HUSTLEHARDERBLOG.

COM PRESENTS

FAME
&
HUSTLE
30 LIFE LESSONS FROM HIP
HOP’S ELITE
CHARLES THE CEO
©2010-2011 CEO INDUSTRIES, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Table of Contents
Introduction .............................................................................................. 4
Young Guru ............................................................................................... 6
Kenny Burns .............................................................................................. 8
David Banner .......................................................................................... 10
Nike ......................................................................................................... 12
Tariq “Elite” Nasheed ............................................................................. 14
Slim Thug ................................................................................................ 16
Diddy....................................................................................................... 18
Pharrell Williams..................................................................................... 20
J. Cole...................................................................................................... 22
Tyrese Gibson ......................................................................................... 24
Lil’ Wayne ............................................................................................... 26
Chris Rock ............................................................................................... 28
Robert Greene ........................................................................................ 30
Will Smith ............................................................................................... 32
Master P ................................................................................................. 34
Jason Geter ............................................................................................. 36
Ludacris................................................................................................... 38
Fabolous ................................................................................................. 40
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em ................................................................................. 42
Jas Prince ................................................................................................ 44
Floyd Mayweather.................................................................................. 46
Ice-T ........................................................................................................ 48
Daymond John ........................................................................................ 50
50 Cent ................................................................................................... 52
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Birdman .................................................................................................. 54
Dame Dash.............................................................................................. 56
Kanye West ............................................................................................. 58
Dave Chappelle ....................................................................................... 60
Michael Jordan ....................................................................................... 62
Jay-Z ........................................................................................................ 64
Thanks..................................................................................................... 66

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Introduction
It used to be that, our teachers and advisors were the only

ones who gave us advice on matters of great import such as

business and life lessons. Then, as our consciousness shifted to a

reality that praised celebrities like kings and queens and yearned

for a daily dose of their seeming wisdom, the very same wisdom

that catapulted them into the limelight in the first place, we began

to ask of them their words to those who wished to follow similarly

in their footsteps. And thus, the first celebrity quote focused on

how to succeed in real life was recorded. Even those who reached

a certain stature away from the screen and recording studio had

something to say, a nugget of information that would ultimately be

taken out of context and absorbed by the success hungry, and we

began to see two distinct types of advice given: the somewhat

useful kind and the drivel that had absolutely grounding in the

world around us.

Some celebrities have prospered from their own advice

giving abilities via seminars and self-help books, even so in the hip

hop realm like Damon John, Russell Simmons and Kevin Liles.

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The fact remains that we who live the hip hop lifestyle and imbibe

upon the waters of its culture enjoy hearing some “real talk” just as

much as those who sign up for a Tony Robbins 5 day seminar. We

just don’t have to go to that far a length to get what we’re looking

for.

What you’ll find here is a collection of quotes from those

influential in the hip hop culture with my take on the deeper

meanings behind them. There’s a good chance you won’t find

anything life changing or truly thought provoking here—no grand

assessments or any madness like that, just a simple overview of the

game from some of its most successful players. Sound good? Well

then let’s get to it.

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Young Guru

“I expect ME to be progressive for me.”

There is no one, not your mother, father, spiritual advisor

or deity him/her/itself that will walk your path for you. Some have

high expectations for you, others could care less if you get up off

your ass and make something of and for yourself. Cold as that

sentiment may come across, it’s the truth and you’d be the wiser

for learning early on that the gold stars and smiley faces you

received on your in class quizzes back in the eighth grade doesn’t

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account for much once you’ve crossed the threshold into your

adulthood.

Just as Young Guru mentioned, the only person you should

be readily relying on is yourself so why would you allow yourself

the disappointment of not getting what you want from life? Being

progressive for yourself means that when you realize that there is

more to be done and you’re worn down to the bone, you either

forge on or figure out how to get it done within a reasonable

timeframe. Being progressive for yourself means you’ll never have

to apologize for going in half assed or sideline wishing. Progress

begins in the mind and manifests outwards.

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Kenny Burns

“You can only create brands if you become

the brand itself.”

