Profit (prof-it) noun: advantage or benefit; excess of returns over expenditures; to grow rich
Dr. Joe Profit’s message is all about success. His skills, talent and experience are what he has to offer the marketplace. He shares his inspiring story of overcoming adversity, achieving success, and realizing his full potential. In his presentation, he helps the audience embrace their own blank canvas of possibilities. He is committed to growing and enhancing your leadership skills at every level, personal and business. His message is able to capture the attention of any audience and inspire them to buy into the vision and mission of your organization, improving the overall quality of your success.
Unless you are a professional football enthusiast or an entrepreneur, it is unlikely you have heard of Joe Profit. Yet this powerful and explosive running back was a first-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons in the National Football League. Due to a season-ending knee injury suffered in his first game in the NFL, Profit eventually retired his cleats, but the lessons he learned on the football field were invaluable. Lessons regarding perseverance, discipline, setting goals and teamwork are partly the reasons he is presently recognized as one of the most prominent small businessmen in America.
Although retired from football field, Profit continues to compete, tackle and score in the business field: in boardrooms, at dinner meetings, on the public speaking circuit and his own broadcast network. As a successful businessman, his company, Gourmet Profit, Inc. owned Burger King Franchises in Atlanta, Georgia. According to an article that appeared in The Atlanta Journal, Joe Profit’s company had sales of more than $2 million in 1978.
Furthermore, Profit was the first African-American to purchase a franchise for International House of Pancakes (IHOP) in the state of Georgia. In addition to his restaurant operations, he is the founder and CEO of a $100 million international multimedia firm, Communications International Corporation. His company was ranked by INC. 500 Magazine as one of the fastest growing privately-held companies in America for three consecutive years. Through Profit’s business endeavors, he has contributed to the nation’s economic engine by providing over 800 jobs to people in 37 states and nine countries.
Fittingly, his last name literally means financial success. It is not surprising, though, that many question if Profit is really his birth-given name and not a pseudonym. I mean, how many great one-liners can you use with a name like Profit?
Born and raised in one of the poorest areas of the country, Lake Providence, Louisiana, Dr. Joe Profit is one of the most interesting and richest people you will ever meet. After enduring the hardships of life before the Civil Rights Movement – which was often synonymous with being poor, Black and male – Profit was determined not to let his meager beginnings be his reason for lifelong excuses.
After graduating high school, Profit was a walk-on at Northeast Louisiana University (ULM), where he received a full scholarship. Though he faced many discriminatory barriers during his collegiate years, as he was the first African-American to play football in the Gulf States Conference (presently known as the Sunbelt Conference), the only barrier Profit truly cared about at the time was breaking the opponents’ goal line. With such determination, Profit went on to become the Conference’s All-Time rushing champion, with 2,818 yards and 538 carries, and he set ten school records, including most yards in a game, a season and a career!
To honor him, the Student Government Association at ULM recognized his contributions during a ceremony which established February 18th as “Joe Profit Day.” The university also retired his football jersey, #40. Profit became the first athlete to have his number retired in the school’s 86-year history. Profit credits ULM for giving him an opportunity to get a quality education when no other college in that system would do so. Joe shared his views as to the impact that ULM had on him: “They invested in my dreams and I grew stronger through the Holy Spirit, which allowed me to show the power of having faith in the word of God. That was an important crossroad in my life. I developed what I call the ‘Triple-A’s effect,’ my mantra to deal with my daily challenges on campus. They are: Appearance, Approach, and Attitude. It is apparent that the same mantra that guided me in the cotton fields, on the football field and the business field will continue to guide me in the field of the ministry.”
Profit has received numerous awards and Presidential appointments, including but not limited to:
- Granville T. Woods Award for Outstanding CEO
- Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young
- Inducted into the Business and Professional Hall of Fame
- Institute of American Entrepreneurs’ as a lifetime member
- Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame
In addition to his contributions to the business world, Profit has served two sitting Presidents of the United States, President Ronald Reagan and President George H. Bush, as he was appointed to the Federal Reserve Bank, Atlanta, GA, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Small Business Advisory Committee, the International Trade Board Subcommittee for Policy, International Trade Board Subcommittee for Policy, the White House Small Business Advisory Committee, and the U.S. Department of Transportation Advisory Board.
Profit has also been featured in USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Monroe News Star, The Anniston Star, Atlanta Constitution, Gwinnett Daily Post, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Essence Magazine and many other national and international publications.
While Profit has had great success in many of his endeavors, the intention of his book, Fields of Success-Raised Expectations, is to inspire others to tackle their dreams by sharing the consistent habits he embraced in order to achieve success. Upon reading it, hopefully, you will experience love, laughter, tears, disbelief, wonderment and inspiration as you turn each page of this remarkable and profitable story!
This book shows how ordinary living was transformed into an extraordinary life through a strong spiritual conviction, the power of God’s grace, and Dr. Profit’s Guiding Principles for Success (GPS).
