Before becoming a billionaire John Paul DeJoria was a homeless man

John Paul DeJoria is an American entrepreneur who is the cofounder of John Paul Mitchell Systems, a hair-care brand, and Patron Sprits he also has a number of shares in different ventures. The 79 year old self-made billionaire has a total net worth of 2.7 Billion dollars.

There are a lot of success stories in the world that are worth knowing, but DeJoria’s story distinguishes from the rest not because where it ends but because from where it begins.

DeJoria born in 1944, his parents separated when he was two. He and his brother started living with their mother, due lack of finances they had to sell Christmas cards and newspapers. When he completed high school in 1962 they were sent to foster care as their mother did not have enough money to raise them. He worked in the US Navy for two years. After returning, he was short on money to join college, so he held a series of jobs including a door-to-door shampoo salesman, insurance salesman and a janitor. He entered the world of hair-care as an employee at Redken Laboratories in 1971, four years later he was fired due disagreement over marketing strategies. He then joined Fermodyl Hair Care but despite rising sales he was made redundant.

In 1980 he cofounded John Paul Mitchell System with a friend Paul Mitchell who was a hairdresser. Together they acquired a loan of $700. All this time he lived in a twenty year old Roll Royce. Initially they focused on making products for expert stylists which would help reduce the time required for a client. After struggling for two years their company made a million dollar in the third year, and from that day their revenue bounced up never looking back. After the death of Paul Mitchell he took over the company. He started Patron Spirits Co. with his friend Martin Cowley, in hopes of making smooth tequila. He is a partner in House blue Night Club Shade with interests in the Madagascar Oil Ltd., Solar Utility, Pyrat Rum, Ultimat Vodka, Touchstone Natural Gas and many other ventures. He has also appeared in numerous movies, and have also been a part of the ABC reality show Shark Tank as a guest investor.

Many of the current successful entrepreneurs have faced hard times and their story resonate some common lessens and some unique. In the case of DeJoria, he became successful after his hair-care company started accumulating sums of money. Unlike other billionaires, who are most commonly known for their fast acceleration, DeJoria never had a mind blowing idea, or something new for the tech industry or any industry in that regard, he only had ambition. He did went after creative ideas, but his main focus was to distinguish his product in the market in terms of quality and customer approach because when all the businesses in the market sell a bit similar product under different names, customer approach matters more than any other thing.

Make yourself immune to rejections

One of the most apparent aspects in the first two bumpy years of Dejoria’s journey is the way he prepared himself to face rejections, and not just in the first years of the company where he went to every hairdresser he knew trying to convince him or her the benefits of his product but also when he was a door-to-door sales man, out of all the doors he went, about half of them were shut right at his face. But all those rejections never broke his enthusiasm for the next door, he is reported having said that one must be just as enthusiastic at door 101 even when he heard ‘no’ from all the past 100 doors, eventually he will get one.

He developed the ability to expect anything from anyone, but his optimism never flinched before any meeting with a client. And that is by far the best conclusion before applying to any gig, prepare for the worst but expect the best.

Be sure to remind yourself and your employees about what change have you brought for the better of the planet

DeJoria is known for his generous charity funds to different NGOs. In 2008 his traveled to Africa to join Nelson Mandela in his efforts to help feed 17,000 orphaned children. For Patron Sprits DeJoria employed around 1000 local workers in Mexico. The company has supported the Mexican economy in several ways including educational institutions and orphan houses, DeJoria made a hard stance that the company would not pollute the land where it manufactures tequila and spent millions of dollars to do so. In its first year Patron grossed a million every month and since then that number has been doubled every year. These economic and environmental efforts may seem costly but the impact it creates in the customer market is tremendous.

Dejoria is reported saying that he wanted to use recycled bottles for Patron, but he was informed that the use of recycled bottles will be more costly than that buying new ones, about 1.5% extra per bottle to be precise. But he went on with the recycled bottles and he sold much more bottles in the long run, because people are more interested in products which are made out of care for the environment, plus it also created a lot of jobs. Now when he looks back, the cost seems so little and the publicity it brought back which generated a lot more sales for his company. In the end he got a lot more from little extra cost he invested.

Don’t dwell on the past

Most people are not that keen in improving the tag which their past mistakes and background have pasted on them. They let their past define them, and this limit the prospect of their success.

Most people are not confidant in themselves that they can really create a household brand; DeJoria says that one should be more focused about the future. When we are not doing well in our business or even in our lives we look for the reasons that brought us there, but that is not going to take you anywhere. Think about your next step.

Not long ago I heard this story from someone that a teacher made two groups of students, he asked the first group to make one perfect clay pot and the other to make as many pots as possible, in the end the second group not even made more pots but also much better than the first. The key point to understand over here is that some people are too much focused on one perfect attempt that they stop taking risks, they don’t want any failure, and they forget that in reality the greatest experience come from failure. DeJoria believes that one should try as many times as possible, if you will be too much agitated about one perfect shot, you are never going make it.

Try for every angle

Before his hair care brand DeJoria struggled on plenty of failed ventures, he tried selling dictating equipment, when it failed he started a photocopy machine business upon its failure he tried life insurance, but he never gave up. In April 2018, DeJoria sold his 70% stake in Patron Sprits to Bacardi Limited, worlds largest privately owned sprits company, for 5.1 billion dollars.

DeJoria believe in integration, not just of a company but also of a person from one company to another, trying to accumulate wealth from all corners. DeJoria cofounded two different billion dollar firms and also hold shares in many other companies, he have made his aspiration to follow all his interests.

The global pandemic has not been merciful to many businessmen, except some like Eric Yuan, unfortunately DeJoria was one of the many entrepreneurs which were struck hard by the global pandemic, but he managed to thrive. He believes that “success unshared is a failure” that’s why the self-made billionaire is devoted to philanthropy and decided to give majority of his wealth in charity, he have taken part in many campaigns and NGOs and is also a member of The Giving Pledge a charitable campaign led by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. DeJoria's journey goes from a twenty year old car to huge penthouses, but the thing which gives him the most joy is how much support he have given to the community and the environment, he says that its more like a rent he pays to live in this planet.