The School of Greatness - 928 Daymond John on How to Close any Deal and Achieve Any Outcome

Episode Date: March 16, 2020

“You’re the only one that has a blueprint for yourself.”QUESTIONSHow do we negotiate with our mind to achieve something? (5:16)Where do you think you’d be if you weren’t a father? (10:06)Do you think it’s better to focus on one thing or diversify? (12:05)Who has taught you the most in the last 11 years of Shark Tank? (17:35)Who is someone you’ve been a shark with that impressed you over time? (20:00)Why do you need another book? (24:31)What’s the best negotiation where both parties won the most? (32:06)What was the thing that was the hardest thing to forgive in your life? (39:41)YOU WILL LEARNThe mindset shift Daymond had when he got cancer (3:15)The main reason Daymond chose to be on Shark Tank (14:35)What a powershift is (16:25)How staying scrappy helps your business (19:21)How much we are already negotiating in day to day life (26:00)How Daymond built FUBU as a massive brand (29:23)The ratio of profit to keep to yourself when starting a business (33:36)Why constantly keeping educated is so important (38:00)If you enjoyed this episode, show notes and more at http://www.lewishowes.com/928 and follow at instagram.com/lewishowes

This is episode number 9 to 8 with New York Times best-selling author and the Shark Tank master Damon John Welcome to the school of greatness My name is Lewis Howes a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur and each week We bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Benjamin Franklin said, an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. Welcome to this episode. I'm super excited about this. We've got my man, Damon John on who's got a lot of knowledge and he's learned a lot over his years of turning a $40

budget into FUBU, a $6 billion fashion game changer. And throughout his career, Damon has continued to be an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. He's not only a pioneer in the fashion industry, but a shark on the four-time Emmy Award-winning Shark Tank. A New York Times best-selling author, branding guru, and highly sought-after motivational speaker. And also, one of the best in the world at telling dad jokes. He loves to tell dad jokes every time I see him. And he's got some good ones on here today. So in this interview, we talk about Damon's new book and purpose behind sharing information about building wealth, the most profitable deals he's made on Shark Tank, the biggest lesson he's

learned from other investors on Shark Tank. Damon also shares a story he never has before about his relationship with his father and his sisters. This was inspiring. That and so much more. Very excited. Make sure you share this out with your friends. LewisHowes.com slash 928. Text a friend who might be entrepreneurial-minded, who maybe has got a side hustle, a business, or who is thinking about starting something on their own,

or they just want to get some more inspiration and they're a big fan of Shark Tank, make sure to text them this link, lewishouse.com slash 928. And I'm so excited about this one with my man, the one and only, Damon John. Well, welcome back, everyone, to the School of Greatness podcast. We've got my man, Damonmond John, in the house. Thank you, brother. I think this is the third time you've been on. I think so.

And, you know, you moved. We've moved. We've upgraded. You're blowing up, baby. We're building it up. We're shifting the power. You are. You are.

Creating the power shift. Full, like a full staff when I came in here. Yeah, something like that. I don't know if those are props, but. Yeah, you never know. Yeah, you never know. Just trying to impress you. I appreciate you, man.

It's been a journey for you. I saw you in Greece, I guess, a couple years ago. When I was getting married, you were randomly there in Greece. Randomly there. I saw you. You posted something on Instagram. I was like, oh, I'm here. I wonder if you're at the same place.

And we're at the same club or something. Yeah, it was fun. And you also have been through some stuff in the last couple of years. I have. I have. I've been through it, yeah, all my life. I think all of us, everybody watching, you too, right? Of course.

We get to see what life has for us and doesn't have for us. But you went through some health stuff in the last couple of years. Yeah. I went and got an executive physical, which a lot of people don't know what that is, you know, because usually we get physicals, and I go to the doctor, he grabs something on me that's hairy and tells me to cough. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and that's it.

Then I had a little nodule in my thyroid. I went to go and get it removed. It was a one-hour surgery, turned to three and a half hours of removing what I didn't know at the time was stage two cancer. The doctor knew what it was. It was the size of a golf ball, but thank God it was the slowest growing cancer, which is thyroid cancer. But if you don't treat it, it can go to your lymph nodes and then move to your brain. And when they sent that rock that was in my throat, when they sent it away to get tested,

it was about two weeks until I would get the actual test. So I had to really negotiate with myself. And I went to, I'm not going to call it a dark place, but the reality is that I said to myself, am I prepared to die? And I said, you know, listen, I've lived the life of 10 men and women, right? My oldest girls are beautiful. They're older now, my 27- and 22-year-old. They're great contributors to society. My ex-wife raised them really well. My mother, let me be selfish. I don't want to see

her die, right? So maybe if I die before her by something that was not in my power, I got a young daughter. She's three years old. Guess what? She won't even remember me. You won't remember me. And then my wife, my current wife is super hot. She's going to have another man with no problem after she gets over whatever it is. So I said, let me start, let me think about unraveling the businesses that I have, spending more time with my kids, and really accepting that whether two, five, or ten years, I won't be on the rock no more, right? But then the other negotiation was, no, no mother should bury her son. My two oldest girls, I wanna still be around to protect them and maybe I'm gonna have grandkids one day.

