Rise and Grind: Outperform, Outwork, and Outhustle Your Way to a More Successful and Rewarding Life

by Daymond John, Daniel Paisner

New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Broke and "Shark" on ABC's hit show Shark Tank explores how grit, persistence, and good old-fashioned hard work are the backbone of every successful business and individual, and inspires readers to Rise & Grind their way the top.

Daymond John knows what it means to push yourself hard--and he also knows how spectacularly a killer work ethic can pay off. As a young man, he founded a modest line of clothing on a $40 budget by hand-sewing hats between his shifts at Red Lobster. Today, his brand FUBU has over $6 billion in sales.

Convenient though it might be to believe that you can shortcut your way to the top, says John, the truth is that if you want to get and stay ahead, you need to put in the work. You need to out-think, out-hustle, and out-perform everyone around you. You've got to rise and grind every day.

In the anticipated follow-up to the bestselling The Power of Broke , Daymond takes an up close look at the hard-charging routines and winning secrets of individuals who have risen to the challenges in their lives and grinded their way to the very tops of their fields. Along the way, he also reveals how grit and persistence both helped him overcome the obstacles he has faced in life and ultimately fueled his success.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Self Help, Personal Development, Entrepreneurship, Audiobook, Biography

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 2018

About the author

A young entrepreneur, an industry pioneer, a highly regarded marketing expert, and a man who has surpassed new heights of commercial and financial success are just a few ways people have described Daymond John. Over the last 20 years, Daymond has evolved from one of the most successful fashion icons of his generation to one of the most sought after branding experts, business, and motivational speakers in the country.

Daymond’s creative vision and strong knowledge of the marketplace helped him create one of the most iconic fashion brands in recent years. FUBU, standing for “For Us By Us”, represented a lifestyle that was neglected by other clothing companies. Realizing this need in the marketplace, Daymond created the untapped urban apparel space and laid the groundwork for other companies to compete in this newly established market.

Daymond grew up in the community of Hollis, Queens, quickly becoming known as the birthplace of the new genre of music called Hip-Hop, with acts like RUN DMC and Salt-N-Peppa rapidly making names for themselves. Being surrounded in this influential neighborhood helped spur the inspiration for his clothing line that would ultimately change the fashion world.

His first foray into the apparel market came when he wanted a tie-top hat he had seen in a popular music video but could not find one for a good price. With the sewing skills he had learned from his mother, Daymond started making the hats for himself and his friends. Realizing he was on to something, Daymond made a sizeable order of the tie-top hats, sold them on the streets of Queens one day, and made $800 in just a few hours. There was a buzz about Daymond’s products that simply could not be ignored.

Based on that early success, Daymond recruited some of his neighborhood friends and FUBU was born. They created a distinctive logo and began sewing the FUBU logo on all sorts of apparel, including hockey jerseys, sweatshirts and t-shirts. The brand hit a tipping point when Daymond convinced Hollis native and Hip-Hop superstar, LL Cool J, to wear FUBU for a promotional campaign. This was the catalyst behind the entire Hip-Hop community supporting the new brand and instantly giving it credibility. In need of start-up capital to keep up with demand, Daymond and his mother mortgaged the home they collectively owned for $100,000. Soon, the home was turned into a makeshift factory and office space.

FUBU gained even more nationwide exposure when Daymond and his partners traveled to the industry trade show Magic in Las Vegas. Despite not being able to afford a booth at the event, the FUBU team showed buyers the distinctively cut, vibrantly colored sportswear in their hotel room. The company came back to Queens with over $300,000 worth of orders. FUBU soon had a contract with the New York City-based department store chain Macy's, and it began expanding its line to include jeans and outerwear. A distribution deal with Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung allowed their designs to be manufactured and delivered on a massive scale. With the brand transcending into the mainstream markets, FUBU recorded annual sales of $350 million, placing it in the same stratosphere as designer sportswear labels such as Donna Karan New York and Tommy Hilfiger.

In 2009, John joined the cast of the ABC entrepreneurial business show, Shark Tank, produced by acclaimed TV producer Mark Burnett. As one of the “Sharks”, Daymond and four other prominent executives listen to business pitches from everyday people hoping to launch their company or product to new heights. Investing his own money in every project, Daymond becomes partners with the entrepreneurs helping turn their dreams into a reality. Millions of viewers tune into the show as Daymond demonstrates his marketing prowess and entrepreneurial insights.

Due to the increasing amount of requests from major companies, Shark Branding was formed to provide companies with the marketing insights that have made D

Reviews

[Michael King · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a waste of time. After having listened to over 100 books from Audible, this is the first one that resulted in me asking for a refund (side note: refunds are remarkably easy to get from Audible!).

The book is full of cliches and hype. Rise and shine. Early to bed, early to rise. Crush it. Meh. Most of the content of the book centers around the stories of people who have accomplished big things in their lives. However, in my opinion, most of their stories don't tell anything motivational. The worst was Wendy Williams' portion. It rambled on and on about her kids' eating habits, her makeup routine, and other non-essential filler.

Sorely disappointed.

[Book Reviews by Tara aka Queen of Memoirs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned about this book while watching Daymond John on the morning radio talk show The Breakfast Club with Charlemagne Tha God. On this show John described his book as a guide for readers so that they may learn the morning rituals and activities of some of the most successful people in the business world. As a woman on a journey to becoming her best, this book sounded like something I would really be interested in reading. So I purchased the book the next day.

