What Jay Z Can Teach You About Succeeding in Business

“You could be playing outside with your friends, having fun – then next thing you know men with uzis would be in the playground, and we had to run back inside.”

This was a typical day for Jay Z in his youth growing up in one of the toughest project houses in New York. The entrepreneur, rapper and founder of Roc-A-Fella records grew up fatherless, in poverty and was selling crack by the age of 13.

So how did Jay Z turn around his odds, start his own record label by the age of 26 and turn his net worth into an estimated $610 million in 2016?

He follows these principles:

1. Succeed at Being Yourself, Not Someone Else

Jay Z’s first album Reasonable Doubt released in 1996 was hailed as the hip-hop album for that generation and was showered with high reviews. However to Jay Z’s dismay, it didn’t sell massive numbers worldwide.

Jay Z wanted to be a bigger success, so he tried to make songs he didn’t like as much but thought would be hits on his second album.

It was a failure and the public didn’t like it.

Jay Z realized if he wanted to be a success, he needed to be authentic.

He released a third album with one of his biggest hits, Hard Knock Life, that showcased his true nature but also appealed to the masses, and it was a huge success.

Jay Z learned from this and said on Oprah’s Masterclass: “Be successful at being yourself. Worst thing is being successful as someone else. It’s a difficult thing to upkeep, and it’s very tiring.”

2. Use Your Unique Talent In Your Business

Have you ever been so engrossed in doing something that time stops, creativity seems abundant, and you forget who you are?

Jay Z felt like this when he was writing rap songs.

As a kid, he would sit at his kitchen table in the projects and write all day long. He didn’t realize this was a talent as it came so naturally to him. He shared it with his ten closest friends and they would say: “Oh my God, that’s exactly how I was feeling.”

He then realized his words were a bridge to connect him to people who had been through similar experiences as him and they could help them.

He now feels that his fans are like a million of his friends, and he’s writing for them.

We all have talents that come naturally to us, and one of the most life-giving things we can do is use these talents in our day to day work.

3. Keep Growing and Learning and Taking Risks

Jay Z understands that if you are successful doing one thing, you tend to want to stay there because it works and you may be afraid to venture out of your comfort zone.

However success comes from taking risks.

Jay Z does this in rap by collaborating with artists such as Rick Rubin, Lenny Kravitz and Lincoln Park in genres he is unfamiliar with. He notes that it’s important to maintain a sense of yourself in collaborations and not to try and do what the collaborators do and they shouldn’t try and do what you do.

He tries to bring the best of himself to the table and they bring the best of themselves for the strongest outcome possible.

The 46 year old rapper has also branched out from the hip hop industry to launch ventures such as his most recent company ARRIVE that will assist start-ups with brand services, business development, advice and funds.

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Like Jay Z, we understand that success has a formula. If you’ve been looking for some help with small business consulting or you’ve got 99 problems and accounting IS one, contact us today for a free consult.

We would love to help.