About this episode
Daymond grew up in Hollis, Queens, where the options he saw were slinging bags at the airports, working the racetracks, or ending up at Rikers. He says without his path he would be dead or in jail. This episode is about how he got from there to here, and what anyone with a phone and an hour a week can copy.
Jeremy and Daymond trade notes on work life harmony versus balance, why both of them would rather put 30 years of hours into 10, and why the successful founders they know are usually on their fourth or fifth business. Jeremy tells the story of meeting Daymond at a trade show and getting a thank-you box afterward, and how that turned into Daymond choosing a Murphy Door for his studio because he loved the product, with no Shark Tank involved.
The back half is practical. Send a postcard if you cannot send a gift. Make an introduction if you cannot afford a postcard. Invest one or two hours a week in the thing you want. Look hard at the skilled trades. And stop treating your past as a scar, because it is the story people buy.
Key takeaways
- Where he came from 2:18
In Hollis, Queens the visible jobs were the airports, the racetracks, or Rikers. Daymond believes he would be dead or in jail without the path he took. - Your parents were kids too 3:53
At 18 the blame game ends. Your parents were figuring it out for the first time, the same way you are now. - He has always been selling 5:25
As an only child he had to convince neighborhood kids to come over and play. Selling started at five. - The hardest entrepreneurial job 6:57
Daymond calls the stay-at-home or single parent the hardest entrepreneurial job in the world. - Harmony, not balance 9:17
Ask which lens you are using: daily, weekly, yearly, or lifetime. Jeremy's math is that 8 hours a day for 30 years is roughly 168,000 hours, about the same as 17 hours a day for 10 years. There is no shortcut. You put the hours in now or later. - Starve yourself early 11:40
Give up some comforts early and the compounding works for you in money, skills, relationships, and health. - The fourth or fifth business 16:22
Nearly every successful owner Daymond knows got there on the fourth or fifth try. The first lacked paperwork, the next lacked distribution, the next lacked marketing. - Give before you get 18:44
Daymond logs every person he meets and follows up. His view is that giving first pays back many times over. - A customer, not a deal 19:30
Daymond chose a Murphy Door for his studio because he loved the product. Jeremy is quick to say it had nothing to do with Shark Tank, and that he feels the same gratitude to every one of Murphy Door's 200,000 customers. - No money is not an excuse 21:53
Cannot send a gift box? Send a postcard. Cannot afford a postcard? Make an introduction on someone's behalf. - Everyone has value 24:17
A waiter, a garbage collector, or someone fresh out of rehab can change another person's day. Most people never see what they have to offer. - The more you own, the more it owns you 25:55
Daymond once had seven homes and still slept in one bed. Today he is the flex. - Jeremy's first company 34:00
Jeremy built a shed business, invented the metal frame inside shed doors, and pitched Home Depot on moving sheds to the garden center. Even when he lost it and lived in his car, seeing those sheds everywhere told him he could make a difference. - Losing teaches more 38:42
Jeremy learned more losing than winning. Daymond says the real danger in his life was not wanting to do the hard things. - Anything you do for free, you can get paid to do 44:24
You do not need to quit your job. Invest one or two hours a week. Daymond was waiting tables at Red Lobster when he started. - 50 calls a day 45:59
Daymond made 50 calls a day for six months to manufacturers, record labels, and stores. For three months nobody talked to him. Then the conversations started. - The trades are the money 47:33
Skilled trades are where the biggest money is, and learning the basics can lead somewhere much bigger. - Ideas have no value until you act 49:11
Too many people live with a rear view mirror bigger than their windshield. - Your story is your weapon 50:01
Jeremy's take: the hard parts of your past build strength. People buy stories.
In their words
“You'll always make 10 X, if you give before you get.”
“The more things you own, the more they own you.”
“anything that you buy, you can sell anything you do for free, you can get paid to do.”
“I learned more losing than I did winning.”
“The 97 percent of the people that say I can't do it they work for the 3% who said they could.”
Quotes are taken from the episode audio and lightly trimmed for filler words.
Chapters
- 0:45 Welcome Daymond John
- 2:18 Hollis, Queens and the three jobs
- 3:53 Forgive your parents
- 5:25 Selling since age five
- 6:57 The hardest entrepreneurial job
- 9:17 Work life harmony and the hours math
- 11:40 Starve yourself early
- 16:22 The fourth or fifth business
- 17:09 Network and the trade show box
- 19:30 Murphy Door in Daymond's studio
- 21:53 Postcards and introductions
- 24:17 Everyone has value
- 25:55 I am the flex
- 34:00 Jeremy's shed company
- 38:42 What losing teaches
- 41:11 Overextended after COVID
- 44:24 One or two hours a week
- 45:59 50 calls a day
- 47:33 The skilled trades
- 49:11 Ideas and action
- 50:01 Scars into weapons
- 52:22 The people shark
Bring this conversation to your stage
Jeremy speaks to founders, operators, and first responders about building from zero, losing it, and building again. If this episode is the conversation your team needs, start with the speaking page.