The Audacity of Hustle

The Man Box.

2011-10-20T10:55:00.000-04:00

Thought I should share this.

The “I’m Me” Theory

2011-10-17T20:17:00.004-04:00

“Boy, I've got vision and the rest of the world is wearing bi-focals.” ― Butch Cassidy

All my life I’ve seen things differently. Where others see adversity I see opportunity. Where others see problems I see profit. And while this has led me to many successes, it has also led to many problems. Historically, when these “opportunities” arise and I share my ideas with those around me inevitable I am met with the same questions. “Hasn’t that already been tried?” “If that idea is so great why hasn’t anyone else thought of it?” and my favorite “If all of those other people have tried to do that and failed what makes you different?” Sometimes I answer these questions with a reply reminiscent of Condoleeza Rice’s testimony before congress. The reason being, that people don’t like it when I answer with the 3 word response that I prefer. “Because I’m Me.”

I realize how arrogant that sounds however, that is not my intention at all. I believe I am simply stating the facts. And if anyone questions your goals I would suggest that you do the same. Just because they don’t see what you see does not mean it’s not there. It means that they don’t have your eyes. Don’t let anyone project their fear of failure onto you. The reason you can do what you do is because you’re you.

If you are a better business person than most, claim it. And when people ask you why you started a business in “this economy”, you tell them “Because I can.” Everyone is capable of building castles in the sky, but only a few can build the foundations to support them.

Hustle Harder,

HNC III

Math for Hustlers

2010-05-20T21:34:00.002-04:00

Did > Will

Have > Want

Simple expressions that are meaningful for those of us in the business of making things happen. Part of being audacious is having grand plans and ideas by the dozen. Very often we get caught up in the dreaming and the doing suffers. Wheels spin but there is no forward motion.

It may be that we are afraid of doing the wrong thing, so we err on the side of caution and do nothing. Perhaps we need additional resources (money, information, people, equipment) in order to execute exactly as we’ve imagined. Sometimes pride keeps us from asking for help to progress to the next level.

Do what you think is the right thing. DO IT. Stop thinking about what might happen if you do or don’t and just take action. Even if you do the wrong thing, some action will be taken. I am confident that another action will follow. And from that series, maybe a process will develop. Refine that process and make it your plan. All those steps, right or wrong, will move you from the place where you currently sit - thinking about what you will do.

Doing things will help you have things rather than want them. Would you rather want a successful business or have a successful business?

Make sure you’re on the hustling side of the expression.

Motivation anyone?

2010-02-03T23:05:00.004-05:00

Part of the attraction of being a hustler is the self-determination aspect. You make your own schedule, determine your own priorities, choose your clients & co-workers, take power naps, eat cereal for lunch and pizza for breakfast – what could be better?!

As you go from meeting to meeting to meeting, on phone calls in between tweets there is an air of excitement, generated by the sheer energy that you radiate as you move ever more quickly toward success. As you check tasks off your to do list and set new goals to replace those accomplished it’s easy to get caught up in the rush and neglect the fundamentals. Let’s face it, there’s not too much fun involved. Nobody admires your brilliance for buying office supplies or paying taxes nor posts on Facebook about negotiating a good price with a vendor. Those things, and many others, have to be done in order to continue with the happiness of hustling though.

So how to stay motivated to complete the mundane? A few tips that help me:

Just like yawning, motivation is contagious. So spend some time with motivated/motivating people. It’s great to do so in real time but a virtual crew can be helpful too. Twitter is great for this as you can get to it on your phone, carry motivation in your pocket/purse. A few motivators that I follow: @Brotherjesse, @MrCrawford, @crayyy3, @sweetlocs

If you know you’re a morning person, schedule your most mundane/least inspiring work for morning so you’ll have the maximum amount of energy to devote to the tasks. Reverse if you’re a night owl.

Move around; sitting in one place breeds stagnation. Think about it - water that constantly flows is life giving. Stagnant water can kill you.

