Author Ryan D’Agostino visited campus yesterday, to speak as part of the on-going Convocation program. D’Agostino’s speech was about becoming successful and recognizing when you have a good idea, and, most importantly how to put that idea into use. (Photos by Jennifer Miller)
It all starts with an idea. Most people meet success when they get a good idea, recognize it for what it is, and run with it. Or, at least, that’s what Ryan D’Agostino, author of “Rich Like Them” and the articles editor for Esquire magazine, said yesterday during convocation. To write this book, which is being read by the Honors Colloquium class, D’Agostino went door to door in 20 of the wealthiest zip codes in the United States and asked them how they got their mansions and what the story of their success is. “Rich Like Them” is meant to be a “book of inspiration for anybody who has anything to do with business,” D’Agostino said. It wasn’t meant to be a self-help book about the stock market and money management. He said he wanted to tell the stories of people who had done well but whom he could still relate to.
“A lot of them didn’t want to talk to me,” D’Agostino said. “They thought I was asking about money.” The fact was, he wasn’t asking how they made their money. He was more interested in the ideas and methods they employed to get where they are. D’Agostino learned quickly to approach them by asking the people to tell them how awesome they were and not asking them how they made their money. He still met with a lot of rejections because he was “essentially asking for lessons they’d impart to their children.” When D’Agostino did find people who were willing to talk to him, he found they didn’t think they were different or special. “[The people in the book] simply think they worked harder than anybody else,” D’Agostino said.
What D’Agostino wanted to focus on was how to have an idea, and what to do once a person has an idea. According to him, people have good ideas all the time. It’s the people who can recognize the potential of their idea and make it a reality that makes them money.
Another person had an idea they put into action and made money doing became the owner of a travel company. The man began looking at everything through the lens of “how can I use this for my company” and began heli-hiking and the yellow routs of Europe tours. Heli-hiking was born from heli skiing, where a person is flown up to a part of a mountain that ski lifts can’t reach. The man wondered what was down with the lodges and helicopters during the summer, and found out that they just sat idle until winter. The yellow routes of Europe actually came from the man’s experiences in WWII, when the soldiers used yellow roads, or back routs, to get where they needed to be.
Another lesson D’Agostino got for generating ideas was from a venture capitalist in Silicone Valley. Her lesson was you never know where your next idea will come from, so listen to everyone. D’Agostino said. She makes it a habit to sit for a cup of coffee and listen to whatever idea the person has if the person has the guts to ask her to. “Eight out of 10 times, the idea’s not so great, but two times out of ten, it’s great,” D’Agostino said.
Once a person has a good idea, the most important thing it to stick to it. He spoke to a stock broker who cold called people who sold their stocks during an economic downturn to try and sell them CDs with a guaranteed seven percent annual interest. For every CD sold, the broker got a small commission. He did that for a couple of years, according to D’Agostino, and people started getting back to him looking for investment advice because he had “done right by them.”
One thing D’Agostino said was important to keep in mind “the plan may not go the way you think it’s going to go.” A common denominator he saw in the people he spoke to was that they were “obsessive people.”
Another reason the people he talked to managed to retain their money even with the economic crisis is because the people he spoke to didn’t take risks with the money they had earned. “They took risks when they had nothing to lose,” D’Agostino said.
AC junior Mario Oliver thought D’Agostino was a great person to have speaking to people about to leave school to seek their fortunes.
“I thought [the speech] was informative, inspirational and interesting to the young Americans who want to live the dream,” Oliver said.
Agnes Caldwell, dean of academic affairs, said D’Agostino was a good speaker to have wrapped up the years convocation series. “I’m pleased Ryan was able to end,” Caldwell said. “He was a great addition to the series this year.”
D’Agostino advised students to be like Lady Gaga. According to him, she decided she was famous before she recorded her first song. “She happens to be great singer, but she insisted she was going to be famous and successful. She wouldn’t take no for an answer.”