John Paul DeJoria, From Rags To Riches

If the story of John Paul DeJoria had not been true, it could have only been written by Horatio Alger Jr. The famous 19th century author was best known for his uplifting rags to riches stories in which penniless protagonists achieved the American Dream.

As the son of Italian immigrants, DeJoria would learn the value of hard work at an early age. Each morning, he and his older brother were in grammar school they would do their part to help support the family by delivering newspapers before the sun came up.

By the time he had reached high school, John Paul joined the U.S. Naval reserve and entered the Navy after graduation. His plan was to save enough money to attend dental school. After a few years, he was discharged from the Navy with honors based on financial considerations.

Shortly thereafter, his marriage to his first wife ended badly and left DeJoria with a baby son to support. This was a particularly trying time for the young man who had an indomitable will to succeed but few real-world skills. As a result, John Paul was forced to take a series of odds jobs to make ends meet. He pumped gas; he fixed old bicycles; he hawked encyclopedias; he even mopped floors.

But occasionally the ends would not meet, and the proud young man was forced to take to the streets. Years later, DeJoria would discuss his days of collecting soda cans in the hope that he might secure himself a hot meal and a warm cot.

His years of struggle finally came to an end when he was offered a marketing position with Time magazine. John Paul had little in the way of experience, but his hard work, charm, and natural charisma would not go unnoticed. Rising quickly through the ranks, he was soon made circulation manager for Los Angeles.

It was clear to DeJoria that he had a talent, but he had not yet found his calling. That would change when he was offered a job at Redken Laboratories, a producer of professional hair salon products.

DeJoiria believed the company had great potential but he knew next to nothing about hairstyling or salons. Fortunately, one of his closest friends was Paul Mitchell, one of America�s most famous hair designers. Yet another shot of serendipity was that Mitchell was interested in creating his own line of professional hair salon products.

With a budget of $750, Mitchell developed the products while John Paul designed the famous black and white bottles and drew up a comprehensive marketing plan. The products would be offered to the world�s best salons. But would they buy?

According to both men, the company was lucky to survive that first year. What little budge they had had been exhausted during development. This meant that they could not employ a staff. As a result, Mitchell and DeJoria had to go door-to-door to the most prominent and profitable hair salons in the country. Before very long, products were flying off the shelves and they finally had the money to hire a proper staff.

Today, the John Paul Mitchell Systems is the most successful producer of professional hair salon products in the world. They offer a full line of products in over 90,000 hair salons around the world. Their annual revenues are over $600 million.

And DeJoria? The happily married father of six is a certified billionaire. Not bad for a man who used to collect Coke cans for pennies a day.