Notorious B.I.G.'s Ten Crack Commandments - Business Rules to Live By

I love hip hop. I danced throughout high school on my hip hop dance team, I take Zumba classes when I can. I wrote this article after reading a similar story about business advice taken from 50 Cent (who is now in the middle of bankruptcy). First off, the Notorious B.I.G. paved the way for someone like 50 Cent to even become popular. His hard work and dedication to not let his horrible surroundings dictate who he became is inspirational. No, I'm not condoning the sale of drugs, I'm admiring that though he lacked a significant education, the Notorious B.I.G. was an amazing entrepreneur, even before that word became popular. He's a self taught, genius, millionaire who took the hard lessons he learned from the streets and turned it into what I consider beautiful art. It shows that although a college degree is important, street smarts, adaptability, and hard work CAN pay off, you just have to keep up that hustle. Like Tupac, Biggie's life was taken much too soon, and they'll always be missed by many adoring fans. Their music speaks to many of us that have struggled simply to get by and it gives us hope that we can also change our current situation, with some hard work and a bit of luck. I just find it amazing that these are lessons he was passing down in the late nineties, yet business owners, employers and employees still sometimes have no clue how to run a successful business, or how valuable these lessons really are to maintaining a profitable business.

'Rule nombre uno: never let no one know how much,
dough you hold, cause you know
The cheddar breed jealousy 'specially
if that man f*d up, get your ass stuck up'

In business you never want anyone to know exactly how much money you make (or have). Other employees can hold it against you, they can think it's unfair. Making more money than someone breeds jealousy, especially if they think they're doing the same amount of work as you, but not getting paid as much (even if they don't realize half the work you do). It makes you a target. Also, in negotiations, you never want to come in at full asking price. You never want to make yourself seem too eager for the deal, you want to solidify any negotiations by compromising as much as you can down the middle. If you let someone know the highest amount you're willing to bid right off the bat, or how excited you are to close the deal, you lose the power in the negotiations. And then you'll never know if you would've been able to get them down to a lower offer.

'Number two: never let em know your next move
Don't you know Bad Boys move in silence or violence
Take it from your highness (uh-huh)
I done squeezed mad clips at these cats for they bricks and chips'

You always need to be able to be reached, obviously. But for me, Biggie is not implying that people shouldn't know where you are at all times, instead he's cautioning that you should keep your business decisions to yourself. You should make deals privately and not announce them until all paperwork is approved and signed, confidentiality clause as well. Business is super competitive. It's why Apple and other companies take a LOT of time and effort to ensure photos of new prototypes aren't leaked and that all information they put out is very tightly controlled. For instance, until you have a patent, your intellectual property is not safe guarded and someone with less than noble intentions and a bit more money can come along, steal it and claim it as theirs. If you're in the middle of a business deal and you tell the wrong person you're plans, they can jump in and take away your client, by possibly offering a slightly lesser fee or commission percentage. As I said business is competitive and the best way to combat most of that competitiveness is keeping your business dealings as private as possible.

'Number three: never trust no-bo-dy
Your moms'll set that ass up, properly gassed up
Hoodie to mask up, sh*t, for that fast buck
she be layin in the bushes to light that ass'

Now unlike in the streets, most of us don't have to worry about being robbed at gunpoint by a pissed off employee. But it's also hard to know who to trust. It's hard to know who you can tell things to and who is only looking out for themselves. So my best advice is treat everyone with kindness, but maintain a professional distance. Unless you and a coworker really hit it off, and you know without a doubt they're trustworthy, sometimes the dollar speaks to people more than being a true friend does. And sometimes it's the people you least expect who turn out to stab you in the back. I'm not saying be overly paranoid, but just know that oversharing with the wrong person may put you in an awkward predicament. Complaining about how much you make, or how much you hate your job, people less than trustworthy will take these moments to cut you down, to try and destroy your credibility so they can have your position, or come out looking better than you. Even if you hate your job, you're lucky to be gainfully employed, so keep the complaints to your family and friends in your home life. You just don't know how much you can trust the people you work with because no matter how compassionate or kind someone is, everyone wants what's best for themselves at the end of the day.

