Zitat des Tages von Daymond John:
Good grooming is integral and impeccable style is a must. If you don't look the part, no one will want to give you time or money.
A savvy entrepreneur will not always look for investment money, first.
I look to work with businesses that know what they are doing but need larger distribution or exposure.
When looking at trends I always ask myself basic and timeless questions about business, and the one I seem to always come back to is, 'How is this different than anything else in the marketplace?'
In my mind, there are too many copycat web products out there that are doing the same thing.
Poor people put a low value on themselves and their efforts.
There really is no shortcut just because you have a name, or you have some kind of access or some way you can solve all the problems. And I think one of the things I learned with FUBU, you have to understand that there's really only two ways of operating a business: more sales, or lower overhead.
Learn as many mistakes and what not to do while your business or product is small. Don't be in such a hurry to grow your brand. Make sure that you and the market can sustain any bumps that may occur down the road.
I had a little delivery van, and I did work around Queens. I was also a waiter at Red Lobster, so I was working on the business in between jobs.
Mentors, by far, are the most important aspects of businesses.
I've come to learn that my initial investment is more about the person versus the product that I am buying into. I've also learned that I really do enjoy giving worthy people an opportunity of a lifetime.
If I invest in a CEO, I need him or her to have experience in sales.
You don't have to work for a big corporation if you don't want to.
I've failed way more than I've succeeded.
I think Wall Street is very important, especially to tech companies. Wall Street will get in their rhythm and go fund tech companies, and tech companies will go create jobs and employ a lot of people, so there's that aspect of Wall Street.
The only thing that scares me in the tech area is that it moves so fast that you have to be ready to invest in 20 things. Because if you just invest in one, next week, somebody has a better mousetrap, and you get taken to the cleaners.
An entrepreneur needs to know what they need, period. Then they need to find an investor who can build off whatever their weaknesses are - whether that's through money, strategic partnerships or knowledge.
I consider each business investment based on concept and revenue.
Fortunately, right now 'entrepreneurship' is one of the business world's biggest buzz words and so many young people in our country are looking up to this new generation of CEO's as their modern day rock stars. Whenever you have that effect, it makes the job of promoting entrepreneurship much easier.
When I first got into business, I made a lot of bad decisions.
When I first came into money, I bought six or seven homes. One weekend I went to Miami and bought an apartment and a mansion several blocks from each other, which was not that bright!
If you don't educate yourself, you'll never get out of the starting block because you'll spend all your money making foolish decisions.
When you have a large amount of the workforce being laid off, some of them have no other choice but to go out there and invent something.
If you go out there and start making noise and making sales - people will find you. Sales cure all. You can talk about how great your business plan is and how well you are going to do. You can make up your own opinions, but you cannot make up your own facts. Sales cure all.
I started FUBU in 1989 but ran out of money three times and closed it down.
One of my business partners would remind me that no fashion line lasts forever, that we would hit the down curve eventually, and that we needed to look for new brands that complement the first one.
Five days a week, I read my goals before I go to sleep and when I wake up. There are 10 goals around health, family and business with expiration dates, and I update them every six months.
Every problem can be solved as long as they use common sense and apply the right research and techniques.
