Hustle Harder: CNN Analyzes Jay-Z’s Career + See What You Can Learn

CNN featured a pretty interesting article via CareerBuilder by Anthony Balderrama. Based off of Jay-Z’s professional career as a rapper and businessman, Balderrama provides five things the average Joe can learn from him (Jigga). Here are my three favorites summarized.

1. Market yourself. What Jay-Z did: “One of the other reasons Jay-Z decided to assemble that basketball team in the EBC? He knew it was great marketing.” What you can do: “Make sure you let your boss know when you perform well. Don’t brag, but forward any positive feedback you get from clients or colleagues. Don’t play meek;  impress them from the beginning.”

2. Know when to move. In 2003, and at the age of 34, Jay retired. Granted, he brought his a$$ back into the game, but still. What you can do:  “If you’re just going through the motions and the excitement and passion you once had are lacking, then don’t be afraid to look around.” Talk to your boss, find a new gig. If your job bores you, explore other options. Enough of just going through the motions!

3. Manage your private life. “Jay-Z and Beyoncé are basically music royalty, and when they began quietly dating, everybody wanted to know about it.” What all of us found interesting (and annoying) was the fact that they remained tight-lipped about their relationship and ultimately, their marriage. This is helpful to their career, because the outside world is forced to focus more on their work and less on their personal lives.  What you can do: You don’t need to keep your marriage a secret from your manager, unless you want to, but your weekend partying or marital bickering don’t belong at work. Keep your personal life, personal. Posting photos of social media sites that reflect you dancing on top of tables over the weekend, ain’t necessarily appropriate. Make your pages private and keep it movin’. Your professional reputation is at stake.

Read CNN’s full article here and see what else we can learn from Jay’s business game.