Not every venture Johnson started found success. A BET clothing brand and chain of themed restaurants crashed sooner than they ever took off. But before he had time to lament the failures, Johnson was already on his way to launching something new. How did Johnson manage to go from a childhood of living cheque to cheque to becoming the first self-made black billionaire in the world?
Focus: In his early career years, Johnson wanted to focus on nothing more than his business. He refused to be the minority spokesperson that many wanted him to be. After retiring from BET, however, Johnson refocused and set a new goal of helping break down racial barriers on the way to business success.
Frugal: Johnson made sure at least 70 percent of BET’s initial programming was music videos. Why? Not because he particularly liked rap music, but because they were free. Johnson could get all the music videos he wanted at no cost from music companies. Anything Johnson could do to cut costs, he was not above doing.
Vision: When other companies were vying for each other’s customers, Johnson went beyond them to look for untapped areas of the market. He did not focus on stealing away his competitors’ traffic. Instead, he wanted to generate his own. It was by focusing on unnoticed segments of the market and creating a new market that Johnson was able to expand his empire.
Opportunism: Johnson did not make any qualms about being cheap much the same way he had no problem admitting to being an opportunist. Where there was money to be made, Johnson made sure he was there to make it and he made no apologies about it.
Resolute: “A lot of people wanted BET to be everything to everybody,” says Johnson. “So the educational community wanted us to be an educational channel. In fact, for a long time people would call BET black educational television because they just insisted if you're going to do anything black, it had to be in education.” Johnson has had what he considers more than his fair share of criticism along his climb to the top. From harming the civil rights movement to selling out, Johnson has had a barrage of criticism thrown at him since he began. But through it all, he was able to stay undistracted and firm on his goals.
Today, BET is America’s leading television network for entertainment, music, and more for the African-American audience. It is also now so much more thanks to the efforts of Johnson. He was inducted into the Cable Television Hall of Fame, named one of Cablevision Magazine’s 20 Most Influential People, given the “Good Guys” Award from the National Women’s Political Caucus, and listed as one of Sports Illustrated’s “100 Most Influential Minorities in Sports.”
Johnson took a bet on BET and it paid off. Now, he says, “You've done it for 25 years, there's not much more you can do.”
Music to his Ears: How Johnson Brought BET to the Big Leagues
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“I’m in business to make money,” says Johnson. “You can do well and do good. But at first, you have to focus on the blocking and tackling of running a good business.”
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