I can’t recall the specific day or moment I finally felt comfortable with who I was. Or when I “found myself,” as they say.
All I remember is how much easier life became to navigate and how the backing of my beliefs and experiences equipped me for handing life on my terms. It was great. It felt good.
We all find ourselves at different times. Some earlier than others and some much later than they should. However, when we do reach this level of peace within ourselves and we’re cocooned in the quilt of our own perspective, if we’re not intentional about transformation in the meanwhile, we’ll risk the chance of stunting our growth.
I get it, adolescence was much too difficult and awkward to simply “change” once we’ve finally gotten comfortable with who we are. But that’s just it, comfort is the enemy.
Your “best,” that thing you’ve been told to strive for since grade school, will always be ahead of you. The the “best you” isn’t a destination, no matter how bad of a person you once were. A better version of yourself is always out there somewhere.
This is why reinvention is incredibly important. If you want to change, see out your heart’s desires and adapt to life’s spontaneity, you must learn how to reinvent yourself.
When we consistently challenge what we can do, we bring out the best in ourselves.
Your life can’t change if you don’t change
Don’t let pride stop you from relearning. If you spent your entire life in one ecosystem where everyone has the same cultural and societal backgrounds, of course your worldview will be cozy as a comforter.
That’s why it’s our responsibility to strive to grow — to want to challenge and hone our beliefs.
A lot of times the opportunity for reinvention comes to us. We’ll find our tires spinning in place or we’ll find ourselves banging our heads against the same wall, and the entire time, all we had to do was change our habits.
If we don’t change anything, how do we expect our lives to change?
The art of being limitless
What’s so cool about reinventing who we are is that it doesn’t mean diminishing any other part of ourselves.
It’s not like you’ll lose your funny if you become a less self-destructive drunk or you’ll be less spontaneous if look up recipes instead of ordering in. Reinventing yourself, if anything, adds to what you already bring to the table.
Look at Jamie Foxx, Donald Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Janelle Monáe, and plenty other versatile acts. Reinventing ourselves is all about adding to our repertoire, not abandoning who we once were.
Whether it’s a character trait, skill set, or profession, there does not have to be a limit to who you are or what you can do. Reinvention is about pushing yourself to mastery.
Life demands it
Probably the most important reason for mastering reinvention is that life demands it.
It can be a death in the family, a major injury, or any of the million other random things life tends to throws at us. Being able to adapt and change, even when it goes against the fabric of who we are, is pivotal to succeeding at life.
What’s the alternative? Resenting? Blaming the external factors that will never hear our cries?
When we learn to fall in love with the process of starting over and become accustomed to being humbled — two pillars in reinvention — we won’t waiver when life flips everything we know upside-down.
I challenge everyone who’s “found themselves,” who are in love with who they’ve become and who now have the ultimate confidence in the individual they see in the mirror, to go farther; to pick up something new, try and understand someone else or to get lost in another culture. Because what they’ll see is that they have a lot more to find.
Christopher Bridges, aka Ludacris, has been a star in the entertainment industry for almost two decades. Starting out as a radio DJ, Luda soon released a string of canonical albums in the early 2000s, including the classics Chicken-Beer and The Red Light District.
Since taking over the rap game (seriously there was a point in 2003-2004 where Ludacris was completely unavoidable) Bridges has parlayed his visibility into a wild business career.
Between dipping his toe into other entertainment industries, investments in emerging tech, and his own businesses, Luda has been raking it in for a minute now.
Here’s how Ludacris has gone from party rapper to a boss of the business world.
Fast and Furious franchise
In 2003, when Ludacris was at the top of the rap game, he was casted as Tej Parker, a technician and retired drag racer in 2 Fast 2 Furious. Since then, Luda has appeared in five of the eight Fast and Furious movies, which have grossed over $5 billion worldwide.
In a 2015 interview with Screen Rant, Ludacris spoke about the Fast and Furious franchise:
“It was definitely a surprise and I’m just humbled to be a part of this franchise. Gotta love that. No one thought it would be successful enough to make it to seven. Not it’s literally one of the most successful franchises in movie history.”
Ludacris used his experience in Fast and Furious to get reputable roles in Hustle & Flow and Crash. Dude is one of the most successful musical artist/actors ever. That’s some range.
Chicken-n-Beer restaurant
In 2016, Ludacris turned his infamous album title Chicken-n-Beer into a real life place, opening up the Chicken-n-Beer restaurant in Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport.
