Artists Are You Grinding Hard Enough To Become Successful?

Being in the music business and owning my own music media company, I’m often asked by artists “How long will it take for me to make it?” I always tell them that there is no set amount of years for when an artist begins to see success, but I always tell them that don’t expect less than five years. And that is just a modest time frame. It usually takes a lot longer than that. There is no successful artist in the music industry that has made it five years or less. Usually when I say that I see the artist’s face soften from a smile to a semi frown.

The reason for their disappointment is that they see artist on tv with the big houses, fast cars, beautiful women, iced out jewelry, and lots of money and think that those things were attained very quickly. This is far from the truth. Rappers may sport the easy life on tv but they have worked extremely hard to get to where they’re at right now, and also have to work extremely harder to stay on top.

What you don’t see is the long hours artists spend in the studio, the months they spend on tour away from their loving family, the short hours of sleep, the waking up early, the daily meeting and interviews etc. It’s a constant grind to be on top nothing is easy. Success is only attained by those who work hard for it; there is no quick and easy way to success. You have to grind and want success as bad as you want to breathe.

As a music media owner I study the background of different artists and how they became successful. An artist who is doing extremely well right now is French Montana. A lot of youth look at him and think his success came easy, but little do they know that he put out 15 mixtapes and several street life dvd’s (Cocaine City) before he blew up. Now he’s signed to Bad Boy Records, doing songs with major rappers, selling record, and making a lot of money. But he had to grind non-stop to get to where he is now.

Another rapper’s story that’s inspirational is Big Sean, I suggest you go online and read it. His grind was just as hard as French Montana’s; it took him over 12 years to make it to the position where he’s at right now. 12 years is a really long time! Did he ever think of giving up? Yeah sure, he probably did, but he stuck it out and because of it he’s living out his dream. Too many up and coming rappers and producers want success but don’t want to work hard for it.

They want success but don’t want it bad enough. They want success but their motivation to achieve it is always short lived. I remember 50 cent was asked in an interview a few years ago when does he sleep. The interview asked this question because 50 cent at the time was so busy with shooting a movie, doing the soundtrack for the movie, debuting the release his energy drink, and also working on some music for his own album. 50 cent looked at the interviewer and said “Sleep? Nah I don’t sleep. Sleep is for those people who are poor! I have an opportunity to make something of my self and I take it very seriously.” WOW!!!

What about you? How is your grind? If you’re not in the position you want to be in life why is that? Are you grinding hard enough or are you just “half assin’” it trying to persuade yourself that you’re working hard to achieve your goals? How many hours of sleep do you get? If you said 6, 7, 8 or more hours then you don’t deserve success!

Successful people sleep 5 hours or less! Less sleep gives you a head start over your competition. While the poor is getting beauty sleep, the rich is up at 4am already starting their day. Always remember this; your success is contingent upon how hard you persistently grind. You have to grind ‘til you hurt and bags start to show under your eyes. You have to learn to do what your competitors aren’t willing to do in order to have an edge over them. You have to put in major work to see major results. You have to grind harder today than you did yesterday, and grind harder tomorrow than you did today in order to get a head.

Grind without complaining! Grind knowing that in a couple of years the fruit of your labor will start to show. Grind with your whole being! Fuck sleep…sleep is for suckas! Success is always yours for the taking, the question is HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT?

Written By: Jay Brown