Product Description The rags-to-riches story of an amazing business wizard—from the Louisiana cotton fields to the worlds of computers, retailing, fast food, high finance, and green energy—life lessons from a man ahead of the pack and ahead of his time.
"My work is to create companies and build them," says the billionaire whom Fortune magazine, over thirty years ago, characterized_as "one of the most, if not the most, important entrepreneurs" of the century. This was even before Wyly contributed to nearly every great technological, service industry, and investment business breakthrough in the second half of the twentieth century.
Now, in his fast-paced, fascinating, and candid memoir, Wyly reveals the thought processes, relationships, and financial machinations behind the building of his diverse businesses over the last four decades.
Here's the story of how he worked his way through Louisiana Tech selling class rings and why, after his first job in which he broke sales records for IBM (along with Ross Perot, a fellow IBM salesman) and a brief stint at Honeywell, he decided to risk $1,000 of his savings to found the first "computer utility" company in the business world. This was in 1963. Two years later, he took his University Computing Company public and became an instant millionaire.
Never losing his entrepreneurial spirit, Wyly undertook one challenge after another, such as: • Waging a successful anti-monopoly battle against AT&T, enabling him to build a "telephone highway" for computers • Growing the modest Bonanza Steak House chain, which he "inherited" as the result of a bad debt, to a total of 600 outlets before selling it for a huge profit • Creating a new systems software company, Sterling Software, which he eventually sold for $4 billion • Dividending Sterling Commerce to public shareholders and selling to AT&T_for $4 billion in 2000 • Expanding the small arts-and-crafts chain Michaels Stores from 10 to 1,000 stores before selling it for $6 billion in 2006 • Founding Green Mountain Energy, which has become the largest and most profitable green business in the country.
Part autobiography and part inspirational self-help business guide, Wyly not only provides his homespun life lessons in the practice of starting and building businesses, but he also delivers refreshing new insights into how many American businesses operated from the 1950s to the present.
great readOctober 19, 2008 For everyone intetested in becoming wealthy, Sam Wyly takes a grass roots approach from being born in Louisana into being one of the world's wealthiest mean. A great read for anyone with an ounce of entrepreneural spirit.
How This Book Put Me To SleepOctober 18, 2008 Last night I could not sleep. This is such a turbulent time in the world that many of us share sleepless nights of worry - about the market and our future.
So at about 1 am I picked up Sam Wyly's 1,000 Dollars & an Idea. The book is a page turner and provides golden nuggets of wisdom and useful advise on how to deal with difficult financial times in a positive, proactive way. The words jumped off of the page...
"...Focus on spirituality, on mental power as opposed to material power."
"I knew there was nothing to fear. I stood there confident that something good would happen, even though I didn't know just what or when. Just then the phone rang."
Fear is bizarre to me. I have never really had it and when I had nothing I feared the least. It is strange how with accumulation comes also the fear of loss. Sam Wyly's reminder that there is nothing to fear when we are focused on a positive outcome is very timely for the world and America today. His story is also a great example of reaping good karma - when you do the right thing.
The concepts in this book that resonate the most with me have to do with loving your work. Sam writes:
"Without passion you will not find much personal fulfillment and are unlikely to do outstanding work...the motivation for success and passion for the work are tightly linked."
and...
"Work and Joy are not mutually exclusive" This quote is synonymous with how I have always positioned work - which is not really work at all! But I needed to be reminded of that.
Finally, Sam references a quote by Mary Baker Eddy, "Stand porter at the door of thought."
1,000 Dollars & an Idea is exactly what I needed to read last night. Fundamentally I know that every situation is really only based upon our point of view...our thoughts. Even in today's erratic economic times we can still control our thoughts and stay focused on a positive outcome.
So when Sam wrote, "I see problems and solutions as nothing more than opposite sides of the same coin," I sat with those words, let them really sink in - not only into my mind but into my heart - and I finally fell asleep!
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has concerns about their future - Sam's story provides us all with the confidence to lean into our own challenges and the promise of a successful outcome.
Multipliers plus other goodies for writers ...October 12, 2008 If you read this book and got nothing from it, I'd have to say you don't know how to read between the lines.
I'm only on page 7 and have found the following thus far:
* Great description of a Multiplier in the Prologue: "When Albert Einstein attended a press conference after he won the Nobel Prize, a reporter asked him, 'What is the strongest force in the universe?' He smiled and replied, 'Compound interest.' All the journalists laughed. But as every successful investor from neophyte to hedge fund manager knows, the greatest mind of the twentieth century was only half kidding."
* Pages 1 & 2 talk about hedge funds, which finally explained to me why mainstream consumer magazines lean so heavily on subscriptions (a form of hedging for the magazines; Kindle might disappear the dependence, though).
* Page 7 provides a great short-list of specific areas for writers to focus on, although it's only for those who are hungry for success.
Cool.
SK The Great Multipliers (Edocster)
Easy inspiring read!October 11, 2008 Sams' book is an easy read that outlines how not only how he rode the wave into the digital era but created it. With short chapters that give a broad view of important people and events in Sams' life rather than much detail about his strategies to creating his wealth. Its a fast bedtime read that is lite but worthwhile.
Tells Sam Wyly's story of risking his entire savings on a gamble of starting up a new businessOctober 9, 2008 Everyone starts with just about nothing. "1,000 Dollars & an Idea: Entrepreneur to Billionaire" tells Sam Wyly's story of risking his entire savings on a gamble of starting up a new business. Now one of the wealthiest people on the planet, this biographical account is helpful with tips and advice on how to establish one's own business when one doesn't have much to play with. Entering the mind of a financial genius, "1,000 Dollars & an Idea" is solid and highly recommended to aspiring business people.
