Hustle in America

Hey guys. It’s been quite a few weeks since my last post, so I’m going to update you on some new developments.

In my last post, I talked about how I would have to find business owners to offer my services to. Earlier this month, my friend Greg Hartle called me up and asked me if I’d like to help out the new online company he just launched, New Methods. And of course, I said yes.

I’ve got one business under my belt at least. I’m going through the New Methods material right now, and it’s pretty enlightening so far. Got me to take action on a few things and hopefully something good comes from those actions soon.

Nothing much new to update you guys on. I’ve joined the Technology Entrepreneurship class at Stanford run by Chuck Esley. We’re supposed to meet up downtown pretty soon at talk about the 5 best and worst startup ideas. I’ve started reading more books from Dan S. Kennedy, marketing guru, though I’ve been slipping due to all the coursework I still have on my plate.

And… other than that, nothing. Still got a lot of other things to worry about (finishing my BA in order to graduate on time), so I’m just going to wish you guys a happy Friday and hope you’re taking action on the goals you’re working towards.

Adios, friends.

John

You may have been duped into believing that the Internet has given birth to creativity, when in fact creativity has given birth to the Internet.

Maybe that’s not the best way to put it, but in a world in which it’s easier than ever to create, people seem to think that the emphasis is on how you create.

The systems of creation don’t matter anymore; it’s about what you create that counts. Create something good enough and you stand to make a lot of money.

But when you look at yourself, do you see a creative person? I used to think I was myself, but so far everything I’ve done has been a copy, some imitation. This isn’t to say only creative people make a lot of money (far from it), but if you’re going to be on the Internet, the least you can do is try something new (to you).

However…

You don’t need the Internet to succeed; it just makes it a whole lot easier. The brick and mortar businesses aren’t going anywhere. My friend Ted from Moneythink (a business that could just as easily be limited to an online financial literacy course) is setting up offices in Chicago later this year because, at the end of the day, people don’t exist online. They exist in the real world. The Internet is just another tool to sell yourself. Just another medium through which you exist.

If you do nothing offline, trust me, whatever you do online won’t matter.

“Media is not a business.” – Dan S. Kennedy

Which is why I think it’s time for me to get the ball rolling in this space…

Getting started

It is now Month 3 of Ellsberg’s timeline, and that means I have to start reaching out to business owners and begin asking them how I can help.

This shouldn’t be too difficult of a task, as I’ve done this before (with two startups Betterfly and GiveForward). However, with finals coming up, I don’t see this happening very quickly. But rest assured, it’ll happen.

Until next time,

John

It’s been almost two weeks since I ran out of money in my bank account. How am I surviving without money or employment?

Luckily there are fast and easy ways to earn a decent amount of money, in addition to several free food options that pop up periodically throughout the week. For the past two weeks I’ve been taking psyche studies that give me anywhere from a buck for five minutes to $20 every hour and a half. It’s a gig that’s sustained me pretty well thus far. However, it’s not like I wasn’t prepared for this.

One meal a day for thirty days

Last March or so, I tried an intermittent fasting experiment that only allowed me to eat one meal every 15-19 hours. The support for this experiment was that long ago, humans fasted because of their circumstances and lack of resources. Today, you can get food anywhere if you have money, but back then you had to hunt for your food and conserve energy when you can. Humans’ bodies are designed to be in a state of short-term fasting. We’re more efficient that way.

If you want proof, look how fat America and other Westernized civilizations have become. We have 24 hour access to an all you can eat buffet and diabetes is on the rise and overweightness is seen as normal. In some cases, it can’t be helped (genetics and all) but most cases are entirely preventable.

So when I tried the experiment, it was jarring at first. Within the first week, I had pretty bad diarrhea.  Not a smooth transition from four meals (including whole pound cakes) to just one giant meal of meat and carbs. However, the second week proved a lot easier. The stomach aches I experienced in the first week had subsided and I felt a lot more energetic. I eventually went through the whole month without a hitch.

Honestly, the only reason I didn’t keep going was that I liked the taste of food too much. There were several times throughout the month when I wasn’t hungry when I just wanted to experience the taste of food in my mouth.

Nonetheless, this short experiment has done wonders for my food consumption now. I don’t really eat as much junk food as I used to (no more whole pound cake nights) and I try as often as I can to cook my own food. Although there are times I do splurge on take out, I eat the natural stuff. And if I do eat the fried chicken, it’ll be with the skin taken off.

Of course, with my situation now, that’s changed quite a bit. I eat every bit of food I can get my hands on, because the next meal isn’t guaranteed anymore. There are at least 15 hours between every meal, I’ve found out.

