This is HOW T.I. Built His Empire | Top 10 Rules

You gotta wake up, you gotta drive, you gotta be driven to go get something done now. Nothing in life worth having comes free. Nobody's gonna give anybody anything. I like being able to do what I love doing for a living.

He's an American hip-hop recording artist and actor. He's released 9 studio albums with 7 of them reaching the top 5 on the Billboard charts. He's T.I., and here's my take on his top 10 rules for success.

Tip, you were in Ant-Man. I just watched, me and the kids just watched you in Ant-Man. What you doing over there? I still pull up in the Déjà Vu, the after-hours spot, the blue eyes. All the time. And I mean, that's just because that is the source of my inspiration. Right. You know what I mean? It keeps you in touch. That's what I draw from. You know, this music, this thing of ours came from that element. Absolutely. So as you just said, how could I even expect to be be in the mindset. If I just was feet up sailing on the French Riviera, you know what I'm saying, somewhere, uh, in a penthouse in Malibu— or excuse me, a beach house— in a beach house in Malibu somewhere, I mean, I could make some kind of music. But it was a nice house, by the way. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I enjoyed those times. Absolutely, absolutely. But you got— but you need a balance. You do, you do. You need a balance. You need to pull off from over there and go somewhere that'll show you why you appreciate being here, right? You know what I mean? And if you lose touch of that, if you don't have that anchor to keep you grounded somewhat, then you'll think it's like this all the time and it's gonna always be like this. This is just what life is like. And it gives you a distorted vision of reality. So I like to keep myself grounded and connected to what I know is real. And what's real is, shit, your ass fucked up. You gonna end up right back here. As an aspiring entrepreneur, Um, you know, I know that you've done a lot of things. I don't want to go along with your credentials. Thank you. We know that. Um, what do you do? You know, what, what takes— what did it take for you to build your empire, man? It took, man, it took execution time after time after time, you know what I'm saying? Proper execution in many different areas, uh, and consistency. Uh, it took resilience. Um, and you know, you just have to show up and show out so often. Right on. Time after time, you gotta wake up and you gotta drive. You gotta be driven to, to go get something done now. You know what I'm saying? Uh, and you, I mean, for real, and it's a gamble sometimes. You gotta really, really, you gotta be forward thinking ahead of the curve when it comes time to make certain decisions. And you got to be willing to stand on your beliefs, because a lot of times you're the only one who can see it. You dig? And other people, they don't see it really, but you got to really believe in what you got inside of you that's telling you and driving you to a certain goal for something. I can dig. Yeah. I was challenged by my manager right now, a producer DJ Tune, and my cousin who passed away. They challenged me. How long ago? This was about 12, 13 years ago. 13 years ago, '98. You were 17? 17, 18. And they challenged me to, uh, stop selling drugs, stop selling crack. They say, you want to be a rapper, this is what you want to do. You've already been arrested, you've already gotten— you did this, this little bit of time, you got probation. If you get arrested again, you blow it all. So I then said, okay, well, take me somewhere where I can, uh, where I can create a way for myself. If you want me to leave this behind, then make, make up— show me an opportunity. They then took me to a studio with a named P.A. Uh, P.A. then put me on the spot, asked me if I could rap on a certain beat. I walked in the booth, did my thing, and they signed me to LaFace Records. But most time, man, most celebrities or artists, I see them come and go, man, all the time, man. They, they really think that it's about them, you know what I mean? They think that, oh yeah, people just love, like, me. It's, it's about me. And really, it's about what you, what you do. The service that you can provide. It's just like, man, how much would you appreciate your dentist if he fucked up your teeth? Right. You know what I'm saying? How much would you appreciate your mechanic if he didn't fix your car? Right. You know what I'm saying? As long as the service that you provide is that of a stellar quality and above standards, then you gonna appreciate that person and hold them in high regard. When that service begins to diminish, then you not going to hold that person in high regard no more. And that's why you see people come and go so fast, because when they get there, they forget that it's about the quality of what they can present, the quality of the work that they can provide to the people. And when they stop providing that quality of work because they feel they don't have to, they feel they too big, they feel entitled, They're mad that when they disappear. Nothing in life worth having comes free. Nobody's gonna give anybody anything. Now, you get out of life what you're willing to put into it. Hard work, sacrifice, dedication, all of these things breed success. Now, I can tell you this because, you know, I was once one of the people who who were assumed to be less likely to become successful. I'm from a very modest neighborhood. I didn't necessarily grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth. I didn't have