When I need extra motivation, I just lean back on my trusty bookshelf and any book on the top shelf is an encouraging self improvement winner. That’s where I rediscovered Russell Simmons DO YOU! 12 Laws to Access The Power in YOU to Achieve Happiness and Success. Have you read it before? Maybe you haven’t and maybe you have – regardless, it’s still good, reaffirming and uplifting information. Today I want to go back through the book and share the Law Number One to access the power in you to achieve happiness and success. Are you down for the 4-1-1? Great! Let’s peep the game of a game winner: Russell Simmons. And it goes a little something like this:

Pursue and execute knowledge whether or not you went to college.

Law #1:
See your vision and stick with it

Being an entrepreneur can be nerve-wracking, largely because there’s no by the book way to do it. Some people think they’ll get the blueprint at business school, but that degree alone definitely won’t guarantee success. In fact, out of all the degrees you can get, a business degree might be the least valuable.

Think about it — if you go to medical school, when you come out, you’ll know how to help sick people. Just like when you get out of law school, you’ll know how to sue people. But an MBA doesn’t mean you’ll have the skills to actually run a business. They probably don’t want to hear that up at Wharton or Harvard, but it’s the truth. And I’m a living example. I might run multimillion dollar companies, but I didn’t graduate from college, let alone get an MBA. I don’t know how to write a business plan. Truth is, I’ve never even read the ones I pay people with MBA’s to write for me. Now, don’t get me wrong — a business degree can open up a lot of doors for you. But it should always complement, instead of compensate for, an entrepreneurial spirit that’s born in your imagination. That’s because, in my experience, there’s only one thing that will always steer you toward success: That’s to have a vision and to stick with it.

“Degrees are helpful, but they won’t guarantee you success in the business world. 

Only faith and dedication to your vision can do that.”

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Once I have a vision for a new venture, I’m going to ride that vision until the wheels come off. There are always going to be bumps in the road, but I try not to let them faze me. In fact, my greatest successes started as visions that very few other people believed in. No one in the music industry, and I mean no one, believed in Def Jam Records at first. Just like how fifteen years later, no one thought a hip hop clothing company called Phat Fashions would be able to make it. But in both cases, I was able to ignore naysayers because my vision for those companies was so strong. And it’s not just me. From Microsoft to CNN to Roc-A-Fella Records, many successful businesses started as a vision in the mind of a dreamer. Of course we all have dreams. The difference is that Bill Gates, Ted Turner, Jay-Z and Dame Dash believed in their dreams so strongly that they refused to quit until those dreams became reality. Those guys didn’t win because they had an MBA, or wrote the best business plan, or read The Wall Street Journal with their coffee every morning. They won because they had the strongest visions. I’m not going to make too many absolute statements in this book, but I will promise you that following your vision will always lead to success.

When sailors used to get lost in a storm, they’d always look to the North Star for guidance. They could use that star to help them get their bearings because it never moved in the sky. You have to use your vision the same way. Whenever you face obstacles or hurdles in life, look to your vision. As long as you’ve frozen it in your mind and it never moves, you’ll know which direction to go in. As long as you never lose sight of your vision,l you’ll never lose sight of success either. [page 13-14]

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Don’t ever lose sight of your vision.
Don’t ever look away and put it in remission.

Stay focused like Jay-Z, or Stacey’s cousin Dame.
Always be guilty of moving forward to build your own thang.

Russell Simmons isn’t a college graduate nor does he have an MBA.
Does any of that matter, when his clothing like is PHAT’er and his big money is made?

Imagination is everything. Even Albert Einstein was quoted saying so.
Thus when it comes to making your mark – follow your vision, YO!

Life is to be lived and the more rewarding the better,
I’m Qui
Happy Hump Day to thee – Let us always be go-getters.

Russell said to do it and I believe him, YO!
This is only the first excerpt, I will follow up with mo’.

In the meantime,
follow your vision and shine!

DO YOU!