HRJR's Business `n Life Lesson (The Hip Hop Version)

     According to Forbes Magazine's 2013 Hip Hop "CASH KINGS," Sean "Diddy" Combs, Shawn "Jay Z" Carter & Andre "Dr. Dre" Young are the top 3 highest paid Hip Hop artists. The next 3 top earners are Nicki Minaj, Birdman & Kanye West. The top 3 earners 2012-2013 earnings surpass the next set of top earners by 50% or more.

 

Let's examine this ...

     The one common denominator the top three share is that even though they're all Hip Hop artists, the bulk of their income came from investments and ventures not directly related to hip hop or performing. It's been several years since Diddy put out an album/CD, Jay Z practically rebuilt Brooklyn's image single-handedly, and Dre hasn't dropped an album/CD in nearly 15 years.

So what does this mean? ...

     It's really simple ... These gentlemen realized long ago that what gets you to where you are may not be enough to take you where you want to go. If you want to have more and be more, you're going to have to DO more. If you want to gain something different and new, you're going to have to DO something different and new.

     Another thing these top 3 earners have in common is that they are not in business with many or any of the people they started out with. Regardless of the varied circumstances surrounding these separations, the overall prevailing message here is that, everyone who starts out with you and goes with you to a certain point might not be able or worthy to go with you the rest of the way.

As Jay Z said a few years back …
“Men lie, women lie … NUMBERS DON’T.”

HRJR's Lesson in Preparation ...

Something my elders used to say was, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Former Harvard President, Derek Bok said "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

It was Whitney M. Young who said, "It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared."

And another age old adage of wisdom asks "Is it not better to measure ten times and cut once than to measure once and cut ten times?"

I truly believe that one of the main reasons people fail in life is because they often mistake an idea for a plan and their enthusiasm for preparation. There's nothing wrong with having a good idea, this is where all of our advances, both great and small come from. However, in order for that good idea to be of benefit, it must be converted into a great plan! And it is during the planning stages that you discover how you can go about making that good idea a reality.

There's a saying that goes, "Sometimes you have to take the jump and build your wings on the way down." Now, I can respect that in terms of having faith and all, but from a practical standpoint, I cannot help but continue to think, "If you don't anything about HOW to build wings before you jumped, where is that knowledge going to come from while you're falling?"

People want what they want and they want it now. You're probably no different. The next time you're struck by what you believe to be serendipity, take a moment of pause to reflect and then another to prepare.

You'll be glad you did.

Burger King Workers Striking for $30K Salaries ... REALLY?!

Whose fault is it that many of these people used the prime earning years of his life working at Burger King. It's really tripping me out how people go through high school bullsh@tting, don't go to college or learn a trade, then have the NERVE to make babies, get the only job they're qualified to do and then expect to be making the same kind of money that college graduates make?

I'm all for people making a living wage, and I understand that times have been and are hard for many Americans, but let's be real ... What we're really looking at are a great many decent people who didn't do what they were supposed to do when they had the opportunity to do it and now they're stuck. Is it sad, yes ... But this is real life and people often don't think about the future, then when the future they never imagined or dreamed about in their worst nightmares becomes their present - their reality, then it's the economy's fault ... or the government's fault, or the greedy corporations' fault.

HOGWASH

Forgive me (or don't), but this is what happens when parents "let kids be kids" and don't prepare them for the real world. I have a niece who's 15 years old and every time we're spending quality time together I ask her about her plans for college and what kind of work she wants to do when she's on her own. Sure she's a sophomore in high school, but at least her wheels stay turning. Many parents don't have these kinds of conversations with their kids.

If you have teenagers now, you had better be preparing the, for what's out there. I refuse to have my boys fighting for a so-called livable wage. I want my boys to be living in excess, and the earlier I prepare them to do that the sooner they will be able to eat at Burger King, but never have to worry about a paycheck from there ...

Unless it's their summer job while in high school ... or a profit statement if they someday OWN a Burger King.

I'm all for people making