569: Rick Ross | How to Boss Up and Build an Empire

569: Rick Ross | How to Boss Up and Build an Empire

[00:00:00] Jordan Harbinger: Coming up next on The Jordan Harbinger Show. 

[00:00:02] Rick Ross: If it's only one person that's really winning, how successful are you? How big are you? Are you really the biggest boss? No, it should affect everyone that's coming to the table and bringing something to the table. It's simple. If you're the only one winning, hey man, you may not really be winning, man

[00:00:22] Jordan Harbinger: welcome to the show. I'm Jordan Harbinger. On The Jordan Harbinger Show, we decode the stories, secrets, and skills of the world's most fascinating people. We have in-depth conversations with people at the top of their game, astronauts and entrepreneurs, spies and psychologists, even the occasional former cult member, money laundering expert, or tech mogul. Each episode turns our guests' wisdom into practical advice that you can use to build a deeper understanding of how the world works and become a better critical thinker.

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[00:01:10] Today, rapper and business mogul, Rick Ross, not sure how much of an intro this guy needs, but Rick Ross is a multi-platinum, multi-Grammy-nominated rapper artist and songwriter, as well as an investor. He's really got a lock on his business, which is one reason I really wanted to get him on the show today. This isn't just a dude with hip-hop money coming in. That's about to go broke, but a guy who has put a lot of thought into business systems, diversified revenue streams. I think you'll really enjoy this conversation, even if you're not a fan of rap or hip-hop or music at all. We mostly focused on business management and mindsets that helped Rick build and maintain his reputation as a boss.

[00:01:47] And if you're wondering how I managed to book all these great authors, thinkers, and creators every week, it's because of my network. And I'm teaching you how to build your network for free over at jordanharbinger.com/course. And by the way, most of the guests on the show subscribe to the course, contribute to the course. Come join us, you'll be in smart company where you belong. 

[00:02:05] Now here's Rick Ross. 

[00:02:09] If you take anything from your books, it's that lemon pepper wings are your favorite, right? Is that what I'm supposed to take from the— 

[00:02:14] Rick Ross: Without a doubt, without a doubt. 

[00:02:16] Jordan Harbinger: Because you rap those all the time. I know that on Breakfast Club you actually said your top revenue generator wasn't music, which is kind of a surprise because of course, people know you for music and rap, but I assume if it's not music, it's got to be what? Just booze and wings.

[00:02:31] Rick Ross: No, we're doing a lot of different things and I just had my buddy, I just had a truck actually partnered up. I'm currently in 19 different partnerships, 19. And so to me, that's what's cool about how I move and what I do. And that's what the book is really for: how to stay ahead, how to not be drained, how to not be tired, how to not have your partners calling you for things, but you really be the one that's on top of them. And that's what it's really about. And I remember. One of my partners. When we first got in business together, maybe over a decade ago, they told me that venture would be my most valuable asset. And I remember I laughed in their faces. I was like, "Ha-ha-ha." Man, he was actually right. 

[00:03:20] Jordan Harbinger: Really? Which venture is it or is that confidential. 

[00:03:23] Rick Ross: We'll keep that confidential. Just to keep everybody in spite.. You got to keep your partners in spite.

[00:03:29] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah, you want him to think that they're not the number one. So they go, "Oh man, who's honest right now." And they keep working on it. 

[00:03:34] Rick Ross: Yeah. Let's turn up this business. Let's elevate this business model. Yeah, why not? 

[00:03:39] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah, you want the cognac guys thinking like, "Uh-oh, it's probably not us," and you want the Wings guys thinking, "Uh-oh, we better step it up. It's probably not us." 

[00:03:46] Rick Ross: Exactly, exactly, exactly. But at the end of the day, I just want to make sure everybody's winning. So I keep everybody involved and I enjoy what I do, so it's always a good thing. 

[00:03:58] Jordan Harbinger: Your dad actually was a computer programmer in — was it the '70s and '80s? 

[00:04:02] Rick Ross: Yeah. 

[00:04:03] Jordan Harbinger: Wow. That's cutting edge, man. I mean, there's not, there were not that many computer programmers back then. And I'm betting you could count on your hands the ones that were— 

[00:04:12] Rick Ross: Black 

[00:04:12] Jordan Harbinger: —not just like nerdy white dudes. Yeah, black dude. Yeah, exactly. 

[00:04:15] Rick Ross: Right. I just remember when I was young, he had a Commodore 64 and the printer used to just print the paper down to the floor and they used to stack up this half off the floor. 

[00:04:28] Jordan Harbinger: And it made that loud noise.

[00:04:31] Rick Ross: Yeah, I'd never forget those noises. 

[00:04:34] Jordan Harbinger: I think it's all burned into our brain because your dad's printing something off. It's like eight o'clock in the morning and you're sleeping. You're like, "What the hell is that noise?" It's like, yeah, dial-up modem sound. 

[00:04:45] Rick Ross: 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. 

[00:04:46] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah, exactly. So you grew up more or less middle-class which a lot of people are going to go, "Well, wait a minute. I read or I heard that he sold crack or sold drugs. Like why grow up middle-class and then turn around and sell crack." A lot of people are probably going to question that decision. 

[00:05:01] Rick Ross: Well, that's cool. They could question what they want to question, but just to be all the way accurate. When we moved out of the apartments for the first time, the first house that we moved into was in front of one of the biggest crack projects in Carol City in the middle of Miami and we were happy. I'm sure my mom and dad were proud to have a home. But exactly behind it, it wasn't a one home in between it, it wasn't nothing in between it. So in the middle of the night, those people that were — or women banging at our front door, asking them for help, for whatever reasons. Just everything that went on in Miami, when you talk about Miami, it was a different situation when you talk about the projects in Miami and where I grew up, it was a different situation. So I've seen what I've seen and it was what it was. 

[00:05:52] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah. It doesn't sound that appealing though. Like you're describing women banging on the door in the middle of the night asking for help. 

[00:05:59] Rick Ross: Yeah, without a doubt. 

[00:06:00] Jordan Harbinger: Like a lot of people wouldn't be like, "Oh, I want to get in that business. I want to get in the business of having crazy women screaming at four o'clock in the morning and waking me up, being like, 'Call the police,'" right? 

[00:06:09] Rick Ross: That's pretty much they were getting attacked, brutalized, maybe by a pimp, maybe by somebody, they may have snatched $10 worth of crack, whatever it was. But I was taught at a very young age to never open the door for nothing. So, you know, I understood that, but that's why I grew up in Miami. 

[00:06:27] Jordan Harbinger: So was it the money then? That was appealing at that point. 

[00:06:29] Rick Ross: Yeah, by the time that my mom and dad separated, my mom was working two jobs every day. And the third one on Wednesday, it was really just in two houses in between us, my buddy, his dad had a Mercedes SL 500, Mercedes-Benz and mine had a Buick. You know, it was a big difference sometimes. So you just wanted to know what was going on, what was the difference. Well, I just had a certain passion for wanting somebody to find the things and I was going to find a way, either way. It took me a long time, but we made it. 

[00:07:02] Jordan Harbinger: How old were you when you first started to be like, "Wait a minute, I don't want to work like three jobs like my mom. I can make the same amount of money before 10:00 a.m. selling drugs"? 

[00:07:11] Rick Ross: I got my first tattoo, which was a dollar sign at 13. So getting money was already on my mind at 13. 

[00:07:19] Jordan Harbinger: That's early for that kind of ambition. So clearly you're ambitious, but also you're lucky. I assume you agree. You're lucky you're not dead because of that same ambition, right? 

[00:07:29] Rick Ross: Right. You know, I speak on that in my book. I don't fear death. I've had attempts on my life and it's nothing to be proud of, but it's certain things that come with the game that I play. I don't fear death, we're going to keep going. We're going to keep getting bigger. I'm going to keep sharing the experiences and the wisdom in the books, and that's just what I did. And I'm excited to see the response from my new book. 

