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The Billion Dollar Brains Behind BET: Robert Johnson is Born
Article Overview: “We sort of lived paycheck to paycheck, like a lot of African-American families do,” says Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson, “still do.”
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The Billion Dollar Brains Behind BET: Robert Johnson is Born
“We sort of lived paycheck to paycheck, like a lot of African-American families do,” says Black Entertainment Television founder Robert Johnson, “still do.”
From his humble beginnings in Mississippi to becoming the first self-made black billionaire in the world, Johnson has made a name for himself by focusing on an untapped market. With no prior business experience, he was able to turn $15,000 into a media empire. Today, BET, the world’s first black-oriented cable channel that Johnson founded in 1980, can be seen in almost 80 percent of American homes.
Johnson was born on April 18, 1946 in Hickory, Mississippi. He was the ninth of ten children to Edna and Archie Johnson, who worked at a local battery factory. “We weren't a welfare family, but we knew that if I wanted a bicycle it meant that somebody else wasn't going to get something else,” recalls Johnson. “Or if you wanted to go to college, you knew your parents couldn't pay your way to college.”
When Johnson was still young, his family moved to Freeport, Illinois so his father could find better work opportunities. It was in Freeport where Johnson, too, found a better job – his first job, in fact. Johnson began delivering the Rockford Morning Star when he was ten years old. It was, however, not the right job for him. “I failed miserably,” he recalls. “I couldn’t get up in the morning. Still can’t.”
He might not have learned anything from the job, but living in a large family still taught Johnson important lessons, he says. “I knew that if we had a box of cookies in the house, you made sure you got yours fast,” he jokes. “It made you make decisions quick…If you talk to anyone from a large family, the tendency is you want to chart your own course, because otherwise how would you get recognized?”
After graduating from Freeport High School in 1964, Johnson became the first member of his family to go to college when he enrolled in the University of Illinois. He graduated four years later with a bachelor’s degree in social studies. He followed that up with a master’s degree in International Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1972.
With his degrees in hand, Johnson moved to Washington, D.C. He had planned to start a government career, and got this first job working as a press secretary for Walter Fauntroy, the Congressional Delegate for the District of Columbia. Those plans changed, however, when the National Cable and Telecommunications Association hired Johnson as a lobbyist for the nascent cable industry.
From 1976 to 1979, Johnson worked as the vice president of government relations for the NCTA. It was during that stint that Johnson met a businessman who had a plan to start a channel geared solely towards the elderly. That was a wake up call for Johnson. He began to think about his own opportunity to create a channel just for African-Americans.
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What do you need
- To have a business - you need something to sell that somone will buy.
If you have an idea or way to solve a problem then you will need to:
-determine if it is feasable
- decide pon your approach
- identify the resources you will need
- gather the resources
- begin the journey
I realize this is an over simplification but my message is this -
Starting a business is like building a house in this regard- if you do things in the right sequence it will be easier and less costly.
I will add that starting and building a business can be hard work -so haning a passion for what you are doing plus a dedication to its success are pretty much essential.
And don't be afraid to seek help.
Robert Johnson
Re: Who to profile next?
- Hi Evan,
How about a profile on T. Boone Pickens? I just saw him on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno talking about his early entrepreneurial beginnings, his new book [i:vaiabziv]The First Billion is the Hardest[/i:vaiabziv] and how natural gas is the way of the future.
Promoting Software On A Shoestring Budget
- Once again, great comments enlivener!
Boomer - my first company, Redasoft, was a biotech software company. We started with nothing and built it up to have clients in over 30 countries including NASA, Johnson & Johnson, etc so it is possible!
SEO is a great option for you as it's cheap and can bring highly targeted people to your site.
You should also look at print media. We've found that it works much better than tv or radio. We had the major scientific journals like Science review our software and it led to a lot of sales and traffic because our clients read those publications. If you sell one reporter on the idea of doing a review, they'll do the work of selling to 1000's of potential clients for you so it's a great ROI (as long as your product works!)
Re: Quote of the Day - John Johnson
- Glad you enjoyed Mal!
I actually did not know about Johnson until we did the profile but it is a great story!
Re: How does an entrepreneur stay energized?
- Hi there,
This subject is not only for entrepreneurs. Everybody can benefit from this, that is the reason why 'Healthy Living and Eating' is a multi billion Dollar business.
Often I smile, because so much is written about it. So many different business are blooming and doing well. Whilst there is so much knowledge and opportunity to be healthy and well, the need is still growing.
There is so much that could be said. The cheapest form of energy is gained by a good sleep.
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by: Casey Gollan, Melbourne Business Coaching
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