Now this post isnt about rap or rappers. It just goes to show that everyone recognizes that there are times in life where you make a decision to move and make moves or stay where you are and let the moment slip.

The challenge to this scenario, in grabbing this opportunity when it presents itself is that we dont usually see the opportunity until it has passed.

How many times have you been driving and look back just in time to see you have missed your freeway exit? Happens to me all the time (usually because I am on the phone or singing). I have my mind on other shit and I end up wasting time heading to the next exit to flip around to head back to the right exit. Once this happened to me driving from Los Angeles to San Francisco. I missed the 99/I-5 split. I had to double back. That minor mistake cost me an hour of lost time or 1/6th of the total trip time.

Instead of being on the freeway you are bumpin through life. You are sweating the husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, parents or whoever. You have your head up your bosses ass to get a raise or your own trying to figure out how you are going to spend your weekend. You have your eyes crossed while trying to ake a U-turn – whatever. You have so much going on that you forget where you are going. Sometimes you are so focused on where you are going that you miss the detour signs telling you that you are heading for a dead-end.

You have to be focused, but not too focused. You have to concentrate, but not so much that you block everything else out. You have to move quickly, but not so fast that you can’t make a turn if a dog runs out in front of you.

Your brain is powerful enough to take in a lot of information if you teach it to filter out the bullshit.

There are people around you who want you to fail. I have touched on this before. These are people who have their own mtives. Sometimes their motives are even hidden from them. They don’t knw they are sabbotaging you. They tell you things like:

• Hey, slow down and smell the roses.
• All work and no play…
• You are going to work yourself to death!

Are they right? Only you know for sure. You have made the decision to get on that road, put the keys in the ignition, and start the car and go. It is your foot on the accelerator. You determine how fast you want to go. The question is – how soon do you want to get there?

I like driving at night. People are out of my way. Roads are clear. I can go faster. But then I hear

• But that’s when the drunk drivers are out!
• But no one is on the road; you are more likely to get pulled over.
• What if you fall asleep, crash or have an accident? No one will see you!

But for me, those are minor riskes that I can prepare for. I can drive without speeding (too much). I can keep an eye on traffic – fewer people on the road allow me to be more maneuverable in avoiding accidents. I can take a nap before I drive away. I can have all my fluids and tires checked for safety. All those things that they say to stop me from going are relatively preventable. The gain is that I get to my detination 2 to 4 hours faster (depending on L.A. traffic).

The benefit outweighs the manageable risks.

So, I’m going to keep this one short. Here is my point. If you have something you want to do or somewhere you want to go then pull the trigger. Make sure you have extra gas in the tank. Make sure you check the tire pressure and fluids. Make sure you are rested and ready. Make sure yu have your course plotted and planned and an alternat route in case there is trouble along the way. When you have done all that – smash on the accelerator.

It is the only way you are going to get where you want to go before everyone else, with time to spare.

Keep Hustling

Then you hear on the finance channels that now is the time to invest. Days like these are the days that made the Rockerfellers the Rockerfellers.

Thats  true – these are. But the Rockerfellers weren’t broke before the depression either. So, here is what I hav been up to.

The restaurant is open. I ran into a beef wih the local police because they didnt want me to open. That process cost me an extra $15,000 that we didn’t plan for. That pissed me off because the issue seemed “made up”. But I got over it. After 8 months of being open we are scratching at profitability. That means I am about 10% away from operating in the black which, in this industry is considered miraculous.

But there is work to be done. I have a lot of competitors and folks who have connections that do not want to see me be successful. But all of that makes me stronger. See, while they are focused on me – I am focused on their customers. Which strategy do you think will bear more fruit?

A few of my other businesses have been hit hard by the economy. Fortunately I believe in diversification. For me, that means I have multiple products and services that I offer my clients. One of those products replaced a more expensive service. So clients that have had their budgets cut and can’t afford our big expensive services, can still work with us and know that we are solving their problems. This means that I didn’t lose a client – instead I just solve their problems differenly. This has also earned me some attention in a few national publications in he industries that I serve. That brought me new clients.

We are about to launch that new business I told you all about. I know, launch a NEW business? Remember what I have said before. There is opportunity in every environment.

I can’t go into detail on what he project is right now but it is timely and here is an unfilled market. That is a good start. The part that is really interesting is that I am doing it with a partner. I am going to try it again.

Partnerships have never worked out well for me. I think I may have even recommended to you all to avoid them. I am hoping this will be one of those rare exceptions.

I was completely up front wih my partner (who has been a friend for a long time. He even hired me once for a job when I was 18 years old ) I told him that I have never had a partnership work out. Never. Neither has he (except for his wife). We are working out a partnership agreement. I am hoping that wisdom will temper this new relationship. I am betting on success. The idea is too good to not pursue and neither of us would pursue it alone.

I have a lot more to say and I will try to keep up with this momentum. Right now I am typing from the ba, on my laptop. I have been coming in more ad instead of sitting n my ass or watching TV – I am ging to try an talk with you folks.

Keep your head up and keep hustling.

