Hey, welcome to the Cardone Zone, my newest podcast where every week I'll bring to you a new celebrity, artist, athlete, some of the top people in their field CEOs from around the world running the world to give you their insights, their knowledge and their breakthroughs.

Look, these people came from nothing just like I did, so get ready with Uncle G. You're in for the ride of your life where we're going to 10X everything you think, the way you work, the way you act, and the way you roll every single day.

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There's an icon right here, folks, if you don't know who this man is, and a fashion icon, probably there can't be many businesses or industries more competitive than yours.

Would that be a fair lot of competition? How long? How many years? 35 years. 35 years you've been playing the game.

But I started, before I started Tommy Hill figure the brand, I had my own shops. I opened my own jean shops with my incredible savings of $150.

And now this year we just ended with $10 billion.

Was that New York? You were in New York, yes. How did you start a business with $150?

I had $150 from working in a gas station nights in high school. And I bought 20 pairs of bell-bottom jeans from the streets of New York City.

I put them in my books wagon bug. I drove four hours to my hometown of El Miron, New York, and I sold them out of the trunk of my car to my friends at a profit.

So what do you do? You parlay that into what? Then I opened a small shop in a basement of a shoe store.

You were held at this time. I was 18. 18 years old.

So why jeans? Why 20 bell-bottoms?

Because at that time it was early 70s, Woodstock, Rolling Stones, Jimmy Hendrix, all the rock groups started coming to America and playing concerts.

And I loved the way the rock stars looked. So I wanted to look like them.

And I grew my hair long. I started wearing bell-bottoms and cool clothes because I couldn't play guitar to save my life.

And I decided to sell cool clothes. And while I was doing it, my parents wanted me to go to college.

I said, there's no way I'm going to college. I'm going into business for myself. They laughed. They said, there's no way my parents were angry at me.

My family and friends said, there's no way you make it. So after I opened my first shop, I decided to open a few shops on college campuses.

It means candles, incense, cool stuff at the time. But during that time, I thought maybe I could build my own brand.

And I looked at brands like Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and all these brands. I said, that's what I'm going to do.

And I did it.

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