When you are just getting started as an entrepreneur, things like; mentorship, guidance, advice, feedback, opinions, and strategies all have value to you. However, once you begin to grow and become successful (for those that are motivated enough), this part of your life really determines what you stand for. Are you going to sit on your success and enjoy the rest of your life? Are you going to donate money, give it to charity, invest, keep working and so on? The options are endless!
This point in life is what I like to call the, “deciding factor” in which you really define what type of person you are. In this article, I am using Daymond John as my example and is someone that we all know from ABC’s The Shark Tank. Daymond started from nothing and rose to everything. His brand FuBu had to close 3 times due to a lack of money, however, the demand for more products just kept coming, so he powered through turning his brand into an empire. For those of you that know Daymond’s “full” story, you know that he understands the concept of hard work and hustle, hence the new book that he just released, called, “The Power of Broke” (Get It Here). In his book, he talks about having literally no money “being broke” and channeling that to fuel yourself to be successful.
To the point though, Daymond is a known billionaire that is vastly successful and hardworking. Yet, he has time to be on social media every week, matter a fact, it’s more than a few times a week where he talks with people who are just getting started. He answers questions, gives shoutouts and provides advice. He even hosted a party for his top social media fans in L.A. where they all attended a “private” surprise event and socialized with Daymond and his team. He also offered a free signed copy of his book to all those who sent him a handwritten letter when he was on Facebook’s live stream this past December.
Now some might say that he is on social media solely to promote his book, which then hopefully equates to more money. This is true, he does promote his book a great deal, would you expect anything less from an entrepreneur? However, let me ask you, how many billionaire entrepreneurs are online at 10:30 at night answering questions and providing advice to inspiring entrepreneurs while having no mentions of his book? I’ll answer for you, None!
Coming back to the point again, he continues to give back to the entrepreneur community even after making billions. He could easily just sit on his money and enjoy life as a billionaire, but instead, he continues to invest in others. Investing in others is what drives the entrepreneur community! It also gives others hope! I am not saying that Daymond John is the only one who gives back, but he is a prime example of an entrepreneur that is trying to invest some time into others.
On a side note –
I just attended his book signing event in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at the Barnes and Noble store where he gave a great talk and answered some questions. Of course, he started with the chant, “Kevin is dead to me” which got the crowd going. Unfortunately my time restraint that day caused me to leave early, which meant no book signing for me, I’ll find another way to get it signed. Nonetheless, it was great to see what he had to say and to observe his passion for business and what he does. If you have the chance to hear him talk or attend one of his events, I would highly recommend doing so. If you don’t follow him on social media, you should!