“I’m here to tell you my story. … I’m going to brag a little bit. I’m going to brag a lot,” Daymond John said in front of a full auditorium. “But, I’m going to brag about my failures. I’m here also to you talk about how to think like a shark.”
FUBU CEO and “Shark Tank” star Daymond John spoke Wednesday as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series hosted by Student Involvement in the Edinburg Performing Arts Complex about how he became successful despite not being born rich.
“I wasn’t born sitting on ABC with a three-piece suit arguing with Mark Cuban,” John said, who established the urban-inspired clothing company. “I was a kid who grew up dyslexic in Queens. I didn’t have any people around me with money. Most of my friends died due to drugs, and I got left back in school … but yet I’m here, and I’m a shark, just like you.”
John said if he could become successful, then everyone else can also be successful. He shared five Shark Points with audience members.
–S-Set goals.
–H-Homework
–A-Amor
–R-Remember you are the brand.
–K-Keep swimming.
The first point is for people to set a goal. John began his career by stating he wanted to make money from hip-hop and followed his own advice, Shark Point No. 1.
“I set a goal,” he said. “You become what you think about most of the time, and whether you’re in conscious mode of setting goals for yourself. If not, you let other people set goals for you.
John said he also advised students to do their homework.
“Simple as that,” he said. “… I investigate everything I can about my industry because as you grow up and you go out there to the real world, I have to tell you something, you’re never going to create anything new in this world again.”
John said people can only create a new manner of delivery or another customer or improved idea, but it will not be new.
“Oh, by the way, if you think the Snuggie is not a blanket still with just two holes in it, you’re crazy,” said John, who is also a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship. “Emojis, right, those were called hieroglyphics a million years ago. You’re never going to create anything new in this world again.”
John also explained his third point of his advice. He said to love what you do.
“I loved what I was doing. I would have dressed people for the rest of my life for free if I could have,” he said. “Every single successful person, it’s the only thing they have in common. They love what they’re doing.”
John also said this point has another meaning. Balancing work and loved ones is important, too.
The fourth Shark Point is to remember individuals are their brand.
“We invest in people. R, remember you are the brand,” he said. “Can you go home today and put yourself in two to five words?”
John’s last point was for everyone to remember to persevere. He learned his last lesson while he was struggling to remove a lump on his thyroid and then stage II cancer he was unaware of having.
“Whether it’s business, whether it’s studying … if you mentally lose before anything happens to you, then you’re already done,” he said.
John said to “keep swimming” is what success is.
“Just like a true shark in the water, in the ocean, if they stop swimming, they die,” he said.