[00:07:55] Jordan Harbinger: I liked it a lot, actually, because of course I read a lot of books for this show and I read a lot of books by scientists, but also I read a lot of books by celebrities and artists, and a lot of the books that are by celebrities and artists — well, books in general — a lot of them are full of fluff that doesn't make any sense. And a lot of it is self-aggrandizing bullsh*t, as you might imagine. But the newest book is like, "Here are some ways that I run my business," and it's clear that this is actually true. And it makes a lot of sense, right? Because it's not like, "Put yourself out there and believe in yourself. Treat everybody fair and put people on so that they can develop their own infrastructure and network." Like it's real advice. 

[00:08:36] Rick Ross: You're funny, motherf*cker, man, but you know, we most definitely just say the experiences, whether they were the best or maybe not the best, either way, life can be a beautiful struggle, man. Let's just enjoy this sh*t. Make the most out of it. And I'm getting straight to the point. I want to win and win big. Not only just win, but win big. 

[00:08:59] Jordan Harbinger: You have the same ambition that you had when you were younger. Obviously you have adult ambition now. You're not just like selling drugs out of the back porch or whatever. It's a completely different and more ambitious game. 

[00:09:08] Rick Ross: Without a doubt. 

[00:09:09] Jordan Harbinger: You mentioned age 14, you were over 200 pounds, which like most of 14-year-olds are probably under a hundred pounds. So you're like twice the size of the average kid. I didn't look at the growth chart, but that's a big gap. Like I'm not even 200 pounds now and I'm 40, right? So you're a big teenager. Your dad moved away when you were in high school. And you said that he never came down to your football games. So I assume you had a distant relationship. 

[00:09:32] Rick Ross: Right. 

[00:09:32] Jordan Harbinger: Or you are distant from him. 

[00:09:34] Rick Ross: We did. And I never got to play optimistic because I was too big. So it was just certain things. So by the time I got to high school, my ambition was at another level. So I actually was a Carol City football player. Nobody but my mom ever came to my football games. Nobody else in my family. , 

[00:09:53] Jordan Harbinger: I know your father has since passed, but do you ever think, like I should have made a move to reconcile it? Do you regret that at all?

[00:09:59] Rick Ross: No. 

[00:09:59] Jordan Harbinger: No. 

[00:10:00] Rick Ross: No, not at all because I never had any hate. There wasn't any hate. I still love my father regardless of what he was going through or what was going on. I still loved him. And my love is still genuine for him. I'm going to celebrate which would have been his birthday, maybe his 85th birthday at the end of this month. So I'm going to still celebrate it as if he was with me. I understand, of course I wish he would have been there. Of course, I wish I would have had some more time, some experiences, some wisdom, but I didn't. So now, we got to make the best of it. We got to boss up. 

[00:10:36] Jordan Harbinger: What do you think he would think of your lifestyle/success now? I mean, obviously it's larger than life, right? So you can assume he would be pretty impressed and proud of you. 

[00:10:45] Rick Ross: I'm sure he would be impressed, but the words he would use because he was such a humble person, I'm not sure, you know, I would love to hear the way he would describe my situation because he's not one of those people, "Yeah, man, you did it." Nah, he ain't like that. He never was like that. He'd be the type who looks around, you know, how many square feet is this home? 55,000, that's the type of person he was. 

[00:11:13] Jordan Harbinger: Right. A quiet appreciation. 

[00:11:14] Rick Ross: Right, right. 

[00:11:16] Jordan Harbinger: Is your home really 55,000 square feet? Because there's like Amazon warehouses that are smaller than that.

[00:11:21] Rick Ross: Right, it really is. When we first purchased it, it was 55,000 square feet on 280 acres. And since then, I added another 89 acres. 

[00:11:32] Jordan Harbinger: Oh, wow. So you're buying the land outside the place. What's on the land? 

[00:11:35] Rick Ross: This is a value. I have a vision. Sometimes I roll the dice and I hit some lucky numbers. 

[00:11:41] Jordan Harbinger: You've seen the way all cities expand, right? So if the city starts to expand towards your house, you can be like, "Oh, I'll sell you the land, but it's going to sell it to you for 10 times what I bought it for. And right now there's some trees on it or some grass." Like you can sell it to developers when you're 60 years old and it could be worth tens of millions or more. 

[00:11:57] Rick Ross: I actually had two offers for the same land. I may have bought the land, maybe not even a year ago. And I've already been made up two different offers. Well, I could have profited a million dollars.

[00:12:09] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah. Well, if you don't need the money now, which you don't, you just know you're sitting — it's like Bitcoin, man, just hold it. 

[00:12:15] Rick Ross: Just hold it. That's all I'm thinking about. 

[00:12:19] Jordan Harbinger: You bought the house in foreclosure from Evander Holyfield's estate or the bank that owned it anyway, right? 

[00:12:25] Rick Ross: Right, correct. 

[00:12:26] Jordan Harbinger: That's got to be a little bit of a warning shot, right? Like you look at that and you go, "Oh wait, he was doing really well. And he was really wealthy. All right, I'm buying this now. How do I not end up like that? How do I not be a statistic to guys who lose their house to the next guy?" 

[00:12:39] Rick Ross: I'm still hands on. You know he spent 25 million building a home. From my understanding, he took a 10 million loan out on it, which went into default, which was ultimately purchased for 5.9. You know, you've heard these different things. He has 17 employees working, just maintaining it. I'm landscaping it myself. I went and bought a John Deere tractor. And two or three of my buddies, we get out there. I cut the majority of it. My buddies, they handled the weeds, this, that, this, that, but we do it all ourselves. So it's most definitely a huge, big difference in the way we dealing with things over here. 

[00:13:15] Jordan Harbinger: There's an element of humor, but also it really does illustrate your work ethic to know that you are cutting your own lawn in your own tractor with air conditioning, I assume, because it's hot as hell. 

[00:13:26] Rick Ross: Most definitely. I tinted windows with air conditioning. Audio system is phenomenal.

[00:13:32] Jordan Harbinger: But you're cutting your own grass. And a lot of people are going to be like, "Wait, what? This dude who's got tens of millions or hundreds of millions or headed up to the three comma club is sitting in a tractor on a Saturday afternoon, cutting his own lawn and listening to the music." 

[00:13:48] Rick Ross: Right. And man, a lot of times I don't have any music on and I'm just zoned out, just embrace it. You know, the land man, nature, the peace and quiet, no telephones. I'm looking at all the birds flying around me, the butterflies, the deers. It's a beautiful situation. There's a lot to appreciate. And that's what I do. I sit back and take my time out to appreciate the position I'm in. 

[00:14:14] Jordan Harbinger: I think that's important. I mean, it's cheesy to think we always have gratitude for everything. Like a lot of people recommend that, but it's funny to see that that's your practice, right? So the tractor and cutting your lawn is like an investment in your own sanity in like gratitude and appreciating what you have. And I think that probably keeps you grounded and sane at some level. 

[00:14:32] Rick Ross: Most definitely. Growing up in the youngster that was at 13, also washing cars, the family that had the lawn service around the corner would cut grass. I still do that. I still love to get out. I think that falls back on me remaining hands-on. I love being hands-on. 

[00:14:52] Jordan Harbinger: In the book, you say, "Look, nobody cares about your excuses. I'm a boss because I don't have to worry about circumstances, but I go for it no matter what," and you bring up an important point. You said, "The moment you're waiting on doesn't exist. Everyone has problems. Some people use them as excuses. Other people use them as opportunities. It's your reaction to those problems that matters." How did you learn that? 