My littlest baby, she needs to have the best father who loves her the most that can be there for her. And my wife is super hot and I get to go to sleep with a super hot woman every night of my life. And so the one week out of the two weeks waiting for the diagnosis to come back had passed. But after I decided and I negotiated with myself, what's my why? Why am I doing this? What am I willing to put in to fight this thing? I forgot I even had it. I forgot that really yeah when in the one other week that I was coming when they finally the doctor finally

called me and he told me that it was cancerous but he said let me come and check your lymph nodes and everything else I have forgot that I even had can't I I forgot that that was even waiting for the call how'd you forget it I was so focused on resetting my goals and adjusting them. My goals have always been very aggressive. Resetting them, adjusting them, telling the ones that I love how much I love them, and understanding that, you know, they loved me and they needed me. And I just started looking at all the best things in my life, the people that I get to motivate,

the fact that a little brown boy who's dyslexic from Queens with no money, no nothing came up in the world. And hopefully I can empower the next little brown boy, little brown girl or anybody of any color, culture or sexual preference to be not the next Damon John, be the next Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey or President Barack Obama. If I can do that, then maybe that's what my life was, you know, that's what God put me on this earth for. So it was a power shift. It was a mental power shift that I had to do myself. And I've always done that over the course of many years of my life.

But I didn't realize that there was a method to what I was doing. And so when I met a couple of people, it happened in a very short period of time, and they were telling me, I can't get nowhere in life, or I don't have money, I have this and that. And I realized the only difference between me, them, or any of us is what we negotiate through life. If we're not born with a silver spoon in, how many born with a silver spoon in their mouth? What, 5%? 2% of the world? 2% of the world you two was in the world so the rest of us have gotten to a level of success or broken the cycle in our families or even just become a better person by purely negotiating with themselves and then

with others how do we negotiate with our mind to achieve something we've never achieved yes so the first thing to achieve is why do you want to achieve it? Like what is your outcome? Many of us walk into the room, even into the room we're talking to ourselves, and they're not honest about the outcome. What is the outcome? Why are you going through the motion? Is it because society has told you that that's what it should be?

Or is it that your parents always wanted that from you? Or is it that you have been neglected in some way and you're trying to please a bunch of people that you can't stand? Or is it that you want to change the world? Is it that you know that you being healthier is going to be able to be around in your family's life much longer? Or you're going to be able to stop some social injustices? Like, what is your why, first of all? That's the first step. Why you want that thing. that's the first step you know why you want that that's the first step i always use this example is but people always say well i want to be a

millionaire what are you going to do when you get a million dollars what are you going to do with the money some people go i'm just going to keep making money well how are okay you're going to be a millionaire so if over 65 percent of the lotto winners are broke three years after winning lotto same thing with athletes and football players yeah and football players three years I'd leave they didn't know their why the football player knew is why or you know he knew is why oh I want to get that ball or run that play I want to become part of a championship team because I love it or because it makes me fulfilled or I love going to the gym I love I love that I loved I'm there for competition

you know better than I do because obviously you are an athlete. But if you don't know your why for a million dollars, well, when you get the money, you're going to buy a Bugatti? You're going to buy 10 cars? And then what? Yeah, but then you just have the Bugatti, right? So now what else do you need, right? Are you going to buy 10 cars? Are you going to move to Bali and live off $30,000 a year for 10 years, carve canoes, save the turtles, and invest in some stocks because stocks are going to average out 12% every year?

And you're going to turn $600,000 into whatever the case is. And then when you come back, what are you going to do? Are you going to buy investment properties and keep doubling down? Many people go through life without their why. And so when they're working that nine to five that they're sick of, they're going home and complaining. And I forgot what I was. I was watching a show where a girl was. She was like she was now living in nature. But she said, I live in Ireland and I was fighting every weekend in clubs and bars.

And I realized I was working and I was so miserable so that was my release so I was working to fight because I was so damn miserable with my life and then she started to find causes that she liked she saved the job but she would go home at night and put some time into causes that she liked and she got able to get out of that circumstance and move to someplace else and now she's doing what she loves. But people don't know their why. Yeah. What's your why right now?

You've been doing Shark Tank for, what, 11 years now? Is that what it is? 11 years? Going on 12 years now. You've been investing in a billion businesses, helping entrepreneurs grow. You've got, you know, amazing kids. Yeah. So my why is, as I said before, first of all, you know, is to take care of my family and my wife and my youngest daughter.

Because my oldest daughter's, when they were born, I was poor. And all I knew was I got to go out and make as much money as I can to get these girls in an area where they're more protected, where they can have a good education and have a medical and things that in case something happens to them and to break the cycle in my family of people who were just average people my mother helped break that cycle by being one of the first to go to college and me I'm gonna break that cycle next but then I said to myself with the little girl now that I have the resources available it's more how much love can I give her because I never had experienced the wanting to come

home purely for love. I was just so focused on trying to make money because if I wasn't successful then like most parents, I'll sleep in a refrigerator box on the street if I have to to make sure those girls had just one place to live. So that's one of my whys. Also, you know, I've been on a show for 11 years that has changed the way that people have understood or get to educate themselves on being entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. I'm invested in various companies. I'm these people's, you know, they allowed me to invest in their dreams so who am I to give up and also I'm on the Petco board and Petco foundation you know saving animals I want to stop human traffic I have much more to do and if I have a public platform that I can come and sit with you or go on GMA and stuff like

that and I can help change for people's perception of whatever the case is sex gender religion whatever the case is to make them realize that religion, whatever the case is, to make them realize that if I can do it, they can do it, then I'm doing my job, you know? Where do you think you'd be had you not had your two oldest daughters? Do you think you'd have been as hungry to go earn, make, build a business, earn money, grow?

