MILLIONAIRE SUCCESS HABITS
DeJoria often advises young entrepreneurs to develop posi- tive habits, believe in their gut instincts, and take risks. He says, “You can’t just let other people get you down. I mean, what the heck do they know? I was told, ‘No, you can never enter the beauty industry’ dozens of times. Everyone would tell me that ‘there’s too much competition and that I have no money.’ I was even laughed at when I started Patr ó n. People said, ‘Tequila? At $37 per bottle? Are you kidding? I can buy tequila for four bucks!’ So go with your own gut feeling and always do some- thing good for someone else.” Though I love all of John Paul DeJoria’s story, I relish that early admonition of his high school teacher who told John Paul and his friend Michelle Gilliam they’d never amount to any- thing. Well, to say that they proved this teacher wrong is a gross understatement. John Paul is a billionaire who’s changing lives all over the world, and Michelle Gilliam is better known today as Michelle Phillips, a founding member of the 1960s folk-rock band The Mamas & The Papas, which sold 40 million records. Michelle tracked down that teacher for John Paul’s 50th birth- day, and when the teacher learned of his former students’ suc- cess, all he could say was, “Well, shit.”
SUCCESS HABITS WILL PUT YOU ON A DIFFERENT PATH
You know, hearing a story like John Paul’s can be inspirational. It could be that Rocky story or that Rudy story or the story of the underdog who climbs his way up and makes it happen. But as inspiring as John Paul’s story is, in a way, it could also make you second-guess your own abilities. You might think, “I’m not what John Paul is—I can’t do what he did! Maybe I don’t have the energy he does or the nerve he does.” If this is your perception, then realize that at this moment that it doesn’t matter where you’ve come from. It only matters where you are and where you want to go.
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