Asking Billionaires How They Got Rich! (Houston)

Who am I here with today? Damon John. Kendra Scott, are you a business owner? I am. I'm one of only 20 female founders in the United States that have founded a billion-dollar brand. So you founded a billion-dollar company? A billion-dollar company, with a B. Yes, yeah. What was the most amount of money that you've ever made in a single year? In 2019, I sold 76 companies for $1.27 billion. The most amount of money the company ever made was $980 million. In profit? In profit, yeah. That's incredible! It is pretty good.

How can somebody become a multi-millionaire in 24 like yourself? Hard Knock family, I'm out in Houston, Texas, right now at the Aspire tour, which is one of the largest business conferences in the entire world. We're VIP today, so we're going to be interviewing eight, nine, and even billion-dollar entrepreneurs to figure out how they created their wealth and their best advice to any entrepreneurs trying to build multi-million dollar businesses in today's world.

So with that being said, let's go interview these moguls and let's go see what they have to say.

Who am I here with today? Kendra Scott. What industry did you decide to pursue a career in? So jewelry and accessories. Yeah, retail, wholesale. I'm Omni-Channel, baby, Ecom, all of it. Are you a business owner? I am. I'm one of only 20 female founders in the United States that have founded a billion-dollar brand.

You a billion-dollar company? A billion-dollar company with a B. Yeah, secret to building a billion-dollar brand? So my first collection I did with $500, and then I was able to write some orders. I had a decent amount of margin. I was able to reinvest in the business. Nobody would invest in me for 10 years. I went to multiple investors; nobody would give me a dime, even though I was selling to big department stores and other people. No one believed in retail, so I had to do it on a line of credit, credit card debt. I put everything I owned up for collateral. I bootstrapped this baby all the way.

But as we started to get success, one of my mentors said, "If you build it, they will come." Boy, was he right. When I started having lines around the block and people coming in, they were like, all these PE firms and Venture Capital firms were ringing my phone, and they’re like, "How do we get engaged and involved in this business?" Keep your head down, build a profitable business, not just a business that looks good. Topline, you got to have EBITDA, baby! You got to be making money, and that is what everybody's looking for today.

Ten years in, we were able to bring investors, and here we are continuing to grow. So what was the best advice that you ever got from a mentor? Look, like we always talk about you and people feeling like you got to "fake it till you make it," whatever it is. I totally disagree with that. But you can't be intimidated. Success is a mindset. My father always said, "Honey, don't be intimidated by the men in suits." I've walked into so many rooms, and nobody in that room looked like me. I had to have that confidence within myself to know I know what I'm talking about; I know that I can do this, and I'm not going to let anybody scare me.

Today, have that confidence, have that ability, 'cause there’s always going to be somebody that’ll want to intimidate you. You got to walk in there and be like, "Watch out, here I come." So as a billion-dollar business owner, you've been at the table with some heavy hitters, and you've had to negotiate and close some massive deals, I'm sure. What is your best negoti advice for people that are in those rooms with those kind of people that may struggle with closing deals in today's world?

You know, look, I always say I'm a sponge. I want to hear what these folks have to say, and I try to really understand their perspective. But at the same time, I’m going to come back with that, and I've already done my research. I've done my homework, and I came in prepared. Don't go to any negotiation or any contract negotiation without doing your homework. Know exactly who is going to be sitting in that room, know their backgrounds, know other deals that they've done, talk to other people that have done deals with them, and you're going to bring out things out of your hat, and they're going to go, "Whoa, how does she know that? How did she hear about that?"

I always am surprising them, and that is the art of negotiating. You've got to be able to surprise your opponent with a little bit of a punch right when they least expect it. We got amazing advice. Thank you so much for your time; I really appreciate that. Thank you so much, Hard Knock family. We just interviewed business legend Kendra Scott, who's one of only 20 female entrepreneurs who built a billion-dollar company from scratch.

Like she said, dude, she started this company with only $500 and turned it into a multi, multi-billion-dollar empire. That was an insane interview, you guys! What did she say? You have to walk into any room, any sales meeting, any negotiation with the confidence; it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side of there that you’re prepared to win and that you can make incredible things happen. Great interview with Kendra Scott, you guys! Let's go see who else we can find.

