Zack O’Malley Greenburg is the author of five books, including the Jay-Z biography Empire State of Mind. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and Forbes, where he spent a decade as senior editor of media & entertainment. Subscribe to his entrepreneur-focused newsletter at Zogblog.com.
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Guest Resources
Zack O’Malley Greenburg – Check out Zack’s website and find all his books.
3 Value Bombs
1) You learn more from losing than from winning. Some of the best decisions are forge in the fires of failure.
2) It’s the idea of manifesting success, you have to think that you are going to win in order to win.
3) Build your own thing if nobody is opening a door for you.
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Author100: A 100-day program where I will personally guide you 1-on-1 to create, write, publish and market your book! If you want daily guidance and mentorship from me, JLD, then head over to Author100.com to sign up for a free call to chat about the details!
Show Notes
**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.
Today’s Audio MASTERCLASS: Jay-Z’s Business Secrets
[1:12] – Zack shares something that he believes about becoming successful that most people disagree with.
- You learn more from losing than from winning. Some of the best decisions are forge in the fires of failure.
[2:10] – Zack talks about the quote from Jay Z: “$1 million worth of game for $9.99”-The Jay-Z blueprint.
- Jay-Z is unique in music in that he dispenses personal finance and business advice through his lyrics. Its about what is the value proposition you get from what you are hearing or consuming and getting more from what you paid for.
- What Jay-Z does is he wants those who are listening to his music be smarter and that is something that they should be after when he is releasing his album or product.
[4:17] – Zack talks about another Jay-Z quote. “I will not lose, ever”-The business of victory.
- He first wrote the book “The Empire State of Mind” in 2010 and its about building an empire.
- Jay-Z always publicized about the winnings and never talked about the losing. His idea of The business of victory, everything that he did for the first decade of his career was talking about his successes. He manifested it even he did lose in some, his idea is he is unstoppable in the long run. And true enough when you chart his progress from 1996, year after year it’s a transition from mainstream music to business world. A millionaire to a billionaire.
- It’s the idea of manifesting success, you have to think that you are going to win in order to win.
[7:08] – Zack talks about another quote “You over, baby”-Punching above your weight.
- This song came out a decade ago when he was going to the business of being a sports agent. Yankee base Robinson Cano becomes a free agent and ditched Scott Boras, the number 1 baseball agent in the world tp go and sign with Jay-Z and his Rock Nation sports outfit.
- Scott Boras took the bait in Jay-Z’s songs and it immediately put Jay-Z in the same level of Scott Boras.
- The lesson in punching above your weight is if you can engage in the leaders in that area, even in a not positive interaction, it will establish you as being in the same footing as them and that is a win for you.
[9:45] – A timeout to thank our sponsor!
- Author100: A 100-day program where I will personally guide you 1-on-1 to create, write, publish and market your book! If you want daily guidance and mentorship from me, JLD, then head over to Author100.com to sign up for a free call to chat about the details!
[12:30] – Zack talks about another Jay Z quote. “We don’t lease, we buy the whole car”-Owning your destiny.
- It is in his first album in 1996 and it is a throw away line of how he operates. Jay-Z thoughts eversince is you have to own what you are doing. From the very beginning, he owns his record label, he gets his own clothing line. It’s a product of necessity and Jay-Z created his pwn and rapped about it.
- Not everybody has a platform like that but the point is when you can invest in yourself, own your own car, house, build equity that way rather than throwing away money renting or leasing.
[14:09] – Zack talks about A loss ain’t a loss, it’s a lesson”-Growing from setbacks”.
- You learn more from losing than from winning.
- As Jay-Z’s career went on and getting married to Beyonce and becoming a father, he become more reflective. He becomes a philosopher king and he’s been willing to admit losing and growing from setbacks.
- We can’t control who consumes our product. When he receive a racist comment from Cristal, a famous brand of champagne, he bought a French champagne that has been dormant and featured it in his videos. He revived it and put a different logo in it and it become a $300 bottle which is now known as Armand de Brignac, an incredible brand worth 100 of billions of dollars.
- Build your own thing if nobody is opening a door for you.
[19:06] – Zack talks about another Jay Z quote. “History, you’re ours”-Building a legacy.
- That is from the song “History”which is not very known.
- Its about building a legacy from your success because you can’t take your money with you when you die.
- Jay-Z is focused on breaking down barriers. Throughout his career, you will see that he is building upon building towards not just being a celebrity or vanity but actually being a majority and plurarity. He become the first black who owns anf NFL sports team which is a huge thing for his legacy and for the kids who are watching him growing up not just to be a rapper but an entrepreneur.
- Today, he is worth $3 Billion.
[22:39] – Call to action.
- Zack O’Malley Greenburg – Check out Zack’s website and find all his books.
[22:15] – Thank you to our Sponsor!
- Author100: A 100-day program where I will personally guide you 1-on-1 to create, write, publish and market your book! If you want daily guidance and mentorship from me, JLD, then head over to Author100.com to sign up for a free call to chat about the details!
Killer Resources!
1) The Common Path to Uncommon Success: JLD’s 1st traditionally published book! Over 3000 interviews with the world’s most successful Entrepreneurs compiled into a 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment!
2) Free Podcast Course: Learn from JLD how to create and launch your podcast!
3) Podcasters’ Paradise: The #1 podcasting community in the world!
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