The buzzword right now is ‘brand’. I’m sure that most saw

the episode of Entourage where Ari Gold was serving that “I can

make you a brand like Coca-Cola” pitch hotter than a Little

Caesar’s $5 pizza to each and every client that came in the room

and got inspired. The downside of the term is that it is often

misconstrued. There is no such thing as a personal brand. You can

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use expressions like creed, motto or slogan that defines your life

goals and ambitions but unless you have a product to push, there is

no brand.

In the entertainment sector, it’s no different. Unless you see

that the actor or rapper actually owns the company that produces

the product, they are little more than cheerleaders and spokesmen

for it, paid a salary to endorse. That’s part of the reason why I

don’t believe these cats on records boasting of multi-million dollar

deals. If it isn’t being reported on showing them in the driver’s

seat, their carefully crafted and maintained brand is meaningless.

Rather than worry about how loud your brand’s image is being

broadcast, create a quality service or product that cats can get

behind. They’ll do all the positive brand enforcement you’ll ever

need.

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David Banner

“You have to stop waiting and begging for

opportunities. Make your own.”

Looking for a deal or to get put on got played out in the late

90s. No more do we have to stand outside the record label’s office

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trying to slide a demo into the grasp of an intern. You don’t have

to pound Craigslist all day long looking for a low paying (don’t get

it twisted either, EVERY job is low paying when you calculate

what your time is REALLY worth) gig either. Now is the time to

put yourself in the game by your own wits. Can’t think of any

hustle that fits you? Copy somebody else’s and tweak it until you

have your own spin on it.

Like David Banner said, you have to take a chance on

yourself. There is no other way to be successful in this world. If

you are unwilling to do so, then you’ve already lost and should

think about hanging it up right now. You’ve seen people who have

already and if no name comes to mind, look no further than the

office. See that elderly lady who’s been with them for the best part

of 20 years? She gave up and gave in. She didn’t realize the

potential she had within herself and allowed herself to fall victim

to the false security in exchange for her life. Nothing is more

inspiring and depressing than this. Go get yours not because of

some ass backwards capitalistic want but because you deserve it.

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Nike

“Yesterday you said tomorrow.”

Excuses are like opinions and assholes—everyone has one,

no one really wants to hear about yours and at the end of the day

all you are left with is a lump only good for flushing. The number

one reason things don’t get done is procrastination, the feeling that

you’ll do it later that comes up every time that ‘later’ becomes

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‘now’. Trust me, when you look back at all of the opportunities

wasted due to not wanting to get started, you’ll be kicking

yourself. In the ass. Where that poor excuse resides.

Wake up each day with a revamped sense of purpose,

driven to see that day and only that day, as successful as you can

make it. Your boys want to go hoop? Tell them wait until you

polish off your to do list. The boyfriend want some QT (quality

time if you didn’t know), tell him to cool his jets; you’ve got some

things to wrap up first.

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Tariq “Elite” Nasheed

“It’s not about how many times you hear

‘no’, it’s about how many times you ask.”

People are born with the word ‘no’ on their lips it seems.

Partly it’s due to a vested interest in their own comeuppance that

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makes them tune out whenever you have a request. Instead of

stopping every time someone turns you down, probe deeper and

ask what about your pitch or product is unappealing to them and

offer ways to fix it or at the very least fix it in time for the next

person. Only the man who never hungers never opens his mouth

constantly and as a young cat on the rise, that is something you

simply cannot do.

WIIFM or What’s In It For Me is old sales jargon that

basically means that you could be offering the sky but make sure

you mention the rain to the guy looking skyward. Everyone likes

their interest met and you’d do well to put that before your cause.

Learn from the ‘no’ you receive and apply that game to the next

door you knock on.

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Slim Thug

“Instead of buying diamond chains, go

invest in something. You never see those

outside hip hop wearing gaudy jewels.”

