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Daymond John: The Key To Being An Entreprenuer · Get Familiar with Clinton Sparks

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Speaker 1: Is there a major mistake that you made and it
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Speaker 1: just every now and then it just resurfaces and give
0:04
Speaker 1: you anxiety or pisses you off that you made this mistake?
0:07
Speaker 1: Does that exist in Damien John's life?
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Speaker 2: The mistake I made, which this is extremely important. Clinton Sparks,
0:13
Speaker 2: get familiar.
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Speaker 1: There's a lot of people out here acting and portraying success,
0:21
Speaker 1: even when they're not necessarily successful. You know, with social media,
0:24
Speaker 1: you always put on this front and the whole fake
0:26
Speaker 1: it till you make it concept. Do you recommend, did
0:30
Speaker 1: you ever use the fake it till you make it concept?
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Speaker 1: And do you recommend others use that as an effective
0:35
Speaker 1: way to get to where they're going? What's up D?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, I would do the fake it
0:40
Speaker 2: till you make it in some way. Don't overdo it.
0:44
Speaker 2: I mean, in some ways it's, it can be done,
0:47
Speaker 2: you know, kind of like the, you know, you know,
0:49
Speaker 2: the having a business card when you ain't really got,
0:51
Speaker 2: you know, when you have that, you know what I mean? And, and,
0:54
Speaker 2: and using your home address, but being more professional and
0:57
Speaker 2: being more, being able to present, but don't lie, you know, um,
1:02
Speaker 2: you know, don't, people love transparency, man. And don't, don't lie.
1:06
Speaker 2: Say you got something and say you got this, you know,
1:08
Speaker 2: cause when you open up a conversation with, listen, I
1:11
Speaker 2: can take this anywhere. I got a lot of people
1:13
Speaker 2: waiting for this, but, I'm bringing it to you. Most
1:19
Speaker 2: cats who really know the business be like, is that right?
1:22
Speaker 2: So you ain't got no place to take it. And
1:25
Speaker 2: you're starting offline. You know what I mean?
1:27
Speaker 1: Have you ever applied the fake it till you make
1:29
Speaker 1: it rule when you were coming up?
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Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, I remember the first FUBU shirt said,
1:37
Speaker 2: you know, New York, Tokyo, and some other place on them.
1:41
Speaker 2: And I did sell to my man Pookie. I didn't
1:43
Speaker 2: even sell him. I sent him a shirt. He lived
1:45
Speaker 2: in Tokyo. He was in the army. You know what
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Speaker 2: I mean? But it was still Tokyo. So we're worldwide.
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Speaker 1: FUBU's worldwide, baby. Get familiar with us. Meanwhile, I'm just
1:54
Speaker 1: in the basement sewing this shit.
1:55
Speaker 2: Hey, that was it, you know? Right, right, right.
1:58
Speaker 1: So you've had a lot of success over the years,
2:01
Speaker 1: and you are a symbol of what a successful entrepreneur
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Speaker 1: looks like, not only because of the past, but obviously
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Speaker 1: Shark Tank really puts you out there and forward-facing. So everyone,
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Speaker 1: you look at you as that's what an entrepreneur is, right?
2:14
Speaker 1: You know, I personally started making music and DJing when
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Speaker 1: I was 10, but I never really considered myself legitimately
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Speaker 1: successful until I started getting paid for uh, for what
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Speaker 1: it is that I was doing. So at what point
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Speaker 1: in your career did you consider yourself a legitimate entrepreneur?
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Speaker 2: You know, entrepreneurship really wasn't the word when I was
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Speaker 2: coming up and, um, was, did I, did I own
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Speaker 2: a business, a small business? Yeah. I owned a van
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Speaker 2: service when I was a kid and I was, uh, uh,
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Speaker 2: anywhere from, I think from 18 to 22. Did I
2:45
Speaker 2: consider myself an entrepreneur? No, I was out there trying
2:47
Speaker 2: to get some paper, you know, I was hustling. I
2:49
Speaker 2: would say that I consider myself a businessman probably around 30, 32.
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Speaker 2: And that was because FUBU was already doing about $ 350
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Speaker 2: million a year in annual sales. And that's why I
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Speaker 2: consider myself a businessman.
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Speaker 1: So I've considered myself a brand since I started my
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Speaker 1: career 20 years ago. Now, obviously, when you were starting out,
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Speaker 1: the brand was FUBU. You were behind FUBU.
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Speaker 2: Brand.
3:14
Speaker 1: Since then, you have become a brand yourself. The Daymond
3:17
Speaker 1: John name is a brand within itself. I talk about
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Speaker 1: people basically assuming the role of the CEO of themselves.
3:26
Speaker 1: When I started 20 years ago, I always called myself
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Speaker 1: a brand and everybody in the music business laughed at me. Like,
3:32
Speaker 1: what are you talking about? And the reason I would
3:34
Speaker 1: do that is because I wanted to detach my emotions
3:37
Speaker 1: from to the operations of the business of Clinton Sparks.
3:40
Speaker 1: So whether somebody loved me, it never went to my head.
3:42
Speaker 1: And if someone didn't like me, it didn't affect me emotionally.
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Speaker 1: I looked at it as like market research on how
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Speaker 1: I can improve on that brand. What similarities are there
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Speaker 1: running a major business to running the business of you
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Speaker 1: since you have now become a brand yourself?
