hi I’m Evan Carmichael and welcome to
another edition of modeling the masters
today we’re going to look at how a man
went from living on welfare to being the
first African American to crack the
Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest people
in the world by the time he died who was
worth over six hundred million dollars
this is a story of publishing giant John
Johnson and the top three lessons that
you can learn his success John Johnson
was an American businessman and
publisher he was the founder of the
Johnson publishing company and in 1982
the first African American to appear on
the Forbes 400 list of the richest
people in the world from an early age
Johnson learned what it was to overcome
obstacles in life when he was just eight
years old his father Leroy Johnson was
killed in a sawmill accident his mother
moved them from Arkansas to Chicago in
the middle of the Great Depression and
they were forced to rely on welfare for
two years they would determine not to
stay on welfare and work towards
building a better life for themselves at
the age of eighteen Johnson met Harry H
pace the president of Supreme Liberty
life insurance company the largest
black-owned business in the north at the
time when pace heard about Johnson’s
desire to attend University
but his inability to do so because of
the high cost of tuition paste hired
Johnson part-time working at supreme
Cave Johnson the idea and the confidence
to start his own business in 1942 he
went to the bank to ask for a $500 loan
to start his business and was laughed
out of the office after they told him
that they don’t make loans to colored
people so Johnson went to one of the few
banks that did using his mother’s new
furniture as a collateral for the loan
Citizens Loan Corporation agreed to give
Johnson the $500 he needed to start his
business he created Johnson publishing
company and set out to launch his first
magazine today with magazines like ebony
Johnson publishing company is one of the
world’s largest minority-owned
businesses as well as the largest
black-owned publishing firm when he died
in 2005 Johnson
a net worth of 600 million dollars so
the next question is how can you model
the success of John Johnson here are
three action items you can put the use
into your business today action item
number one don’t get mad get even until
you prove yourself as an entrepreneur
you’re going to have a lot of people
doubt your ability to succeed they’ll
tell you to play it safe and get a job
that might also tell you that your
product or service idea has been done
before it’s too crazy to do well part of
your entrepreneurial journey will be
using criticism as a counselor but not
as a jailer listen to what can help you
and don’t let harsh words prevent you
from moving forward on your dreams all
his life Johnson had been told that he
would not amount to much who’s the
victim of the racism that was so
prevalent in the u.s. at the time time
of the time Johnson was discourage from
thinking he could one day be great and
was blocked every time he tried in
addition of being denied bank loans
because he was black
Johnson found it impossible to even
purchase an office for his new company
once he had obtained the money when
Johnson went to purchase a building in
Chicago’s downtown area to be his
company’s headquarters he couldn’t make
the deal he was refused to purchase
because he was black but like so many
other times in his life Johnson refused
to give up he wasn’t going to let a
racist property manager stand in the way
of his success his advice it’s better to
get smart than to get mad long shots do
come in and work hard dedication and
perseverance will overcome almost any
prejudice and open almost any door
action item number two mastered the art
of the sale no matter what type of
business you run you’re going to have to
learn how to sell to achieve the success
here after selling is not only the
customers but you have to sell your
partners investors employees suppliers
media and other stakeholders on why your
company is going to be great in his
best-selling autobiography succeeding
against the odds Johnson wrote a chapter
entitled how to sell anybody anything in
5 minutes or less
Johnson’s elementary rule to making a
sale was that your pitch be based not on
your self-interest but on their
self-interest when I go in to see I
never say
help me because I’m black or help me
because I’m a minority I always talk
about what we can do for them Johnson
had three rules for successful selling
first he would grab the clients
attention in the first few seconds of a
meeting with an emotional statement that
hits him where he lives or does business
second Johnson would try to find his
clients vulnerable spot
he felt that everybody has something
that will make him or her move or say
yes Johnson’s final step was to find the
similarity with his client according to
Johnson successful selling is a matter
of finding common ground no matter how
narrow it might be on what you and your
client can stand together whether I had
five or thirty five minutes
I always base our presentation on these
three tried and tested rules action item
number three communicate success if
you’re going to build a business beyond
yourself you’re also going to have to
work on your communication skills so
your staff understand where you’re
trying to take the company and how they
can help you get there
Johnson believed that if he couldn’t
communicate effectively with his staff
it didn’t matter how good his product
was his company was not going to prosper
developing this talent was something
that Johnson took great pride in and he
ensured his senior staff was equally
trained in the art here is Johnson’s
advice I was born in poverty and spent
two years on the welfare rolls and I
learned early that I had to communicate
or die and so I talked my way out of
poverty I communicated my way to the top
I’m a hands on hands in hands wrapped
around manager and I believe it’s
impossible to separate good management
from good communication for the best
manager is the best communicator
so remember don’t get mad get even
master the art of the sale and
communicate success I wanted to end the
video today by sharing one of my
favorite true stories about John Johnson
when Johnson realized that the black
models he hired for his photoshoots
couldn’t buy makeup that was tailored to
their skin tones he approached Estee
Lauder and Revlon to launch a new line
they turned him down so he created his
own company fashion Fair Cosmetics today
fashion Fair is a leader in a cosmetics
industry with products in almost 1,000
stores around the world thank you for
joining me for another edition of
modeling the masters if you enjoyed
please give this video a thumbs up below
and we’ll continue to produce more also
I’d love to hear your thoughts and
feedback if you want to leave a comment
below the video as well I hope you
enjoyed and stay tuned for the next
episode
you