[00:15:14] Rick Ross: That's one of the things that my father taught me as a youngster. I never complained because complaining gets you nothing. Never complained. And that's one of the things that stick out to me. And so when someone's around me and I begin to hear complaints, I would begin to watch that person. And ultimately the things that come along with a person that complains a lot, it's usually not the best. And so when I've committed the last 20 years for me to get this position and sit at the table, if you come and you sit at the table, and the first thing you're telling me about is your ingrown toenail, your great aunt that just died. Your neck is just hurting. I may not want you at this table. Everybody had, a lot of people that had died, and everybody felt pain. And that's what comes with being number one but we want to win. Myself and everybody else that's sitting at this table, I owe them for whoever to sit right here to make sure we win. We don't want to hear no complaints. 

[00:16:11] Jordan Harbinger: Embracing the process. You say you don't want it to be easy, right? The process is what makes you able to enjoy and manage success. The example I thought of is like, without the process, you're like that lottery winner who's like, "Oh, I have $10 million now." And then in two, three, five years, they're broke. 

[00:16:27] Rick Ross: One year. 

[00:16:27] Jordan Harbinger: One year, yeah. 

[00:16:28] Rick Ross: Yeah, they're dead broke and owe the IRS. 

[00:16:30] Jordan Harbinger: And like, they don't have any friends left because everybody asks them for money and they mishandled all of that. So the idea that you don't want it to be easy is interesting because I feel like people who face that resistance head on all the time and are expecting it to be hard. Then when you do face challenges, it's just like, "All right, well, this is part of the game," and it doesn't beat you down. It doesn't get to you. 

[00:16:50] Rick Ross: No, it's a beat you down. When I'm in the position I am now, when I look back 15 years ago, when I was sleeping at rest spots, when a lot of times I didn't know how I was going to get, make it to the next city, the next show or whatever the position was, it was actually a beautiful situation. Man, if I could only be confident to know, "Hey man, one day, you're going to be great, man." But when I look back at the situation and the people I got to meet, you know, looking at that crowd that saw me for the first time in the physical, how their eyes will be this big, and they wouldn't blink for three minutes. Man, a lot of times that was the audience. That's the high that I'm chasing now, when I'm running out on stage, but you didn't know that. You didn't know right now, your audience and those diehards first 1500 people that log on as soon as you go live every morning. That those people, that man, a lot of times you don't know that.

[00:17:50] Jordan Harbinger: That's fascinating. Because it's almost like it's like the idea of the struggle is what — what's the analogy here? It's like forged in fire, right? Like you, you can't really appreciate being on the top if you didn't have to go through the struggle which totally makes sense. We all know like trust-fund kids whose dads left him like $20 million and they're just useless. Like you said, they get an ingrown toenail and they're like, "I can't work today," right? They just can't do anything for themselves because they've never had that resistance. 

[00:18:16] Rick Ross: Yeah. They don't, they've never had to figure out one thing by themselves. And that's what I had to do as a youngster. I had to figure out certain things about myself, whether it was, if we're going to wash cars today, if we go hustle today, if we're cutting grass today. Or if we're going to help Mr. Thomas down the street, putting tar on his roof, and the tar down there near 200 degrees. And if it hit your foot, it would take your whole leg off. But guess what? If he gave us $20, a lot of times, we'd jump up on the roof and we learned certain things. So my drive is on a whole nother level and I appreciate it, and I still wake up 15 years later, look forward to doing interviews. I'm actually excited. I actually want to wear one of my nice sweaters. 

[00:19:03] Jordan Harbinger: I appreciate that. You don't show up, like, "What is this again? Who are you? What's happening right now? Oh, I'm hungover. I can't do this." 

[00:19:09] Rick Ross: No. I'm still excited. We're still driving. We still got history to make. And to me, if it was about a dollar figure, we would have quit a long time ago but I think it's more about let's make history. 

[00:19:20] Jordan Harbinger: You got a seven-figure advance for — was it one of your first albums or one of your biggest albums? 

[00:19:26] Rick Ross: Yeah, my very first album with Def Jam. 

[00:19:28] Jordan Harbinger: And you just pretended like it didn't exist for six months and just kept hustling, which I think is really good advice for any windfall promotion, accolade, award, whatever you just got to pretend like it doesn't exist because it's real easy to have a seven-figure advance make you be like, "I'm amazing. I can't fail now. It's over." And then when you're really at the beginning, you think you're at the top of the mountain, but really you're just at the start of the trail. 

[00:19:52] Rick Ross: Yeah, it's so easy for you to be washed up, through, done. You're one lawsuit away from a one-on-one. So I closed my deal with L.A. Reid, Jay Z, Shakir Stewart, Def Jam with a seven figure advance. Actually for the first one year, I didn't spend anything. I didn't buy a car. You know, I already had a BMW. The things I had already owned, I already owned, I had, but as far as me finally getting a record deal after 15 years of taking losses and whatever else you want to call them, I didn't go and get anything. I didn't add anything to the car fleet or anything else like that. I just grind. I didn't stop. I didn't turn down anything. Man, let's go. Let's keep going. Let's keep going in. That was just my mentality and here we are. 

[00:20:44] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah, here we are. In the book, you also talk about the dangers of hustling backwards, which I think is a great phrase, right? "Becoming so enthralled with the trappings of success that you end up focusing on image instead of legit goals," which like you didn't say it, but we can tell what you meant, which is like Instagram culture, right? 

[00:21:01] Rick Ross: Right. 

[00:21:01] Jordan Harbinger: It's like, "Oh, I'm on a private plane," but I'm really in a photography studio in LA. That's just a fake plane. And I go there and I pretend I'm on a plane. It's fake it until you make it. But instead of making it, you're just focused on fake it and you never actually do anything. You never make it. 

[00:21:15] Rick Ross: Right. Or even worse, you'd actually be on a private plane, but you change outfits five times over that one flight. So you could post different photos over the next year. And it's f*cked up. It's sad, man. And I understand because I'm a person that believes in speaking things in existence, manifesting certain things. But I have no problem with flying Delta. I still fly Delta. My favorite seat is 2D and I'm going to lean on the wall, man. I'm right there. Give me my cheese box, man. 

[00:21:50] Jordan Harbinger: What if somebody is in seat two D, do you go like, "Hey man, can we switch seats"?

[00:21:55] Rick Ross: All the time. Hopefully, they don't mind the eidola. If I'm in the bulkhead, I'm going to, I'm going to at least try. I'm going to try. 

[00:22:03] Jordan Harbinger: That's funny. Now I'm going to book 2D and be like, "All right, I'll switch what you got to sign this." I'm going to carry a CD in my carry-on. 

[00:22:09] Rick Ross: That's too easy. And if you don't have a CD, I'll autograph a book for you. That' too easy. 

[00:22:16] Jordan Harbinger: The hustling backward or avoiding hustling backwards — it must kind of be tough in the rap game because isn't image just such a huge part of it? I mean, we all know, like we see it, all the videos, they kind of have that. Image is like right in the forefront. And I know it's marketing. 

[00:22:29] Rick Ross: Right. 

[00:22:29] Jordan Harbinger: But how do you balance the marketing and the self-promotion with being an actual creator that's focused on the product as well. 

[00:22:36] Rick Ross: For myself, I came in, with every day, I'm hustling and that's what really represented my goals and my ambition. This is what I'm here for, every day, I'm hustling. I want to make history. I want to do something that's never been done for my city. I want to be the biggest artist that's not just from my city, not just from the south, in the game. And I'm going to do that different ways. If I currently have 20 partnerships, in the next year, I'm sure it's going to 50. I'm sure, easily 50. If our own over a hundred cars now, I'm sure in the next year it will be 200. 

[00:23:09] Jay Leno invited me out for the season. Man, we had a great time. I got a lot of gang from Jay Leno. Jay Leno, one of the only few people that could actually school Rozay when it comes to automobiles, but I'm just letting you know, that's the drive we're at. That's how we move and we making good moves. We're making good moves. 