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Speaker 2: I don't think there's many things that are different because
4:00
Speaker 2: of this day and age. So if you look at
4:03
Speaker 2: the day and age of 20, 30 years ago when
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Speaker 2: you didn't have full layers and transparency on social media,
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Speaker 2: but nobody needed to necessarily say, I want to know
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Speaker 2: who's behind this and what's their mission and their cause.
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Speaker 1: Right, right.
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Speaker 2: Today, you know, it is very similar. You know, the
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Speaker 2: Daymond John brand today is the same Daymond John brand
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Speaker 2: it was in FUBU. It was, but now you know
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Speaker 2: who it is. It was that I wanted to make
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Speaker 2: a quality product. I wanted to over deliver for people.
4:30
Speaker 2: I wanted to be pro-black, but never anti anything else. Um,
4:35
Speaker 2: you know, I wanted to collaborate with a lot of people.
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Speaker 2: I never wanted to take a negative stance on anybody
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Speaker 2: doing anything positive. If I don't have something nice to say,
4:42
Speaker 2: don't say it at all. Right. That's the Damon John Brandon,
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Speaker 2: his books. I want to also inspire people food before
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Speaker 2: his buyers, my books, the power broke, how you can
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Speaker 2: rise and grind and investing in other people. That's just
4:52
Speaker 2: been my brand. But you may have another brand. I mean, listen,
4:56
Speaker 2: old dirty bastard was an old dirty bastard. And he lived,
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Speaker 2: I mean, you know, don't front. Be the brand you are.
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Speaker 2: I mean, you're the only person who has the operation
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Speaker 2: manual to yourself. So be on brand, I think, is
5:08
Speaker 2: more important now than ever before. But I like the
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Speaker 2: way you said it. You know, I never thought about
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Speaker 2: it like that, you know, with my personal brand years ago.
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Speaker 2: I never thought, you know what? If somebody doesn't like it,
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Speaker 2: I don't want to take it personal. And a lot
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Speaker 2: of times it's not because you need to improve. Maybe
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Speaker 2: it's just not for them. That's not the category that
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Speaker 2: they like. I mean, that's just what it is. I
5:26
Speaker 2: happen to not like opera music and there's nothing wrong
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Speaker 2: with opera music, but most likely it's going to be
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Speaker 2: very hard for you to convince me that I should
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Speaker 2: like it. Spend more time convincing the people that love
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Speaker 2: you and like it that you have more to offer them.
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Speaker 1: Right, right. And I think a lot of people do
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Speaker 1: get hung up on, haters or people not feeling them
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Speaker 1: and not just realizing that, you know, that's someone that's
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Speaker 1: just not a fan of your personal music or what
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Speaker 1: you're doing. So move on and focus on the people
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Speaker 1: that actually, I mean, you know, there's focus on the
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Speaker 1: people that do buy into your brand or do buy
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Speaker 1: into your music and do more for them.
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Speaker 2: Even, you know, and you can even go further into that.
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Speaker 2: You know, listen, as a public speaker, it's uncomfortable when
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Speaker 2: I'm in a room and, you know, you start to
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Speaker 2: see people leave the room. in the middle of saying something,
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Speaker 2: you're like, man, I'm not delivering or they hate me. Right. No,
6:16
Speaker 2: they gotta go take a shit. Yeah, yeah. You know
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Speaker 2: what I mean? Like, don't take it. No way. They
6:21
Speaker 2: gotta get the hell up out of there. You know
6:22
Speaker 2: what I mean?
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Speaker 1: I love that you say that because even personally for
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Speaker 1: me as a DJ, you know, there's always, and maybe
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Speaker 1: this happens as a speaker, there's always that one person.
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Speaker 1: The whole room could be feeling you and you're like,
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Speaker 1: I'm killing this shit.
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Speaker 2: Right?
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Speaker 1: And there's one person that catches your eye that's just
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Speaker 1: sitting there like... Always.
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Speaker 2: Always.
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Speaker 1: And you're thinking, oh, man, they ain't feeling me at all. Like, man,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to suck right now. And almost every single time,
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Speaker 1: what that ends up really being is somebody either studying you,
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Speaker 1: someone that's really enamored by what you're saying, or a
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Speaker 1: mega fan that's just like, man, this dude's so dope.
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Speaker 2: Once I was speaking in a room, a room of
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Speaker 2: coders and some kind of technical conference, and I'm saying 80%
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Speaker 2: of those people were like this. And I really wanted
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Speaker 2: to stop speaking.
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Speaker 1: All right.
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Speaker 2: I go out and they have my book at the
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Speaker 2: end to sign. Now, usually a room of, you know,
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Speaker 2: let's say 300 people. How many people will stop to
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Speaker 2: have my book signed by me? Maybe 50, right? 300
7:20
Speaker 2: stood in line for me to sign a book. And
7:23
Speaker 2: then the promoter said, I said, I thought these people
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Speaker 2: hated me. He's like, these people are coders. They are
7:30
Speaker 2: usually in their underwear in a dark room. They don't
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Speaker 2: have social skills.
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Speaker 1: Right, right, right.
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Speaker 2: Oh, I felt much better. But at first, I was heartbroken.
