Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson on Business: Make Everything Your Own
huffingtonpost.com
huffingtonpost.com
Compare this piece of writing with:
"The Steve Martin Method" http://www.calnewport.com/blog/2008/02/01/the-steve-martin-m... "be so good they can't ignore you"
Jerry Seinfield's "Don't break the chain" http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-se... "the value of continual incremental progress"
The ultimate power in life is to be completely self-reliant, completely yourself.
I'm sure there must be others on the other end of the spectrum who'll find this advice more helpful.
All said, I have tremendous respect for 50 cent. He's got an incredibly sharp business mind. Just look at how much he made off of Vitamin Water.
The ultimate power in life is to be completely self-reliant, completely yourself.
There are countless people out there who could do exactly what they want, for themselves and never see these kind of returns simply because their product does not appeal to the averages. Getting by through life "completely self-reliant" is at best a joke and at worst myopic denial of reality.
Curtis Jackson was always self-reliant because he comes from a broken family (mother shot dead when he was 8, grandmother and grandfather had to take care of their own kids -> less attention on him -> more self-reliance and self-belief to actually make something of himself). If he expected to get help from other people or trust other people with his ideas and his dreams even with his work, his life would have been crushed badly. A natural self-belief is very important and should be carried by anyone trying to achieve big things.
Yet I think that the direction he's pointing towards is the direction of being "at cause" in the situation. While he depends on his audience as a whole, each audience member depends on him much more than he depends on them. It's a lesson some people need.
It is interesting, though, that native people who depended much less on a vastly developed society actually placed considerable emphasis on being interdependent, on moving well within a whole. Course, they had perhaps more functional (or less competitive) whole than we do.
* When you work for others, you are at their mercy. They own your work; they own you. Your creative spirit is squashed... When it is yours, it is yours to lose -- you are more motivated, more creative, more alive.
its easy to make your products famous when you are famous to begin with
The parent poster's comment does not give 50 Cent enough credit. 50 Cent didn't just become "more" rich from being rich, be became significantly more rich. While the former may be common(as endorsement deals are), the latter isn't(where the celebrity involved walks away with hundreds of mil).
He knew he'd make Vitamin Water a mint, so he took an equity stake to promote their product.
Fame is a kind of capital (social capital).
I also like the application of these thoughts to addictions, in all forms. Any addiction is an incredible loss of power.
"50 Cent's 10 lessons for success in business - and in life"
"Most people think first of what they want to express or make, then find the audience for their idea. You must work the opposite angle, thinking first of the public. You need to keep your focus on their changing needs, the trends that are washing through them. Beginning with their demand, you create the appropriate supply."
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertai...
What interested me most about these two articles though was his ability to articulate his thoughts so well. I've noticed that it's frequently the case that successful people are very good at clearly saying whatever it is they want to say. This is a trait I'm trying to develop myself.