As much as I would like to say Rise And Grind is a must read for anyone looking to take their grind to a higher lever...I cannot. Instead, Rise and Grind read to me like a book of bios detailing the life and accomplishments of the author’s business partners and associates.

With a total of eight chapters, there are fifteen different people interviewed in the book. Some of these individuals include television talk show host Wendy Williams, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, Grammy award winning artist Carlos Santana and Pastor Joel Osteen. Each person was asked to share their day-to-day habits and routines so that the reader may see how some of the world's most successful people make the most out of a 24 hour day.

In theory this is an awesome concept. However, I believe John failed in the execution. I would have enjoyed the book much more if he did not spend so much time providing background information of each of the individuals featured. John spent more than half of each person's section telling the life story of the featured individual. Then he spent even more time detailing his relationship with that individual. After all of this information was given he finally provided a few quotes from the interviewee, giving the reader a glimpse into his or her day-to-day habits and rituals. The disconnect I experienced with this book came from the author providing so much background information, that I began to lose interest with each story.

Of all the chapters in the book my favorite was Chapter Six: Grind All Night. In this chapter John discussed the importance of business owners putting themselves in the environments that exposes them to as many different people, brands, and trends as possible. He uses himself as an example by explaining why he continues to frequent nightclubs at the age of 48. In this chapter he also stresses the importance of putting, "yourself where the deals happen". Meaning, if you are on your grind, you should always network where your market lives and breaths. This is how you learn what the latest trends are within your industry. It's how you get a leg up on the competition and stay connected to the consumers in your market.

In summary, yes...there are some sections within Rise and Grind that contains insightful words of wisdom. And yes, some of the stories in the book are inspiring. But overall, there were not enough aha moments for me to give this book my stamp of approval.

But as I always say, if you are considering reading this book, please continue to do so. It is my belief that every book has a purpose. Maybe there is a message for you within these pages that was not meant for me.

[Charles Haywood · Rating 4 out of 5]

People often ask me, as I stride the halls of power in my custom Zegna suits wove with thread of gold, how I became so rich and successful. Like David Byrne, I too ask myself, how did I get here, with my beautiful house, and my beautiful wife, and large automobile? Such thoughts bounce around my mind, but they have crystallized after reading Daymond John’s "Rise and Grind." I picked this book because John is my favorite regular on "Shark Tank," a show I watch intermittently, and I was bored in the airport, looking for something to read. I’m not sure I learned anything new, but I was inspired to regularize some of my thinking about my favorite topic, myself, and now I will share it with the world.

I am not a frequent consumer of this genre that might be called “business self-help”—books that revolve around business, but shade, to a greater or lesser degree, into advice for people in their daily lives. On those few occasions I read such books, usually I either hate them, or can only remember a few points, since much of what most of these books have to say is unmemorable. Thus, I loathed Charles Koch’s "Good Profit," and after I read Og Mandino’s "The Greatest Salesman in the World," the only one of the ten didactic lessons I could remember was, no surprise to those who know me, “Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.”

That lust for gold is inborn. When I was four or five, I can distinctly remember having two goals, both of which I assumed I would certainly achieve. The first was to be Pope. Although this seems like a religious goal, in fact it reflects poorly on me, because my aim was not spiritual leadership, but power. In my nature I wanted to be the most powerful person of whom I was aware—and that was the Pope. If Napoleon had been alive when I was a child, I would probably have wanted to be him. (Jimmy Carter was alive, and in power, but he was not the man to inspire a budding megalomaniac.) My second goal, the one we are discussing today, was to be rich. Since my family was very not rich, the only route I ever considered was earning money through business. And I have achieved my goal, by any reasonable measure.

Well, actually, I considered one alternate path. When I told my mother my plan was to marry a rich woman, she replied that was fine, but I should remember, that a man who marries a rich woman is not a rich man, he is merely the husband of a rich woman. (I am not sure if that is original with my mother. It sounds like Oscar Wilde, but I have not run across the phrase anywhere else, and the Internet does not come up with it, in a quick search.) Sill, I once asked the clerk at Tiffany if she knew any heiresses (before Tiffany started focusing on selling to the great unwashed). She demurred, probably thinking I was a creep, so I gave up. Thus, business it had to be, or nothing, after first spending some years as a lawyer.

What does any of this have to do with Rise and Grind? Quite a bit, actually. The book has one basic point, and it is same one that I have often made myself about what is necessary, before and above all else, to succeed in business. Listen closely. To be a winner, you must do two things, which, as of five seconds ago, I call the Golden Dyad. You have to work hard, and you have to get done everything that has to be done. I can here you choke with rage, and say that is obvious, and I am wasting your time. Ah, but I will tell you why you are wrong.

The empirical reality is that at least ninety-five percent of people can’t do both of those things, and usually can’t even do one. This is partially because many people are lazy, but much more so because working hard is not just doing hard work. Rather, it consists of two elements. One is obvious. That is aggregate time spent actually working, and no, there are no shortcuts. But the second element is not obvious; it is what I call the “racetrack,” what John calls “the ideas running through your head.” Those are all the innumerable thoughts that are relevant to success in business, from to-do items to customers to bills to bookkeeping to taking the trash out to strategy, chasing each other around in a circle in your head, twenty-four hours a day. Your business must consume your mind, morning, noon, and night, and no, you cannot break this up or delegate it. Most people simply cannot do this. They lack the ability, or the will, to so focus. Actually it’s more than willed focus; it’s focusing so hard that it becomes the backdrop of existence, like breathing, not a matter of choice. Most people have to, or want to, spend time thinking about other things, like what’s for dinner or what’s on Netflix. Not someone who wants to be a successful entrepreneur.

