Let’s talk about the dark side of entrepreneurship and success.
Published by Viking (Penguin Random House).
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From the Publisher
His account of his rise from a self-described below-average student, to becoming a poster boy for the ambitious, successful young entrepreneur, to nearly destroying himself in the process is the subject of A Practical Way to Get Rich . . . and Die Trying. Roa’s twenty-year-long journey from being dead-broke to wealth he never imagined is an absurd and often comical story of talent, luck, risk, rapidly changing technology, larger-than-life personalities and wild situations. Roa’s intention for his memoir is not to present a glamorous rags-to-riches saga, but, instead, to serve as a cautionary tale of the toll that entrepreneurship can take on ambitious young people unprepared for the physical and mental costs that “making it” can take. Those pitfalls eventually took their toll on Roa, who, in the face of round-the-clock pressure and risk taking, ultimately suffered a breakdown from which he almost didn’t walk away. As he healed in the aftermath, he began to question the ethos that had brought him to that dark place, and he learned from other entrepreneurs that they, too, had experienced similar debilitating issues that they felt unable to admit, let alone discuss.
“One of the most honest and well articulated narratives that I’ve ever read on the rollercoaster that comes along with achieving success in our modern culture. John's vulnerability and security shine through as he gives a genuine insight into his journey of success that also reflects upon the necessary resilience to persevere through tough times as a leader, and make the journey all the more rewarding. I would encourage every leader, entrepreneur and coach to read this immediately.”
SEAN MCVAY
HEAD COACH, LOS ANGELES RAMS
“Business memoirs are so often heroic accounts of innovation, growth, and crushing the competition that it’s gratifying to encounter a book like Roa’s A Practical Way to Get Rich, which turns the standard narrative on its head by looking at the personal costs of success rather than just its benefits. Roa’s deep but hilarious look at his own failures and missteps can serve as a caution and inspiration to a generation of upcoming entrepreneurs.”
MARIO LOPEZ
ACTOR AND TELEVISION HOST
“John exposes the all too often neglected human side of success. The spiritual and mental taxation of success is rarely talked about. Here we get an inside look at the opposing forces that govern this realm and the fine line that separates them. I know firsthand how toxic the world of the entrepreneur can be and when things get rolling, it can be every bit as dark as the music business, possibly more.”
JIMMY CHAMBERLIN
DRUMMER - SMASHING PUMPKINS
“John is one of the few shining a light on the dark side of entrepreneurship. The same drive that makes a lot of us successful is the same force that drives a lot of us to stand face-to-face with our demons. This is a must read book.”
JORDAN HARBINGER
THE JORDAN HARBINGER PODCAST
“From a story-telling perspective, this is about as good as it gets. John does a brilliant job of combining personal vulnerability and business intelligence with raucous humor, keeping the reader deeply engaged. This is a gripping and compelling page turner.”
ANTHONY HEMINGWAY
GOLDEN GLOBE WINNING DIRECTOR (THE WIRE, PEOPLE VS O.J.)
QUOTES
“At the age of twenty‐six, I was dead broke and ready to give up on my life goal of being an entrepreneur. At twenty‐nine, I was a millionaire and running one of the fastest‐growing companies in America. Two years later, I sold my company and my mind was ruined.”
“Entrepreneurship is a strong drug, and I was clearly a junkie. If I’m honest, perhaps some of the hustle was to wash away the pain.”
“I began by manufacturing perception. Living my distorted reality. We are the best. We are the next big thing. We’ve earned it. But every time I said it, I was in doubt.”
“Imposter Syndrome is the downside of the fake‐it‐till‐you‐make‐it mentality. Now that you’ve become a success feeling like a fraud, you wait for the world to come crashing down on you.”
“ Living in a state of constant fear is a horrible feeling. Your bones are uncomfortable in your skin. You find yourself being resentful of everything, even things that are so unreasonable that to resent them feels delusional. Positive thinking aggravated me. Optimism felt irresponsible. Fuck you Tony Robbins. Everything is not going to be okay.”
“The predominant culture in startups today doesn’t even try to disguise itself. “Move fast and break things” is the mantra of the startup founder. “Fake it ’til you make it” is our rallying cry. “Do whatever it takes to succeed” is the unspoken golden rule. “No pain, no gain” is motivating only until you consider how toxic that guidance is. Entrepreneurs are incentivized to put personal wellness aside, manipulate the truth, take outsized risk, and cheat where necessary in order to win.”
“For those of us who are born entrepreneurs, it can be difficult to come to terms with the implications and understand what to do with our “gift.” Especially when we are fed so many fallacies about entrepreneurship at a young age.”
“That constant doubt was mentally draining. I had no way of knowing if this was how everyone in my position was feeling and we all just hid it well, or if it was just me. Whether I was just playing the game skillfully, or if I was a fraud. All I did know was that with every claim, every hire, every interview, I felt the metal balls hit together harder.”
“Isn’t it interesting how every entrepreneur is “crushing it”? Put one hundred in a room, and they all say that, even though ninety‐nine of them are on their way out of business.”
“Imagine being told there is a pot of gold atop a huge mountain in front of you. Even though you can’t see the summit, you think to yourself, I bet I can climb that. You take no consideration of safety or risk. No gear. No net. Just start climbing. That is entrepreneurship in a nutshell.”
“Entrepreneurship is invariably a selfish game, and it’s easy to forget how many other people your decisions affect. This is an inevitable part of the journey, one you must accept. It is so consuming that you become very introspective, which isolates you from others in your life. This quickly manifests as one of the most common and negative characteristics of entrepreneurship—loneliness. You hear it admitted repeatedly when you get entrepreneurs to speak truthfully. That same loneliness links directly to the mental health issues we so often experience. When you live in mental isolation, your stressors and anxieties show up and stay put, like unwanted houseguests.”
“As I recount this incident years later, I feel overcome with the same sensations. My heart starts to race, the sides of my eyes tighten, a small pressure forms at the base of my skull, and my stomach starts sending up mixed signals. I think about how our fate lies in the hands of countless random people. All it takes is for emotion to take over and one guy to seek revenge. Or a hundred other things.”