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.

I had a phone call yesterday froma  friend who was looking to bounce some ideas off of me. He had been going to networking meetings and different mixers to listen to marketing experts. They had all kinds of ideas but none applied to what he was doing. He was feeling like he was wasting his time.

I told him that it was time to take his marketing to the next level. Publicity Stunts. Street level guerilla marketing.

People have a funny idea of what a publicity stunt is. They think it is cheezy and obvious. It doesnt have to be. But even if it is…so what?

The point of marketing and advertising is exposure. Rememebr what they say? “Any press is good press.” I would be willing to go to jail on a $500 trespassing ticket to get front page and news media exposure in the right context. A $500 ticket and a slap on the wrist for $15,000 worth of exposure? Yeah, that math works out.

The second thing people are afraid of (other than embarrasing themself) is creating a war or pissing off other businesses. I don’t get this. If you have no relationship with these other businesses, why do you care? I have sent people to stand at other clubs and stand at the end of the line and tell people to come to my spot. Give the people a free pass to not pay a cover charge or whatever. That’s Guerilla Pimping. My team did this and drove 20 or 30 people to my bar. That equated to $600 in “free” money and exposure. What did the other club say? Nothing.

I sent 12 people out to crash a big business shopping center sponsored event. This shopping center is a block away from my restaurant and bar. They will not let me participate because I am not in their shopping center. But thats ok. I have other ways. By the time the security guard found one of my street team members and notified a Sheriff to remove them from the property, the other 11 had already distributed 1,600 flyers – in 40 minutes. This resulted in $1,000 in extra business. It cost me $40 and free t-shirts for the kids doing the flyers.

Next week at the same event (they do this event 4 times duing the summer) I will have a guy in  mascot costume go out and pomote. I’m not going to say exactly what I am going to do, but if I get caught, what will happen? The photographer I have going with my mascot will be photographing the local Sheriffs escorting my mascot off the property. My photographer has press credentials and does work for the local paper on the freelance basis. The next day that picture will make the paper. Hopefully front page. Either way I will have video and photos to distribute online and off. I will make wanted posters of my mascot and have them distributed. I will make the mascot character an infamous local figure. I will put a bounty on his head and offer cash prizes to anyone who can catch him and bring him back – alive and unhurt of course. My first reward will be to the Sheriffs who catch him this Friday. I may even show up with a giant check made out to one of their sponsored charitable organizations. Of course, with a photographer and press release in hand sent in advance to the local media with an apology from the mascot. No reason to make the cops look bad. We might need them later.

Yes this will make the paper and probably make the local news.

How many people will be on the look out for the mascot? How many people will talk about it? How many people will come by the business after seeing the exposure, news, mascot – whatever? How much will it cost? $50 for the guy to walk around town for a few hours and the cost of the costume. Photos of the winners will be posted inside on a wall of “Bounty Hunters”. Is this all goofy? Hell yeah. I won’t lie. It sounds dumb as hell.

But where and how else will I get $50,000 in media placement, exposure, free advertising and word of mouth marketing for $250 total out of pocket expense?

Thats Guerrilla Pimping.

That’s Hustling

Take some notes. Some of the greatest marketing takes place without any money out of pocket. Think about those smooth pimps who go out and talk those women into selling their bodies and giving the money to the pimp. What did that cost them? Nothing but time to learn the game.

I’m giving you the tools, you just have to work your hustle.

What can you do to put your business between the customers you want and your competition. Thats Guerrilla Pimping.

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

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

1. Give good advice.
   At some point, someone is going to ask your opinion about something personal. Short and sweet is the key. If someone tells you their wife is sleeping around or their kid is an asshole – they don’t want to hear a 2-hour lecture on your childhood (unless you are buying the beers). Give advice that helps in one or two sentences. If you can’t do that, then you haven’t thought about the question hard enough.

   Friend: “My wife is sleeping with my best friend. It is driving me crazy. What do I do?”