Work on your resume; consider interviewing for a job that you know you don’t want…and getting it! Now imagine having to be there every day, going to meetings, dealing with co-workers you didn’t choose…If that doesn’t motivate a hustler then I don’t know what will!

Keep hustling!

Help for Haiti

2010-01-13T10:50:00.011-05:00

In the midst of our daily back and forth on the road to success, please take a moment today to offer a prayer, a kind thought, a moment of silent acknowledment for the people of Haiti.

Our hearts go out to our Haitian brothers and sisters in the wake of the tragic earthquakes and aftershocks that they have suffered. Please do what you can to be of service in their time of need.

Let the links below be your guide:

Donate through Wyclef Jean's foundation, Yele Haiti. Text "Yele" to 501501 and $5 will be charged to your phone bill and given to relief projects through the organization.

The American Red Cross is pledging an initial $200,000 to assist communities impacted by this earthquake. They expect to provide immediate needs for food, water, temporary shelter, medical services and emotional support. They are accepting donations through their International Response Fund.

Text Haiti to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross

UNICEF has issued a statement that "Children are always the most vulnerable population in any natural disaster, and UNICEF is there for them." UNICEF requests donations for relief for children in Haiti via their Haiti Earthquake Fund. You can also call 1-800-4UNICEF.

UPDATE

Seeking more information about family in Haiti?
You can call 1-888-407-4747 to try and locate friends and family.

The World's Most Profitable Investment

2010-01-02T13:03:00.001-05:00

I got this in my Dave Lavinsky email newsletter the other day, thought I should share.

What would you do if I handed you an investment opportunity
for 2010 that was guaranteed to have a massive return?

Would you jump on it?

How about if I gave you proof that this investment
opportunity yielded significant returns last year, and the
year before that, and the year before that.....

Are you interested now?

Have you guessed what this investment opportunity is yet?

No, it's not gold, or stocks, or real estate.

So what is this investment?

It is investing in you.

More specifically, it is investing in improving your
skills, so that your brain becomes a bigger and bigger
asset. An asset that can generate more and more revenues and
profits well into the future.

I want you to think for a second. What one skill set, if
you became great at it, would revolutionize your success? If
you were amazing at closing sales, would it help? If you
became a phenomenal communicator? Or if you gained
world-class internet marketing skills? Would these skills
allow you to realize more success?

Every one of us can become much more successful if we
improve our skills.

But for most, we don't do anything about it. Did you know
that the average American spends $7.58 per day on fast food
and coffee? Imagine that money was spent by those
individuals to improve their skills.

Actually, there are those among us who constantly invest in
improving their skills. And they're very easy to spot. They
are the ones who have started, run and/or manage the fastest
growing and best run companies.

Yes, successful people realize that the best investment
they can make is the investment in themselves. It's the one
investment that gives back year after year after year.

Don't have time to take a class or read a book? Well, then
you can burn CDs to listen to in your car or on your MP3
player.

Did you know that in 2009 I listened to over 100 expert
interviews, business book summaries and tutorials, just
while driving to and from work?

How much more valuable have I become. How much more revenue
will this learning equate to in 2010? Only time will tell,
but I can guarantee you that I will reap a tremendous ROI on
this education.

I hope that 2010 will be your year to really improve your
skills and maximize your success. It is a sacrifice. But a
sacrifice well worth taking.

To Your Success!

Dave Lavinsky
Growthink
Growthink University

davel@growthink.com
Follow Me at http://twitter.com/davelavinsky

Someone to share my pretzels with

2009-12-29T17:14:00.002-05:00

The other day as my wife and I loaded our three kids in the car, my 2 year old stopped in the middle of getting into her car seat to hand her big sister a pretzel. This was quite frustrating to my wife who had to stand outside in the cold until my daughter got in her seat. After we got in the car my wife commented about how our oldest daughter who is now 6 used to get in the car and put on her seat belt without hesitation when she was 2. "That's because she didn't have anyone to share her pretzels with" I replied. As I drove home I thought about some of the parallels between being an only child and hustling alone.