To make the restaurant a reality, Ludacris teamed up with Jackmont Hospitality, a minority-owned foodservice management company behind some of Atlanta’s most popping up-and-coming restaurants.
Chicken-n-Beer serves southern comfort food and local beers. ‘Bout to fly down to Atlanta just to cop.
Conjure Cognac
Rappers getting into the adult beverage game is nothing new, but in Ludacris’ case, he is the co-owner and co-creator of his own cognac brand, Conjure.
This isn’t just a simple endorsement for Ludacris, he was involved in the actual crafting of the alcohol. That’s some hands on work from the DTP head.
Roadie
In 2015, Ludacris invested in Atlanta-based startup Roadie, which is basically Uber for package delivery. If you want to transport something, hit up Roadie and they’ll coordinate a drop off.
Ludacris said in a statement at the time that he’s excited about the app and always eager to encourage and promote businesses in his hometown of Atlanta:
“I am intrigued by new technology and I love seeing the Atlanta tech scene on the rise so I partnered with Roadie to help spread the word about this brand new, completely unique app created in Atlanta. In a world where I feel we need a lot more people helping each other out, Friendshipping is the future.”
Puma
Puma may be glowed-up now with Rihanna, Young Thug, Rae Sremmurd, and other hip-hop ambassadors, but that wasn’t always the case.
Ludacris was at the cutting edge back in 2006, bringing his own pair of Puma Suedes, complete with a very fire (and extremely dated) commercial.
Luda been knowin’.
Boost Mobile
I know all my 90s babies remember the best commercial of all-time. The Boost Mobile “Where You At?” campaign with Kanye, Ludacris, and The Game was truly an iconic moment (look at the ‘fits).
Not to mention, the song is a banger.
Slang N’ Friendz
As an answer to Scrabble and Words With Friends, Ludacris teamed up with Edward Benton to create Slang N’ Frienz, a mobile app styled after those spelling games but with slang words included in the game’s database.
“I thought it was a perfect partnership just because hip hop is a genre that is known for creating slang and some of that slang even making it into the dictionary or having double entendres or things of that nature. That’s pretty much what brought us together.”
It’s basically a more millennial-friendly Scrabble. It’s lit.
Best. Cover. Ever.
Ludacris is the host of Best. Cover. Ever., a YouTube show executive produced by Ryan Seacrest Productions and Endemol Shine America, that brings aspiring artists to cover a song by their favorite artists.
The catch? Those artists are in attendance during the performance.
Ludacris told Billboard about what differentiates Best. Cover. Ever.,
“It’s an interesting way of bringing new talent, not only to meet their idols but also to put the spotlight on them so they can help further their career. You have the competition aspect, the music aspect, the finding a star aspect, and the people meeting their idol aspect.”
Check out all episodes on YouTube.
The Ludacris Foundation
The Ludacris Foundation is a non-profit that “inspires youth through education and memorable experiences to live their dreams by uplifting families, communities and fostering economic development.”
The non-profit raises funds with their annual LudaDay Weekend that brings Atlanta youth together at events and concerts.
It’s cool to get extremely breaded off blockbuster films, luxury liquor brands, and tech investments, but it’s all relatively meaningless if you’re not bringing that success to your community.
Apropos of nothing, Ludacris was in the headlines a lot last summer when Bill O’Reilly’s sexual harassment scandal came to the forefront. Back in the day, O’Reilly forced Pepsi to end its sponsorship with Ludacris because he was “a man who degrades women.”
MUST WATCH: In 2002, Bill O'Reilly successfully pushed Pepsi to drop its sponsorship of @Ludacris calling him "a man who degrades women" pic.twitter.com/XjuxgQxXyV
O’Reilly, a serial sexual harasser, should probably have kept Luda’s damn name all the way out his mouth, but after the Fox News idiot was fired, Ludacris took the high road, telling The Breakfast Club he’s not here to judge:
“It’s not my place to judge Bill O’Reilly the same way he judged me. I’m thriving in life right now. All I can do is hope that Bill O’Reilly settles these issues and learns from whatever mistakes he may have made ― and also thrives.”
2002: Bill O’Reilly pressures Pepsi into dropping Ludacris
In 2021, we can proudly say that there is a growing number of woman-focused organizations with the sole purpose of bringing together like-minded women through community support systems.