Or do you think like, okay, well, I've got enough money for me? I don't know, you know what? I was worth many millions of dollars by the age of 30 years old. I was absolutely broke and poor and sleeping on the ground at 27, on the ground in my house. How old were you when you had your daughter, your first daughter? 27, 26.

Got you. Right? Wow. And because of my daughters and my ex-wife, I think that they leveled me to some extent because you don't give a 30-year-old guy from the hood millions of dollars in the bank at 30 years old. Because I think I would have, I never tried cocaine or any of that stuff.

But if I didn't have my girls, I probably would have been a huge supporter of cocaine because it looked like it was fun with the people having it. So I think that they governed me in a certain way um in a positive way in a very positive way and it made me also it made me also want to live to leave my daughters a legacy i wanted them to be proud of their father so i refrained from doing and having a lot of the temptations that i've seen a lot of people for fall short and yeah and and get caught up in. And nothing wrong with that. But we're all human.

Sure, sure. Yeah. So I've interviewed a lot of people. And there's one side of the spectrum where these successful entrepreneurs say, you know what, Lewis? The key to growing your business is going all in on one focus. That's the key, right? That's what some say. But there's others like yourself who've invested in every business in the world, it seems

like, and seen lots of them grow and been successful in that way. Do you feel like, is that just like your creative nature where it's like you want to invest, this is your part of your path right now where you want to invest in lots of brands because you did so much in one thing for So long and now I think I think I'm more towards the person here So when I invest in brands and companies I invest in them because they're I'm allowing them to they're allowing me to be part of their dream But I'm also learning from them which is in return allowing me to go back to My special skill set and improve it. So I'll give you learning from them, which is in return allowing me to go back to my special skill

set and improve it. So I'll give you an example. So you're learning from the people you invest in a lot. I'm constantly learning every single day. So in PowerShift, I highlighted my investment on Bombas socks. Now these guys are the number one investment in Shark Tank history. The only ring who did not get an investment went and did really well. They did a billion dollar...

They did a billion two sale. Crazy, right? Yeah. And good for Jamie. And you were there when... Yeah, I said no. And you know, Jamie ended up becoming a guest shark one time. I saw that, yeah. And he said when he came in the tank, he was asking too much money. But I believe that because we tenderized him like that and he went out and raised money, I think we deserve 5%.

But that's just, I'll leave it up to him. Yeah, exactly. But I think that that, I send him an email every other day saying, hey, just 5%. All right, I'm willing to go four and a quarter. But the Sox is the best investment you've made. And it's the number one product in Shark Tank history. Really? In terms of how much it's grown?

How much it's grown and how much it's grossed. Now, I want to make sure that you want to, because I know you interview a lot of people. So if you ever interview the underachievers that sit next to me in the tank, I want to make sure that you remind them. That you're the number one investor. I am King Kumehameha in the tank. Just make sure that you remind them that you're the number one of that. I am King Kamehameha Tank, just make sure it was clear but Let's give you that is what was that deal what was that deal and how big is it grown? They've done over 200 million dollars. I think it's 280 million dollars more importantly

They're very so their deal is a sock and every time you buy a pair of socks They give a pair away to the homeless because they have a big challenge. That's cool. And we don't normally talk about the number. It's more important that we've given away 30 million pairs of socks, right? That's pretty cool. Thank you. Thank you.

And it's really Dave and Randy's company, and they've done it all. They've gotten very little to almost no advice from me because they're so great. Yeah. But I'm going to give you an example on the negotiation. They come into the tank. The only shark that doesn't want clothes is somebody who has 10 clothing companies and eight are dead. My reason for being on a tank, besides investing in other people, is to diversify my portfolio. So when I talk to a retailer, I go, well, I'm already taking a real estate in the clothing area. I want real estate in the clothing area I want real estate electronics area I want real estate lotion that it up the last thing I want is socks also I have I don't know 20,000 units of socks that I can't sell you

know what when I can't sell size just send people over to people's houses they steal one yeah and then you have to buy a pair because you just think you lost it right that's looking silly plus if I do the deal I'm the logo whore you can't if anybody in this room when this building were wearing bomber socks, you couldn't tell. So how do I get the advertising out of it? But they managed to make me understand that today's generation wants to give every time they purchase instead of at the end of the year. They want impact. They want impact.

