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Magic Johnson Reveals Billion-Dollar Secrets & Lessons from Failure · Earn Your Leisure

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So you've invested in everything from movie theaters, Starbucks, the Dodgers.
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  Speaker 1: What is your, obviously you have a great vision. What
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  Speaker 1: is your foresight to know something is going to be
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  Speaker 1: profitable 10 years, 20 years, a good investment to put
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  Speaker 1: your money in?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think first of all, I was ready to
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  Speaker 2: add something. First of all, you got to research the
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  Speaker 2: industry or the sector. So when you research the sector
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  Speaker 2: or the industry that you're investing in, you can see
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  Speaker 2: if it's been growing, right? So we'll go back probably
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  Speaker 2: five or 10 years to see if that sector that
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to invest in has been growing. And if
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  Speaker 2: I see growth, then I said, okay, look like it's
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  Speaker 2: going to be a good investment for me. But then
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  Speaker 2: we have an investment team of people trying to break
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  Speaker 2: down the investment, making sure it is the right move
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  Speaker 2: for us to make, both financially and align it with
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  Speaker 2: our brand, right? Because anything that you bring in, you
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  Speaker 2: got to align it with your brand. So it's very important.
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  Speaker 2: So right now we have contracts, Sodexo Magic, Charles Johnson
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  Speaker 2: is doing a wonderful job. Charles, where are you? Yes, yeah, Charles, brother,
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  Speaker 2: Robbie is with him, Donna's here, yep. So when we
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  Speaker 2: think about we have more house contract, Federal Reserve, we
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  Speaker 2: have contracts at the airport, we do Delta, their headquarters,
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  Speaker 2: on and on and on. We knew that industry was
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  Speaker 2: going to grow because people got to eat, right? And
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  Speaker 2: so we understand that and it has been growing. We're
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  Speaker 2: over a billion dollars in revenue now with this small
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  Speaker 2: company growing. that just shot up the call.
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  Speaker 3: Hold on, you said a billion dollars of revenue and
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  Speaker 3: two people clapped.
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  Speaker 2: Can we clap it up? That's not an everyday thing. No. Well,
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  Speaker 2: the reason it's important is that we started from the
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  Speaker 2: ground on up. And so we want the same thing
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  Speaker 2: to happen for all of you, right? Take your ideal,
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  Speaker 2: your strategy, start your company and build it, right? And so,
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  Speaker 2: and scale it. And we were talking about how to scale,
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  Speaker 2: but scaling is so hard because you got to have
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  Speaker 2: the financial resources, and then you got to have the
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  Speaker 2: right team in place. If anything I can tell you,
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  Speaker 2: this is so important, and it's going to hurt a
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  Speaker 2: lot of feelings in this audience. Please do not hire
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  Speaker 2: your family.
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  Speaker 3: Uh-oh. Uh-oh.
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  Speaker 2: Unless they have the expertise, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Unless
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  Speaker 2: they have the expertise. What has made more black businesses
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  Speaker 2: fail in America? Uh-oh. Because you hired your family member
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  Speaker 2: and they didn't have the expertise or they thought they
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  Speaker 2: could show up instead of 9 o'clock, they showed up
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  Speaker 2: at 12 o'clock. I pay mine to stay away. Here
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  Speaker 2: you go. The check will be on the way. No,
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  Speaker 2: I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm
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  Speaker 2: just kidding. Make sure, though, if you're going to be
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  Speaker 2: in a family business, make sure you spell out Rose.
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  Speaker 2: And once everybody know their role, make sure that they
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  Speaker 2: over deliver in that role. So, so important. We going back? No,
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to stay right here. I learned my lesson.
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  Speaker 3: You wasn't going to get me again.
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  Speaker 2: I was waiting.
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  Speaker 3: But you brought up a billion dollars in revenue. And
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  Speaker 3: so that word stuck in my head. We have a
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  Speaker 3: common theme here at InvestFest. Every year, we've been able
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  Speaker 3: to bring a billionaire to the stage.
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  Speaker 2: I love that theme. I love that theme. I love
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  Speaker 2: that theme.
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  Speaker 3: Now, the billionaires that we brought look like us.
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  Speaker 2: There you go. There you go. 2025.
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  Speaker 3: List comes out. Irving Magic Johnson, a billionaire.
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  Speaker 2: Well, stand on your feet for that, right?
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  Speaker 4: I wonder, the kid that's walking on the campus in
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  Speaker 4: East Lansing, Michigan, your wife, To the man who's standing
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  Speaker 4: here today, was that on the vision board and what
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  Speaker 4: was that moment like? I mean, for us in our minds,
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  Speaker 4: we already thought you were there, but now that it's
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  Speaker 4: been reported, what was this moment like for you?