Whether it be technology or the intricate art of business, there seems to be a growing variety of resources available, no matter how small of an association you may be looking at.
But statistics tell a different story. And as we all know, numbers don’t lie.
Though 47% of people in the workforce are women and the number of breadwinning mothers has jumped 29% since 1960 — even though women make up 1/3 of graduates from university out of necessity to land a job — women have a few strides to make in order to catch up to their male counterparts, especially when it comes to business.
The most startling thing for founder and CEO of Grayce & Co. Kathleen Griffith, was that in 2017, only 17% of venture startups were founded by women.
Supplied with a thirst for community success, Build Like A Woman was born with what seemed like an effortless appeal.
The idea isn’t a new one. Grayce & Co. focuses on marketing and strategy building, making it accessible for the hub to gear towards female entrepreneurs in an effort to “ignite and harness the innate business building superpowers that women have by offering support, inspiration, funding, and leadership.”
Yet, the objective is bigger than that. Above all, these communities offer something that isn’t normally advertised as a main feat in similar associations: comfort.
“[We want to] really talk to female founders who have transformed their breakdowns into breakthroughs for their companies, and what that took. The unpolished, unvarnished side of things. What does it take to really embrace your fear and take greater risks?”
The program is split into two divisions. The online portion consists of a 6-week coursework schedule that is completed on your own time and leisure.
The second part is the networking apportion, where participants are able to meet in corresponding gatherings in cities.
“Griffith and her team are at work developing a suite of easily accessible and affordable digital tools to help women entrepreneurs tackle all the challenges that are inherent to launching a business — everything from market sizing, brand positioning, profit and loss statements, pitch decks and business plans.”
The coursework has been carefully selected and aimed at educating businesswomen.
“We’re doing this because we believe that too much creative genius and intellectual capital women have is going untapped, and frankly speaking, women’s ideas have the power to move.”
Griffith’s hope is to build a concrete community both digitally and in real life. Build Like a Woman is using big name celebrities to become the voices of their brand, famous woman entrepreneurs such as Jessica Alba, CEO and founder of The Honest Company.
“What does it take to really embrace your fear and take greater risks?” Kathleen asks, posing a question that is as open ended as it is important.
Whatever your answer may be, Build Like A Woman is here to teach, nourish, and inspire others to follow the path of successful women who have been there and done that, and bring confidence to those who are just starting their journey.
But greatness is all about how you’re able to bounce back from that low point and rise above it. The biggest key is having the right team to push forward.
Everyone wants to move up to that boss status but it takes hard work that no one will ever see. Artists like PnB Rock might make it look easy, flexing their chains and cars, but most of his fans don’t have a clue how he got there. It goes way deeper than streams, downloads, and tours.
The beauty behind success is really within the journey — how you did it and who you did it with. Since joining Rock and the New Lane squad on tour, I’ve learned a lot about the man PnB Rock is and the movement he’s created.
Vargas Visuals
Rock was one of four siblings and is genuinely one of the least selfish people I’ve come across. Most everybody he brought on tour came from his block in Philly and now that’s the same team that surrounds him as he takes the next big steps in his career.
He looks out for everyone before himself and makes sure there’s good vibes around no matter what he’s going through.
I experienced this a little over two weeks ago on one of the first stops of the Catch These Vibes tour when Rock went trudging out in the snow just for some medicine. He was already exhausted from performing and sick to the point his voice was basically gone, but still wanted to get it himself instead of just sending someone else out. That’s real, a lot of artists wouldn’t do something even as small as that.
Vargas Visuals
The photo shows Rock’s “little” cousin Nahmir, PnB Rock, then DJ Stacks (from left to right) walking side by side as if they were brothers.
Everyone on tour plays a role and the underlying theme is family, bottomline. And that’s what separates PnB Rock from a lot of artists, he treats everyone that way. We didn’t even end up getting the medicine Rock needed because he wanted to get drippy on skates real quick, and of course blessed everyone’s passes.
You get the feeling that PnB Rock is genuinely grateful for what he has and that motivates him to spread his success. Most people in his position might end up letting their ego get the best of them, but Rock just won’t let himself get there. In every city of his tour, he’s made it known that he was once HOMELESS and in prison. Now look at him. That’s what a strong work ethic and staying humble does for you.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd5TzWiBreg/
There was no hope. There was no plan. Rock worked with the hand he was dealt and came out victorious. And even more than that, put himself in a position to build his homies up too. I talked to one of his closest boys, PnB Leemo, who was in jail during Rock’s rise to fame. I asked him how it feels being where he is now versus being there even before the music.