I saw I had a comment where I was told that "Every man is out for himself" and I hustle "Pussy Style".

The point of the comments were that I need to be a gangster to really be on my hustle.

I disagree. I think the gangster level hustle is only the beginning. I used to run my game on the street. I even came up a little. I wasn’t pulling $3 million dollars as the poster claims but I was flipping about $100k a year when I was in my late teens. Sad thing was, like many gangsters, I was spending it as fast as I was making it. I had a solid crew, but the thing about being in that game is you are "Out for yourself" and in a volatile world like being caught up in the game, sometimes someone will flip on you to save their own ass. In my world (now) that could mean that the IRS come knocking or code enforcement shows up at one of my businesses or at worse, one of my businesses fail. When i was in the game, I had to worry about people fire-bombing my house (actually happened), being shot at or drivebys (actually happened), being stabbed (actually happened) or people going after my family (actually happened). Those are liabilities that I am not willing to accept anymore because I know that I don’t have to.

I can have all my chips AND not have to worry about someone else coming at me sideways.

The idea at that level of the game is that your hustle will always be strong and the game will never change. It reminds me of when crack hit the streets (and again when Meth came up). All those gangsters making their chips on heroin and weed and coke were watching their customer base dry up. On the inverse, there were a few big players in the crack game that were coming up. You had big names like Monster Kody and Tookie Williams, the originators of the street gangs that ran the drug industry in Los Angeles.

These guys started buying property (investing in real estate) to hide their dope and their cash. They put money on the streets, helping folks pay their rent and for sports leagues to build a community that would support and protect them (investment and community development). At any point, they could have probably run for city council and won in their districts. They were real kingpins. The problem with those cats and the likes of George Jung and others who came up pushing dope and violence is that they get trapped.

They never stop and look around and say, if I keep going this way, I will end up dead or in jail. I could lose it all in a minute. One bad decision and it is all gone. I could take all this money, drop out and flip it in legitimate enterprise. I could have all the money, fame, and luxury and never have to worry about a lick gone bad or a sucker with a gun at my door. I would never have to worry about a nosey cop or a dirty cop with a hand out. Life would be uncomplicated and easy.

Thats the limit of the gangster hustle. I might be on a "Pussy Hustle" now, but now when I see cops, they nod at me. They know me. If they jam me up, I can call my councilmember, who I am on first name terms with and have it handled. See the city doesn’t like to have upstanding business owners harassed by the local boys in blue. It affects their income. As a legitimate employer, I have power over the politicians. As someone who knows how to work with the media, I have power. As someone who knows how to motivate people and make things happen, I have power.

I think Ice T said it best when he said, "Real Gangsters wear trenchcoats, wear black suits, black ties and seek votes". Remember that and the old saying "Game recognizes game."

Politicians don’t care about Gangsters, but they are terrified of Hustlers in suits with the ability to speak to the press and make a point.

The Gangster hustle is short term at best. It is lucrative, you make money, you have a little fame (locally) and get to do some crazy stuff and have a good time (if you can deal with the hard life).

But it is a short term hustle with no retirement plan and serious liabilities. To the reader that sent me that email, get out man. Get out of the game and into your Hustle. Take all that knowledge you have learned on the street and flip the script. You might be making millions in the hood but you could be making hundreds of millions in "The World".

The last thing you said was, "Run with the big dogs".

I do, I chat with millionaires and billionaires that make decisions and run hustles that affect the world.

They don’t get much bigger than that and I never have to worry about taking one in the chest while playing cards with them.

So respect to you man. You came up the hard way, but you came up anyway. If I could impart a little wisdom your direction, it would be "You don’t have to stop being a gangster, just elevate your hustle. Take it out of the streets. Remember, real gangsters wear suits. "

Keep Hustling

1. Got…? - Some of you remember the stone soup story. The principle is, take what you got and make something out of it. Got a ladder? Charge folks with houses $20 to $40 to take down their Christmas lights. It is cold outside and I dont want to do it. I would give you $40 to do the 30 minutes of work so I dont have to. 
2. Put’em on the Glass – Right now there are hundreds of businesses that have had their windows painted for Christmas. Grab that bucket and warm soapy water.
3. Gypsey – Got a car or a van? Spend $10 on some business cards and tell the bar owners that you are happy to pick up the drunks to take them away. Drop these cards off at the local college fraternities and sororities too. Make sure you make friends with the folks you pick up because there is no law against picking up a friend and driving them home from the bar. But there are laws against driving an illegal taxi cab. 
4. Reap what you sow - Right now wives are nagging guys to go out and “winterize” their lawns. This means dropping some grass seed for spring. Figure out how long it takes you to do 100 square feet (plus the cost of the seed) and fix your price. Like I said, better you than me. 
5. Time to eat – There are working folks in your neighborhood that are eating fast food everyday. These are the folks who now have a “I’m going to lose weight this year” new year resolution. Figure out a menu of nice dinners (do your calorie and fat calculations – all the incredients added up and divided by the number of portions.) Pack it up and sell it for double (even triple) what you paid for it with a little slip of paper with cooking instructions. The cool thing with this hustle is that the more customers you have, the less work per customer. Give them a menu to review. Hook them up with some free or half off samples for the first day. Get payment up front (for groceries) and deliver on time. There are recipes online and “cost effective” shortcuts to maximize your profit. Just keep your head up for the health department. They frown on doing this from your house. If you get enough accounts, thry to find a local commercial kitchen that rents out times for you to cook there.

