One in a Hundred Million

Index by Subject

• One in a Hundred Million: The Life and Times of Marion Urichich
• Marion Urichich
• Falkon Enterprises
• 0615127339

I'm reviewing this as a business book even though it was written as an autobiography. It's the true life story of Marion Urichich, a man who by all rights shouldn't be alive today. It's laugh out loud funny in places (I can't get the image out of my mind of this young man trying to pee on his own head after a welding accident!), nearly tragic in others, a little boring in a few (very few) spots but overall it is inspirational and truly fascinating.

The language can be rough. Marion isn't an educated man; there is plenty of bad grammar and misused words to pick on if that's your wont. None of that matters because this is an honest man telling an honest story as best he can. Here he is on business ethics:

I'm giving you people information and education that want to get in business. It won't cost you nothing to listen. I'm a proven fellow that has been in business most of my life. I never went bankrupt and have never done anything to make anyone want to come after me. I met all my obligations, paid all my income tax, I have good credit and I don't have a problem with nobody. The only way that I did it was I took good care of my customers and every time someone came in and wanted a car I made sure that I gave them a good one. If you start conning people right at the beginning you are never going to last because people like that always fall by the wayside. If you are a crook you might do allright for a while, but it will catch up to you sooner or later. If you don't think so just look at all these people in jail.

Plenty of people could write that paragraph better, but the straight up advice contained in it really can't get any more accurate. You'll see that simple morality in every tale he tells and you'll quickly forget and forgive the language and instead just listen to the story underneath. It's a great story - many a business person with a lot more formal education could learn a lot from Marion Urichich.

As I said, this wasn't written as a business book. But Marion is a self-made man, a man who worked hard every day of his life, a man who literally pulled himself up by his own will and tenacity, so his life story has a lot to do with making self employment work. I'm glad I read it and have no hesitation in recommending it to you.

Tony Lawrence 2009-05-01 Rating: 4.0

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