John’s Blog
Squawk Box: The Coronavirus Balancing Act
December 7, 2020On CNBC’s Squawk Box with Kevin O’Leary, the question was how to balance public health and financial health heading into the winter. This is a rich man’s virus. You and I can separate in our homes behind our gates and be okay. My friends working at Walmart, Sam’s Club, Best B
Commonwealth Club: American Opportunity Is Still Alive
November 19, 2020The Commonwealth Club of California hosted me for a virtual program on Up From Nothing. My argument was simple. American opportunity is not dead. With the right mindset and the right practices, anyone can still achieve the American Dream, whatever their starting point. I know because of where I star
Up From Nothing: A Conversation With Weaving Influence
October 27, 2020Weaving Influence hosted an hour-long conversation on Up From Nothing and the question at its center: how do we change our mindset from survivor to thriver to winner? America is still the land of opportunity. The stories in the book, from my family and from people who built something from nothing, a
Roland Martin: Standing Up Black Business With Shopify
A week after we announced 1 Million Black Businesses, Roland Martin brought me on to explain what the Shopify partnership actually gives an entrepreneur and how to get started. At HOPE Global Forums that month, I also sat down with Harley Finkelstein for a longer conversation about why Shopify made
CNBC: Operation HOPE and Shopify Team Up for Black Entrepreneurs
October 20, 2020Shopify President Harley Finkelstein and I went on CNBC together to announce our partnership to help create one million Black-owned businesses, with Shopify committing up to $130 million. Protest got the country’s attention in 2020. Ownership is how we turn that attention into something perman
Bloomberg: Keep the Stimulus Talks Going
October 7, 2020Bloomberg Television asked me about the breakdown in stimulus talks in Washington, the week after Up From Nothing came out. Ending those talks with millions of families still hurting was cruel. I also gave the Federal Reserve credit for injecting stability and confidence into the economy when it nee
Squawk Box: How Much Relief the Economy Needs
July 31, 2020With coronavirus relief negotiations stalled in Washington, CNBC’s Squawk Box asked me what the country needed to spend to keep the economy standing. My view: relief is not charity. It is a bridge that keeps working families and small businesses intact until the economy can carry them again. S
expediTIously With T.I.: Building Wealth
July 30, 2020T.I. invited me onto his podcast, expediTIously, for an hour and a half on building wealth. We covered Operation HOPE, real estate, credit and ownership. Tip has a real following among young people who need to hear that wealth is not a mystery. It is a set of rules anyone can learn. Source: expediTI
Squawk Box: Reopening and Minority-Owned Businesses
June 24, 2020As small businesses began reopening into a new normal, CNBC’s Squawk Box asked me how minority-owned businesses were faring in the real economy. Many had no banking relationship to lean on when the relief money came. They were the last in line for help and the first to close. That is a problem
World Affairs Council of Atlanta: His Name Was George Floyd
June 5, 2020Days after George Floyd was killed, the World Affairs Council of Atlanta asked me to speak about racial inequality in America. COVID-19 had already shown us who lacked health care, savings and a safety net. His death put the rest of it in front of the whole world. I founded Operation HOPE after Los