Life is a series of pitches, Shark Tank’s Daymond John told attendees at the Broadridge Fi360 Solutions Annual Conference in Austin, Texas. And he doesn’t know why people still screw up the pitches.
“John spoke of success and failure, challenges and triumph, and how he set his goals and reached them through sheer determination.”
“You think you’re only pitching when you’re talking to your client or the board, bank, or fund?” the FUBU president and chief executive officer rhetorically asked. “No, no, no—you’re pitching when you’re trying to get into the bathroom in the morning before your spouse or trying to get over a lane on the highway, or at Starbucks trying to get your coffee, then you’re pitching when you get to the office and get on the phone to your clients.”
He added that people don’t realize the pitch is literally what’s in it for those on the other side of the table. And he’s amazed that after 13 years of Shark Tank, everyone coming on the show knows the sharks, but they still mess up the pitch.
Too often, the goals we set are actually barriers, which he claimed is something we fail to realize. The engaging and charismatic John told advisors in the audience how, with no formal business training, he went from driving cabs and waiting tables to creating a global fashion company with sales exceeding $4 billion. John spoke of success and failure, challenges and triumph, and how he set his goals and reached them through sheer determination.
The presentation was filled with personal anecdotes. John used one particularly scary incident as a call to action, imploring attendees to get routine medical exams for themselves and their loved ones.
In 2017, he had a small nodule removed from his thyroid. Before going under anesthesia for the procedure, the anesthesiologist said he’d seen John on television and knew he was a hard negotiator, telling him everyone he’s put under either won or lost the battle before they got to the operating table.
“When I put you under, I want you to think about what is most important in life and what success meant to you,” he said. “I know you’ll be okay because you’re a fighter.”
Success to him was his newborn daughter. Funerals are never about what someone has but what someone did, and his calling was to be a father.
“If I can get just one of you to urge that hard-headed stubborn father, mother, sister, mother, whoever it is to get that test as early as possible to show that 65% of the time, if you get something, you can beat it,” John Concluded. “I’m now around, and I’m cancer-free, and I know why I’m supposed to be here—to walk my three little girls down the aisle and talk to my fellow sharks. We think about all the people we’ve lost. Don’t let them go in vain. We have nothing without our health.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
