Archive for the 'Starting a Business' Category

18
Aug

The Art and Science of Guerrilla Pimping the Competition

By The Hustler 1 Comment
Categories: Money, Money Making Ideas, Planning, Sales Training, Starting a Business and Strategies

To some of you, this might be a new term. This refers back to a type of pimping dubbed “Gorrilla Pimping”. This is the type of pimp who would keep his girls in line by beating them, threatening them or even killing them.

The Gorilla Pimp only knows one way to communicate, “It is my way or the dead way.” It is effective even if it does seem cruel. Other pimps steer clear of the Gorilla Pimps because they are likely to set you on fire in the middle of the street just to make a point. But their tactics work. Girls are too terrified to leave or disobey and competing pimps would sometimes just move to another neighborhood.

Real pimps an players will tell you that true smooth pimping is when the girls actually love their pimp. They WANT to give them all the money. The loyalty is to the death and those girls will go out and recruit other girls to help out their “family”.

Gorilla pimps go after the weak and strong. They don’t care. They scare their employees into submission and their competition into leaving. Every pimp and hustler has a litle Gorilla in them, but the smart ones keep him in the cage unless absolutely neccesary.

So now that you know what a Gorilla Pimp is, lets talk about the business equivelent – Guerrilla Pimping. And yes that term is copyrighted and no you cant use it. I am writing a book about Guerrilla Pimping so sit back and get  a sneak peek. Continue reading ‘The Art and Science of Guerrilla Pimping the Competition’

11
Aug

A Hustler Update

By The Hustler 0 Comments
Categories: Author Background, Being a Hustler, Starting a Business, Strategies and Uncategorized

I know a lot of you are out there struggling right now. The economy is bad. Unemployment is up. There is no a lot of money to go around (so it seems).

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.

12
Jan

5 ways to make some money after Christmas

By The Hustler 2 Comments
Categories: Being a Hustler, Financing Your Hustle, Money, Money Making Ideas and Starting a Business

I have not forgotten about you. As always, I am on my hustle. Some of you know that I have just opened a new bar/restaurant and have been fighting with the city and the law in getting things going.All is good in time, but I know some of you are hurting.I have been getting calls every day from folks I know who need jobs or are trying to find a way to make some extra money. Here are my “Top 5″ responses to those I have talked to who are looking to make a few extra bucks in these hard times. Continue reading ‘5 ways to make some money after Christmas’

31
Jul

Start that $20 Hustle and make a million dollars

By The Hustler 7 Comments
Categories: Author Background, Being a Hustler, Financing Your Hustle, Money, Money Making Ideas, Personal Notes and Starting a Business

Sorry I have been gone. Those who are regular readers know that I am in the process of opening a bar/restaurant and that has been eating into my time and money. But it is an investment and I know that a little work now will pay dividends later. That reminds me of a post I was working on called Start that $20 hustle and make a million dollars.

Most people don’t know what $20 a week can get them. Hell I was told what it would do for me when I was 16 and I didn’t listen. If I had, I would have an account right now with over $100,000 cash in it grown from $20 a week.

To, for some folks, $20 is a drop in the bucket. It is lunch money. For others it means the difference between hamburger helper for the family and just plain helper.

$20 can be found almost under every rock in your neighborhood, if you know what kind of rocks to look for.

I get emails all the time (so if you sent one and I haven’t responded, hang in there, I am working on it). Most of the time it is stuff like “How do I get my hustle going?” or “Where can I get money to finance my hustle?”

The hardest part to locking down a strong hustle is money and patience. If you have ever done any kind of crime, you know that you spend a lot of time waiting. You are either waiting in the bushes for traffic to clear so you can break a window or you are waiting for the store to clear out a little before you run in there. Maybe you are waiting for a foggy night to do your dirt or you are waiting for a homeboy to call you up with the ok on the spot where he works.

Most of the time it is a gut check. You ask yourself, does it FEEL right. Being kids of the 70’s and 80’s my friends and I used to call this our “Spidey Senses”. Some of my other friends called it being ghetto psychic. It is how you know someone is a cop, even though you don’t really know. It is the gut feeling to know that now is the time to act.

But the waiting to act is hard. That is the hardest part to get over. You can have millions in the bank but unless you check the gut, keep it in your pocket. This is why I think that those who grew up in the game have an advantage over those who didn’t. You can smell danger. The other advantage is that you know when to take the risk of running up and smashing that window.

So now that we know that you have to have patience to know when to act, you have got to find the dough. Money has a funny way of multiplying. Think about it. When I was a kid, I sold candy on the schoolyard. I had a little store in my backpack. Actually I carried a duffel bag that was half candy and half books with zippers on both sides. I stole about $2.00 worth of nickel gum and Jolly Ranchers from the 7-11 near my house. I would go back and pay for them as I have the money now but they closed like 12 years ago.

Anyway, I flipped that $2.00 in candy into $4.00 that afternoon. I went and bought $4.00 in candy and sold it for $8.00 the next day. I did this until I was making between $10 and $20 a day net. That’s a pocket full of cash for a 3rd grader in 1983. I took those profits and rolled them into extending my line and setting up distribution (selling candy is like selling crack or weed or anything else). I was the Nino Brown of the elementary school.

But all I needed was that seed money. So here are some ideas for setting up your empire, starting with your first $20. By the way, I have done each of these things myself so i know they work. Continue reading ‘Start that $20 Hustle and make a million dollars’

01
Jun

panning for gold at work – making the most of your day job

By The Hustler 0 Comments
Categories: Financing Your Hustle, Planning and Starting a Business

Recently a reader asked a question. I was going to respond in thecomments but my last post was so weak that I thought you all deserved something a little better than my late night emotional digital outburst.

So the reader said that he wanted to know, as he develops into his carreer as a teacher, how to keep an eye out for a hustle that he could jump into and take advantage of.

Hustles present themselves to you every day, no matter where you are. They show up, hang around for a minute and pass on to the next guy if you failed to grab onto it.

I dig teachers. I have a bit of an envy for teachers which is probably why I set this blog up in the first place.

I have friend who is a teacher that got into real estate as his sideline hustle. He now owns a few houses hat he rents out. He isnt making a killing on the month to month. Each house only brings in a hundred bucks or so a month – but in 20 to 30 years they will be paid off and worth a few $100k each. I have another friend who is a professor at a pretty large university. He took his expertise to the next level and saw that an educational and theraputic tool used in the field hadn’t been changed in 50 years. He and I modernized it and made it cross cultural. He invested $25,000 and flipped it into $125,000 in a year. Continue reading ‘panning for gold at work – making the most of your day job’

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