Gettin' Your [Legit] Hustle On

The term "hustler" has been given a bad rap lately.  There seem to be nothing but negative connotations associated with it. In fact, Dictionary.com defines a hustler as "a person who employs fraudulent or unscrupulous methods to obtain money; swindler."

The Hustler (1961)

 Other definitions pretty much paint the same picture:

 

"a shrewd or unscrupulous person who knows how to circumvent difficulties;"

 

"a person who makes money by doing something dishonest;"

 

"a person who is always working; usually illegally;"

 

"someone who tries to get something, usually money, by deceiving others."

 

Basically, by today's standards, being a hustler is considered a bad thing, and much of the image associated the word comes from the 1961 movie The Hustler, starring Paul Newman as "Fast" Eddie Felson, an unprincipled pool sharp adept at swindling people at the billiards table.

 

On the other hand, I grew up with a definition of "hustler" that was a lot different.  Although, defined as a "swindler" on Dictionary.com, that same webpage lists another description of "hustler," defining the term as "an enterprising person determined to succeed; go-getter."  Likewise, Oxforddictionaries.com defines the term as "an aggressively enterprising person; a go-getter." This is the definition that I grew up with and am familiar with, and it's the definition I'd apply to myself today.

 

When I was kid, everyone - even my parents - called me a hustler, and it was true.  I was always looking for a way to make a dollar: cutting people's grass, running errands for elderly neighbors, collecting aluminum cans, recycling pop bottles... (Yes, I'm old school.  Coke, Pepsi, and all that crap is still "pop" to me, not soda.)  Of course, there were other ways to accumulate cash.  Some were cool, but not legit (like betting on neighborhood dog races), while others were legit but not cool - like charging my older brother's girlfriend 50 cents to tell her which other girls were calling him. (Some would say that was very uncool, but my brother was an asshole back then, so fuck it.  For the record, we're tight now.)

 

I tended to focus on the legitimate hustles back then, and I still do.  You don't have to break the law to earn your moolah; you've just got to be willing to put in the time and the effort, and it's infinitely more rewarding.  In short, you need to get your legit hustle on.

 

So what's involved in getting your hustle on, legitimately? Fist of all, you typically have to have a job.  That doesn't necessarily mean working for someone else - you can work for yourself - but it does mean that you have something akin to a 9-to-5: steady employment that provides a regular paycheck that you can count on to pay the bills. This is your day job, for lack of a better term. Your "hustle" really applies to the things you do outside of that (assuming you don't have a day job that pays tons of cash, like doctor, lawyer, professional athlete, high-paid entertainer, etc.).

 

Generally, your hustle shouldn't be just another "straight" work gig where you clock in, toil away for a certain number of hours, then clock out again. (The exception here, of course, is if you're working for yourself - say, your family opened a restaurant and you go there after your day job and work until closing.)  It should be a situation where you get to show that "aggressively enterprising" side of your nature.  It should also be something that has massive potential (which is why I say it can't simply be a second job, although I wouldn't argue that working two jobs isn't hustling).  For me, it's going to be writing books.

 

I chose to write books for a number of reasons, including the fact that I like to read, and also have some stories I want to tell. But for my hustle I was also looking for something that was going to generate passive and/or residual income. I tend to use the terms interchangeably, but I define passive income as income earned without you being actively involved in its generation.  A good example of this is probably a car wash.  The guy who owns it barely has to be there, and the business - for the most part - generates money without a lot of oversight.

 

Residual income, on the other and, is earned from some up-front effort that continues to generate cash long after the original work was done.  Books are a good example of this: after you write your novel, it can keep selling (and earning) indefinitely.  This is what I'm looking for with my urban fiction, and with my overall hustle in general.

 

Basically, my hustle involves looking for ways to make my money work harder for me than I work for it, and passive income does that.  Moreover, there are a thousand things you can do to earn passive income: owning vending machines, a Laundromat, rental homes, an ATM business (which is cheaper than you think; you can lease machines for $100/month or less, and they typically generate $200 - $2000 per month).  One of the easiest ways by far to generate passive income is to just buy dividend-paying stocks (eg, AT&T, Coke, Microsoft).  You're using their products anyway; why not get a little something out of it by owning company stock? Tons of everyday people have grown super-rich from dividend-paying stocks.

 

Also, look to leverage any specialized knowledge that you have.  For instance, if you know all about auto mechanics, maybe you can start blogging about common car problems, or writing articles for sites like HubPages.  (You could even teach your own auto mechanics class. Lots of people would love to know how to do something as simple as change their oil.)  Or if you're familiar with a certain type of product (eg, books, computers, sewing machines, what have you), perhaps you can start writing reviews.  Just about all of us have particular knowledge in some field that we can utilize to generate income. (And if you don't have any, try to pick some up: learn a few magic tricks or how to make balloon animals so you can get hired at birthday parties; spend some time playing around with pics and learn how make books covers; and so on. I know a guy who taught himself how to format ebooks for Kindle and he became great at it.)  If you've had an interesting life story, maybe you can become a motivational speaker. The main thing is to use what you've learned over the years to earn some $$$, rather than just letting that knowledge and experience stagnate.

 

Next, look for niches to exploit or needs that haven't been addressed.  A few years back a friend's subdivision had a neighborhood garage sale, and there were all these people wandering around in the hot sun looking for bargains.  He put out a cooler with water and sodas for sale, as well as a table full of snacks; he made a killing. It was short-term (although I suppose you could try to find those sales every weekend), but it was a quick, effortless way to make some easy cash. If you have a lot of followers on social media, maybe you can turn that into an advertising medium. There are lots of areas and things in our day-to-day lives that we can monetize if we're paying attention.

 

Finally, don't be afraid to make an investment in yourself.  You hear all the time that it takes money to make money - well, it's true. You have to be willing to lay out cash in order to be successful, whether it be for promotion, hiring other experts, what have you.  (For instance, most writers have to pay for professional cover art for their books.)  If it's not worth you spending cash to succeed, then it's probably not a hustle worth pursuing. So if you're going to have a vending machine business, you may have to offer a percentage of profits to the owner of a prime location where you want to place your machines. If you're going to have rental homes, you may need to hire a property management company. If you're going to be a singer, you may need to pay to put together a demo in a professional studio.

 

In short, there's absolutely noting wrong with being labeled a hustler, as long as you are out there legitimately pursuing your goals.  Moreover, you can have way more than one hustle.  (Personally, I'm writing books, I invest in stocks, I'm an online affiliate with several companies, I've got an app I plan to develop, and much, much more.)  However, you need to be focused and have a clear plan with respect to what you want to do or achieve. Truthfully speaking, nobody owes you anything and it's very seldom that anyone will simply hand you everything you want in life.  However, there's nothing preventing you from getting out there and hustling, thereby earning what you want.  Nothing, that is, except you.