That’s damn true. I won’t front though: in my youth I

wanted a jewel encrusted medallion as much as anyone else (not

the diamond kind though, I never liked diamonds that much) but as

I got older and got into the game a bit more, I saw that the iced out

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chains, grills and earrings were symbolisms of the terrible money

choices made by not just rappers, but people in general. While the

trinket may be different, the upside down home loan is just as

useless as the leased Phantom. Instead of trying to keep up with the

Joneses, create a prosperous situation by having a good yet not

overly expensive car, a good, yet not too upside down residence

and above all a modest mindset who values real value over the

implied.

It’s okay to spend a little money on yourself and enjoy your

success in a material sense. The problem comes in when you

unbalance yourself financially, which will in turn unbalance you

mentally and spiritually as you scramble to try to cover the

quicksand like downward spiral.

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Diddy

“Count your pennies.”

At first read you’re thinking “Diddy got jokes” but this is a

primo piece of game right here that many of us forget. Counting

your pennies means you won’t discount sources of income even if

they are not your main ones. Actively keep tabs on every money

route you’re involved with and as you progress, keep tabs on them

with even greater scrutiny because they built the foundation for

you to advance and honestly, every penny does count.

Another way to look at it is by counting your pennies; you

are consciously keeping yourself grounded. This in itself can be

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difficult to do when you’re seeing chips starting to roll in but

remember nobody likes a big head.

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Pharrell Williams

“Always be curious.”

You’d be surprised at just how many people aren’t.

They’ve given in, given up or given out, too exhausted by the

rigors of everyday life to entertain the idea of letting their mind

explore. The left side of the brain becomes so heavily used that the

logistics it provides goes on autopilot and the dream no longer is

deferred, but buried under car notes, daycare costs and egg shell

appeasements of their bosses. Even if you’re not the

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entrepreneurial type, find a part of your day each and every day to

let your mind wonder on things outside the norm.

Creativity is a healing of the soul that needs to be there;

without it, what separates us from the mechanical drones? Is there

something on the back burner that has been there forever? Try

tossing around ways to get that started. I promise it won’t hurt and

you’ll even be better for it. Find a nice quiet spot or lace up your

walking shoes and just GO. Unsheathe the inner child in your head

that would like nothing more than just to dream, just to create and

innovate. I can think of few things better for your health than that.

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J. Cole

“Have belief in yourself and put in

hard work.”
Simple words that have been quoted and re-quoted so many

times it would be impossible to count. What sets J.Cole apart from

everyone else who’s said something to that effect is how young he

is and just how much you believe him when he says it. Why? He’s

young, ambitious as hell and driven to deliver the best music he

possibly can. Those two thoughts, complete in themselves but

better together, make up the foundation that every good hustler that

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has walked God’s green Earth has used to catapult him or herself

skyward.

No one will believe in you more than you, end of story. No

one will work harder for you than you, again, end of story. If this

comes across as a repeating theme, good, because it needs to be as

solidly embedded in your subconscious as possible so that you will

never forget, not even for one moment, that working hard will bear

a positive fruit. Beyond a good result, doing both of these things

builds a failure proof way of thinking that will spur you to action

again and again.

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Tyrese Gibson

“Employees who hang with other

employees will only further their

career as employees. Learn to hang

with bosses and you will become one.”

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 We tend to seek out comfort in those like us when, like

Tyrese mentioned, we should be seeking out those in higher

stations than our own. Ass kissing isn’t necessary when you can

offer genuine insight or good company. Either way, being around

poor and broke minded people will yield no gold so look for ways

to better your circle at your first available opportunity.

I believe that Tyrese’s definition of a boss is similar to my

own; someone who understands the ebb and flow of the game and

is unwilling to get caught up in a negative tide. They would rather

wade in a pool that would allow them the freedom to do as they

want; nothing else will do and the same should go for you as well.

There is no reason to be around those that look towards the Earth;

not when there’s so much to gain in the sky.

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Lil’ Wayne

“School should not be optional but

mandatory. I don’t like unintelligent

people.”

Aside from the fact that school is somewhat mandatory,

Lil’ Wayne has a point with the disinterest in unintelligent people.

