APPLES: I Didn't Want to Die. I Just Didn't Know How to Live.

He spent a lifetime building businesses, developing leaders, and working alongside giants of American business. What he left his grandson was a blueprint for something even bigger: how to build a life.

James S. Bugg Sr. was an International Franchise Hall of Fame business leader whose career crossed paths with Bill Marriott and Dave Thomas.

He developed a simple framework built around six principles:

APPLES

Attitude.
People Skills.
Perseverance.
Loyalty.
Enthusiasm.
Stability.

These were principles he used to lead people, build organizations, navigate adversity, strengthen relationships, and teach others how to succeed without losing sight of who they were.

His grandson, Jim Kirlin, grew up with those lessons right in front of him.

He ignored them.

Despite a loving family and opportunity, Jim slowly lost himself. Pride, fear, poor decisions, and an unwillingness to ask for help eventually brought him to a night when he no longer knew how to keep living.

“My soul was starving, and my pride wouldn't let me eat.”

Years later, his grandfather's words took on an entirely different meaning.

This book has two authors. One of them has been gone since 2015.

And in many ways, APPLES is two books in one.

The first is Jim’s story—the deeply personal account of a grandson who had these lessons within reach, yet still lost his way.

His story takes APPLES into the realities of modern life: pressure, comparison, career changes, relationships, failure, pride, anxiety about the future, and the feeling that somehow we should have everything figured out by now.

Jim doesn’t write as someone who mastered these principles perfectly. He writes as someone who discovered what they meant through mistakes, setbacks, success, loss, rebuilding, and the everyday challenge of becoming a better human being.

Along the way, he shows how Attitude, People Skills, Perseverance, Loyalty, Enthusiasm, and Stability can become practical tools—not just for surviving hard moments, but for making better decisions, leading people, strengthening relationships, navigating change, and living with greater purpose and perspective.

And for anyone who has ever looked around and wondered why everyone else seems to have life figured out while they’re still finding their footing, Jim’s story carries another message:

You are far from the only one figuring it out as you go.

Sometimes moving forward doesn’t require an entirely new life. Sometimes it begins by returning to a few simple principles and learning to use them differently.

The second is James Bugg's original APPLES manuscript, preserved for a new generation—the very framework he used to teach, develop, and lead others throughout his business career.

That's what makes APPLES different.

You don't have to be at rock bottom to need it.

You might be building a career. Leading a team. Raising a family. Starting a business. Navigating a setback. Mentoring someone younger. Trying to become a better partner, parent, friend, or leader. Or simply asking what kind of person you want to be.

The principles don't change. The way you need them does.

APPLES is about what happens when timeless principles meet real life—from the boardroom to the kitchen table, from success to failure, from one generation to the next.

No guru. No preaching. No promise of an easy life.

Just a remarkable grandfather's wisdom, a grandson's hard-earned perspective, and six principles designed to work wherever life puts you.

He built the framework.
His grandson made the promise.
Now the lessons are yours.

The climb isn't easy. But it's worth it.