If you don’t already know by now, I am a Beyoncé fan. I love her music and choreography (I swear I’m her when I dance along at her concerts!), but outside of the entertainer factor, I am a huge fan of her work ethic. If you’ve seen any number of her documentaries or specials on TV, you would have seen her speaking of high expectations on business and performance levels. She is a huge inspiration to me and the lyrics to her songs always seem to inspire and motivate me.
I had the pleasure of attending her concert last weekend (well, it was the “OTR II” tour which was also with Jay-Z, but I was mostly there for Bey), and seeing her live is always an EXPERIENCE! I leave full and ready to continue my projects and goals by the end of her concerts every time. I decided to create this post because I wanted to share 10 of my favorite Beyoncé lyrics and how I’ve aligned their meaning to blogging and running a business. Also, today is her birthday - perfect timing!
1 / Song Title: Formation
Lyric: “I dream it, I work hard, I grind ‘til I own it.”
We all have dreams and goals, and the only way to accomplish them is to put in the work. You have to know where you want to go to create a plan on how to get there. Once you know what you need to do, you put in the time and grind it out until you accomplish your goals!
Related: How to blog with a purpose.
2 / Song Title: Sorry
Lyric: “Stop interrupting my grinding.”
“Comparison is the thief of joy” as Theodore Roosevelt said. Comparing yourself to others is silly only because everyone is different, has a different path in life, different experiences and different circumstances. As a result, one's progress and place in life can't be compared to yours. Your only competition is yourself, so try to outdo yourself. Comparison is a distraction and covers up the great work that you are doing. For me, this lyric can mean that comparison is interrupting your grinding because you’re focusing on the wrong thing (i.e. other people) and it’s throwing you off of your game!
3 / Song Title: 6 Inch
Lyric: “She’s worth every dollar and she’s worth every minute.”
Women and money. More so women and their worth in dollar form. It’s hard for women to talk about money, charge for things, raise their prices, ask for raises, negotiate their salary, etc. It’s unfortunate because if we were to speak up and ask for what we want, we would be more likely to get it. I have personal experience with this when asking for a higher raise or a raise overall and it worked out in my favor. When I look back on it, if I were never to ask they wouldn’t have given it. This lyric to me is to know your worth. Don’t undercut yourself. Also, time is money...the more time you spend on something, the more money you should get paid. It's the same for experience; the more experience you have, the more valuable you become. Raising your prices isn’t as scary as it seems. Netflix does it. Amazon does it. Why can’t we? I kept Netflix and Amazon when they raised their prices recently because I enjoy their service. Focus on providing stellar service to your customers and a price increase won’t be a big deal to them.
4 / Song Title: 6 Inch
Lyric: “She fights and she sweats those sleepless nights.”
I am a night owl. I own that badge and wear it with pride! I get my best work done at night. When you have a day job and also blog or run a side business, the night time is prime time! There have been nights where I have worked all night and went to bed when the sun was starting to rise. It’s like that sometimes. It takes hard work and dedication to accomplish your goals, and sometimes late nights. I’m not saying to be sleep deprived everyday because that’s not healthy, but late nights are necessary sometimes.
Maybe you don't thrive at night. That's fine, too! Ultimately it’s all about when you are the most creative. I call it the Creative Peak Time. Just know that you are going to have very late nights or very early mornings to get things done sometimes!
Related: 1 huge myth about time.
5 / Song Title: 6 Inch (Okay, yes, I love this song because it’s full of gems!)
Lyric: “She grinds from Monday to Friday, works from Friday to Sunday.”
This is the side-hustle life! Monday-Friday is the work week for the 9-5, so you grind it out all week there. Friday night-Sunday is also known as the side-hustler's work week and is when the bulk of your blogging and business tasks can be done. The weekend is prime time to get tasks done that aren’t as easy to fit in during the week (taking photos with natural light for example). It’s also important to keep your week organized so you can stay on track and know what you need to be working on each day. This way, you fully maximize your weekend work hours and don't waste any of that time on tasks that aren't really important.
6 / Song Title: Don’t Hurt Yourself
Lyric: “You can't recreate her, no.”
This can apply to being concerned that no one will buy your product/service because the “market is too saturated”. I don’t agree with this for a few reasons. First, we are all different. There is no other you. Even identical twins have their own personalities. Second, we are attracted to and buy from people for different reasons. There are plenty of style bloggers, but there is not one style blogger that appeals to everyone. It's impossible. That’s the beauty in being unique. I always use my doughnut example to explain this simply: There are so many types of glazed doughnuts...and they’re all selling!
7 / Song Title: Diva
Lyric: ”I told you gimme a minute and I'll be right back.”
In between all the working, grinding and task slaying, you need to also take a break. Working non-stop for a long time isn't good for the creative process. Sometimes you need to take a break from social media, blogging, working, etc. to reset and allow room for new ideas. I find that whenever I go on vacation, I always come back feeling refreshed and ready to get back to it more than ever. I tend to get new ideas for blog posts, products, and services when I step away for a minute. This lyric to me can apply to taking a creative break because you know when you come back you're going to be ready to slay!
8 / Song Title: Top Off
Lyric: “I'm a triple threat.”
Wealthy people tend to generate their wealth from multiple streams of income. They don’t put all their eggs in one basket and neither should you. I do believe in perfecting one thing before adding something else to the mix, but I also believe in diversifying your portfolio. This could simply be selling different types of products (services, physical products and coaching) or having different sources of income such as your products, affiliate income and brand partnership income.
9 / Song Title: NICE
Lyric: "I can do anything, yeah."
This is a mantra to tell yourself. You really can do anything, but you have to believe it first. Don’t limit yourself to what you know; you should try new things because you never know the outcome. You may hate it or you may love it, but you'll never know if you don't try. When I went to school for Graphic Design, I never thought I'd begin dabbling in tech systems and automation! You have to be open and try new things. This applies to opportunities as well. I am in a phase of business where I'm saying yes to a lot of things that make me very uncomfortable (i.e. public speaking, online webinars, etc.). Through these opportunities, I have made new connections and more opportunities have come up. If I were to tell myself I couldn't do it...if I would have talked myself out of it...I wouldn't have been presented with these awesome opportunities! The key to this lyric is the "yeah" because she KNOWS she can do anything...she believes it and believes in herself. This is a major key because if you don't believe in yourself, why would you expect anyone else to?
10 / Song Title: Flawless
Lyric: “I woke up like this.”
To keep it simple, stay true to yourself and don't change for anyone. Also don't try to be someone you're not. Embrace and show your true self and your audience will find you and follow you because they genuinely like you. One of my favorite influencers is so real in everything she says and does. Cursing might be involved to get her point across sometimes but that’s her personality. She doesn’t sensor herself. Fake people have been roaming the Earth forever and social media makes it even easier to have a false persona now. People are tired of it and craving realness, so being you is the best thing you can do for your blog/business especially now.
Bonus Track! / Song Title: Formation
Lyric: ”Always stay gracious...”
It’s important to be humble and realize that you didn't get to where you are on your own steam. Yes you did the work, but without a higher power it wouldn’t even be possible. Whatever your higher power is, be thankful for the direction and great opportunities that you’ve been presented with. Also, it's important to thank the people that are helping you along your journey whether it's a spouse for watching the kids while you blog for a few hours, a business friend that listens to your challenges and gives you great advice or an online influencer that you've never met but are always inspired by when reading their content. A simple "Thank You" goes a long way.
As an extra special treat, I have created a playlist of these songs! If you have Tidal (what Beyoncé fan doesn't?!), here it is!
What are some of your favorite song lyrics that really get you pumped by your favorite artists? Let me know in the comments!