What do you think?
Rate this book
Bootstrap Your Life: How to turn £500 into £350 million
An inspiring, rags-to-riches guide to achieving success in life and business by the founder of Myprotein®.How did a working-class 23-year-old, who left school with almost no qualifications, launch a business with just a £500 overdraft and turn it into more than £350 million? In Bootstrap Your Life, Oliver Cookson shares how he was able to build Europe's number one online brand using nothing more than his own limited resources and the right mindset. Self-sufficient and self-taught, Oliver always had an eye for opportunities and pursued them obsessively. His breakthrough came when he combined his passion for health and fitness with his skills as a web developer. By embracing a disruptive, agile approach to business, offering unparalleled choice, and identifying trends ahead of the competition, Oliver was able to grow Myprotein® rapidly into a top international, award-winning brand.In Bootstrap Your Life, Oliver doesn't just share his journey but uses simple language to break down every aspect of his thinking, providing a thorough step-by-step guide on how to think like an entrepreneur. His approach to marketing, innovation, strategy, leadership and other key elements are explained in great detail using memorable analogies that anyone can relate to.Oliver explains how bootstrapping his life catapulted him from an ordinary life in the suburbs of Greater Manchester to being included in the Sunday Times Rich List with a personal net worth of over a third of a billion pounds. His message is bootstrap your life!
302 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 19, 2021
31 people are currently reading
433 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 9, 2022
Probably one of the books I’ve learned the most from. Oliver is an unbelievable businessman, and I got tremendous value from his teachings. He managed to build MyProtein in 7 years with no initial investment: just a lot of hard work and brains. After that he sold the business for 32 million pounds.
This is easily my most underlined book ever. I’ve specially liked his mindset through his journey, and I’ll take a lot of it with me in mine.
One of my favorite passages from the book:
“In any situation, things can go the way you want them to or they can go wrong. If you dwell on fear and listen to the voice that tells you how things are going to go wrong and what terrible consequences are going to follow, you are putting yourself on a road to hell. I acknowledged the fear, but I also recognised that I had all the ace cards and if I played my hand carefully, I would come out with the jackpot, and there would be no losers. All I had to do was keep being Oliver and keep a cool head. It had brought me this far, so there was no reason why it wouldn’t get me across the finish line.”
This is easily my most underlined book ever. I’ve specially liked his mindset through his journey, and I’ll take a lot of it with me in mine.
One of my favorite passages from the book:
“In any situation, things can go the way you want them to or they can go wrong. If you dwell on fear and listen to the voice that tells you how things are going to go wrong and what terrible consequences are going to follow, you are putting yourself on a road to hell. I acknowledged the fear, but I also recognised that I had all the ace cards and if I played my hand carefully, I would come out with the jackpot, and there would be no losers. All I had to do was keep being Oliver and keep a cool head. It had brought me this far, so there was no reason why it wouldn’t get me across the finish line.”
January 15, 2025
A 2.5 score for me.
It's definitely interesting to read about how a multimillion dollar business starts and the founder's personal thoughts, so forth; can be a great inspiration read for sure.
However, as others have put it in their review, a huge chunk of the book feels like a humble brag about the company and about the founder himself without much practical lessons to its readers. A lot of times the author attributes his (he uses the language "I", "my" most of the time which kind of threw me off a bit) success solely to his innate traits or that he just naturally "gets it" rather than something that can be obtained or learned which again provides minimal benefits to its readers.
Obviously this can be a great book for someone who just wants to enjoy a good story; I expected differently from this book cause of its title.
It's definitely interesting to read about how a multimillion dollar business starts and the founder's personal thoughts, so forth; can be a great inspiration read for sure.
However, as others have put it in their review, a huge chunk of the book feels like a humble brag about the company and about the founder himself without much practical lessons to its readers. A lot of times the author attributes his (he uses the language "I", "my" most of the time which kind of threw me off a bit) success solely to his innate traits or that he just naturally "gets it" rather than something that can be obtained or learned which again provides minimal benefits to its readers.
Obviously this can be a great book for someone who just wants to enjoy a good story; I expected differently from this book cause of its title.
January 2, 2022
Nothing revelatory but often indulgent
Oliver clearly knows a lot but none of it is particularly ground breaking, nor much of it that interesting.
Maybe it's a character/personality mismatch between this reader and author, maybe its the choice of ghostwriter but the book is pitched as a "how to" but comes across as a "I did this and it was good because I did it"
Oliver clearly knows a lot but none of it is particularly ground breaking, nor much of it that interesting.
Maybe it's a character/personality mismatch between this reader and author, maybe its the choice of ghostwriter but the book is pitched as a "how to" but comes across as a "I did this and it was good because I did it"
March 6, 2022
It’s a nice easy read. That’s what I enjoyed about it.
I would agree with some of the comments. I wouldn’t necessarily say it is a how to book. However, it is good for some inspiration from a guy who has done really well for himself.
All in all a good book.
I would agree with some of the comments. I wouldn’t necessarily say it is a how to book. However, it is good for some inspiration from a guy who has done really well for himself.
All in all a good book.
December 18, 2021
Inspiring story!
May 15, 2022
Good book, writer explains his journey well, good tips on building an online business and how to market it.
June 20, 2024
Otroligt bra bok!
Berättar en historia om en entreprenör som skapar ett proteinpulver företag. Mycket kortare och bättre lagd information än den stora shoe dog boken.
Väldigt intressant historia där jag kommer ta med mig lite hur det fungerar att skapa ett eget företag och att mycket går om man bara sätter sig in i det.
Fortfarande en av de bästa böckerna ha läst! Ska verkligen studera hans mentalitet och ledarskap sätt.
Berättar en historia om en entreprenör som skapar ett proteinpulver företag. Mycket kortare och bättre lagd information än den stora shoe dog boken.
Väldigt intressant historia där jag kommer ta med mig lite hur det fungerar att skapa ett eget företag och att mycket går om man bara sätter sig in i det.
Fortfarande en av de bästa böckerna ha läst! Ska verkligen studera hans mentalitet och ledarskap sätt.
February 8, 2023
Not for me
Read about 1/3 but really was struggling with the writing style. It's like a constant humble brag. Could not connect with the voice. Maybe just the ghost writer was not too good, but something was missing in delivery.
Read about 1/3 but really was struggling with the writing style. It's like a constant humble brag. Could not connect with the voice. Maybe just the ghost writer was not too good, but something was missing in delivery.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews