Podcast Summary: The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

Episode 611: From Homeless to Multi-Billionaire – His Success Habits | John Paul DeJoria

Date: December 4, 2025
Host: Nathan Chan
Guest: John Paul DeJoria (Co-founder, John Paul Mitchell Systems & Patron Tequila)

Overview

This episode is a masterclass on entrepreneurial resilience, salesmanship, and legacy brand-building, featuring the legendary John Paul DeJoria. From living in his car with just $700, DeJoria built two multi-billion-dollar companies—John Paul Mitchell Systems and Patron Tequila. He shares personal stories of homelessness, business philosophy, navigating rejection, and the habits that fueled his incredible journey from rock bottom to global success.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Survival & Early Struggles

• Immediate Survival Strategy

  • On starting John Paul Mitchell Systems while homeless, DeJoria prioritized basic survival:
    • Home: Slept in his car, using the front seat for flexibility.
    • Food: Managed on $2.50/day.
    • Showers: Used public facilities at Griffith Park.
    • ([02:54])
    • “Survival is how do I survive? And once I survive, then I go after business as I should.” – JP DeJoria

• Becoming Homeless Twice

  • First: Left with his son after his young wife abandoned them and drained their finances.
  • Second: Backer's $500,000 investment fell through, leaving him with nothing but faith in the product.
  • ([04:45])
  • “We were just enthusiastic. We had 30 days to make our product. … So I figured out a way how to get it all made with smaller amounts.” – JP DeJoria

The Power of Door-to-Door Sales

• Developing Rejection-Proof Resilience

  • Sold encyclopedias door-to-door for 3.5 years. Most salespeople lasted less than a week.

  • Key lesson: maintain enthusiasm regardless of rejection count.

  • ([08:04], [11:29])

  • “If you knock on 50 doors and they're either politely or maybe not politely closing your face, be as enthusiastic as you possibly can on door number 51 as you were on the first door.” – JP DeJoria ([08:04])

  • Both DeJoria and Nathan agree: door-to-door sales is unbeatable training for life and business.

  • “If you can sell and you have sales skills, you really can look after yourself for the rest of your life.” – Nathan Chan ([10:44])

Launching With No Capital

• Negotiating with Suppliers When Broke
  • Initially ordered 100,000 bottles based on the promise of investment.
  • When the funds vanished, re-negotiated for small sample runs and 30-day payment terms.
  • Used first 12 customer checks to persuade distributors to take a chance.
  • ([13:10], [14:36])
  • “I did not tell him how bad off we were... I reached in my pocket, pulled out the 12 checks... There's your first 12 customers. I've already delivered it for you.” – JP DeJoria ([14:36])

Mindset: Thriving Under Pressure & Rejection

• Staying Enthusiastic Through Hardship

  • Saw each rejection as normal, focused on persistence.

  • Found relief when finally able pay bills on time after two years.

  • ([18:31], [20:32], [22:34])

  • “Be ready for rejection. If you know it's coming and you're ready for it, it's not going to affect you so much.” – JP DeJoria ([18:31])

  • Defining milestone: having $2,000 left over year two meant "we got it made."

  • “If only we could do $5 million a year, we would each have $250,000… We did not know at that time that it could get really, really, really big.” – JP DeJoria ([20:34])

The "Reorder Business" Philosophy

• Building for Recurring Revenue
  • Never aimed for one-time sales; focus was on products customers would regularly need again.
  • Targeted hairdressers as partners to educate customers, birthing the modern salon retail concept.
  • ([23:05])
  • “Never go into the selling business, go into the reorder business where your product was that good.” – JP DeJoria ([08:04])

Company Culture & Team Loyalty

• Low Turnover & High Engagement
  • Free lunch, bonuses, profit sharing, and health insurance were ways to "do unto others."
  • Hired versatile, motivated people and limited unnecessary management.
  • In 45 years and 130 countries: less than 100 have left the company.
  • ([25:30], [26:45])
  • “If I'm lucky enough to make it... I'm going to try and treat people the way I'd want to be treated.” – JP DeJoria ([25:30])
  • “Number one priority in life: just be kind to one another. Be kind.” – JP DeJoria ([28:53])

Reinventing Premium: Patron Tequila

• Creating a New Category in Spirits

  • Overcame skepticism about ultra-premium pricing ($5/bottle vs. $37.95/bottle).

  • Did grassroots bartender sampling, built demand as a "treat yourself" tequila.

  • ([29:40])

  • “No one's going to pay that. It's just too much. Nobody would take us.” – JP DeJoria

  • Used wine distributor for initial sales (leveraging Spago’s & Baja Cantina as anchor clients).

  • Shifted to visual branding: bottle became the "star" in all ads.

  • “When we finally got into the 1990s, it really started growing quite, quite rapidly.” – JP DeJoria ([34:28])

  • Maintained premium pricing as a necessity for profitability and brand position.

  • “We knew what we had was the very best. We would be in the reorder business. All we've got to do is let enough people taste it.” – JP DeJoria ([34:48])

  • Memorable moment:

    • “Even a funky little inexpensive restaurant had... ‘Why don’t you treat yourself today?’” – JP DeJoria ([36:19])

Principles for Business and Life

• Picking Winners

  • Beyond resumes, emphasizes intuition (“what energy do I feel from this person?”) and thorough due diligence.
  • ([41:30])
  • “I look at them and I listen to where their heart is coming from, not just their words.” – JP DeJoria

• Forgiveness & Letting Go

  • Advocates releasing jealousy, anger, and regrets to move forward unburdened.
  • ([42:49])
  • “You cannot change yesterday’s newspapers. ... If you hang on to it, it builds it even bigger.” – JP DeJoria

• Making Space to Think

  • Deliberately avoids email and computers, relying on calls and dictation, to create space for reflection.
  • ([48:19], [49:04])
  • “It gives me time to think. That’s a big deal. Time to think and not be a robot.” – JP DeJoria
  • Suggests young people disconnect from devices regularly and practice genuine in-person communication.
  • “Try not to use your phone if you don’t have to... start talking to people.” ([50:17])

Spirituality & Self-Management

• Meditation & Emotional Management
  • Writes down worries at night, posts them on his mirror to revisit in the morning, which diminishes their power.
  • ([45:03])
  • “When I went to the mirror the next day, those things that kept me awake weren’t that important.” – JP DeJoria
  • Encourages regular mini-retreats to self-reflect, inventory relationships, and clarify next steps.
  • ([53:22])
  • “If I really want to take time… I’ll disappear for three days and just hang out with myself.”

Giving Back: Purpose and Legacy

• Success Is Meant To Be Shared
  • Member of The Giving Pledge; large portions of his wealth support social causes now, not just after death.
  • ([54:07], [57:00])
  • “If you have a lot and you don’t share it, it’s failure. … You feel good whenever you do something in life for somebody else and ask nothing in return.” – JP DeJoria
  • “There was nothing we smoked in the 1960s that'll compare to the high you get when you do something for somebody else and you just feel like, I did it, I wanted nothing in return.” – JP DeJoria ([57:00])

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Resilience:

  • “When you’re at the very, very bottom... you can only look up or right. So I couldn’t get any lower than I was.” – JP DeJoria ([18:31])

• On Kindness:

  • “Number one priority in life is just be kind to one another. Be kind.” – JP DeJoria ([28:53])

• On Building Culture:

  • “If you can build an incredible environment around people you personally, as the founder, want to work with, you've got...one core component of life sorted.” – Nathan Chan ([26:22])

• On Technology & Thinking:

  • “If you’re depending on your computer to give you an answer or your telephone to give you an answer, you’re not thinking on your own.” – JP DeJoria ([49:04])

• On Success:

  • “If life is good to you, if you don’t share your success, it’s a total failure.” – JP DeJoria ([54:07])

Key Timestamps

• [02:54] – Survival strategy when starting with nothing
• [08:04] – Lessons from years of door-to-door sales
• [14:36] – How JP persuaded suppliers and secured first distributor
• [23:05] – The philosophy of the "reorder business"
• [25:30] – Building a loyal, happy workforce
• [29:40] – Creating and launching Patron as the first ultra-premium tequila
• [41:30] – Choosing who to trust and work with
• [42:49] – The importance of forgiveness and letting go
• [45:03] – Using self-invented reflection and worry-management routines
• [48:19], [49:04] – Managing businesses without a computer; importance of thinking time
• [54:07] – Sharing success and the Giving Pledge philosophy
• [57:00] – On the joy of giving

Conclusion

John Paul DeJoria’s journey is an open-source playbook for grit, ambition, and compassion in entrepreneurship. His stories offer actionable wisdom: embrace rejection, do more with less, put people first, think independently, and share your success. For aspiring founders and established entrepreneurs alike, this is a high-energy, practical, and heartfelt guide—direct from one of the world's most respected business legends.

For more:

• Pick up John Paul DeJoria's memoir, Success Unshared is Failure (available April 6, 2026)
• Learn more at foundr.com