Success Biographies

When Mark and Gus first met, they had no way of knowing they would one day be the owners of the largest home service company in Dallas–Fort Worth! From the onset of their first meeting, these two men knew they were part of something unique, something bigger, something they hope can be an example for others. Discover the elements they put in place to create a company that works not just for its customers but for its team members and its community.

In 1962, Stephanie 'Steve' Shirley created a software company when the concept of software barely existed. Freelance Programmers employed women to work on complex projects such as Concorde's black box recorder from the comfort of their own homes. Shirley empowered a generation of women in technology, giving them unheard of freedom to choose their own hours and manage their own workloads. The business thrived, and Shirley gradually transferred ownership to her staff, creating 70 millionaires in the process.

Ian Purkayastha is New York City's leading truffle importer and boasts a devoted clientele of top chefs nationwide, including Jean-Georges Vongerichten, David Chang, Sean Brock, and David Bouley. But before he was purveying the world's most expensive fungus to the country's most esteemed chefs, Ian was just a food-obsessed teenager in rural Arkansas - a misfit with a peculiar fascination for rare and exotic ingredients. The son of an Indian immigrant father and a Texan mother, Ian learned to forage for wild mushrooms from an uncle in the Ozark hills.

How much do we know about the woman behind the famous name? In this book we'll attempt to get a closer look at the life of one of the world's biggest stars and how she made it all happen. How did she overcome extreme poverty and turn her life into a financial success story? Learn from her strategies, and create your own financial victories. So, are you ready to learn from Oprah Winfrey's life? Are you interested in learning about overcoming hardships and achieving goals?

Obroni and the Chocolate Factory is Steven's chaotic, fascinating, and bemusing journey to create a successful international business that aspired do a bit of good in the world. This book is at once a penetrating business memoir and a story about imagining globalism done right. Wallace's picaresque journey takes him to Ghana's residence for the head of state, to the Amsterdam offices of a secretive international cocoa conglomerate, and face-to-face with key figures in the sharp-elbowed world of global trade and geopolitics.

Edited by Toni Morrison and first published in 1974, An Autobiography is a classic of the Black Liberation era which resonates just as powerfully today. Long hard to find, it is reissued now with a new introduction by Davis, for a new audience inspired and galvanised by her ongoing activism and her extraordinary example. In the book, she describes her journey from a childhood on Dynamite Hill in Birmingham, Alabama, to one of the most significant political trials of the century.

The Way to Wealth, originally a preface to the 1758 edition of Franklin's beloved Poor Richard's Almanack, presents a brief fable of a local wise man, Father Abraham, quoting Poor Richard to an eager crowd. In this inspiring tale, Franklin steps out of the past and shares with you his famed maxims about wealth, knowledge, virtue, and all other elements of business success.

Finally, a self-help book for the millennial party girl who hates bullshit advice from "experts" who know nothing about the trauma of drinking and sex, the acute pressure of keeping up with the rest of the Adderall poppin' world, and the insecurity that comes along with feeling like you have to be thin and gorgeous and sparkly in order to be seen.

At seven years old, Lynnie Vessels stepped out of the bathtub to discover her father had just shot her mother with a shotgun across their dining room table. Literally standing naked in her mother's blood throughout the ensuing horror, she was magically transported into the loving eyes of her younger sister. Simultaneously, her older sister used words to convince her maniacal father to put down the gun. In those moments, the author came to understand the miraculous power of eye contact and words.

How did the trailblazers of Indian business turn their dreams into reality? The Pilani Pioneers profiles twenty-five accomplished BITS Pilani graduates, including startup founders, entrepreneurs and CEOs, who have made an indelible mark on the Indian and global business landscape while deftly navigating the twists and turns of their professional and personal lives.

In this transformative book, serial entrepreneur and leading digital venture builder in India Manish Vij chronicles his journey from modest beginnings to the heights of entrepreneurial success with disarming honesty. The story of outpacing circumstances unfolds through the launch of Kabadibazaar.com from a college hostel room and continues through the launch of Quasar, India’s leading digital media agency, SVG Media, a pioneering adtech company, and Letsbuy.com, a prominent e-commerce platform.

We Took the Risk dives into the personal journeys of 25 executives who, through their own combination of traits, took on the challenges of an early US renewable energy industry. Far from being a self-improvement book or a glorified “who’s who” run down, this book provides a backdrop by which to juxtaposition your own career journey. Author Tom Weirich lets you view the beginnings of the industry as if you were there, lock in step with these entrepreneurial leaders, as they sift through decisions that would forever impact the trajectory of renewables in the US.

I have been driving a truck full time for over four years at the time of this publishing. I have been a company driver for three of those years, and an owner/operator for a bit over one. In the four-plus years that I've been driving, I have spent one year driving most of the lower 48 states. I haven't made it up to North Carolina or a few other states in the northeast, but all of the others I have. For the last two years, I have been truck driving with my team from Los Angeles to the Kansas City area and back. We did that twice a week.

What’s Wrong With Your Dad is the true story of what it was like growing up and surviving a family with both alcoholism and Borderline Personality Disorder. It is told in the first person in a very conversational way, like the author and the reader are just sitting over coffee talking. It explains in clear layman’s terms the behaviors of both alcoholism and Borderline Personality Disorder and lets the reader know in no uncertain terms that the behavior was not in any way created by any adult child of either an alcoholic or BPD.

Lee Craigie is one of Scotland’s great bike racers, yet she has accomplished much more since retiring. In Other Ways to Win she tells her story of growing up near Glasgow and discovering the freedom of cycling—skipping French lessons and heading off into the Campsie Fells to see just how far she could ride.

Collecting deeply personal conversations with inspirational LGBTQ+ trailblazers (from Troye Sivan to Margaret Cho) about how they leveraged the challenges and insights they had as relative outsiders to succeed in the worlds of business, tech, politics, Hollywood, sports and beyond, Andrew Gelwick’s The Queer Advantage celebrates the unique power of queer identity. Their stories brim with the hard-won lessons gained over their careers.

Warriors Manage Chaos by accepting and embracing unexpected opportunities and solutions arising, like the Phoenix, from deep in one’s soul. A practical no platitude spirituality road map guide to learning to be yourself! Too often fear freezes us from actively engaging in the problem. One can change this by thinking and acting like a Warrior. Only by knowing oneself can you live in the Now. This requires seeing your life situations through clear vision represented by Shiva’s Third Eye. This changes your perspective and range of options from passive indecision to active determination. ...

A few years ago, lifestyle celebrity and TV pioneer Debbie Travis realized that she was no longer challenged by her wildly successful TV career, and she was so busy she was missing out on the people and things that made her happy. She dared to dream about a whole new direction in life - a plan to turn a 13th-century farmhouse in Tuscany into a unique hotel and retreat for people who need a change as much as she did. And now, after a crazy amount of work, she is not only living that dream but sharing it with others....

What does it mean to create a “model”? First, we naturally tune our attention toward role models during early childhood and take data to form an accurate model of our world. And from there, we model and remodel ourselves to become more like the ideal person we conceptualize in our imagination. Business Model gives listeners a front-row view of Williams’ own life experiences that gave rise to his unique business model. Listeners will be treated to countless inspiring perspectives on self-transformation, business success, and transcending adversity.

Christopher Paul Gardner, or best known as Chris Gardner, is an American investor, entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist who experienced difficulties in life in the 1980s. He was a homeless man while striving to raise his toddler son, who was named after him. His book of memoirs, The Pursuit of Happyness was published in the year 2006. Listen to his unbelievable story!