John Paul DeJoria - From the homeless man betrayed by his wife to the billionaire sitting in the Shark Tank chair

If you've seen the 2006 movie "Pursuing Happiness" with the touching story of two homeless wandering father and son trying to find a bright future, then DeJoria's life is probably similar, or even even more tragic than that.

Today, he owns a fortune of $ 3.3 billion, not counting the recent sale of Patron wine. He also owns the world-famous Paul Michell brand of hair care with an average turnover of more than 1 billion USD/year.

The dream of a useless person

John Paul DeJoria was born in 1944 in Los Angeles, to an Italian father and a Greek mother, both American immigrants. DeJoria's childhood was a series of days of poverty. His family immigrated from Europe to America to set up a business, but it was not successful. His childhood memories are associated with the endless quarrels of his parents. They divorced at a time when their youngest son DeJoria was learning to walk. Only the mother is left to raise two children alone in the middle of a foreign land

DeJoria's mother struggled to earn a living in exchange for cheap wages, and his brothers also had to learn to earn money from their children to help support the family. At the age of 9, he and his brother went everywhere selling Christmas cards and newspapers to earn money to support the family. However, when the mother could not prove she could raise the two children, the brothers were sent to a foster home in East Los Angeles.

But that doesn't mean they don't think about others. To this day, DeJoria still remembers her mother's lesson in using money.

Having to struggle to earn a living from an early age and living in a juvenile camp, DeJoria joined a street gang like many poor teenagers at that time. Having lived in a situation dominated by poor people and immigrants, DeJoria did not realize the humiliation of living at the bottom of society.

However, once being scolded by a math teacher at an educational center, who told him that he would never succeed at anything in life, DeJoria changed his way of life to prove he was not. must be useless.

Graduating from high school in 1962, a rarity among the youth and poverty-stricken youth of the day, DeJoria was determined to make something up. Due to lack of money to attend college, DeJoria joined the US Navy and served for 2 years.

When he left the army, DeJoria was still empty-handed, but with enthusiasm, he did many jobs to earn a living, not joining a gang or following a sinful path.

This is a bright spot for a poor teenager, living in the chaotic environment of America in the 1960s with gangs, smuggling, and corruption.

During this time, he married his first wife and rented a small apartment, but in 1966, the wife took the rent and the car and left him and his 2-year-old child. Just two days later, DeJoria and her child were evicted from their home for failing to pay their rent.

DeJoria has worked at a gas station, repaired cars, janitors, sold copiers, insurance or even went door-to-door to sell books. With no money, DeJoria and her child had to sleep in a car and basically, this young man was a homeless guy.

This is the most difficult time for DeJoria as he and his child have to live through the day at the bus station, inn or wherever possible. The young DeJoria, who longs to prove that he is not a useless person, is facing the biggest challenge of his life when raising children empty-handed, and his wife is a traitor.

"I sleep in the car and shower at the pool at Griffith Park. I often go to the Freeway Café in Los Angeles because for only $0.99 you can buy an egg, a piece of bread, and a sausage. and a glass of water. Between 4:30 and 5:30 pm I often go to El Torido because for only $0.99 you can order a chicken wing with a glass of drink," Mr. DeJoria said the homeless life helped him learn. How to live frugally.

Despite those difficulties, the DeJoria father and son still did not give up and fate smiled at them through shampoo bottles.

Starting from the shampoo bottle

After rolling around with enough professions, DeJoria began to find her opportunity with the division of selling shampoo. He worked as a salesman for Redken Laboratories in 1971 and with his talent in sales, he was gradually promoted to manager. DeJoria and his children now have enough money to rent without having to live, but his career has not really shined.

After a year and a half, DeJoria was fired due to disagreements over Redken's business strategy. He continued to work in the sales of hair care products and shampoos with some success, but the legend of DeJoria only really started when he and his friend Paul Mitchell founded John Paul Mitchell Systems in 2008. 1980 with an initial loan of only 700 USD.

Initially, both raised $ 500,000, but that investor gave up at the last minute because the inflation at that time was more than 12% while the interest rate was 17%.

The original idea of the couple was to develop a line of shampoos and conditioners that save more time in styling for hair stylists. Business didn't go well at first, and DeJoria's company nearly filed for bankruptcy at least 50 times in its first year. In the third year, the company brought in 1 million USD in revenue and in the 5th year it was 10 million USD.