[00:23:32] Jordan Harbinger: You're listening to The Jordan Harbinger Show with our guest Rick Ross.

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[00:25:52] Jordan Harbinger: This episode is also sponsored by Simple Mobile. At Simple Mobile, you get the no contract advantage. You can get a powerful nationwide 5G network all without a contract. 5G capable device and SIM required. Actual availability, coverage, and speed may vary. 5G network not available in all areas. 5G upload speeds, not yet available. Simple Mobile out with the old in with a simple. 

[00:26:13] Thank you so much for listening to the show. I, of course, appreciate it. We put a lot of work into it. I would love it if you would consider supporting those who make this show possible. So all those links, those URLs, those discount codes, they are all in one easy over at jordanharbinger.com/deals. We redid the page. It should be much easier to use now. All the deals should be easily searchable and find-able, even on your phone, jordanharbinger.com/deals. 

[00:26:38] Don't forget we've got worksheets for many episodes. If you want the drills and exercises talked about during the show in one easy place, that link is in the show notes at jordanharbinger.com/podcast.

[00:26:49] Now back to Rick Ross. 

[00:26:52] You say that success is based on what you do when no one is looking and you build one brick at a time. That is probably one of the most important. And one of the most overlooked bits of advice that I think a lot of people who are trying to make it think of. Like, they're really doing everything in front of the camera and when the camera's off, there's a lot of like, "Well, I'm done now because I posted it," or, "I'm done now because the video is out. I'm done now." 

[00:27:14] Rick Ross: Well, you'll be washed. There's only so long before you'll be back at the car wash or cut grass at one of my lawn services if I ever decide to start one. You will most definitely be because everything that matters you have to take advantage of your time. Time is the most valuable asset you will ever have control of. So you have to take advantage of it right now. And when you don't, hey, just know it's a person like me that's trying to do five times, five things at once. For every one thing you're doing, I'm trying to do five. And just understand and accept whatever position, or what comes with that, because this is what we look forward to. We now shine. This is just one room in the Promise Land. And this is what we look forward to and we want to keep going. There's a lot of sh*t being done. There's a lot of accomplishments to be achieved. And we really want to be a part of it. And if that's not what you want, you know, go somewhere else. 

[00:28:15] Jordan Harbinger: As far as your time, you've got this calendar audit exercise in the book, which I think is brilliant. It's something that I recommend people do in one form or another all the time. And essentially break down all your time, especially time spent, flexing on Instagram or whatever, and like truthfully evaluate how much time is being spent, going towards your goals and where the rest of the time is going.

[00:28:37] How do you decide which habits or activities or people that you need to cut out? Because not everything is going to be aimed towards your goals. Like sometimes you just have friends, but I assume you've got a rule of thumb for this kind of thing. 

[00:28:46] Rick Ross: Right, sometimes you just need to take notes of what's really going on. Okay, it's Monday to this Friday. This is what I want to do for five days. I'm going to take notes on everything I got going on. It's basically what my business partners or what the conversation. Let's just take notes at the end of the day. Look at what you did today, what did we do, what needs to be removed, what do I need to spend or focus more time on. You would be surprised at the bullsh*t that you got co-existed around you. The people that's calling you, the conversations that's going on. Man, that sh*t is frivolous. Let's X that out and focus on what brings value to the table. 

[00:29:24] Because three years from now, there's only certain things that's going to matter. The fluff as you call it. I'm a strong user of the fluff, that bullsh*t. We won't even remember that. The people that never really brought value to our lives, we won't even remember their names. Let's move three years ahead now and cut the bullsh*t out now. Let's move like we already advanced and that's what we're going to do. If I know I want to — Hey man, in the next five years, I may want to start playing golf. You know what? I'm not going to wait five years. We're going to start this year. Let's start working on the putt. 

[00:29:57] Jordan Harbinger: You could do it inside that room you're in right now. 

[00:29:59] Rick Ross: I know. 

[00:29:59] Jordan Harbinger: You could play, you could drive a golf ball in there. 

[00:30:02] Rick Ross: I know. Yeah, that's a great idea. 

[00:30:05] Jordan Harbinger: Maybe take down the chandelier, just because that's a disaster waiting to happen if you're going to be driving a ball in the house. 

[00:30:10] Rick Ross: No, no, no, I love chandeliers. I may just have to get the three rows. The ones that hang down, the tri levels. 

[00:30:17] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah. 

[00:30:17] Rick Ross: I got these a few years ago when we first were doing the first warm up decoration, but it's time to go to another level, I think. 

[00:30:25] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah, you can definitely move those out of the driving range. I would say it could be a little bit dangerous.

[00:30:32] You're right. You do need to change how you invest your time in order for your results to change. And that's like the main takeaway from that, right? Like a lot of people will just complain about something or they'll say, "Yeah, you know, I got to do this", but if you just take inventory of your time, you realize, "Wow, I'm actually wasting like two hours a day in meetings, listening to people complain, you know, whatever, solving dumb problems that shouldn't have happened."

[00:30:53] Rick Ross: Oh man, and you'll get better and better. And then you'll be surprised in three months how your life has changed. You'll be surprised. 

[00:31:00] Jordan Harbinger: Ambition is the most important ingredient to success, which makes sense, so at least that's what you say in the book, right? And I wonder if you found this, it's really easy to assume that other people have the same level of ambition as you do, but statistically, that's just not going to be true, right?

[00:31:13] Rick Ross: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. They don't. They don't. It takes a certain amount of ambition. And the more ambition you have, the more things you can overcome. There's actually people that want to be on radio. They actually want to be in the position you're in. But a lot of times they're shy. That'd be the word they use or not, but you may be shy too, but your level of ambition, f*ck the shyness. This is what we're going to do. I don't give a damn if we take an L. I don't give a damn, we go do it anyway. And guess what? We're going to try our hardest and we're going to bring something great to the table and we're confident we're going to bring something great to the table. And that level of ambition is priceless. 

[00:31:56] Jordan Harbinger: I've done this with business partners. I'm sure you have too, where you think like, okay, I'm working 18 hours a day, six, seven days a week, whatever it is. And you think like, all right, they're going to be up at Friday 1:00 a.m. working, but they've been drinking since 2:00 p.m. the day before. They're putting more effort into their alcohol tolerance than they are into their business. And it's a lesson that a lot of people have to learn the hard way, because like you grew up working hard. I grew up working hard. Most people actually do not. 

[00:32:20] Rick Ross: And guess what? If that's the situation once we sit down at the table, they don't understand why their value isn't as high as mine or yours. That's one thing that we're going to make it clear. Whatever you bring to the table is what you will be appraised on. And you will be appraised and not just, let's do this on a daily basis. What do you bring into the table on a daily basis? Are you going above and beyond? Or are you that same person you've been for the last three years? Just the one that's on black and white paper that's requested on you. If you are, to me, you're a loser. We want to go above and beyond. I want to go and do something else. I want to suggest another guest for you without you having to ask me. That's what we have to do for us to make it, where we're trying to go. And for the ones that don't understand, accept, or appreciate that, just accept the position you're in and you'll stay in as we continue to climb. 

[00:33:22] Jordan Harbinger: You say you hire people for jobs that they can grow out of, not jobs they can grow into. Tell me about that. 

[00:33:29] Rick Ross: Well, you just have to be a person that wants to elevate yourself. And that's what we're touching on the same thing once again. Are you going to be one of those people that's just a predictable colleague or predictable peer or predictable employee? Are you going to do the same thing you've been doing for the last six months? That's not cool. That's not the sh*t. That ain't what you want to be. Be one of those people that, "Hey, man, I don't know if you guys are like this, but I wrote this down, pass this sh*t around." That's what I want to see. What is this? Even if it's 20 things that you suggested, and I only like two. Guess what? You just increased your value with Ricky Rozay. You know what? I may ask you to slide over that person that's sitting in between me and you. Move them. You'll sit next to me now. Just those two things on that paper. Don't be predictable. You got to be able to climb out. Don't grow into it, you got to be able to go to another level. I don't want to have to do you a favor because I'm not going to do you a favor and give you the position. That's going into it. 

[00:34:41] Jordan Harbinger: This makes sense, right? So no free meal ticket, but you will put your people on so that they can develop. Like you said — I love the idea of climbing out, right? It's like, all right, you're in this position —

[00:34:50] Rick Ross: What are you going to do next? You're in this position, what are you going to do next? What are you going to do next? Are you going to remain the same person? Because if you are, you're boring me. And guess what? That's not exciting. And what's exciting is us going to the next level. And that's what I'm most definitely going to be doing. When you look around here, everything on the table, it doesn't stop. It doesn't stop. 

[00:35:15] Jordan Harbinger: You said something that I've really have heard a lot over the years that I enjoy, which is how you do anything, is how you do everything, right? So it's like always go the extra mile. And you said when you were washing cars, you would arrange people's CDs and tapes in alphabetical order, not part of the job, you're just supposed to wash the car, but it ends up being this extra 10 percent or extra 20 percent that you go in every single bit that you do. And sometimes you get tips and sometimes people don't even notice, but it's not for them, it's for you. 

[00:35:45] Rick Ross: And that's what I do, that's what I've done. And I saw that's the quickest way to grow out of the position. I saw, okay, when you're a youngster, you're 13 years old at the car wash, when you see the big drug dealers pull up in a Chevrolet that they invested 150K in. They're not just letting anybody wash the car. They want consistency. They want that same person. But guess what? I always told myself, that day, they give me that opportunity, because I'm walking up to them. I'm making eye contact and I'm letting them know. I take care of you. I got you. And that day, they gave me that opportunity, not only do I wash their car, I'll wipe it down, not only I would organize the cassettes, the CDs. And if I had the pocket change, if the gas tank was empty, I'm going to fill up their gas tank because when they came back here, you ain't got to waste that extra five minutes for that. I did that for you even if that's $40 and that's all I have. 

[00:36:43] Jordan Harbinger: I love this perspective, right? Because most people will be a little bit more transactional. They'll do what they get paid for, but you say, hey, if you do more than what you get paid for, you'll eventually be paid for more than what you do, which is simple, but also like kind of brilliantly simple. 

[00:36:57] Rick Ross: Right. And so let's say for instance, my partner, I'm a partner with Luc Belaire CEO, Brett Berish, great brand, this is Brett Berish cognac, but guess what? It's sitting here with me because Brett Berish is a friend of mine and not only that, I go above and beyond what I'm ever requested to do. And I'm doing this because this is a friend or a partner of mine. You understand what I'm trying to say?

[00:37:26] And so that was my approach since I was a youngster. So that's why I was always embraced by the realist in the streets of Miami. And you don't get embraced if the sh*t ain't real. You can't move the way I move. You can't have a hundred calls and come from Miami if this sh*t ain't real. The streets won't allow it. And the police can't save you. They can save you. You could call them all the hell you want to but not where I'm from. That can't save you. The only thing going to save you is when this sh*t is real. 

[00:37:59] Jordan Harbinger: For people who don't know, Brett Berish is the CEO of Sovereign Brands. Right? Am I getting that right? 

[00:38:03] Rick Ross: Correct. 

[00:38:04] Jordan Harbinger: He kind of looks like the cross between Dos Equis' most interesting man in the world and some kind of Indian, spiritual guru. 

[00:38:11] Rick Ross: Moses. That's what I call him sometimes. 

[00:38:13] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah. 

[00:38:14] Rick Ross: And you know, that's who created Ace of spades. That's who created D'Usse. He's a great guy. So that's what I'm enjoying this morning because that's what went along with the vibe of my book and that's what I'm doing. It's not about a dollar. It's not about a coin. I could have easily been drinking cognac just with a champagne bottle sitting here. That's not what I chose to do. That's not how I chose to move. 

[00:38:38] Jordan Harbinger: One thing that you think you do really well, well, one thing in particular, I think you do really well is your people are all really diversified, right? So if anything, and you mentioned this in the book, if anything ever happened to your business, people around you can help you back if needed, right? So you're not like the bottom of this infrastructure, where if you, as the peg gets knocked down, for some reason, everybody else falls, you've got people who run car dealerships, beverage brands, you've got all kinds of different Wingstop, right? You got fast food joints, and these are all run independently by people that you trust. So if anything happens to any other element of your business — it's like the Internet. If one node goes down, the rest of the nodes, just take over. And it's like, nobody even has to notice that there's a problem. So you can get to fixing it.

[00:39:21] Rick Ross: Right. It's kind of like the pandemic. During the pandemic, you know, artists live off performances show money, et cetera, et cetera. There's not many artists I saw that continued to move the way I moved during the pandemic. And I'm just being straight up. That's what I talk about as far as being a boss. I still bought old school classics, two or three, every month, like I always did. And it shouldn't change because I'm not living off the show money that is to that. Now, we've been talking about every day, I'm hustling and we meant that. When I said it, I meant it and that's what we've been doing. And so during the pandemic, we bought more franchises, you know, sh*t business went off and a lot of artists can't say that. 

[00:40:05] Jordan Harbinger: You said old school classics. Are you talking about cars? 

[00:40:07] Rick Ross: Correct. Old school classics, Bel Airs, Fords, this and that. This one I bought my John Deere tractors, just everything I felt I kept moving as if it wasn't a pandemic.

[00:40:21] Jordan Harbinger: Right because you had the support to do that. Not because you ignored the problem, but because the problem wasn't actually a systemic issue, right? It wasn't a critical issue for your businesses. 

[00:40:31] Rick Ross: Right, not at all. 

[00:40:33] Jordan Harbinger: And so your people, their resources, they don't come and ask you for a handout. They're actually support for you and for each other later on. So it was like a web instead of a — I don't know, I'm missing the analogy here, but it's like a web. 

[00:40:44] Rick Ross: What I wanted to do was, when I created and began purchasing more franchises, I began in Florida, then I went straight to the home base of my family. So they would have job opportunities. I went straight to Memphis and I purchased five. Then it went to maybe six or seven, but I wanted my family members to have these opportunities because it's not about coming to me, asking me for money. You got to be ready to feed yourself and here's the opportunity. You could start sweeping at the register. You may work up to management, you may want to buy one yourself. If you earn that respect, I'll be a partner. That's what it's about with me. So my sister, she's a millionaire, she's a self-made millionaire. She has car lots and this and that and this and that. And you know, my mother, she's just the matriarch of the family that just oversees everything. So I don't have anybody that's, "Can you transfer this into my account for this?" No, that ain't happening. That's not how we rock over here and we're all bosses. 

[00:41:46] Jordan Harbinger: It sounds like your mom is the only person who's still allowed to yell at you. 

[00:41:49] Rick Ross: And guess what? She doesn't even yell. 

[00:41:51] Jordan Harbinger: She doesn't need to, right? 

[00:41:52] Rick Ross: She could. She's the only one that's ever yelled at me my entire life, but our communication is special.

[00:41:59] Jordan Harbinger: Something I didn't expect to see in the book because it's not the usual advice you're going to hear from like a rapper music mogul, I'm not going to lie, is you recommend saving and investing and you say financial freedom is the best stress reliever. That is not the usual kind of advice you see from any artist anywhere.

[00:42:16] Rick Ross: I mean, if you want to talk to a real CEO, a real mogul, that's the advice you're going to receive. As an artist, we understand music goes hand in hand with partiese. You will party but you got to find a way to create businesses around the parties. You have a way to elevate your value in so many different ways. You take advantage of that and that's the advice I'm giving them, and it's all factual. So when I talk about me being a boss. And I talk about my residency. I just closed with Dre, the number one club. And I talk about the Shiba cryptocurrency, and I can just go down the list. And that's what you have to talk about.

