Daymond John Net Worth 2024: How He Built His Fortune?

In this article, I’ll be sharing Daymond John net worth and how he built his fortune.

To begin with, becoming a successful entrepreneur in this digital age is quite easier than it was before. Now you can build a million-dollar company from the comfort of your home.

Absolutely, you can also run a million-dollar company with a remote team. In essence, building wealth in this digital age is easier than before.

But Daymond John didn’t have that. He started building his wealth in the 80s and the 90s when building a business is something else. There was no Facebook, Twitter, or anything called digital marketing.

But that didn’t stop him from achieving his dream.

And now he wears many hats.

Well known for his fashion brand, FUBU (For Us By Us), Daymond is one of the names that come to mind among popular social media influencers.

He’s an author, a fashion designer, television personality, motivational speaker, and serial investor.

Just like every other entrepreneur, Daymond John also has a grass-to-grace storyline.

So in this post, we’ll be looking at what Daymond John’s “grass” looked like, diving deep into his early life, Daymond John’s net worth, and how he built his wealth.

What Is Daymond John’s Net Worth?

Daymond John’s net worth presently stands at a whopping $300 Million dollars. He makes most of his money from his fashion brand, FUBU.

While a lot of people know Daymond John as a television personality, he started building his wealth back in the 80s and 90s.

Name	Daymond John
Nationality	American
Birthplace	Brooklyn, New York, US.
Date of Birth	23rd February 1969
Age	53
Height	1.69m
Wife	Heather Taras
Children	Yasmeen and Destiny
Net Worth	$300 Million

Who Is Daymond John? Life Story and Wiki

Daymond John is an American businessman, fashion designer, television personality, author, motivational speaker, and a successful investor.

And that pretty much explains why I regard Daymond as a man with many hats.

Although he has been able to build a fortune of $300 Million through his businesses, he also had little beginnings.

Early Life

Daymond John was born on February 13, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York City, in the neighborhood of Hollis in Queens, New York.

He was born into a broken home. His parents got a divorce while he was still young. Needless to say, the financial situation was worse for the family.

Being raised by a single mother, Daymond John owes a lot of his success to his strong and hardworking mother.

His childhood life was characterized by more of a hustler lifestyle. Although he never sold drugs, his friends were drug dealers.

But that didn’t make him one of them. He would always hang out with them and also play with them. However, whenever they are with drugs to sell, Daymond John doesn’t go with them.

Although he had friends that were making a million dollar a year, he did his own hustling and earned the peanuts,

But that wasn’t much of a temptation for Daymond John to handle.

He was an ambitious young man. He couldn’t risk going to prison, destroying himself, and the risk that comes with being a drug dealer.

Of course, there was this big fear and hatred for going to prison. Instead, Daymond was a big thinker.

Daymond John shared in an interview that while he was growing up, his mom placed a poster on the wall that reads “Think Big”.

He caught the entrepreneurial spirit earlier. While he was growing up (of course in school) at the age of 10, Daymond took up a job that had him handing out flyers for $2 per hour.

Getting into high school did not see the end of John working and earning an income.

When he got into high school, John enrolled in a work program that allowed him to work a full-time job while still schooling.

Obviously, he does his school tasks on an alternate schedule.

While this could have been otherwise, it was fun to Daymond John. He was able to earn some income on the side while still schooling.

Not a surprise, Daymond John continued working after finishing high-school. As expected he changed jobs.

After finishing high school, Daymond worked as a waiter at Red Lobster and also got to start his first business.

His first business was a commuter van service.

Daymond John’s Career & Road To Achieving His $300M Net Worth

Daymond John’s career didn’t start with an interest in the fashion business. He had always wanted to be a rapper while he was still young at the age of 12.

He was a keen lover of rap to the extent he designed his clothes to fit rap. At 12, he got an opportunity to go on a Houdini tour as a dancer.

But his mom stopped him. To be candid, he was 12 and it doesn’t sound soothing to send 12 years old on a tour.

However, the interest he once had in rap would later lead him to start one of the biggest fashion brands in the world.

FUBU

When he was 19, his interest in rap got stronger. He would always make different designs on his clothes.

But his career had a turn when he walked into a clothing store and had the thought of making clothes for young men and rappers.

And that was because most of the fashion brands around were not making clothes for rappers. So he set out to solve that.

Needless to say, that was when he had the first breakthrough.

His mother, who had the greatest influence on him, taught him how to sew and also helped him greatly in growing the business.

