I Have Failed Many Times to Know What Works for Me – Daymond John

(All Africa) – In nine out of 10 things Daymond John tried, he failed.

For him failure in entrepreneurship and life in general sometimes happens more often before one starts celebrating triumph.

Daymond John, one of the billionaire hosts of the renown American television series ‘Shark Tanks’ believes that failure is indeed part of success and not a reason to give up that he often has to check how many times an entrepreneur has failed to consider giving an offer.

“The more times one has failed and still kicking, the more they understand what they want and hence less mistakes in future,” he says during an interview at this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Nairobi.

“The best part of my history is that I have failed so many times that I know what doesn’t work for me, what I don’t like or I am not good at,” he adds.

Apart from learning from his past failures, the founder and CEO of FUBU, a clothing and hip hop apparel company, trusts that another key component for winning is being passionate and fanatic with what you do or want to venture in.

Well, if your project doesn’t do that for you, maybe you need to sit down and reevaluate, he says.

“When I started FUBU I worked every single day. And when I came home at 12 o’clock at night, I sold my hats until 4 in the morning. I got up 9 in the morning, shipped my goods out and then I went back at my usual job at 2pm. I did that for three years straight. This is until the business picked and managed to pay my bills,” he recalls.

“The key ingredient of success, because money is not in it, is doing what you are obsessed with because in the event you end up not getting what you expected, you don’t regret that journey,” he adds.

They say experience is the best teacher and for John, he has learnt the hard way on how to manage his finances which he terms as a major challenge to not only upcoming entrepreneurs but those who are already up there in their carriers.

To young entrepreneurship, John is quick to mention that, settings goals, having a mentor as well as surrounding yourself with the right people who support and share your dreams.

“When I speak of mentors, most of them times it may be people around you. When I was in school, there was a man who owned a store in the neighbourhood and he would talk to me often. Another mentor was my mum and I would say I never believed her until I turned that I realized that all what she always told me was true. At the moment, my children have also played a great role in my success.”

Daymond John has so far sealed 47 deals with promising businesses since the Shark Tank show started in 2009.

He may love your idea, buy into it, but above all, he must like you.