You've Got to Get Your Hustle On

" I know you got to get your hustle on" E - Badu, Other side of the Game


I think about what it takes to "hustle" and succeed and I know the same qualities it takes to illegal activities can be applied to a legit hustle, if you are willing to make it happen. So tell me why don't more people in my community flip it? I have an associate, (I won't name any names) but he paid his way through school by hustlin' and made some great connects through many of his best customers. He always kept it professional and planned to get out and make something of himself. This was years ago, and although I didn't know what was going on, I have always admired his drive and tenacity. Once I found out how he financed his education I was shocked, but sometimes you are faced with no other choices. He now as a very successfully business.

Fast forward to my late 20's early 30's. I know so many people out here struggling, who just have no hustle in them. They don't seem to get that no one is going to give you anything, nor that nothing is guaranteed. Yeah I bought into the hype that all you had to do was get a good education, work hard, and keep your nose clean, but that didn't stop me from being forced out of my last job, nor has it protected the hundreds, no thousands, of white collar workers who are "down-sized" on the regular.

So as the savings ran low and now job materialized I understood that I had to make something happen. It was funny (well more like frustrating) to me b/c as my creditors harassed me for nonpayment they were "get a job" and I was like "I'm trying" but the only jobs that seemed available where hourly labor jobs paying less than $15/hr. Here's the problem, I had $40K expenses and the jobs I was finding would barely keep the rent paid so once basic needs were met I would have nothing left for VISA. I couldn't see the logic in going work everyday to get deeper and deeper into a pit of debt. So I bit the bullet and decided to get my hustle on.

Don't get it twisted I am doing nothing illegal, I developed a business, wrote a plan and now sell products to people and get paid. The thing is, the same qualities have I have to use to make this work are use by street hustlers. So the point is if we could only help them see that they do have the skills to make it perhaps we could have less folks in jail and more getting a good life. Yes it would take a little longer to make it, but isn't that better than jail or maybe even death?

Secondly all the recent college grads and laid off workers need to realize that the jobs they were "promised" or used to just don't exist anymore. This economy favors the business owner/ producer. The days of just showing up, pushing paper, and collecting a check are coming to and end and quickly. The distressing thing is that our educational system is not preparing folks to take care of themselves. We are taught how to go out and work for someone else. We don't know how to be "results based" employees. It takes a different mindset to function knowing that if you don't produce, you don't get paid.

I wonder what's going to happen when everyone realizes that they have been screwed, majorly. As for me, I work hard everyday. It is stressful being responsible for everything, but it is what it is. I can't be fired, I wake up when I get done sleeping, and the only office politics I have to deal with is what I see on TV. As we turn the corner and start making a profit, I can see myself putting a dent into all the bills that have piled up. I feel confident in my decision b/c I had spent the last 8 months working for $12/hr I would still probably be in the same financial boat, but depressed, angry, and still looking for a "real" job.

LONG LIVE THE HUSTLE!!