“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” — Albert Einstein
“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle”
Being a hustler is not bad. Most entrepreneurs are natural hustlers but most hustlers do not become entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs are all about appreciation and cash flow, while the hustlers are about capital gains and lack any long-term vision. Most entrepreneurs were hustlers that converted their hustle into a system that can attract other hustlers to work for them. Making the next sale is what is important to a hustler, building a company and leading his team is what the entrepreneur is focused on. The entrepreneur builds the system that the hustler works in. A stockbroker is a hustler, and the entrepreneur is the IPO. A consultant is a hustler and the person who owns the consulting company is an entrepreneur. A hustler must continue hustling or his income will suffer. An entrepreneur can pick and choose when to hustle and when to strategize for the future.
The best companies were founded by a hustler who saw a problem that needed to be fixed or a demand to be met then created the strategy for a sustainable system that included brand equity and a long-term vision. The key is that a creative solution for a problem is only as successful as its execution. I am a big fan of formulating ideas, create a business plan and market analysis, however, factors such as timing and tenacity might be the determinants for the success of the business model, not necessarily the idea. Let me explain.
Tenacity is tested even when you are narrowing down ideas and so the hard work (at the beginning) is pure mental ‘Hustle’, it requires vision and creativity to formulate your strategy. Then, let’s say — in the perfect scenario — you’ve secured your funding, your time (even with funding secured) as a founder or co-founder would be spent 5% on strategy formulation, 5% on sales related calls and 90% on “Hustle” which does not just mean working really hard (though that is critical). “Hustling” means being industrious and figuring out clever ways to solve problems (creativity) so that you make your customers happy (brand equity) and improve how you work (sustainable business).
Take the example of Michael Kirban and Ira Liran, the founders of Vita Coco. The two got their start nearly a decade ago by convincing a Naked Juice distributor, whom they randomly encountered on a Brooklyn, N.Y., street, to deliver a product that they had yet to create. The plan ended up backfiring after the founders failed to follow the proper registration procedures and the Food and Drug Administration blocked their three shipping containers full of coconut water from entering the United States. Instead, Kirban found a distributor in the Bahamas, flew to the island nation and then “literally went door to door selling coconut water out of the back of a rental car,” he recalls. “I would go into bars, restaurants, hotels. I sold half the product and broke even.”
What does this teach us? that the idea was right, the execution failed. That the business plan had to iterate different times. And, that people believe ‘Hustle’ is hard work. Hard work sometimes will only get you from A to B, it is often a means of doing things to get an idea to conception. “Hustle” births entrepreneurship, it is when the business model fails and the creative side of entrepreneurship creative is realized to never lose sight of the ultimate goal. Today, Vita Coco has gone up against big-time coconut water brands, like Pepsi’s O.N.E. and Coca-Cola’s Zico, and sold more than $100 million worth of the beverage last year. Expanding to that next level often takes a risk. For Vita Coco, it’s helped to have celebrities on board who, at times, have also acted as brand ambassadors in advertisements. A few years ago when the company still had fewer than 20 employees, Madonna’s manager approached to form a partnership. But since there wasn’t enough money for an advertising campaign — let alone an endorsement deal — the entrepreneur offered the musician a slot in a small investment round. That partnership then attracted other celebs and the rest is history.
Which brings me to the wonder of MVP
In the startup world, the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is where creativity shines before the product is launched. Entrepreneurs look for infinite ways to test their assumptions and hustle is not only required but vital. I must clarify that an MVP is therefore not a product. It is a minimum-viable-go-to-market step. Having an MVP’s is not the only way to develop a product nor it is like finding the holy grail of startup success, it is hard work and a part of a series of steps. But, it could be one of the best ways to kick off your startup. In the hatchery.io article, “How To Do MVPs Right!”, Alex Kholti goes over a variety of strategies for creating minimum viable products cheaply, quickly, and of course, unconventionally.
One of the greatest examples of ‘Hustle’ and success by MVP is Zappos shoes, the biggest online shoe retailer, with annual sales exceeding $1 billion. In his Lean Startup book, Eric Ries describes how the founder started with a Wizard of Oz product. The founder didn’t start by stocking up big amounts of shoes and investing in an e-commerce backend. Instead, he went to local shoe shops. He would ask the owner’s permission to take photos of shoes and put them online. Once the orders started flown in, he went to the shop, bought the pair that was ordered, shipped it, handled payments, returns… all of it himself, and by hand. It was pure ‘Hustle’ genius and of course not a scalable business. But it was an experiment designed focused on answering one question: is there already sufficient demand for a superior online shopping experience for shoes? And it allowed the founder to validate most of his assumptions with very little investment.
Vladimir Blagojevic’s Scale My Business article, “The Ultimate Guide to Minimum Viable Products”, has this and other examples of the advantages of several MVP processes.
Tips for effective hustlers:
- Eliminate distractions: Your business isn’t going to build itself so identify the biggest time-wasting activities that eat up most of your time (while offering the least satisfaction), and eliminate them without mercy.
- Focus: Ron Swanson’s said, “Don’t half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.” While you might juggle more than one long-term project at a time, I know you are an avid single-tasker who becomes possessed by the task at hand, sometimes finding themselves in a state of “flow” where time becomes meaningless.
- Improve Daily: follow the “Kaizen” philosophy and strive to continuously improve every day. If personal growth isn’t pursued, you know it is awfully easy to find oneself living in a state of monotony, where progress stagnates and inspiration dies. yuck!
- Think Big: don’t be afraid of pursuing an idea that is bigger than yourself. When stress or doubt clouds your judgment, take a deep breath and remind yourself, “If it was meant to be easy, everybody would do it.”
- Play Chess: why? well because everybody else plays checkers. A hustler is an outstanding strategist who is capable of foreseeing every likely outcome of their actions, and are thus prepared for whatever possibility life might throw at them.
- Embrace your Authenticity: nobody wants to work with a phony, so create a genuine emotional connection that is unique and special to every person you work with.
- Fail Often: don’t stress out about making mistakes, because failure is the most effective teacher in existence. you are probably familiar with the Thomas Edison quote, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” If Thomas Edison was persistent enough to keep trying after failing over a thousand times, an effective hustler can succeed despite the occasional mistake.
- Never Surrender: repeat this mantra, “You don’t lose until you quit, so don’t quit.” Success isn’t “quick” or “easy” for anybody, so let go of the need for instant gratification, and practice patience with the process.
General Tips:
- Set yourself up for success by choosing an idea and hence a product, company, and team you care about.
- Never lose sight of the big projects under your control and the company goals.
- Think of your customers as family and friends, chances are you will work harder to make sure they are treated well.
- Because I love lists, then I am telling you to make lists. Finish each day by creating a list of the 5 small tasks that you need to accomplish the next day. Then do them the next day. Each weekend write out the one or two big projects that you want to focus on for the next week. Both of these steps will help with the follow-through, which is one part organization and one part effort.
Though each individual has their own journey, the known formula for success seems universal — work hard, stay committed, perfect your craft, and take advantage of opportunities. Yet, hard work has so much to do with success. But working smart needs to be the prerequisite to working hard. To be great requires an impeccable work ethic, and doing the necessary work is inescapable. This is an adopted truth reinforced by countless successful people, I also believe that the frame of mind you put into seeing your purpose through will dictate your outcome.
Finally, Make sure you seek advisement from mentors who are also hustlers that can teach you proper planning, positioning and what moves are really worth making. The best leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.
