Alain Bouchard ou l'audace de réussir

I recently got this book at the library. I haven't read all of it yet, but so far, it's a great reading.

If you read this blog, I hope you know who Alain Bouchard is.

OK, I assume that you're looking for vacations on the beaches of Normandie and you came on this blog to learn about Donville-les-bains. First, I must inform you that this is not a blog about travel. Second, Alain Bouchard is the founder of Couche-Tard.

If you read the book, you'll learn many interesting facts. The most interesting being: "How did he get there?". Well, first of all, you'll learn that almost like every rich person, he is not a billionaire by luck. He worked much more than everybody you know. For instance, when he was 21-22 years old, he usually worked about 84 hours a week. I never did that. In fact, I never worked half that number.

Before that, his father went bankrupt when Alain was 9, which was quite an humiliation for all the family. Bouchard says that there was a "before" and an "after", referring to that bankrupcy. Adding to the tragedy, a few years later, his mother went mad, going to an asylum in Quebec city, avoiding lobotomy by little. Just not like Randall Patrick McMurphy.

Man, that guy had a long way to the top. He got fired by bosses for which he worked like crazy in various convenience stores. But he eventually bought some of them, because vengeance is a dish best served cold. 

With such deceptions, rejections and problems in his youth, if Bouchard was born in Austria in 1889, he could have become the Furher. But he was born in Chicoutimi in 1949 and instead made a living of selling cigarettes and beers. And he became rich for that. Much richer than all the rock stars you know, including Paul McCartney who is a living legend now and for centuries to come. But Bouchard will never be a living legend. Nobody knows him except you and I. 

You must read this book. I don't know if it's translated in english, but if it's not the case, it's time for you to get a french class.