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The Way I Work: John Paul DeJoria,John Paul Mitchell Systems BY LIZ WELCH

John Paul DeJoria manages multiple companies--all without using e-mail.

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When John Paul DeJoria and Paul Mitchell launched John Paul MitchellSystems in 1980, they went door to door pitching their shampoos andconditioners to Los Angeles salons. Mitchell died in 1989, leaving DeJoriahead of the company, which now sells more than 100 products in salons in87 countries.

But DeJoria, 69, does way more than hair care. In 1989, he and MartinCrowley co-founded Patrón Spirits, which sells more than two millioncases of tequila a year. DeJoria also owns many other companies, includingpet care line John Paul Pet and jeweler DeJoria Diamonds. ThoughDeJoria's empire has grown, he still values door-to-door visits. He spends alot of his time meeting with the salon owners and distributors. But thesedays, he uses a private jet to get there. As told by Liz Welch. Photographsby Jeff Wilson.

I work at home in Austin, but I spend a lot of my time traveling--about two weeks out of every month. I visit

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Paul Mitchell's headquarters in Los Angeles once a month, and I go to Patrón's headquarters in Zurich four tofive times a year. I also travel a lot to meet with distributors and salon owners, to do press interviews, and toattend openings of Paul Mitchell schools.

I could not do what I do without a private jet. I travel to at least 20 states a year, sometimes leaving in themorning and returning at night. I save so much time not having to deal with checking in and customs. Plus, Ihaven't had a cold in 20 years.

I don't use e-mail or a computer. I would be so inundated that I wouldn't be able to get any work done.Instead, I do everything in person or on the phone. I have a phone book that's 15 years old and filled withwhiteout and rewrites. I carry that everywhere.

I chose to live in Austin because Eloise, my wife, is from Texas, and it was a great place to raise my youngestson, John Anthony, who is now 16. Plus, I can get to South America or the East Coast two hours faster fromAustin than from Los Angeles.

I usually get up between 7 and 8 a.m. Whether I'm home in Austin or I'm in another part of the world, I like tospend the first five minutes of the day lying in bed and--I just am. I just try to be here and now. I find it helpsme be more peaceful.

After a light breakfast, I head to my home office, which is separate from the house. There I have a desk, anexercise ball that I use as a chair, a phone, and a fax machine. The headquarters for Paul Mitchell and Patróneach have a fax machine for one purpose: communicating with me.

I don't use e-mail or a computer. I would be so inundated that I wouldn't be able to get any work done.Instead, I do everything in person or on the phone. I have a phone book that's 15 years old and filled with

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whiteout and rewrites. I carry that everywhere.

I have three assistants. Kelly Sellers is my executive assistant, and she works out of our home. She's amazing.She went to high school with my wife and has been with us for 12 years. I also have an assistant at PaulMitchell and one at Patrón.

Every morning, Kelly gives me a list of all the calls I need to make that day. There are about 10 companiesthat require my time. Paul Mitchell takes the most time. I talk to someone there at least once a day. And talkto someone at Patrón several times a week. I also own several water companies and a brewery in Germanythat I touch base with regularly. My presidents are much smarter than I am. That's a prerequisite.

I could go insane if I obsessed over every little detail of all of my companies. My management philosophy isto pay attention to the vital few and ignore the trivial many. For instance, with Paul Mitchell, I want to knowhow the schools are doing, how the manufacturing is going, how sales are doing, what new products we'relaunching, what our main advertising campaign is, and if my people are happy. The other little details arejust trivia.

I don't micromanage, but I do care deeply about every product we make. Every one goes through me, and I trymost of our products before they go to market, including our John Paul Pet flea and tick shampoo. If I don'tlike it, it's not coming out.

I have a personal chef who makes lunch for me when I'm in Austin. It's a luxury, but eating well keeps mehealthy. Everyone who works at Paul Mitchell and Patrón gets free lunches. I believe that you have to treatyour people well. Eating good food is part of that.

When I travel, Kelly coordinates all of my plans and meetings with my other assistants. I like to make the

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most of every trip, so if I go somewhere for a board meeting, I want to also schedule meetings with my PaulMitchell distributors and my Patrón sales team.

I meet regularly with my distributors, the independent companies that buy our Paul Mitchell products andsell them to the salons. I like to check in and ask, "What more can I do for you?" I frequently meet with salonowners, too. The hair industry is the only reason we made it. They believed in us, and I want them to knowwe believe in them. If I happen to be near a salon that carries Paul Mitchell products, whether I'm in NewYork or Seoul, I stop the car and go inside, thank them for using Paul Mitchell, get back in the car, and go.

I go to New York at least once a month, to meet with distributors and talk to the press. A big part of my job isto be the face of my companies. I'll usually arrive in the late afternoon and do a television interview thatnight. And then the next day, I'm booked solid. Sometimes, I'll start at 5:30 a.m. on CNBC's morning showand then end at night on Erin Burnett's show on CNN.

