S - SET A GOAL
As a teenager , John worked for small-business owners at the Coliseum Mall in Queens . These local entrepreneurs were his first examples of the drive and hustle required to make a name for yourself . They weren ’ t the greedy , rude business owners who were being depicted on famous TV shows like “ Dallas ” or “ The Simpsons .” The entrepreneurs John worked for were real people who worked tirelessly every day for their goals and valued the community where they had set those goals .
“ They were the first to the office , the last to leave ,” he recalled . “ They thanked everyone for their success , but they blamed only themselves for their failures . They were mentors in the community . They were always educating themselves . They were amazing people .” In the same mall where John once handed out flyers , he learned what his own entrepreneurial aspirations could become .
While John had cultivated a sense of entrepreneurship from a young age , his sense of what he wanted to do crystallized at a 1986 concert at the Spectrum Theater in Philadelphia . As Run-DMC took the stage , John ’ s chief passions , business and hip-hop , fused together in his mind to provide a blueprint for the years to come . “ In that split second , my life turned from black and white into Technicolor ,” John said . “ I understood , in that moment , that no matter what , I was going to live , die , and prosper in this world of hip-hop .”
As Run-DMC played , kids in the crowd were holding up pairs of their Adidas sneakers . John realized there was money to be made creating clothes specifically for the growing community of people who identified with hip-hop . He set 10 goals that night . Six of them expired in three months , while the others expired at two , five , 10 , and 20 years . He thought about those goals every night and took a step toward one of them every day . It ’ s a practice he continues to this day . “ You can ’ t hit a target you can ’ t see ,” John said . “ If you aren ’ t in control of the goals you set , you let other people set goals for you .”
H - HOMEWORK
John was already devoted to hip-hop . How could he not be , growing up in the city where the genre was born and living in the same neighborhood as some of its earliest heroes , like LL Cool J and Run-DMC ? In a sense , John had been gathering data on his market demographic his entire life by immersing himself in the hip-hop culture .
But John had to find a way to fit the lifestyle he and his friends were emulating in the streets of New York into that Technicolor vision he saw at Run-DMC ’ s concert . Hip-hop had found a way to create a culture from hundreds of people dancing all night with music blasting from speakers with stolen electricity into a movement that was now encapsulating thousands of people . Suddenly , John had people to look up to who weren ’ t the “ pimps and drug dealers ” driving fancy cars outside his doors . “ Through this music , the kids were communicating about their hopes , their dreams , their loves , their aspirations ,” he said . “ Hip-hop wasn ’ t something that you just listened to ; it was a way to live .”
Robin Robins with Shark Tank ' s Daymond John on set filming Season 11 of the multi-Emmy Award-winning show .
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