RETURN TO HOMEAn Author Wednesday Interview with John McGuire, Author of “Sorted! How to Survive and Thrive When Money is Tight”
Are you finding it tough to survive in the current economic climate? Well, you’ll find solace in the plainspoken John McGuire and his real world advice. He saved his various companies–from a bar in Dublin’s city centre to a mortgage company–from the brink of disaster and built them up so that they are thriving today.
Ireland is indicative of much of the financial turmoil going on throughout Europe. Find out how this Irishman managed to stay cool under extreme pressure and in fact learned how to both survive and thrive in a tight market!
After reading his book you, too, can find the courage to implement strategies that actually make a difference and not get rattled by what seem like failures. And, even if failure does visit your door, he encourages you not to get bogged down by it but instead find a solution to whatever business throws at you.
Read more for the rest of this great author interview and to learn how you can grab a free copy of John’s book!
Q. What’s your new book about? Why did you write it? What main message will readers take away from it?
A. Although Sorted falls under the category of finance, it’s really more of an explanation of how business and financial products work. Most explanations are through a lot of my own personal experiences, so I (hopefully) explain in plain English how these work.
More than that I explain how to set up a business and how to avoid the most common mistakes: how to buy a home for the first time, how to buy investment property and then how to cope if your business has failed or you have lost your job. We here in Ireland have been through tremendous turmoil over the past few years and I have firsthand experience of all of these so I explain through both through personal revelations along with my own straightforward way of explaining.
The main message people will get from my book is that no matter how dark things seem there is always a way of dealing with whatever business throws at you. I hopefully explain some of these in a way that might put a smile on your face!
Q. What inspired you to write this book?
A. To be completely honest, this was absolutely the worst time in my life to write a book. I was in the middle of the biggest fight of my life–my main business–a mortgage company-was down 94% in turnover as banks had completely ceased lending. I had vacant buildings & houses all with mortgages to pay each month. I was in the middle of building a property in Dublin‘s city centre and separately building a bar to open in my old mortgage company boardroom, all without bank finance. I was chairman of two new financial services companies trying to strategize their development and to top it all off I was living in a vacant office as I had rented out my house and moved into the office–I did everything within my power to insure that I did not go under.
So I guess what inspired me to write the book was Penguin expressing to me that all of these experiences will make a difference to other people and will make it a better book to anyone who reads it. Ultimately, by the time I had finished writing the book I had managed to turn the corner and am back in business employing over 40 people in the process.
Q. What were some of the greatest discoveries, lessons, or findings you came across while doing research and writing this book?
A. The biggest lesson I learned was that honesty is the most important part of the book. The parts in the book that I was most nervous about, the parts where I was admitting my hardships or failings are the parts that really resonated with people. I was pretty nervous about admitting how difficult it was over the past few years but I decided just to let it all out when I was writing and these are the bits that seem to have made the book more readable.
Q. What do you feel sets your book apart from others in the same genre?
A. Believe it or not I decided not to read any other finance books before I wrote this. So I guess I don’t know! Really…when I thought I had to read other finance books it sounded like homework so I took that as my inspiration to try and write a finance book that was readable and enjoyable.
Q. What are 5 things everyone should know in your area of expertise?
A. My area of expertise has been business regardless of the product. So my attitude is: you won’t know if you are good at something unless you first try. And don’t expect your first attempt to be an easy ride. So anything that looks intimidating, get stuck in it and give it a go.
I didn’t know I could run a company until I set one up, I didn’t know I could build up a business or a home until I tried. I had no idea how to present a TV show or write a book until I jumped in feet first to see what would happen. For the purposes of this answer I’ve left out the times I fell flat on my face! But expect plenty of falls before you succeed.
Q. What does your typical day look like?
A. I get up at 6.20 am and get into the gym at 7am as there is very little traffic on the road at that time of day so I can get into the city in ten minutes. From 7.30am on it takes about an hour or more so I gain an extra hour in the morning. I then work out for an hour, make my way to my bar, Dax café Bar, which is the bar I set up last year and have some light breakfast before I go upstairs to my office. My office is in a Georgian building above the restaurant In Dublin City Centre.
This is where my financial services companies are based. www.quotedevil.ie is my online insurance company and I have just taken over the day to day running of the company as it has expanded rapidly. Between 9am and 12.30pm I have sales meetings with my staff before heading for lunch. After lunch I have meetings with customers and my fellow directors and plan my advertising and strategy as well as deal with the normal day to day of running a business.
I generally head home at seven, picking up some fresh food on the way home to cook dinner for me and my partner Karen. Night time is either playing football, reading, or if it’s been a tough day maybe just watching TV with a glass of wine…or more accurately annoying my girlfriend while she tries to watch TV while having wine.
Q. If you could write 1 Golden Rule to take away from your book, what would it be and why?
A. There is a liberating feeling that comes with tackling financial problems and difficulties head on and no matter how difficult things are, there is always a way of dealing with them. Many men who went on to change the world were bankrupt at some stage from Abraham Lincoln to Walt Disney and thousands in between.
Q. What are some of your current projects you’ve been working on in this field?
A. My main enterprise is www.quotedevil.ie and we are expanding rapidly. But I also have the bar and two other financial services companies and my property business. I have also recently filmed a show on RTE (the national channel) about Irish men and their attitude towards fashion!
My point was: how we are dressed determines how people view us. I have only just finished filming and am now finishing a proposal for a new show that will hopefully go on next year. So my business, TV, and promoting the book are my major priorities. There’s no point writing a book if no one reads it!
Q. Thank you for the interview John. Would you like to share where we can find you on the web and how we can buy your book?
A. Website: www.johnmcguire.ie
You can buy my book on Amazon or Book Depository.
About the Author: John McGuire is a serial entrepreneur, professional investor and is best known for presenting the RTE 2 show “I’m An Adult Get Me Out Of Here.” John is the Chairman of six successful businesses from financial services & Property through to insurance and hospitality. He has weathered the recession despite being hit by a perfect economic storm which threatened to decimate his business interests. Although facing bankruptcy in 2009 & 2010 John invested his way out of the downturn and opened or commenced trading in new companies the height of the crisis, creating 30 new jobs in the process. John expects to increase the number employed by his group to 50 by late 2011.
Despite the enormous setbacks he personally incurred, John considers the global recession to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to aggressively expand.
John is chairman and owner of www.QuoteDevil.ie, www.FirstCredit.ie, www.PembrokeInsurances.ie and www.DaxCafeBar.ie, is a professional property investor and now, book author! John got his first taste of television when an article on him in the Irish Times was spotted by Independent Pictures Production Company in 2005. They subsequently asked him to host “I’m An Adult, Get Me Out Of Here”. having never before worked in television.
Contact John:
Email: john@johnmcguire.ie
Facebook: John McGuire
Twitter: @Johnmcguire72
LinkedIn: John McGuire
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