Lately I have, like many others, become saddened at the negative political commercials and attacks. I usually try to avoid discussing what are fundamentally deeply personal choices which are outside the realm of this blog. However I think it is worth examining what I believe to be a growing problem which can effect our ability to reach our goals as Hustlers.
The problem is the inability to follow and cooperate. It seems that as our access to information grows, so does a false sense of independence. The fact is that any society that follows their leadership (voluntarily, or otherwise) stands a good chance of achieving their goals. So the problem isn't health care, economic issues, or immigration as much as a real lack of cooperation. We understand at work that the boss must retain the authority to lead. Even if we personally think she is running the business into the ground, we follow until the bosses above them make a change.
As hustlers we want the fastest and most direct route to our goals so we can move on to bigger ones. Often that means learning from others so we don't always begin from scratch. Let's face it- the only time we are likely to be the smartest guy in the room, is when we are in the bathroom. If it has a dual vanity even that's in jeopardy.
I know many people believe in a kind of social evolution - Everybody had to follow one guy, everybody chooses to follow one guy, and finally everyone thinks he is the guy to follow. As hustlers this is not an optimal way of thinking. Often the path is less travelled for good reason. There are universal laws involved which followed willingly aid our progress.
Find a mentor in the area you are hustling in and follow him or her. Learn to earn....then teach others and become the mentor. Next move on and get a new mentor to take you to the next level. In the area of general living you might consider following God if you don't already. Hard to go wrong there (of course you won't need to upgrade this mentor).
Following only your own counsel and going it alone is not a great idea. You might make progress and fly high for a while (visual: Karen Black, yoke in hand), but you will likely go down in flames. Trust me I know.
So to make progress the fastest, easiest way:
1 - Keep your eyes on the prize, not your ego.
2- Follow the paths others have found success in (Get a mentor).
3- Take the path of least resistance, as long as it still leads to your goal.
4- Measure all of your activity by the value you add to the deal - not immediate financial gain.
We are in it to make money - not impress ourselves or others by becoming "special". Being a hustler is like being a writer. Put words on paper - Presto - you are a writer. Hustle and you are a hustler....simple as that.
(Photo courtesy :nokhoog_buchachon)
As with many beginning Hustlers you may want to make some extra money in your spare time but have little to money to invest in your new enterprise. So here is a way to start making money with ZERO cost.
#1 - Start out with a freebie site like MyFreeCashMachine, these type of sites pay you to refer others (just like I'm referring you) to them and you get paid when your referrals complete free trials like getting their credit report from Free Credit Report or other offer. It cost them nothing and they can refer others too.
You sign up for free and must sign up for a trial offer once in order to refer others. The reason I like MFCM is they have developed this into a true system. Once you join and complete your offer you will have access to your personal "back office" complete with pre-set auto responders, lead tracking, conversion statistics and capture pages. Don't worry if some of this is new, they also have a great and motivational training site.
The best way to get leads is through Craiglists/Backpage/USFreeAds advertisements and sending tweets/posts about the site using your referral URL. You can realistically expect to make about $15-$20 per hour that you do this. Let me be clear that I do not consider this anything more than a home based job since your income is so closely tied to the amount of work you do each day and the hourly return is comparable to working a job. However it's a great way to build up your hustle fund while proving to yourself that you can make money from home.
#2 - Now that you have some extra income please consider setting up a system to donate 10% of it to a charitable cause of your choice. I'm not saying.....I'm just saying.......
#3 - If you have read this blog before you know that I feel it's important for every Hustler to learn about (and be ready to take advantage of opportunities in) the stock exchanges. Now that you have a little hustle income consider opening a TradeKing or other brokerage account. Take like $50 bucks a month or whatever and deposit into the account.
It will be like a savings account until you decide to invest it. I personally feel that many perfectly good companies are cheap buys right now because of the economic condition of the country. Hustlers must always think positive and we can profit when things turn around. For more on this see my post on penny stock investing.