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Speaker 1: Know your audience, Damon. Know your audience.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: So there's people that always come up to you. Obviously,
7:45
Speaker 1: on the show, you get pitched investment opportunities all the
7:49
Speaker 1: time or people wanting to get involved with their business.
7:51
Speaker 1: I know, because I've even done it to you, that
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Speaker 1: people on the street and people you're close to always
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Speaker 1: have opportunities and ideas for you. Are there ever times you,
8:00
Speaker 1: as an entrepreneur... ever have bombed or lost out on
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Speaker 1: you trying to pitch somebody to get down in a
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Speaker 1: business opportunity that you had that you wanted to bring
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Speaker 1: somebody else in. Because everybody always assumes you're a winner,
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Speaker 1: which means you always win. Like even in producing, you
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Speaker 1: think if Dr. Dre gives you a beat or Kanye,
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Speaker 1: you're using it. But Lil Wayne shit on Kanye. He's like,
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Speaker 1: I don't want your beats.
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Speaker 2: Right?
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Speaker 1: So like, there's got to be, everyone looks at you
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Speaker 1: as a winner. We assume that you're the guy we
8:24
Speaker 1: got to go to. But you also, what maybe people
8:27
Speaker 1: don't know is you also go to people sometimes. Is
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Speaker 1: there ever times that you know, you didn't win or, or,
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Speaker 1: or convince somebody to get involved with something that you
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Speaker 1: thought was great. I, I, um, I get rejected on
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Speaker 1: about 80% of my pitches.
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Speaker 2: Um, and I pitch all the time and, you know, people,
8:45
Speaker 2: so I'll give you an example. You come on the
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Speaker 2: shark tank and I do a deal with you. I'm
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Speaker 2: already looking at you and this deal going, all right,
8:52
Speaker 2: maybe I can get Clinton Sparks to, to, to, to
8:54
Speaker 2: wear the stuff or to put it out in a
8:57
Speaker 2: musical band or, Maybe I can get this company, Bombasats,
9:01
Speaker 2: or this company to do a strategic relationship or somebody
9:04
Speaker 2: to license it. That one deal, I'm going to go
9:07
Speaker 2: and pitch 50 people for various different reasons. Everybody's not
9:10
Speaker 2: going to say yes. They're going to say, D, it's
9:12
Speaker 2: not for me. D, I'm doing something else. I don't
9:14
Speaker 2: see it. You know what I mean? I'm too busy.
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Speaker 2: I don't like it. Damon, you're crazy. I'm pitching all
9:20
Speaker 2: the time. And so, yeah, 100%. And I go back to.
9:24
Speaker 2: You know, reformulating the pitch. There's a couple of things.
9:27
Speaker 2: Did I hack myself? Did I present it well enough?
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Speaker 2: Did I show over value? Do I do enough homework?
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Speaker 2: What did you just say, D? Know your audience. Do
9:34
Speaker 2: your target. Maybe I didn't know the audience the right way.
9:37
Speaker 2: And then after I hack myself and get down to
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Speaker 2: where I say this is still something viable, then okay,
9:43
Speaker 2: I didn't knock on their doors. That person didn't see
9:46
Speaker 2: the vision? Fuck them. Fuck them. You know what I mean?
9:48
Speaker 2: Until I get to the person that says, yeah, I
9:50
Speaker 2: get it. Right.
9:51
Speaker 1: What I like most about that is what you said
9:52
Speaker 1: is how you're already psychologically mastering art, automatic resourceful thinking.
9:58
Speaker 1: And that's what you're doing in that chair when a
10:00
Speaker 1: got something, you're already thinking, I'm tapping into my resources.
10:02
Speaker 1: Who can I pull to do this? Who can promote this?
10:04
Speaker 1: Who can I partner up with like that? On that note,
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Speaker 1: I want to talk about when people build their plan,
10:08
Speaker 1: like you've built a plan. Obviously, when you started FUBU,
10:10
Speaker 1: you're like, what's the plan? Here's what I want to
10:11
Speaker 1: get to. But how am I going to get there?
10:13
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people don't really make
10:16
Speaker 1: a plan that they focus on and stay committed to. Now,
10:19
Speaker 1: when you do make that plan, which you did and
10:21
Speaker 1: you've already showed us, how important is it to pay
10:24
Speaker 1: attention to competition when you've built your plan? Is competition
10:28
Speaker 1: something you should just stay away from worrying about or
10:31
Speaker 1: is that part of your plan?
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Speaker 2: Well, you have to know who you're competing against and
10:35
Speaker 2: why they may have a different point of view or
10:38
Speaker 2: your customer may be able to go to them or
10:41
Speaker 2: you always want to hack yourself. And the competition, you
10:43
Speaker 2: may want to say, is not even somebody that you
10:45
Speaker 2: know exists is how Is something going to change in
10:48
Speaker 2: this market where I'm not going to be able to
10:50
Speaker 2: stick to it? So, yeah, should you stick to your plan? 100%.
10:53
Speaker 2: Should your competition be in your plan? 100%. Will your
10:57
Speaker 2: plan change? Make sure you understand it will change. But
11:00
Speaker 2: you definitely need to have a plan. And it's a
11:02
Speaker 2: time and action calendar. You know, how am I going
11:04
Speaker 2: to put in this week on this new thing that
11:06
Speaker 2: I want to do? And if I do this over
11:08
Speaker 2: the course of the next month, then will it compound
11:11
Speaker 2: and will I then bring on somebody else or double
11:13
Speaker 2: the time? Or if I don't get to the certain point,
11:15
Speaker 2: will I just stop because I'm going down the wrong road?
