John
began earning money in the first grade by selling pencils to his
classmates. As a teenager, he’d shovel
snow, mow lawns, and work at flea markets, and he participated in a high school
program that allowed him to alternate weeks attending school and working a
full-time job. However, he was still
young, and young people sometimes make mistakes.
Growing
up, John had a friend who was constantly looking for ways to get ahead, legal
or otherwise. During high school, John’s
friend began dealing drugs and stealing cars, and it wasn’t long before John
was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the crimes. It was the lowest moment of his life, and he
was determined never to let anything like it happen again.
Immediately
after high school, he started a commuter van service. He drove the van sixteen hours a day and came
home most nights with more than three hundred dollars. However, when he finally did the math on what
running the van was costing him, he found that he was actually working himself
to the bone for about fifty dollars a day.
After this realization, he decided to focus on his passion for clothing
while waiting tables. Surprisingly, he
didn’t mind being a waiter at all. He
earned a hundred dollars a shift, but knew exactly what he was making for his
time, and it left his mind free to pursue his dreams.
John’s
first venture in clothing came about purely by chance. He saw a wool hat he wanted to buy, but was
surprised that it cost $20. Instead of
buying it, he thought he could make it, and asked his mother to teach him to
use the sewing machine. He and a friend
began making the wool hats, sewing them in the mornings and selling them in
their neighborhood for only $10 each. On
one occasion, they made $800 in a single day and knew they were on to
something.
Believing
in his idea’s potential, John and his mother mortgaged their house to generate
starting capital, and even turned the home into an office and factory. They began sewing the distinctive brand logo
they’d created onto jerseys, sweatshirts, and t-shirts, and recruited more
neighborhood friends to help with production and sales of the clothing. One of those friends was LL Cool J., who
agreed to wear one of John’s t-shirts in a promotional ad.
Now
their brand was gaining some recognition.
John and his team attended a trade show in Las Vegas but couldn’t afford
the cost of their own booth. However,
because of the brand’s unique style and its identification with the growing
hip-hop scene, they accumulated more than $300,000 worth of orders by inviting
retail buyers to their hotel room to see their samples.
Soon,
they expanded their line, even securing a contract with Macys. Despite this, John was refused financing at 27
banks. In search of capital, he finally
put an ad in the newspaper, which resulted in 23 phone calls, one from
Samsung’s textile division. Suddenly,
John and his team were able to manufacture and distribute their designs on a
massive scale, and they never looked back.
Daymond
John started his For Us, By Us clothing brand, better known as FUBU, in
1989. He ran out of money three times
along the way and nearly closed it down before the company eventually took
off. Since then, FUBU has generated $6
billion in global retail sales. Talking
about the decision to wait tables while pursuing his larger plans, John says,
“The day I made that decision is the last day I ever worked in my life.” Instead of working for money, he was working
to pursue what he loved... and that’s what living your dreams is really about.
Until next week...
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