Over the past three decades, Jon Bon Jovi has sold more than 130 million albums, earned a place in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009 and his his Grammy-winning band, Bon Jovi, will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2018.
He’s also “a shrewd businessman,” Bon Jovi biographer Bryan Reesman tells Forbes.
If you want to be successful in business, “don’t chase fads or fashions,” Bon Jovi tells CNBC Make It. He gives the example of Scott Boilen, the man behind the Snuggie: “The guy that created the Snuggie showed that that was his creation. Don’t try to create the Snuggie 2 because you saw someone be successful at it.”
You have to “believe in what it is you’re selling,” he says. “Whatever it is that you’re going to do, do it because you believe in it. And then success is just a matter of time.”
The rock icon has co-owned an Arena Football League team, founded the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, a non-profit that focuses on hunger and homelessness in the U.S. and even launched a side-career as an actor, appearing in movies and television shows. Today, while Bon Jovi is still touring, his latest endeavor has been the launch of a rosé wine label with his son, Jesse Bongiovi.
The father-son team have been working on their rosé, Diving into Hampton Water, for the past two years with French winemaker Gérard Bertrand. It recently hit the shelves in New York and New Jersey and will be available all along the east coast later this year.
Bon Jovi is the first to admit that his son is in charge. “I work for Jess,” he tells CNBC Make It. “This isn’t my thing.”
That said, Bongiovi is taking advantage of the unique opportunity he has to work alongside his highly successful dad. The 23-year-old admits that his instinct was to launch the wine company “as fast as possible. I get kind of worked up on things and my dad has always been there to say: ‘Don’t just do it fast. Do it right. Make sure that this is going to be the absolute best that it can be because, once it’s out, there’s no taking it back.’”