As an only child you have to play alone, most of your entertainment depends on how good your imagination is. You have to think of creative ways to play games that traditionally require 2 people. (Instead of playing catch you bounce a ball off a wall etc...) You also don't have anyone to ask for advice. (What's the best way to get cookies out of the kitchen after being told to go to bed etc...)

Well I think the same thing applies to your hustle. If you hustle alone you don't have anyone to help keep you motivated when things get rough. Nor will you have anyone to offer ideas, insight and advice that you may have never thought of. In short don't hustle alone. As the saying goes "Friends multiply joys and divide griefs." Good company IN your hustle will keep you ON your hustle.

Keep Hustlin'

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

2009-11-08T20:54:00.005-05:00

Look yourself in the eye and say YES!

Yes, I can keep going

Yes, my future is in my hands

Yes, I am independent

Yes, I believe in what I'm doing

Yes, I have the patience to see it through

Yes, I am tenacious

There are times in a hustler's life when she is the ONLY one who believes. When he clearly understands what makes no sense to anyone else. At those times when you need a hustler hand up, find a mirror and say out loud that you are still in the game. Sometimes you'll see tears in your eyes or see a slight smile, maybe a little disbelief. But look into your own eyes, see into your heart and send a message to your mind.

Yes, you can keep hustling.

The Proper Care and Feeding of a Hustler

2009-11-08T20:39:00.006-05:00

As a hustler, it is easy to keep going. It's what we do,what we're admired for. Another client meeting? No problem! Change the proposal (again)? Of course we can! So we run and run and email and update Facebook, never turn the phone off and just keep going. Until we can't anymore.

Until we have headaches and ugly skin, torn up nails, perturbed spouses and sad children. While we are working so hard for our success and the comfort & joy of families we must remember to take care of ourselves. All engines need fuel. Your hustling machine is no exception. Take some time and put some effort into YOU and your business will reflect your focus.

These tips are not new and I can't say that I follow each of them everyday (after all, I'm a hustler too!). I'm posting them for our mutual benefit.

Drink enough water, especially if you drink soda and alcoholic drinks. Those headaches might be caused by dehydration
Get enough sleep. Yes, I am writing this at 2am...like I said we can all do better
Eat a balanced diet. It's easy& quick to go through the drive thru but fried is not your friend
Take some vitamins, especially vitamin D. I'm up to 12 per day and it does make a difference
Spend 15 minutes per day with yourself. No music, no phone, no people. Give your mind a break from Hustle Analytics
Laugh, everyday. Go to YouTube and find a dancing baby or something

Take good care and keep hustling!

If...

2009-11-03T21:17:00.000-05:00

IF you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,But make allowance for their doubting too;If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,Or being hated, don't give way to hating,And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;If you can meet with Triumph and DisasterAnd treat those two impostors just the same;If you can bear to hear the truth you've spokenTwisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,And lose, and start again at your beginningsAnd never breathe a word about your loss;If you can force your heart and nerve and sinewTo serve your turn long after they are gone,And so hold on when there is nothing in youExcept the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,If all men count with you, but none too much;If you can fill the unforgiving minuteWith sixty seconds' worth of distance run,Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

-Keep Hustlin'

What Motivates You?

2009-10-28T20:01:00.002-04:00

I once asked one of my mentors why did he become an entrepreneur. "Why did you choose this industry to build your business in?" I expected him to tell me about his passion for the product, or maybe how he wanted to do his part to help others or some long, thoughtful explanation about his responsibility to the community. But his answer was none of that it was quite simple and to me, quite stunning. He stopped what he was doing looked me square in the eyes and said one word, "Greed." I was baffled. My mind raced, through every other explanation I had ever heard from any moderately successful entrepreneur and I could not recall ever hearing anything remotely similar given as a a reason for a person starting a successful business. "So you don't like doing this?" I asked "Not really, but I'm good at it and it allows me the freedom to do the things I do liketo do, like golf" he replied. In that moment I had a revelation. I had always believed (and still do to a certain extent) that being passionate about what you do what a necessary part of success, however the success of my mentor was proof to the contrary.