I believe he alludes to not those that are book or street smart but

world smart—understanding that the only true progression is

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within yourself and you can’t do that if you’re hanging on the

block all day, the blogs all day or in the Xbox multiplayer mode all

day. There has to be that intelligent spark within you that yearns

for something better even if you don’t know exactly what that

something is.

Unintelligent people do unintelligent things and the

harshest part of it is that they don’t care. They know that there are

rules to the game but they don’t care enough to implement them.

They don’t care enough to say, “Wayne’s in the studio all day long

learning how to make better music, as one of his entourage

members, maybe I could learn a skill that could bring a new

element to the table.” And you wonder why that dude from the St.

Lunatics got booted from the group. You don’t work, you don’t

eat. You don’t grind, you don’t shine.

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Chris Rock

“The difference between being rich

and being wealthy is the ballplayer

versus the owner.”

One of the few Jay-Z lines I remember went something like

this: “Fuck rich, let’s get wealthy/ Who else gon’ feed we?” You

see that, to me, sits in the same vein as the Chris Rock quote

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above. You’ll find a billion and one books, seminars and

motivational tools whose titles either begin or end with the word

‘rich’ and I don’t understand why anyone would want that flash in

the pan status. Big Tymers epitomized it for me with their album

Hoodrich; there’s no true staying power behind getting rich

because until you cross over to wealth, real wealth, you’re only a

few bills away from being back in the red.

The object of the game is to create a sustainable wealthy

attitude first, one or more profit centers (or as we like to call them

in the hood money routes) that will continuously cover your

expenses second, and lastly funnel the excess cash flow into a main

hustle that will put you over the top. Getting rich has no

infrastructure behind it to continue it later on. Wealthy does. See

the difference?

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Robert Greene

“Events in life are neither good nor

bad; they’re neutral.”

I’m sure you’ve heard people praying for fate to bless them

with good luck. Well, good luck on that. The same could be said of

whatever deity you subscribe to having enough time to place

his/her/it/their thumb(s) on your life and effect whether or not you

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have a good day. Superstition and centuries old unfounded belief

systems have taught us to praise when the favorable happens and

reconcile when the bad comes around.

To hustlers, there are only two periods in their lives that

makes any difference at all: the opportune and inopportune times.

The opportune times means that it is time to act and the

inopportune times call for a roundabout way to do the former and

still act. There is no “better time” to do what you need done; only

that the time for it to happen hasn’t yet approached fully. Good or

bad favor is irrelevant when you’re checking cheddar. If anything

at all, be wary of the karma you release.

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Will Smith

“Greatness lies on the edge of

destruction.”

I certainly hope that greatness comes before you self

destruct like 50 Cent but the sentiment behind the statement holds

water. My take on it is that you have to be willing, mentally,

physically and spiritually ready, to damn near exhaust yourself to

get where you want to be. Sometimes, it takes that. More often

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than not, it doesn’t. Still, that you’ve conditioned yourself to the

point where you’re okay with the ultimate sacrifice is something

within itself that must be commended, especially when you have

guys telling you that it takes less than five hours a week to get

there. I’ve never seen it happen that way but maybe I’m wrong.

As fatalistic as Will’s quote might come across, I see it as

the greatest sense of hope and optimism to your future because

win, lose or draw you’ve made peace with yourself and the end

result whatever it may be. Angling for a positive return on this

grand investment obviously is the goal but the secondary prize of

totally appreciating your efforts is nothing to sneeze at either.

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Master P

“You have to know your business and

be everywhere you need to be to be

effective in it.”

Knowing your Hustle as intimately as possible means that

you’re able to anticipate change; you’re at the forefront of your

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business, even if you’re not the industry leader. Think of yourself

as an independent artist even if you aren’t one. What angles must

be covered? What person in what position do you have to make

nice with in order to leap from your current plateau?

Being in the game and being effective in it are two different

things entirely and the latter is determined by how well you know

your thing. Hustle was my thing so I became a master student in it.

What’s yours? Better yet, what can you do right now to become

more effective today than you were yesterday? Those are the kinds

of thoughts that should be swimming in your head constantly.

