🏀 This is the memoir of powerful NBA agent, and Adele’s fiance, Rich Paul. Paul grew up in Cleveland with a mother who was addicted to crack and a father who had another family. Still, he ‘changed the odds’ and became a powerful businessman and community leader.

🏀 Paul’s story is truly inspiring, and he shares a lot of great messaging in his book. Through his own personal stories he reminds readers of the damaging stereotypes of inner-city Black communities and shares the histories of redlining and other harmful practices that created the neighborhoods we know today. Swipe for a quote that I thought was especially powerful.

🏀 His stories of throwing dice and embracing bold fashion of a child are so vivid. I could picture him perfectly and it’s easy to see why everyone knew he was special, and had big things in his future. While I chance run-in with Lebron James changed the course of his future, there’s no doubt Paul earned the life he lives now.

🏀 This book is mostly focused on his child and young adulthood. I would have for it to go on into the years where he started out as an agent and what that looked like when he started representing players. He drops a few anecdotes throughout the book but I think he left a lot of meat on the bone, so to speak. Overall, this is interesting and, at just a 5-hour listen, certainly worth your time.

Rich Paul has fascinated me for several reasons for years. His memoir highlights his hustle mindset along with luck along the way has paved his way to be an incredibly successful businessman. There's nothing groundbreaking about the lessons shared in this book, but his charisma shines off the pages.

I really liked Rich Paul's memoir which gave frank - and bleak - depictions of his life growing up in Cleveland during the crack epidemic in the 1980s. It's admirable how he has tried to better himself and to become a better person. He doesn't skirt over the difficult stuff and there is a lot on his family, drugs and his attitudes from the past, which he has now tried to change. There's more depth and emotion here than other books of this ilk.

Phenomenal book to learn how someone came from nothing to now run a multi billion dollar organization. Rich Paul effectively changed the game and has now paired up with some of the best at helmeted of our generation to create other ventures to promote them.

Lucky Me is Rich Paul’s memoir, where he shares his hustler mentality, his willingness to roll the dice (literally), and the lessons he learned growing up in Cleveland that led him to become the successful man he is today. Though Rich didn’t live with his father, his father’s influence in his life was huge and he helped shape Rich’s education, beyond the traditional format of school. Rich sought unique opportunities both as a way to make money and a way to survive.

Rich is the founder of Klutch, a sports agency, and he is responsible for negotiating more than 4 billion! dollars in athlete contracts (as of October 2023). Lebron may have given Rich an opportunity but in Lebron’s own words, it’s disrespectful to attribute Rich’s success to him. While I would have enjoyed hearing a little more about Rich’s current work, Lucky Me focuses on his journey more than the destination, and I get that — It’s what really shapes us and of course, he’s not done! Rich is a smart guy and his story is inspiring.

I was pleasantly surprised by Rich Paul's Lucky Me. Paul does not focus on the perceived glitz and glamour of his current profession, Instead, he walks us through his childhood in great detail. We get to learn about the events that led him to have the passion, drive and tenacity that support his success.

It is at times a raw account of difficult situations, challenging relationships but ultimately having the will to do and be more than what he saw in his surrounding environment. Paul speaks of his childhood and youth with a beautiful balance of brutal honesty and compassionate understanding.

Readers will glean how to turn their challenges into opportunities by watching how Paul stayed focused on his goals and used potential setbacks to propel him forward.

This is a great read for anyone seeking motivation - not just basketball fans.

Rich Paul is best known for being Lebron Jame's sports agent. In Lucky Me he shares his life story and journey towards becoming the super agent he is today. As someone who is not college educated, Paul has had to earn every accolade he has and has also had to deal with retaliation from the NCAA. The NCAA passed a rule saying that a college degree is needed in order to represent players entering the NBA draft because of Paul's success. At the same time, there is no doubt that Paul's success is the direct result of his childhood growing up in the streets of Cleveland and the skills he mastered emotionally, mentally, and psychologically in order to survive street life.

I enjoyed reading about the OGs and elders from his community who taught him about character and street code. These are lessons he powerfully speaks to in the text while also sharing the impact these developmental lessons had on him as a young boy thrust into manhood. He writes vulnerably about his mother's addiction and his loyalty to her throughout her healing journey. He also speaks about his close relationship to his father, a hood entrepreneur and community-minded man of intelligence, who he lost to cancer. If you enjoy reading memoirs and personal success stories where insurmountable odds are beat then you should definitely read Rich Paul's story.

One of my many favorite quotes from the text is this:

"Society can accept that poor Black environments instill a hunger, drive, and savvy that produces great athletes. It's long overdue for them to accept that it can produce just as many great executives, too."

Thank you so much to the publisher and author for the e-arc copy!

A few weeks ago, I read a biography of LeBron James, and that is where I first heard the name of Rich Paul. He was an associate of LeBron and was in his very small circle of people he trusted. Later, Rich Paul became a sports agent and founded Klutch Sports Group.

This book, though, was about his life before he met LeBron James.

What a great title, indeed, as Rich was very lucky. He worked in his dad’s store throughout his young childhood and later when he was a teenager, called R & J Confectionery. He made extra money by gambling, selling drugs, and selling vintage jersey’s (that was how he met LeBron James). With that extra money, he used it to buy name brand clothing and shoes. He always prided himself in looking good, no matter how old he was.

His dad was a major influence not only at his store, but also provided business and life advice. His mother was in and out of the picture as she was a drug user.

Even though I didn’t know anything about what he did, I enjoyed reading it and the stories he told were very honest. I am glad, that nothing bad happened to him, although, he did have some bad things happen to friends.

I can easily see him writing another memoir about meeting LeBron and what happened afterward.