Underdog Story of the Day - Daymond John

Daymond John

John, growing up in Queens, New York, started his entrepreneurial lifestyle in grade school where he would scrape paint off of the pencils and put people's names on the pencil and sell them.

When he was 10, his parents divorced, and John then had a bigger role to fill in his life. His mom raised him and from then on he had to work to help support the family because he was the man of the house. At that time, his family went from middle class to poor. He got a job handing out flyers in his neighborhood for $2 per hour.

He had a very hard time in high school, struggling to read and write. He was later diagnosed with dyslexia.

He started waiting tables at the local Red Lobster in the '90s. He lacked a path in life and his mom began asking where he wanted to go in life. He told her he wanted to start an apparel company. She then taught him how to work the sewing machine. He knew he could make something of it so he went out and bought cheap fabric and sewed 80 items, selling for $10 each. He made a quick $800 and got right back to work.

His mother saw the potential success of his clothing business and she decided to mortgage her home to raise $100,000 to fund his business. And so it began. He set up his business in her house and split time between his new company, FUBU, and his full-time job at Red Lobster. 

Fast forward 6 years and his company brought in $350 milion.

Today he is now a part of the reality tv show Shark Tank and is the author of several books such as Rise and Grind, a book that talks about beating the odds.

He has an estimated net worth of $300 million.

WATCH: Daymond John takes us inside his life story.

Wrap-up

Daymond John battled and beat the odds. He grew up broke, battled dyslexia, didn't go to college, and grew up without a father. He now boasts a successful clothing business, a host of a reality tv show, investments in many million dollar companies, and an author of several successful books. Daymond John can teach us that you can beat the odds no matter your circumstances.