Joe Ricketts, Author at Joe Ricketts

November 8, 2019March 2, 2020

Week 1 Media Tour – The Harder You Work, The Luckier You Get

Image of Morning show with Joe Ricketts interview

My memoir about building Ameritrade, The Harder You Work, The Luckier You Get, hit stands this week. It took a lot of work and wouldn’t have happened without people like my collaborator, G. F. Lichtenberg, my editor at Simon & Schuster, Priscilla Painton, my “book mentor,” Bob Barnett, and Alfred Levitt, who kept us all on track!

One thing I learned at Ameritrade was marketing matters. So I’ll be spending the next couple of weeks trying to get the word out about The Harder You Work, The Luckier You Get. There have been some long days already, but it’s been fun and reminds me of doing the Road Show when Ameritrade went public!

I thought I would share some of these media appearances here.

It started Sunday, November 3 when CBS Sunday Morning aired my commentary. (CBS also published an excerpt from the book.)

From there, we were off to the races on Monday, with my appearance on Fox & Friends where Steve Doocey interviewed me about the book and some current events.

It was fun then to spend time with Brian Kilmeade on his Fox News radio show and talk about the book. (I’ve already finished his excellent book on Sam Houston and recommend it highly for anyone who likes engaging historical-like novels.)

Later in the day, Neil Cavuto interviewed me on his show Cavuto Coast to Coast.

Tuesday started with the Wall Street Journal publishing my op-ed, In Praise of Today’s Entrepreneurs.

From there, it was off the Bloomberg where Tom Keene interviewed me on his television and radio shows, Surveillance.

And finally on Tuesday, I had the chance to discuss my book with Dana Perino with the night ending by Larry Elder interviewing me on his excellent radio show.

Wednesday morning began with a terrific conversation with Maria Bartiromo and her panel on Mornings with Maria.

And the week wrapped up with me doing Hugh Hewitt’s radio show.

November 1, 2019March 2, 2020

The Harder You Work, The Luckier You Get – For Sale Starting November 5

Image of Joe Ricketts and The Harder You Work, The Luckier You Get

I never imagined I would write a book. When we were building Ameritrade, we were too busy keeping the company afloat to make any kinds of notes or records. We were too focused on watching every penny to spend money on film, so there aren’t many photos.

Along with a few partners, I founded the company with $12,500, mostly borrowed from family and friends, and we grew it to what it is today thanks to the hard work of so many employees and the sacrifices of my family. Only when I was approached to write a memoir did I realize that people might want to hear the story of how a kid whose first job was working as an assistant janitor at the Nebraska City courthouse could get to where I did. I thought they might enjoy finding out just how little we knew when we got started, how clueless we were until we learned from our mistakes, how many times we almost went out of business, and how fortunate we were to live in America, where the free-market system gave us the chance to succeed.

My book is called The Harder You Work, The Luckier You Get: An Entrepreneur’s Memoir, and it’s being published by Simon & Schuster on November 5. I’m grateful for the chance to share this story, and I thought you might be interested.

You can learn more about the book at the website www.TheHarderYou.work, and you can order a copy on Amazon. If you like the book, I’d appreciate you spreading the word – it was a fun project for me to do, and I think some people might enjoy the story.

October 20, 2019March 2, 2020

Honored to Work with Heroes

I’ve been lucky my whole career to work with great people. In fact, in my upcoming book, The Harder You Work, The Luckier You Get, I talk a lot about how Ameritrade would not have been the success it was if it weren’t for the many great people who helped to build it.

I’m still lucky to work with great people today, including the team that operates and maintains my plane. Captains Charles Van Allen, Steve Kerby, and Lee Van Den Broeke, and Maintenance Manager Andrew Harris, are the best. They’re pros who I trust with my life, and the lives of my family.

So I wanted to share an amazing story about one of them – Captain Kerby – who recently was truly heroic. While on vacation with his family in St. Lucia, Captain Kerby and another man found a woman floating face down in the water. She was lifeless.

Thank God Captain Kerby was trained in CPR because he was able to revive the woman, who eventually began coughing up water. The woman was then taken to a local hospital and, miraculously, it looks like she will survive.

Real heroes rarely think of themselves as heroic and Captain Kerby is no exception. But in my mind, Captain Kerby is a hero and I am honored to work with him and people of his exceptional caliber.

October 16, 2019March 2, 2020

Why Teaching Essential Habits Is So Essential

Too often, high school these days is focused on information learning and retention. It’s a format that produces a sense of disengagement from school and learning. It’s also a format that isn’t preparing our youth to face the challenges of the rapidly evolving world they’re about to inherit.

Before someone can learn, work effectively, grow in their career, and build a successful life, they need to develop healthy habits of mind; habits that enable them to focus, persist, and succeed.

It’s my nature to build things that address big issues and fixing what’s broken in education is a BIG issue. So at Opportunity Education, we’ve continued developing our Quest Forward Learning Program to enable students to practice six Essential Habits on a daily basis. Based on extensive research in social-emotional learning, we identified these habits as foundational character traits needed for success:

Be Curious
Manage Yourself
Communicate and Collaborate
Persist through Setbacks
Solve Problems
Live an Integrated Life

While other schools may talk about this type of deep learning, our schools do it every day with activities embedded in the academic work, with the design of internships, and with teachers supporting growth in each of these habits.

The result? We see more curious students pushing their own growth. We see students communicating and collaborating to solve school and community problems. We see students learn to manage frustrating setbacks with grit and resilience. (That last one is something my life has taught me is invaluable.)

I am proud of the work Opportunity Education is doing through its Quest Forward Learning Program, helping our high school students to succeed in their education and supporting them in building a life-long foundation of learning, growth, and success.

September 25, 2019March 2, 2020

The Simple Pleasures

Nearly every business idea I’ve had started with the customer in mind. What would the customer want? What’s missing in the market that the customer would love?

In the case of Best Bison, my idea is to create a classic burger and sandwich joint with dishes made from absolutely delicious bison. I love bison. It tastes amazing but has fewer calories than beef so I can have my steak and eat it too!

One of my favorite Best Bison sandwiches is the Bison Philly Cheesesteak. Made with tender bison ribeye responsibly raised on my ranches and served with Swiss American cheese, grilled onions, and green peppers, it’s a treat I look forward too.