'Number four: know you heard this before
Never get high, on your own supply'

Now this is one of the only rules I don't agree with (in the context of my writing). When you have a new product, you want to try it, you want to wear it, you want to learn all you can about it because the more excited you are about the product, the easier it will be to sell. The more you know, the quicker you can answer questions, the more impressed the buyer will be. If you're looking to branch out, be very careful what you let into your brand, as keeping up a brand's image is very important. Poor quality and bad craftsmanship are not something you want associated with your brand. So it pays to constantly monitor what people send out as a part of your brand, to be as hands on as possible in all areas of your business. You can't expect others to care about your brand's quality more than you do. Even if you're in more of a customer service oriented role, you want to treat people how you want to be treated. There's nothing worse than being exasperated, calling for help, and talking to the rudest person available. You are a representative of your company, and you want to show pride in that, by either always wearing your own products and giving them out freely to friends and family (because word of mouth is great, free advertising), or by just doing the best at the role you're given, because you appreciate the company you work for, and the harder you work the more likely you'll be to succeed.

'Number five: never sell no crack where you rest at
I don't care if they want a ounce, tell em bounce'

Basically, don't sh*t where you eat. Don't have office affairs and expect it to not get around, don't act unprofessional (even if others are), as you need to hold yourself to a higher standard if you want to work your way up and become as successful as possible. Don't do stupid things in your personal life either, that may end up being held against you, simply because if you truly want to be successful, you want to consistently appear to be a winner, to consistently seem as if you easily have the upper hand. You don't want negative rumors or false information being spread, and the best way to combat this is keeping yourself composed and dignified at work, being very careful what you post to social media and who can see it, as you don't want a ten year old picture of your fraternity days coming back to haunt you. Never let them see you sweat. Have your fun, but don't do it in places you may run into coworkers, unless you fully trust them. So many politicians, religious leaders, famous men and women are sometimes all brought to their knees when something they buried deep in their past comes crawling out to ruin their lives. It's just so hard to ensure things stay private anymore, that unfortunately unless you're around people you can fully trust, embarrassing details may come to light and cost you everything. One phone camera picture of you in a compromising position, and say goodbye to the years of credibility you've built and the brand identity you've worked so hard at maintaining.

'Number six: that god damn credit, dead it
You think a crackhead payin you back, sh*t forget it'

This is two sided in business. First, I've seen companies in so much debt, that there's no way they're ever going to dig themselves out. They keep adding and adding debt to their company, when if your company isn't making a profit by its first year (or so), it's probably not the right business for you, or your target audience. People (or companies) will give even the most neediest of us loans, but that doesn't mean it's a good offer, and usually these cash quickly deals come with VERY high financing, and before you realize it, there's no light at the end of the debt tunnel. Also, be careful who you give loans out to. As I'll address in a later section, it's not a good idea to mix family and friends with money or business. Coworkers either. You don't want to ruin a long lasting relationship because you're insulted they asked to borrow money, and they're insulted because you said no. Or vice versa. Asking for money is hard for someone, just as saying no is. As much as you probably want to help someone, if you have the means and it won't hurt you financially and you feel secure with the lendee, that's one thing. But if you're being pressured by a friend or loved one, simply explain that you just don't want to mix business and pleasure, but you'll do everything you can to help them find some financial help. Don't dismiss their plea completely, as you never know when you might be in a similar situation, and you'd want friends and family to help you find decent ways to get credit or loans, to just stay afloat.

'Seven: this rule is so underrated
Keep your family and business completely separated'

As I started saying above, family and business don't mix well. Unless you have the perfect family (and who does), there are underlying, unresolved issues you all bring into work with you everyday. You might not notice it's hurting your business, but if it's not, it soon will. Also, other employees may look at a family member constantly receiving promotions they really don't deserve, and this can discourage your entire workforce. The people that work the hardest take pride in their work and want to be successful, which is why they work longer and harder. If I knew I was with a company with no advancement opportunities, I probably wouldn't be as inspired to work as hard. Of course we want to strive to do well in all we do, but we also want to be acknowledged and hopefully, promoted for consistently doing more than what was just necessary. Also, it's hard to fire or discipline family. And that can upset employees as well, that there's someone not doing their job up to par, however, they stay there taking up time and energy and resources (not to mention money) because it's a hassle to fire family. Then you have more members of your family mad at you for firing the family member, regardless of their poor work performance, and before you know it, not only is your business in turmoil but your family won't speak to you either. Better to just try your best not to mix the two to begin with, as Biggie brilliantly made perfectly clear.

