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A Man of Firsts: How Johnson Achieved Success

Article Overview: “Retirement is not in this company’s vocabulary,” Johnson once said. “If you are well and able to work, you can stay at the company and that’s what I plan to do.” And, that is exactly what he did. Right up until the time of his death, Johnson continued to play an active role in the company. Although he named his daughter, Linda Johnson Rice, CEO of the company, he remained the inspiration behind its every move. He rose from the despair of welfare to become named the Greatest Minority Entrepreneur in U.S. History by Baylor University in 2003. A true rags to riches story, how did Johnson achieve the American Dream?

A Man of Firsts: How Johnson Achieved Success

“Retirement is not in this company’s vocabulary,” Johnson once said. “If you are well and able to work, you can stay at the company and that’s what I plan to do.” And, that is exactly what he did. Right up until the time of his death, Johnson continued to play an active role in the company. Although he named his daughter, Linda Johnson Rice, CEO of the company, he remained the inspiration behind its every move. He rose from the despair of welfare to become named the Greatest Minority Entrepreneur in U.S. History by Baylor University in 2003. A true rags to riches story, how did Johnson achieve the American Dream?

He Beat the Odds: Johnson was a black man living in poverty at a time of racial upheaval throughout the U.S. Nobody except his mother had any faith in him; nobody thought he could succeed and many didn’t want him to. Instead of succumbing to their disbelief, he used it to fire his desire to achieve his goals even more.

He Identified with his Consumer: Johnson had a special knack for getting into the heads of other people. Trusting his instincts, Johnson felt that there was a need to create a black presence in the mainstream media and he set out to fill that need. By hiring black staff, using black models and focusing on black-oriented content, Johnson was able to connect with this new market of black consumers in a way that no one else had yet been able or willing to do.

He Took Risks: Johnson created a cosmetics line when, not only would he be competing against giants like Estee Lauder and Revlon, but they had also actually told him that his idea was a bad one and would not succeed. He didn’t listen – he did it anyway and Estee Lauder and Revlon were left trailing in his dust. Johnson was willing to stick to his guns and do what he thought was right, however unpopular or risky it might have been.

He Knew How to Sell: “Failure is a word I don’t accept,” Johnson used to say. He knew how to connect to people in a way that made them want to see things along his lines. By approaching the art of selling from the point of view of what he could do for the customer as opposed to vice-versa, Johnson was able to close even the hardest deal. He mastered the art of the sale and thrived on the energy he got from doing it.

He Communicated Effectively: Johnson knew how to share his vision with people so that they would soon be yearning to come onside with him and achieve it together. By being prepared, passionate and confident, Johnson used his communication skills to take his company to the top.

On the 50th anniversary of the launch of Ebony, U.S. President Bill Clinton awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honour. Clinton said that Johnson gave “African Americans a voice and a face, in his words, ‘a new sense of somebody-ness.’” In doing so, he also became one of the most successful entrepreneurs in recent history and broke down numerous barriers along the way.

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Article Tags: american dream, baylor university, black man, black models, daughter linda, despair, disbelief, estee lauder, firsts, instincts, knack, linda johnson, mainstream media, oriented content, rags to riches, rags to riches story, revlon, true rags, upheaval, vocabulary



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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: Alexa Ranking Goals - Thanks for the monthly update Evan! And congrats to everyone who has gained. Also, not that I am worried about it, but I am showing my site as under 265,000 right now so that would put me in the Goal Achieved category instead of the gaining momentum! I'll make my new goal 200,000 for next month.
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Update on profiles to come - Here is a list of the upcoming entrepreneurs that we will be featuring. Thank you Kevin for the feedback! Vera Wang Magic Johnson Joyce Hall Wayne Huizenga Martin Lindstrom (Toblerone) Peter van Stolk (Jones Soda)


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