As Daymond John built the business that made him a millionaire, he didn’t hastily quit his day job. Sticking it out made him more successful, he says.
“I worked at Red Lobster for years while building FUBU,” John posted to LinkedIn on Monday. “Not because I didn’t believe in my dreams. Because it was smart.”
In 1992, the Queens, New York, native co-founded the clothing brand — an acronym for “For Us, By Us” — following a humble upbringing with his single mom. John launched the company with just $40, and the money he made as a waiter at the chain restaurant helped keep him afloat and invest in his business.
“That job taught me sales and inventory, paid my bills [and] bought fabric and materials for my business,” wrote John, 56.
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FUBU rose to popularity in the early 1990s alongside a flourishing hip-hop and rap scene. John took his apparel to music video shoots and got rappers to take photos in his gear, he’s said. In 1996, he put out an ad seeking funding for his business and landed a distribution deal with Samsung, he told Business Insider in February 2018. That investment reportedly helped FUBU bring in $30 million in sales in three months.
The urban streetwear brand has since brought in more than $6 billion in total revenue to date, according to John’s website. John, a longtime investor judge on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” still serves as the company’s CEO.
‘Build slow if you have to’
While launching a business or side hustle, you may be inclined to quit your job, especially if you’ve already brought in a bit of money — or you’re just tired of your 9-to-5. Experts typically recommend a couple considerations before taking that risk.
Those considerations include a strong business plan — clearly stating what the product or service is, who’ll buy it and the money you’ll be making — and enough money to sustain yourself as you establish your business, according to Kevin Lao, a certified financial planner and founder of advising firm Imagine Financial Security.
Lao saved up a year’s worth of living expenses and three months of business expenses before launching his firm, he told CNBC in January 2022. And he was clear on his company’s vision, he added.
“It’s very hard to be successful if you don’t have a very compelling ‘why,'” Lao said.
For John, his waiter job — though it wasn’t glamorous — set the foundation for his approach to entrepreneurship and taught him an important lesson, he wrote.
“People don’t realize it, but sometimes the day job is your first investor,” John wrote. “Don’t get discouraged if you don’t have the means to quit your job right away. Use it as fuel for your dreams and goals. Build slow if you have to.”
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank.”
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