Ryan Blair

Ryan Blair (born July 14, 1977) is an American entrepreneur and author.[2] He is the co-founder and chief executive officer of the multi-level marketing company ViSalus Sciences,[3] a subsidiary of the publicly traded company Blyth, Inc.[4][5]

For the footballer, see Ryan Blair (footballer).
Ryan Blair
BornJuly 14, 1977 (1977-07-14) (age 43)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationFounder of HashTagOne [1]
Known forNothing to Lose, Everything to Gain: How I Went from Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur

In 2011, he wrote a book titled Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain: How I Went from Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur which reached The New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover business books.[2][5][6][7][8] Ernst & Young named Blair as Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012.[9]

On February 7, 2018, Radaronline.com reported, Kasi Head, a former beauty queen and longtime girlfriend to Blair, filed a restraining order against Blair and alleged the entrepreneur and abuser broke her nose and knocked out her teeth, according to the filing obtained exclusively by RadarOnline.com.[10]

Early life

Blair was raised in Southern California.[11] A product of a broken family, at the early age of 13, "he was already heavily 'involved in stuff' after his father succumbed to drug addiction," Blair tells Business Insider in an interview.[12] He dropped out of high school in the 9th grade, left home, and became a gang member in his home-town of Los Angeles.[2][13]

When he was 18, Blair's mother began dating a successful real-estate entrepreneur who became Blair’s mentor and gave him his first job at Logix Development, a computer technical support provider.[8][14][15] At age 21, after serving as vice president of Logix Development he founded the technical-support firm 24/7 Tech.[14][15]

Business and writing

In 2005 Blair became the CEO of the multi-level marketing company ViSalus Sciences.[16][17]

In 2008, ViSalus was in debt and facing bankruptcy.[14] That year the company was acquired by Blyth Inc., with Blair remaining as CEO.

In 2010, Blair won the DSN Global Turn Around Award "when he actually turned the company around from a $6 million debt in early 2008 to $150 million in revenue 16 months later."[14][18]

In 2011, Blair released an autobiography, Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain: How I Went from Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur.[11] The book was ranked 3rd in The New York Times Best Seller list for August 2011 and was a number one New York Times Hardcover Business Book bestseller in September of that year.[6][7] In 2012 and 2013, Blair contributed several articles to Forbes Magazine's website.[19]

As of 2012, ViSalus was valued at $600 million.[20] Revenue subsequently declined and the company operated at a loss for 2013 and the first two quarters of 2014.[21]

References
  1. "ViSalus CEO Ryan Blair Completes $55M Transaction And Steps Down After Successful Turnaround". PrNewswire. PRNewswire. Retrieved 22 Dec 2016.
  2. Duff McDonald (November 30, 2012). "Business Lessons From a Former Gang Member". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  3. "RYAN BLAIR CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER". Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  4. "40 Under 40 -- Ryan Blair". Crain's Detroit Business. 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  5. Issie Lapowsky (June 28, 2012). "Why I Carry This Reminder". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  6. "Best Sellers". New York Times. August 21, 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  7. "Hardcover Business Books Best Sellers September 2011". New York Times. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  8. Scott Fummer (December 1, 2011). "Road Warrior: Ryan Blair". CNN Money. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  9. "MNWO 2012 Award Winners" (PDF). EY.com. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 7, 2013. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  10. "Ryan Blair's Ex Slaps Famous Author With Restraining Order, Claims He Broke Her Nose". RadarOnline. 2018-02-08. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  11. Blair, Ryan (2011-08-04). Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain: How I Went from Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur. ISBN 9781101517055. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  12. Giang, Vivian. "How This Guy Went From Gang Member To Multimillionaire Entrepreneur". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-04-14.
  13. Andrew Keen (August 15, 2011). "Keen On… Why Gang Members Make Wicked Entrepreneurs". Techcrunch. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  14. Vivian Giang (August 14, 2012). "How This Guy Went From Gang Member To Multimillionaire Entrepreneur". Business Insider. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  15. Laurent Belsie (February 5, 2012). "The job-shifters: people who reinvent themselves mid-career". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  16. "Blyth, Inc. Completes Third Closing of ViSalus Acquisition". Reuters. January 16, 2012. Archived from the original on February 10, 2013. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  17. "Blyth delays completion of ViSalus purchase to 2014". Reuters. October 1, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  18. Dan Schawbel (August 8, 2011). "Entrepreneurship: Nothing to Lose and Everything to Gain". Forbes Magazine. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  19. "Contributor: Ryan Blair". Forbes Magazine. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  20. Janean Chun (March 2, 2012). "Ryan Blair, ViSalus: My First Million". Huffington Post. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  21. Walsh, Dustin (September 14, 2014). "ViSalus co-founders buy back stake, launch new product line". Crain's Detroit Business. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
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