Paul Mitchell Systems and Products — A story of complimentary success.

Have you ever heard people talk about starting a business on a shoe string budget and wondered if that was really possible, or if it was all just a bunch of hot air? Well, let's find out.

Our last story is about a Scottish born, high society hair stylist from London, named John Paul Mitchell. The story proceeds with his unlikely partnership with a Los Angelino named John Paul DeJoria who was, for much of his life, a door-to-door salesman.

The only unique thing both shared was their first and middle names and a desire to do something special as entrepreneurs. Mitchell had built quite a career and reputation among London's elite for the most flamboyant hair styles around. DeJoria was a former seaman, who made his living as a salesman after an honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy.

Somehow, as fate would have it, the two crossed paths in Hawaii in 1980. DeJoria and Mitchell had both obtained success earlier in their careers before their meeting, but both were, for different personal reasons, at low points in their lives. After considerable discussion, the two decided to start a new business together. Mitchell had the expertise on hair care products and how to use them, and DeJoria had a life-time of sales expertise selling products.

And so the Paul Mitchell dynasty was born with a grand total of $700 between the two of them. A prime example of the shoe string budget we first inquired about. More amazing is that they never went into debt with their business as they built up their company from start up until this very day.

After producing a limited amount of the hair care products as their initial inventory, they could only afford to pay for black ink printed on white bottles, which ultimately became a part of their special trade mark. Their marketing campaign started by arranging opportunities for Mitchell to put on hair styling displays in various salons around the Hawaiian Islands. After Mitchell did his magic, then DeJoria would stay put at the salon until every bottle of product was sold! Eventually, they were able to expand over to the US mainland. They formed an army of more than 700 hair stylists around the nation who would put on hair shows, displays, and promote the Paul Mitchell hair care products as they styled their customer's hair.

The fantastic success and explosive growth of the Paul Mitchell systems and products had traditional leaders and industry observers scratching their heads in amazement. Dejoria attributed much of this sales success to the system he set up in the beginning with the three-stage, distributor-to-salon-to-consumer marketing system. They became a corporate phenomenon, utilizing a staff of less than 30 employees, almost no overhead, all while bringing in $5 Million a month. 1986 saw the annual sales mark pegging a staggering $100 million!

Even though the company's name was his own, Mitchell settled into semi-retirement on the island of Oahu, and began to back away from the day-to-day affairs of the company. Unfortunately, he passed away of pancreatic cancer in 1989, ending his life much to prematurely. Despite the sad loss, Paul Mitchell Systems kept moving ahead with John Paul DeJoria maintaining strong control.

In the early 1990s, DeJoria made a grateful statement when he declared, "I am the American dream, a living testament to the quintessential 'rags-to-riches' story. And I will never keep my wealth to myself, for I believe that success unshared is total failure."

You see, before meeting and starting his partnership with Mitchell, DeJoria had a period of time when he was living out of his car. And yet, here he was a decade later, standing on top of a fantastically successful company, collecting more than $150 million in sales a year.

So, the next time you hear a rags-to-riches story, and are unsure if it is true or not, remember the John Paul Mitchell story, and in particular John Paul DeJoria who used to live in the back of his car. They started their company on a shoe string budget, and built it up into a multi-billion dollar dynasty. Dreams can come true!

Solid Gold Performance...

It finds a successful system and repeats it perfectly, over and over and over and over again. You can too.

How Did Paul Mitchell Become a Gold Mine? By Superior:

Marketing...     Financial...     Business Cycle Management...

Click on Function... Insert a Do It in your Strategic Plan... then Just DO IT!

Your Thoughts and Observations...

"Always bear in mind that your resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing" ~ Abraham Lincoln