Other sources of making bank

In my spare time I do freelance gigs provided by my mentor and friend, Greg Hartle. He tells people about my services and I contact them and help them with their projects. It’s a fairly inconsistent gig that’s proven profitable so far (I’m currently thinking of ways to market my services).

As I’ve said in past posts, I’m also going to teach a Skillshare class. Skillshare allows you to teach whatever you want and charge for tickets to your class. These are the times we live in: where ANYBODY can be a teacher if they choose to be.

I’m also taking loans out from my relatives from time to time, allowing me a little extra cushion to take risks.

All in all, it seems that even though I’m broke, I feel more responsible for my life than ever. It forces me to look for simple solutions to problems I’d normally throw money at (like ordering out, for instance). I also know now, that if you really want to make money… you can.

Sure, you could say that I was lucky that I go to a school that allows you to take psyche studies or have relatives willing to help me out, but would any of that have been possible had I not gotten off my ass and made some sacrifices?

Chance favors the prepared mind. Only those prepared to take risks are the ones ready for luck.

Until, next time.

This blog has been silent for some time, but it’s not for the reasons you might think:

- Laziness

- Writer’s block

- Boredom

The only reason I have for not posting anything recently is that I’ve been busy catching up on school work and taking breaks from doing that. All the while, I’m thinking up topics for posts in my subconscious, using Ellsberg’s timeline as a guide.

There’s actually really not much to update you on, other than the case study I’ll be working on profiling Juan Pablo of Epic Fail Mail. I’m working on his blog (not doing anything related to marketing, selling, and networking, but just making it a bit more appealing to the eyes). He’s biking across Canada in order to end malaria. From our talks, I’ve found Juan to be a really great guy who’s willing to do whatever it takes.

And doing whatever it takes lies at the heart of the intentions for the rest of my life.

My apologies for the short blog post, but I’ve been spending time offline. I remember when I used to blog everyday, writing thousands of words a week. In the end, I decided to kill the blog because it was taking up too much of time and giving me very low financial compensation.With this new blog, there have been actually no immediate financial returns, but the information I put here in conjunction with the time I spend in the real world having conversations opens a lot more doors and makes available more opportunities.

As nice as it was track site visitors, it ultimately serves no purpose other than to feed my ego. I’d rather be making moves in real life and documenting the results them on the site, as opposed to writing prose for mental masturbation.

Until next time, guys. We’ll talk soon.

I admit, selling is a little bit further down the line on Michael Ellsberg’s timeline to hustling success (scroll down to Step 7), but the way I see it, I’ve been selling since I started college, so I think it shouldn’t be a big deal.

If you’re puzzled by this blog post, let me explain. From time to time, I’ll be posting what I’ve learned from certain books I’ve been reading. Yeah, not exciting, I know, but there will times when I want to showcase what I’ve been learning in my chosen field of expertise (in this case, it’s marketing and selling).

If you want to be smart, you have to read a lot and practice a lot more. And I read A LOT.

So, without further ado…

What I Learned From SPIN Selling

Situation. Problem. Implication. Need-Payoff. These are the questions one should become familiar with if they want to become masters of the larger sale.

Anyone can sell a candy bar. Go on, try it. Leave your home, take something small and delicious and try and sell it. Pitch it for cheap enough and long enough and you’ll most likely be a few pennies richer. Easy right? So why do you need to read a book on selling?

Let me ask you another question. How do you sell 100,000 as opposed to just one? How do you get people to buy large amounts of things that you may or may not be required to sell without compromising on price (which you most likely did with that candy bar you presumably sold earlier. “What, you don’t want it for $2? Okay, how about $1.50? A dollar? Okay, because I like you, 50 cents.”)

The methods and techniques people use in small sales do not work when dealing in larger sales. The sleazy sales tactics like pressuring the buyer for the sale (come on, it’s only $100,000 in candy bars), assuming the sale (so… to what address would like me to send all these candy bars?), and showcasing random benefits (these candy bars will satisfy your hunger!) will more often than not end up putting off the buyer.

Why is succeeding in larger sales so important? Simple. The bigger the sale, the higher the profit margin.

However, the larger the sale, the longer it will potentially take to “sell” the client. But in the end, that really doesn’t matter, because the whole point of taking longer is to invest in building a relationship with the customer. You need to spend that time find out the customer’s needs and making sure that your product can adequately deliver.

Buyer: (Need) You know, our employees always complain that there aren’t enough sweets in the break room.

Seller: (Addressing the Need) Don’t you think that their complaining could be better spent thinking more creatively? How could you remedy that situation?