11:17
Speaker 2: I'm going to move over to try this. I mean,
11:19
Speaker 2: you know, it's you got to have a plan. Right.
11:21
Speaker 1: And part of that plan is being able to understand
11:24
Speaker 1: how to pivot and when to pivot. And one of
11:26
Speaker 1: the other parts of a plan and correct me if
11:28
Speaker 1: you do not agree with me, Damon, and I'm sure
11:31
Speaker 1: this has been part of your plans. You don't have
11:33
Speaker 1: an effective plan unless part of that plan is planning
11:36
Speaker 1: to fail. Because if you don't plan to fail, you
11:38
Speaker 1: don't know how to deal with failure when it happens.
11:40
Speaker 1: Is that something that was part of your plans?
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Speaker 2: Well, that's the key to being an entrepreneur. You are
11:45
Speaker 2: looking at what does your downside cost you, right? You
11:49
Speaker 2: are looking at failure. You know that everything in the
11:51
Speaker 2: world doesn't exist. But if you have this amount of
11:54
Speaker 2: hours to put in, then you know. You know, people
11:57
Speaker 2: look at these big companies and corporations and think they
11:59
Speaker 2: all have it figured out. They do not have it
12:01
Speaker 2: figured out because if you ask Blockbuster or BlackBerry or
12:03
Speaker 2: Kodak how's it going today, they're not even around, right? Entrepreneurs,
12:07
Speaker 2: true entrepreneurs, they are not the fly by the seat
12:10
Speaker 2: of their pants people. They're like, I got this amount
12:12
Speaker 2: of hours or this amount of t-shirts or this amount
12:15
Speaker 2: of credit or right now, where are you at? I'm
12:18
Speaker 2: fired right now. So I got this amount of people
12:21
Speaker 2: in my Rolodex that I used to have to go
12:23
Speaker 2: to a city to see, but they're all home on
12:26
Speaker 2: their couch. I'm going to call them and see how
12:27
Speaker 2: am I going to collaborate with them. So you always
12:29
Speaker 2: look at your downside and say, what's the worst thing
12:32
Speaker 2: that can happen? Right.
12:33
Speaker 1: And that's also mastering art again, automatic resourceful thinking. Knowing
12:37
Speaker 1: all that you know now, how would you build a
12:40
Speaker 1: brand like FUBU today with social media and technology because
12:44
Speaker 1: it was a different time when you were building things up.
12:46
Speaker 1: And you know, you and I both know there's a
12:48
Speaker 1: lot of people that have come up and they got
12:50
Speaker 1: their stories to share, but a lot of it, there's
12:53
Speaker 1: a bunch of things like grit and perseverance and all
12:54
Speaker 1: that stuff. that will always sustain. But there's a lot
12:57
Speaker 1: of things that it's a different time. So you're like, yeah,
13:00
Speaker 1: that was great 20 years ago when you did that.
13:01
Speaker 1: But how do I apply those rules to success today
13:04
Speaker 1: with social media technology? So knowing all that, you know,
13:07
Speaker 1: what are some of the things that you would do
13:09
Speaker 1: to build a brand like FUBU?
13:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would just be using all this user generated
13:12
Speaker 2: content and I would be creating FUBU would be a
13:14
Speaker 2: new version of Avon or Amway in a lack of
13:18
Speaker 2: a better way to say it, because I would make
13:19
Speaker 2: sure that Not only am I getting user-generated content, and
13:23
Speaker 2: I'm also getting user-generated designs and manufacturing. Now I'd be
13:27
Speaker 2: in 7 million hands and enjoying the ride. And then
13:30
Speaker 2: I'd also be taken full public as I acquire other
13:34
Speaker 2: type of brands such as that.
13:36
Speaker 1: Create dope, put it out. Create dope, put it out.
13:38
Speaker 1: Content is king. You have been someone that's been putting
13:41
Speaker 1: out a ton of content as of lately and for
13:45
Speaker 1: quite some time now. How do you feel that putting
13:47
Speaker 1: out that content has improved on the business of Daymond John?
13:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right. Analysis paralysis. Don't get analysis paralysis. The
13:54
Speaker 2: time will never be perfect. You can only make the
13:56
Speaker 2: perfect use of time. And yeah, my content has gotten
13:59
Speaker 2: much better and I've gotten to understand as long as
14:01
Speaker 2: I'm doing my analytics. Listen, I'm a big animal advocate
14:05
Speaker 2: in protecting our little friends who can't fight for themselves.
14:08
Speaker 2: I may put out a video and we did see
14:10
Speaker 2: this on our team. We put out a video, cute dogs,
14:12
Speaker 2: cute whatever, doing great, smart things. Some people like it.
14:16
Speaker 2: I noticed though that If I relate it to entrepreneurship
14:19
Speaker 2: and how animals figure it out and people figure it
14:22
Speaker 2: out or the toughness of being an entrepreneur, boom, the
14:26
Speaker 2: response goes way higher. It's a small adjustment. But unless
14:29
Speaker 2: I put the content out, I'm not going to know
14:31
Speaker 2: what works or not.