   You: “Anyone sleeping with your best friend is not your wife and anyone sleeping with your wife is not your best friend.”It may not be what they want to hear, but it is an irrefutable statement. It also may give them a new perspective to start from.

2. Tell if someone is lying to you.
   Everyone has a theory. I like these: Liars change the subject quickly. Liars like to say “Honestly”, “Can you believe it?”, “You know you can trust me.” or swear you to secrecy. Liars will sometimes stare straight at you and employ a dead face. Liars place objects between themselves and you during a conversation. Forbes Magazine published a little on this too.
3. Shake hands.
   Steady, firm, pump, let go. Use the time to make eye contact, since that’s where the social contract begins.
4. Read some non-fiction.
   You may enjoy Stephen King or some other horror or romantic novels. But no one gets rich reading this stuff. Also in business company, these authors never come up. However, Larry Winget, Suze Orman, Seth Godin and authors like that – all the time.
5. Not monopolize the conversation.
   When I was younger, I suffered from this affliction. You want to be heard. You want people to notice you. You take it from the fact that everyone around you is letting you talk because you are saying some smart stuff. The fact is the opposite. There is an old saying – “It is better to be quiet and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.”
6. Buy a suit.
   Avoid the $99 suit sales if you can. Know your style and what you need it for (work, funerals, court). Squeeze the fabric into a fist — if it bounces back with little or no sign of wrinkling, that means it’s good, sturdy material. And tug the buttons gently. If they feel loose or wobbly, that means they’re probably coming off sooner rather than later. The jacket’s shoulder pads are supposed to square with your shoulders; if they droop off or leave dents in the cloth, the jacket’s too big. The jacket sleeves should never meet the wrist any lower than the base of the thumb — if they do, ask to go down a size. Always get fitted. Labels aren’t that important until you start running with the $2,000 to $5,000 suit crowd – but fabric and patterns matter. Stay with the basic colors and patterns. Get creative with the shirt and tie. That’s where you add flavor. I found this video too.
7. Talk out a fight or know how to throw a solid punch.
   You may be in a restaurant or bar with a client or employer. Someone may get stupid. Learn to speak softly and let the folks involved know why it doesn’t suit their interests in pursuing their current course of action without assaulting their manhood. This is an important and difficult skill to master. I was a bouncer for about 4 years and learned how to squash fights before they happened. This is important for me today as sometimes people look for trouble. A few words in private and they are usually willing to walk away. Knucklheads will say this makes you a bitch. Going to a meeting with a black eye or a broken nose is stupid.If all else fails, you have got to know how to throw down. You have to stand close enough, but not too close. Swing with your shoulders, not your arm. Long punches rarely land squarely. Follow through; don’t pop and pull back. Remember, the bones in your hand are small and easy to break. You’re better off striking hard with the heel of your palm (I like to use my knees and elbows). It doesn’t hurt to take some boxing or fighting classes. I like (and studied) Krav Maga.
8. Tie a tie.
   I am talking a Half Windsor knot or Full Windsor knot. Not that half-ass “Four in hand knot” crap that you learned in the boy scouts. And it doesn’t matter how tall or short you are. Make sure the bottom point of that tie comes over your belt buckle. Nothing makes you look like a country fool faster than having a tie that ends above your waist. Do I really need to say anything about clip-ons?
9. Know how to order a social drink
   When I was younger, all I drank were Tequila shots, Kamikazes or whatever was being passed around. This got me in trouble when I went to a business meeting that took all day and into dinner and everyone was drinking scotch or some mixed drink. You need to know what you can or want to drink in this situation without standing there, looking like a dumbass.Always call the liquor; never go to the “Well”. You need to know Brand, amount, style, fast, like so: Booker’s, double, neat. If you need help finding “Your Drink” go to a nice bar or restaurant and ask the bartender to make some suggestions. Try some things out. Find something you like and memorize it.
10. Speak a foreign language.
    You don’t have to be fluent. Grab a copy of an at-home study course – there are even free ones online. I took two years of Japanese and two years of Spanish in high school. I speak no Japanese, but understand the culture. I also like freaking out my border brothers when they try to run game on me and find out later that I understood everything they were saying about me to each other.
