Never Ride a Rollercoaster Upside Down
The Ups, Downs, and Reinvention of an Entrepreneur
by Jeff Smulyan
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
What is it really like to be an entrepreneur? After nearly fifty years of building a successful media company, founder of American all-sports radio Jeff Smulyan shares with candor and humor just how many bitter failures come with each great victory along the way.
For founder and CEO of Emmis Communications Jeff Smulyan, the path to success has been anything but straightforward. When you've owned a Major League Baseball team, started America's first all sports radio station, created the world's two largest hip hop radio stations and managed everyone from David Letterman to Ken Griffey Jr. and Don Imus and even been nationalized by an ally of Vladimir Putin, you've seen the rollercoaster ride of an entrepreneur from every side.
Aspiring entrepreneurs, radio and media industry insiders, and avid sports fans alike will appreciate Smulyan's honesty as he shares the countless lessons he's learned from decades of entrepreneurship. Smulyan offers readers priceless insight into navigating the twists and turns of growing a business and teaches how to build a culture based on both trust and humor—the essential keys to surviving almost anything.
Never Ride a Rollercoaster Upside Down details Smulyan's journey: from taking over his cousin's failing country music radio station and founding his own company, to purchasing and then selling ownership of the Seattle Mariners and guiding his company through the Golden Age of Radio. Alongside his humorous, eventful, and dramatic stories, Smulyan presents valuable pointers and tips—for anyone else brave enough to try their own hand at starting a business.
The journey to booming business is a rollercoaster. Learn from someone who has experienced all the ups and downs—and knows that what's most important is to hold on while keeping your sense of humor intact.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
December 6, 2022 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781637742235
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781637742235
- File size: 2406 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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August 1, 2022
A successful entrepreneur tells his story and provides guidance for others seeking a similar path. Smulyan, founder and CEO of Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corporation, offers a pleasing amalgam of business guide and memoir. The author begins by chronicling his humble beginnings in a Midwest Jewish family in which entrepreneurial roots ran deep. Though he developed an early passion for radio, his father steered him toward a law degree for the "instant credibility a master's degree won't give you." After operating WNTS, a small Indianapolis radio station ("These days, WNTS is known for its original midday host, David Letterman"), Smulyan branched out to own stations in other markets, experimented with diversified formats like religious and all-sports broadcasting, and eventually founded Emmis Communications, a company that expanded to include TV stations and magazines. In 1989, Smulyan led a group of investors in the acquisition of the Seattle Mariners, a problematic proposition that the author recounts candidly. Sprinkled throughout the shrewd text are accounts of impressive ratings for Emmis' top radio stations and anecdotes about the personal and professional sacrifices that became necessary to keep Emmis profitable amid dot-com crashes and recessions. Smulyan fair-mindedly contrasts his major successes against his failures and near misses, some of which nearly cost him everything. He takes readers on a largely entertaining behind-the-scenes tour of the tumultuous nature of a struggling business and illuminates the uniquely challenging economics involved in the media and sports worlds. Smulyan, now 74 and still working, clearly believes in the classic principles of hard work and lifelong learning as well as the understanding that "to succeed, you absolutely have to know how to handle failure." He dispenses sage advice on the power of effective leadership, business ethics, and integrity, and the rewarding benefits of fostering a collaborative corporate culture. A nicely balanced personal and practical book of corporate reflections and hard-won business lessons.COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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