[00:43:04] And when are you going to talk about it? You know, your first two or three years as the artist, or will you wait until you have no value at radio or will you wait to have no real excitement around your brand? When will you do it? That's your decision to make, but as Ricky Rozay will say, let's come out the gate strong, work your way into it. Let's not wait until you have a number one record to just think about creating merch. Let's begin creating merch now. You may do smaller numbers, but let's have the system in place. So when you do have a success at the radio, "Hey man, I got my own merch and come out and purchase that as well."

[00:43:43] Jordan Harbinger: You've done so much, right? But you've also had some serious scares. You had a seizure at age — was it 35? 

[00:43:49] Rick Ross: Yeah, sure. 

[00:43:50] Jordan Harbinger: Was that the first one? 

[00:43:52] Rick Ross: Right. That was the first seizure I had. I remember I had it. I was actually on a flight and my buddy was like, "Let's get off the plane," without a seizure, and I looked at him, boy, sit down somewhere. I looked like I had a seizure. I'm straight because I had no side effects. I felt no pain, no nothing. So I actually thought, you know, he was tripping, but I got off the plane and I called my private Jetconnect. 30 minutes later, after getting off the plane, I was on a private jet. And once I fell asleep on the jet, I had another seizure. And at that point, that's where we made an emergency landing in Alabama. I woke up, I want to say maybe a day or two later. That's when me suffering from seizures was a reality. And that's when I had to go see a real doctor and explain my lifestyle, you know, the way I slept. And that's when they explained my issues.

[00:44:48] And you know, at that time I was sipping syrup and I was sipping Tussionex and other things that I felt helped me stay awake to do the things I love most, which was making music. So I wouldn't be sipping out of the styrofoam cups. I'm now used to it. It tastes so delicious and I could stay in the studio 20 hours at a time and create music that I felt would change the world. And I stopped getting any rest. I stopped going to sleep. You know, that's what my doctors explained to me that my body could no longer take it. 

[00:45:21] Jordan Harbinger: Wow, so the seizures were — it's not something genetic. It's from lifestyle, food, tussing, stuff like that. 

[00:45:29] Rick Ross: It's from Tussionex, refusing to go to sleep. And after they study, you know, the way I went to sleep, even after the first six months of seeing a doctor and even I couldn't sleep more than three or four hours. So I still wake up at 6:00 a.m. now, but it's a good thing because I could sleep five and six hours now, which was something sh*t I thought I could never do it. Because as soon as I laid down, there's so much stuff I feel I could be doing. Something I could be accomplishing. There's work that could be done. 

[00:46:00] And so just for everybody, that's out there and you sleep in your full eight and 10 hours, it was somebody like me that wanted your job and wanted to take and strip you of your success. I wanted to take your paycheck. I wanted to take everything because you know, my desire for winning. Once you come from the mud, you really want to make it to the marble. And that's what the position I was at. 

[00:46:26] Jordan Harbinger: This is The Jordan Harbinger Show with our guest Rick Ross. We'll be right back. 

[00:46:30] This episode is sponsored in part by Justworks. Are you a small business leader looking for an easier way to onboard and manage remote employees or are you trying to do it all yourself? Justworks makes it easier for you to start, run, and grow a business. Let me tell you how Justworks can help your business. Justworks as the ultimate HR platform for small and growing businesses with simple software and expert support for benefits, payroll, HR, and compliance. Access national health insurance plans, so your employees can get coverage no matter where they live. Get help setting up sick leave policies and administering harassment and discrimination prevention training that comply with state and local requirements. Across the country, small businesses with big dreams love Justworks for its simplicity, intuitive platform, and time-saving features. Whether your team is remote or in person, you can give them access to national large group health insurance plans, manage onboarding payroll, PTO compliance, all in one place. You could do it all, but why do it alone? Justworks makes it simple to hire and manage remote employees across all 50 states. 

[00:47:28] Jen Harbinger: Find out how Justworks can help your business by going to justworks.com. That's justworks.com for more info. 

[00:47:35] Jordan Harbinger: This episode is also sponsored by Simple Mobile. At Simple Mobile, you get the no contract advantage. Those other mobile companies make you think you're in control, but you're really not. They lure you in with shiny new phones and then lock you into long-term contracts but Simple Mobile is different. You can get a 30-day plan starting at 25 bucks. You can also get the latest smartphones, or if you have a compatible phone you love you can bring it, just text BYOP to 611611 to see if your phone is compatible. It's the reliability you need when you need it. All on a powerful nationwide 5G network with no mystery fees, no activation fees and no contract ever. All for less money and no contract. 5G capable device and SIM required. Actual availability, coverage, and speed may vary. 5G network not available in all areas. 5G upload speed not yet available. Message and data rates may apply. Visit simplemobile.com/privacypolicy for, you guessed it. The privacy policy. Service plan required for activation. Terms at simplemobile.com. Simple Mobile, out with the old in with the simple. 

[00:48:32] This episode is also sponsored in part by Chinet. Chinet is a people focused brand disguised as a premium disposable tableware brand. Chinet prides themselves on being part of authentic human connections and playing an important role and togetherness. They've been a part of American culture for over 90 years, providing durable plates, cups, cutlery, napkins, and table covers. Chinet is the go-to brand for cookouts, holidays, birthdays, game nights, baby showers, and more. Chinet brand believes not only that everyone should have a place around the table, but that everyone should be welcomed with open arms and a full cup. Chinet Classic, Chinet Crystal, and Chinet Comfort products are all made in the USA with at least 80 percent recycled materials. Chinet brands products can handle anything from the sauciest ribs to the most generous slices of cake, made to be microwave safe, and leftovers' best friend. Easy cleanup, environmentally conscious. Great for the upcoming holiday gatherings and perfect for all of life's get-togethers. 

[00:49:23] Jen Harbinger: Visit mychinet.com to find out more.

[00:49:26] Jordan Harbinger: And now for the rest of my conversation with Rick Ross. 

[00:49:31] So how does that change how you live your life now? Because obviously like you've got kids. You've got a lot of businesses. You can't be having seizures on flights and then being like, "No, I'm fine." You could die now. When you have kids, you realize like, "Oh crap, I should probably stay alive."

[00:49:46] Rick Ross: Oh, most definitely. And that's one of my biggest inspirations is, you know, me going hard and making sure they won't have to see a lot of the things that I've seen. Enjoy your life. I no longer mess with the Tussionex or the Lean or, you know, stuff like that. 

[00:50:03] Jordan Harbinger: Can you tell people who don't know what that is, what that is because a lot of people never heard of the Lean or Tussionex. 

[00:50:08] Rick Ross: Lean, that's another name for codeine. It was something I used to pour them into a styrofoam cup. I would pour a few ounces of codeine, mix it with soda. It was something that I thought was tasty, so delicious. And I would just listen to music and it relaxed me in such a space where I could work on music for 15 hours at a time. And during that time, I created some of the most beautiful records. The toll it takes on your body, not resting, not sleeping. It's going to be a valuable one. Price that you will pay. 

[00:50:43] Jordan Harbinger: Why do you get around that now? Like, you can't do it now, but you're not just going to stop working. So what do you do instead of that? 

[00:50:50] Rick Ross: You know, that was the bad side to how I was living. So now I just relaxed. I sip my champagne or sip my Luc Belaire. I smoke my cannabis. Of course we got our own strength, partnered up with Cookies. Most importantly, I rest now, believe it or not, I never took naps in my life. And now I could take an hour or two nap during the day. And you know, that changed the whole game for me. 

[00:51:15] Jordan Harbinger: You've got a daughter. And do you just have the one daughter, is that, or you have other kids as well? 

[00:51:20] Rick Ross: Yeah, I got seven beautiful children. 