He started with a few wool ski hats. When Daymond got the idea of starting a clothing business, he discovered that the wool ski hats that were sold for $20 were expensive.

And that was when he set out to create wool ski hats which he sold for $10. Needless to say, Daymond John started his fashion business in his mother’s house in Hollis, Queens.

Starting with the wool Ski hats which were popular at that time, Daymond and his neighbor got together and sewed about 90 wool ski hats.

And in a single day, they earned $800 by selling those hats at $10 each.

After the hats, John expanded and started selling printed t-shirts. In order to support the scale, he was selling at consignment and was doing all these while still keeping his full-time job at Red Lobster.

Although he was already making a significant amount from his fashion business, Daymond didn’t quit his full-time job.

And that was because he considered his fashion business as a hobby and didn’t have any other intention in making it a full-time business at the time.

When Daymond started selling in consignment and large events, orders exploded and there was no capital to fulfill orders to customers.

And his mother had to mortgage their house for $100,000. And that was literally the first major risk they took for the business.

And with the capital he got, Daymond John hired his friends; Alexander Martin and Keith Perrin to work with him. They printed the business logo of FUBU on their clothing items like t-shirts, sweatshirts, jerseys, and hats.

Plus, he also convinced rappers with hit songs to wear FUBU t-shirts. He knew how instrumental having an influencer to wear his product was to the business.

He loaned 10 t-shirts to rappers for two years and FUBU had their product featured on 30 music videos. And that boosted the image of FUBU as a big brand, whereas it was still in its budding stage.

They started getting more orders from stores asking for their products. And orders increased greatly.

In 1992, Daymond John also got to convince his old neighbor rapper, LL Cool J, to wear a FUBU t-shirt.

LL Cool J also wore FUBU in his million-dollar promotion for The Gap and also included “for us by us” in his rap.

Needless to say, this had an exponential effect on the business.

Thanks to the promotion from rappers, FUBU got orders of about $300,000 alongside an offer to participate in a fashion trade show in Las Vegas.

Given that they were tight on finance and have gone to different banks to source loans, but all was fruitless. So, his mother took a second mortgage on their house in order to fulfill the orders.

But that couldn’t complete the orders. His mother then suggested that they advertise in the New York Times for an investor.

Surprisingly, they got contacted by Samsung Textiles and made a deal which enabled them to complete the order.

Since then, FUBU has recorded millions of dollars in annual sales and presently has a worth of $6 billion dollars.

Shark Tank

In 2009, John was invited to join Shark Tank (an ABC’s business show) in which entrepreneurs are welcomed to pitch their idea and get investors (sharks) to invest in their business.

As expected, this brought fame to Daymond John and also gave him more opportunity to invest in other businesses.

So far, Daymond John has invested over $8.5 million dollars in different startups and companies. His most profitable investments so far are Bubba’s-Q Boneless Ribs and Bombas socks.

The first grew from a revenue of $154,000 to $16 million dollars in three years while the latter grew from $450,000 to $12 million dollars in nine months.

Obviously Shark Tank boosted his fame and also gave his wealth a boost by laying hands on some of the best investment opportunities.

The Shark Group

In 2005, Daymond John founded The Shark Group which was a branding and advertising company he founded to help companies with their marketing and advertising campaign.

The Shark Group services include speaking, branding, social media, retail sales, integrated marketing, and many others.

Daymond makes a good percentage of his wealth from The Shark Group.

He has worked with billion-dollar companies like Shopify, Chase, Forbes, Inc, Bombas, and many others.

Consulting and Speaking

Consultation and Speaking gig is just another part of the hustle for Daymond John.

Having built a successful fashion brand, Daymond through his marketing agency consults for companies.

He also attends events as a motivational speaker and a business coach to help entrepreneurs achieve their goals.

He’s one of the most sought-after speakers in fashion and business.

Next Level Success

This is one of the programs that Daymond John created in order to help entrepreneurs achieve their goals.

It was established in 2015 when John co-established Daymond John’s Success Formula which later turned to Next Level Success in 2018.

Through the program, Daymond gives out $1500 to two students per year.

And that has been one of the ways he gives back to society.

Daymond John Highlights

Daymond John was born on the 23rd of February, 1969.
He was raised by a single mother
FUBU was officially founded in 1992
He started The Shark Group in 2005
He joined Shark. Tank in 2009
Daymond John has a net worth of $300 million

Daymond John Books

Referring to Daymond John as an author wasn’t a mistake.

