Duncan Bannatyne may no be a name which is instantly recognizable to many, but in the world of business he is one of Britain’s most respected entrepreneurs who over several decades has created a considerable fortune through making shrewd investments as well as hard working. It is his business acumen which in recent years has afforded him celebrity status as he has become on of the investors on the BBC’s popular business show “Dragon’s Den”. It is off the back of this success that Duncan wrote the book “Anyone Can Do It” , which chronicles his life from his poor childhood, through to the light bulb moment when he created his first business and onto his TV career on the “Dragon’s Den”, a true rags-to-riches story which inspires, motivates and empowers the reader to believe that “Anyone Can Do It”.
I must admit that prior to reading “Anyone Can Do It” I had very little knowledge of Duncan Bannatyne other than his appearances on the “Dragon’s Den” and of course being considerably richer than myself. But it was his friendly yet no messing attitude as an investor on the show that attracted me to read his book and hopefully discover the secret of his success. Well infact I have now read it twice as his life story is not only interesting but amazingly inspiring; giving the reader a sense of no matter how old you are or how poor you are you can still achieve your dreams through hard work and determination.
The book is to be honest pretty standard autobiography fare with the book broken up with a selection of photos and the first half concentrating on Duncan’s formative years as a child where his family were always scrimping and saving just to afford the basics of life. Duncan often states that he believes that his poor childhood is what spurred him on to be financially secure and to be able to provide for his children in away that his parents couldn’t. What I found really refreshing about these opening chapters is that unlike some celebrities who seem to revel in moaning about their miserable, poor childhood and bad relationships with their parents, Duncan is completely the opposite continually praising both his parents for their hard work in bringing up the family despite being poor. It’s also early on in his life that Duncan shows signs of his business acumen when he creates a paper round where one never existed just so that he could earn money for a bike.
Following on from this pretty standard childhood start, Duncan then tells about his time in the Navy where he was booted out for disciplinary offences, he basically threw an Officer of the ship and onto a period in his life where he had no direction and basically bummed around. It was at this point in reading his story that I really started to connect with what he was saying. Yes the childhood background information was interesting but listening to a self made man admit to basically wasting a decade of his life where he pleased himself was amazingly eye opening. What is also really nice that whilst he readily admits that he was pretty unfocussed during this period of his life he has not regrets as it all went to making who he is today.
It is the second half of the book that Duncan concentrates on his business successes from his first real business enterprise as an ice-cream vendor, through to his creation of a string of businesses including old people’s homes as well as leisure centers, before finishing up with his celebrity status on “Dragon’s Den”. What is particularly good about this section is that you never get a sense of him boasting saying “Look how good and rich I am”, in fact he rarely mentions his own wealth preferring to focus on how he set up his numerous businesses. In fact you really do get an insight into some of the difficulties he has had in creating his businesses, from banks refusing to loan him money, through to staff helping themselves to cash. What becomes very apparent is that whilst he is driven to become richer and more successful he is not greedy and in reality is amazingly charitable. Over the years he has not only donated vast amounts of money to charities but also taken part in fund raising for charities both in Britain and abroad.
As previously mentioned I have now read this book twice and what really comes across is that whilst Duncan is very matter of fact about everything, he is not cold about things. For example when he mentions his own failed relationships you get a real sense that for him life moves on, but he still feels deeply for all of those who have been and are part of his life. What was also really nice about this autobiography is that whilst it is mainly his life story, he has managed to include information about being successful in such a way that the whole thing flows really naturally and by the time you finish reading it you really will be inspired to believe “Anyone Can Do It”. Surprisingly for a book which does focus on his business successes it is not bogged down by any real jargon and is so easy to read that you find yourself flying through it in no time at all.
Of course this is not going to be a book which will appeal to everyone and it really does help if you have prior knowledge of Duncan Bannatyne as you will be able to read this with the sound of his voice reading the words in your head, which for me always helps. I would also say that this is a brilliant book for anyone to read who feels disillusioned with their life and feel that they are wasting it.
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