The importance of inclusive behavior was modeled for me early in life. I have many childhood memories of my mother - an entrepreneur and business owner - drawing people to herself and inspiring them with the genuineness of her interest in them.
Business owners have made a strong case to me that they need guest workers. But none has suggested that these workers should be placed on a path to citizenship.
My business partner gave me a drone, a small helicopter you pilot with an iPhone, and also it has a camera so you can see what it sees on the iPhone. Great fun. I fly it outside in Portugal. It's wonderful to oversee gardens.
I was afraid people wouldn't take me seriously, or would stop respecting me, if I talked about how bad I was feeling. The only people I talked openly about it with was my business partner, Dave Jilk, and my girlfriend - now wife - Amy Batchelor. They were amazingly supportive, but even then, I was deeply ashamed about my weaknesses.
One of my business partners would remind me that no fashion line lasts forever, that we would hit the down curve eventually, and that we needed to look for new brands that complement the first one.
I ended up performing one time at BET. I performed my record, like, four times, and the crowd was going super crazy. And Busta just happened to be there; he pulled me to the side and asked, 'Are you signed to anybody?' So we went to the studio a few days later, spoke, and then became business partners.
This is not a change of career for me. Just an expansion of it. I have contracts and obligations and business partners who are counting on me. And I would only want to do another movie if it's as good as this one.
Mainly, I don't like it when music is made solely to impress people or in order to please business people; it doesn't sound good to me. If you're making music in order to become famous or loved by the masses... that's not what I'm about. When somebody's making music for the wrong reasons, I hear it right away.
I learned hard lessons, and I've taken that lesson and it's helped me become a better business person and a better leader.
If I had done 'Go, New York, Go' for the Spurs, it might not have worked. It really taught me a lot about demographics and tastes and styles. I never went to business school, so that whole experience was my crash course in marketing, contracts, negotiations, and product launches.
Undergrad, for me, in college was really about, you know, how do I become a professional. But business school, for me, was how do I become the person that I'm meant to be.
I feel lazy when I'm not working. I learned all my business sense from my dad. He always believed in me, and I think the last thing he said to me before he passed away was, 'I know you're gonna be OK. I'm not worried about you'.
Selling cookies helped me to realize that you needed to have a certain way to communicate with people. You also needed business skills. You knew you needed to sell a certain amount of boxes, so that gave me some business sense.
As minister for business and minister for women and equalities, it is clear to me that promoting equality of opportunity simply makes good business sense.
And I trusted someone to look after me on the business side of life.
When I was in N.W.A. and didn't get paid all the money I was owed, that's when the business side of showbiz hit me.
I never thought that was even possible, to have your friends working with you. In the music, yes, in the creative side, yes, but in the business side, I need people who take me fully seriously.
The Arena League is the best thing that could have happened to me because I get to run the whole process. I'm seeing not only the football side but the business side.
In the business world, I did fairly well, but wasn't happy. A bout of sciatica put me flat on my back. All I could do was read, listen to my mother's stories about the Sandovals, and daydream: a return to self. My writing career had begun.
I tell people to look at me and understand that everybody first told me that I couldn't be a 6-foot, 9-inch point guard, and I proved them wrong. Then they told me I couldn't be a businessman and make money in urban America, and I proved them wrong. And they thought I couldn't win all these championships, and I proved them wrong there as well.
