Great Diversification Move or infringing On a Moment?

I’ll kick myself later for contributing to the algorithms, because I usually don't chime in on pop culture items. But I feel a case study, or rather an observation in my spirit today.

Beyonce. She has done it again. I don’t know whether to be mad or impressed. The businesswoman in me is a little impressed because once again, she has launched another thing in her ever-growing diversified business portfolio. I won’t be mad at her for that. You have people arguing that she keeps seemingly dropping these things that make no sense for her brand.

As a businesswoman, I believe in diversification. I never believed too firmly about having businesses that only reflect who you are as a person. It can work for some, but when you’re making big money plays that doesn’t matter. Sometimes you have to change course a little. Everyone was up in arms about Dereon talking about “she’s not a designer”, forgetting that Mama Tina was. So it made sense to me. It failed, but so what. Businesses fail.

People were not as up in arms about her perfume, I don’t think. So I’ll leave that alone. Then people were in a frenzy, yes frenzy, about her hair care line. Lord help me. The is it live or is it memorex debates about the woman’s hair grated my nerves. Again, Mama Tina was a hair salon owner and styllist. And whether Beyonce had good hair or worse wigs was not the point. It was a business move. People bought it, which is all that mattered. If you have to argue or complain about price points, these products clearly are no for you. Hermes and Chanel aren’t adjusting their prices to fit the masses. This was a business decision she made to expand her portfolio.

Now we have the brown liquor line. OK, a bit out of left field. But is it really? I don’t know what she drinks in her down time. Maybe Jay Z drinks it. I don’t know, not my business. But what I do know is she took the opportunity to once again expand her product line. Kudos to her. Either buy it or don’t. I don’t see why people are all up in arms about a woman, a celebrity who CAN AFFORD TO start multiple business lines to secure her children’s future. Because look. Even if those clothes, perfume, hair products and this liquor end up in the clearance bin, she still made money, even if only minimally. Her fanbase will buy so she doesn’t need the rest of you to buy.

I'm not a marketer, but to be fair let me add this. From a different vantage point, this could be viewed as an excellent moment to tie into a world event that could boost the brand even further. What better way to introduce a new product? Beyonce gave permission to use her song. She's given the nod so to speak to Harris-Walz 2024. They're indebted to her because the song is strong and makes a clear point that resonates with the campaign and the people. It IS her IP to license out as she sees fit. So piggy-backing on the DNC to launch her product makes sense. I mean I don't know about the liquor part, but I'm open-minded. It can be seen in the business world as an excellent strategic marketing move to further propel a brand. ????♀?

Some people wrongly view her businesses through a tiny scope filtered for hustle culture. It's something who are not in business, never will be in business, tend to do when they have a loud opinion about everything. I see it all the time. “You can’t do hair in your basement, cut people’s grass, makes clothes, sell plates and bundles out your kitchen, and sell life insurance and say you have multiple ‘businesses’. You’re not a REAL business person, just a hustler”. As bootlegged as this sounds, those are the people with hustle who most times find their way to success. Yet most average people will clown them. Everyone doesn’t have Beyonce money. This myopic way of thinking is why a lot of people stay broke or firmly entrenched in working for someone else, while criticizing from the bleachers. But you can’t use that same logic for what Beyonce is doing. It’s a different circumstance altogether because she's a celebrity and she has massive wealth. She's not your cousin.

It does bring me to an interesting question. Why do we, society, look down on people with multiple enterprises and claim they're "doing too much", when they should be celebrated for going all out to secure their family's wealth and legacy? And because it happens to be a celebrity, are they not entitled to secure their family legacy like the rest of us (hopefully) are trying to do?

Now let’s pivot to a personal, every day person point of view. What irritates me is how she chooses to deliberately co-op moments and occasions that are someone else’s to say “hey, whoohooooo, look at me” to steal some thunder. This moment in this period is Kamala Harris’ moment. It was a bit tone deaf. I watched her do it with the Superbowl. Her people love to find an in and sneak in some Beyonce moment. At first it was like oh ok girl, do your thing. Now it reads spoiled rich celebrity. I don’t care if the BeyHive gets upset. This is my opinion, to which I am entitled. She could have waited until later or even before to drop. Yes, she authorized the use of her song for this DNC and the campaign. But it looks like there were strings attached. It’s giving “Yeah you can use it, my IP, but I reserve the right to ride in and chime in whenever I want”. That’s not cool to me.

I want to see Beyonce continue to get all the bag. I want to see her keep pushing herself to diversify because 1) it’s her right, 2) she can afford it, 3) it’s her money, and 4) BECAUSE SHE CAN. She makes Mogul Moves, and I’m not mad at her for that. Just stop infringing on other people’s moments. I do wish her success in her ventures. She is definitely a business case study in action. I hope you’re paying attention. This is the last post from me about what this woman is doing with her own grown up business.???