14:32
Speaker 1: Right, right. So one of the things I think, especially
14:34
Speaker 1: the avatar for those, the youth generation that watches all
14:38
Speaker 1: these conferences and webinars and listens to podcasts, reads books, right?
14:42
Speaker 1: I think a lot of them want to get right
14:44
Speaker 1: to the point. They want to fast track or a
14:46
Speaker 1: cheat code to the success that someone like you took,
14:49
Speaker 1: you know, a decade, 15 years, 20 years to get
14:51
Speaker 1: to the immense success that you're at now. What would
14:54
Speaker 1: you say to somebody that, because I think the biggest
14:58
Speaker 1: excuse people have is that I don't have the money.
15:00
Speaker 1: I don't have, I got a job. I don't have
15:02
Speaker 1: the time. I don't have connections. I don't have enough followers.
15:06
Speaker 1: What advice would you give to this person that makes
15:08
Speaker 1: these excuses instead of just going after, because they're worried
15:11
Speaker 1: about finances?
15:14
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know if I can give any
15:15
Speaker 2: advice to those people because I just don't think those
15:17
Speaker 2: people have it in them to do it. And unfortunately,
15:19
Speaker 2: maybe something will have to happen where they'll have to
15:20
Speaker 2: realize that they did put in time, but anything else
15:23
Speaker 2: that they've been successful in, whether it's nutrition in their
15:25
Speaker 2: body or it's a or it's a relationship, or whatever
15:27
Speaker 2: the case is, they will reflect on it and see
15:29
Speaker 2: that nothing has ever come very quickly, and they worked
15:32
Speaker 2: on it. I don't care if you're a gamer. I
15:34
Speaker 2: don't care what you are. Nothing has ever come quickly.
15:37
Speaker 2: So if you don't have that kind of common sense, well,
15:39
Speaker 2: then you may be that person for the rest of
15:41
Speaker 2: your life, around and blame everybody else and say if
15:43
Speaker 2: you only had. So I don't even know how to
15:46
Speaker 2: have a discussion with those type of people.
15:48
Speaker 1: It takes 10 years for overnight success, but most overnight
15:50
Speaker 1: success doesn't last 10 years.
15:52
Speaker 2: That's true. Spot on.
15:54
Speaker 1: The only thing worse than having no goals is having
15:57
Speaker 1: too many goals. Now, I'm sure you've had people come
16:00
Speaker 1: up and try to like, you know, I do this
16:01
Speaker 1: and I'm doing this and I'm getting all this going.
16:03
Speaker 1: They say like 17 things to me to try to
16:05
Speaker 1: be impressive on why I should do business with them
16:07
Speaker 1: because I guess that shows their hustle or all these
16:10
Speaker 1: things that they're really smart in. Now, that's happened to you,
16:13
Speaker 1: I'm sure, plenty of times.
16:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, we call it either drowning in opportunity or,
16:17
Speaker 2: you know, a lot of times people say, when we
16:20
Speaker 2: say in the pitching game, you know, entrepreneurial game, If
16:22
Speaker 2: you have that many options, you don't have enough information. Right.
16:27
Speaker 2: And that's as simple as playing. You know, every single
16:29
Speaker 2: thing and every single area you're trying to go into,
16:31
Speaker 2: there has been many, many people who have failed, but
16:34
Speaker 2: there have also been many, many people that are 100%
16:36
Speaker 2: focused on it and they are waiting to eat your lunch. So,
16:41
Speaker 2: you know, you don't have enough time. Listen, I know fashion,
16:44
Speaker 2: but I know men's fashion. I am not skilled enough
16:49
Speaker 2: to make ladies fashion or accessories, whatever cases, because I
16:53
Speaker 2: still only probably know 10% of men's fashion. I got
16:58
Speaker 2: to learn in that area. So don't be all over
17:00
Speaker 2: the place. It's just, it's not impressive. Right.
17:03
Speaker 1: And if Damon John can say what he just said,
17:05
Speaker 1: and let me, let me highlight what he just said
17:07
Speaker 1: in case it went past you, that understanding your weaknesses
17:11
Speaker 1: is equally, if not even more important than understanding your strengths.
17:16
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people do not understand that.
17:19
Speaker 1: And they feel like they're great at all these things,
17:21
Speaker 1: which inhibits them from focusing or being better at what
17:23
Speaker 1: they are good at because they're wasting time on the
17:25
Speaker 1: things that they're not good at. And then hopefully you
17:27
Speaker 1: get to a point where you can delegate the things
17:29
Speaker 1: you're not good at, like I'm sure Damon does. So
17:31
Speaker 1: what would you... What are some of the common mistakes
17:34
Speaker 1: that you would see in a person? And look, you
17:36
Speaker 1: said you know about men's fashion, but one thing you
17:38
Speaker 1: know about too is music. And a lot of people
17:40
Speaker 1: that just discovered you through Shark Tank don't know your
17:44
Speaker 1: rich history and your connection to music and how music
17:47
Speaker 1: was something you used to help blow up, you know,
17:50
Speaker 1: FUBU in the first place. So what would you say
17:52
Speaker 1: to people, the biggest common mistake people make on their
17:56
Speaker 1: way to building their brand? So what is a common
17:59
Speaker 1: mistake you see that people make while building their brand?