This can be hard on others. If you’re married and don’t have spousal buy-in and support, it will probably be disastrous. My wife, who married me knowing that my grand desire was to, in her words, “build castles in the sky,” says that for the first few years after our marriage, when she saw me staring off into the distance, clearly somewhere else, she worried I was thinking about other women. Soon enough (though she helped in the business) she realized that I was, instead and always, thinking about money—by which she meant the racetrack, not cash itself. Dreaming about cash as cash doesn’t get you cash. But cash, the finish line of the racetrack, is independence, safety, and power, of which more later; accept no substitutes.

As to the second element of the Golden Dyad, getting everything done, it is a basic truth, which I cannot explain, that most people simply cannot do everything that needs to be done, immediately, without delay. As John says of himself, “I identify what needs doing, then I just get to it.” This is a function both of competence and decisiveness (it is always better to make any decision than to defer the decision; you can fix things later, on the fly, if necessary). But the vast majority of people list ten things, and do seven. Why? I have no idea. Maybe they’re afraid, or incompetent, or lazy. Beats me. Nonetheless, it is a truth universally acknowledged, or should be.

And what binds together the people John profiles in his book, more than anything else, is that they get things done. They also work hard, obsessively hard, in both senses of working. John chastises self-help gurus (read: Oprah) who say that visualizing success is the key. False: that only succeeds “if you’re willing to put in the work.” Truer words were never spoken.

The Golden Dyad is also an utter rejection of that stupid phrase, work-life balance. John quotes Nely Galán (a television executive of whom, like twelve of the fifteen famous people profiled in this book, I have never heard, which should probably tell me something). “When young people say to me, ‘Oh my God, I’m dying, trying to hold down three jobs,’ I don’t feel sorry for them. When you’re young, there is no balance, and there shouldn’t be balance. There’s plenty of time later in life for balance.” This is the also the truth. When I started as an entrepreneur, fourteen years ago, with no savings, one child, and a pregnant non-working wife, I worked a second full-time job, with flexible hours, and ran various hustles to pay the bills. Similarly, John worked at Red Lobster for years after starting FUBU, as well as other side jobs, hustles, and deals, some of which worked out, some of which did not.

My own side deals and hustles were legal, certainly. But borderline ethical. For example, for six months I ran a bookcase-making business, before I started my current business. I had pretty good traffic to my website, as a result of teaching myself search engine optimization, back when it was still the Wild West and amateurs could do that. Even after I stopped making bookcases, having started my current business, I kept the website up, and redesigned it make potential customers go around in a fruitless, endless loop, searching for how to buy bookcases from me. Then I put Google ads on the site, so the most obvious way to exit, for someone looking for bookcases, was to click on the ads, for bookcases. I then drove even more traffic to the site by other dubious actions, like spamming Craigslist. I made $50,000, and that money fed my family. Clever me.

That wasn’t the only ethical line I sliced thin. When I started my current business (basically packaging food), I had no customers. I got one customer to sign on—contingent on my showing, within a certain time frame, that I could do the work. I ran out of time, able to complete “pilot” batches of only half the required products. I struggled with the others; I wasn’t sure I could do them. But rather than admit defeat, I went to retail stores, bought the customer’s current offerings, opened the packages, repackaged them, and sent them to the customer as my own work. (I called these “special batches.”) I kept the contract. (The irony is that the customer’s only comments about needed improvements were from the special batches, not the ones I had actually done.) Would I do it again? You bet.

Or, to take another example, I wanted, or rather desperately needed, to find more customers. Databases of thousands of potential customers, with decisionmaker names and titles, were available, organized by Standard Industrial Classification code. But they were very expensive, and I had no money. So I tried various logins, finally finding that “student” and “test” worked as login and password—and downloaded all I wanted for free (using a VPN to hide my IP address, just in case). Those databases, used to send letters to potential customers, got me my first big customer, which made the company. Stealing? Maybe, though is it stealing to obtain a good that can be duplicated at no marginal cost to the owner, if I never would have been able to afford buying it?

All this is merely living the Golden Dyad. But you can’t make a book out of the Golden Dyad, so John dilutes the message with checklists about other matters derived from his own experience and that of the people he profiles. Some of that advice is pretty good, but it’s all secondary. The book is still worth reading, though, just to have the basic key points of hard work and accomplishment-of-everything hammered into your brain. It is also interesting that there are a variety of secondary characteristics that often, but not always, characterize successful entrepreneurs. Most of them make at least a brief appearance in this book. They exercise regularly. They are not fat. They are strong-willed. They are flexible. They get back when up when knocked down. But all these are not additions to the Golden Dyad; they are manifestations of the same underlying character traits that drive the Golden Dyad. Thus, for example, successful entrepreneurs are not usually obese, because obesity is the external evidence of lack of discipline, the same discipline necessary to focus and accomplish.

There are non-trivial costs to executing the Golden Dyad. I missed much of my older children’s very early years, and as I used to, with some exaggeration, bitterly complain to my wife, “I sold my friends for money.” John, similarly, has few amusements; he doesn’t watch Game of Thrones or do politics. He does party quite a bit, still, but his claim, which I have no reason to question, is that partying is business for him. Beyond the Golden Dyad, business approaches can differ wildly, and that is true as between John and me. I am, for business purposes, a solipsist, and my business does not require me to network or party with anyone. Nor do I have any desire to do so. For the most part, I am a ghost, and notoriously hard to actually reach except for the most important customers. You will not find me taking customers out to Yankees games. John is in the image and hustle business (or rather, several of them), and that is simply a different type of business. But we are the same, down deep.

