When Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian was asked who his role models
are at SXSW last week, he eschewed naming anyone in tech. Instead he
highlighted an iconic businessman he admired: Jay-Z.
“There are people who have come to accomplish so much more, it puts
in perspective how little I’ve actually done and how much more I want to
do,” said Ohanian.
With an estimated net worth of $475 million in 2013, Jay-Z’s success
has been fueled by a mastery not only of myriad industries but of
business itself. Doing more, being more and seeing more are common
themes that underline Jay-Z’s multifaceted career as hip-hop star,
fashion executive and entertainment mogul.
Jay-Z sings it perfectly in Kanye West’s song “Diamonds From Sierra Leone”: “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man!”
Here’s what every entrepreneur — tech or not — can learn from Jay-Z:
1. Be a hustler
Before Shawn Carter became Jay-Z, he was selling drugs by the age of
12 in the Marcy Projects, a tough area in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant
neighborhood.
While his drug-dealing days are behind him, the skills that Jay-Z
learned during this time have stayed with him as a businessman. Zack
O’Malley Greenburg, who wrote the book Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z
Went from the Street Corner to the Corner Office, told CBS:
“One of the things that Jay-Z retained from the streets to the
boardroom was the idea that he wasn’t going to give anybody any
discounts on anything. If a crack rock was selling for $10, you weren’t
going to get it for $9.95 — even if you were his best friend. That’s
something that stuck with him throughout his career. He wasn’t going to
take any less from anybody than what he thought he was worth.”
“His background prepared him in another way, too: When you’re used to
operating under the intense pressure of the streets, where anything
could go wrong and your life is on the line, going into a boardroom with
a bunch of guys in suits is a lot less intimidating.”
Jay-Z writes in his book Decoded: “[W]hen I committed to a career in
rap, I wasn’t taking a vow of poverty. I saw it as another hustle, one
that happened to coincide with my natural talents and the culture I
loved. I was an eager hustler and a reluctant artist. But the irony of
it is that to make the hustle work, really work, over the long term, you
have to be a true artist too.”
2. Create your own opportunities
For Jay-Z, success hasn’t just been about taking advantage of
opportunities that already exist. It’s been about creating them. When he
first started rapping, there were no labels willing to sign him, so he
partnered with friends Damon Dash and Kareem Burke to create his own
label, Roc-A-Fella Records. His first album off the label, Reasonable
Doubt, is considered “one of hip-hop’s foundational records.”
A few years later he carved out another opportunity for himself in
fashion. Although he was a major fan of Italian clothing company Iceberg
Apparel, the brand wasn’t interested in a partnership. Jay-Z and Dash
started their own brand, Rocawear, which went on to sell for $204
million to the Iconix Brand Group.
3. Ignore trends
Every entrepreneur needs to know why they’re launching a specific
product or service. What makes it different compared to the competition?
Jay-Z writes in his book Decoded: “It’s always been most important
for me to figure out ‘my space’ rather than trying to check out what
everyone else is up to, minute by minute. Technology is making it easier
to connect to other people, but maybe harder to keep connected to
yourself — and that’s essential for any artist, I think.”
U2′s Bono talks about Jay-Z’s unique brand as a businessman:
“In music, we love the idea of the screwed-up, shooting-up, fucked-up
artist. The one bleeding in the garret having cut his own ear off.
Jay-Z is a new kind of 21st-century artist where the canvas is not just
the 12 notes, the wicked beats and a rhyming dictionary in his head.
It’s commerce, it’s politics, the fabric of the real as well as the
imagined life.”
4. Know that your business is your brand
Despite his involvement in everything from endorsing cognac to
producing Broadway musicals, Jay-Z understands how personal business is.
In an interview with Men’s Health, Jay-Z said: “My brands are an
extension of me, they’re close to me. It’s not like running GM, where
there’s no emotional attachment … My thing is related to who I am as a
person. The clothes are an extension of me. The music is an extension of
me. All my businesses are part of the culture, so I have to stay true
to whatever I’m feeling at the time, whatever direction I’m heading in.
And hopefully, everyone follows.”
The role of a chief executive today carries more weight than it ever
has before, so it’s important for entrepreneurs to really believe in
their products and services.
5. Know where the money is going
“Jay-Z has repeatedly proven his ability not just to know where the
money is, but to anticipate where it will — or won’t — be,” writes
Greenburg at Forbes.
The combination of drive, instinct and timing has enabled Jay-Z to
build a powerful, ever-evolving empire that sets trends, rather than
follows them.
As an entrepreneur, you should know what’s trending in your industry,
but you also need to be able to predict when something is going to blow
up.
When concert tickets began to pick up steam, Jay-Z signed a 10-year
contract with concert promoter Live Nation for an estimated $150
million.
6. Seek out mentors
Any great entrepreneur knows that you can’t do it on your own. Empire State of Mind author Greenburg told CBS:
“[Jay-Z] tends to take on mentors, learn everything he can from them
and then discard them and move on to a new mentor. During his early
career, you see this with Jaz-O and Damon Dash. He discarded mentors
like these and kept moving on to the point where his mentors are now
people like Warren Buffett and Oprah.”
Entrepreneurs tend to be strong-minded, but no matter how knowledgeable you are, you can always gain more knowledge.
7. Diversify your portfolio.
Jay-Z’s business ventures span a diverse array of interests and
industries, including a record label, clothing line, a stake in the
Brooklyn Nets basketball team (which he has reportedly sold), a
nightclub, a high-end vodka, a partnership with Barneys New York and a
new sports agency launched in 2013.
Diversifying his portfolio is one of Jay-Z’s business commandments,
according to Greenburg, who describes it as an opportunity to “make the
most money at all times.”
In volatile markets, all entrepreneurs should think about multiple
ways to make over their business and brand. The worse thing you can do
is put all of your eggs in one basket and have that basket tank.
8. Go big or go home
It’s now been nearly 18 years since Jay-Z released his first album
with his Roc-A-Fella label. His staying power has been a direct result
of smart business moves and a relentless pursuit of what’s next.
This legacy is also due to Jay-Z’s refusal to relinquish his dream along the road to success, no matter what it took from him.
“I was forced to be an artist and a CEO from the beginning,” he
said.”[W]hen I was trying to get a record deal, it was so hard to get a
record deal on my own that it was either give up or create my own
company.”
By PolicyMic
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