18:02
Speaker 1: Something you probably see over and over again. You're like, man,
18:05
Speaker 1: if I could just tell anybody, stop. What would that be?
18:07
Speaker 2: And not knowing who their brand is. They got to
18:10
Speaker 2: be able to put themselves in two to five words.
18:12
Speaker 2: Apple think different. Nike just do it. FUBU for us.
18:14
Speaker 2: Buy us. You know what I mean? White Castle is
18:16
Speaker 2: what you crave. Now, if you don't know what your
18:17
Speaker 2: two to five words are, well, then you walk into
18:19
Speaker 2: a room or you walk into a Zoom. you then
18:22
Speaker 2: get people to interpret what your two to five words are.
18:25
Speaker 2: They say that a jury exonerates or convicts you in
18:27
Speaker 2: the first 30 seconds of seeing you. After that, all
18:30
Speaker 2: they want to do is listen to the things they
18:31
Speaker 2: already think about you. And when you decide what those
18:33
Speaker 2: two to five words are, you're being blatantly honest with yourself.
18:37
Speaker 2: You know, are you trying to then, you know, act
18:39
Speaker 2: like it's got to be glamorous? You know, when people
18:42
Speaker 2: think about branding themselves or even branding a product, It's
18:45
Speaker 2: not always got to be glamorous, right? You have luxury items.
18:48
Speaker 2: You have a $ 200 white t-shirt. You have middle tier
18:52
Speaker 2: items that you get at Macy's. You know, you have
18:56
Speaker 2: a $ 60 white t-shirt. Then you go down to Class
18:58
Speaker 2: of the Mask, Walmart, and you got three white t-shirts
19:01
Speaker 2: for $ 10. Not each of them are just as attractive.
19:04
Speaker 2: This person who's buying it at, you know, Louis Vuitton
19:06
Speaker 2: for $ 200, they want to say that this is the
19:09
Speaker 2: sexiest silk ones on the planet and I'm not going
19:12
Speaker 2: to see another person with this shirt. And you know what?
19:15
Speaker 2: It's cool price. I like it. I like the brand.
19:17
Speaker 2: And this other person who buys it down at Walmart
19:19
Speaker 2: may say, I'm a slob and I'm going to spill
19:22
Speaker 2: pancake batter on these things every morning. So I want
19:24
Speaker 2: to be able to throw them away because it's not
19:25
Speaker 2: worth $ 200. I'm going to get three for $ 10. Are
19:28
Speaker 2: you sexy? Are you funny? Creative? Are you crazy? Do
19:30
Speaker 2: you stink? I don't care what it is. But until
19:33
Speaker 2: you know what that personal brand is, then you put
19:35
Speaker 2: it out here, right? Because a lot of people don't
19:37
Speaker 2: realize I'm not calling you anymore or calling your references.
19:41
Speaker 2: I'm looking at you here before I look at anything else.
19:44
Speaker 2: And I can't how many kids that I have come
19:47
Speaker 2: to work for me and I looked at them here
19:49
Speaker 2: and I found they were saying misogynistic or racial slurs
19:52
Speaker 2: or they were, and then I was looking at their
19:53
Speaker 2: friends or maybe their friends were saying it, or I
19:56
Speaker 2: noticed how they just put out six TikTok videos, but
19:58
Speaker 2: they don't work in the social media department at the
20:00
Speaker 2: company they're at. So who the hell, what, what, whose
20:02
Speaker 2: time are they doing that on? You're putting out six
20:05
Speaker 2: TikTok videos a day. well then you're not working and
20:07
Speaker 2: I'm not going to hire you. And you're not going
20:09
Speaker 2: to know why I didn't hire you.
20:10
Speaker 1: You know, I'm so glad you said that because I
20:12
Speaker 1: think there are so many people that don't understand the
20:15
Speaker 1: how important it is how they present themselves online or
20:18
Speaker 1: the things that say someone like you or another person
20:20
Speaker 1: that you may want to partner with, to work with,
20:23
Speaker 1: or even be a potential customer, how they look and
20:25
Speaker 1: they analyze. And it really matters who you are online.
20:28
Speaker 1: It really matters what you represent, what you say, and
20:29
Speaker 1: even what you don't say sometimes. How do you think
20:32
Speaker 1: that applies in the music business? You know, I know
20:35
Speaker 1: you don't sit around listening to the hottest new hip
20:36
Speaker 1: hop right now. I know you kick back and you
20:39
Speaker 1: go fishing and you probably listen to, what are you
20:41
Speaker 1: listening to now?
20:42
Speaker 2: I mean, listen, man, I'm the dude who listens to
20:45
Speaker 2: and after I hear it on the radio 10 times,
20:47
Speaker 2: I'll be like, yo, you know about that new joint? Like, yo, man,
20:50
Speaker 2: I heard that two years ago, but, well, that's your problem.
20:52
Speaker 1: Well, like I was saying earlier, and, you know, I
20:53
Speaker 1: want to emphasize it again because you are a significant
20:57
Speaker 1: participant in the culture of hip-hop and the evolution of
21:01
Speaker 1: where it was and where it's come with FUBU and
21:03
Speaker 1: even just your relationships. And I don't think that a
21:06
Speaker 1: lot of people, especially the youth generation, don't understand what
21:10
Speaker 1: Daymond John was to hip-hop and the culture of hip-hop.