[00:51:22] Jordan Harbinger: Okay. So one of them is a daughter, at least, right? So I'm not wrong there. I know that hip-hop is not always the most female friendly music genre in many ways. I'm wondering if having a kid has made you think about this a bit more? 

[00:51:35] Rick Ross: Well, you know, when I create music, I'm really thinking of where I've come from and where I'm going. I have created a few records where I'm speaking on my family, my kids so on so forth, but as a whole whatever direction I'm going in, I'm going to continue going. And even when I sit down and I play records for my kids, I explain to them what I'm talking about, the approach, the meaning, the purpose, and what I ultimately want a listener to walk away with. Majority of the time, they understand what it is and respect it. 

[00:52:13] Jordan Harbinger: There's a Breakfast Club clip, which I'm sure is not your favorite. They say, "Hey, why don't you sign more female artists?" I think it was Angela Yee who asked you that, right? And then you're like, "Oh, I'd sleep with them. And I would mess up the business," and that did not go over so well outside of that studio. 

[00:52:28] Rick Ross: Right, right. 

[00:52:29] Jordan Harbinger: I wonder what you think of stuff like that. Like looking back and being like, "Okay, I got kids now." Like how do you explain that kind of thing to them when that happened? 

[00:52:35] Rick Ross: You know, they know what I was ultimately referring to. Well, ultimately what I was referring to was an independent label that I used to work with. The artist was a female artist. I used to write her raps and herself, a big wig at the label. I gotten into some things personally and it f*cked up everything. All of the music that I wrote for the last two or three years for her, you know, the label's situation that they had on the table, it all crumbled, it all crumbled. And I watched that happen. And so I was like, yo, that was so unfortunate and I've written records for a lot of females, but ultimately, that was what I'm speaking of. You know what I'm saying? I've collaborated with a lot of females and I'm a fan with a lot of females and I've yet to sign one. You know, I feel like when the time and she's a hard worker, that's the most valuable to me because my business comes before anything personal, I ain't even thinking of myself personally. So it's most definitely about the business. If the time and the right artist present itself, you never know. 

[00:53:44] Jordan Harbinger: So you don't think that you'd really sleep with a female artist and mess up the business that you had with them? , 

[00:53:49] Rick Ross: No, no, no, no, I've been around the most beautiful artists there was, and I've never had any issues business-wise. So now I actually was thinking back to before I got old, it was personal — and a big situation in Miami, everybody on the local music scene knows what I'm talking about. But it was just damn and that's just sh*t. And you know, it's almost like sh*t towed the whole vibe down, but you know, me personally, no, there was nothing else for me.

[00:54:18] Jordan Harbinger: A lot of people were wondering, Hey, look, you got Freeway Rick Ross, who's like the sort of infamous drug dealer, now out of prison. He's been on the show before as well. And he took it pretty hard that there was a rapper with his name. What's going on there? Because I know y'all were involved in a lawsuit before that later on ended. What happened there? 

[00:54:37] Rick Ross: You know, he just was, he came home and filed lawsuits. He was an informant, came home, filed lawsuits, going right back to the police. So I had no words for him. I had nothing to talk about at that point. He was the police in prison, you're police now, I had no words to talk about. I still have none to talk about. 

[00:54:59] Jordan Harbinger: You know a lot of people will go, "Well, wait, he took that guy's name." You know, what's going on there? Is that not what happened? 

[00:55:04] Rick Ross: What happened was, is most definitely we had the same name. I ain't tripping. I can't get a rat no more. You know, I didn't know much about them personally. I knew, he was supposed to being hustled that I was getting money on the west coast. I'm from the south. You know what I'm saying? My name could have been Ricky Rozay from the beginning and I would have still been the biggest boss. It doesn't matter. Like I said, you know, when he came home, filed lawsuits, before you even reached out, I said, damn, I can't respect him. You know what I'm saying? I can't respect him. And then during the lawsuits is when I got all the documentation of how many, how many times he testified, how many people he testified against. So that killed any opportunities of us moving forward with anything. Is it anything personal with me? No, I don't know. I never met him. 

[00:55:55] Jordan Harbinger: If he tried to reach out to you directly and be like, "Hey man, I'm trying to rebuild my life coming out of prison. Like you got the same name as me," do you think that would have ended up, maybe the situation would have turned out differently? 

[00:56:05] Rick Ross: I don't know. You come home, rebuild your life, go rebuild your life. I got nothing to do with your life. Go rebuild your life. Help those 30 people you testified on rebuilding their lives too.

[00:56:18] Jordan Harbinger: There's a lot that goes into like street cred in the streets and in the industry. And those things overlap a lot. I actually, I know you kind of accidentally had a brush with that before, too, I guess, there was something about, you had a correctional officer job for, I don't even know how long, and people were like, "Oh, he's a cop or he's law enforcement," right? "That his rap persona is fake because he worked in this job." I'm wondering what you feel about that because of course you speak about it a little bit in the book where it's like, "Hey man, I've had a lot of jobs." 

[00:56:46] Rick Ross: Like I said, where I'm from, you'll get broken if it ain't real and it's obvious the position I'm in, my shoes never been stepped on. And if it wasn't so real, the homie would've come and hollered at me. Ain't nobody stepping on my shoes because I don't even have nothing to explain. Is that real? You know what I'm saying? 

[00:57:07] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah. Yeah, I do. So switching gears a little bit, I got to hear this story about you going to Barack Obama's office. And there was a little bit of a disturbance because of the ankle monitor. Can you tell us this? This is a funny story and it has to be kind of one of those, like top 10 funniest stories or embarrassing maybe, but also funny moments of your life, right? 

[00:57:28] Rick Ross: Right, right. I was invited to the White House, me along with the other few artists. And at the time I was actually out on bond for some kidnapping charges, some allegations for me doing some things this or that. So I had an ankle monitor on my ankle. We were all sitting in the Oval Office. 

[00:57:48] Jordan Harbinger: Who was in there, who is there at this point? 

[00:57:50] Rick Ross: I'm myself, maybe 15 or 20 other artists, myself, DJ Khaled, Chance The Rapper, Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, just to name a few. My ankle monitor actually went off in the middle of the conversation. Secret Service went to move it around because before you went into the Oval Office, everyone had to give up any technology, any cell phones, anything. So no one had any technology on them. So once the beep started going off, security guys went to, you know, Barack Obama made up a statement and everybody at the table was just, it was one of those things. And I'm sure nobody that was there will forget. 

[00:58:34] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah. I think a lot of people are going, wait a minute, because, of course, when you go into the White House, period, they're probably searching you for weapons and all that stuff. And then before you go in the Oval Office, they're searching you. And I assume they saw that you had the ankle monitor and they went, "Oh, okay. This is fine." But the guys maybe stationed inside didn't know about that. And then what, why was it beeping like a low battery or something like what's going on there? 

[00:58:56] Rick Ross: Oh man, I don't know. You got to ask Fayetteville County Jail, but you know, the question I really got a lot of was how could a person with kidnapping charges or such charges make it to the White House, but we did. We did and we put those, I want to say, I had 12 felony charges. We put those behind us. And the same way being accused of these types of allegations never made me have a job for a few months, never made. You dig? 

[00:59:30] Jordan Harbinger: Yeah. It's a funny story because I'm just imagining Secret Services panicking. Everyone's looking around. Some people probably even know what it is, but they don't want to say anything. And then Obama's just sitting there like, "Well, I thought we were going to blow up." 

[00:59:43] Rick Ross: It was so familiar to that. I don't want to repeat it, but you know, it was most definitely when you hear the beep, beep, beep, beep, and it's coming from under the table. 

[00:59:52] Jordan Harbinger: Probably like who let this guy in here with the — next time, change your batteries and your ankle monitor before you come in the Oval Office. The lesson I think we need to learn here is always make sure you have fresh batteries in your ankle monitor if you're going to go see the president of the United States. 

