Press Release · For Immediate Release

New Book Shows
Displaced Professionals
How to Buy a Business,
Instead of Searching for Work

Own Your Next Job: How to Buy a Business Instead of Searching for Work, the debut book from former trust company Vice President and serial business buyer Jamie L. Johnston, is now available in paperback and digital editions on Amazon and other retailers.

The book grew out of Johnston’s own experience. In the 1980s, he was a Vice President at a major Canadian trust company, earning $300,000 a year — until his boss called him in. “We’ve got a problem,” his boss told him. “You’re making more money than any other VP in the company.” Johnston refused to take a pay cut. He was fired — not for underperforming, but for outperforming his peers.

Rather than search for another job, Johnston bought the company he had been consulting for. Then another. Over the decades that followed, he built, operated, and sold multiple businesses across Canada, funding a retirement no corporate salary ever could have.

“People don’t like hiring someone who might outshine them. Especially not when you’re in your forties or fifties. Your experience becomes a liability in someone else’s org chart. This is the book I wish someone had handed me the day I cleared out my desk.”

— Jamie L. Johnston

According to an Urban Institute/ProPublica analysis of Health and Retirement Study data, reported by AARP, workers over 50 face a steep road back after job loss.

56%
of workers over 50 are forced out before they’re ready to retire
<10%
of those workers ever earn as much again

Own Your Next Job offers displaced and career-weary professionals a different path: buying an existing, profitable business rather than competing for a shrinking number of jobs. The book is ten chapters of zero-filler, real-world guidance, backed by a full appendix — NDA and Letter of Intent templates, a due diligence checklist, an SDE valuation guide, and recommended reading — covering the full ownership lifecycle: find it, buy it, run it, grow it, sell it.

“I told them: better than that — sell me the company. And they did.”

— Jamie L. Johnston

Jamie L. Johnston earned three degrees in six years, played five years of Canadian university football, and rose to Vice President at a major trust company — earning $300,000 a year before being fired for outperforming his peers. Rather than wait for someone to hire him, Jamie bought the company he’d been consulting for. That decision launched decades of business acquisitions across Canada. Now happily retired, a husband of 50+ years, father of three, and grandfather of seven, Jamie has written Own Your Next Job — the book he wishes someone had handed him the day he cleared out his desk.

Availability: Own Your Next Job is available now in paperback and digital editions on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Foyles UK, with additional retailers on the way. Readers can also request a copy personally signed and mailed by Jamie.

Media & Speaking Inquiries

For interviews, review copies, or speaking engagements, Jamie’s team responds within 48 hours.

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