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Keep the Faith

Once you've found your will, keeping it is the hard part. It can take years for that first taste of success to come. Most people give up before it happens.

You have to love yourself enough to keep the faith. You have to believe in what you're doing even when it seems like nobody else does. If you don't, you won't be able to handle the hard knocks that I guarantee will come your way time and time again.

Russell Simmons, the godfather of hip hop and the founder of Def Jam, has achieved a level of wealth, lifestyle, social status and fame that, back in the day, no one would have thought possible for a black kid from Hollis. He's in television ads for Panasonic's newest digital delights. The culture he created is being used to sell everything from mobile phones to Mickey D's.

But over and over and over again, people used to laugh in his face. He was trying to bring hip hop, the music of the culture he loved, to the public through radio play, concerts and parties long before anyone accepted it as a legitimate form of music or business -- let alone as a means to build a commercial empire.

Imagine trying to sell African-American music like the blues to middle-class white audiences before Elvis came along. Now picture trying to promote hip-hop artists long before even most black audiences found the taste for this unique combination of hard-core poetry and gritty sound.

Deejays couldn't comprehend how the rhythmic scratching of records mixed with rhymes could ever be so popular. They'd make public pleas on the radio for more music, less rap. Every time Russell held a sold-out event, people dismissed it as a fluke.

Time and again, Russell was ripped off by other promoters. All the black music industry gatekeepers figured they could afford to screw Russell and his artists. Way back when, in the late '70s, Russell gave a booker at a popular R&B club $1,900 to promote a show. The booker kept it and disappeared.

But one small event got him through and reminded him what he was striving for.

He had to escort the rap artist Kurtis Blow to Amsterdam in 1980 to perform hip hop's first hit record, "Christmas Rappin'." Russell was twenty-three years old at the time. Apart from a short hop to Philadelphia, he'd never been on a plane. Going overseas was huge! Flying first-class on KLM airlines was beyond imagination!

When he boarded the plane, the flight attendant said, "Hello Mr. Simmons, welcome aboard." He was so surprised he had to look around to see who the hell she was talking to before he clocked it was him. "From then on it was Mr. Simmons this, Mr. Simmons that, all the way to Amsterdam," Russell said. No one had ever called him Mister before.

When he deplaned, his hosts took him straight to one of those cafes where you can smoke weed. "Here we were," Russell said. "Me and Kurtis, two kids from City College in New York being given the respect and invited to smoke all the weed we wanted, legally. I was so happy!"

It may not have seemed like a big deal to anyone else. But that one gesture of respect helped bolster Russell's self-confidence and give him faith. It was a little way of saying "hey, you're important," that helped him get through the hard times and reminded him that it was all worth it.

"The thing about success is, you always have to put in more hours than you planned," he told me years later. "It happens on God's schedule, not yours. So sometimes, even though you really believe in what you're doing, you just need something to give you that little extra boost and remind you that there's dignity in the effort and it's all gonna be worth it some day."

It's these small rewards that add up to give it all meaning. They show us we're on the right path and, when the big wins come, they remind us not to take those achievements for granted. They help us keep our will in focus.

Some people don't notice or appreciate these small breakthroughs, whether it's at the beginning of their career or when they're already full-blown into it. That's a damn shame. Houses are built one brick at a time. It's these moments of achievement and nods of recognition that, when you put them together, build true success.

Rule 1

What: Find Your Will

Why: Because you need that passion to drive you to make it happen against seemingly impossible odds.

How: Look deep within yourself to discover that thing you really love to do. It's never too late, but it's best to start young and explore everything that interests you.

But: Don't give up too early. You have to keep trying. It might not be obvious at first. We're not all born knowing we want to be doctors, lawyers or CEOs. Seek and you will find! Excerpted from 'Make it Happen: The Hip Hop Guide to Success' by Kevin Liles. Copyright© 2005 by KWL Enterprises, LLC. Permission granted by Simon & Schuster.