About jay-z

Jay-Z embodies being a hustler.  You don’t accomplish what Jay has been able to accomplish in 13 years without hustling and a raw business sense.  Of course, it takes money to make money but he started with a concept of success and has done whatever it takes to keep pushing forward.  He hasn’t followed the path of many other music artists but instead has blazed new paths into industries that wouldn’t allow a rapper in (and still many probably wouldn’t).

Why has Jay been successful?

Because he realized that he could do so much more if he broke away from being just a rapper but instead a business man.  While Jay has many memorable verses, this verse on Kanye West‘sDiamonds from Sierra Leone (remix) shows just exactly how Jay think:

Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week / I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man / Let me handle my business, damn!

What’s the lesson to learn here?

Whatever industry you’re in, don’t get stuck.  Look at other ways to extend yourself, your product, your brand or your industry.  Stop talking about where you want to get to in life and instead put together a plan which will help you to get there.  Impossible you say?  I bet Jay-Z always pictured taking 8 figures a year.  He might have not known the exact way he would get there but he never settled.  He always is looking for another industry to extend himself into.

What are you doing to realize your goals?  If you’re sitting on the couch enjoying the newest episode of American Idol, I bet that some of your competition has Jay-Z blasting while they come up with their next move.  If you and I are competition, I can guarantee that’s what’s happening.  I gave up cable television just so I could focus and hustle more.  Sure, I watch a tv show or two per week using Fancast (client) or Hulu but the other 100 hours a week I’m working on crushing it.

As you can probably tell, I find a lot of inspiration in Jay-Z.  So, who do you look to for inspiration?  What is it that they teach you?  Most importantly, what do you do with the lessons you learn from them?  If the answer is nothing, then you mind as well go back to watching American Idol.


source :-http://justinrlevy.com/2009/05/25/a-little-history-on-jay-z-and-what-you-can-learn-from-it/