all the things that I wanted, sometimes not even all the things that I need. It's important for you to know your environment does not define you unless you allow it to. The position that you're in right now— the position you're in right now does not dictate your future unless you allow it to. You can look at your life as it is right now, you can look at it, you can say, well, I'm not where I want to be. This isn't where my life will end. You can do one of two things. You can use it as an excuse to do nothing, or you can use it as motivation to push yourself forward. The choice is yours. I need you guys to understand and believe that anything in life is possible. Whatever it is you want to do, it's absolutely possible. I don't care how much trouble you've gotten into up until now. I don't care how many things you may have done wrong. I don't care how much you may not have in your life to help you. You can do it if you believe in yourself enough to make it happen. If you put enough— if you put enough effort and energy and invest enough in your future You can do anything in this world you want to do. Anything's possible. Don't never let nobody tell you what you can't do. I started rapping when I was 9 years old. 9 years old. And I'm from Atlanta. So at the time when I was rapping, there wasn't no other rappers in Atlanta. And I heard every excuse why I couldn't be a rapper. I heard every excuse. Excuse why I couldn't be famous. Everything from, "You can't rap, you too skinny." You know, everything from, "Don't nobody from the South make it big and go platinum." I heard all these things, a whole bunch of excuses, a whole bunch of reasons why I should not believe that I could make it. But my belief, my belief overcame their doubt because I believed in myself. And if I can do it, whatever it is that I have done, you can do it better. I try and stay honest, you know what I'm saying? Really, I ain't got to try, man. Like, I don't have no choice, you know what I'm saying? Like, it won't even come out my mouth if it ain't true. Like, if it ain't something that I'm really living, a way that I really feel, something I'm really going through, I won't even allow myself to say it, you know. It's like, as I'm putting it together, I'm like, "Uh-uh, I'd never say that." You know what I'm saying? Like, it don't even register if it ain't authentic. Do you like being famous? To be the best. I don't really— nah, I'm not really famous. I like being able to do what I love doing for a living. You know, I get paid for doing something. Yeah, get paid for doing something I love. I enjoyed that. If fame just happens to be something that comes with it, that I have— I look at it as— right, I look at it as more of a detriment than, you know, than a benefit to me. We're blessed to be paid for something you love. We're blessed, and we don't, you know, to enjoy what we do. To stay the same means to receive the same. Wow. In order to grow and in order to, to reach new levels of success, you got to put yourself in a position to be eligible for these new levels of success. Nothing worth having comes without hard work and sacrifice. You're gonna have to struggle, you're gonna have to show how much you want it, show what it's worth to you, you know. And there have been times where it's made it difficult for me, but there's also been times where it's made it easier for me. This is a cliché question, but what do you see yourself in 10 years, 15 years? Hard to say. Really? Yeah, I mean, you know, 10, 15 years ago, I didn't see myself here. Right. So it's hard to say. Uh, I just hope to take advantage of my opportunities and reach my full potential. Uh, to continue to have an impact on my sons' and my daughters' lives. Uh, I mean, continue to make my mama happy. Wow. And create new standards of living for my family. Cultivate the artists of young talent with as much or more potential as me. I doubt we'll see that, T. Nah, you know. I doubt we'll see another T.I. Nah, not another T.I. You might see another I.T., you know what I'm saying? You might see something else, you know. T.I. in by way of. Right, right, right. But, you know, I just wanna, man, I wanna live, I wanna continue to live the dream. I wanna finish the story.

Thank you so much for watching. I made this video because Andreas Narte asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, leave it in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know which of T.I.'s top 10 rules had the biggest impact on you and why. What are you gonna change now in your business or life because of watching this video. Finally, I want to give a quick shout out to Jason Hand. Jason, thank you so much for purchasing a copy of my book. If you want a chance at a shout out in a future video, make sure to pick up a copy of the book and email in your receipt so we can keep track. Thank you guys so much for watching. Continue to believe, or whatever your one word is, and I'll see you soon.

That one thing about me, man, I ain't sensitive. It's a lot of cats, they walk around, man, with all this, man, baggage, man. I ain't sensitive. I understand that thing happens. Like, you know, like, for instance, let's say if, uh, we walking in the room and, you know, I'm, I'm walking by, I'm passing by, I'm saying hey, speaking to everybody who I see, and then somebody's standing right there, he speak to me, I have my hand out, he ain't shake my hand. Yeah, we beefing now. Really? You know what I'm saying? He must not like me, man. I don't even know you. I didn't see you, champ. Wow. I got bigger fish to fry, man.