PnB Leemo told me,
“All of this is a new experience to me, like everybody knows I just came home from doing 6 years so everybody knows I missed when Rock was a struggling artist to the point where he is now. But everything’s a blessing; it just feels good to be home and seeing a n*gga I knew came from the mud, a n*gga I seen come from nothing, come from being homeless. Now to see where he is now, it’s just a blessing and I know he’s going to open doors for everybody – he’s going to open doors for the whole gang.”
There was nothing but gratitude when we spoke, which told me a lot about what Rock even means to his crew. He’s more than family — he’s someone who’s single handedly changed their lives and for that, they’re all grateful. And they show it with their loyalty.
Everyone with Rock now was with him before the fame, before the money, and before he even had a place to stay. Now, every city chants his name when he steps in the building — and his team’s right there with him like they never left.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfZ3WmUHuWb/
Like I said, we’ve all experienced the struggle, but how you bounce back is what defines you. With his back against the wall, PnB Rock made no excuses and created something special for himself and his team.
Now he’s uplifting his entire city in Philly and inspiring his people. It’s something not many artists can accomplish.
Rock’s career isn’t just solidified because of his music, but because the love and respect people have for him. No one’s going to forget about the artist that came from nothing and put an entire city on his back, and this is only the beginning.
Nipsey Hussle, the Crenshaw District native fresh off his first major studio album withVictory Lap, is trying to bring his success to his community, opening a professional co-working space called Vector90 in Crenshaw.
Partnering up with business partner and entrepreneur David Gross, who is also from the Crenshaw District, Nipsey and Gross are bringing economy and industry to their local neighborhood, an area that’s been underserved and forgotten by the powers that be over the years.
David Gross told CBS Los Angeles that he’s been the recipient of certain opportunities and opening this space is the first step to helping bring that fortune to his community, “I always think there would be a lot of people in my shoes had they had those breaks.”
CBS spoke to Desha Greene, a member of Vector90 who previously had to hold meetings in local coffee shops before grabbing her own business space. She told CBS about what it means to see a working space in this area,
“I grew up around here and there is absolutely no space like this. Traffic coming in and out, or, you know, babies crying… It’s home for me. I want to see the people in my community win.”
Desha also said that her twin girls will attend the STEM classes that Nipsey Hussle and Gross plan on implementing at Vector90.
Kevin Durant may be a snake in the minds of many NBA fans after having gone to the team he barely lost to in the Western Conference finals some years ago, but to his hometown of Seat Pleasant, the area where he grew up, he’s a hero.
The NBA champion has committed $10 million and partnered with public schools in Prince George’s County, Maryland on a program called College Track to provide resources and outlets for underprivileged kids to reach their maximum potential.
“We didn’t have the resources to get our minds thinking about the next level. I want to do my part, whatever it is. If College Track students want to be the next Steve Jobs or the next influencer or the next tastemakers, they can get there.
College Track is a 10-year program that provides fundamental resources like tutoring, test preparation, picking the right college and how to get financial aid, that kids from less-advantaged families often don’t have.
Created more than 20 years ago in California by Powell Jobs and others, College Track helps disadvantaged kids attend college and get launched into life.
The idea to bring the program to his hometown and to make such a significant investment came when Durant meet Powell at a Silicon Valley technology conference in the Bay Area in January on 2017.
Wanting to show them [the youth] the experiences he went through and what he’s seen, was important to Durant. He feels that’s all it takes to get more kids in the right direction. Only 21 percent of first-generation, low-income students graduate from college. And Durant plans on using the College Track program too change that.
There are nine College Track’s across California, Colorado and Louisiana have helped 3,000 students get to college and beyond. The Durant Center will be the first of three facilities planned for the Washington area with plans two more in the District by 2021.
“College Track recruits students from underserved communities and works continuously with them from the summer before ninth grade through college graduation,” the program’s website explains.
“Our ten-year program removes the barriers that prevent students from earning their college degree by providing them with comprehensive academic support, leadership training, financial and college advising, and scholarships. We teach our students the skills necessary to succeed in college and beyond.”
Four hundred Track students have graduated from college so far, and that number is on pace to reach 496 this year. Opportunities just like the one Durant is providing is why athletes should never just ‘shut up and dribble’.