There is no room at all to rest on your proverbial laurels; press

forward and like Master P said, be everywhere you need to be to

see the greatest return.

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Jason Geter

“Know your worth.”

This might just be my new favorite saying of all time. The

majority of people never actually know their worth so they trade it

for what others will pay for it.99% of the workforce in fact is made

up of people like this and to me it’s sad. It’s sad that they never

took the time to look within themselves to see what they’re really

amounting to. Not just in money, but in quality of life as well.

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 This is precisely why good enough is subpar. Perfection,

while very hard to attain, at least gives you something to shoot for.

Constantly redefining what you’re worth, year by year, will ensure

that you’re never on the lowball end of the stick. One year, you

may be worth $1M. The next, $1. Make your worth relevant to

your current needs and wants but be as objective as possible

because you are the last currency you want to inflate. Know your

worth.

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Ludacris

“If you don’t take [your business]

seriously, people have the right to

criticize. If you do, they don’t.”

Some might ask what right people have to criticize anyway.

I believe in this instance, Luda was referring to just basically

having your shit tight enough that others can’t pry a nail in it.
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That comes from being well versed in your Hustle, exercising a

“never learn enough” attitude and being humble.

We’ve seen it before: the guy who struts around bragging

and boasting is the one who unknowingly paints a giant red target

on his forehead. There’s no reason for that behavior and if you’re

serious about these duckets, you need to keep a lower profile than

normal because, as Snoop famously said, “the game is to be told,

not sold”. Being the buffoon talking all wild out the side of his

neck will get you zero respect.

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Fabolous

“Swag doesn’t pay the bills; better

turn your Hustle on!”

Although we’ve officially left the age of ‘swag’, the

sentiment is still very much true. There is far too much posturing

and posing in the game right now and that, more than anything

else, is what is getting cats caught up. It’s okay to spend some

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money on stuff that doesn’t matter; it makes us feel good about the

long hours spent to get there however if you aren’t handling your

financial business smartly, what the hell’s the point?

Pay your bills and taxes on time. Keep that damn credit

card at the crib and only spend a small percentage a month on

disposable happiness. I say this because the luxury taxes are just

that—taxing you something fierce. That 3 dollars you spend on

ATMs not tied to your bank adds up over time. Remember that.

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Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em

“If you weed out all the negative

thoughts and focus on what you want,

it doesn’t matter how old you are, you

will attain it.”

Negativity is the biggest killer of ambition anyone can

have. So potent are the thoughts that you could have a PROVEN

hustle that you second guess just on the strength of the negativity.
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It’s bad when you get it from friends, family and colleagues but

absolutely detrimental when it comes from inside your own head.

Looking at it analytically, there are two types of negativity that

come up most often: pre-failure negativity and post-failure

negativity.

With pre-failure negativity, you could be however long into

the process; just starting out or a couple feet from the goal line and

that heavy, dark weight will sit on your shoulders until you either

topple it from you by winning or you yourself fall. Post-failure

negativity comes from the thinking that you will either not succeed

the second time around or not be able to repeat the victory that

came before. In either case, I don’t care if you have to encase

yourself in a Kanye West like artistically arrogant bubble or

disassociate with those who would poke holes in your confidence,

whatever you have to do in order to keep pushing, do it. All that

can happen is they’ll understand or they won’t.

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Jas Prince

“’Wait’ broke the wagon.”

There’s a lot of emphasis on ‘waiting for the right moment’

when in Hustle, EVERY moment is the right moment for

something! Sure, there are times where a particular piece of the

game is in the pocket of someone else and you have to wait on

them to do something for you. Most of the time, if they themselves

understand the Hustle, they won’t be trying to hold you up and will

get to it as quickly as possible because they know how it feels

when it happens to them.

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 My thing is, there should always be some angle that you

can work right now to help push everything along. If there isn’t,

then you have a real problem that will also come with a quick

answer: either find someone else to do it faster, learn how to do it

yourself to a degree that you will see progress, or leave it as is and

work on option B. There should never be a discernable lull in your

movements. Ever.

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Floyd Mayweather

“If you’re bullshit, you’ll be at the

bottom with your kind.”