And they don't want to buy from people who are just making money. They want to know what did you do for somebody else. So that's one thing I learned that applied to all my businesses because you couldn't do that before social media. You could, but you can't get the word out that much. And then plus you have to advertise over people's hardships. You wouldn't have self-generated content of people saying thank you. So I learned that. I also learned that because the consumer purchased and was part of a movement,

they talk about it at the dinner table, at the water cooler, and that's your advertisers. You don't need the traditional form of advertising because people want to brag when they're doing something well. And then last but not least, they were showing me how to sell directly to my consumer and not being at the mercy of a retailer who still doesn't know what they're doing so they shifted the power in the room to get me to do a deal you weren't interested I wasn't everyone else was everyone no not all and not everybody else is interested but I was the last shot to be interested come to jaded by the fashion industry lo and behold I do the deal and that's what a power shift is, being able to know your target, know what's beneficial

for that person, know where you want to draw the line, and really know how to relate to that person and communicate with them. What is it that they said that shifted the power inside of your mind and say, OK, I've got to get into this? Well, they showed me that the technology on the socks were really good because they didn't have the seam in the toe. When me being a manufacturer, I didn't know how they did that at first. It was a simple change, but I used to get irritated in toes when I'm doing that.

They then, but more importantly- Because you have to put it on a certain way. Yeah, of course. More importantly, they showed me that the data they received from their consumer was able to give them the ability to keep selling their consumer and keep talking directly to them and that they no longer were at the mercy of if a retailer makes the best decision or puts your socks out over here or advertises your socks or discounts them or anything else, right? So they were showing me how to control the business. It's very much like

content, sending it out and getting to know a dashboard of your consumer. And I learned so much from them, but it was them understanding that, Damon, I'm gonna take you out of the old way of you doing business and move you into the new way of doing business. And guess what, if it doesn't work out, we're gonna do another business together and we're gonna make some money or change the world

and more than likely have some fun. That's cool. Who has taught you the most in the last 11 years of this show? Them. Them? They have. I learned, I joke about my fellow shots, but I definitely learned from them.

Is that just because they pay you the most every month? No. You get a check every month? I see the business operating. I see them being laser focused. I see a lot of things that they do. They have probably taught me the most. Yeah.

Who is someone that you didn't invest in that taught you the most? Whether it be like a good lesson or a lesson, you're like, okay, that's what not to do. Someone that I didn't. Or maybe someone that inspired you, but you didn't see the right fit for you, and they taught you something. Listen, I learned. I'm not saying to be warm and fuzzy. I learned from every single one of these entrepreneurs

How they operate the business or how they fail a lot of time when they fail it really it it confirms theories that I have Because you know whenever I fail I look at checklist of all the things and I go why didn't why did I do this? This isn't this isn't this is not what I do. Yeah, why why did I not take my own damn advice? You know, so I can't name just one of them, to tell you the truth. You know, but, you know, I look at entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos and learn and go, as big as you are, you are affecting the world. And you will still be scrappy enough to say, hey, Amazon workers, you want to make a couple extra dollars? When you're going home, you can take a package home. And you let why is that beneficial well first of all the worker gets to drive home and takes home a package and

makes more money you you're a worker of amazon so amazon trusts you with the box and amazon saves on shipping like takes a package home that you bought for something no no meaning just take it if you want you no take it and drop it off oh drop it off someone on your neighborhood yeah wherever hey hey I gotta drive two mile I gotta drive ten miles but I looked in the system and seven houses on the way the ten miles Wow let me let me make extra money doing that you can make extra yeah that's pretty smart I'll be picking up hold truckloads and it wins for everybody right but when I look at it when I look at an entrepreneur like Jeff Bezos who

does stuff like that I I go, he's still scrappy. He's still thinking, you know what I mean? All this money in the bank, but he's still trying to maximize it. Yeah, yeah, he's still scrappy. Who's someone that you've been a shark with, whether it be a consistent shark or someone who's come and gone, that maybe you weren't sure about in the beginning, but the power shifted over time where they did something

or you did something to renegotiate the relationship where you started doing more together, you started to have a respect more for. You know, nobody's ever asked me that. And I don't think I've ever even told her. We're on the school of greatness, you know. Yeah, that's true. I didn't even tell her, but she's in the book,

Bethany, Bethany Franco. So I had even tell her, but she's in the book. Bethany. Bethany Franco. Really? So I had met Bethany with one or two other sharks, I forgot what it was, like on backstage at GMA. And I had already seen the show a couple of times, and of course they're drinking and cursing at each other. And we say hi, and she just like brushes us off and walks by.

And I remember saying to myself, i don't really like that woman i don't get a good feeling from her so when they casted her to come on as a guest shark i said i said at first listen i don't want to be on the panel with her because i already have this kind of like you attitude to her and it may come up wrong because it'll look like i'm either beating up on a new shark or i'm being too aggressive to a female wow by mistake they scheduled me to be on with her by mistake or by no no no on purpose no by mistake by mistake they scheduled me to be on oh no here's what i'm sorry we all meet at one place for the shark dinner prior to production i was like like, you know, she seems alright, whatever.

