Coming from a dysfunctional family with a drug-addicted mother and absent father, entrepreneur, real estate investor, and philanthropist Jevon Almond, 38, wrote THE VULNERABLE ALPHA for “everyone who feels some type of void in life or is curious about how to self-grow or heal internally.” Across twenty-six chapters, Almond describes how he was “able to turn hardship, emotional emptiness and abandonment” into “success, love, abundance, and the continuous pursuit of prolonged happiness and vulnerability.” There is also guidance on setting up a business and buying an existing one. His chapter titles are all advice- or inspiration-oriented: “Fall in Love with Rejection,” “Be Epic and Change Your Life,” “It Has Nothing to Do with Luck,” and so on. He defines his book title as “a mindset, it’s resilience that is etched on your being and available for you to draw from at any point in your life you are dealing with substantial adversity.”
Unfortunately, such portentous but vague statements are pervasive throughout. Almond tells the reader what his attitude was to challenges and how he felt motivated, but often omits what specific steps he took to create and maintain his positive mindset. The book is part woo—Almond talks about manifesting (which is nonsense) rather than visualization (which actually works). He also glosses over some key events that might explain his success: when he was young, a well-off friend’s family took him in for several years and he learned about business from them. He also has a “buddy” as his business partner, whose contribution is never made entirely clear. Although he talks a lot about entrepreneurship, only in Chapters 15 and 22 does Almond offer some practical advice about setting up a business. There are other useful recommendations—for instance, he tells readers to not let small situations become bigger than they are in their minds. He also recommends humility: “If you think you’re a big fish, it’s probably a small pond.” And, to remain focused, he explains how to estimate when your plate is full (i.e., when taking on more goals would be counter-productive).
Almond’s encouragement is gung-ho rather than tailored, with an assumption that the reader is not much different from him. “If you want more abundance in your life, take risks, live life, dare to be great in an area of your life that you know you’re good at and have extreme talent burning inside you,” he writes. But not everyone has such talent, and Almond’s drive, intelligence, and charisma clearly account for a large part of his financial success.
Jevon Almond ‘s THE VULNERABLE ALPHA IS 99 percent inspiration and one percent perspiration—and while short on practical tips, his story does deal with the challenges that most entrepreneurs face and how he overcame them.
~Kevin Baldeosingh for IndieReader