Back to the Pope. John prays, as he says several times in this book. I have to admit, I have never prayed about business. It seems greasy, somehow, to ask God to give me money. Why compound my sin of avarice with asking God to participate? That’s not to say I don’t recommend prayer; I just never made a connection between it and business. In my most recent confession (immediately prior to Eastern Orthodox chrismation), I had to cough up my love of money. Oops. Fortunately, my priest didn’t tell me to sell all that I had and give it to the poor. I’m relying on the explicitly approved example of Zacchaeus—he only gave half to the poor.

Still, entrepreneurship is not for everyone, even if you can execute the Golden Dyad and bear the costs. Some people just don’t have the personality for it. For example, most lawyers who start their careers at large law firms (i.e., the cream of the lawyer crop) embody the Golden Dyad. But by self-selected personality, they are mostly risk averse, and trained to only offer analysis and to let others made weigh and make the actual decisions. If they can push themselves past those limitations, though very few can, I would put my money on such a lawyer any day as the most likely to succeed. Another debilitating personality trait is internalizing stress. The grind, in John’s word, is extremely stressful—even if you don’t face personal ruin if you fail, which most real entrepreneurs do. So if you have to take Xanax before your business even opens its doors (as a friend of mine did), you will not be a success, and you may end up eating a bullet.

The irony of all this is that all those people on the outside, who cannot or will not live the Golden Dyad, but want what it brings, and exist as wage slaves or, worse, parasites of one kind or another, rarely admit to themselves that their failure to achieve such escape velocity is their own fault. John says, along these lines, speaking of criticism of one of the people he profiles, Kyle Maynard, born with no arms or legs, “It just goes to show you that people will always find a reason to point at you and say you’ve had some sort of advantage.” The reality is that claims of “privilege,” wherever found, in business or any other area, are almost always merely an attempt by the speaker to cover up his own inadequacy. This is true in every walk of life, but most of all in entrepreneurship, where success breeds fierce envy, especially from those who know, deep down, they lack what it takes.

While the road to entrepreneurial success is always through the Golden Dyad, the reasons why entrepreneurs do what they do are not the same, and that also implies that their paths, past a certain point, diverge. Some love the process, the racetrack, the work and the accomplishment; such people often become serial entrepreneurs. Others, like me, are in it purely for the money. Those who are in it for the money may be it in for money itself, as a marker of success; those are the types who, like the fisherman in the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale, keep asking for more until they are cast back to the poverty of their beginnings. Or they may be like me, in it for the money, for what the money can do.

That is to say, I don’t enjoy the racetrack, and I’d be happy to get off. In fact, I am off, mostly, even though I am still running my business, because I have an outstanding team whom I have given near total independence. But it took ten years to get even a small break from the grind, and twelve to get where I am now, able to spend whole weekends nearly without thinking about the business at all. Certainly, I have to pay some attention, to keep it growing and make sure it doesn’t go off the rails, but past a certain point most businesses have a certain degree of stability. My biggest concerns are macro concerns, with the economy or zombie apocalypses, not immediate business concerns. Those do not have a place on the racetrack.

I can hear you asking, what if you don’t succeed, even if you execute the Golden Dyad? I talk as if success is guaranteed, but that cannot be the case. Certainly, other things intervene—simple fate, inadequate talent in a chosen field, and much more. My strong belief, though, is that as long as you say away from loser businesses like restaurants, reasonably intelligent people who can execute the Golden Dyad are highly likely, probably greater than eighty percent likely, to be a success—that is, to generate substantial, if not spectacular, wealth. But of the twenty percent, there are two distinct negative outcomes: delayed success, and actual failure.

As to the former, how long can an entrepreneur keep going if success does not appear? Quite a long time, I think. If you once begin to execute the Golden Dyad, in most cases you can keep going forever. And in fact, if you fail, you can often pick yourself up off the ground and keep going. For years, about ten percent of my racetrack was contingency plans, how to ease the creation of a totally new business if my core business failed. Whether your can bear the stress, or your family can bear the stress, of too-long-delayed success, is another question. But for some people, their pepper ship never comes in. Or their failure is so catastrophic as to prevent any resurgence. I don’t have a solution for that; sometimes life isn’t fair.

Beyond individual entrepreneurial success, it is worth mentioning that the Golden Dyad of hard work and ability to accomplish is not just a rarely found personal characteristic. It is also grossly unevenly distributed across cultures, which is why some cultures are economic (and cultural) winners, and most are losers. Ten years ago I spent a week in Shanghai, where I went all over the city. Not once did I see a single person not busily occupied in accomplishing something. Not once. If I went to Cairo, or Mexico City, or Naples, I bet I couldn’t get ten feet without seeing several people (usually men) doing nothing at all. Collectively, such actions have consequences, visible and invisible. A culture that demands, and rewards, excellence, like we used to be, is going places. The converse is also true. Get woke, go broke.

Oh, I have many more thoughts on entrepreneurship. I also have thoughts on what follows from success in entrepreneurship, including why the term “giving back” is odious and stupid. These are the core thoughts, though. And yes, I will answer questions directed to me on this topic, so feel free to ask away!

[Jaimie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a total waste of time. It was filled with cliche lines and nothing helpful in anyway. He basically interviewed a bunch of people who also didn't have anything really helpful or motivational to say. And can I tell you how annoying it was to read "rise and grind" on almost every single page?!