And then they scheduled me to be on with her. And when I was on with her, brilliant person. She wasn't about herself. She really cared about the entrepreneur, which we all do, but we thought, I thought, I'm not going to speak for others, that she was going to come on and be self-absorbed and do the reality

show thing from where she's at. She made fun of herself. She was very, you know, she had a humbleness, a humility. And then when we left that set, she went directly to Mexico for the earthquakes and various other things. And she called all her friends and said, if you've got a private jet, do me a favor, pack it up. I got supplies and food and whatever the case is I need these jets for Puerto Rico for Mexico and she spent the next month going out and um really being there hand to hand and giving people stuff and I fell in love with her after that wow and and she's like somebody that I super admire yeah wow that's cool have you guys done deals together or are you we haven't

done a deal together but and we're so busy we can't always catch up but you know she's offering me to stay over at her home in the hamptons and and my wife loves her and she's just she's just an amazing individual that i i walked in the room at first and i was like she's an asshole yeah you wrote her off and then now you're inspired now and now she inspired me yeah and who is the person who's taught you the most whether it be a consistent shark or someone who's come on for a couple episodes? No single shark has taught me the most because I learned from all of them. They're all really, really, they all are really fascinating in their space. I think Barbara, though, sometimes is the one that can influence me the most because, you know, I love marketing and branding, but I'm a one-trick pony.

You know, I'll get it on a celebrity, get it on a famous show, or get it on whatever the case is, and then I'll make inventory. Barbara will come with ideas out of nowhere. I mean, she pulls it out of the air, and they're brilliant ideas and they're not, they're very rarely are they similar. Really? Yeah, they're not a one-trick pony thing. She's just...

So she'll think of a creative idea for a specific thing and not just say, oh, I've got this celebrity who'd be great for it every time. Correct. She's a genius when it comes to that. Yeah, we had her on.

She was great. Did she touch you? No comment. Okay. She's a predator. Full predator. She was great. Did she touch you? No comment. Okay. She's a predator. Full predator. She's a sweet woman. Her husband was right there

and he was usually like this. No, I think I actually posted that she was on and I think that was the first thing you texted me. Yeah. Yeah, she'll touch you. She's great though.

I like her a lot. So Power Shift, how did you... What are you laughing about? I'm just remembering your text to me. She's great, though. I like her a lot. So Power Shift. How did I need to... What are you laughing about? I'm just remembering your text to me. I think you're out of the dad joke in there as well. What I like about this, I went through a lot of this. You did?

Yeah, I usually don't read anything. I was about to say, yeah. But I went through a lot of this, and I'm trying to find the bookmark that I had on one of these pages that I really liked. Is this folding it into the bookmark? No. There's one here somewhere.

I'll find it. Yeah. But what I like is that at the end of every chapter, you talk about these kind of like little bullet points. To break things down. To break things down. And I relate that in this book. Now, you've done a bunch of books in the past.

Yeah. Why do you need another book? What's, you know, it's like. So, you know, I think that's a good question., you've done a bunch of books in the past. Yeah. Why do you need another book? What's, you know, it's like... So, you know, I think that's a good question. I don't write books to write books and this is my third one in five years and me being dyslexic, it is not easy. I know the feeling, man.

It's really not easy. I think that a lot of people out there are misinformed and they need information. And I think if you look at some, you know, a lot of your books, my books, and various other people, and we happen to know each other, but I believe that if you read a vast amount of things and you start to see that all these people don't know each other, but they're all saying something very similar,

and if you're applying that to your life, that's how it happened to me by reading Napoleon Hill, Thinking to Grow Rich, or The Greatest Salesman of babylon or blue ocean strategies all these and i started to see these things that come come together it gives you a a it gives you more power to go out and execute so the reason i wrote this book is because a lot of people that came up to me and started saying i can't take control of my life where they or I've heard people say or Act like somebody else is supposed to issue them power or somebody took power away from them And I realize that people always thought negotiation first of all you're negotiating every minute of your life You know you're negotiating to get into the bathroom before your husband or wife or getting your child on the school bus

Take yourself to the gym. Yeah, yeah you negotiate right? Eat something healthy. And I and I and I realize that people always thought negotiations purely are transactional. When you get to the table, I'm sitting across from you, right? And it's not. It's about building influence. Then it's transactional. And the transaction needs to be what's in it for the person across the table, not what's in it for you. And then more importantly, it's developing that relationship and letting it grow over the course of time and doing 10 20 30 40 other deals or having 10 20 30 40 other people telling other people how great you are to do

other deals um and people always thought that it was like that so i influence yeah yeah so i end up putting in the book all a lot of people i respect a lot of people you may have never heard of but pitbull's in there billy jean just texted Billie Jean before and Billie Jean not Billie Billie Jean Billie Jean King is in the book and Billie Jean what's the last name

tennis player yeah but what's Billie Jean Billie Jean marketing oh Billie Jean from San Diego yeah

cause I get this is I'm getting mixed up yeah yeah Billie Jean King is the tennis player right Billie Jean

is who I just texted right Billie Jean is just the name I am marketing I call him yeah I call. Billie Jean King is the tennis player. Billie Jean is who I just texted. Right. Billie Jean is just his name. I am marketing. Yeah, I call him Billie Jean. I texted him to the page I was reading in here. And the other book I have is marked up.

Now I'm remembering the two things I wanted to talk about in here. One is a story about 6X. Now, you don't give yourself enough credit about how creative you are. Because you said you're a one-trick pony. You'll just find a yeah and put the merch on them and put it on a big show or something but something you talked about was a story on how when you were getting started out you started developing 6X t-shirts yeah with your logo on the back in fact that was brilliant because it's the biggest real estate in the club yes so so what happened was it's amazing and so so I, and that's a good point. So the story goes that I didn't have a lot

of money for shirts. And I wanted to get, I grew up in Hollis, Queens, and everybody's from Hollis, Queens. LL Cool J, Run DMC, Ja Rule, 50 Cents, Salt and Pepper, Trap Call Quest- J-Lo, whatever. Well, J-Lo and I are from Queens. Where's she from? She's from the Bronx. But a lot of these people are from Queens. But if I gave you a shirt, everybody was approaching you.

