He Started With $700 and Built Two Billion Dollar Brands

John Paul DeJoria co-founded Paul Mitchell hair care and Patrón tequila, but he'll be the first to tell you he started with nothing. Unless you count the dime his mom handed him to drop in a Salvation Army bucket when he was six. That dime taught him everything. After getting fired from three jobs and living out of his car, he finally started making real money at 35 with Paul Mitchell. Then came Patrón. When he sold it, it was the biggest sale in alcohol industry history. But DeJoria never forgot that dime. He's planted over a million trees, helped generate 42,000 tons of food through Grow Appalachia, and given away millions every year to house and employ the homeless. In his new memoir, Success Unshared is Failure, he makes the case that no matter how much you make, it means nothing if you're not sharing it with others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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He Started With $700 and Built Two Billion Dollar Brands is an episode from How Success Happens by Entrepreneur Media.

This episode is 26:18 long.

This episode was published on May 20, 2026.

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