Although he is dyslexic, he has written several bestselling books.

PowerShift

PowerShift is a book that teaches practical tips to take over your life and change your life for the best.

It teaches actionable advice on creating a better life for yourself.

The FUBU founder and Shark Tank cast teach three principles:

Influence – make an impression
Negotiation – make a deal
Relationship – make a connection last

Daymond John uses his life story to teach these life principles using how he successfully built a clothing brand, his transition from a clothing brand to a television personality, and his experience in making deals.

Also, the book features advice from successful entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban, Kris Jenner, and Pitbull.

Mark Cuban discusses the tips on discovering your why?.

Kris Jenner shared tips on determining your values.

Lastly, Pitbull talks about tapping into your inner power.

Rise and Grind

Rise and Grind is one of the best business books.

The principles taught in this book talk about how hard work still remains an essential attribute of success.

Daymond John shares all the struggles involved in building a successful business

He emphasizes the need to rise up and work hard.

He talks about why being successful means out-thinking your competitors, outworking them, outperforming them, in order to produce success.

Absolutely, that’s exactly what has made him successful in his fashion business.

While he was growing FUBU, the stress and hard work John and his mom put into the business is noticeable.

They went the extra mile by getting a mortgage on their house.

And not just one, but two mortgages on their house.

So, he has earned the right to talk about not cutting corners but going the hard way.

In the book, John teaches why hard work still remains a strategy for success.

The Power of Broke

The Power of Broke is Daymond John’s best-selling book among the rest of his books.

Needless to say, this book is a powerful book that talks about some unknown power that you can utilize for your growth.

The power of being broke shouldn’t be compared to anything else when it comes to pushing yourself to become successful.

Starting a successful business, or better put, becoming a huge success in life can be done when you don’t have any other option than success.

When your back is up against the wall, when your bank account is red, when you have nothing to lose, but only ideas are your wealth.

Becoming a success is the only option that you have got.

It’s called grass to grace not by coincidence, finding motivation and courage is easier from the grass.

When you have hit the bottom, the courage to give it a shot is all you have got.

Anger against your present condition would push to become a better person and successful entrepreneur.

And that is why we have more and more people moving from grass to grace than people moving from grace to grace.

In this book, Daymond John shares the tactics and the power behind growing a business when you don’t have the luxury to finance your business.

As a matter of fact, he’s a typical example, building a business from $40 to a $6 billion valuation.

However, he didn’t just share his own business story, John shared some interesting stories of successful entrepreneurs that utilized the power of being broke to become a better person.

It’s a must for entrepreneurs looking for motivation and courage to run a successful business.

Display of Power

Display of Power is the book that chronicled how four guys from the street corners rose to office corners and more importantly how they became trendsetters.

Obviously, we are referring to John and his friends.

John accustomed their success to the display of power to success.

As said earlier on, the neighborhood Daymond John grew up, is filled with drug dealers that could have affected him negatively.

But the display of power helped him forge ahead. While some of his friends were into drug dealings and some were even in prison, that was when he was starting his business.

Little did he know that it would become a household name in the fashion industry.

But the fact that he did it is excellent.

Daymond John’s Book Recommendations

While Daymond John is an author of just a few books (four), there are books he strongly recommended for all entrepreneurs to read.

Here are some of the books Daymond recommends that you read.

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

If you haven’t read the bestselling book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, then add it to your must-read books for this year.

In this Robert Kiyosaki gives some valuable advice that he learned from his two dads, his own fiscally poor dad, and his friend’s rich Dad.

He learned a lot from his friend’s rich Dad. And in this book, you’ll learn something new about asset and liability.

Asset according to Robert’s rich Dad is what brings money into your pocket.

While liability is what takes money out of your pocket.

One of the greatest financial book that every entrepreneur needs to read.

Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy is a business book that teaches business strategies and how to build a business which they refer to as Blue Ocean.

Written by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, the book draws out advice from an academic study of over 150 business moves in 30 industries.

It’s a book John strongly recommends that you read as an entrepreneur.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Needless to say, this book is naturally a popular business book that teaches secrets to success.

The book has been recommended by different entrepreneurs. And in the world of authors, Napoleon Hill is a huge success.

Interestingly, Daymond John also recommends this book as a must-read book for entrepreneurs.

Although this book was first published in 1937, the advice and secrets hidden there are still relevant to today’s digital world.

Life is a Series of Presentations

Written by Tony Jeary, this book is a personal development book that talks about boosting self-confidence.