It's just like going up to an influencer. They didn't want the shirt. I didn't want to give it to the kids with the funny mustaches and the skateboards because they would just wear it once and throw it away. Right. But I realized that the big guys- And the big celebrities were probably had tons of stuff.

Oh, entourage. They had an entourage around. So what did I have to do? I had to build an influence, and how did I do that? Well, I had 50 shirts that I could buy. And the big celebrities were probably had tons of stuff. Oh, entourage. They had an entourage around. So what did I have to do? I had to build influence. And how did I do that? Well, I had 50 shirts that I could buy. So I bought 50 5X and 6X shirts.

I realized the big guys never had fashionable clothes to wear because all they had was like big black shirt, big white shirt, or they'd have to pay a massive amount of money to get it custom made. I bought 50 of these shirts. I handed them to all the big guys I knew, where I would see. Those big guys ended up being the guys in front of the red rope at a club,

the guys who were the bodyguards for people, the guys who were just big billboards and joyous, right? And they would wear the Fulubu stuff 10 times a month because they finally felt fashionable. What would happen at that point is after the rappers saw it on these guys for about a year, the rappers would go, yo, what's up, man? Am I chopping liver? Where's my gear?

Yeah, where's mine? I'd be like, I couldn't get to you. Yo, you're too big of a star. Man, I ain't trying to bother. No, no, no, I'll wear it. Because then they would ask the big guy who normally is like the bodyguard and they don't have nothing to say to them. They'd be like, yo, where's that little do-do at?

Hey, where'd you get that? And the big guy would feel good. I'll see if I can get you one. I got my guy. I know a guy. Yeah, I'll see if I can get you one. And that is how I started building influence internally with my customers.

That's smart. Yeah, when I read that, I was like, you're more creative than you think. No, I get it, but I generally narrow myself down to I'm a numbers person, and at the end of the day, it was numbers to me.

It was like, they'll wear it 10 times every one time somebody else will wear it. there's not many of them and they're a selected number of group around a select the number of people yes more it's more about the numbers when I read that story I was like okay who are all the assistants of the most iconic people that you don't know exactly interview exactly what can I send them that will make them be reminded of me and every time I want to call or say, hey, is Oprah ready for the interview or whatever,

it's like they might push it in a little bit. And take it even a step further, some of your digital courses, you give to them, you give to a bunch of people, and you say you're a part of a select community. I know you're the gatekeeper of these people, but I know that also if you find value in this stuff, not only am I enriching your life,

but sooner or later you may say to the people that you work for if it's powerful enough. And if you don't say it to them, then guess what? Maybe you'll give me more information on how to make it better for you and give me some real criticism that I can do it because you're seeing everything across your plate. Right. I like that. Creating a select community. The power of 6X. I like that story. And then I read, I think it was in the middle of the book and one of the end parts, I think you were doing research from like all the top universities that said that you should lead with the offer first when you're making a negotiation where I've always heard that you want to wait for someone to make the offer.

That is a very common. Right? Wouldn't you think that? It's like you never want to show your cards. Yeah. They say that the one who says the number first is the one that loses and things of that nature. I actually like the negotiation part of laying it on the table. Here's where I'm at with this. Here's what I seek. Here's what I want. Here's what I want, and here's what value I could bring to you. And I think it just takes the question out of the room.

What if you could have gotten more? Well then you could have gotten more, but what if you say something and somebody will, we're not even in that ballpark. You can always upsell, you can always say, here's where I would like to be, and then someone says, and here's what I'm willing to give, and they'll be like, oh well, we want more than that.

I'll be like, okay, but I gave you where I was at, but it costs me more. It costs me more time or energy or product or inventory or whatever the case is or relationships, you know? You sound like an online marketer, the upsell word here. Of course. Listen, you know, there's only, what do they say? There's only three ways to deal with a customer. Acquire a new one, upsell a current one, or make one buy more frequently. There's only three ways.

Recurring. Yeah. That's the best way right now exactly what's the best negotiation you feel like you did not where you gained the most but we're both parties won the most now where you're like I got when I negotiated my deal with Bruce and Norman Weiss fell over at Samsung I negotiated out of ignorance but I got the best deal. At first, I was a young kid. I was 19 or 20. They interviewed me. They heard about FUBU. They were interviewing various other people because they were thinking about getting into, they were already in the outerwear space, but they wanted to get into the denim, ready to wear space. They interviewed a couple of people. Once I got interviewed,

they said, we like you and we think we may do something with with you I call the guys for six months they never picked up the phone this is before cell phones out I felt insulted and rightfully so but also they were looking at other opportunities it's not their job to answer my call again after that but I think they should have said hey man we're not interested I go to the trade show the magic trade show in Vegas they're sitting at a table or and I and one of the big buyers from like a store was like, holy shit,

is that the FUBU guys? And he talked to his boss and they said, you better get those guys. Power shift. Right. Now all of a sudden, my phone's on fire

the next day by these guys. I'm like, huh. Hey, remember me? Talk to me. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

I was hungry at the time. Yeah, sure. That's exactly how you talk to me. I was like, yo, baby boy. So, a normal designer deal, I'll call it, in fashion is generally like, if I'm going to put up all the money and all the resources, we're going to split this thing 25% to you or 30% to you and 70% to me because I may have a little inventory I've got to get rid of.

