date: April 1, 2026
ISBN: 9781807048457
Page Count: 128
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A rags-to-riches how-to as entertaining as it is wise.
In this debut memoir, Bahamian millionaire Bastian offers insight into building a business.
The author was a millionaire by the time he was 19, an impressive feat considering he began his working life filling stockpots and rolling napkins in his father’s Nassau restaurant, a locals’ hole-in-the-wall far from the city’s tourist hotels. “In many ways, I started ten steps behind the starting line in a world where opportunities felt few and far between,” writes Bastian in his introduction. A poor student with a gambler’s risk tolerance and a salesman’s eye for an unserved market, the author dropped out of college to launch his own satellite installation business—the first of its kind in the Bahamas—eventually expanding into prepaid phones and other electronics. With this book, Bastian uses his personal experiences to illustrate the steps aspiring entrepreneurs should consider when building their own empires. “My goal isn’t just to tell my story,” he explains; “it’s to provide you with a starting point, a strategy, and the encouragement you need to take your first step toward something bigger.” The book alternates between memoiristic chapters describing the author’s youth and career and instructional chapters outlining the best practices to “become a lion” (his preferred metaphor for a brave, risk-taking captain of industry). From evaluating one’s skill set and choosing a suitable goal to the practicalities of regulation and taxes, Bastian walks the reader through the complicated processes of starting and maintaining a successful enterprise. While much of the advice is of the boilerplate variety, the author offers it with clarity and candor, devoting an entire chapter, for example, on how to fail productively. It is the biographical material that lends his advice unusual weight—Bastian’s stories of flying back and forth between the Bahamas and Miami to personally import satellite dishes are fascinating enough to stand on their own. Readers may be unable to replicate his success, but there is no denying that his tale is inspiring.
A rags-to-riches how-to as entertaining as it is wise.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9798891882485
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Advantage Media Group
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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