#4 - Time to level up in the hustle game. Do a little research to discover a real business hustle you'd like to start. Ideally this will be something closely related to something you have a talent for or interest in. I have always been a computer nut so online activities like developing websites, blogs, and affiliate marketing appeal to me. If you decide to hustle online please read The Affiliate Marketers Handbook (it's free!) by Ken Envoy. In my opinion it is THE word on the subject of making money online and after reading it you will know more than 90% of Internet marketers.
If marketing online is not for you use your fund to start a "brick and mortar" business from home like the used car sales or lawn care hustles we have posted about previously. Don't forget MLM (multi-level-marketing) which I feel is one of the greatest (and underrated) avenues to financial Independence today.
What ever you decide to pursue remember that as a Hustler you want to do more than provide yourself with a part time job. Your hustles need to be an avenue to making big, outrageous amounts of money. Maybe it will take some time but make sure that your goal is to be rich!
#5 - All that remains for you to do is keep going through good times and bad. Stay focused on your goal by reading positive books and blogs. Develop your own "news" channel using the tools like Google's RSS Reader and shut out the negative "news" from the papers and TV. Go on Oprahs' site and make yourself a dream board. Get some free motivation audio from sites like Learn Out Loud. - Do whatever it takes you to stay positive and motivated.
You often hear Hustlers mention staying (or being) on the "grind". Well that is actually a good description of how you will succeed....day by day....staying the course...being self directed and self motivated. It's not easy (I have had my share of set-backs) but that's why few people make it.
Don't give up - ever. I encourage you to keep grinding everyday....
One of the first things we notice as we age is we become more and more susceptible to learned behaviors. One that I have been battling the last few months is to look at things lost with the proverbial "rose colored glasses ".
It's hard to let go of the rat race -even after realizing it as the slow death it is. This tendency is why it's so much easier for younger people to embrace the new economy, where we have to hustle to survive and hustle even harder to succeed. Even knowing the truth and promoting the lifestyle didn't stop my feelings of loss recently when I separated from my job after 11 years. Frankly, I have been crying over spilled milk that was long ago spoiled beyond all usefulness.
Strange how the Law of Attraction works without fail to bring us into what we really want and how often that very change seems like an unfair punishment or plain old bad luck. (If you doubt the Law of Attraction put it to any test you like - you'll come around).
I say all of this to say - I apologize for not providing value here recently and to let you know why. I have regained my perspective and bad attitude with the intention of becoming financially wealthy. A big part of that goal involves leaving clues for others (you?) to follow if they wish. Also since we are working towards the same goal I welcome any and all positive comments and suggestions. My next post will address ways to start (or restart) your hustling career from scratch (as I had to do last month). Thanks for helping me keep the faith!
On a lighter note- you may want to join the CNBC Million Dollar Challenge and have some practical Hustler fun for free with the possibility of winning a million bucks! I firmly believe that trading stocks or Forex should be part of a hustler's game plan.....so give it a try!
How's this for a goal, make that first $100 online in a calendar month. Then focus on upsizing it by by a factor of ten and you have a great part time income...... just like we Hustlers like it. Find something that turns a decent profit (makes you more net income than you can expect from a job) and is easily expanded. If you find you can make $25 a week posting one affiliate offer on Craigslist or selling something on eBay you can buy wholesale, then it's super easy to duplicate this success many times over. To grow these types of activities by a factor of ten will require very little actual effort on your part. You could even hire someone else to do the grunt work for you. Services such as YMII and eLance are worth so much in these types of situations. Closest thing to free money this side of the lottery. You can get a very competent assistant for as low as $6.98 per hour!
Do the math.........this leaves you only one goal. Find something that makes you money online. ClickBank is still the king in my book. Find a product you believe in ......(heck go ahead and buy it yourself!) and market it like crazy on Safelist and social media site like Facebook. The rest is simple..... refine it, and hand it off to your assistant to duplicate. Try any and all of the free tools and strategies easily accessed online. If you want to build a website based business under your own brand then take a look at the SiteSell site for some of the best (and free) training in the world.
With focus and a strong dose of determination you will find yourself making that first $100 in no time. The rest is academic..... really..
