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John Paul DeJoria has lived one hell of a life. The billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist co-founded John Paul Mitchell Systems with just $700 and later helped build Patrón into a category-defining brand. His memoir, Success Unshared is Failure, comes out June 30 and traces a life that spans homelessness to mindblowing success, digging deep into his philosophy of social responsibility and relentless drive. He joined me on How Success Happens to tell his remarkable story, and I’ve broken down his insights to help inspire your next big swing three, two, one!
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Three Key Insights
1. Rejection Is a Toll Booth, Not a Dead End
DeJoria says entrepreneurs have to stop treating “no” like a verdict. “Be prepared for rejection,” he advises, and recalled the importance of staying just as enthusiastic on the next try, even after getting dozens of nos while selling encyclopedias door-to-door. That try, try, try mindset helped him keep going when he was broke and living in his car. It kept him going as he launched Paul Mitchell and was trying to get people to try a product he knew in his heart was excellent. His larger point is simple: persistence is not motivational poster b.s. — it has to be a part of your operating system.
Takeaway: Treat every no as part of the price of admission to be in this game, then show up to your next at-bat ready to swing.
2. Build for the Reorder, Not the First Sale
DeJoria said something every founder should tape to a wall: “Make sure that you don’t go into the selling business. Go into the reorder business.” He believed Paul Mitchell would survive hardship because “if I had enough people trying my product out, it was so darn good they would reorder,” and he carried that same logic into Patrón, even when people said a $37.95 bottle of tequila was too expensive. The experts told him the brand would never top 20,000 cases a year. By the time he sold it, they were selling 3.5 million a year.
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