Here, the seller asks a Need-Payoff Question, instead of pitching his product and proclaiming the benefit before the customer actually expressed his problems. Rather than convince the buyer that your product can solve their problem, Need-Payoff Questions allow the customer to address his needs using your products. No sleazy pitching required.

This is just one of the many questions addressed in SPIN Selling. Honestly, this book has changed my entire perspective on not just larger sales, but on selling in general. Most salesmen forget that selling is about focusing on the customer’s needs and wants and DELIVERING, not about your product’s benefits.

Hustlers Know How to Sell

Whether you’re selling yourself for an interview or a date or a raise, if you’re a hustler, you’ll know how to do it well. If this is a skill you want to perfect, I HIGHLY recommend picking up SPIN Selling.

Of course, reading is not enough. As I said earlier, if you’re going to read a lot, you’re going to have to practice A LOT more. This brings us to one of Neil’s hidden bonuses near the end of the book (where he teaches you the four rules to learning any skill):

It’s about Quantity, not Quality.

It’s not about getting something just right, but practicing until it is. This is how people learn languages, for example. It’s not about getting the pronunciation down pat, but using it as much as you possibly can. It doesn’t matter if you can’t yet speak a complete sentence without pausing; what matters is that you keep trying.

Over and over and over again.

You won’t learn how to be a master seller overnight, but if you just keep practicing, there’s no question you’ll make $100,000 in a massive sale one day… maybe even selling candy bars.

It all started with this blog post written by Michael Ellsberg on Tim Ferriss’s blog:

8 Steps to Getting What You Want… Without Formal Credentials

In the post, Michael says that all it takes to succeed in a career you want is to immerse yourself in the field and show the people who you want to hire you that you already have experience.

Now this experience can take many forms, such as through reading books on the subject or building a portfolio of people you’ve done business with regarding the subject. Oh yeah, he also says degrees are largely unnecessary if you’re going into more of a creative field (marketing, copywriting, artistry, web design, etc.).

Wait, what?

Yes, you read that right. In this economy, you can guarantee that you’ll be competing with people who have the exact piece of paper as you (granted they’re all from colleges of differing levels of prestige, but still). It’s become necessary now more than ever that if you want to set yourself apart, you have to be more than average. Average is what got us into the Great Recession. Average is every single person who occupied Wall Street. Average is for chumps. But greatness is for hustlers. Skill-gainers. Barrier-breakers!

The average person writes a blog about nothing (with a few notable, creative, and hilarious exceptions), but doesn’t realize that his digital blueprint can make a world of difference in the informal job market (in other words, getting a job a la networking). Imagine if you spent a few months chronicling your journey to learn, say, marketing, networking, and sales… and you applied for a job that requires you to do just that?

You’d be golden.

Why I blog and what it’ll be about

For the next year, this blog is going to chronicle my journey to achieving success in marketing, sales, and networking. For the rest of this blog’s existence, however, I intend to teach you that to succeed, all it takes is the willingness to do whatever it takes (thank my mentor, Greg Hartle, for that one). You have to hustle in order to get what you want.

What I want is to have near complete control of my time and the money to do whatever I want in life. You only get one life and there’s no point in working towards anything less than what you want. People will tell you that you have a duty to your country, your family, your friends, even your chick. Nope. The only person that you must live for is yourself. So invest in yourself and in your learning. You are the only person you’ve got.

This journey is about you. I won’t be spending massive amounts of time telling my story (it doesn’t matter that much). I’m just a guy who wants to succeed. What I’m more interesting in doing is showing you how I’m doing the work. What I’ve been doing up until now (did I mention I’ve been devouring tons of books on marketing and selling? I’m also preparing to teach a Skillshare class on social media… anyways) and the roadblocks I’m running into.

Other than that I really just want to help college students achieve their dream lives. It’s not everyday that a guy puts his reputation on the line by putting his progress in the limelight. But I’m willing to do that because I don’t see any downside. After I graduate from UChicago (fine, I do have SOME credential help on this journey) I can at the very least acquire a minimum wage job. But obviously, I want more than that. That’s what this blog is about!

What does this mean for you?

This means that I’m going to be giving you tips on how to hustle your way to the top (as I’m learning them) so you can get a behind the scenes look at how I’m achieving my financial and life goals. Look, you won’t get anywhere if you aren’t willing to push yourself. This is what I want for all of us, not just me. That’s why I want you to reach out. This a free pass for all you folks who think I’m writing this only to help myself. Send me a tweet, shoot me an email, send me a text (773-259-4139) and we’ll talk about how we can succeed in this new economy. How we can hustle our way to success. But here’s the catch… you have to be serious.