[01:00:06] Rick Ross: True. 

[01:00:07] Jordan Harbinger: There's a lot of people that want to get opportunities with you, right? They want to like, "Oh man, I want to work with you. I want to work with your label. I want to work with your companies." What do you suggest to people that want to get opportunities with you or somebody like you? You say take initiative, but what does this look like in practice? 

[01:00:22] Rick Ross: Taking initiative in practice is really embracing everything that we already have going on. Embrace repping the brands, embrace repping the record label, embrace everything. We got 20 partnerships right now. You should already feel like a partner in all 20, that's if you really want to look or see or feel exceptional to me. If you're going to hire someone in the future to work with what you got going on, it should already be on Facebook 12 months prior. They should already know this is the way we work. This is the way we move. If you even have a consideration of wanting to become a brand ambassador, whatever, so on and so forth, you should begin now. Don't just wake up one morning and say, "Rozay, I want to be MMG." Well, guess what? I got a surprise, there's f*cking million people that just want to be MMG. There's artists that want to pay me to be an MMG. So what are you going to bring that's unique? Show me something that's different. And hopefully, they could show me already 12 months of work you've already been putting in, repping the team, repping the brand. Show me that the love is genuine. 

[01:01:37] And that's something that I realized that wealthy people want. They don't just want to hire somebody that wants the job because everybody wants the job, but they really want to find who really wants to be there. And if you could show an extremely wealthy person, "Look, man, I really wanted to be here. This is what I did two years ago. Look." Because everybody wants the job. Everybody wants to sit next to the multimillionaire. Everybody wants to have lunch with the billionaire, but what have you done that was different. 

[01:02:10] Jordan Harbinger: It's like, if you want to work for me, show me that you already had been working for me. And I think that's one way you phrase it in the book as well. Like don't come and ask me for the job you're auditioning for the job, well, before we even talked. 

[01:02:23] Rick Ross: It doesn't even matter what you're talking about right now. Show me, show me. Pull up your platform. Show me your social media. Show me what you've been doing. Show me you love this brand and you love this so much. This is so incredible. And this is the opportunity you've been waiting for. This is bullsh*t if you can't show. 

[01:02:47] Jordan Harbinger: You said, "You don't have to sacrifice your principles or be an immoral person to succeed. Being good to those you work with is a long-term play. If your idea of success only benefits you, you're not really that successful." Tell me about that. 

[01:03:01] Rick Ross: Well, if it's only one person that's really winning, how successful are you? How big are you? Are you really the biggest boss? No, it should affect everyone that's coming to the table and bringing something to the table. It's simple. If you're the only one winning, hey man, you may not really be winning, man. Or maybe you are, just in a different way. But the platforms I'm creating, I need everybody to be a part of every one of them, because that's how all 20 benefits. We got to be a part of them all. You should post them on your platform. I shouldn't have to ask you because once we win, we are number one. You come to the dentist, don't you? Toast the champagne, don't you? Well, let's put the work in. "Hey man, I grew up where you played baseball." F*ck baseball. That was 20 years ago. F*ck that sh*t. It's about what's popping right now. Let's hit some home runs right now. And if we not going to do that, cool, man, I wish you the best. Go over there now.

[01:04:07] Jordan Harbinger: It's interesting. Because you're practicing what you preach, right? Like you, you brought up the champagne and the beverage earlier and you're like, "Oh, I'm doing this for my friend. I'm repping this for my friend. I have a business partner and I'm promoting this for him." They're not asking you to do this. And so people see that and they have to do the same thing for you, but it's like, you're giving them the blueprint. And now you literally have a book about how to do it. So if people are going to ignore that, then you know they're not going to be a good fit for your organization. 

[01:04:31] Rick, thank you so much, man. Is there anything that you want to put in before we close? Because otherwise it's a wrap. 

[01:04:37] Rick Ross: Hey, man, I had a great time with you today. Anytime you need me, I'll be here for you. If you ever have a barbecue or something like that, I'll be there, baby. I may also send us some stuff, you dig, from that stuff, but I'll be there.

[01:04:56] Jordan Harbinger: I've got some thoughts on this episode, but before I get into that, here's a preview of my conversation with Danny Trejo, an ex-con turned icon, featured in over 350 films and TV shows. You've seen them everywhere in Machete, Breaking Bad, Desperado and much, much more. He's never been through acting school which doesn't matter when you're a legend/icon. Before becoming such a prolific star, Danny Trejo was a drug addicted criminal, hooked on heroin at age 12 who spent more than a decade in and out of prisons. Here's a quick preview. 

[01:05:28] Danny Trejo: Once you start doing robberies and you're using heroin, the robberies become addictive. You don't know whether you're doing robberies to support your drug habit or doing drugs to support your robbery habit. 

[01:05:43] Jordan Harbinger: I read you robbed a store with a hand grenade. 

[01:05:45] Danny Trejo: This was later on. This was like, we did a robbery. We winded up with his hand grenade. So I tried it and it was fairly simple. You know, when you hold a hand grenade and you've got your hand on the pin and you ask somebody for some money, they think twice. 

[01:05:58] In prison, there's only two guys, people in prison, there's predators and their preys. That's it. And you got to decide every damn morning, what are you going to be? And I know a lot of people that decide, "I'm a prey. I don't care because I'm tired." I know a lot of people that took an elevator off the fifth year. There's no elevator. I know a lot of people that cut their wrists. I've seen guys with all the muscles in the world getz stabbed by a short Mexican in tennis shoes with a big knife. "Get fighting." "I won't fight you." 

[01:06:29] That's prison. Prison has a taste. One of those fake pennies, leave one in your mouth and keep it there. That's the taste of pressure. That's the taste of anxiety. That's the taste of fear. That's the taste of everything. You feel it. That's what you walk around with. And when you finally lose that taste, you've decided whether you're going to be predator or prey. That's the only way you can lose it. 

[01:06:57] Jordan Harbinger: For more, including how Danny Trejo walked onto a Hollywood movie set as a drug counselor, and left as a bonafide actor and how Danny Trejo has managed sobriety for over 50 years and continues to help others maintain theirs, check out episode 398 of The Jordan Harbinger Show.

[01:07:13] Man, this is an interesting one. Never think you've got it all figured out. Always have that beginner's mindset. The second you think you found a lane and you've got it all figured, you've just set a ceiling for yourself. A lot of really good information from Rick and of course, his book as well, that will be linked in the show notes.

[01:07:31] All of the books from all the guests are linked in the show notes. And please do use those links if you buy the books from our guests because it does help support the show. Worksheets for the episodes are in the show notes. Transcripts are in the show notes. There's also a video of this interview going up on our YouTube channel at jordanharbinger.com/youtube. We've also got our clips channel with cuts that don't make it to the show and/or highlights from the interviews that you can't see anywhere else. jordanharbinger.com/clips is where you can find that. I'm at @JordanHarbinger on both Twitter and Instagram, or just hit me on LinkedIn. 

[01:08:02] I'm teaching you how to connect with great people and manage relationships using systems and tiny habits over at our Six-Minute Networking course. The course is free. It's over at jordanharbinger.com/course. Dig that well before you get thirsty. Most of the guests on the show, they subscribe to the course. They contribute to the course. Come join us, you'll be in smart company where you belong. 

[01:08:22] This show is created in association with PodcastOne. My team is Jen Harbinger, Jase Sanderson, Robert Fogarty, Millie Ocampo, Ian Baird, Josh Ballard, and Gabriel Mizrahi. Remember, we rise by lifting others. The fee for this show is that you share it with friends when you find something useful or interesting. If you know anybody, who's a fan of Rick Ross, hip-hop, or just into the business end of that music industry, definitely share this episode with them. I hope you find something great in every episode of the show. So please share the show with those you care about. In the meantime, do your best to apply what you hear on the show, so you can live what you listen, and we'll see you next time.