You don't have any personal guarantees at hand. I've got to deal with all this shit. I'm taking a lot of risk, but you're making clean money. But because they pissed me off so much, I had said, listen, if I come in tomorrow, we better sign a deal, and it better be a real distribution 50 50 even split deal for the distribution you guys had all the distribution financing this is that and then i'll go ahead and and out of ignorance that became the deal we've been partners for you know 25 years and we've made massive amount of money but we always felt aware that we could see eye to eye and it was just out

of that ignorance but um i wouldn't suggest you calling people motherfuckers and all that stuff. Yeah, I wouldn't suggest that. But it happened to work in my favor. And yeah, that was the best deal that I've ever received, which helped. Now I had a powerhouse behind me that can manufacture and distribute my clothes. And I created a global brand with all my partners. That's pretty inspiring. Yeah.

What do you think is the greatest thing holding you back from the next level of Damon? Achieving your dreams, of achieving your success, results, fulfillment, what's holding you back? I think time, because I know that I can do anything and accomplish anything I want, but when will I start a more aggressive part of that journey, you know? So it's like, it's kind of like,

all right, I'm gonna start working out next month. You know what I mean? I know I'm going to be in shape by so forth, but I'm gonna start next month. And then I'll be like, ah, one more month, one more month. Don't get me wrong, I'm still knocking out a lot of other goals. But then a year goes by and you're like,

oh, I said I was gonna do this. Right, and then I go. But it's the time of preparation to get me ready. because once I go, like when I forgot about the cancer, once my mind is shifted, I'm done. There's nothing, nothing that can stop me. up before you run a marathon. And there's so many different marathons in our lives. There's the marathon of health, a marathon of spirituality, relationships of, am I doing enough to stop some of these atrocities out in the world because I'm a public person? So a lot of those things are, you know, that's really it. It's the time. If you could imagine the greatest version of yourself walking towards you, imagine Damon, perfect version of yourself walking towards you imagine Damon perfect version of you that's literally walking up towards you yeah what would

that what would he look like what would his energy be when you're looking at yourself his energy would be he'll be skinnier his energy would be great he would be he would be kind, but informative, but also stern and tell you when you're, when if you ask, be very real with you about advice. You know, I think I'm living the person that I wanna be right now, you know? I'm very happy with who I am, yeah.

Just gotta start working out a little more. Start working out a little bit more, yeah, of course. But I'm getting old, so what happens is I might lose my shoulder, I gotta go and get some stem cells done, because that's the problem, right? It creates a vicious cycle. Takes time and you gotta heal and you gotta recover. Exactly, yeah.

Amen. Well, a couple final questions for you. And I think I asked you this last time, but I want to ask it again. Yeah. And see, we'll reflect back on it and but I want to ask it again. Yeah. And see, we'll reflect back on and see if it's the same answers to that.

This is called the three truths. Yeah. So imagine it's your last day on earth many, many years from now. Yeah. You're 500 years old. You're as old as you want to be, but then eventually you got to go.

Right. And you've accomplished everything. You've seen your kids grow up to do amazing things. You've done amazing things. You've written every book you want to write. The business has been successful, but you've got to take all the content you've created with you to the next place. I got to take everything? The books, this interview, it's gone. Sure. It goes you through the next place you go to,

right? The next world. But you get to leave behind three things you know to be true from all the lessons you've learned that you would share with the rest of us here on earth and this would be the only three things that we have to to remember you by are these three lessons for our life what i like to call your three truths what would you say are yours that i would leave with other people that they have to constantly educate keep educating themselves and that education means finance health You know spirituality Keep learning keep learning. Yep, right

number two is that they have to Steal away time for themselves at any given moment with themselves and with their family because you never know when you're going to leave or if somebody else is going to leave you. Number three would probably be just really learn as much as you can to forgive and to love. I think those would be the three.

Why forgive? Because people are growing all the time, and you may be in a situation where you have to forgive somebody who did something, but they didn't know what they were doing to you or whatever the case is, and or you want to be forgiven as well, right? And how can you have love if you can't forgive, right?

And so whether it's with your family or whether with your friends or something else like that, the harbor and the hate and things of that nature will just eat you alive, I think. What was the thing that was the hardest for you to forgive in your life? My father left when I was 10 years old. I never would see or speak to him again. And he came back in my life. Well, he's around about three years ago. Wow.

You didn't speak to him until then? Right, because my sisters who didn't know I was alive found me when I was. So they're 27 years old. Holy cow. She found out that I was. I knew that they were alive, but they didn't know I was alive. And now I love her to death. And I have a new form of love in my life I never knew how I was I was an only child

I never knew the love of a sister and a brother right you were an only child now you have a sister I had two sisters three years ago yeah yeah we hang out all the time almost 40 years you didn't know what yeah um I forgave my father a long time ago by going, I wouldn't be the man that I would be if he was, if I didn't have to do that. That wasn't like true forgiveness fully, was it? It was in a sense. I mean, even now I don't speak to him.

