The Ride of a Lifetime: Doing Business the OrangeCounty Choppers Way Paperback – Illustrated, March 23, 2010

I loved this book and believe it has the potential to be one of the most important business books published this year.Sure, there are deeper "how to" business books. There is a constant parade of sucessful executives who have a ghost writer package some homilies into a business "how to" in an effort to burnish the image of the author and pave their way on the corporate speaking circuit. And, then there are the academicians who package their latest business theories.This book is in sharp contrast to those books. This is a book that gives hope and inspiration to every blue collar worker who yearns to make a better life for himself or herself. Author Paul Teutul, Sr., has built a very successful business, while also bootstrapping a noteworthy brand (Orange County Choppers). And, he has done it the old fashioned way, by hard work and disciplined adherence to basic life and business values.If that alone was not inspirational enough, along the way to this success, Teutul has also overcome drug and alcohol addictions which threatened both his business and his life.With so many jobs being eliminated due to what I expect will (regretfully) be a prolonged economic downturn, blue collar workers (and white collar workers) need role models of hard working men and women who have bootstrapped themselves to success. Few potential role models have more inspiring stories than Teutel's.Caveat: I don't hear Paul Teutul holding himself out as some perfect role model, and I am certainly not doing so. Teutul is refreshingly blunt about his strengths and weaknesses.In a world of "role models" who so often show that there is a huge gap between their image and reality, Teutul is a very refreshing study in authenticity.Got a blue collar worker friend who has lost his job, gift him -- or her -- this book. You will be doing your friend an important favor. And, together we will be helping America's workers to contribute to the revitalization of America through small businesses that are (hopefully) focused, nimble and efficient.

For any OCC fan that has followed the exploits of the Teutel clan, it was pretty obvious that the friction between Paul Senior and Paul Junior would finally come to a head with both parties coming out more damaged than they could have possibly guessed. Paul Senior's book is an attempt to revise the Teutel family business history and put him in a place where he evidently always wanted to be--the guy totally in charge.The book is written to help other business people in achieving their goals of success with Teutel's many anecdotes, personal philosophy, and honesty in talking about his personal demons while growing up. But the book doesn't ring true when it comes to the success of OCC as he tries to take credit for everything that made OCC a success. His obvious agenda is to rewrite history and take all the glory for himself, while marginalizing the contributions of his son, Paul Jr.Paul Senior didn't mean this book to be a personal insight into his character, but that's what you get when you finish reading his book. You can't help but feel sorry for the man that had everything but couldn't share his fame and success with anyone else.The book is an exercise in bragging, but more than this, it shows who Paul Senior really is and has little to do with business philosophy as much it is about what makes this man tick.

I have watched the show for years. Paul Sr is always a tough customer. But - I actually had the pleasure of meeting him recently as our company had a bike built by OCC. Paul could not have been any nicer or any more genuine. I saw this book in the showroom at OCC and bought that night. Its written by Paul... so it reads like he's sitting there telling you the stories. I found it to be a fast read and to the point. He tells about his past and how his work ethic and passion got him to where he is now. The biggest thing I learned from meeting him and reading this book is that regardless of the show, fame and money, Paul Sr would be just as happy building bikes in his garage as he is doing it where he is now. I applaud his success and find his story to be an inspiration.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. I read business books, I read biographies, and I'm a big fan of the Tuttles & American Chopper.What perplexes me is how short the book can be, yet be so repetitive. And why so is much left out? Senior aims to write a book to help the small business owner, akin to Jack Welch's "Winning." He's certainly qualified, having grown first Orange County Ironworks and then OCC, but oddly absent from the book is perhaps the most pivotal moment in the shop's history -- getting on Discovery & the creation of American Chopper. The growth through the period, the expansion of bringing things in-house, expanding into a production line, what's involved in a custom bike... none of it's there.Likewise the discussion about employees relations. He talks about a few cases, good & bad. He talks about Rick & how employees are like family & need to be treated as such. But no mention of one of one of the employees that was there for most of the beginning, Vinnie. I'd like to hear Paul's take on it, for better or worse, etc.I think a much interesting book would have been one that simply chronicled the rise of OCC, and the Tuttles in conjunction with it. Hopefully they write that one day.All said, it's a short book. If you're a fan & interested in business, it's probably still worth reading, just be ready for disappointment.

Have Sr & Jr’s books now

I haven't finished reading the whole book, I am half way thru. So far the book has been good, a lot of insight into the history of OCC and why Paul Sr. is the way he is and what drives him to success.Paul is an amature writer and it shows, however the person from the publisher workng with Paul should have made up for this but it didn't, on OCC it was said they were rushing this book and I think they rushed a bit too much. There are chapters that reexplain topics that were talked about in previous chapters.That being said I have enjoyed the book.

This is the sort of book that you'll read in a couple of days, you can't really put it down. It really does give another dimension and aspect to what we all know about the Teutils from the TV. It could have done with being a little longer/in depth but doubtless there will be some sort of sequel. Please be aware that it is mostly business orientated as you'd expect from the shows. Overall a good fun read.

Loved the book money well spent thank you

after watching the series for many years and being disappointed with it coming to an end - the book gave me an insight into the paul senior that we did not really know - very good

It was an ok read. Bit brief considering what he’s done in his life . Top bloke

`The Ride of a Lifetime' is a book looking at the business philosophy of Paul Teutul Sr (of OCC fame) and whilst it touches on some aspects of his life and history it is in no way an autobiography. This is geared firmly towards the small businessman as a business book. Each chapter outlines certain principles Paul tried to live and work by and each is explained in a reasonable amount of detail. It does get quite repetitive at times, where he uses similar phrases throughout the book and the first few chapters stood out with the amount of times he states how successful he is! I guess you can't totally blame him for this considering the book is ghost written and maybe this should have been picked up in editing. It is amusing to read some of his principles if you know him from the TV show `American Chopper'. He constantly says in the book how humble he is and how he welcomes advice and criticism etc, but when you see him on TV you often see him doing the exact opposite and shouting down anyone with an opposing view or opinion. Maybe this is due to TV editing or maybe it is sugar coating his business ideals in the book but, whatever the reason, it makes for humorous reading at times. Some of the principles are also a bit dubious if you take them as gospel, for example he states never to have a partner. Whilst partnerships may not have worked for him, they most certainly have worked for a wide range of business' in the past and no doubt will do so in the future. It pays to be aware that this is just one mans take on how to run a business and though the principles may seem sound, they may not all be relevant for your business. There is a colour middle section with photos of the early OCC shop and various bikes they have built which adds an extra dimension to the text. Overall this is an interesting book which offers some insight into Paul Teutul's business practise and should be interesting reading for those fans of the TV show, as well as for small business owners looking to pick up some tips. 3.5 StarsFeel free to check out my blog which can be found on my profile page.