Most people define themselves by what they believe, but not by what they do. This is retarded. This is what I did for the longest time. But this time, I’m serious. I’m going to do what I say I’m going to do. And that, my friends, is hustle.

If you’re not serious, don’t send me any messages, because you’re wasting both of our times. Instead, decide that you’re serious first. When that time comes, we’ll talk.

Until next time, I’ll be reading Neil Rackham’s SPIN Selling and Ramit Sethi’s I Will Teach You to Be Rich. I’m also going to be starting a newsletter soon, so if you’re interested in this journey, you’ll want to sign up.

Another year, another slew of oblivious college graduates. And after they graduate, expect them to go to job fairs, spam resumes, and sit on their asses and wait for phone calls.

This is how the average person looks for a job. They do the same thing everyone else does expecting a different result: employment.

There are two types of work: hard work and smart work. I learned this lessons the hard way when I was trying to become a famous blogger (I was a different person 2 years ago). I spent the whole summer sitting on my ass, writing blog posts everyday, waiting for people to subscribe to my blog and buy affiliate products, while all my other friends got jobs that paid them. At the end of the summer, I just had a crap ton of blog posts, a little more social proof, and not very much money.

Now that’s an example of me not doing what everyone else was doing, but the blog niche I was in was (and still is) WAY overcrowded. Everyone was pushing feelgooder self help copy and I wasn’t really that much different from other bloggers. But I knew I could rise to the top by just working harder.

The truth is everyone can work hard, but not everyone can work smart.

Instead of shooting your resume all over the Internet, why don’t you go outside and meet people in industries that you want to get jobs in? Take them out for coffee and pick their brains about where they work. Very few people do that. People that shotgun their resumes aren’t looked at as people. Just as resumes.

If you can’t even take the time to research companies that you might want to work for, that shows lack of initiative. That shows you don’t really care where you work as long as you get paid. And when you send that message out into the world, who would want to hire you? I wouldn’t. Because by then I’ve already decided that you only care about yourself and not about me or  my company.

One other thing the average person sucks at…

The average college graduate sucks at interviews. And that’s because they all say the same thing.

Interviewer: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Applicant: Credentials, credentials, maybe a cheesy line about being hardworking and dedicated.

Interviewer: What’s your biggest weakness?

Applicant: I work too hard or I’m too determined.

Everyone says the same thing and it’s annoying. What you need to do is cultivate your life stories and insert them into answers. Of course, keep it short, but be interesting.

The average person is dumb because they don’t do anything differently than anyone else. They focus on credentials and grades, when these don’t matter at all outside of the self-absorbed bubble of academia. FYI guys, credentials don’t matter as much as you think. The richest guys in America never even went to college. Doesn’t that tell you something?

P.S. I was supposed to write about lessons I learned from Seth Godin’s book “All Marketers are Liars”, but I don’t think it’s worth the review. It’s pretty much the same thing as Positioning, but less interesting IMO. Doesn’t mean I didn’t read it all the way through.

Just as there are laws of nature humans must follow, there are laws of marketing that a business must adhere to in order to be successful.

Al Ries and Jack Ries write yet another marketing masterpiece with their phenomenal book, the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.

I could very easily just list the 22 laws right here, but that would discount the context that makes each law so powerful. For example, the law of line extension decrees that the more a company uses its brand to extent its reach into different markets, the less profitable its other brands consequently become.

Though this book was published in 1993, there’s no question that these are even more than they were back then. With Google plastering its on every new piece of technology they got, it’s only a matter of time before the weakest of the bunch of start dropping like flies.

At least, that’s what’s happened in the past with Coca-Cola’s line extension, New Coke, which ended up flopping in the market.

And then there’s the law of being first (talked about extensively in Al and Jack’s other book, Positioning). If you are not first in the mind of your target market, aren’t going to achieve the most amount of potential profits. However, it’s just as good to be second or even third (or fourth depending on the market). If you’re in any place higher than these, be prepared for severely diluted profits… that is until you practice the law of categories, which states that if you can’t be first in a category, you may have no choice but to create your own.

While the book is fairly short, it is chock-full of eye-opening wisdom, which makes for an engaging read and a dangerous book. It is when you become more aware of your surroundings that you become less susceptible to being tricked in ways others generally are.

If you wish to remain asleep, to take the blue pill and get caught in the world of flashy ads and exciting new products, do not, I repeat, DO NOT read this book. This book is for people who want to learn the ins and outs of marketing and selling; for those who wish to understand how the marketing world truly works.

