Ralph DiBugnara - The Growth Trap: A Continuous Plan to Avoid the Traps of Life and Build a Better You

The Growth Trap

This book is like a how-to manual on how to avoid the traps in life personal and professional. It also serves as a handbook on growth. Definitely a must read for any up and coming professional or anyone looking for personal growth.

Hovain, President of Cinematic Management, Hip Hop music executive manager

Ralphs story is inspiring and relatable to all people. The stories gave me perspective around my own Growth Trap Situations and helped me think differently about leveling up in my own industry of work.

Brandon T. Adams, 2X Emmy Award-Winning Producer, Host of Success in Your City

Ive known Ralph through the last decade, post market crash and Ive seen him grow out of the most challenging of situations and rebuild multiple businesses from 0. This book is a testament to how growth can lead you to traps and it shows you how to be aware of them in order to keep being a better version of you.

Anthony Lolli, Author, Business, Fitness and Media Entrepreneur

The Growth Trap is a wonderfully written book by a self-made industry leader who has taken his lifes experiences and consolidated them into a masterful read. A must read for anyone who has struggled with both professional and personal issues through-out their lives and careers. A positive take away from every chapter that is sure to help you get the most out of life and what it brings.

Rich Sadiv, Owner Parisi Speed School

My brother has reached great heights, and he is sharing a truly honest account of how that came to fruition so others can do the same. His very personal accounts of the highs and lows are the cherry on top of him now sharing the roadmap hes formulated that others can now follow. From being a tough kid on the streets of Brooklyn, overcoming the pitfalls of the world we grew up in, and then having to get knocked to the mat after early business success and build it all up bigger and better than before. Ralph reveals here how the journey is ongoing, and if you dedicate to not getting caught in the Growth Traps along the way, we can succeed to the highest levels.

Having watched this all from the front row, I can tell you that it is a modest recollection of the boy that always acted like the man. From standing up to everyone (including me) since birth, soaking up the experience and knowledge of those he admired, and outworking everyone as he strived to be the best at whatever he did. Him writing this book came as no surprise, because hes added mentoring to his toolbox, and hes changing lives every day. I can attest to his greatest growth, is that of a leader. And this book is his way of leading you out of your own Growth Traps. Im sure youll be as inspired as I was by it!

Michael DiBugnara, Co-founder and CCO of LIKEY

The Growth Trap is a Must-Read for anyone who is looking to achieve growth in their personal and business life and are ready to level up their game. We all experience Growth Traps throughout our careers and this book helps you overcome them.

Kevin Harrington, Inventor of the Infomercial and Original Shark on ABCs hit show Shark Tank

NEW YORK

LONDONNASHVILLEMELBOURNEVANCOUVER

The Growth Trap

A Continuous Plan to Avoid the Traps of Life and Build a Better You

2023 Ralph DiBugnara

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in New York, New York, by Morgan James Publishing. Morgan James is a trademark of Morgan James, LLC. www.MorganJamesPublishing.com

Proudly distributed by Ingram Publisher Services.

Morgan James is a proud partner of Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg. Partners in building since 2006.

Get involved today! Visit MorganJamesPublishing.com/giving-back

To everyone, who over the last Twenty plus years of my career, who has helped me blindly on this wonderful journey.

My Family, Friends, Colleagues, and Teachers of the lessons I needed to learn.

To My wife Beatriz and children Lucas and Leina. You make it easy for me to get up every morning to work towards a better me and us. I am inspired daily by your support and your confidence that I will do what is right and needed for the future of our family.

To my Father and Mother, Ralph and Joanne. Thank you for letting this curious child find his own way, never trying to change me, loving me, leading me by example, and setting me up to be as successful as I am willing to become.

To My brother Michael and his amazing family. You led the way to try and make my path easier by defending me, backing me up no matter what, and supporting me when I needed it most. You are always in my corner.

There are too many other family and friends to mention but you all have been there for me and are a piece in all I have built and will continue to build in the future.

William Arthur Ward, American Motivational writer, wrote Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records.

As I am finishing writing this book, what I am most proud of is my journey from a kid that was broken by anything to an adult who refuses to be broken by anything. These following people have served as a support system that has enabled me to continue to break my own records and grow from the traps of life. They are in some sort of chronological order but their help has never been limited to a day, month, or year in my life.

To my parents Ralph and Joanne. Your selfless and tireless work when I was a child not only protected me when I didnt know I needed it, but it told me through words and actions that I could be whoever I wanted to be no matter what the rest of the world thought of me. The sacrifices you made so we didnt want or need anything have shaped me into the person I am today for my family. You are the foundation that allowed me to be so strong when I needed it most. My eternal support system that has never wavered.

To my Brother Michael. You were my model in so many ways that set a bar for me to strive for. When we were young, it was your intellect , toughness, and fashion sense that made me want to be just like you. As we got older you showed me that there was no reason we couldnt be whoever we wanted to by being daring enough to step into fields and circles of people that were completely foreign to us. I saw you and realized I could do it as well. Thank you for being there during my darkest times and to cheer the loudest for my wins. Love you, Keily, and the girls very much.

To my cousin Nicky. Our perennial older brother. Ive learned so much from you about business and life that I still use in my daily routines to this day. You taught us that nothing was ever unattainable and always told me that I was going to be very special. You believed in me before the world even knew I existed. You, as well as my beloved Aunt, Phyliss, and Uncle Justin, have always been a shining light in my life.