money is going fast, sales are not. i ran out of my money in a couple years. the situation was bad. he lost his home and spent nearly two years sleeping on friends couches. does it feel shameful at all? there was a lot of shame around the wastefulness early in life. don t live backwards, right? i still had great things every day that i could focus on. that s what kept me going. losing his foundation didn t deter him from trying to save hammitt and become the effective leader that he wanted to be. even in the worst of times, you have to make sure everybody knows you re still going forward. was it easy to talk to people about it? not in the beginning. all of a sudden a light bulb went on. i don t give a [ bleep ]. i started to share with people. i m homeless. it s going to be okay. it was cathartic. he learned to embrace the tough times instead of running from them. he was eventually able to get the company back on track by
life started thriving again, tony stopped doing the work on himself as a person. the actual thing that turned his life around before. when the money started flowing, i stopped putting the work in. my marriage ended and my son and i started to struggle. how did it feel. you had had a great life for a moment. then it all falls apart. you know, i have a shirt that says seeker now. working oun yourself has to be a continuous process. like the last time, tony did more exploration. he decided to dive into one of his uncapped passions. he turned his love for creativity into hammitt. i love art, architecture design. i ve always enjoyed that. i thought i could put that into building a handbag brand. he partnered with an existing designer and eventually took over the whole company. what i came into this business, i had enough money, i thought, to build it. but he didn t.
found the strength and wisdom to navigate through them. tony is the chief executive of ham mitt. a thriving handbag company in her most a beach, california. just eight years ago, his story was anything but a success. he was homeless in a financial crisis and trying to save the business that meant everything to him. i ran out of all of my money. i lost my house. i couldn t make the payments. ham mitt was his third business venture. it was filled with major mistakes and deep regrets. he was determined that this time he was going to do things right. this ohio native made his first fortune in the 1990s when they founded a roofing company. things moved fast and the money came in quickly, i thaut i could do no wrong. what motivated you in those days? the money. he overindulged in all things fast and furious. i bought ferraris, everything
accountable. tony changes have not happened just at work. his approach to big-time spending in his personal life, well, it looks nothing like it used to. when someone walks up to me with a hammitt, i love it, it s my favorite bag, it s the new ferrari, the new shiny boat. what do you do now with the profits? it s all going right back in. i love this business. it s an amazing opportunity to build something that will last way beyond my lifetime. no matter what kind of business you re in, i can promise you one thing. you ll deal with tough times. a lot of times it might be because of something completely out of your control. the chief executive officer of the zillow group, he oversees the company portfolio real estate and home-related brands. he was one of the co-founders of hot wire.com. he s been through his share of tough times on the other side. at least for now. knock on wood. first of all, great to see