The future of the DMV is brighter than ever and surely will start inspire other low-income cities across the country to follow such implementations.
I’m not particularly in love with the term ‘rat race’. It’s a phrase often used to define a frustrating, hard-to-break lifestyle. A lifestyle with heavy mortgages/rents, bills, children, and liabilities — a life which inevitably forces you to work as hard you can with no progress; a life that symbolizes a rat in a maze running a never-ending race.
Yet, as much as I hate the term’s connotation and the the individuals it’s usually associated with, the truth of the matter is that the possibility falling into a rat race is very much a reality.
There are people doing the same thing, day after day, committing their lives to everyone else’s dreams but their own, expecting different results. It’s a sad reality, but these people are indeed running a rat race.
Without real, clear-cut goals, a reevaluation of those goals, and intentional progression towards those benchmarks, it’s actually really easy to find yourself running in one of these nonproductive races going nowhere fast.
One of the reasons people get caught up in these fruitless cycles is because of the social norms they’ve subconsciously subscribed to. Through memes, social dialog, and other perceived “harmless” ideas we indirectly consume, we end up buying in to the the very habits that hold us back.
Here are four that you may not realize, but are causing you to run in place.
Sleeping in
Simple math tells us that sleeping in should not be an objective of ours. There are 24 hours in a day, so if one expects to make any significant strides toward their goals, why would they compromise hours in bed, especially when they are hours we don’t need.
One of the most acclaimed researchers on sleep, Daniel Kripke, said in an interview that “people who sleep between 6.5 hr. and 7.5 hr. a night, live the longest, are happier and most productive”, which means we can survive just fine off of 5, if we’re being realistic.
It’s funny: we’ll sacrifice sleep for parties, concerts, work, and working out, but when it comes to dedicating those extra hours towards seeing our dreams come true, we just sleep in.
The second you realize that there are real, tangible steps that you can take everyday to make your wildest dreams come true, you’ll train your body how to operate on the bare minimum.
Celebrating Fridays
What’s the hype behind Fridays anyway? Friday’s are overrated. The idea that you’re to abandon all work responsibilities to, I guess have 48 hours of fun for the following two days, is absolutely absurd.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t enjoy a night out with our friends, nor am I condemning rest, but Saturdays are just as valuable as Tuesdays and Sundays are perfect for setting up your Mondays. There’s always something you can do to inch closer, don’t trap those opportunities in a five day window.
Hating Mondays
Mondays are sexy. Think of all the inspiration and motivation people have on New Year’s Day, think of all those resolutions. Now imagine bottling up that energy and being able to take a sip of it every Monday morning. How could that discourage you?
Going to a job you hate should push you to go get a job you love. And if you’re content going to a job that you have to drag your feet to get to, please do and want better for yourself.
How great would it be to look forward to Mondays? What if you were one of those people who lived in constant disbelief that they were getting paid for what they loved? Why couldn’t that be you? That’s what Monday should be or what we should aspire our Mondays to be.
Boredom
There is probably no word in the English language I despise more. Boredom is disrespectful; it’s toxic, it’s a lie.
To be bored is to be finished. Done. And completion is something that, honestly, if we really think about it, is a destination we’ll never want.
There are retirees who after 50 years of work are still grinding. Billionaires and the fortunate few who’ve crossed off everything on their life’s to-do list don’t even get bored, so how can we?
I’m convinced that the only people who get bored are the ones who haven’t realized their purpose or are people who think they don’t deserve what their believed purpose is.
Boredom is literally an impossible state of mind when there’s something you’re working toward. That’s why you not only should never utter that four letter word, but we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be around anyone who does.
Not everyone working hard is going somewhere — unfortunately there are some of us running a race in vain. But you if you take a step back, acquire some self-awareness and dispel these social norms, you’ll be running a race that will eventually have a reward in return.
When it comes to success, there aren’t many business men that have it figured out like FUBU’s CEO and legendary business mogul Daymond John.
He flipped his $40 dollar budget to a $6 billion fashion titan, reinvented himself on ABC’s Shark Tank, he’s a New York Times best-selling author and most recently, President Barack Obama appointed Daymond a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.
This past Tuesday (Feb 13th) he visited Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club to promote his newest book, Rise & Grind and shared what it took to achieve your vision of success.
As a black business owner who, over last two plus decades, managed to remain relevant and preserve his brand, he had a lot of wisdom to share. Here’s five of the most motivational quotes from the interview.