This article is about burnout. If you are a high performance person (most Hustlers are) then you work while you are at work. You feel great when the company achieves and exceeds the goals set each year. If anyone on the team drops the ball, they know you'll pick it up.
This drive and effort often lands people with this hustle mentality in positions of increasing responsibility. This is where trouble can begin. Once it's clear that you will work extremely hard without regard to compensation or recognition, you are playing a suckers game. At some point doing the impossible will become part of your job performance goals and when you fall short you'll begin to receive raises very much like those of coworkers who are just punching the clock.
You are now at a crossroads.........
-You can keeping doing what you have been and likely burnout.
-You can move to another company and start the same process over (many people are successful using this tactic).
-Another solution is leveling down to match the effort of the "average" worker (who will be there long after those taking the previous options).
Or, you can take the prize behind door number 4............. Jump off the train and run for your life. This is not an easy choice, for many of us it was not a choice at all - we got pushed off :-)
Deciding to become a small business owner, consultant, or commissioned sales person has risks the water cooler crowd find unacceptable, but it's the only way a hustler can stay true to his nature and succeed. The only way to win is to play a different game, one that will challenge your spirit every day while allowing you to reap the rewards. Lovers love, teachers teach and hustlers hustle. Don't change yourself..... change the game.
In a previous post we covered this hustle and some of the tools to help you get started. As with most hustles this one will appeal to some more than others. If you like it this is a great time to start. This time of year many people are expecting income tax refunds and plan to buy a car. Because consumer confidence is still low and various credit issues many will buy outright with cash. This is where you come in. Many cars for sale by owner are perfectly good vehicles that have been replaced by newer ones. Do your research, buy a good used car for $1500 or so, clean it up, do minor repairs and flip it for $2500 more. Rinse and repeat. At the $1900 to $2500 price range you will attract buyers as soon as you list the car for sale. You might do 2 or 3 deals a month during tax season and scale down to 1 a month the rest of the year. Not a bad second income. In my state you can assign the car title over by signing the back, no bill of sale needed. To avoid mistakes and learn the business quickly check our recommended resource or you might work this hustle as an independent sales representative. You'll get paid to prospect for small car lots usually called "Buy Here, Pay Here" lots. Almost all of these businesses pay referral or finders fees. Develop a contact at H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt and have them pass potentials to you for a small finders fee of their own. You could just hang around the offices of these tax preparers and hand out business cards (get them super cheap from VistaPrint.com ). One car dealer in my town pays 20% of the gross profit on each sale discovered by their independent contractors. Check your local Craigslist or ask dealers directly. Remember Hustlers can't be shy :-)
Many of us love the Hustler lifestyle and the control it gives us over our future earning potential. Often however, we are working a full time job as well until we reach "job escape velocity". This requires us to be sacrifice most of our personal time to keep our hustles on track and find creative ways to get things done. To that end I would like to share some of the tools I use daily.
1) No surprise here, a smartphone. Can't live without it, from managing my daily To Do list, to posting content on my blogs to keeping updated on Twitter/Linkedin. My phone allows me to be productive anywhere. I use Android Apps to track everything from ClickBank sells to Adsense analytics (love the cash register sound when notified of a ClickBank sell).
2) Web based productivity tools. Many of the daily challenges we face boil down to performing task quickly and efficiently. A decent project management program cost nothing and when integrated with your calendar is a powerful tool. I currently use a program and app called Goals To Do. Break down your project into it's smallest pieces and you have tasks, schedule these and you are halfway there.
3) This is the big one: Other people's time. I know it may sound bad to refer to this as a tool, but this is why companies hire employees. They benefit from the efficiency gained when people work together. Frankly, I utilize my kids a lot. As teenagers it's simple to have them do research and time draining but critical task like submitting URL's to the search engines. Pay them a small amount and offer them profit sharing so they're less likely to slack off :-)
4) Wake up 1 hour earlier each day. Use the quite time to focus on moving your hustles forward. This one change will be life changing.
If you can get to bed early to make this happen -great. If not sleep less it's worth it.