[Shavon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rise and Grind’s content doesn’t match the title. The phrase “rise and grind” is authentic and gully. It’s the antithesis of “Fake It until You Make It.” It means put your nose to the grind and get stuff done. Thus, as an entrepreneur, I was immediately drawn to a book with such a title. However, with respect to Daymond John’s book, the title Rise and Grind is a misnomer.

John managed to interview some successful people but presented his work as a selection of celebrity profiles that fail to extract the subjects’ processes or their philosophies or any information useful to the reader or true to the “rise and grind” theme of the book. John basically presents the life stories of his subjects (e.g., Catherine Zeta-Jones dropped out of high school, and Kyle Maynard was born handicapped, etc.) and says look how successful they are. If they can do it, so can you. Inspirational, perhaps, but not practical. It fails to identify what’s in these successful people and whether it can be learned later in life. How are some people able to keep pressing even after they’ve made their name and their money? How are some people able to grind it out on days when they can’t summon their best talent or keenest focus?

To be fair, John is not a journalist. He probably did not know what questions to ask or how to follow-up if the answer to a question was non-responsive or veered off-track. Perhaps he should have enlisted the help of a journalist because after reading the book, I’m left feeling that the title Rise and Grind was wasted on a book unworthy of the moniker.

[Bayo Arigbon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I saw Daymond John's interview on THE BREAKFAST CLUB it seemed like this would be a good book, but it wasn't. Full of cliche' info and no brainers, like "think big", or "grind hard", anyone who is looking to better themselves will come across. As an owner of a clothing line I was hoping it could provide so tips or even inspire some ideas, but no, this book is has nothing useful for anyone looking to expand their business. Its mostly full of background stories from other successful people, who weren't quite relateable, because I am a clothing brand owner. I guess I was just the recipient of a terrible impulse buy.

[Sunshine Rodgers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first time reading a book by Daymond John, though I love watching him and the other Sharks on the hit TV show, Shark Tank. I loved reading in this book about some of the fun facts about the taping, filming and the behind the scenes of that show! I picked up this book trusting in Daymond's wisdom and guidance in business and success. I also appreciate the interviews and personal stories he collected in this book, featuring such talented people as Catherine Zeta-Jones, Carlos Santana and even Joel Osteen. Daymond includes a Grind Checklist as a means for the reader to take-away what was just mentioned on the text. Daymond also includes Power Facts and bold fonts to emphasize his points. He defines G.R.I.N.D. as : Get on it. Repeat. Insist. Navigate. Desire/Drive/Determination. This is an easy book to read and even though I didn't necessarily "click" with all the people he interviewed - I certainly walked away with the key points and was able to lean and glean from others who reached their pinnacle of success in different ways. Daymond also had a chapter called, "A Day in the life of a Shark" which was fun, as the reader follows him around on a given day. I do like that there is a chapter on stepping back and resting from the hustle and grind and how to relax. I think that was a very important chapter to include. The epilogue speaks about Daymond's collar tattoo (didn't know he had one), but more importantly his efforts to stay cancer-free and the importance of keeping health a priority. I definitely recommend this book and will read other books by this author!

[May Ling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: This is a great book for any ambitious person to get them out of bed and working first thing in the morning. I needed this for sure. This is a book after you already have a vision or at least a direction.

I will be doing a video review of this book on Instagram as part of my 100 Days, 100 Books. Would love support of my IG clip at WhereisMayLing or YouTube: Diary of a Speed Reader

This guy is so dope. He has enough wisdom to write this whole thing, but he still brings in a whole cast of awesome people, likely for marketing. In truth, you can tell that those are the writer's words even above and beyond these individuals. Still, those are some pretty admirable people and I just love it.

This first early chapter sets up the tone for what Think Big really means. It's not expect magically it to happen. It requires the hustle. That is the actual day to day execution of a series of steps that all matter. How do you get it done. The whole book works better once you have a sense for vision and what you want to do. Without that, I think this book is tough. With that, your hustle benefits from this book.

I LOVE the format of power facts. Very cool.

p. 17 the Shark Points are key (Get it done, Homework, Adore what you do, Remember you are the brand, Keep swimming)
These are clutch. I do think people don't always do enough homework. This point isn't covered quite as much throughout the book, so I removed a star. I think a lot of purebred entrepreneurs like John, have a big assumption b/c their brain just processes opportunity differently. That said, I love the whole thing and think the discipline of this will help anyone learn the homework piece.

p. 22 - The GRIND (Get on it, Repeat, Insist, Navigate, Desire/drive/determination) Love it.
Catherine's grind list is awesome.

p. 40 - The don't quite attitude story of Kyle Maynard. People will always point to some advantage you had, so you got to ignore that. It's interesting b/c it's true that as you grow and rise, there are new forms of haters that try to deny your reality. Hadn't thought about it that way.

p. 50 - "One man's heavy burden is another man's feather." The highlights this sentence and then tells you the point is that whatever you're dealing with there is another dude that has already gotten over it and can tell you how he/she did that. This seems to be his subtle way of explaining what inspiration is (or a facet of it).

p. 70 - This story of how not to get pushed around by the high school girl who just was like... I didn't do wrong, so I have right on my side. she found herself a platform with 17 magazines and went on to just be amazing. Wow. These homespun, purebred entrepreneurs. The way they think at a young age! The way they just ignore the critics. I love it. "Much like the story about Catherine Zeta-Jones, Nelly's parent's disapproval taught Nely to be willing to set aside the expectations of others as she set off in pursuit of her dreams."

p. 134 - "We keep pushing - ever forward - ever harder - until we get to that place where we can maybe smooth out the ride a little bit, which in turn makes it a little easier to keep pushing." He's talking about his early hustle of having to work it to get on standby. But I think this idea has application to women in business. You don't get certain opportunities and your hustle has to be strong. This is what we're building in women/minorities that have to overcome. I think that's why when you see them in the board room, they are a different breed than those that haven't had to hustle the same way.
p. .143 - Hustlers don't need to talk about how they hustle.

p. 151- Interesting fact about the Small business association <500 employees is a small company.

p. 157 Great takeaways on what people do each day. I like the last one b/c I don't think people do this enough "Hire trong management and let them do their thing."

