My Name is Jade

In this business you must have respect. Without it, any success will be limited to the next one willing to step into your shoes and establish what you failed to do. Some say respect is earned and some say respect is given until it needs to be taken away. I believe that respect is given to those that carry it with them. In other words, those that respect others carry with them a certain level of respect automatically. In this business you must also have the willingness to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. There is no room for hesitation in any way shape or form. The moment you fail to react or move on a ‘thing’ is the moment you lose your grip. There will always be someone waiting on you to slip so that they can pounce on the opportunity to take what you have. Now understand, respect goes hand-in-hand with comfort too. Meaning, you have to be confident to certain degree because it will elevate your level of respect with others. If they know that you are ‘willing’, which flows through your comfort, then respect will be risen, that is if the company you keep is not ‘stupid’.

I don’t have to say anything and I don’t have to be noticed. I walk into a situation and I swear it’s as if my alterego kicks in and takes over. I become the ‘solver’ and my ability to conduct business becomes extraordinary. In this capacity I can see people as they truly are. Whether it’s the ability one brings to the table, or the fear they suffer from, or their true intent, I can see whether or not I Will respect them or not. OK, so lets get into this particular story….

“This is Rick, Rick this is Jade”. 2-3 seconds is all it took for me to ‘size Rick up. Rick was the ‘local’ D-boy. He hustled everything from DVD’s, purses, weed and jewelry. Now, I’m no fool, I knew that there was money to be made in some of the hustles that he did so I was curious to know where his supply was coming from. Now I don’t know if you know this, but must people are not willing to put you on to their supplier because you’d be taking away from their business to some degree. That said, I didn’t care. My goal was to get the information I needed, because there was profit to be made. Now I want you to think for a second…think about the last time someone tried to sell you something on the ‘street’; say a nice purse for you or your girl, or that new movie that is still playing in the theater. Was that person loud and excited? Yeah I thought so. What’s with that anyway? Trust me, Rick was no different. I mean this dude just met me and started telling me about himself and what he has and what he can do. Um, dude I don’t give a shit! Oh course out of ‘respect’ for my people and him to some degree, I didn’t actually say that. Instead I let him talk and talk about his life lol. Ok sidebar: The fake Chanels, LV’s, Coach bags, etc. is a multi-billion dollar industry and the same goes for DVD’s, so go ahead Rick…Talk, talk, talk. I figured that anyone that talked that much would not be able to not give me the information I wanted because they can’t help themselves. “Rick, you got something to drink? Juice, soda or water?” Of course he had something to drink, even if it was water. As Rick is headed toward the kitchen, I get up and follow him. As we walked, I asked him questions about various things he had in the house. I noticed a mason jar in the hallway and made small talk about it. I even mentioned how I liked the color on the walls. Now, you have to know that I didn’t give a rats ass about anything in this place, well except the information I needed from Rick. As you could imagine, he was excited that someone took interest in his life/house, so he ended up showing me the entire house. That included his basement which housed his many money making projects. “Jade, hold on my dude. I have to show you this!” He opens this door in the basement and it’s filled with all kinds of merchandise. If you can think of anything in Macy’s, Rick had it in his basement. It was truly impressive. Truly! Um, so I can’t help but wonder if you’re following me and my mind right now. What am I thinking? “Bingo! I got him comfortable. Now its time to get what I came for. A contact!” I’m like, wow Rick, how in the hell did you get all this shit? Of course Rick says, “Man, my homeboy gets me whatever I need. I can turn him on to you if you’d like”. Just like that, a new contact was made. Now I want you to understand that this sort of thing does not happen by chance. There’s a song and dance that is played and one false move will have your ass broken! While Rick did well at his hustles, the person on the next level has to be doing better and you better believe that that person didn’t get to that level by chance and you’d better know the cards you’re playing with or you will get hurt. Rick found a comfort in me, because I made him feel comfortable by respecting him. No I didn’t respect his mouth, but none-the-less I respected his hustle and his home. By the time Rick hooked me up with his man, I’d stacked up some paper to come in not on Rick’s level but on the wholesale level which would effectively have Rick working for me. This is a game people and there are many levels to it. This is my story and my name is Jade! Respect