Man, come on! Excuse me, sir! Excuse me, sir! Question for you; have you ever been broke before? Um, I've been broke, never before. Yeah. What do you do for a living out here in Houston, Texas? Um, I'm in private equity. You're in private equity. Now, I go all over the country just asking successful people how they made it for the younger generation. Could I get just one minute of your time real quick? Uh, sure.

What was the most amount of money that you ever made in a single year? In 2019, I sold 76 companies for $1.27 billion—$1.27 billion. And do you come from a lot of money? No, no. What was the number one book that changed your life? Yeah, my number one book is "Ego is the Enemy" by Ryan Holiday. So good! Number one takeaway from that book? That everything that you want is on the other side of your ego. You got to get your ego out of the way; use people to get to where you need to go.

Do you think everybody's built for entrepreneurship? No, absolutely not. Why not? Because there's a hustle and a grind that's absolutely necessary that most people are not willing to put the effort into. At what point is an entrepreneur, is it time to diversify? When you have a system in process that’s replicatable. If you focus on the actual system, then it doesn't matter what you do. I run 86 companies at the same time, right?

So everybody that tells you to focus on one thing, they just don't know how to have a processing system to do multiple. You could run 10 businesses yourself if you wanted to. So you're running 86 companies. How is that possible? It's possible because I have a system and process that gives me all data. I'm a data analyst at the top. I have people that I empower, and then they run the same system across every single company, no matter what it is. So it's all about kind of people and systems, it seems like? All about people and systems.

You're in private equity, you're in the money business. What's the best industry people should be looking to get into in 2024? Right now, AI and tech. I mean, AI and tech's everything. Why is that? Because it has the greatest opportunity for scale. Everyone knows they need it, they don't quite have it yet, and it's going to take over so much of our computational processing in our businesses.

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That's meetfabric.com. Hard Knock, how you doing sir? How are you? What is your name? James D. Who am I here with today? Me. Who am I? I'm Marcus Lemonis. You may know me from "The Profit." What industry did you decide to pursue a career in? You know, I wanted to go in an industry that had a lot of white space where there was not a lot of competitors. Like I got into the RV business, which was shocking to my family, 'cause they were like, "You're not an RVer."

But I got into it because I knew that the consolidation opportunity was really clear, and the ability to get into places that were unregulated made it really easy. So 20 years ago, it was zero, and today it's a $7 billion business. What was the most amount of money that you ever made in a single year? The most amount of money the company ever made was $980 million.

$980 million. Profit? In profit, yeah! That's incredible! It is pretty good, but that doesn’t always happen, and I think the key to that is understanding that you're going to have good times and bad times. You got to find the middle and be comfortable with it.

At what point was it for you to master delegation? A lot of entrepreneurs, they want to be that solopreneur where all the hats themselves. How important was it for you building teams and bringing the right people in? Delegation's important, but what was more important to me was surrounding myself with people that were smarter than me and that had the willingness to say no to me and had the willingness to tell me when I was wrong and challenge me.

And I think as people build teams, I oftentimes see a lot of business owners that want to build, you know, hire people that are maybe not as smart as them. Instead, hire people that are wicked smart that make you look stupid because you're going to end up being the smartest person in the room for hiring them. One in four millionaires are living paycheck to paycheck. From your perspective, what keeps people broke in today’s world?

Wanting to be flashier than they should, thinking that perception of what they look like is more important than who they are. And I think oftentimes, what kind of car I drive and the house that I live in. What does Warren Buffett drive? Do you know? Not a supercar—a Honda. Or he drives an old beater; he lives in the same house. You want to know why? 'Cause he realizes that's not where the substance is.

That doesn't mean that you can't have nice things, but there's a balance between being substantive and flashy. And I think too often, people are too willing to do this. But I will tell you that every single person is one decision away from losing it all. But if you don't go up here and you stay here, if you lose it, it's not a big deal. You're like, "Oh, I don't care; I'll just live in a studio apartment again."

Sometimes people put material things around them because they think it makes them look better or stronger, more powerful. I don't believe it. And your last message to the younger generation? Have the confidence that you are just as smart as everybody else and don't let age be a barrier to you getting a seat at the table. Too often times, big executives think that if you're young, you don't know what you're doing; you don't have enough experience.

