How I Lost $25,000,000 ...: Discovered The Secrets to Business Success, and Found True Happiness

by Ronald Hume

Overview

The memoir of a radical mass-marketing entrepreneur, an autopsy of a super successful serial entrepreneur told with honesty and a wry sense of humour, revealing intimate details of his journey to massive wealth and the melt-down. This story spotlights essential life lessons for achieving happiness and fulfillment in business and in one's personal life.Ron Hume was genetically programmed to be an entrepreneur. He achieved success because he was able to identify unmet needs and his insights allowed him to build successful businesses. His career included Vice-President of McGraw Hill Canada where he turned a successful educational publisher into a highly innovative best-selling trade publisher. He then turned his entrepreneurial skills into building an empire of self-study publishing programs. At the pinnacle of his success over 5,000,000 individuals in the US and in Canada enrolled in his Successful Investing and Money Management program. He followed that up with other hugely successful self-study programs. He had offices and warehouses in Toronto, Los Angeles and Atlanta with over 200 employees. He then established North America's first mutual funds which were sold directly to consumers rather than through stock brokers and established financial institutions. Within 18 months, Hume Funds had over $250,000,000 in assets under administration!As The Hume Group of Companies grew, Ron lived life in the fast lane hanging out with leaders from the business world, renowned doctors and other professionals, and world famous artists. This life flamed out within a three-year when the stock market crashed and the internet transformed business practices.Ron' story is deeply personal. Readers will learn how the hubris resulting from a series of over-the-top successes exacerbated the agony he endured after losing the business empire he had built over a twenty year period. He then fell into a dark decade of reflection during which he analyzed the factors people need to a

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771616386
Publisher:	Mosaic Press
Publication date:	12/02/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Ron Hume was genetically programmed to be an entrepreneur. He achieved success because he was able to identify unmet needs and his insights allowed him to build successful businesses. His career included Vice-President of McGraw Hill Canada where he turned a successful educational publisher into a highly innovative best-selling trade publisher. He then turned his entrepreneurial skills into building an empire of self-study publishing programs. At the pinnacle of his success over 5,000,000 individuals in the US and in Canada enrolled in his Successful Investing and Money Management program. Ron Hume was genetically programmed to be an entrepreneur. He achieved success because he was able to identify unmet needs and his insights allowed him to build successful businesses. His career included Vice-President of McGraw Hill Canada, where he turned a successful educational publisher into a highly innovative, best-selling trade publisher. He then turned his entrepreneurial skills into building an empire of self-study publishing programs. At the pinnacle of his success, over 5,000,000 individuals in the US and in Canada enrolled in his Successful Investing and Money Management program.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Learn how the mind of an entrepreneur works, and the risks they assume heading off into uncharted waters without a map, operating instructions, or guides to lead the way. Explains the important role entrepreneurs play in a modern economy.

Part 1 In the Beginning

Chapter 1 Falling off a cliff: A venture capital company offers to acquire The Hume Group of Companies at a valuation that will make Ron rich, but a stock market crash dashes this dream. 3

Chapter 2 Early Signs of a Budding Entrepreneur: Having no academic or athletic success, Ron figures out how to get ahead in life. 7

Chapter 3 Lost in the Wilderness: Heading off in the wrong direction after dropping out of school, Ron gets a break that sets get his life on the right track. 15

Chapter 4 The Clouds Begin to Break: Landing a job in publishing and discovering the wonders of this new and exciting world. 20

Part 2 The Thrill of Success

Chapter 5 A First Triumph: Ron gets a powerful mentor, and has early successes at McGraw Hill Canada. A first brush with office politics. 29

Chapter 6 Climbing the Management Ladder: Ron's star rises at McGraw Hill. More responsibility and more opportunity. His first experience firing a senior employee. 38

Chapter 7 An Introduction to Publishing: As a neophyte publisher, Ron has success beyond his wildest dreams. His first book becomes a New York Times #1 best seller. 45

Chapter 8 The best job in the world: Chronicles Ron's experiences during his tenure as a Group Vice-president at McGraw Hill Canada. 56

Chapter 9 A Life Changing Event: McGraw Hill acquires two correspondence schools. Ron is assigned to marketing them in Canada. This is a big break he's not aware of at the time. 63

Part 3 The Hume Group of Companies

Chapter 10 The Impossible Year: In his last year at McGraw Hill, Ron simultaneously handles a Group VP job, while launching a new company, raises venture capital, and recruits a start-up team. 71

Chapter 11 Two Difficult Births: Describes miss-steps in the launch of Ron's businesses in Canada and the US. Both were on the brink of failure before getting out of the starting gate. 81

Chapter 12 Building the Engine Room: Developing ground-breaking mass marketing software. This enables The Hume Group to grow exponentially. 100

Chapter 13 Teaching the World How to Build Wealth: Ron publishes a series of self-study programs and investment advisories to help consumers build wealth. He recruits a celebrity Advisory Boards to endorse the company's services. 109

Chapter 14 Marketing to the masses: An inside look at the radical mass marketing strategies Ron developed. This enabled Hume Publishing to become a North American powerhouse in direct response marketing. 120

Chapter 15 Ron founds a medical publishing company and recruits a team of leading physician's to develop a line of patient education programs. These are distributed through major North American drugstore chains 136

Chapter 16 Hume Group of Mutual Funds: Ron founds The Hume Group of Funds and rewrites the rule book on the marketing of financial services. Within 18 months, Hume Funds have over $250,000,000 in assets under administration. 148

Part 4 Setbacks and Recovery

Chapter 17 A Tsunami strikes: The Dow plunged an astonishing 22.6%, the biggest one-day percentage loss in history. The Hume Group is forced to sell its Mutual Funds Company. Ron loses control of Hume Publishing. 157

Chapter 18 Slowly, the Sun Breaks Though Again. The road to recovery and how, by going through this process, it becomes clear to Ron that happiness and a fulfillment are not defined by simply acquiring more money and more toys. 171

Chapter 19 Discovering True Happiness: Ron set off on a quest to accomplish the one milestone to a fulfilling life that continues to elude him. Finding the perfect life partner and soul mate. His mission is a success and for the first time he experiences true happiness and fulfilment. 186

Part 5 Valuable life lessons acquired on my journey

Chapter 20 It's a great life, make the best of it! In this final chapter Ron offers tips and guidance for aspiring entrepreneurs. These insights will enable others to sidestep potholes as they embark on a journey where there are no maps, no instruction, manuals, and no guide, other than what's between their ears. 199