Why Daymond John's 'Overnight Success' Took Years to Accomplish The FUBU founder worked at Red Lobster while creating his clothing company.
Our biggest sale — Get unlimited access to Entrepreneur.com at an unbeatable price. Use code SAVE50 at checkout.*
Claim Offer*Offer only available to new subscribers
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Daymond John planned on being a millionaire by the time he was 21 years old. Instead, at 21 he was working at Red Lobster, serving classmates he had once looked down on.
In order to get out of the restaurant service industry, John planned to work six hours per week on his own business, FUBU, and if he reached certain goals, he would double that after a few months. So he did, then doubled it again after he reached more goals, building his business slowly while also running out of capital multiple times.
Even so, he kept at it, knowing that he was onto something he was passionate about, and eventually he broke through with a major deal, becoming an "overnight success." It just took him years to get there.
Related Video: Employees at This Company Believed It Was Stuck at No. 3 in the Industry, but This Business Leader Showed Them How to Think Bigger
