-Welcome to the show, Daymond!
-How you doing?
-I'm doing really good.
You have had
an incredible career.
And I think
early on in a career,
especially an entrepreneur, yo
have to come up with unique ways
to get your product out there.
-Yeah.
-And one thing you did
early on with FUBU
is you would give it
to security guards.
-I would give it --
Just big black guys.
-Okay. So, explain --
Explain why that was your idea
and why it worked so well.
-I had to build influence
in the neighborhood.
And if I went over
to LL Cool J or Run-DMC,
everybody was approaching
those guys.
They didn't want to wear it.
If I tried to put it
on the cool kids
with the funny mustaches
and the tight jeans,
they would wear it on one time
The big guys, they didn't
have anything to wear
that was fashionable, either
white shirts or black shirts
or -- Cost a lot of money fo
them to get something custom
But once I gave it to them, they
would wear it 10 times a month
'cause they felt fashionable
And after a year --
Those guys were
in front of all the red ropes.
They were in front
of all the stages.
They were all the bodyguards
Some of these rappers
would say to me,
"What am I, chopped liver?
Right?
-Yeah.
-Because I was giving it
and I was surrounding them
with the logo.
They started to get used to it
And then the big guys
felt important,
because they would say,
"You want one of these shirts?
I'll hook you up with
the little guy with the shirts."
So I built up influence in it.
And that's how I finally got
a lot of the big rappers
to wear the clothes.
-And you talk about negotiation,
and relationships
are very important.
Is that something
you cracked early on?
-No, not really.
I didn't realize the value of it
until later on in my life
when I realized what I was doing
when I was trying
to add more value.
People think negotiation
is really just transactional
and it's not.
It's, "What can I do for you
What's in your way
to not get this accomplished?"
And some of this stuff
is some of the stuff
that you wouldn't believe
that people really want,
but you're so busy trying
to get out what's on your mind
and what you need that you don't
listen to other people.
-So do you think
being a listener
is one of the most important
things you've learned?
-Absolutely. You know, listen,
I mean, there's an old saying,
but it's really important.
A lot of people
screw up negotiations
because they keep telling yo
this. "I need a job.
I need this.
I need an investment."
But there's
a really great saying.
20% of the people don't care
about your problems.
The other 80% are really happy
that you have them, right?
So make sure you don't tel
everybody your damn problems
I got my own problems.
-And then, obviously,
"Shark Tank" is a show that is
a great deal of listening.
Mark Burnett
found you for this show
because you were on "The
Kardashians" a couple of times
-I was managing the Kardashians,
I mean managing product
placement in their shows. Right.
And they said, "Well, you can'
do any other show but ours."
And then Khloe Kardashian
found out
I was going
to turn down "Shark Tank"
because I was working
with the girls,
and she fired me. I got fired.
-As a favor?
-As a favor.
And now Kris Jenner's in my --
in my new book.
And I had talked to her
about how I was placing stuf
in videos.
And she went and took to a whole
'nother level on social medi
and all this new stuff
that was coming around.
-And Bombas socks was --
Is that a company that you found
via "Shark Tank," yes?
-Bombas socks
was on "Shark Tank."
And it's a number-one invested
product in "Shark Tank" history.
-Wow.
-So that shows
that my other sharks --
Thank you.
Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
I invested in it,
so that proves that my other
sharks are underachievers and --
[ Laughter ]
When you see them,
just make sure...
-Yeah.
-...you remind them of that.
I said that on national
television, didn't I?
-Yeah, absolutely.
Fifth book right here.
-Fifth book, yes. "Powershift.
-You talk about --
Explain what you mean
by a powershift.
-So, a powershift
is not a negotiation
directly at that time.
You have to build influence.
Then you have to negotiate
like we were just talking about,
and then you have to reall
value that relationship.
You get way more out of that
And that's whether
you're trying to get a job
or trying to get
the remote control
away from your significant other
or trying to get an investment
But people think it's purely
just that one time
of the negotiation.
So, if you meet me
in an elevator
and you spend
90 seconds with me,
and you tell me a little bit
about yourself,
you couldn't have time
to build influence.
But I'm going
back out of the elevator,
and I'm looking
on my social media platfor
to see what you've been doin
and what influence you've buil
over the course
of the last 10 years.
And that's
when I'm making a decision
if I'm going to call you or not.
-That's fantastic. You --
Is this something,
this entrepreneur spirit,
was this something
you had at a very young age?
Do you think
the people around you
would have said that
this was a path they predicted
-Well, yeah, I was doing thi
since 6 years old.
And I almost had a business at
6 years old, maybe 10 years old.
-What was your
6-year-old business?
-When I was 6 years old,
I was in first grade,
and I realized when the boys
liked the girls,
you know how they'd show them?
They'd try to knock
their teeth out, right?
-Yeah.
-So, I figured I got --
There's got to be a way
I can make a profit off this
So I would scrape the pain
off the pencils
and paint the names of all
the prettiest girls in schoo
on the pencils.
And I'd say to the guys,
"You just buy
this box of pencils from me,
you can sit
with the girls at lunch
and give them all the pencil
and get to talk to them."
Then the boys would try
to knock my teeth out.
[ Laughter ]
But then I found out
about this word called vanity.
I found out the girls would pa
two times the amount of mone
for the same exact pencils
with their names on it!
So I started selling the pencils
to the girls.
-That's fantastic.
You cut out the middleman.
-Exactly. And by the way,
I was stealing the pencils
from the guys.
So my cost of goods was zero
-Oh, my goodness. Fantastic.
-I was leveraging.
-You got a foothold early on
Leveraging.
Hey, man, thanks so much
for being here.
It's so great to talk to you
I really appreciate it.
That's Daymond John, everybody