Prove to them by having the right information, doing the right research, outworking them every single day and never be entitled to anything. Tell people that you're willing to work for it, and if other people in the room are not willing to work, you push them aside and you show up first and you leave last. You got amazing advice, sir. Thank you, brother.

Guys, $980 million in profit! We just interviewed Marcus Lemonis, whose company did over a billion dollars in revenue in a single year. Crazy interview out here! What did he say was the secret? That going to a billion-dollar company wasn't just delegating but finding people that were smarter than him to make the right decisions that ultimately led to him being able to scale that company out to what it turned into.

Great interview out here in Houston, man! Come on! Let's go get this next one. This video has been insane, you guys! Let's go! Who am I here with today? Damon John. And what industry did you decide to pursue a career in? Fashion. Fashion. How long have you been a business owner? For 40 years.

What was the best financial advice that you ever received throughout your career? Money’s a great slave, but a horrible master. You had a quote: "Pioneers get slaughtered and settlers prosper." You say it again? I've got that one! Pioneers get slaughtered and settlers prosper. That's exactly what happens. You say that and break—say it again. Pioneers get slaughtered and settlers prosper. That’s break that down for people that may not understand.

Well, a lot of pioneers, if you could be too early on something, right? And nobody gets it. And you keep talking, "Oh, I want to do what I want to do." But nobody gets it. Move on. But the ones who are like, "I want to do it; let me take my time, let me settle, let me figure it out." How can somebody become a multi-millionaire in 2024, like yourself?

Well, what is a multi-millionaire? Somebody that creates financial freedom. Somebody aspiring to kind of achieve that success, whether they're sick as—and it doesn't matter then, it’s then—it’s not a multi-millionaire. Hard Knock family, this video has been insane so far, but I want you to comment down below who’s been your favorite interview so far and why.

I love connecting with you guys, and I want to know what you guys think about this video. With that being said, let's go get this next interview. Who am I here with today? I'm Billy Ray Taylor, CEO of Linked XL and author of the book "The Winning Link." How old are you now? I'm 57.

And if you were to go back in time and have a conversation with your 20-year-old self when you were starting from zero, what's the best advice you would give to your younger self? If a bird lands on the branch, does the bird trust a branch, or does it trust its wings? And the clue? I've seen many birds land on branches, but what I've never seen is a branch break and a bird fall and die. Trust your wings. Wow!

How long have you been a business owner for? Five years. I branched off and started my own company called Linked XL. What was the most amount of money that you've ever made in a single year? Well over seven figures. Seven figures? You give me a range between one and three? Between one and three million; that's me personally.

What's the greatest lesson that you've learned about entrepreneurship that you’d pass on to someone about to start their first business in 2024? Deliberate clarity. You can't manage a secret. Who was the most important person that you met throughout your career? My mom. My mom. Was she a business owner? Well, of a house, but she taught me the most valuable lesson, and she said, "Start with a standard. What you accept, you can't change."

So if you don't set the standard, the best coaches, the best leaders—right? Think of home plate in baseball; it’s 17 inches. If you play Little League Baseball, high school baseball, it’s a standard! Coaching! Don’t widen the plate. You got to play to the standard. And then what you accept, you can't change—what you accept. In other words, you got to know your worth; you got to know it!

Know your value; you can't give freebies. When I tried to give people my consulting age, when I gave them my software, no one took me up on it. When I said, "Well, you're losing how much? 10 million? It's going to cost you this," and they said, "That's a lot of money." I said, "No, that's an investment." My value is if you pay me this $5,000, I'll make you $5 million. Now it’s a deal! My value is a deal now. So you got to help people understand your value proposition.

This video was amazing, you guys, but I want you to like and subscribe for amazing content we've got coming very, very soon! And as I mentioned earlier, our official entrepreneur community, The School of Mentors, hit over 1,000 members. So if you want to be a part of an entrepreneur community where you can connect directly with like-minded entrepreneurs your age, older, younger, to bounce ideas off of and grow and scale your business, the link is down in the description of this video. You do not want to miss out on this app all because the multi-millionaires and the billionaires that I interview every single week, I'm hosting live calls with them on this channel.

So to join, once again, the link’s down in the description. I can't wait to see you guys inside of our community, The School of Mentors! But with that being said, we'll see you in the next video.