The interviewers usually want me to talk about the economy--beauty salons are a great indicator of howwe're doing. People still go to a salon when times are tough, but instead of every six weeks, they go every twoor three months. When the economy's coming back, more people go on a regular basis, which is what we areseeing lately.

Paul Mitchell has more than 100 schools for hairdressers, and every time we open a new one, I go to theopening. My feeling is, if you're going to run one of our schools, which represent us, I should be there helpingyou open it up. Shaking hands, taking pictures with you. I want people to feel they're part of the John PaulMitchell Systems world family.

My motto is, Success unshared is failure. At least once a year, I meet with a group called the Giving Pledge. It's

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a group of billionaires--including me, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Ted Turner--who have pledged to giveaway most of their money to charity. We meet for three days to talk about what we're doing to help make theplanet a better place to live.

About once a week, I meet with Constance Dykhuizen, the executive director of my Peace, Love & HappinessFoundation. I created it in 2010 to invest in charities involved in sustainability, social responsibility, andanimal-friendliness. In April, we had our annual motorcycle ride to raise money for a local children's shelterand families of police officers and firefighters killed on duty.

When I'm in Austin, I ride my motorcycles whenever I get a chance. I have seven customized, really coolbikes. There's nothing like jumping on one and going out in the hill country. I'll usually go with a friend. Ifthe weather's good, maybe once a week.

About once or twice a year, I try to take a couple days and go on a retreat alone--usually up in the mountains.I think about what I did the past year, who is in my life, what I'm doing, what I want to do. There are nopeople, no phones, no obligations, no nothing. If I want to cook, I'll cook. If I want to be vegetarian, I'll bevegetarian.

I'll sip a little bit of nice red wine, just think, just feel, and just be. That's when I get my best ideas. And I writea lot. One of my ideas was to just be for a few minutes every morning. Another idea I had: Don't think aboutthings so much. Let it happen. Sometimes, people spend too much time thinking. If you just let thingshappen, the universe works.

Companies owned: Paul Mitchell, Patrón Spirits, John Paul Pet, DeJoria Diamonds, and several others.

Estimated net worth: $4 billion, according to Forbes

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IMAGE: PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF WILSON FROM THE JUNE 2013 ISSUE OF INC. MAGAZINE

What's in his office: A phone, a fax machine, and an exercise ball he uses as a chair

What's not: A computer

Assistants: Three

Management philosophy: "Pay attention to the vital few and ignore the trivial many."

Best company perk: Free lunch for every employee

You can join John Paul DeJoria and other like-minded rider-entrepreneurs for two days of hard hitting highly-interactivebusiness sessions and some of the best motorcycling in the world at the Inc. Riders’ Summit, Nov. 12-15, 2013. Click here for moreinformation.

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Add your comment5COMMENTS

NOVEMBER 17, 2013 AT 5:53AM

My name is John. My fathers name was Paul. My Mothers maiden name was Mitchell. I havetraversed the ends of the earth on a paupers dream and the vision of lay beyond the Segway of theadvocate. I write this in hopes of being able to contact John Paul Dejoria directly. I don't want theephemeral. I have searched. This is the place where I can make contact. The rational mind askswhy... but I am taking a leap, here and now. Connect me to John Paul Dejoria. His investment inwater is paramount to the future. I am one of the select few. Please do not over look me. jemsound@Hotmail.com

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jemsound

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NOVEMBER 17, 2013 AT 5:53AM

My name is John. My fathers name was Paul. My Mothers maiden name was Mitchell. I havetraversed the ends of the earth on a paupers dream and the vision of lay beyond the Segway of theadvocate. I write this in hopes of being able to contact John Paul Dejoria directly. I don't want theephemeral. I have searched. This is the place where I can make contact. The rational mind askswhy... but I am taking a leap, here and now. Connect me to John Paul Dejoria. His investment inwater is paramount to the future. I am one of the select few. Please do not over look me. jemsound@Hotmail.com

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jemsound

AUGUST 22, 2013 AT 12:53PM

Good article. I enjoyed it! Interesting to SEE how others work and what his philosophy is.0 LIKE | REPLY

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AUGUST 20, 2013 AT 10:34PM

1. First of all...selling to businesses like salons is "not door-to-door" sales. That's called B2B orbusiness to business. It is NOT NECESSARY to over "dramatize" the life of Paul D to get your pointacross. When you write like this, it distracts readers from the real story.

2. The rest of the story is good. His management style is the point of your article, so i would focuson that that and leave the exaggeration for another piece.

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toddc_preston

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MAY 23, 2013 AT 1:03PM

This is a very interesting look inside John Paul DeJoria's life. Quite a different life than the rest of uslive, but captivating all the same. Please continue to provide articles like these -- they are a nicechange from the standard commentaries.

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Jessica Satterfield

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