This whole Kristina Guerroro story is awesome.

p. 184 - These notes on public speaking are pretty awesome.

p. 225 - When you give away something for nothing, you might just get nothing in return... this one is kind of key... I had this conversation with someone recently and as a result of their actions decided not to work with them.

p. 228 - Put yourself where deals happen.

p. 243 - It's not all about the internet, despite the hype.

p. 250 - 20 min of a daily exercise routine and it's possible to stay in shape and fit.

p. 254 - set specific big goals for yourself. Very cool

p. 264 - Work on stuff outside of work b/c it enriches your perspective.

p. 291 - Newsweek reports that 54% of people pray daily (likely this is the demographic from Newsweek's constituents, but you know, it's still a lot of people even if it's wrong).
The point though is to think on what you want. Believe you can get it, give energy to it mentally.

[Alex Devero · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good read packed with inspirational stories and practical advice on how one can start is or her own business. The author, Daymond John, shares business insights on life and business he gained through his life and in his business ventures. Daymond also share many lessons he learned from other successful entrepreneurs, one lesson per chapter. There are two main lessons in this book. First, with grit and persistence, everything is possible. Second, success doesn't exist without grit and persistence. These qualities are necessary to achieve anything that is meaningful and worth achieving.

[Stephen Smotherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually don't care for books where an author uses his platform to write a book which is only half the author's contribution and the other half is the success stories of others, but this is a rare exception. I enjoyed this book.

[LuAnne Feik · Rating 4 out of 5]

The SHARK TANK TV star, Daymond John, mixes his self-help advice with that of 17 others who also have a successful work ethic. After all, not everyone is an only child who has dyslexia, channels the urban fashion aesthetic by growing up in the Hollis neighborhood of Queens, or has the stamina to launch a business by spending five years working an 8-hour shift at Red Lobster; sewing, tagging, and delivering hats; and sleeping three hours a night. To be successful, according to Catherine Zeta-Jones, you might have to move to London when you are 15, or, like Gary Vaynerchuk, your parents might have to bring you to the USA from the USSR when you are two. "Tyler, the Creator" uses a kind of Leonardo da Vinci genius approach by sitting in a tree to think, carrying around a notebook to record new ideas, and coming up with entertainments for festivals.
RISE and GRIND espouses the self-help theme regarding the importance of mentors, i.e. the importance of hanging with and learning from winners. What struck me was the importance of having a character mentor like Daymond's mother, who should have been listed in the book's index. She set an example of rising early, working two and three jobs, hanging a THINK BIG sign on the wall, and pointing out the worth of taking time to do something, since the time will pass anyway and it might as well be used productively (not by binge watching TV). Going to school wasn't an option. Daymond's mother took her parental responsibility seriously. When crack came to the neighborhood, she took out an $80,000 mortgage on their home in order to spend less time working outside the home and more time being around to keep Daymond out of serious trouble. When he was offered a chance to participate in the "business" of stealing air bags from parked cars and selling them to auto body garages, he formed his own legit business, FUBU.

[Bimal Patel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alright alright so one more self-help book on motivation for budding entrepreneurs with no significant difference than other books out there by people such as Tim Ferris, Grand Cordone or Gary Vaynerchk. Same format with chapters based on famous celebrities and go-getters on how they rise and grind, what's their work philosophy, what are their priorities, etc.
Reminds of Vaynerchuk's book Crushing It that follows the exactly same format of talking about how people made it.

Overall, it is an ok book with no groundbreaking material with same message if you want something you have to make it happen by whatever way you need to. In my opinion if you have read books from other authors on similar topic you can safely bypass this book.

That being said I feel Daymond John really wants to cultivate entrepreneurial spirit in people which is the motivation behind this book. The last chapter is a little personal when he talks about his thyroid cancer and how he views life after that incidental discovery.

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” – Mark Twain. So go figure out the second one if you haven't already.

[Karen_RunwrightReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Rise and Grind, ultra successful FUBU CEO and Shark Tank mogul Daymond John interviews and shares tips from people across the spectrum of success - an actress, a singer, inventors, salespeople, athletes, even a pastor - about how they became successful and what they do to keep rising. I liked the format of the book where John interspersed these third party stories with vignettes from his own experiences as well as the web address included at the end of each checklist that links to quote cards from each celebrity guests that you can use for a vision board or post on social media to inspire someone else with their powerful words. Rise and Grind includes advice for accomplishing work, relationship, spiritual and health goals and is both general enough and specific enough for almost anyone to connect with.
Often with books like this, I'll power through the first 50 pages or so, get the gist of what the author is saying and skip on the rest but John's particular brand of story telling kept me reading for the entire 300 pages. That's saying a lot for me.