another edition of modeling the masters
today we’re going to look at how a man
went from living on welfare to being the
first African American to crack the
Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest people
in the world by the time he died who was
worth over six hundred million dollars
this is a story of publishing giant John
Johnson and the top three lessons that
you can learn his success John Johnson
was an American businessman and
publisher he was the founder of the
Johnson publishing company and in 1982
the first African American to appear on
the Forbes 400 list of the richest
people in the world from an early age
Johnson learned what it was to overcome
obstacles in life when he was just eight
years old his father Leroy Johnson was
killed in a sawmill accident his mother
moved them from Arkansas to Chicago in
the middle of the Great Depression and
they were forced to rely on welfare for
two years they would determine not to
stay on welfare and work towards
building a better life for themselves at
the age of eighteen Johnson met Harry H
pace the president of Supreme Liberty
life insurance company the largest
black-owned business in the north at the
time when pace heard about Johnson’s
desire to attend University
but his inability to do so because of
the high cost of tuition paste hired
Johnson part-time working at supreme
Cave Johnson the idea and the confidence
to start his own business in 1942 he
went to the bank to ask for a $500 loan
to start his business and was laughed
out of the office after they told him
that they don’t make loans to colored
people so Johnson went to one of the few
banks that did using his mother’s new
furniture as a collateral for the loan
Citizens Loan Corporation agreed to give
Johnson the $500 he needed to start his
business he created Johnson publishing
company and set out to launch his first
magazine today with magazines like ebony
Johnson publishing company is one of the
world’s largest minority-owned
businesses as well as the largest
black-owned publishing firm when he died
in 2005 Johnson
a net worth of 600 million dollars so
the next question is how can you model
the success of John Johnson here are
three action items you can put the use
into your business today action item
number one don’t get mad get even until
you prove yourself as an entrepreneur
you’re going to have a lot of people
doubt your ability to succeed they’ll
tell you to play it safe and get a job
that might also tell you that your
product or service idea has been done
before it’s too crazy to do well part of
your entrepreneurial journey will be
using criticism as a counselor but not
as a jailer listen to what can help you
and don’t let harsh words prevent you
from moving forward on your dreams all
his life Johnson had been told that he
would not amount to much who’s the
victim of the racism that was so
prevalent in the u.s. at the time time
of the time Johnson was discourage from
thinking he could one day be great and
was blocked every time he tried in
addition of being denied bank loans
because he was black
Johnson found it impossible to even
purchase an office for his new company
once he had obtained the money when
Johnson went to purchase a building in
Chicago’s downtown area to be his
company’s headquarters he couldn’t make
the deal he was refused to purchase
because he was black but like so many
other times in his life Johnson refused
to give up he wasn’t going to let a
racist property manager stand in the way
of his success his advice it’s better to
get smart than to get mad long shots do
come in and work hard dedication and
perseverance will overcome almost any
prejudice and open almost any door
action item number two mastered the art
of the sale no matter what type of
business you run you’re going to have to
learn how to sell to achieve the success
here after selling is not only the
customers but you have to sell your
partners investors employees suppliers
media and other stakeholders on why your
company is going to be great in his
best-selling autobiography succeeding
against the odds Johnson wrote a chapter
entitled how to sell anybody anything in
5 minutes or less
Johnson’s elementary rule to making a
sale was that your pitch be based not on
your self-interest but on their
self-interest when I go in to see I
never say
help me because I’m black or help me
because I’m a minority I always talk
about what we can do for them Johnson
had three rules for successful selling
first he would grab the clients
attention in the first few seconds of a
meeting with an emotional statement that
hits him where he lives or does business
second Johnson would try to find his
clients vulnerable spot
he felt that everybody has something
that will make him or her move or say
yes Johnson’s final step was to find the
similarity with his client according to
Johnson successful selling is a matter
of finding common ground no matter how
narrow it might be on what you and your
client can stand together whether I had
five or thirty five minutes
I always base our presentation on these
three tried and tested rules action item
number three communicate success if
you’re going to build a business beyond
yourself you’re also going to have to
work on your communication skills so
your staff understand where you’re
trying to take the company and how they
can help you get there
Johnson believed that if he couldn’t
communicate effectively with his staff
it didn’t matter how good his product
was his company was not going to prosper
developing this talent was something
that Johnson took great pride in and he
ensured his senior staff was equally
trained in the art here is Johnson’s
advice I was born in poverty and spent
two years on the welfare rolls and I
learned early that I had to communicate
or die and so I talked my way out of
poverty I communicated my way to the top
I’m a hands on hands in hands wrapped
around manager and I believe it’s
impossible to separate good management
from good communication for the best
manager is the best communicator
so remember don’t get mad get even
master the art of the sale and
communicate success I wanted to end the
video today by sharing one of my
favorite true stories about John Johnson
when Johnson realized that the black
models he hired for his photoshoots
couldn’t buy makeup that was tailored to
their skin tones he approached Estee
Lauder and Revlon to launch a new line
they turned him down so he created his
own company fashion Fair Cosmetics today
fashion Fair is a leader in a cosmetics
industry with products in almost 1,000
stores around the world thank you for
joining me for another edition of
modeling the masters if you enjoyed
please give this video a thumbs up below
and we’ll continue to produce more also
I’d love to hear your thoughts and
feedback if you want to leave a comment
below the video as well I hope you
enjoyed and stay tuned for the next
episode
you
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