Looking back I still think that my mentor's success was an anomaly. I believe that in order for you to be a success you have to be properly motivated and the purest form of motivation is a genuine passion for what you do. If you hustle something you don't like, in a place you don't want to be, to people you don't want to know you can almost guarantee that it's not going to work. You have to LOVE it. If you don't LOVE your hustle, find a new one. If you can't find a hustle to LOVE, get a job. It's less stressful and pays better in most cases. But if you LOVE your hustle. If doing what you do is like breathing to you, DO IT AND DO IT WELL. Don't half-ass hustle there is no way you will become a FULL TIME MILLIONAIRE from a PART TIME HUSTLE.

You should treat all things in life that you are passionate about the same way. Be AGGRESSIVE, DECISIVE and DON'T STOP (till you get enough) sorry I couldn't resist.

-Keep on Hustlin'

Quick Quote

2009-10-26T22:57:00.002-04:00

Just a quick quote today. More to come soon. I promise...

“The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of.”

C.S. Lewis (1898–1963)

Valuing the Hustle

2009-10-07T09:19:00.005-04:00

The goal of the Hustler, of course, is to be able to maintain, sustain and grow your business. To that end, we must charge our clients for our endeavors & expertise.

In theory, everyone loves a bargain but part of the way clients determine the WORTH of your services is based on how much you decide to charge for them. If someone offered you a 2010 BMW for $10k, how would you react? The majority of people that I know would immediately begin asking questions - what's wrong with it, where did it come from, etc. The value that we associate with the BMW brand does not support a $10K price tag so we're naturally skeptical.

The same holds true for your business. If you are the best at what you do - hairstylist, mechanic, lawyer, consultant, musician, THE BEST - let your fees reflect what you tell your clients about your abilities. Don't give away BMW service and expertise for Kia prices!

Your clients will accept the discounted price because it helps their bottom line but they will wonder if they are getting the best service. Just as you might look in your rear view mirror driving your $10k BMW...wondering if the real owner (or the police!) would be following. Nothing that you can put your finger on, just a nagging doubt that something isn't quite right.

In trying to get new business and make ourselves acceptable to potential clients it is tempting to discount fees or offer extra services. Resist the temptation! If clients tell you that they can't afford your services, thank them and keep hustling.

Just Do It!

2009-10-05T11:22:00.004-04:00

Do or do not. There is no try ~Yoda

If you're at your computer right now, try to move your mouse. Don't touch it! That would involve action and right now we are focused on trying. Try to raise your right foot. Just try. As much mental energy as you expend, until you take action and move something, you will remain right where you are.

Hustling requires action, constantly. Researching, writing, calling, emailing, meeting, traveling, organizing, attending, collecting, creating, inspiring, invoicing, and more. All these verbs are in the hustler vocabulary on repeat.

Trying is not in the hustler toolbox because trying doesn't move you forward. I love a line from a book I've recently finished, The One Minute Millionaire . "Trying and striving doesn't get you brownie points, only achieving does."

Don't be a trying hustler - trying to get it going, trying to meet this person, trying to find funding, trying to wait for the economy to rebound. Stop trying and start achieving. Making 1 phone call is more valuable than trying to make 100.

One of the most memorable lines in advertising could be the hustler mantra: Just Do It. Not just try it. Put on your hustle shoes and run toward your success.

See you at the finish line!

Can't Knock The Hustle

2009-09-18T20:50:00.002-04:00

I've been thinking. As I listen to Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh and all the other talking heads spew invalid arguments about anything that our President's mouth I see their goal. Their only goal is profit. They know that the more reckless they talk, the more attention they will receive, more shows will have them on as guests and more people will tune in to their shows. The interesting thing here is that none of these people are interested in finding a solution to the health care problem, or any other problem for that matter they just want to profit of the controversy.