You may think that the companies that make the most money are the ones that have the best products. That is false. You may think the person who works the hardest is the one who makes the most money. He’s not. You may think that all it takes are snappy catch phrases and tons of money. It doesn’t.

Although there’s value in offering value, it won’t matter if the same idea is perfected a billion times over. People buy things that are new, not things that are old. For example, if you start selling chairs and merely market them as a chair that you made, expect to sell very few. I mean, what makes your chair more special than a chair that’s mass produced by the big guys. Once you’re too late in a market, it’s too late. Of course at that point, you should make your own market (as the Law of Categories states).

If you’re selling a chair as a chair, you’ve already lost. But if you sell your chairs on a specific characteristic (maybe the chair is the first of its kind), you’re getting somewhere.

There’s more to marketing than meets the eye. All you have to do is change your perception of it.

Everyone sells perceptions, not products. What makes a company hire one person over another? They’re both humans, right? The one who will be hired is the one who can market himself as a better product.

Marketing is not a battle of products, but a battle of perceptions. Think about that the next time you decide to buy something, or when you hit on the opposite sex every so often.

Click here to pick up this excellent marketing book. I highly recommend it.

The elusive millionaire; always secretly despised by the lower and middle classes, yet depended on by those very people for their wages and livelihoods. Successful and often well-known. Diligent and “money-hungry”. Resilient and forward-thinking. Entrepreneurial in mindset and overflowing in optimism.

This is the millionaire.

We all know the image; the older male, most likely white, owns several properties, invests in stocks, and somehow knows more about making money than the rest of us.

He is held up as a target for hatred and injustice. He is the reason why he makes more and I make less. He is the 1%, and I the 99%! This madness must be stopped!

So on we go, calling rich people thieves and looking down on them for their wealth. Yet not one person stops to ask himself, “How does one become him?”

Through some conformity brainwashing, we’ve been led to believe that the path to achieving wealth is to go to college and get a good job afterwards (only then can we live the good life). Through years of hard work, we too could live like millionaires. We can drive the fancy cars, wear the swanky clothes, and be the envy of everyone… but only if we get that degree!

However, at the end of this, most people find themselves to be little more than college graduates with the exact same piece of paper millions of other young people have.

This is where Michael Ellsberg’s book comes in. His book, “The Education of Millionaires”, tells us that formal education is not the only option that can lead you to a life abundant in time and money. Practical education (a la the school of life) has taught these millionaires more than any class in a formal institution could teach a student.

They went out into the real world, hit the ground running, and learned how to do business. This is the key to making the big bucks.

 Big reveal: Everyone is doing business. Whether they want to realize it or not.

Second big reveal: The most successful people in the world don’t even have college degrees.

3 things that separate you from the 1%

Michael also goes into great detail about three skills that separate those who make a lot of money from all the rest:

1. Sales – How to sell products, how to sell the company, and most importantly, how to sell yourself. This skill is crucial in the new economy, where everything that is average can be outsourced. Don’t be average. Learn how to sell. This will affect everyone (no matter what industry you go into). Doctors who know how to sell themselves make significantly more than doctors who don’t.

2. Networking – This past summer, I was looking for a job. I tried the conventional routes (using my college’s employment board, calling local businesses, etc.). For weeks, I got nothing (keep in mind, I didn’t start applying for jobs until summer actually started. Stupid, right?). Well it just so happened that I DID finally get a job (and I higher paying summer job than most of my friends had at that). How did I achieve it? Through networking. A friend of mine (that I had JUST exchanged contact info with) told me about an unlisted University job that was hiring nearby and a couple weeks later, I was interviewed and got the job. Networking; yet another skill highly undervalued and an area barely anybody utilizes thanks to sites like Monster.com and Craigslist.

3. Marketing – Spreading the word about a company goes hand-in-hand with selling. Can you make people want to buy what you’re selling? Can you get thousands of eager eyes to your site? Can you get people talking about the company you’re doing business for? If not, here’s a little secret: most people don’t know the first thing about marketing and have little experience spreading the word about anything bigger than a college party. Master this skill, and you’ll be a priceless asset to any company.

The book goes into much greater detail on the way these millionaires learned how to be successful (the case studies do more than enough to show you how). He doesn’t advocate that we all become millionaires (you said you had to be a millionaire to be successful?), but Michael does say that you can be much farther ahead of the game if you learn the rules of the game that the brought wealth to the mean ol’ 1%.

I highly recommend that ALL twenty-somethings read this book, especially if you have no clue what you’re doing after college like most graduates.

You can purchase the Education of Millionaires here.