Lincoln Crum

By Lincoln  Crum

One of the people I admire so much these days is the hip hop star, music executive, and social entrepreneur Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter.  Jay-Z has worked tirelessly in building a brand of “him.”  The elements that stand out to me is his ability to build a brand around his artistic talents, which equate into business deals and creative allegiances with other brands.

There are “brands” out there today who are centered only around someones popularity or looks.  Not Jay-Z. He has a very keen sense when it comes to marketing all things in his world.  One of his most admirable talents is his ability to free flow his rap lyrics.  It’s a well known fact that he hasn’t written down lyrics since 1996.  He’s written, recorded and produced 12 albums, not including collaboration projects, since ’96, all of them performed either live or in a recording studio without anything written down on a piece of paper or teleprompter.  This tells me that he thinks, creates and sings from the heart, passion is king with Jay-Z.

I have to believe that Jay-Z uses his “flow” technique in his other business ventures.  He sees in his mind what he wants to become, commonly known as Psycho-Cybernetics.  Not only does Jay-Z dominate the music arena, he’s developed his own clothing line, recording and production company for music, concerts and musicals… his most recent ventures include our profession, real estate, with the development of a new line of J Hotels.

Knowing this, how can we emulate his flow process of song lyrics in our industry as real estate professionals?  As funny as it sounds, I think of Jay-Z a lot when I’m talking about my REALTOR® services to potential clients.  I envision Jay-Z walking into a recording studio thinking about content that he’s going to rap about, preparing mentally, seeing it in his mind before it comes out of his mouth.  For me, I make sure that conversations with clients flow with purpose.  While conversing with customers and clients I like to think about their issues and how I can answer their questions before they ask.

We can do the exact same thing in our own hometowns, by creating your own brand of “you.”  Many of us sell real estate for a living but it consists of so much more than writing contracts.  Think about the elements of what you do as a REALTOR® and find a way to accentuate them and enhance your brand, you’ll find that people will be drawn to you and want to share in your success.

Oh, and one last thing, another reason why I admire Jay-Z so much? He’s married to Beyonce.

Lincoln Crum is REALTOR®, auctioneer, and entrepreneur based out of the Louisville, Ky. area. Lincoln can be found at www.ReachLincoln.com.