There are few calls for efforts to compromise or open dialog, instead people are coming to town hall meetings with mega phones and picket signs intent on turning what should be an informative session into a shouting match. I understand that not everyone agrees with the current plan for health care. I personally think that most people (myself included) don't have a complete understanding of the program. That being the case, people from the right are using the ignorance of the masses to rally them against something they don't understand. To quote Stevie Wonder "When you believe in things you don't understand you suffer." Unfortunately they aren't the ones suffering it's the President's approval rating and public opinion about health care reform.

But do you know who's not suffering? Right wing talk radio ratings. So that's that's the plan huh? Convince the people that the current plan is wrong (even though you don't have an alternative) then invite them to watch/listen to you complain. The people stay misinformed, your ratings go up and you get to laugh all the way to the bank. Can't knock the hustle....

How Hard Do You Hustle?

2009-09-15T21:40:00.005-04:00

I just finished reading Malcolm Gladwell's newest book Outliers. And I believe it confirms something that many of us have known for a while now. That a person's success is not simply based on their ability and/or willingness to work hard, it is more dependent upon them being given the opportunity to work hard. Without exception every successful person you can think of is not only a product of their own hard work and intelligence, but a product of a series of opportunities to work hard that they were given and took advantage of.

I think that we are all given opportunities to be great during our lifetime (some of us get more opportunities than others) the question is do we recognize and take advantage of them or let them pass us by. Chance meetings in elevators. Surprise phone calls from old colleagues. Finding old friends on Facebook. The opportunities we are waiting for may be staring us in the face and we just aren't aware enough to take advantage of it.

My challenge to you is to look at your past and count the missed opportunities. People you went to high school with that are now successful but you never took the time to build a friendship with. Opportunities participate in events that were attended by people you needed to meet, but you opted not to go. Then I challenge you to look at everyday through that same lens. Are you taking advantage of all the opportunities sent your way?

- Hustle Harder

212 Excerpt

2008-12-12T12:28:00.002-05:00

At 211 degrees, water is hot.At 212 degrees, it boils.And with boiling water, comes steam.And with steam, you can power a train.

One degree. Applying one extra degree of temperature to water means the difference between something that's simply very hot and something that generates enough force to power a machine - a beautifully uncomplicated metaphor that ideally should feed everything we do.

Two-twelve serves as a forceful drill sergeant with its motivating and focused message while adhering to a scientific law - a natural law - reminding us how seemingly small things can sometimes make tremendous differences.Two-twelve.

Secrets to success don't exist. We instinctively know it. Success in anything has one fundamental aspect: effort. And in most cases, to achieve exponential results requires extra effort. That's the extra degree.Thomas Edison said..."Many of life's failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."Vince Lombardi tightened it up with..."Inches make the champion." 212 distills it even further.From 2000-2006, The PGA Championship winner took home an average of $1,060,714. The second-place finisher averaged $460,657. less. The margin of difference.1.71 strokes. Less than a stroke a day.At NASCAR's Daytona 500 from 1997-2006 (10 years), the winner took the checkered flag by an average margin of 0.175 seconds. less than two-tenths of a second. For the winner it meant $509,000. more.

How often do we miss an opportunity to create better results because we don't apply a small amount of effort beyond what we normally do? Consider, the impact of making an extra contact each day at work... a sales call... a customer follow-up... a brief discussion with a colleague... an encouraging talk with a member of your team. With contact comes opportunity. At the end of a year you'll have opened more than 200 additional doors of possibility.

On the personal side, imagine the exponentially positive results of investing an additional 15 minutes of quality time each day with your children or spouse - an equivalent of more than two weeks each year at work.No longer will you be able to do only what is required of you, only what is expected of you. Because with awareness comes responsibility - to yourself and others.And you are now aware.The excitement has begun. Are you smiling yet? Your new target is 212.

Just wanted to share...

