Where is Appalachia
Where is Appalachia?
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I had the distinct pleasure a year or so ago of getting to meet the Patron and Paul Mitchell billionaire, John Paul DiJoria in Marina del Rey California just before road rally.
He was supposed to come and speak to a group of nurse that I was in for about 30 or 40 min. but he ended up staying almost 3 hours. What a hell of a guy.
The coolest thing about John Paul is a sense of charitable work, and what makes it even cooler is that he has most of his charitable work here at home in the US. Right now John Paul is involved in a giant project in Laurel Kentucky.
The 67-year-old entrepreneur and philanthropist started to Grow Appalachia in 2009 with just $150,000. And last year alone the project helped 400 people raise hundred and 120,000 pounds of fresh produce.
This is among the poorest said communities in all of America. John Paul believes by helping people to grow their own food, though not only fill bellies, but restore confidence to a pretty beaten-down group people.
Melanie Gross, one of the recipients of the food, said” I was home every day filthy and money but it was worth it, you get a sense of pride by saying I did this.” Most of the participants agreed they would much rather grow their own food and stand in line at a food bank to receive handouts.
We met John Paul he tells the story I started his entire Paul Mitchell Empire was $700 out of the trunk of a car on Sunset strip he was actually living in the car at the time. Today Paul Mitchell does $900 million in annual revenues.
One of the big business lessons I learned from John Paul was surrounding the story of Patron. He never really invested a lot of money in that project even though today it’s made more money than Paul Mitchell
He said he bought the first thousand cases of Patron with the thought that if it didn’t sell he would this give away as gifts it was really good tequila.
” Most people want throw a bunch of money something right away before they know whether it’s going to work or not, I just never thought this way and it saved me a lot of money over the years” said JP.
Grow Appalachia
If you want to learn more about John Paul’s foundation Grow Appalachia click the link here to go to his website.
You can donate as little as five dollars to Berea College help with the project, I did and I hope you’ll join me. Perry Belcher
