After watching interviews that Soulja Boy had this week, there are a few things that he stated that I think we all could learn from. I may not agree with every comment or his delivery, but there are two main points that I think we all could all take away.
You have to be your own biggest fan. Often times we all downplay our accomplishments and hope that other people give us the credit or ensure that people know what we’ve done - but that shouldn't be the case. Women, especially black women, often times downplay what we have done while a man will quickly boost and let others know. In my own experiences, I have done and heard other women say “we” completed this when it was an independent venture. We will say, “the group has been able to accomplish” when it was something that we found and spent hours doing. Soulja Boy may be exaggerating the truth or it all may be facts, but what I can say is that we all should take a page from his book and let others know that it was our thoughts, ideas, and work that got us here.
The second thing Soulja Boy has done that we all should do is to have multiple streams of income. During this interview, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd9ZNYV8NZk, he was asked: “why do you have so many businesses?” - as if that is a bad thing. The little-minded interviewers made it seem as if that was a bad thing and that he should focus all of his energy into one area. I don’t think the interviewers realized how ignorant they sound or how it would have been perceived by the public, but this just shows that we need to do better. Having multiple streams of income is giving you security. In the event that one area does not work out, you have back up plans. You have another source to depend on. For him to be picked on for having that is insane. This is something that billionaires have stated as the key to success, we’ve seen A+ celebrities doing this, we’ve seen average white men doing this but once a young black man states that he is going to do the same thing, we are quick to judge. Regardless of if we agree with how much money Soulja Boy states he is bringing in or if we agree with the industries that he is working in, the point is that he is investing his energy, time, and money into several places to ensure that his finances are set up for the future.
There were a lot of antics and distractions during these interviews that may have watered down the main points but when you sit down and think about the message he was trying to give out, its something that we should all take into consideration.
Be your biggest fan and take credit and pride into the work you’ve accomplished. No one is ever going to support you as you support you.
We often spread ourselves thin when it comes to other things in life, but we hardly ever make it a practice to ensure that we have multiple streams of income. It can be starting a side hustle, getting a part-time job, putting your crafts on Etsy, Youtube’ing, or whatever else you can think of. You should ensure that you have other seeds that can help grow that money tree.
Love, Brown Girl
“It's not bragging if you can back it up” - Muhammad Ali