How Jay Z signed Rihanna at age 16 and 8 lessons to learn from it

Rihanna came from a very poor home and a dysfunctional family. Young Rihanna was brought from Barbados into the US by someone who wants her to audition for Jay Z, this was in 2003.
Jay Z had been told of this young girl so he booked one of the top floors of a hotel room with other managers to listen to her.
The 16-year-old Rihanna was brought in, no one knew if Jay Z would sign her as he is incredibly difficult to impress.

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After Rihanna sang, there was a little silence, then Jayz grabbed the document on the table and said “The only 2 ways you can leave this room is jumping through that window or signing this document”.

He was so impressed with Rihanna’s vocal prowess that he wasn’t going to let her leave the room alive without signing the document. Jay Z made a deal with everyone in the room to cancel all their other meetings and stay back in that room till 3 am the following morning while the lawyers worked out all the other details of the deal.

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Fast forward a few years later, that poor girl is now worth $600m and Jay Z is worth $1b.

There are a couple of lessons to learn from here:
1. If you are broke, get a high-value skill, and be so good at it they can’t ignore you.
2. When you find a golden opportunity, lock everyone and everywhere down until you are able to take it.
3. It’s impossible to make it big without strong partnerships even if you are already successful.
4. Go for that audition! Submit that application! Join that competition!
5. No matter how talented you are, your success in life may be in another country.
6. That you are poor today, almost doesn’t mean anything if you have a billion-dollar strategy and you are following it.
7. Don’t burn bridges, they are called bridges for a reason.
8. Your biggest blessing may be in the hand of strangers be open to connecting with new valuable people.

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