Entrepreneur Feature: Nipsey Hussle

Being all about the perseverance and supporting his community Nipsey Hussle is a significant influence for many up and coming entrepreneurs and hustlers. 

Nipsey Hussle journey

Nipsey started his entrepreneurial journey from a young age selling cannabis near the local gas station. Nipsey then transitions on to set up a table on the sidewalk selling various more legal items at the time.

He could find an arbitrage in the market and capitalizing on it.

(Nipsey would also sell clothing out of his car trunk.)

Although cops were not too fond of Nipsey’s willingness to do better for his community, he wanted to build the community through the businesses that he started. 

Slauson Ave- His T-shirt company

After the cops told him he needed to get a brick and mortar or place to lease, he did just that lease a place he started to run a T-shirt company Slauson ave making a nontraditional brick and mortar business after getting kicked off the curb from selling off his table. His focus was on building people up, hiring ex-felons, and others who are misjudged by society. 

He documented this in his music, sharing his story with the world and how he stays so positive and uplifting in the process Nipsey was all about making his dreams come true even if he had to do all the work everything from CEO to sweeping floors he would do it all.

We can all learn from Nipsey Hussle

  1. Persistence, for most young entrepreneurs, this can be challenging receiving judgment from other friends and family. Staying focused on your vision and passion, making the world a better place, providing opportunities for those who never had any or got into a dark spot in life.
  2. Community, with all the networking platforms we have today, we can create many virtual communities allowing us to share ideas. Nipsey took this to a whole new level, empowering not just people in his local community. Marathon Clothing, what is now a global clothing brand, it stands for the hustle and grind of life its long journey but more so finding a purpose and chasing it even if you feel everything is holding you back.
  3. Innovation, many may not know, but Nipsey was deeply innovative and future-focused. He was very interested in tech. He even implemented tags on his clothing linking to videos that play through AR, connecting easier with the fans and allowing for exclusive content.
  4. Passion, by definition, is a feeling of intense enthusiasm towards or compelling desire for someone or something. I believe Nipsey had both a deep passion along with love for people and music. He developed a major part of his neighbourhood into a more profitable area for everyone, bring people from all around the world to come to see his store, but also they get exposed to other local shops.

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