August 5, 2011 87 Comments

From Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur

From the title, you might think I was talking about some famous hip hop artist. But no, in this case, I’m talking about an extraordinary young man named Ryan Blair, who faced some incredible challenges in his life, and went on to become a successful multimillionaire entrepreneur.

But what struck me most in this interview was how Ryan put as much passion and effort into the process of writing his book as he has his entire life and career. Ryan’s book is called Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain: How I Went from Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur (amazon affiliate link). I’ve read the book cover to cover twice, and it has more good advice and motivation than most of the books penned by fancy executives with silver-spoon backgrounds. This is a must-purchase book. If you’re interested in being a successful entrepreneur, check out this book, and watch this interview.

Here’s the interview:

Can’t see the video? Click Here

Buy This Book

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  • http://iciclecreekrealestate.com Geordie Romer

    Thanks to Daniel Decker for the free copy of the book that came in the mail. It was a bit odd to read a gift note “from myself”. I’m starting to dig into it now.

  • http://www.wildwomannetwork.com SandraLeeSchubert, Get heard.

    Received my book on Saturday and put it in my bag next to the Ikea catalog (also essential reading). I wasn’t sure how I got it except I thought I had clicked on something – like magic a book shows up.  Thanks @cf08d3323752af98c7b908962c18a17c:disqus 

    Enjoying the story mixed with real time advice. Setting up the scenario with the story of Ryan’s  life helps to make this not another biz success book. I look forward to finishing it. 

  • http://twitter.com/MaddenBible ZFarls

    Got this in the mail from Amazon today as a gift? not sure the person who sent it to me is? I am an author/entrepreneur so I will read it but just curious if this happened to anyone else? 
    Perhaps its a sign, although I hope I never have to be a convict! 

    • http://twitter.com/3rhinomedia Don Stanley

      same thing happened to me. have you finished the book? I’m about 100 pages in.

    • http://twitter.com/3rhinomedia Don Stanley

      same thing happened to me. have you finished the book? I’m about 100 pages in.

  • http://twitter.com/3rhinomedia Don Stanley

    Really enjoyed the interview Ryan and Chris. Having grown up in a pretty violent inner city, I love your story and your optimism. It shows how the grittiness from rough backgrounds, when channeled in the right way can lead to positive change rather than perpetuate the negative cycles. Way to go brother! And as always, thanks for the outstanding content Chris. You are both creating positive change.

  • http://twitter.com/3rhinomedia Don Stanley

    Really enjoyed the interview Ryan and Chris. Having grown up in a pretty violent inner city, I love your story and your optimism. It shows how the grittiness from rough backgrounds, when channeled in the right way can lead to positive change rather than perpetuate the negative cycles. Way to go brother! And as always, thanks for the outstanding content Chris. You are both creating positive change.

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  • Heather Voznyak

    I quite enjoyed this book. But I’m wondering your view as a “Trust Agent” about the marketing of it. It was the most gifted book on Amazon for at least 2 weeks (including pre-sell), there are pictures on twitter of someone buying 75 copies at a time from Barnes & Noble and this week 30+ positive reviews were removed by Amazon—leaving mostly negative reviews about the marketing of it. In your comments you can see a ton of people who got it who didn’t even know the person who sent it to them. Did you receive compensation for this interview? Can people pay for articles to appear on Forbes or be featured on 800 CEO Read? Just wondering, I like the book so I’m interested in your perspective. Thanks.

    • http://www.danieldecker.net Daniel Decker

      Hey Heather. Feel free to contact me if you want to talk about the marketing of the book. I’m happy to chat and fill you in. It was all done legit and with integrity, at least where I was concerned and I helped to coordinate a good bit of it. Unfortunately, Ryan has a lot of “haters” out there from his past and competition within the industry that his company is in “direct to consumer.” Lots of rumors get spread. Specific to your questions… 1) It was most gifted due to ViSalus reps sharing an gifting their downlines – as far as I know. 2) Yes, there were a lot of bulk buyers of his book as he has 40,000 distributors in his company… many of whom buy in bulk for their teams. 3) No idea about the Amazon review thing. I wasn’t even watching it that closely to see reviews get yanked… glad you were though. 4) I had a promo allotment of books to give away and decided to give them to people who registered to win, but did not win, a biz book by Stan Slap that we gave away on Chris’ blog some time ago. Sorry if that seems shady to you. I thought I was doing something nice, like a Christmas in August deal to people who I thought would like and identify with the book. Where I messed up was forgetting to email those people and let them know in advance of them getting it (hence their surprised posts below). 5) No, Chris did not receive any form of compensation. He received the book, read it and liked it. 6) No, you cannot pay for articles on Forbes, at least that I am aware of. Dan Schawbel did a legit interview with Ryan and posted it on his Forbes blog account. That interview got picked up and run on Yahoo News home page. All organic, all happened on its own. — Hope these answer help you clarify.

  • http://www.fight.be/rondat/handschoenen/boks-handschoenen/small.html bokshandschoenen

    Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain – This sounds interesting.Also I am very much sure that this book must be worth reading.
    I am surely going to read this book.

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  • Brparker415

    Liked the interview, especially actually seeing the author talk about the issues. Chris, how did you do the split screen on the interview?

  • saurabh

    I am surely going to read this book.
    Mtech computers

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