[Compton Persaud · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book gets a 3 out 5 mostly because its full of cliche. Yes, the book is a motivational book so there gonna be cliche but this book it just full of it, like a fat dog that keeps on eating but it was full about 6 serving ago. Daymond John does do a good job of getting his point out but then he just repeats himself for a couple of pages. That being said the author does make this '' cliche'' click. For example ''whatever tough road you're facing, it 's not about to get any easier tomorrow, so start hitting it today.'' this ''cliche'' just spark the realistic in me. I know that thing is hard right now and just beating your head against the wall won't do a thing. So it better to do something than just sitting on the couch. Rise and grind is a good book and I will take a couple of point from it and add it to my own life but, the book just didn't rise to my level.

[Henry Sothern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a powerful and motivational book. This was a long read but it went by relatively quick because I am all about grinding and getting things done, which this book is all about. Daymond John, an entrepreneur on the hit TV show Shark Tank, details his stories and success in different aspects fo life. Each sections covers a different topic. Topics range from setting goals, networking, sacrificing (getting up early and getting things done), etc. I have many personal goals for school and sports, and John spoke to my goals by giving advice and tips to stay on track for personal goals without having to hit the reset button. One thing I really loved about Rise and Grind, is that throughout each section, there are small "Power Facts" relating to the section. It was cool to see different statistics about people who "grind" or about goal setting.

[Brandyn Cross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love this book and the way it was put together. Having stories of a bunch of successful folks all within a book was extremely valuable. Plus, the way it was read and projected was awesome! Def recommend! RISE AND GRIND!

[Ginae B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are dumbfounded. Normally, when quiet people start talking, it's nothing that you want to hear. Normally.

However, John has a lot to say. He lays it out clear, in easy-to-digest pieces. Well, there is a ton of information here. It might be wisest for you to pull out the most germane for your situation and begin a note file on your hard drive.

No nonsense.

Rise and Grind reads somewhat like a who's who in the business and entertainment industry. This is not a bad thing when the author knows these people, along with their concepts about success.

[Lauren Casas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fantastic, like having informational interviews with the most successful people in the world. I liked the emphasis on different strategies for success, even some that were in direct contradiction with each other, to show that achievement looks different for everyone and there is no one way to be successful. I also appreciated the emphasis on taking care of yourself to position yourself to be successful. Will recommend!

[Rod Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great motivational book. I seen a lot of reviews talking about that it's full of clichés but most motivational books are. I enjoyed the different stories of the many different people throughout the book. I am always interested in learning about what other successful people do on the daily. If you are expecting a how-to guide then this is not the book for you. But if you're looking to be motivated and for inspiration towards your own goals then you will enjoy it.

[Ashley Hampton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book, as I think Daymond John is a super successful businessman and impressive in what he has accomplished. My favorite parts were the chapters when he related his experiences and what he does to grit and persistence. I didn't find the other stories from other professionals to be as educating or as entertaining. For me, his other books are much better.

[Mark Mangold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really dug it....like anything, you won't agree with everybody or want to emulate every person in the book, but there is plenty here to learn from or reinforce what you already do. I believe this would be a great book in particular for high school and college students looking to find a routine for themselves.

[KnowledgeSpecter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Usually I don’t find books that tell other people stories plus their own to be good reading but this book was different. It had Daymonds personal touch even the chapters when he wasn’t talking about himself.
So many insight and glimpses into other successful people’s habits and thinking patterns. Lots of good information and it was an amazing read.

[Jerry Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best books of 2018.

[Deborah Martinez · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read, a few good takeaways for me including trying some new tactics with my email! Like all things, if you want to get ahead, you have to put in the work!

[Austin Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read
One of those books where he interviews a lot of familiar names but not only that throws in his points in between.
I feel like it was organized well and gave perspective from all different types of fields to learn about

[diddier gil · Rating 4 out of 5]

My family and I used to enjoy watching Shark Tank on TV. Of all anchor and guest Sharks, Daymond was my least favorite. To me, he seemed pompous, rude, and sometimes right out bully (I was bullied in school, so I don’t like bullies). For that reason, to fulfill my plan of reading one book written by each Shark each year, I kept pushing Daymond’s book down the waiting list. I though I had nothing to learn from a guy like him. I was wrong.

So far I’ve read Mark Cuban’s How To Win At The Sport Of Business, and Robert Herjavec’s You Don’t Have To Be A Shark, but both left me a little disappointed. I wanted to read Barbara Corcoran’s Use What You’ve Got, but while searching for it, Daymond’s book keep showing up, so I though I might as well get it over with and bought it.

My son Pato is a movie expert. A few years ago I wanted to see Pixar’s animated movie Up and I asked for his opinion. He said that the movie was okay, but it had the best first 10 minutes of a movie ever. According to Pato, the Director was able to compress a life long love story in a descriptive, elegant, and emotional manner in just a few minutes at the starting of the movie, so that the real story could begin. Well, I feel the same way about Daymond’s book.

The book’s title, Raise And Grind has been, and still is, my work motto. I rather be in the company of people who try and fail, and try again, than people who don’t like to work. Against people who don’t want to work, there is no defense. The first few chapters are all about the necessity to get up and work hard, without quitting. Personally, I think that is the only way to make it, unless you are planning to win the lottery or to receive a big inheritance (non of which apply to me). Of course, grinding all day does not guarantee success, but it is the mandatory first step.

Daymon’s book features the stories of many of the entrepreneurs that have made deals with him on Shark Tank, but most of them sound more like a promotional pitch for their products. Only for that reason, I took one star in my rating. But even then, you always have something to learn from everybody.

