This is part 2 of a 12 part series on the art of making money, a fast paced system for the guerrilla entrepreneur.
"When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose" Bob Dylan (Like A Rolling Stone)
Indisputably, Michael Jackson remains one of the top grossing and most influential pop artists of all time. The mercurial and controversial businessman made billions of dollars in his lifetime. Now postmortem he is on his way to making even more. Despite his untimely death, Jackson has a new record and 3-d hologram which may soon be in a city near you.
In his book Untouchable: The Strange Life and Tragic Death of Michael Jackson biographer Randall Sullivan argued that Jackson's finances at the time of his death may been a disaster (to put it mildly). But Michael Jackson was a money making genius.
Jackson often described his creative process as recovering something that already existed. How could the rest of us apply Jackson's philosophy to our own lives? How can we crack the DNA code of Jackson's creative process and artistry to make it our own?
1.Start from zero.
Start from zero. Great artists, business people and great thinkers alike come into greatness when they let go of their existing beliefs and start from zero. Your current set of beliefs is what keeps you where you are. To reach greatness you need to break out. To break out you need a clean slate. The foundation of all great creativity is a blank slate.
2.Thrive in chaos.
You can't master surfing by reading books. You have to jump in the waves and get wet. The waves are chaotic. Chaos gives you focus. When there is an overwhelming amount of noise you have no choice but to do the essential. Achievers master this. There is no rhyme or reason to how the waves break but there is a rhythm. Michael was a master of this rhythm. An essential quality of a guerilla entrepreneur is the ability to thrive on Chaos.
3. Get no satisfaction.
"I'm never pleased with anything, I'm a perfectionist, it's part of who I am." Michael Jackson said. Olympic runners never aim for the finish line. They aim for an area well beyond the finish line. Similarly a consistent quality of top achievers is constant dissatisfaction and continual improvement. As a top achiever, you are never done.
When I started my first company making Herbal Ecstasy I was 16. Everything I owned fit into a small back pack. I was fearless, bold and didn't care what others thought. I didn't know I could loose. I had no choice but to win. In less than 6 months I had taken my company from nothing to $350,000,000 a year.
Daily, I am reminded that it is this fearlessness and disregard for outcomes that allows the achiever to focus on what matters: the work and the result. It is this detachment that leads to ultimate success. Michael Jackson knew this. In my opinion you can see it not only in his great body of work but in every great artist and business person.