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Lesson #2: Reflect Your Market
Before Johnson came up with the ideas for Ebony and Jet, America had already seen the likes of other black-oriented magazines, but all of them had gone out of business almost as quickly as they had got into it. None had been able to generate enough advertising to make them profitable ventures. Johnson’s ability to spot the demand in the market and accurately meet it was one of his most lucrative characteristics.

Lesson #4: Master the Art of the Sale
Johnson became a self-made media mogul, publisher, and entrepreneur, but the title he identified most with was that of salesman. In his best-selling autobiography, Succeeding Against the Odds, Johnson wrote a chapter entitled, “How to Sell Anybody Anything in Five Minutes or Less.” Here, he outlined his craft of salesmanship, which proved to be one of the key factors the propelled him to such great success.

A Man of Firsts: How Johnson Achieved Success
“Retirement is not in this company’s vocabulary,” Johnson once said. “If you are well and able to work, you can stay at the company and that’s what I plan to do.” And, that is exactly what he did. Right up until the time of his death, Johnson continued to play an active role in the company. Although he named his daughter, Linda Johnson Rice, CEO of the company, he remained the inspiration behind its every move. He rose from the despair of welfare to become named the Greatest Minority Entrepreneur in U.S. History by Baylor University in 2003. A true rags to riches story, how did Johnson achieve the American Dream?
Penney-Wise: The J.C. Penney Chain Explodes
After being forced to close down his first solo venture, Penney went to Longmont, Colorado to work for Thomas Callahan and Guy Johnson, two men who would forever change his life. Callahan and Johnson owned a chain of dry goods stores in Colorado and Wyoming called the Golden Rule stores. Impressed with his work ethic, when Callahan and Johnson were drawing up plans to open a new store in Kemmerer, Wyoming, Penney was their first choice to head it up. He was made a third partner in the store and sent to the town to oversee the store’s operations.

Taking a Bet on BET: Johnson Jumps onto the Small Screen
Johnson was in a business meeting at the NCTA when he met a businessman who wanted to start a television station for the elderly. “I said, hmmm, let me see that,” recalls Johnson. “So I looked at it, and I said, wherever he had elderly I crossed out and put black people. Black people are a certain demographic, black people are poorly depicted on television, so on, and so forth.”

Music to his Ears: How Johnson Brought BET to the Big Leagues
Not every venture Johnson started found success. A BET clothing brand and chain of themed restaurants crashed sooner than they ever took off. But before he had time to lament the failures, Johnson was already on his way to launching something new. How did Johnson manage to go from a childhood of living cheque to cheque to becoming the first self-made black billionaire in the world?

A Champion is Born: The Early Years of Earvin “Magic” Johnson
At 49 years old, Magic Johnson’s accomplishments stretch as far and wide as the many basketball courts he has conquered in his career. From transforming the Los Angeles Lakers into a championship team, to living with HIV, to launching a multi-million dollar business empire, Johnson has overcome numerous stereotypes in creating his own multi-faceted success.

Lesson #1: Work Hard and Plan for Your Dreams
When Johnson was a young boy, he would frequently visit his father at the General Motors plant where he worked. “I would sit in the chair behind the desk and dream I was the CEO,” he says. But it was Johnson’s father who told him that he had to do more than just dream about what he wanted; he had to work hard for it.

Lesson #3: Make Sure You Are Not Missing the Market
Johnson opened up his first movie theatre in the Los Angeles inner-city area of Baldwin Hills. It was an area notorious for being home to the Bloods and Crips gangs, and everybody around him kept telling Johnson he was crazy.

Lesson #5: Do What Cannot Be Done
In 1991, after Johnson revealed to the world that he was HIV-positive, it seemed as if his magic was gone. People thought it was the end for the once-unstoppable athlete. “People thought I was going to go away,” recalls Johnson. “But I never planned on going anywhere.”

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