In 2015, John Paul Mitchell Systems had $1 billion in sales.

This isn't DeJoria's only success, though, as soon after his shampoo company made huge profits, he began spending money on other startups, from alcohol, solar power to gas. burning, movies.

In addition, at that time, he not only invested in a hair care company, but when he had more money, he continued to pioneer investment in new areas. From the late 80s of the last century, he had a large stake in a company specializing in manufacturing mobile phones - which took 10 years to become popular in European and American countries.

DeJoria also opened a chain of hair salons for ... dogs and cats, because the owner often spends hours combing the pet's hair without much effect.

Prominent among them is the investment in Patron Spirits, a wine business with Martin Crowley. This was the time when the Tequilla market began to favor high-end products and Patron hit the hearts of customers by leading the way in luxury wines.

In 2017, Patron had sales of $1.6 billion. However, DeJoria decided to sell its 70% stake in the company to Bacardi for $5.1 billion in Cash. After deducting debts and expenses, experts predict DeJoria will earn about $ 4 billion through the transaction.

DeJoria's success and experiences are admired by business and investors alike. In 2013, he was invited as a guest on ABC's Shark Tank, then became the main investor on behalf of billionaire Robert Herjavec. With a fortune of $3.1 billion, excluding the Patron deal, DeJoria was the show's third-richest Shark that season, behind Mark Cuban ($3.3 billion) and Richard Branson ($5.1 billion).

Don't stop until you succeed

"If you want a free lunch, you can't go far and everything will be very boring. Go out and do something. Be yourself," billionaire DeJoria warned young people.

With the floating life of a homeless person and having to knock door-to-door to sell goods, DeJoria understands very well how to push yourself to rise, overcome challenges to succeed. The time he spent selling books from house to house or living hard with his children made him practice his thick face and iron will.

DeJoria revealed:

"You have to be enthusiastic when standing in front of the 51st door even though the previous 50 doors don't welcome you. To do that you have to be prepared for rejections, slaps in the face. When prepared. , you will never fall".

This billionaire also said not to look at the past or failures too much. The world is always changing so always look to the future, never wait for anyone and go out and do something.

Even when she is rich, DeJoria actively contributes to society. Although Patron is a high-class winery, he still hires local workers in Mexico, helps build houses, send children to school, and perfects the environmental protection system around the factory. For him, success is not what you achieve but whether you have done the best at what you are doing, success without sharing is no different from failure.

"It's all going to be okay in the end. And if it's not okay, it's not the end," DeJoria declared in her 2017 documentary "Good Fortune" about herself.

What makes DeJoria most proud of himself is not his huge fortune, but the hundreds of thousands of people he has helped lift out of poverty around the world. In 2008, when former South African President Nelson Mandela called for help for children in Western Sahara, he helped lift 17,000 orphans out of starvation. In the same year, he supported 400,000 meals for children in Africa. DeJoria also supports many charities that help find jobs for the poor, so that no one has to suffer as he did before.

Success is about sharing

There was no smooth start, but the man of Italian and Greek blood always nurtured the dream of escaping poverty and succeeding. Billionaire's advice to the younger generation is to overcome barriers, push yourself after difficult times and find success. DeJoria says that's all he learned when he started his first venture with John Paul Mitchell Systems.

However, DeJoria doesn't measure his success based on money. He said, "I've worked so hard in my life, I feel so blessed to be financially blessed and able to share it with everyone. In addition to money, I have received great joy and excitement. extreme start".

28 years ago, DeJoria was a homeless man, but now lives on a $50 million piece of land in Malibu with all the toys a man could expect: a motorcycle, a car. and private jet. Currently at the age of 78, this billionaire still has no intention of retiring. He both runs the company's business activities and actively participates in social and charity activities.

Specifically, the businessman hopes to bring at least 700 full-time jobs to the locals and promises that for every item sold, 1% of the value will be in the pocket of the locals. He also and actor Brad Pitt help homeless people, save animals and the environment through organizations like Sea Shepherd. With the liquor company, he employs more than 1,000 locals in Mexico. The company supports the economy in the country in many ways, including education and housing for orphans.

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