As blunt as that statement comes across, there’s a ton of

validity there. I almost see it as a double entendre of sorts; if

you’re bullshit about the way that you handle your business, you’ll

have none. Whether it is a lack of caring or an outright swindler’s

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tendency, being bad for business is the worst thing you can be

hands down. People understand being inexperienced as the natural

order of things dictate that before you walk, you have to crawl a

bit. No one is born with the game already thorough; it is up to you

to care enough to learn the ropes.

First you get into it, then you get effective, then you get

efficient. Those out for the fast buck by any means necessary are

the ones that become dream merchants eager to sell crap to the

dumbest bidder. Think of the guys who offer MLM pyramid

schemes and late night swap meet jewelry pseudo businesses.

They’re all grouped in together in the “hell no” section. The

second part of what Floyd’s saying to me is that if you’re bullshit

in your work ethic, you will be classified as unreliable and tossed

away into the pit of non-useful people.

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Ice-T

“If you loan money to a friend, expect

to lose one or the other.”

Money to me is like alcohol in that it acts as a gateway to

people’s truer selves. All day long people can tell you that they

love you and are down to beat the block—as long as there’s no

equity from them involved. It is when you introduce having to

match sweat or money that cats get real funny style, real fast. If
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money and time are the two gauges we use to evaluate everything,

being in the red on both because of someone else is a cut too deep.

In the literal sense, I hate loaning money to people a little

bit less than I hate asking for it, which is something I near flat out

refuse to do. You see, I don’t like knowing exactly how much

someone is worth and when they borrow an amount only to be

slow on paying me back or not paying me back at all, there’s only

two ways to handle it. Either they pay me back slowly with reason

(which I can understand, things do happen), or they pay me back

slowly without reason (which I never understand). In the case of

the latter, I will usually charge the debt to the game along with our

relationship and move on. That same amount, be it a dollar or a

dozen, determines to me just what worth they have and I rarely, if

ever, forget debt owed.

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Daymond John

“The status quo will get you nowhere.”

Truer words may not have ever been spoken. I talk a lot

about being average in hustle+harder and on my blog but the

language is universal: fence straddlers never get to where they aim

for because they never make a decision on the side they favor.

Doing just enough will get you just enough and in 2011 enough

just isn’t going to cut it. The status quo is no life to lead, especially

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considering that you only have about 70 years on this rock. Do

more, see more, be more than you were yesterday and reapply that

same tone of thought every day you wake up.

The reason I think for the majority of the mid-life crisis

cases we see stems from the unhappiness that people foster when

they aren’t following their ambitions. The new motorcycles, the

affairs, they’re all linked to this truth that we never see before us,

only in hindsight and it’s a shame. Seriously, never make do; do

make.

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50 Cent

“Who you know will put you on. What

you know will determine how long you

last.”

The only time you should be looking to get put on is in an

internship. Outside that, supply a product or service to either be

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bought, resold or cooperatively pushed. That’s it. Being in the

correct circles will take you to the point where your audience is

more influential than ever before. The time then is for you to use

the identity you have to make your own moves. Everyone loves a

good henchman but respects a good boss because of that same

idea. Be wise to the business and apply information you’ve learned

in and outside of it to further your cause.

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Birdman

“Never hold on to old money; find new

ways to flip it and make new money.”

This is the basis of bucket hustling; making chips using one

means and investing it into another. The problem with most is they

tend to blow the incoming profits on the things they want off top

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instead of making it work for them further. I’m not saying that you

shouldn’t have fun with your money however it shouldn’t be ALL

your money. You tithe the church right? Tithe yourself up to the

same amount you would them and let the rest of the cash go back

to work making you new cash. Diversifying your portfolio makes

sense to a degree in other ways too because by doing so, you’re

spreading the risk of losing out. Hustles get old and die; your job is

to not put all your eggs in one basket and lose it all.

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Dame Dash

“No one is better than anyone else at

anything. It’s just effort.”

