The multifaceted Billionare and entrepreneur sat down with Caroline Clarke to discuss how he continues to reinvent himself, what it takes to be successful in today’s business world, and how he became a master dealmaker.

Johnson spoke at length of the need to close the black job gap. He mentioned how at this company RLJ he has the rule that 2 minorities must be interviewed for a manager’s position before it can be filed. Johnson said rules that include Blacks are the only way to level the playing field and make sure African-americans are included at the corporate table.

“You can’t have success without taking a risk. You must operate without net” Johnson told the packed room full of conference attendees who had gathered to hear him speak. In order to be successful, we must “articulate vision, motivate people, and find talent” he added. Johnson also audience members that “as an Entrepreneur, don’t diversify too much in the beginning to the point where you can’t focus on your core assets” when asked what vital lessons he had learned through his illustrious career.

The session ended with Johnson fielding questions from the audience. Johnson ended the one-on-one discussion by telling entrepreneurs “most ppl are more afraid of success than they are of failure. Success comes with expectations & responsibility for others.”

Speakers Jerrell Moore, Vice President & Chief Diversity Officer of Burger King Corp, and Kevin Hicks, a partner at Blackman and Associates led the discussion and educated attendees regarding the steps needed before choosing a franchise. The speakers spoke to the serious demands franchise ownership entails, how to select a brand that will be profitable, and how to use the resources provided by franchise brands to educate yourself before the process begins.

The next panel “Blogs, Apps and Taking it Viral: Growing Revenue in the Age of Social Media” helped entrepreneurs navigate the wild world of social media. Properly marketing your business on social media takes a lot more than just making a Facebook or Twitter account. Social media is the new storefront, and monetizing blogs, Facebook fan pages and other social media will translate into customers for your business.

Moderator Hajj Flemings, personal brand strategist, CEO & founder of Brand Camp University, and panelists Chris Bennet, Founder and CEO of Soldsie.com and Spencer Humphrey, Co-Founder and Co-Owner of Black Tie Clothing, as well as Melinda F. Emerson, social media expert and creator of succeedasyourownboss.com shared their knowledge and experience in dealing with social media, branding your business and the best way to utilize your social network.

But where does one begin? What is crowd funding? How can I make the most of the alternate financing options available to me?

This morning’s panel “Get your hard hats and start digging! The art of uncovering alternative financing.”

Tonight, the contestants in the Black Enterprise Elevator Pitch were asked to do just that. Sell their dream to a panel of judges for a chance to win $10,0000 from PepsiCo.

Hosted by comedy and film legend Robert Townsend, contestants were given one minute each to pitch their business ideas in front of a panel of judges. Judges included hip-hop legend MC Lyte, actor & producer Craig Wayans,  Navarrow Wright, CEO of Maxium Leverage Solutions and Earl Butch Graves Jr., CEO of Black Enterprise.

The 10 contestants ranged from intimate wear for plus-sized women to haircuts for the disabled and everything in between. After delivering their pitch, each contestant was given pointers and critiques to help refine future pitches, as well as asked questions regarding their business from the panel. The pool was then reduced to five candidates who were given 30 seconds to revise their pitch, before a winner was selected.

Additionally, three attendees were selected randomly from the audience and asked to deliver a 30 second cold pitch with no time to prepare. The audience was asked to select a winning cold pitch by text message. The winner received a gift basket full of Pepsi, Oatmeal, Grits and other PepsiCo products.

The 3rd place prize went to Plate Date, who won $1500 dollars worth of executive coaching. The 2nd place prize went to Beauty Genie, who won $3000 dollars worth of executive coaching. The winning pitch came from Precious Williams, CEO and Creator of Curvy Girls Lingerie, a line of intimate wear for plus size women. Williams won $10,000 towards expanding and growing her business

New startups are utilizing technology to innovate industries and change the way we do day to day business. But how does one launch a tech startup; how do you raise capital; what do I do if I don’t know how to code. These and other questions were answered in this afternoon’s panel “Tech Startup Fast Track, Launch Code SUCCeSS.”

Black Enterprise’s Marcia Wade Tolbert lead this afternoon’s panel which featured 3 young tech entrepreneurs who have already launched successful ventures. The panel members included Jonathan Gosier, Co-Founder, CEO and Director of Metalayer, Tanisha Robinson, Serial Entrepreneur & Co-Founder of Ticketfire, and Frederick Townes, Founder of W3.

The spirited discussion touched on all the stages of a tech startup, such as trading equity for financing, incubators vs accelerators, and identifying the direction to take your startup in. Panel members shared their insights, experiences and the challenges they faced when launching their technology based startups.

Special focus was given to incubators and accelerators as ways to build your business.

“Accelerators are the new business school,” said one panel member.

During the conference, the future CEOs learned how to write a business plan, build a small business team, manage their finances as well as break out sessions from local business owners such as Alonzo Edmundo, Co-Founder and COO of Clarity Creative Institute.

“My first business was a cup design business my siblings and I started when I was eight-years-old,” says Edmundo. “I wanted to make money but I had no concept of what profit was, investments were or how to reach my target market and more importantly how to manage my money. So the company went bankrupt because we didn’t pay attention to the finances,” shares Edmundo who taught a session on the importance of creating a strong financial plan to build and sustain businesses.

Other speakers such as Craig Wayans, Founder of Second Generation Entertainment and Warhol and Wall Street founders Yohannan Terrell, William Alston and Christopher Jones shared insightful stories of inspiration, success and lessons learned while building their enterprises.

Students also enjoyed a presentation by Wendy’s on the Anatomy of brand where students learned about franchising and met with Wendy’s executives.

“I’m impressed by how much they know about running their own businesses compared to what I knew when I was their age,” says Johnson. “It’s important that we support that and let them know that they are not in this alone. They have the interest and now they have the resources to take their idea or business to the next level.”