Earvin Magic Johnson - 32 Ways to Be a Champion in Business

CONTENTS

MAGIC MOVE #
The Mission

MAGIC MOVE #
Guiding Vision

MAGIC MOVE #
Entrepreneurial Passion

MAGIC MOVE #
Conquering Fears

MAGIC MOVE #
Focus on Strengths

MAGIC MOVE #
Seizing Opportunities

MAGIC MOVE #
Risks and Rewards

MAGIC MOVE #
Creating a Strong Business Plan

MAGIC MOVE #
Mentors and Role Models

MAGIC MOVE #
Building a Brand

MAGIC MOVE #
Brand Maintenance

MAGIC MOVE #
Bank Financing

MAGIC MOVE #
Private Investors

MAGIC MOVE #
Partnerships

MAGIC MOVE #
Finding the Right Employees

MAGIC MOVE #
Handling Lawyers and Accountants

MAGIC MOVE #
Considering a Franchise

MAGIC MOVE #
Franchise Benefits

MAGIC MOVE #
Franchise Drawbacks

MAGIC MOVE #
Joint Ventures

MAGIC MOVE #
Buying an Existing Business

MAGIC MOVE #
Minority Vendors

MAGIC MOVE #
Web Wisdom

MAGIC MOVE #
Leading Versus Managing

MAGIC MOVE #
Motivating Employees

MAGIC MOVE #
Change Management

MAGIC MOVE #
Making Presentations

MAGIC MOVE #
Training

MAGIC MOVE #
Customer Care

MAGIC MOVE #
Exit Strategies

MAGIC MOVE #
Philanthropy

MAGIC MOVE #
Life/Work Balance

MAGIC MOVE #
Overtime

This book is dedicated to the entrepreneurs who mentored me,
to the people and communities we serve, and to all who seek
to control their own destinies through hard work and
service to others.

PREFACE

While I spent fourteen years in the NBA playing basketball, I always had bigger dreams of building a business empire. My first book, My Life, was a 1992 bestseller about my basketball career and my personal life during my playing days. It began with my childhood and wrapped up as I moved into business full time with a company now known as Magic Johnson Enterprises.

I am grateful for my experiences as an athlete. Yet the rewards of my entrepreneurial endeavors have been even more fulfilling. Ive learned that creating jobs and providing goods and services to urban communities beats even five NBA championships.

It was not an easy transition, however. I stumbled now and then as I began my business career, just as I stumbled when I tried to host my own television talk show. Still, Ive bounced back in all those arenas. I won my first Emmy for my work on Inside the NBA with Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson. And I took home a Grammy Award for my successful audio book too.

In my business career, more than a few skeptics told me that I was wrong to focus on underserved urban communities. Neighborhoods populated by minorities could not sustain the same big brand businesses that had thrived in the suburbs, the doubters said.

They were wrong. Where they saw only problems, I created abundant opportunities. Many of those same doubters didnt think that major investors in private equity funds would support development in urban neighborhoods. Yet our two urban funds have generated more than $2 billion in investments.

Today, Magic Johnson Enterprises is a multimillion dollar company. I promise you that tomorrow we will be even bigger.

Finally, there were many people who felt that my life was over when I discovered that I had HIV. Again they were wrong on all counts. I am grateful to be as healthy, strong, and every bit as energetic as in my NBA days.

As you read 32 Ways to Be a Champion in Business, I hope you will learn from my experiences and benefit from the lessons Ive shared. My goal is to help you fulfill your business dreams while bettering your life and the lives of those around you.

Make no mistake, you will encounter skeptics and doubters too. Tell them that Earvin Johnson says not to bet against anyone with a dream and the determination to go after it.

PART I

BUSINESS STRATEGIES

MAGIC MOVE #

The Mission

Each of us can make a difference, even if it is one street corner at a time.

M y father and other entrepreneurs in my hometown, Lansing, Michigan, were my first business role models and mentors. Later, I got to know major entertainment executives such as Joe Smith of Elektra/Asylum Records and Peter Guber of Sony Pictures because they had courtside Lakers tickets. When we socialized after games, theyd ask me about basketballand Id pick their brains about business.

Still, it was J. Bruce Llewellyn, one of the most successful black men in America, who sent me off with a mission on my journey from basketball player to businessman. The son of Jamaican immigrants, he built an empire that includes one of the nations largest Coca-Cola distributorships, a cable and broadcasting company, and Essence magazine.

When we met, I got right to the point.

I want to be a businessman after basketball, I told him. I want to make a lot of money like you.

Mr. Llewellyn let me babble on like that for several minutes before he cut me off with a wave of his hand.

No, Magic, he said; if money is all you want, there will never be enough of it and you will never be happy. Youve got to be about more than that.

He had my attention. What did he mean?

You have the opportunity to be a leader who can do great things and change peoples lives for the better, he said. You can be a businessman who is also a catalyst for change.

This great entrepreneur offered me more than Id bargained for. Since high school, Id sought out advice from every successful businessperson Id met. This was the first person who had a bigger vision for me than I had for myself.

A catalyst for change?

That was a role Id never imagined. I thought you had to be Nelson Mandela or the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., to change the world. I learned instead that each of us can make a difference, even if it is one street corner at a time.

I still saw myself as an athletea player who performed well on the basketball court and hopefully excited a few fans. I figured once my NBA days were over Id fade from the public view and focus on building wealth and a family.

God has a way of telling you what you are supposed to be doing. He gets the message out one way or another until you finally pay attention.

That meeting with J. Bruce Llewellyn was a defining moment. He changed my perspective by challenging me to expand my goals as a person and as an entrepreneur.