2008-10-30T11:21:00.002-04:00

I just got this in one of my daily newsletters, thought I'd share:

It was 1982, and a young man named Kenneth Cole wanted to launch a shoe company. But, like many entrepreneurs, he had no money. He thought about going to U.S. banks and factories for capital, but feared that this was a long shot for him. So, instead, he found a small Italian shoe production facility that had been hit hard by the 80s economy and desperately needed more clients. The company offered Kenneth a line of credit, and they immediately started manufacturing shoes. But now, he had to figure out how to sell them. So here's what he did (in his own words):

"At the time, a shoe company had two options. You could get a room at the Hilton [during the NY Shoe Expo] and become 1 of about 1100 shoe companies selling their goods. This didn't provide the identity or image I felt necessary for a new company, and it cost a lot more money than I had to spend. The other way was to do what the big companies do and get a fancy showroom in Midtown Manhattan not far from the Hilton. More identity, much more money too.
I had an idea.

I called a friend in the trucking business and asked to borrow one of his trucks to park in Midtown Manhattan. He said sure, but good luck getting permission. I went to the Mayor's office, Koch at the time, and asked how one gets permission to park a 40 foot trailer truck in Midtown Manhattan. He said one doesn't. The only people the city gives parking permits to are production companies shooting full length motion pictures and utility companies like Con Ed or AT&T. So that day I went to the stationery store and changed our company letterhead from Kenneth Cole, Inc. to Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. and the next day I applied for a permit to shoot a full length film entitled "The Birth of a Shoe Company."

With Kenneth Cole Productions painted on the side of the truck, we parked at 1370 6th Avenue, across from the New York Hilton, the day of shoe show. We opened for business with a fully furnished 40 ft trailer, a director (Sometimes there was film in the camera, sometimes there wasn't), models as actresses, and two of New York's finest, compliments of Mayor Koch, as our doormen. We sold 40 thousand pairs of shoes in two and a half days (the entire available production) and we were off and running.

To this day the company is still named Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. and serves as a reminder to the importance of resourcefulness and innovative problem solving." Creativity enabled Kenneth Cole to gain financing and massive sales. Without these creative ideas, we wouldn't know the name Kenneth Cole today.

As an entrepreneur, you are most likely blessed with lots of creative energy. Keep a notebook handy and write down all your ideas. Don't only think of ideas for great products and services, but for financing, marketing, sales, operations, etc.

There are no limits to what you can achieve when you come up with ideas and execute on them.

What is a Righteous Hustle?

2008-10-28T11:58:00.001-04:00

In light of some recent business decisions I've had to make, I've been thinking. Does the end always justify the means when one's intentions are good? Is it acceptable (more appropriately, understandable) for a convicted felon to sell drugs to feed his family and pay for his mother's cancer treatment? Is it ok for a stripper to use her body to send her kids to private school? More specifically, should I deal in an industry that conflicts with some of my beliefs for the sake of growing my business?

I while doing some research to locate potential clients for my mobile marketing services I found that the adult entertainment industry fits the client profile perfectly. They have a very specific target audience, an extremely limited number of advertising venues and very large profit margins and advertising budgets. Now, in the not so distant past I used to patronize certain adult establishments however in my ever-changing quest to "get my life right" I have tried to stay away from them. But the entrepreneur in me would not let me pass up an opportunity that could quite possibly grow my business significantly. So, I gathered my sales materials (text messaging statistics, cell phone usage info etc...) and started making sales calls. I had a few pretty solid leads and some very promising sales presentations, then it happened. I was talking to a family member who had invested very heavily in my company, in fact his investments were a big part of the reason I was able to quit my 9 to 5 and work on my business full time. After listening to me talk about the niche I had been pursuing, he explained that as a Christian he could not consider himself being a good steward over what God had blessed him with if he supported a business that dealt in an industry that conflicted with his beliefs. I understood completely after all, they were my beliefs too. But the problem was the entrepreneur in me had (and still does at times) a problem with "leaving money on the table."

And that is what led to my dilemma. Do I compromise my beliefs, walk away from one of my biggest investors to date and pursue the business in this niche? Or do I stick to my "moral code" and look for business elsewhere? Well, I chose the latter and while I can say that things are look up and I've made a little more progress in my spiritual walk I still have not seen the revenue I think we would have seen working with the adult entertainment industry. I'd like to believe that's because we're being prepared to see even more prosperity than that because of our faithfulness. I'll keep you posted.