Like I was saying earlier, we’re all born with a clean slate

and anyone can do anything if given the chance. It’s the effort that

separates the love from those that say they do it and definitely

something to take to heart is no matter your deficiency, if you want

it bad enough, you will find a way to compensate and make it

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work. There’s a thousand different ways to say it, only a few ways

to do it, and only one way to do it your way.

Some might call Dame a terrible businessman. He’s had

everything from record labels to film companies to clothing

operations and a large number of them weren’t as successful as his

initial go around with Roc-a-wear. I would call Dame an astute

one; not because of the successes—anyone can succeed. I think

highly of the guy’s Hustle for one reason only: he keeps trying.

And what powers his steam engine? It’s his love of the game and

his undying effort.

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Kanye West

“To be used is necessary. To not be

useful means you’re useless.”

There it is. Your goal in Hustle is to be useful enough to be

used by someone whether in your service or product. I actually get

pretty into this one in a chapter of my new book so I won’t bash

this against the dash here. What I will say is that there should never

be a time when you are not a commodity. Commodities are useful

all day long, all year long, and your profession? No matter what
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you do, it is customer service. And the customer is always right,

even if they’re badly wrong.

Sometimes I like to take a walk and as I pass people, I look

at different ways that I might be able to serve them. Can I make

something easier for them? Quicker? More interesting? Use that

right side of the brain, the creative side for a while and see what

you get.

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Dave Chappelle

“Name your price. If it ever gets more

expensive than that, get out.”

Besides the “working hard” ideology that gets put out there,

you’ll come across people saying that they’ll do whatever for the

dough, literally anything it requires to facilitate the success they

dream of. When you say that to yourself, does it sound okay? That

there is no real boundary of morality that holds you from doing the

same things you whisper about these other cats doing?

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 Naming your price means that no matter what the trend is,

no matter what super secret society there is, no matter what other

weird shit people are willing to do, you will not conform. Setting

your price before that makes the judgment calls a little easier

because you know yourself, what you’re capable of and what you

want to achieve. If it ever comes to the point where you have to do

something you’re not comfortable with, you can reject it. The

object of the game is to get where and what you want and still at

the end of the day be able to be satisfied when you look yourself in

the mirror.

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Michael Jordan

“Limits, like fears, are often illusions.”

Said from one of the most flyingest (I know it’s not a word,

sue me) cats to ever touch a basketball court. I’m pretty sure that

the idea of him NOT succeeding in a venture crossed his mind, like

most people, but unlike most people, it never resonated long

enough to make traction. A man who’s played basketball, baseball

and golf on a professional level, joined the owner’s box and

heralds one of the most profitable clothing companies ever is kind

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of like a big deal. Hell, I’d be surprised if he didn’t ask his staff on

the regular to come up with something he couldn’t possibly do,

only to get his fingers in on it.

You should never limit what you can do by what you can’t.

If you’re cognizant of it being ‘probable’, at the very least you

should view it as ‘possible’ from a less than involved standpoint.

From there, you research it until you know enough to get started. If

you can get started, you should change that ‘possible’ to an ‘able’.

You will never touch your goals if you never outstretch your arm.

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Jay-Z

“Focus on the process, not the result.”

When you focus more on the result than the process, you

get sloppy. Making a million dollars should never be the goal; I

know it wasn’t for Bill Gates when he worked his voodoo for

Microsoft. He wanted to create the world’s best computing

solution (another result) so he made sure that the processes he

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would go through to get there were thorough. His successes were

byproducts of his Hustle. The same applies to you.

The spoils will always be there. Let me say that again. The

winnings, earnings, dividends paid, golden chalice of immortality

and boundless prosperity was there before you came and will be

there after you take dirt nap. That’s precisely why working the

angles are more important than what you get out of it because you

begin to appreciate it more. Want to be a movie star? Learn how to

act and work the business. You being a fashion plate has so little to

do with it that it’s almost funny but somehow, people still think

that being beautiful alone is the key to that lock.

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Thanks
Thanks to everyone who purchased this eBook, you’re the
best in the world. Go get yours. Now. Be sure to check me out at
hustleharderblog.com!

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