Daymond John knows a thing or two about buying and selling, winning, and losing, but the successful entrepreneur says that the biggest investment any of us can make “is to invest in people.”

The opening keynote speaker Saturday at NSBA’s Annual Conference in San Diego, John, who built the $6 billion global apparel brand FUBU,  is an investor on ABC TV’s “Shark Tank,” and is a bestselling author, praised his “fellow sharks” in the audience for “investing in our future.”

The specifics of that future are rapidly changing, John said, noting that 50 percent of students today will retire with a job title that doesn’t yet exist. 

He stressed, however, that he was not here to lecture attendees about education. “You can give me an education on so many aspects of life. I took seventh grade twice,” he said.

Still, the business executive known as "The People's Shark," who rose from humble beginnings in Queens, New York, became enamored with the burgeoning world of hip hop music and culture in the 1980s, and envisioned a new way to build its business potential, had lessons to share about the importance of being a mentor and developing financial intelligence.

“The mentors in your life, after your parents, are your teachers,” John said.

As a kid, he didn’t think he saw many heroes and mentors, but he now knows they were there, quietly doing the work of keeping children and families supported every day. He cited his mother, Margot John, as one of those heroes and mentors. She helped get his company launched, taking out a $100,000 loan on her home. She also inspired him by her passion for life-long education, hard work, and helping him learn some keys to financial intelligence.

Among those keys or Lessons for Sharks, according to John:

 Set goals for yourself. Take inventory. Know your assets and liabilities.
 Do your homework. It’s the best thing you can do to get ahead and stay ahead. Otherwise, you hurt your own chances to succeed.
 Love what you do. That will get you up and out of bed every day.
 Being passionate about what you do every day will help you remember that you are your brand. “Don’t let others interpret who you are.”
 Keep swimming. Don't be deterred. Don't give up.