This book covers all you need to know in order to boost your self-esteem and confidence.

The other books that Daymond John recommends are Who Moved my Cheese by Spencer Johnson and The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard.

Daymond John Awards and Recognition

As expected, Daymond John has been recognized for different programs.

Here are some of the awards and recognitions John has to his name:

Daymond John won the NAACP Entrepreneurs of the Year Award twice.
Advertising Age Marketing 1000 Awards for Outstanding Ad Campaign
Crain’s New York Forty under Forty Award
Ernst & Young’s New York Entrepreneur of the Year Award
50 Details Most Influential Men
Congressional Achievement Award for Entrepreneurship (won twice)
Appointed by President Obama in 2015 to Promote Underserved Entrepreneurs

What Is The Secret Key To Daymond John’s Success?

Going through Daymond John’s success story and how he built a billion-dollar fashion brand, there are four things that stood out.

Sighting Opportunities
Strategic Marketing (Influencer Marketing)
Support from his Mother
Thinking Big

These four things are what I see in his success.

To begin with, Daymond John sighted an opportunity in the fashion industry.

The fashion brands available during that time were not sewing clothes for rappers.

And he decided not to wait for anyone to create those for him.

Instead, he set out to fill in the vacuum in the fashion industry.

He also saw an opportunity in wool ski hats that were sold for $20.

Discovering that he could make them and sell it cheaper, and that was exactly what he did.

He sold them for half the price that they were selling them in the market.

He sold 80 out of 90 in a single day. And that’s superb for a youngster.

His strategic marketing is worthy of comment. Although the term influencer marketing has not yet been invoked.

But Daymond understood that in order to explode his sales he needs to reach out to the few people that most people look up to.

Needless to say, reaching out to rappers made a strong impact and change on his fashion brand.

He went on to be recognized by top industries as a big player when they are not yet.

And that really sold their products for them.

I know you are not expecting this.

There’s no doubt, his mother gave him full support. And if nothing else, the support was strong enough to mortgage her house twice.

She trusted and believed in his goal and also gave him full support.

Although as an entrepreneur, you might not have anyone that believes in your dream. That shouldn’t put you down.

But having a strong belief in yourself matters a lot. And if you do have someone that believes in your idea, don’t take that for granted.

Lastly, Daymond John is a big thinker. Do you think you have the courage to mortgage your home in order to fund your business?

But that was exactly what John did with his mother.

And not just that, Daymond didn’t limit his thinking to just selling clothing items for rappers, he diversified and created more things.

Famous Daymond John Quotes

Daymond is a popular and one of the most sought-after motivational speakers.

He has so many quotes born out of his experience in growing his various businesses.

Here are some of Daymond John’s famous quotes:

“Don’t wait for the ‘perfect time’, you will wait forever. Always take advantage of the time that you’re given.”
Daymond John

“Align yourself with the right people, forge the right relationships and you’ll set yourself up for the long run.”
Daymond John

“Make it. Master it. Matter.”
Daymond John

“I look to work with businesses that know what they are doing but need larger distribution or exposure.”
Daymond John

“Every problem can be solved as long as they use common sense and apply the right research and techniques.”
Daymond John

“An entrepreneur must pitch a potential investor for what the company is worth as well as sell the dream on how much of a profit can be made.”
Daymond John

“If you don’t educate yourself, you’ll never get out of the starting block because you’ll spend all your money-making foolish decisions.”
Daymond John

“Mentors, by far, are the most important aspects of businesses.”
Daymond John

“I always tried to align myself with strategic partners, friends, and information to help me with the things that I did not know, and ultimately, I made it.”
Daymond John

“My parents always taught me that my day job would never make me rich; it’d be my homework.”
Daymond John

“No matter what business you’re in, business is business, and financing and money are critical. I would have made a lot fewer mistakes if I had more schooling in that area.”
Daymond John

“Good grooming is integral and impeccable style is a must. If you don’t look the part, no one will want to give you time or money.”
Daymond John

Random Facts About Daymond John

Here are random facts that may interest you about Daymond John:

Daymond John once worked for Kardashians to help find brands to advertise on their show which the show just started.
He started working at a tender age, 10, and also worked a full-time job while he was in high school.
Daymond John didn’t go to college, he couldn’t afford to go to college.
He and his mother mortgaged their house twice in order to get funds for the business
He has dyslexia
Daymond John was once poor in reading and writing but enjoyed calculations
He survived stage II – thyroid cancer