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  Speaker 2: Well, when I first started, no, it wasn't on the
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  Speaker 2: vision board. It was just being successful. See, my whole
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  Speaker 2: business thesis was to be successful for other people of
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  Speaker 2: color could come behind me. Okay, now, Remember this. See,
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  Speaker 2: when I went to 10, 9, 10 banks, they all
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  Speaker 2: turned me down. They wanted the picture. They wanted the autograph.
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  Speaker 2: But they didn't want to loan me the money. Then
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  Speaker 2: I went up to CalPERS, this pension fund, to get
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  Speaker 2: money because I was going to start my real estate fund.
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  Speaker 2: And they turned me down three straight years. Same thing. See,
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  Speaker 2: this hasn't been easy. A lot of you think that, oh,
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  Speaker 2: he's Magic Johnson, so it was easy. No, that actually
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  Speaker 2: worked against me. But I love the challenge. See, I'm
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  Speaker 2: not going to run away. I knew my business thesis
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  Speaker 2: was strong. I knew my people. I knew what they
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  Speaker 2: wanted and what they like. So all I had to
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  Speaker 2: do was deliver it and then over-deliver it to them
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  Speaker 2: once I started my business. And so as I became successful,
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  Speaker 2: first the Starbucks, the theaters, Magic Johnson Theaters, and then
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  Speaker 2: I said, hey, I got to really get into bigger business.
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  Speaker 2: So I needed somebody else's money to do that, to
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  Speaker 2: grow and have sustainability. So once finally the bank said yes,
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  Speaker 2: I took that $ 100 million and turned it into what
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  Speaker 2: it is today. But stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Anything
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  Speaker 2: that I've done is not just for me. It's so
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  Speaker 2: that you can come behind me because now they say, oh,
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  Speaker 2: that black man was successful. We'll take a chance on
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  Speaker 2: another one. Because if I fail, then they're not going
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  Speaker 2: to take a chance on another one. So that's what
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  Speaker 2: it's about. So when you build your business, you don't
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  Speaker 2: even understand it's not just about you. you giving another
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  Speaker 2: young person, young lady, young man, a chance and an
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to say, wow, if she made it, or if
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  Speaker 2: he made it, I think I got a chance too.
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  Speaker 2: So what I always have my theme is, I turn
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  Speaker 2: the impossible into possible. That's what it's all about, right?
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  Speaker 2: That's what it's all about. So, I'm still on the
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  Speaker 2: basketball court. I just don't have the little hot pants
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  Speaker 2: on no more. I'm wearing suits, but I just want
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  Speaker 2: to win and be successful, man. And nobody's going to
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  Speaker 2: outwork me. Nobody. I'm a smart guy because I'm smart
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  Speaker 2: because I put smart people around me. And then I
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  Speaker 2: pay them to do their job.
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  Speaker 3: That part.
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  Speaker 2: Always remember that. Hire smart people, pay them to do
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  Speaker 2: their job and they'll help you become successful. Clap it
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  Speaker 2: up for that.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: So some other deals that people may not know you
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  Speaker 1: were involved in that didn't necessarily go your way, but
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  Speaker 1: great learning experiences.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: 24 hour fitness, um, Is it plant? No, 24 Hour Fitness,
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  Speaker 1: TGI Friday.
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  Speaker 2: TGI Friday. Can you tell them about that experience? Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: because some has failed, right? Every business is not going
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  Speaker 2: to be successful. We had the number one TGI Fridays
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  Speaker 2: in the West, in Los Angeles. And we were able
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  Speaker 2: to really do a fantastic job of over-delivering to the community.
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  Speaker 2: Then I built a second one here in Atlanta. And
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  Speaker 2: Atlanta supported me like crazy. But we were not ready
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  Speaker 2: for the volume of customers that came through our door.
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  Speaker 2: And we made a lot of mistakes. And we had
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  Speaker 2: to close that Friday because it was on us, not
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  Speaker 2: on the people of Atlanta. And I learned a valuable
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  Speaker 2: lesson that we got to make sure we hire the
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  Speaker 2: best and talented people and they can drive unbelievable customer service.
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  Speaker 2: And we did not deliver that to the people of Atlanta.
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  Speaker 2: But the next businesses, you learn from that one and
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  Speaker 2: make sure the next businesses that you do a better job.
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  Speaker 2: And we've been better because of those mistakes we made
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  Speaker 2: back then. So every business has not hit the home run.
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  Speaker 2: And then also too, A lot of businesses I own
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  Speaker 2: hit singles and doubles, and that's okay. If you get
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  Speaker 2: enough singles and doubles, you're going to make a lot
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  Speaker 2: of money anyway. So I think for me, it's learn
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  Speaker 2: from your lessons, learn lessons from your failure, excuse me,
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  Speaker 2: and then make sure that it doesn't happen again. Amen.
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  Speaker 4: Amen.