“I don’t even know what day it is today. And I won’t know what day it is today. Some people have to remind me what day it is.”
Everyday is a Monday. The name of the week is irrelevant when the mission doesn’t change.
Once you see that everyday there’s something you can do to inch yourself closer to something you’ve always wanted, you’ll want to invest every second into insuring it happens, as opposed to living purposeless moments.
“If you’re binge watching, then you’ve already lost”
Here, Daymond John is saying the time it takes to actually binge watch a show, any show, is too valuable and could be spent elsewhere.
It only sounds obsessive when you don’t think it can be done.
“When you complain, 20% percent of the people don’t care about your problems and the other 80% are really, really, happy you have them.
Everybody’s got their own problems, their own dreams and hopes. It’s almost egotistical to think that your problems and what you’re going through should take priority over someone else’s.
Complaining has never helped anyone, and Daymond is saying it surely did not help him. Our worst fears are never the end of the world, so taking the hand we’re dealt and making the best out of it, is far better for everyone in the end.
Do not answer any emails for the first hour of the day.
How you set the tone for your day is critical. Oftentimes it’s not the side of the bed we got up on, but what we first registered in our conscious.
Once you get up and start opening your emails, you’re taking care of everyone else’s problems. Instead, do something for you.
Read the paper, listen to a podcast. If anything, send emails and go on the offense, rather than immediately subjecting yourself to other’s demands.
Instagram, too. Why would you want to start you day on a negative note? Instagram is instant social media depression. Everyone looks skinnier, sexier, richer. When in reality they’re all projections of their best selves, far, very far from the mean.
We must be intentional about what energy we start the day with.
Schedule in the things you love
If the time you put into your dream does not match what you put into your day job, it should be a daily mission to accomplish.
Time will continue on; all while we’re at the same job, all while we put off our dreams, all while we make another excuse. We must make time for the things we want to accomplish.
Daymond John’s book Rise & Grind is a compilation of these very principles he shared on The Breakfast Club and includes quotes and words from stars like Zendaya and Gary Vaynerchuk as well. Peep it here!
What’s poppin’ world! It’s almost tax season aka shmoney season! Before you go flex on Instagram with your money, I’m going to teach you a simple way to make passive income while flipping cars.
I’m a college student who lives life freely, able to create content daily because I’ve established passive-income. This is free game you cannot get anywhere else so bookmark this link and start letting your money work for you. Don’t even trip.
A business license isn’t required to be your own boss. Copart is the plug. All that they require you to have is a valid driver’s license, and you’re good to go.
Buying and selling cars is one of the easiest ways to flip your tax return. The great thing about it is, you don’t have to know much about cars. Coparthas it all consolidated for you. With over a thousand vehicles available each week and located in all 50 states, there is enough for all of us to eat.
Understanding terminology
Before going into a live auction it’s important to know what you are looking for. Copart has cars classified under many genres, but the only cars you should be interested in are run/drive (meaning the car runs) with a clean title. Most customers are afraid of salvage titles because it is too much of a headache to get cleared by the DMV.
Automatic transmissions are most desirable for buyers over manual transmission vehicles because not everyone know hows to drive stick. As far as damage goes, only go for cars that have normal wear, or if the damage is listed as mechanical.
Unless it’s a truck or RV, let’s keep the mileage under 150,000 so you get the most bang for your buck. Make sure you have four or five whips on your list of potential buys.
If you’re the type that needs to see under the hood, say no more. Monday-Saturday, Copart allows you to preview cars in person at their facility.
Go in with a winning mindset
If you want to make it in the U.S., you have to understand America is a ruthlessly capitalist country. Success comes with collaboration.
With that being said, it’s imperative to find a mechanic in your neighborhood who’s willing to work with you on the price if your car ever needs maintenance.
Mechanics are businessmen too, and if you come to them honestly with your plan in hand, the majority of the time they will work with you since you are helping their business bring in more money.
Be sure to research your area for the cheapest auto-parts store around. Sometimes cars can be a little pricey to fix up and the goal is to spend as least as possible when trying to flip a car. I wouldn’t recommend flipping cars if you are not willing to reach out to a mechanic. Don’t worry about having a dealer’s license either.
It’s not going to stop your grind. Most states allow you to buy 2-6 cars a year to sell without possessing one so it’s all good. If you ever reach that limit, just start buying cars under your mother’s, father’s, sister’s, or brother’s name.
