For most entrepreneurs, the idea of creating a company that could be sold for hundreds of millions of dollars represents the pot of gold at the other side of the rainbow a personal Shangri-La where we can experience the kind of freedom we all imagine comes with being financially independent.Īnd yet, as Hsieh candidly shares in “Delivering Happiness”, the sale of LinkExchange – and his new status as a multi-millionaire – left him more with a sense of listlessness and questions of ‘so what now?’, borne not from being driven or ambitious, but due to lacking a sense of purpose of what to do with his life. Though Hsieh shares stories going from his college days to the growing success of his first internet company LinkExchange, to help the reader understand where his drive to push Zappos to its current success came from, the story behind his sale of LinkExchange to Microsoft for over $200 million represents the first of many of the book’s more illuminating moments. The tales are for the most part endearing, reminding the reader of the whimsical image of the makeshift lemonade stand children create to sell beverages to the passersby. Hsieh’s book begins by sharing some stories from his childhood, featuring moments where his budding entrepreneurial spirit propelled him to come up with all sorts of plans on how to make money.

A few chapters into Hsieh’s book, that curiosity soon transformed into one of delight as Hsieh revealed his need to move past seeking profits to finding some purpose and meaning behind his efforts. In addition to being thrilled at the opportunity to read this book in advance of its release, I was also understandably curious to read the insights of an entrepreneur who was able to take a struggling online shoe retailer and transform it into one of the decade’s biggest success stories. I was fortunate to be selected as one of the bloggers who was sent an advance copy of Hsieh’s book to review on my site (as well as a second copy of the book which I will be giving away for free to one of my readers. Today, the net is abuzz with the release of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s book “ Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose”.

Tony shea book