11. Sew a button.
    I can’t tell you how many times I have been on my way to meet someone and had a button pop off, break or whatever. Most hotel rooms either have a sewing kit or you can get one in the gift shop. It is not hard and beat the hell out of looking stupid because your shirt is missing a button or your fly keeps dropping. Learn how now.
12. Talk Politics without starting and argument or expressing your specific views.
    The rule is that you never discuss politics or religion. But just a few weeks ago I was talking to 3 different clients in a social setting and the election came up. Not knowing where the political views of my client lie, I did the non-committal two-step. I said something to the effect of “The whole process is driving me crazy. It is almost making me lose faith in the process. I really just wish I could find a candidate that I truly felt had the best interests of the country at heart”. No matter which side of the fence they were, they all nodded in agreement.
13. Know how to play Gin, Poker, Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Dominoes, Billiards (Pool) and Chess.
    One of the richest guys I have ever met has reached a point where he travels the world to visit kings and leaders to have tea and play Gin. That is all they do – travel the world and play cards.Learning any game based on strategy will help you out in life and give you a point of connection with the people you are trying to know.I don’t gamble recreationally. You will rarely catch me in a casino unless I am there with a prospect or part of a group trip. That being said, I have a strategy for Roulette, and all those games above. I learned how to play pool when I was eight years old and played competitively in local tournaments. I am not a great player, but I am pretty good. Plus, if you are playing pool at a bar with a client, they don’t notice that they are drinking and you are not.Make three different bets at a craps table. Play the smallest and most poorly labeled areas, the bets where it’s visually evident the casino doesn’t want you to go. Simply play the pass line; once the point is set, play full odds (this is the only really good bet on the table).Learn to shuffle a deck of cards. I have played cards with guys who can’t shuffle, and they lose. Always.Know when to split his cards in blackjack. Aces. Eights. Always.
14. Know how to speak to a waiter.
    You don’t own the restaurant, so don’t act like it. Act like a guest in someone’s house. Don’t speak into the menu. Make eye contact. Say please and thank you. Women will tell you that they will size a guy up by how they treat the server at a restaurant. I do the same thing.
15. Say no graciously.
    You can’t do everything, but you don’t want to burn bridges. Learn how to say no “this time” but leave the door open for a future relationship. “I would love to do that, and normally I would, but right now I am just not able to devote any time to that. But let’s plan some time for next month to get together and take a look at what projects you have coming up.”
16. Throw a ball.
    Company picnic or a pick-up game of ball at the gym – you have to be able to be part of the team. Learn how to throw baseball over-hand with some snap. Throw a football with a tight spiral. Shoot a 12-foot jump shot reliably. Learn how to drive a golf ball, even if it is only 50ft off the tee. If you can’t, play more ball.
17. Iron a shirt.
    I hate to iron. Usually I just dry clean everything. If I am out of town and the clothes are clean and they just need to be ironed, the dry cleaners will press them for about $2.00. But if you are really in a spot, you have to be able to break out an iron and get the job done. Rolling in a wrinkled shirt is never allowed unless you just got mugged. And in that case, you had better be bleeding.
18. Write a thank-you note.
    Make a habit of it. Follow a simple formula like this one: First line is a thesis statement. The second line is evidentiary. The third is a kind of assertion. Close on an uptick.

Thanks for having me over to discuss your business. I hope that I was able to answer your questions satisfactorily. I will be thinking about our conversation and if I am able to come up with some more ideas I will definitely give you a call. Next time, let me take you out to lunch so that we can get to know each other a little better. Thanks again,

So that concludes this list. Obviously this isn’t everything you need to know. But these are some things that come up pretty regularly in my day to day life. This is just a pimer to get you set up with some basics so that you can focus on the real skills to get your hustle going.

Keep Hustling.