Reading Daymond’s life story, and his work ethic has given me a new perspective and appreciation of him. I don’t watch TV that much, but if I catch another episode of Shark Tank, I will be rooting for him to strike a deal.

If you are a hard worker and are always looking for spare time to turn it into grinding sessions, I highly recommend this book. If you are not, I recommend this book even more.

[Lelee Dow · Rating 5 out of 5]

What’s Inside:

New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Broke and "Shark" on ABC's hit show Shark Tank explores how grit, persistence, and good old fashioned hard work are the backbone of every successful business and individual, and inspires readers to Rise & Grind their way the top.

It might be convenient to believe that you can short-cut your way to the top, but the truth is that if you want to get and stay ahead, you need to put in the work. You need to out-think, out-hustle, out-perform everyone around you. You've got to 'rise and grind' every day. 

In the anticipated follow-up to the bestselling The Power of Broke, Daymond takes an up-close look at the hard-charging routines and winning secrets of individuals who have risen to the challenges in their lives and grinded their way to the very tops of their fields. Along the way, he also reveals how grit and persistence both helped him overcome the obstacles he has faced in life, and ultimately fueled his success.

Who Wrote It:

A young entrepreneur, an industry pioneer, a highly regarded marketing expert, and a man who has surpassed new heights of commercial and financial success are just a few ways people have described Daymond John. Over the last 20 years, Daymond has evolved from one of the most successful fashion icons of his generation to one of the most sought after branding experts, business, and motivational speakers in the country.

My Thoughts:

This was an amazing book Rise and Grind was everything I needed to hear. If your looking for a book to help you “Light A Fire” under you than this book is definitely for you. Mr. Daymond John had me hooked from the very beginning I’m talking page one. This is definitely a must read for anyone who gets up everyday wanting more for their life an needing some tough love to help you along the way.

Star Rating:

I give Rise and Grind 5 Stars

I received a copy of Rise and Grind by Daymond John from BloggingForBooks in exchange for my honest review.

[Chad Schultz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sure the contents here are going to be of no surprise to anyone. It does what it says on the tin. The lesson of the book is that in order to succeed, you must work very, very hard. If you like, you can stop right there, because you aren't going to learn much else in this book.

As an audiobook, it isn't particularly pleasant to listen to. Regarding the content, it's not bad. The author makes his points both by referring to challenges in his own life (his successes and his failures) and inspiring examples of a wide variety of other people. It's very story-driven, and he's an ok storyteller. Certainly I would say this would be sub-par if he didn't show that humility, or didn't have so many stories. But it's not exceptional, unusual or particularly interesting.

I think what bothers me most is the current underlying the message: the idea that you can't succeed unless you are working 20 hours a day. He proudly talks about how little he sleeps, how he's always on the road so it's difficult to eat well or exercise or spend time with his family, about how easy it is to be exhausted or develop burnout. Then he has the gall to stress to the audience the importance of taking care of your health. That's rather like a McDonald's menu advertising a super-size drink and urging you to indulge in sugar in moderation. They're still going to push you to abuse your body, but then will say they warned you, so it's your fault.

Certainly some people are that extreme Type-A personality. As the author notes, these people keep pushing themselves to the limits of what their minds and bodies can handle, no matter how successful they already are, just because they don't know how to do anything differently. But this could be a dangerous recipe.

Anyway, if you want a bit of motivation as you work on a career or business and are looking for different books to listen to in order to give you a jolt of inspiration, you could do worse than "Rise and Grind," but you could also do better.

[Bryce Calhoun · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book Rise and Grind is a nonfiction book by Daymond Johnson. The book is voiced through him and it is about his upcoming in life and how he made it through all the struggles he had and he kept grinding. However, the purpose of this book is not to tell the story of his life and how he became who he is, but it is about putting that same drive that he had to work and grind into the reader. He says to find things you like doing and pursue them, no matter what it is, if you work hard enough you will succeed. Throughout the book there are also chapters where other people takeover and tell their story of their path to success. One example of this would be in chapter three, when Tyler the Creator takes over and talks to the reader. He says that everyday he would write raps and record new betas and that music was always on his mind. Tyler claims that he was young when he fell in love with music and started to write songs at the age of nine, even though they were never produced. Tyler did everything to get his music out to the public. For his first album release he wanted to through a huge block party, but the city of San Francisco wouldn’t let him, so he through a Carnival in a parking lot of Cosco. These same beliefs that Tyler had were the same for Daymond, they both worked hard everyday at something they were truly passionate about. By telling his story and many others, he wants to bring the inner grind out of you, so you, yourself, the reader can be successful in life or whatever you choose to do.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Power Fact: 76% of so-called mom-preneurs used their personal savings as a primary funding source...what I take from this stat is that women are often passionate about their new businesses, and willing to bet on themselves."

I received a copy of this book from bloggingforbooks.com in exchange for an honest review.

Watching Shark Tank is my guilty pleasure and I became familiar with Daymond John through the show. I haven't read any of his other books but this is less a book about Daymond and more a book by Daymond.

Daymond shares the stories of other people he considers successful and what they did to get where they are. The stories are all fairly short - not more than a few pages each followed up a checklist summarizing the take aways from each person and more information available through a listed web link. In that sense this book is fairly interactive and not just for reading through.

I was hoping to hear more about Daymond. He talks more about his schedule and what he calls his GRIND near the end of the book but it sounds like he goes into more depth in his other books. It's an interesting read from a high level perspective but I have some issues with some of the people Daymond chose to interview and some of his thoughts on why they're successful.