If you are really about your hustle, nothing will stop your grind. Believe in yourself and the rest will work out.
The flip
If you play your cards right, you can snag a whip for $300 or $500 and flip for $2000 profit. Before we get into the buying aspect of the car game, you have to know what you are looking for.
With selling apps like Let Go, Offer Up, and Craigslist, as well as the presence of Facebook Marketplace, it has become easier to make a sale. You can even use a Wal-Mart parking lot as a car lot to maximize the amount of eyeballs seeing your whip. Whatever it takes!
When making the sale, you can accept a downpayment of $1500 or $2000 and let checks roll in every month until the car is paid off. Then, you can take that down payment money and go buy another car and start stacking up.
This will allow you to be able to breathe financially, feel like a boss, and make more investments since you’ll have money to play with.
There might be a car that you see during an auction that you may want to buy for your personal use, like Maybach Benz or Jeep Rubicon. We all can dream, right?
Let’s make those dreams a reality. It’s 2018! Let’s diversify our portfolios and win more.
Stop wasting your money start having your money work for you.
Nipsey Hussle has perfected the rollout to his first studio album Victory Lap, due this Friday, with a strategic series of promos and partnerships.
Since last summer, the Los Angeles rapper’s name has remained ubiquitous through a variety of different moves, both in and outside music.
When Nipsey recently went on Big Boy’s Neighborhood a couple of weeks ago, the radio host commented on the anticipation of Victory Lap:
“The promo game never stops through social media, so we been waitin’ on it. And then we’ll see pictures of you recording, so we always knew Victory Lap was coming.”
And while plenty of artists gather hype and excitement surrounding an upcoming project, Nipsey has seemingly perfected this process. Last June, Nip opened his own brick and mortar store at the intersection of Slauson and Crenshaw in downtown LA, a rapidly gentrifying area that stood as the center of Nipsey’s come up.
We’ve seen Nipsey Hussle make innovative moves in business and music before. In 2013, Nipsey sold 1,000 copies of his Crenshaw mixtape for $100 each and in 2015, he provided 100 copies of Mailbox Money for $1,000 each using his #ProudToPay marketing strategy. In the ever-changing landscape of the music industry, Nip is constantly finding new ways to monetize and promote his music.
Here’s a quick look at what Nip has been up to on his Victory Lap rollout.
The Marathon Store
In June, Nipsey opened up The Marathon Store in Los Angeles. The opening was a star-studded event with 21 Savage, DeMarcus Cousins, Russell Westbrook, Jim Jones, and others in attendance.
Nip told Billboard about wanting to open his store, which includes ‘smart’ features where customers can buy merch on an app or preview new music releases.
“I wanted to open up a brick and mortar [with] physical retail in this area, and thought, ‘What’s the trajectory and likelihood of being successful as e-commerce grows?’ And it brought me to understanding retail. And when I focus on retail, anything that’s not experiential driven, I think you’re seeing it crumble right now. I think you’re seeing Blockbuster getting shut down by Netflix. You see Tower Records get shut down because of iTunes. Because the digital versions offer the same thing the physical versions offer, except a line or a parking ticket. All the conveniences of being in the real world.”
Nipsey has basically made a tech-proof brick and mortar store in that, by combining the typical storefront model with tech activations, customers can experience the store however is most comfortable and convenient for them.
Customers more familiar with the retail model will shop that way and those who are more tech-oriented will use the ‘smart’ features.
Nipsey further explained his idea behind The Marathon Clothing store, where the content is surrounded by product. The “FDT” rapper looks to companies like Sanrio, Disney, and Knotts for inspiration to provide product around content.
“The goal is to be an urban Sanrio — Sanrio is a five billion dollar company. These are content characters that exist in the screen first and real world products were created around it. Disney is the same example. All of these cartoon characters existed first as content. Disneyland is the world and it’s surrounded by products. We haven’t seen brands that have been created through content. Just like Sanrio, just like Disney, just like Knotts, whichever amusement parks that owns the characters to Snoopy. We haven’t seen that in hip-hop. We haven’t seen someone create a real world place where the brand lives, and there’s products.”
Nipsey has content that his fans love, his goal is to put product in front of them as well, with the idea that his listeners will turn into purchasers. As fire of an MC as Nipsey Hussle is, he might be even more prolific for his sharp business mind.
