Recorded Books Inc. - Cold hard truth: on business, money & life

Copyright 2011 Kevin OLeary

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisheror in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, license from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agencyis an infringement of the copyright law.

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LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
OLeary, Kevin
Cold hard truth : on business, money & life / Kevin OLeary.
eISBN: 978-0-385-67175-0
1. Success in business. 2. Entrepreneurship. 3. Business enterprises. 4. Industrial management. I. Title.

HD 62.7.O43 2011 658 C2011-902508-6

Photo Credits:
Courtesy of CBC. Photographer: Marayna Dickinson, Alace Photos
Courtesy of CBC. Photographer: Jeff Kirk
Courtesy of CBC. Photographer: Roy Timm
Courtesy of CBC and 2waytraffic, a Sony Pictures Entertainment
company 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Courtesy of CBC. Photographer: Carmen Cheung
Courtesy of CBC. Photographer: Greg Paupst
Michael Ansell/American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Cover photograph: CBC, Greg Paupst
Cover design: Terri Nimmo

Published in Canada by Doubleday Canada,
a division of Random House of Canada Limited

Visit Random House of Canada Limiteds website: www.randomhouse.ca

v3.1

This book is the story of my money, and the personal journey I went on to make it. None of the content, anecdotes, stories, advice or recollections contained in this book should be construed as investment advice, especially as they relate to any financial products I may represent. Investors should speak with their financial advisors for any investment advice and to discuss the risks of investing in any financial product. This book represents my personal opinions and should be enjoyed as such.

Kevin OLeary

I dedicate this book to the loving memory of my mother,
Georgette, who led an extraordinary life and remains
an inspiration to anyone she touched during her time.
If there is a heaven, God has his hands full with her there.

Im going to give you the bad news first: we live in difficult times. The average person works harder than ever and makes less money than his or her parents. The markets are increasingly unpredictable and volatile. Making, keeping, and growing money feels like a harsh and precarious science. The average investor has grown wary and cynical, accustomed to blurry messages and exaggeration, baffled by banks, angry at CEOs, exhausted by the economic highs and lows of the last few years. Wall Streets reputation is badly bruised, many of its leaders led away in handcuffs or fallen so far from grace theyve become untouchables. Esteemed investment houses have been brought to their knees by scandal and bad practices. Many banks and blue-chip corporations, the axes around which capitalism once revolved, have survived only because of massive government bailouts. Investors are increasingly reluctant to hand over hard-earned money to fast talkers making big promises. Weve created an economy where small businesses are afraid to take risks because big businesses have taken far too many.

Heres the good news: amid all of this uncertainty beats the heart of the true capitalist, the entrepreneur who sees adversity as opportunity and carves a confident path through the financial rubble. More than governments, these trailblazers are the true paramedics of the ailing global economy. And I am one of them. I believe that as long as people like me are earning money and creating wealth, capitalism has a fighting chance. If what Im talking about interests you, if youre reading this and thinking, Thats me! or Thats who I want to be, Im here to tell you how to get there. I cant tell you that building wealth is easy, but it is possible, and entirely worth it. Capitalism creates freedom, after all, and I cant think of a loftier, more important calling than that.

Im known for my roles as a venture capitalist on Dragons Den in Canada and Shark Tank in the United States. Im also a financial analyst on The Lang & OLeary Exchange and CBC News. Because of those privileges, Ive developed a reputation for delivering the cold, hard truth to entrepreneurs and politicians whove squandered hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars on bad ideas or policies. Im often called the Mean One, the one to be feared, even the Voldemort of Capitalism. You might think these words hurt my feelings, that I would be insulted or angry. Not so. I have learned one of capitalisms most important rules: money may go to bad people, but it never goes to bad ideas. Thats why people who think making money is a matter of really wanting it or trying really hard to visualize the opportunity always crash and burn. The only way to make money is to get completely honest about what money is. Think of money like gravity. It is a law, an absolute. You can argue all you want about how you feel about gravity. But when youre hanging off a cliff, do those feelings matter?

Some people also think that making money is a matter of being good or right. But money doesnt care about any of that. It also doesnt care about you or your family or your country. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Money is neutral. Money goes only where it knows itll be safe, and thats generally in the vicinity of more money. So building wealth requires the ability to think the way money thinks, which means never confusing money with emotion. In fact, feelings are often obstacles to wealth, because feelings, like the weather, are mercurial, unreliable, difficult to pin down, and ever-changing. Money deals strictly with fact. And as moneys biggest fan, I have learned a lot from watching how it behaves, where it goes, what it runs screaming from. When I speak the truth about money, Im almost speaking as money. Thats why I come across as harsh, mean, and brutal. Im just channeling money, in my attempt to help you understand it and amass it.

If youve picked up this book, its probably because youre interested in understanding moneyhow to make it, how to grow it. Or maybe you want to know how to spot a good investment, or how to sell your product, or how to run your business or perfect your pitch. Maybe you want to figure out whether entrepreneurship is for you at all. This book addresses all of those things. Its also the story of my money, and how I took a few thousand dollars and turned them into billion-dollar businesses. In these pages, Im sharing with you life-changing moments and the powerful lessons that have shaped my business philosophy. Along the way, Ill provide succinct summaries of those lessons and some questions designed to get you thinking about your own financial goals and dreams. Not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, or to start and grow a business. But one things for certain: everyone wants to be financially successful and to make more money. Ill share my simple, clear-cut philosophy for investing, growing wealth, and becoming financially secure. Ill also tell you exactly how I built my fortune. Youll meet my mother, who taught me how to manage money; my father, who showed me how to sell anything; my stepfather, who taught me the difference between a dream and a calling; my teachers, who taught me how to turn weaknesses into strengths; my bosses, who taught me that Id never be happy working for someone else; my partners, who taught me that in order to create wealth, I needed to pair up with people whose strengths compensated for my weaknesses.