October 28, 2014
Boy Entrepreneur:
How One Hawaii Kid Succeeded in Business (And You Can Too)
Patrick Snow
Aviva Publishing (2014)
ISBN: 9781940984377
New Book Offers “All You Really Need to Know about Entrepreneurship” Story
Patrick Snow, the bestselling author of Creating Your Own Destiny and The Affluent Entrepreneur, has done it again, and this time, he hits it out of the ballpark. Boy Entrepreneur is the perfect book for anyone who wants to take charge of his or her destiny by owning a business—from the eight-year-old girl with a lemonade stand to the second or third career adult wanting to be self-employed. Reading Boy Entrepreneur is equivalent to having personal one-on-one sessions with over two dozen of the world’s greatest thinkers in business and in life. I won’t reveal who all those people are, but they range from Zig Ziglar to Mother Teresa, and they all make appearances in this charming but poignant fable about a young Hawaiian boy, Ikaika Marks, who wants to earn enough money to join his team for a baseball tournament in California.
Kaika, for short, decides that since his mother and grandmother can’t raise the money for his trip, he will sell makau fishhook necklaces to the tourists who visit Hawaii. He hopes to make a few hundred dollars, but what he gets instead are priceless riches, not only in dollars (though he gets quite a few of those through his sales) but also in the practical advice and inspiration he receives from the many people who stop to encourage him in his business pursuits. And while author Snow calls Boy Entrepreneur a fable, it is no fairy tale. Kaika earns everything he receives through hard work, dealing with rejection, perseverance, and thinking outside the box. And before he knows it, he realizes that while he enjoys baseball, he enjoys being an entrepreneur even more because it is the best solution for making all of his dreams come true.
Readers of all ages will be inspired by this book and return to it again and again so that they can remember and apply the advice given. Young readers will enjoy this story of Kaika and his close friend, Leilani, (whom he secretly has a crush on) because it will teach them that kids just like them can succeed. Older readers will enjoy trying to guess the identities of all the famous people who mentor Kaika along the way. (All their names are revealed in the end after Kaika does a little research on them for a homework assignment.) As a taste of this great advice Kaika receives, one mentor tells Kaika, “The difference between winners and losers is that winners show up expecting to win, while losers show up hoping to win!” Kaika takes this advice to heart and continues to show up to sell his makau fishhook necklaces until he succeeds in his sales goals.
Besides the entertaining story of Kaika, Patrick Snow offers numerous practical tools and exercises for readers who want to begin or improve their own businesses. Snow shares his own story of how he went from selling newspapers door-to-door as a kid to becoming the world-renowned speaker, publishing coach, and bestselling author that he is today. The back of the book is filled with tips and secrets for budding entrepreneurs, including “50 Greatest Sales & Marketing Secrets for Entrepreneurs,” “15 Start Up ‘Must Dos’ to Succeed in Traditional Business,” And “50 Home-Based Business Ideas for Less Than $500.” All of this information will inspire and assist readers in turning their entrepreneurial dreams into realities.
Boy Entrepreneur is the perfect gift for anyone, male or female, young or old. It would especially make a great graduation gift or retirement (from first career) gift. It’s a book that has its priorities straight, not only encouraging people to create their own businesses, but also reminding them about the importance of helping others, valuing one’s family, and giving back to the community. It’s a book everyone in business should read, and a book whose standards everyone should hold business leaders to. Best of all, giving others this book is in essence giving them a fishing pole so they can learn to fish for themselves.
I wish I had read this book when I was a boy and first trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. Even now, being self-employed myself, I gleaned many helpful hints from it. I’m absolutely certain that it will make a huge difference for any enterprising person, young or old, who reads it.
For more information about Patrick Snow and Boy Entrepreneur, visit www.PatrickSnow.com.
— Tyler R. Tichelaar, Ph.D. and Award-Winning Author of Arthur’s Legacy