To that end, he told Billboard about his vision to be “vertically integrated”:
“I want go on record to say I want to be the first artist in hip-hop to be vertically integrated. This is a part of that long-term vision. We want to be able to deliver our products that we own 100 percent to a retail experience we curate and control in an environment that is strategically designed to create an experience that’s engineered. This is the first step in that.”
Atlantic Partnership
In 2010, Nipsey founded his own label All Money In. While the independent lane allows artists to guide their own career without label oversight, which Nipsey has clearly benefited massively from, for Victory Lap, he partnered with Atlantic Records.
It isn’t a typical “signing,” rather Atlantic will help where possible as Nipsey taps into their network and resources. He explained the partnership to Complex:
“Basically, it’s a strategic partnership to take the next steps with the Nipsey Hussle story. It’s between the company All Money In, which I’m a part owner in, and Atlantic Records for services of Nipsey Hussle. It’s not a traditional artist to a label signing, you know what I mean? It’s more of us partnering with Atlantic and utilizing their specialties and their strengths to move what we’ve been doing to the next platform in terms of recognition, fan base, access to radio, access to retail, and utilize their staff, and tapping into a specialist.”
Independence is great but it’s important to know how and when to use a larger enterprise to your advantage.
With Victory Lap slated to drop All-Star weekend in Los Angeles, the campaign has been strategic since the start.
Crypto Investments
Nipsey Hussle has a tangible stake in multiple different cryptocurrency companies. One of his investments includes Follow Coin, where users can buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrency and get advice from experienced traders.
Nip told XXL about his desire to get into the crypto lane, especially as a rapper and wanting to make sure that hip-hop culture wasn’t left behind by the latest trend.
“The hip-hop culture shouldn’t be left out like we always are. Our influence is leveraged, but we’re always left out until it’s too late. That’s why I thought it was important to be involved as an entrepreneur and to be vocal and bring it to the hip-hop consciousness, so that people who have resources and assets available can participate.”
While he’s specifically talking about cryptocurrency here, this is a pretty accurate summation of Nipsey Hussle’s general business philosophy.
He’s gotten himself into multiple lanes that haven’t typically been occupied by rappers or ‘hop-hop culture.’ There’s serious power in that.
“Vezt is a revolutionary new platform that gives artists and rights holders control over their new or existing songs and allows them to easily capitalize on their work by choosing portions of their songs to offer for sale to fans, friends, rights-buyers and brands.”
STEM school
Not content to reap his success by himself, Nipsey is also setting up his community for the future. He and business partner Dave Gross are working on plans to build a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) school in inner-city Los Angeles.
Nip explained his mission to Complex a couple weeks ago:
“It’s basically a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) compound that we built in the hood. It’s a 5,000 square foot compound—[it] used to be the Wonder Bread factory. And us, as All Money In, and our real estate development partner, Dave Gross, partnered up.”
Nipsey wants to take the school beyond LA to underserved neighborhoods in Atlanta, DC, and Baltimore in order to form a sort of bridge between these communities and Silicon Valley.
Nip spoke to Complex about how Silicon Valley has claimed there’s no connection between the inner-city and Silicon Valley. He wants to change that.
“It’s gonna be two-fold. The bottom level will be a science, technology, engineering, and math resource center. What Silicon Valley is saying to justify that lack of diversity is that there’s no pipeline from the inner city to Silicon Valley. The reason that there’s no pipeline is that we lack science, technology, engineering, and math skills, and you can’t teach a 13-year-old that; it’s too late. They gotta be trained in that.”
By creating that bridge between the inner-city and Silicon Valley, Nipsey wants to force the hand of the tech giants to improve diversity. They can’t claim there’s no pipeline if an entire generation of inner-city kids are STEM proficient.
Content
A fire business model only has utility if the actual work is good. So Nipsey has made sure to drop absolute bombs of singles in lieu of Victory Lap.
He dropped the epic “Rap N****s” on December 1st, closing out a wild 2017 with his first single off Victory Lap, on which Nipsey articulates just how different he is to his contemporaries.
Then on January 19th, Nipsey released “Last Time That I Checc’d” with YG. Both of these songs were accompanied by huge, big-budget videos.
Nipsey Hussle has tapped into his loyal fanbase and found innovative new ways to monetize his music, set up his community for the future, and just made fire music. Any aspiring artist looking to enter into the industry should watch his steps.
This is why Nipsey’s fans are #ProudToPay. Mogul talk!
