Jeff Pearce was born in the slums of Liverpool in 1953 to an enterprising but downtrodden woman. His father drank what little money he earned while his mother was forced to send her children begging for rags from the rich to sell on the markets. He left school at the age of fourteen, unable to read and write but managed to use the trading and selling skills he had acquired from his parents to make himself a millionaire by the age of thirty. It wasn’t to end happily there though. Circumstances conspired and he lost it all. He found himself penniless and he and his family forced to move out of their beautiful home. He picked himself up, swallowed his pride and went back down the markets to start all over again. This book is his memoir.
This is an uplifting story for anyone who finds themselves broke, unemployed and is considering starting out on their own. It is possible to make something from nothing, lose it and build it again. Jeff Pearse managed all this without being literate. The tales of his childhood are at times harrowing, touching, bittersweet and sometimes downright depressing. I was relieved his life improved. What shines through most is his determination and resourcefulness. The battle he waged to enter the pretentious upper-class world of polo is an amusing take on the elitist British class system and there are some fond tales of the trader’s life. His wheeling and dealing methods are sometimes on a par with Del Boy and the love and loyalty he shows for his mother and his wife make him equally likeable. He tells his story in a simple factual manner that won’t win any prizes for literature but in fairness he did overcome lifelong illiteracy to write it. Times have changed since he built his empire of rags and although there’s the odd industry tip, the only real business lessons to be learned from the book are to keep taking risks and never give up.
Should you read it? If you’re at the bottom of a cliff and need a bit of inspiration to climb it - sure, go for it. It won’t take long or do you any harm and it sure beats self-help books.
Sounds a bit like Britain’s Bill Cullen. I’m not into personal struggle memoirs, but this one seems like it’s not too self-contgratulatory at least.
I guess he is a bit like him but he comes across as much more humble and likeable. It was his policy of making sure everyone gets paid in full and on time that contributed to his downfall and also aided his resurrection, not so sure BC subscribes to that particular business acumen.