Review of "Rainbow Gold" by David Hampson

Score: 96/100 (9.6 out of 10)

This might just be the best business book we've read this year!

When it comes to substantive, practical, and hearty business books, Rainbow Gold absolutely delivers!

This is not one of those flimsy, buzzword-heavy, idealistic business books that tries to impress you with trendy jargon, startup posturing, or empty motivational fluff. David Hampson writes with the kind of perspective that can only come from real experience, real risk, real success, and real pain. And that shows on nearly every page.

That experience is key. Hampson is not writing from the sidelines. Before building the aviation insurance agencies he runs today, he pieced together work in South Africa, created and ran a profitable program called Run Science through the Sports Science Institute, taught and coached on the side, then took the much bigger leap of buying and operating an Ocean Basket restaurant franchise in Cape Town. He is very open that the restaurant was not his ideal long-term model, but it gave him what he calls a kind of "real-world MBA."

And that restaurant experience was not some cute little entrepreneurial warm-up. He had to deal with staffing, customer complaints (there's a really good example in here about a very unhappy customer), union issues, legal questions, and, most devastatingly, the horrific staff-van tragedy that killed eight employees and forced him to figure out how to support families, work with counsel, and somehow keep the business going in the aftermath. Later, he and Buddy poured themselves into the family insurance business as well, with both of them wearing multiple hats while managing growth, acquisitions, compensation structure, and ownership control. So when Hampson talks about business, he is speaking as someone who has actually built, run, struggled through, and matured inside real companies.

What makes Rainbow Gold stand out is that it is not merely about making money. It is about building something meaningful. It is about stewardship, legacy, culture, decision-making, responsibility, and the often-overlooked human side of entrepreneurship. Hampson is not obsessed with the shallow version of success. He is interested in what lasts. He is interested in what matters. He is interested in the kind of success that is still worth having when the hype dies down.

And we appreciated that.

One of the strongest aspects of this book is its maturity. Hampson does not write like someone trying to sell you a fantasy. He writes like someone who has actually been in the trenches and wants to save you from avoidable mistakes. You can really tell. There is a groundedness here that we found refreshing. He pushes back against glamorous business myths and makes a compelling case that so-called "boring" businesses (like insurance), stable businesses, cash-flowing businesses, and well-run businesses are often far more valuable than flashy ones.

To Hampson, you should seek to be the tortoise and not the hare. Slow and steady wins the race. That might sound cliche, but Hampson is proof of concept. "Take your time. We’re not taking private equity for a quick win... That's the way you want to grow: Slowly. Sustainably. Relentlessly."

That is a lesson a lot of people need.

And, on a similar note, another great lesson we learned from Hampson is that "boring is bankable." Like a star, when you grow fast, you run the risk of blowing up or burning out fast as well.

With all that said, let's get into more specifics about what we liked about this book. Believe it or not, we've often read business books that read more like rants, diatribes, or philosophical musings rather than actual, practical instructional works. Well, this is an actual, practical instructional work.

That's exemplified by how the author confronts the "woe is me" victim mindset that we've seen plague books that are supposed to be helpful. The author destroys that frame of thinking, guiding us to instead ask ourselves "What CAN I do?" That is so much more helpful than a book telling you how hard life is and how there are forces holding you back and keeping you down. Believe it or not, those books exist. We just read one.

One of the best things this book does is discussing risk management. The author presents great analogies, case studies, and points of comparison with his other passions: aviation and insurance. He gives the example of a client named Steve who was reckless in his running of a plane rental business, so much so that it resulted in a non-fatal yet destructive plane crash (while still a client), followed by a tragically fatal plane accident after being fired as a client. Steve had low or non-existent safety protocols and standards, even leaving the plane key out for people to take whenever they wanted. That's like letting people take a flying death machine at any time they want.

Managing or getting rid of risks and liabilities like Steve can save your business and even lives.

Hampson also talks in detail about something super important that business books don't talk about: TAXES! He discusses saving on taxes, understanding and using deductions legally, the differences between S-Corps and LLCs, and more.

He talks about why the most important investments you make are reinvesting in your own business, and he explains how to do so.

He even talks about outreach, marketing, word-of-mouth, reputation (and reputation management), work culture, and more!

THIS is what a business book should be like.

Check it out on Amazon!