21:13
Speaker 1: And now, today, with the young youth, how do you think...
21:17
Speaker 1: The business of what they're trying to do. Look, all
21:19
Speaker 1: they want to do is be famous, get rich, go viral.
21:22
Speaker 1: That's all they want to know how to do. They
21:23
Speaker 1: want the cheat codes of that right now. But business
21:26
Speaker 1: is business. You know what I mean? Being a good person,
21:28
Speaker 1: doing the right thing, and working hard is never going
21:30
Speaker 1: to get old, and it applies to everything. But is
21:32
Speaker 1: there anything that you could suggest from the outside looking in,
21:35
Speaker 1: and someone that's played a significant role in hip-hop, is
21:38
Speaker 1: there any advice you would give.
21:40
Speaker 2: Again, know what you stand for. You're two to five words.
21:43
Speaker 2: Be symbiotic when you're, you know, have a symbiotic relationship
21:46
Speaker 2: with other people and other aspects of industry. Yeah, you're right.
21:49
Speaker 2: A lot of people don't know that, you know, we
21:51
Speaker 2: had a symbiotic relationship with artists. We would dress artists
21:54
Speaker 2: and we would, or artists would come over to us
21:56
Speaker 2: and tell us what they like. And we would know
21:58
Speaker 2: we'd put that in the line because the artist was
21:59
Speaker 2: so forward thinking. Or the artist would come to us
22:02
Speaker 2: and say, hey, I'm going in a new direction. How
22:03
Speaker 2: should I dress? And we would start to help dress
22:06
Speaker 2: them and put them in music videos and various other things, right?
22:09
Speaker 2: So it was a symbiotic relationship. Fashion is always evolving,
22:12
Speaker 2: and so is music and talents and things like that.
22:15
Speaker 2: But again, know what you stand for. Do as many
22:17
Speaker 2: collaborations as you can. You know, back in the days
22:19
Speaker 2: when you and I were really starting out in the business,
22:21
Speaker 2: it was always never jump on too many records while
22:24
Speaker 2: you got your joint about to come out. And then
22:25
Speaker 2: Lil Wayne just smashed that. He was like, I'm going
22:28
Speaker 2: to go on 50 joints this year. Why? Because I
22:31
Speaker 2: got enough in here to go on 100. And if
22:35
Speaker 2: you're only saving for one song, one this and that,
22:38
Speaker 2: over provide and that's what happens when you when you're
22:41
Speaker 2: an artist you got to over provide because people you
22:43
Speaker 2: know when you're an artist they're looking to you for
22:45
Speaker 2: leadership too it could be it could be dark leadership
22:48
Speaker 2: it could be you know i am i'm i'm i'm
22:51
Speaker 2: depressed i'm mad at the world you know what dmx
22:54
Speaker 2: reflects how i feel this world you know what i
22:56
Speaker 2: mean or or or kurt cobain right you know it's
23:00
Speaker 2: dark it's not it's not fun the world is not
23:02
Speaker 2: pretty or john lennon right We'll do that or they'll
23:05
Speaker 2: bring us all together. So again, collaborate as much as
23:08
Speaker 2: you can. Have that talent and get out there and
23:11
Speaker 2: over deliver for people. Be vulnerable. I mean, the best
23:14
Speaker 2: artists in the world, it was when they came out
23:16
Speaker 2: and they were vulnerable about something that happened in their life.
23:20
Speaker 2: We may look at Michael Jackson being one of the
23:22
Speaker 2: biggest artists that ever existed, but most of his were
23:24
Speaker 2: politically charged. Almost all of his songs were politically charged.
23:28
Speaker 2: Man in the Mirror, Black or White. And that wasn't
23:30
Speaker 2: something people wanted to see from a black person at
23:32
Speaker 2: that time. And where he got, I mean, he got
23:35
Speaker 2: to the height of everything else because then he put
23:36
Speaker 2: a pretty bow on it with various other talents. And
23:39
Speaker 2: if you're talented, you got to show it. And if
23:41
Speaker 2: you're not, then maybe you suck. Maybe you shouldn't be
23:43
Speaker 2: an artist. Right.
23:44
Speaker 1: I love that. You know, I love the fact that
23:46
Speaker 1: the humble part, because I think a lot of the
23:48
Speaker 1: youth nowadays with social media and kind of just having
23:51
Speaker 1: access to everything, they're pretty entitled. Remember back in the day,
23:54
Speaker 1: someone got a free box of Fubo. You were like, oh,
23:56
Speaker 1: I just hit the lottery. You know what I mean?
23:58
Speaker 1: Not like these kids are like, man, you should just
24:00
Speaker 1: give me sneakers. I got 100,000 followers. And it's like
24:04
Speaker 1: this entitlement thing of people not wanting to put in
24:06
Speaker 1: the work and understand that the experience of putting in
24:09
Speaker 1: that work is what's going to set you apart from
24:11
Speaker 1: everybody else that just got famous in a year just
24:13
Speaker 1: by doing some funny prank videos or getting something that
24:16
Speaker 1: accidentally went viral. The art of being dope has been lost.
24:20
Speaker 1: And part of being dope is putting in that work
24:23
Speaker 1: and getting the experience necessary to know when to pivot,
24:26
Speaker 1: to know when this feeling happens, how to handle it
24:28
Speaker 1: in and to be emotionally intelligent enough to not make
24:32
Speaker 1: stupid moves that are going to affect you long term.