I told him, I said, there was really nothing for us to really talk about. Like you knew where I was all that time. But I'm also happy that you are, you raised these two women to be great women and maybe when you got divorced from my mother, it was just a different time in the world where you were growing up.

I mean, it's just what had happened, right? My mother also has lived a really great life with, you know, and so she wasn't suffering per se. I mean, of course we suffered economically. But it was really about just not harboring something. Because If I see him, I don't have any ill will. I don't have any ill will. You don't need to hang out with him. I don't need to hang out with him. I think that that forgiveness was something that everybody should get to understand. When do you feel like you were

able to finally forgive and let go of that kind of anger or frustration towards him how old were you towards him well that happened once i became no no i i i i i forgave him probably about uh probably about when i was 25 i didn't have anything at the moment still no money nothing but i realized that i still had all this opportunity in my life and that that's just what it was. People come, people go. You know what I mean? I held nothing against him in that case. Wow.

You know, I could have found, I could have hired a detective and found him for the last 20 years very easily. You chose not to. I chose not to. I mean, he made a conscious decision to do that. Whatever led him to that decision was up to him. I have, you know, I, you know, and that's one thing to think about with power shift. You know, whatever the case is, whatever circumstance you're in, if you're watching right now, that's a circumstance. You know, listen, I was born black and dyslexic.

Neither one of those are going to change, right? So let me get over it and do what I got to do. So when you're making excuses that dad left, or I left back in school or I didn't have any money or I'm black or I'm short or I'm a woman or I'm LGBT, it is what it is, right? So now you've got to move forward. And now you have to, first of all, negotiate with yourself and understand why are you worth something and why are you special because every one of us are. And then how are you going to share that with other people and make them go, fuck, I want you in my life because we're going to, we're going to make some money. We're going to have some fun or we're going to have grow, grow a great family together.

Make an impact. Yeah. That's what it is. I love this man. That's a great story. Yeah. I, I,

you know what? I never told anybody publicly. Yeah. Yeah. That's a powerful story. Thank you for sharing. Make sure you guys get this book. I got one question left for you,

but make sure you guys get power shift, powerful book. I truly don't read many books, but make sure you guys get Power Shift. Powerful book. I truly don't read many books, but I went through this, went through a lot of it, didn't finish all of it, but I went through a lot of it. Thank you.

I really like the stories. Yeah. Really like the stories, really like the lessons. Simple too. You know, dyslexic guys like us, we need to make simple things

into the world. You can't complicate it. I can't concentrate on the overly super scientific technical books. That's it. I can't concentrate on the overly super-scientifical technical books. That's it. Transform any situation,

close any deal, and achieve any outcome by Daymond John. Make sure you check it out. You can get it anywhere books are sold. Is there also a link online we can get this

or with any other resources? Amazon, all that stuff. Yeah, I mean, everywhere. There's going to be an audio book too just for the people like you and I who... Yeah, are you reading it? No. The audio book? Yeah, it's hard. Are you reading out loud? No, no, everywhere. And where's the best? There's going to be an audio book, too, just for the people like you and I who... Yeah, are you reading it?

No. The audio book? It's hard. Are you reading out loud? No, no, no. This is my third audio book. And Sway, he reads all my books. That's pretty sweet.

Exactly. I mean, this guy is a legendary broadcaster. But I'm sprinkled throughout the book. That's great. So the first, you'll always hear me say, listen, here's the first chapter. By the way, the reason I'm not reading it is because you would be here for nine weeks. So I'm-

It took me like six days to read. Even though I wrote it, it's like over and over. It is painful, man. It is challenging. That's great, man. Well, I acknowledge you, Damon, for constantly showing up, for making the decision to choose love, choose forgiveness, choose life, even when the situation with the cancer was a little scary, for choosing your family, for just constantly showing up with a big heart, man.

I try, man. And I acknowledge you for your dad jokes as well. The final question, what's your definition of greatness? Oh, the definition of greatness is, I think knowing that you challenge yourself and you've gotten to wherever you are in life and you left nothing on the field and that you accepted who you are. And sometimes, unfortunately, you could be ugly and you may have foul intentions and stuff. I can't, I'm not here to want to give you a moral code. intentions and stuff. I'm not here to want to give you a moral code. I just want you to be the best or the worst, unfortunately,

that you want to be because you're the only one who has a blueprint for yourself and you're the only one who's going to have to look yourself in the face when your time comes. Amen. David John, thanks brother. Appreciate you, man. Thank you. There you have it, my friends. I hope you enjoyed this episode with the shark the new york times

bestseller the inspiring entrepreneur the motivational speaker damon john if you enjoyed this especially the last 15 minutes oh i love how damon really went deep and opened up at the end for me that was the most inspiring part if If you enjoyed this, please share it with a friend. lewishouse.com 928. Text someone. Send it to a group chat. Send it to anyone you can think of that would be inspired by this message. A friend,

a family member, someone who loves Shark Tank, an entrepreneurial friend, some crazy person with a crazy idea, whoever it may be that you know, send them this link or just copy and paste the link over on the Apple Podcast or Spotify Podcast and share it with them right there. Again, a big thank you if this is your first time here.

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