Getting Naked by Joel Primus

If you're an entrepreneur dreaming of growing an incredibly successful business, you need to face the cold, hard truth that 90% of small businesses fail. That's right, only 1 in 10 entrepreneurs who set out on that journey to change the world actually grow a successful business. That's a scary statistic, but if you want to improve your chances at success, I would highly recommend reading a book like this. See, Book Thinkers family, I love reading entrepreneurship memoirs. They give me the inspiration and they condense decades information into days of application so that you can avoid obstacles. Today we will be reviewing Getting Naked by author Joel Primus, and the subtitle of this book reads, The Bare Necessities of Entrepreneurship and Startups. Now this right here is a pretty funny picture. The story behind it is that Joel actually built a NASDAQ-traded company called Naked Boxer Briefs. Now I didn't get naked like he did, but I did think about it for this book review. So entrepreneurship, I love something that Joel says right in the introduction. I think it's very important, so I'm going to read it. He says, quote, as Colin R. Davis once said, the road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same. And then Joel goes on to say that actually they are the same. See, all entrepreneurs start out on the same road, and the ones that end up failing, the 90% that end up failing, just didn't drive far enough. See, they're the same road but the entrepreneurs that gave up too early aren't the ones that became successful. You need to go into this journey understanding that there will be roadblocks and obstacles on that road, but if you can maneuver around them, you can get a little bit farther, right? You can become successful. And so going into entrepreneurship knowing that, setting the right expectation that entrepreneurship is not all about being a superhero, it's just about navigating obstacles, that's one of the core lessons of this book. And I love reading these stories, like I said, Because in the memoir stuff, you get the fun stories, the stuff that sticks, and then in the business strategy, the serious stuff, you kind of get the, okay, well, this is going to be a long hard road, so I might as well buckle up and understand it's going to be difficult. So, that's one of my favorite lessons from this book. Now, are you wondering whether or not entrepreneurship is really for you? If you are, if you've got some killer ideas, then check this out. This is one of my favorite sections of the book too. Joel says that every now and again, put the phone down, put down the book, log out of the podcast, turn off Netflix, and do nothing except get silent, close your eyes, and breathe. Be with yourself. Let the ideas come to you like rain and think about them, write them, jot them down, journal about them. See, so many people are confused as to whether or not entrepreneurship is going to be for them that they don't even start to pursue the idea. They don't even get it past that initial roadblock because it's so intimidating. So, I know everybody in the Book Thinkers audience is smart, intelligent, capable, motivated. You're reading amazing books like this. If you'd like to take the next step and become an entrepreneur, slow things down. Really think about it. Put some time into it. I know there's that kind of famous line like the richest place in the world is the graveyard or something like that because that's where ideas go to die. People die with so many amazing ideas. Don't let that happen to you. If you have a moment of inspiration, write it down and then spend some time later, schedule some time to reflect on those ideas. break them down, think about them, digest them. And then if you're like Joel and something just can't— you can't get it out of your brain, you know it's the right idea and you'll start to pursue it. Now, I said that this book was part memoir, part business strategy. I love how this story started in Lima, Peru, of all places. I went to Lima, Peru last year and I hiked Machu Picchu. I had such an amazing experience. And Lima, Peru is a very underrated city. So Joel tells a very funny story about how He kind of had to run out of a nightclub. I won't spoil it for you. And he ended up picking up this pair of boxer briefs and it ended up being life-changing for him, right? Because he ends up starting a company that goes on to become super successful and now it's publicly traded on the NASDAQ. Incredible story, but it was filled with a lot of bumps and bruises, like I said. Now, the next part that I'd like to review with you in here is That entrepreneurship requires hard work and humility. I love this lesson. I think sometimes, like I mentioned before, we think of entrepreneurs as these people wearing superhero capes, right? Meanwhile, Joel's naked on the COVID Entrepreneurs are real people. We face a lot of real obstacles. You need to understand you're going to get punched in the gut a million times. You might have a car accident on your way to a big pitch meeting, or you might go on a national television show like Dragon's Den, which by the way. is the Canadian version of Shark Tank and get publicly humiliated in front of people. But on the other side, you can find some success. So I know everybody at the Book Thinkers family has been asking for shorter book reviews. I won't go into a ton of detail, but this book is full of tons of strategy on team building, like when Joel first lost his first teammate at the business and how difficult that was, and then kind of finding the right people. It's how to raise money, you know, and what that process is like. You kind of get punched in the gut realizing how difficult it was for somebody like this was such a brilliant idea. Even naming the business and getting access to the trademark Naked and everything like that. Just so many funny stories, so many wise business lessons. Joel will be coming on the Book Thinkers Podcast to talk a little bit more about some of my favorite parts of this book, so stay tuned. Check out this book if you're interested in entrepreneurship. Check out the podcast in a month or two when it comes out, and you will not regret it. Super fun read, and again, I'm so motivated by these memoirs because it shows me exactly what it takes to be a real entrepreneur, a real successful entrepreneur. Now go read something. Bye.