24:34
Speaker 1: So I love the humble part that you just brought up.
24:35
Speaker 2: 100% listen, as crazy as he is, he's still humble.
24:38
Speaker 2: You know, I put in one of my books for
24:40
Speaker 2: a young man that everybody now knows named Tyler, the creator,
24:43
Speaker 2: you know, and, you know, he was out there taking
24:46
Speaker 2: a lot of chances and stuff like that. And he's
24:48
Speaker 2: cocky and he's weird, but he's humble in a weird form.
24:51
Speaker 2: He knows he doesn't know everything. And he knows that
24:53
Speaker 2: he's taking you on this weird journey with him. that
24:56
Speaker 2: does not have a cookie cutter formula to it. People
24:58
Speaker 2: like him get to the heights of where he gets
25:00
Speaker 2: so fairly, you know, so quick. And I highlighted him
25:02
Speaker 2: in a book of mine when most guys didn't know
25:04
Speaker 2: who he was.
25:05
Speaker 1: Right, right, right. That's because you are in touch with
25:07
Speaker 1: the streets, Damon John.
25:08
Speaker 2: Get familiar.
25:10
Speaker 1: So before you get out of here, first of all,
25:11
Speaker 1: thank you so much. We appreciate what you do for
25:14
Speaker 1: entrepreneurs and everybody out there. I know you hear that
25:16
Speaker 1: all the time, but I love you, bro. Is there
25:18
Speaker 1: a major mistake?
25:19
Speaker 2: I think there's a good point to make right there.
25:21
Speaker 2: I respect you so much. We've known each other so
25:23
Speaker 2: many years. You know, when your colleagues or people that
25:25
Speaker 2: you have respect for give you love, it never gets old.
25:28
Speaker 2: So when people are looking at us right now, I
25:31
Speaker 2: want you guys to sit there and say, who out
25:33
Speaker 2: there I respect and I value and I want to
25:37
Speaker 2: give them love without feeling like I'm playing myself. You
25:40
Speaker 2: know what I mean? And when you do that, man,
25:41
Speaker 2: you know, people fight for you. People fight for you
25:43
Speaker 2: if you do that, you know? So that's, I think,
25:46
Speaker 2: something you can learn. Show appreciation to other people. They
25:49
Speaker 2: like that. Don't you like when you're appreciated? You know,
25:51
Speaker 2: so absolutely. Thank you. And I appreciate it. And I'm
25:54
Speaker 2: humbled and honored.
25:55
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of people feel like to be great,
25:57
Speaker 1: and this isn't any business, to be great, you have
25:59
Speaker 1: to make somebody else not great. It's kind of like
26:02
Speaker 1: winner loser mentality and helping others be great is being great.
26:06
Speaker 1: And you do that with a lot of people, David.
26:08
Speaker 1: So round of applause for David John on that one.
26:12
Speaker 1: So last question before you go. Is there a major
26:16
Speaker 1: mistake that you made that most would not know until
26:18
Speaker 1: this day? It's one of those things that you, it
26:21
Speaker 1: still haunts you, whether you're sitting in your boat or
26:23
Speaker 1: you're in the shower or you're driving or you're on
26:26
Speaker 1: a plane. And it's like, and it's just every now
26:28
Speaker 1: and then it just resurfaces and give you anxiety or
26:30
Speaker 1: pisses you off that you made this mistake. Does that
26:33
Speaker 1: exist in Damien John's life?
26:35
Speaker 2: It's not that nobody heard of it. The mistake I made,
26:38
Speaker 2: which this is extremely important, extremely important, is I didn't
26:41
Speaker 2: have financial intelligence for for many years. So I opened FUBU,
26:46
Speaker 2: closed it down three times from 89 to 92 because
26:48
Speaker 2: I ran out of money, took a large loan on
26:50
Speaker 2: my house, turned around, was almost bankrupt and homeless. But
26:55
Speaker 2: I took an ad out and I finally got a
26:57
Speaker 2: manufacturing distribution deal, but I would have been homeless a
26:59
Speaker 2: month if that ad wasn't answered. And then when I
27:03
Speaker 2: first made money, I blew $ 10 million in two years.
27:07
Speaker 1: And then I.
27:07
Speaker 2: Realized I'm an idiot and I keep I keep making
27:10
Speaker 2: these same mistakes. And then I started to really dig
27:13
Speaker 2: down on financial intelligence. So I don't care if you're
27:15
Speaker 2: an artist. I don't care if you are running Fortune
27:18
Speaker 2: 500 company or you're balancing the checkbook at home. You
27:20
Speaker 2: don't have financial intelligence. You are in trouble.
27:23
Speaker 1: Man, I'm so happy you said that. Damon John, thank
27:25
Speaker 1: you very much for coming through. Dropped a lot of game.
27:28
Speaker 1: I'll show you back again sometimes because you're probably going
27:30
Speaker 1: to have more books and more things we got to
27:32
Speaker 1: promote and talk about. So you're always welcome back. Rise
27:34
Speaker 1: and grind. Get familiar. Damon John, baby.
27:37
Speaker 2: Love you, man.
27:38
Speaker 1: Love you too, buddy.