Good luck out there Hustlers. It is times like these that made the Rockerfellers and Vanderbuilts rich. Keep hustling and I will be back with an update.  

Normally it is two guys squared up, ready to fight. Both are willing to go the next step, but neither wants to commit to the next step on their own. But no matter what the circumstances, neither wants to take the first punch. They each want the other to make the first move so that they can react. They are waiting to follow, neither want to lead.

That strategy has always bothered me. In the schoolyard, guys would talk tough. They would bump chests, push each other, talk about each other’s mommas – they would do everything but commit to the first punch. This is what I knew of school yard fights in the 3^rd grade. It took an older guy to teach me that it was the one who threw that first punch who usually came out on top. It was the guy who had the heart to act first.

R.T. was an O.G. in the literal sense. He was my best friend’s older brother. He was a gangster who worked his way to the top of the game (at the street level that is). He died around the age of 26 doing gangster shit. But before that, R.T. taught me how to fight. My dad taught me how to box, my mom taught me how to find sticks and rocks when your hands can’t do the job (see how men and women attack a problem differently?). R.T. taught me how to survive for real.

R.T. told me that if someone comes up and pushes you, you were to drop a hammer on them. There was no pushing back and getting into a tussle. I was told to hit them until I couldn’t move my arms any more – then you kick them. This is survival in the jungle. There is no such thing as a dirty or a fair fight. There was only surviving the fight. You keep moving until you can’t move anymore. That’s how you get what you want. That’s how you survive.

So, while messing around with a friend, I said “Come on man, there is nothing between us but air and opportunity” it stuck in my head. I thought about all the times I let air keep me from my goals. I let air keep me from opportunities.

I was at a high school graduation in San Diego, which was attended by Tony Robbins. You might remember Tony Robbins from his Personal Power self-improvement books and tapes and infomercials. Tony was about 12 feet away from me. I wanted to go over and shake his enormous hand (no offense Tony, if you happen to catch this, but come on man…), maybe get a picture of us together.

I don’t get squishy over celebrities (he is not the first and only one I have ever met) but this was pretty cool and I respect what he was able to do – he started out broke too. Plus he wasn’t celebrity by pretending to be someone else. He was a celebrity based on his Hustle – there is a difference.

My sister-in-law is a friend of his son’s. They went to high school together and we were all there at their high school graduation. I stood there and invented a dozen reasons to NOT go over to him just to say hi. My wife and her family tried to motivate me to go over. I said no…

“This is a personal occasion, I don’t want to bother him”
“He is with his family”
“It would be rude”
“I don’t want to interrupt”

The truth is that for some reason, walking the 12 feet to say “hi” scared me. It didn’t feel like it at the time – at the time it felt like it would be inappropriate. But now I realize that it was fear.

Admitting that you are afraid is a hard fact to swallow. I’m no punk. I have stood eyeball to eyeball with people that wanted to kill me, even shot at me. I have been surrounded, outnumbered and outgunned and survived. I have been in high-speed pursuits with the police and got away. I have looked at my family through the wrong side of wired glass. I have played with high explosives and lived. I have been through some scary stuff and have been able to keep my cool. Introducing myself to a stranger is nothing compared to that stuff. But for some reason, I seemed to care about what might happen if I went over and put out a hand to this guy.

What is the most I could have gained?

A huge contact
A friend
A mentor

What is the worst that could have happened?

He could have said “Nice to meet you.” and walked away. I mean he wasn’t going to punch me in the throat for saying hi.

Afterward I told myself that this would not happen again.

So why do we do it? Why do we let the air between us and opportunity hold us back? Fear of failure? Maybe. Fear of the unknown? Are we afraid that someone who you want to meet will look at you and dismiss you as irrelevant? All of this is bullshit.

I gave this dude power over me. From 12 feet away he was controlling my actions. He didn’t even know he had pimped me. More accurately, I pimped myself.

Nothing, short of a gun to your head, should ever prevent you from advancing your hustle. Never hesitate to go up and say something to anyone. If you are at the store and you see a guy rockin a Rolex and a tight suit. Say hi. Introduce yourself. Ask what he (or she) does. Ask for a card. Write on the back of the card a quick summary of what you talked about and where you met.

Get used to doing this. I have made many contacts from chance encounters. I have boxes of business cards that I have picked up from people. If anything you will have a cool mailing list of people that you could either sell to or hit up to finance your next project. No matter what, you will build a database of people who are already on their hustle. And that is a good list to have.

Never let yourself pimp yourself. Never let air prevent you from making a move. Never let air get between you and opportunity.

Keep Hustling