The “Other” Paul Mitchell – as explained by The Intuitive Group

John Paul DeJoria, 81st Richest American

“The biggest hurdle is rejection. Any business you start, be ready for it. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is the successful people do all the things the unsuccessful people don’t want to do. When 10 doors are slammed in your face, go to door number 11 enthusiastically, with a smile on your face.” –John Paul DeJoria

How does it sound to have a house in Malibu, one in Las Vegas, and another in Austin, TX, and a few others in undisclosed locations? On top of that you are worth $4 billion and can do whatever you like whenever you like??

Sounds AWESOME right?!

For Mr. John Paul DeJoria this is his everyday life! But who, may you be asking, is this DeJoria guy? You have probably heard of Paul Mitchell hair products and know of Paul Mitchell himself; well Mitchell did not create the $900 million a year business alone, DeJoria was his partner and the face of the company. John Paul is also affiliated to the creation of Patron Tequila, the #1 selling top shelf tequila in the world!

While John Paul DeJoria, his wife, and four children are extremely grateful for everything they have and make generous donations and volunteer efforts numerous times a year, this life did not fall into his lap.

DeJoria grew up in a bungalow located in Echo Park, Las Angeles (he has said his childhood home was smaller than his living room, but with the money he has his living room might even be bigger than my house!).  His father left when John Paul was 2 years old; because of this he and his brother had to start working at an early age.  At the age of 9 DeJoria held his first job selling Christmas cards door-to-door.  The next year John Paul began delivering newspapers.  He and his brother would wake up at 4 a.m. fold, wrap, and deliver the papers along their routes.  Once finished they would head to school for the day.  John Paul DeJoria finished high school but never made it to college.

In his 20’s DeJoria said he held his most influential job, selling encyclopedia’s door-to-door.  Completely cold-calling people, John Paul said it would take seeing close to 40 doors before just one person would let him in to sell the $369 set of books (keep in mind he was doing this in the 60’s).  If things did not seem difficult enough, DeJoria went homeless at the age of 22 after his then wife left him with their 2 year old son.  Throughout this time John Paul worked a handful of odd jobs (pumping gas, janitor, bike repair, collecting recyclables) while trying to make things work.  He has said he went so long living out of a car because he was still too proud to ask for help, eventually he began staying with a biker friend and found a job with Redken as a district manager.

In 1971, unbeknownst to Dejoria, his life was about to take a dramatic turn when he met Paul Mitchell.  With only $700 combined to start, Paul and John Paul went into business together.  All $700 went into making the Paul Mitchell product (at the time it was two types of shampoo and a conditioner) and product design (the simple black and white was not a marketing trend, rather the most affordable design).  John Paul DeJoria found himself in a familiar place once again, going door-to-door, or rather beauty salon-to-beauty salon, selling Paul Mitchell hair products. Unfortunately that was not the only familiar thing; DeJoria was homeless once again while waiting for business to pick up.

Today Paul Mitchell has over 90 products and does business with over 90,000 hair salons in the U.S. and 45 other countries world-wide.  Once John Paul was in a comfortable position with Paul Mitchell, he partnered up with another friend of his and started Patron Tequila, one of the most well-known tequila companies.

It took John Paul DeJoria a lot of hard work, patience, and resilience to reach the level of success he is at today.  His story shows that nothing is ever promised to be easy but if you never given up and work the hardest you have ever worked toward your goals you too can find success!!

Fact: John Paul DeJoria was just featured in Forbes 400; he is ranked as the 81^st richest American and 82^nd billionaire in the United States.

 

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