'Number eight: never keep no weight on you
Them cats that squeeze your guns can hold jobs too'

Meaning (in business terms), we're all replaceable. Unless you strive to create a specialized niche for yourself in a company, there will always be more salespeople looking for a job, more marketers, etc. Younger professionals, fresh from college, and hungry to start work, ready and willing to fill your position. Unless you create your own specialty, something you do better than anyone else at your company, the position you're in today could easily go to someone else. Being good enough is not being extraordinary. Just barely getting your work done is not flourishing under pressure. You need to go above and beyond the call of what's necessary because today's job market is very competitive. People are even looking at more innovative ways to create and send resumes. You have to stand out, you have to constantly remind people what you bring to the table (without bragging) so they understand the work you're doing, and how it might be difficult to find someone else to fill in, especially without specialized training. Things like taking training classes online you can add to your resume, even learning a new language, if you possess a skill that's in high demand, you have a much better shot at becoming successful, of even getting your foot in the door. If you aren't doing anything special or extraordinary for your company, there are many eager people waiting to take your place. Make yourself indispensable.

'Number nine shoulda been number one to me
If you ain't gettin bags stay the f**k from police (uh-huh)
If *z think you snitchin ain't tryin listen
They be sittin in your kitchen, waitin to start hittin'

Basically, I worked at an office that prided itself on allowing employees to thank certain co workers that went out of their way to help the original employee solve a problem or calm a customer down. That's a great idea. However, on a more sneaker side, in the same application where you could nominate someone for an award, you could also tell (anonymously) on your fellow employees, for whatever reason. Funny how they were so quick to bring up the team camaraderie building exercise, however they failed to really mention this system of backstabbing they had in place. First, just because someone reports someone for something doesn't make it the absolute truth. And if someone made an error, why not go to that person and say hey, can you fix this, or change this etc? Feeding into paranoia that's already in a workplace because people don't know who they can trust, by implementing a system where you encourage people to tell on each other anonymously does not inspire team building. In fact it's highly destructive to team building, as it was a small office and it was very clear who would "tattle" on who. Yes, in business we need to hold people accountable, if they're not making their quotas or hitting their numbers. But you lose credibility running to higher ups every time you have a problem. In a professional setting, speaking to someone calmly and clearly, just to explain your concerns while admitting that you're just bringing it to their attention so they can fix and learn from their mistake before you go to the boss, will inspire some loyalty (which you can always use to your benefit) and will probably make someone much more likely to try harder than if they're randomly called into an office, no idea what to expect, and they're told one of their co workers randomly disagrees with the way something was handled. We're adults in business, we should be able to communicate clearly and effectively and we should not, unless the employee is creating a significant problem, run behind fellow employees' backs to upper management to try and ruin someone's career. As I said, people have many motive for doing what they do, and in business many of the motives unfortunately aren't 100% pure.

'Number ten: a strong word called consignment
Strictly for live men, not for freshmen
If you ain't got the clientele say hell no
Cause they gon want they money rain sleet hail snow'

If you can't afford it don't buy it, if you can't afford payments and high financing don't buy it. We all (well, most) want to live luxuriously. We have a desperate need to keep up with the Joneses, and we start getting deeper and deeper into debt, thinking 'I'll pay that off another time.' Not only is this terrible to do in your personal life, but it's illegal to do at work. For instance taking money out that isn't yours, replacing it with someone else's money, then you wind up in a real bind when that person calls for their money and they slowly realize you've robbed Paul to pay Tim, and basically bankrupted your company and you've also taken from people who trusted you to keep their money safe. We as humans can be greedy, especially if we're going through a rough patch. These 'make easy money from home' ads and MLM marketing schemes that have steadily become more well known as social media grows much more popular, makes people really start to believe you can get rich quick. Either by a shameless selfie shot gone viral or quick money, you just have to pay a 'small fee' to join and 'start earning income beyond your wildest dreams'. But unless you win the lottery (highly unlikely!), nothing you do is going to get you rich quickly. It takes work and time and effort and energy. It takes finding the right people to work with when starting your company or brand. No one gets to be a millionaire within a week of a new business opening (unless you have SharkTank type investors). Unfortunately, for many of us, it's takes us a few fails to find our true path in life. But facing adversity makes you fierce, makes you strong, it makes you ready for just about anything anyone throws your way.