Honestly, there’s nothing to “deal” with. The foundation of the Game is not based on gaining and keeping EVERYTHING. It is based on a constant inflow and outflow. Things come to you and things leave you. As the old saying goes, “The Game is cop and blow.”
What that means is, you should never expect to keep everything you gain. If you’re losing A LOT of what you gained then that is a Game Leak. That is a major problem that you need to plug. But if you lose things here and there, just charge it to the Game. You can’t win every time you step on the field to play. You must understand that you can only hold so much at one time. There was a study done of multi-million dollar lottery winners a decade or so back. These people won big, I’m talking ten, fifty-million or more. Out of 100 of these lottery winners who hit it big, only three stayed financially free. THREE! The rest ended right back up in same financial situation they were in before they won. Now, what Happened? THEY happened. This may sound funny to a Square (average person), but those of us in the Game know that it is possible to mentally NOT be able to "hold" that much money. Your thought processes and petty desires rule over you. So when you get a large sum of money like that (that you didn't have to work hard for), you try to fulfill all your desires. Stuff that has been bottled up in you for years. I’m not saying they shouldn't have enjoyed it, but I’m saying they went to the extreme. They were originally broke for a reason. It was their petty desires and thought patterns that held them there. Just because they got new money, that didn't change them on the inside. Why am I saying all of this? I need you to realize that gain and loss are part of life. Until you elevate yourself, you cannot “hold” more things. Why? Because to truly have something, you must also be RESPONSIBLE for it. Everything you gain also has to be MAINTAINED. This is true of everything in life. From material possessions like a car, a house, a new pair of shoes; all the way down to relationships with family and loved ones. Everything you acquire that is in your life, must be maintained or you will lose it. As your Game grows (mentally) you will be able to maintain and care for more things at one time. The Game, just like nature, is about balance. Everything balances out to where it should be, sooner or later. You want to “deal” with loss. Just accept the truth. Nothing is meant to be with us forever. And when one thing leaves, there is room for something better to replace it. Keep your chin up and stay focused. Thanks for the question Ms. S. Until next time. Hustlers are known to have a unique perspective on life. If you have a burning question about business, the Game, or life in general email me at [email protected] and ask a Hustler, I’ll be glad to deliver.
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![]() So you have an idea for a business. Great! Now what? Do you know the next step? A business idea is like a seed you plant into the ground. That seed still needs water and sunlight before it can grow. Many people (myself included when I first started) are under the assumption that to start a small business you need a lot. The truth is you only need a little. Now this isn't true of every small business idea, but nearly eight out of 10 small businesses don’t take that much to start. My first business, when I was 17, cost me all a little over three-hundred dollars to start. My second business ran me about the same. My third business was even less than that because I had a better idea of what I was doing. I was able to cut out everything I didn't need. I recently watched an interesting video on YouTube. It’s a video from billionaire Mark Cuban. In this interview he states that, “… only morons start a business on a bank loan.” Now, I’m nowhere nearly as successful as Mark Cuban but I know what he is saying is a fact. I've done it before. I’ll give you the video at the end of this post. Back to the point… Why is a bank loan so bad? I’ll tell you why. When you enter the Game of business the most important assets are (1) Your determination, (2) Business cash flow and (3) Your time. Now out of these three assets, which one can you control? Only number one, your determination. Business cash flow is out of your control to a large extent. And time, you can manage it but you cannot control it. All three are important but let’s look at business cash flow today. When you “put your foot down” into the Game of business you must realize that you are starting a race. In order to keep up and do well you need to train yourself like an athlete and prepare. This training involves the basic skill-sets you need before you even start. Everything from how to communicate, negotiate, sell, business ethics, record keeping, understanding marketing, advertising, etc. Once all of this is under your belt then you can actually compete and hit the starting line. ![]() When you take out a bank loan, you are not starting at the line with everyone else; you are starting waaayyy behind the starting line. You are losing before you even start. Why? Simple, because repaying a loan eats into your business profits. Any business that cannot maintain a positive business cash flow will eventually go out of business. A business needs some sort of cash flow in order to operate, don’t you agree? It’s almost like taking out a student loan. Even if you land that good paying job, your take home pay sucks because you owe someone else money. In business this is even worse because most businesses do not turn a profit their first year. Read that again. So if I already owe money and I am not making any money (or very little), I am increasing my chances of failure! Great way to compete in a race, isn't it? The truth is you really can start the majority of small businesses from nothing. Using part of your current paycheck, in fact. If you put up just 10% - 20% of your take home pay and invest it, you can use that to piece together your business. Baby-step by baby-step. Is it slow? It can be. Is this the most effective way? Not particularly. This does however, do one thing extremely well. It’s let’s you be at the starting line with everyone else in the race. You don’t owe anyone anything and all the profit you make is yours, not someone else’s! Faster profits mean faster business growth. Do you see my point? Let’s wrap this up. If you really want to understand the Game of business in the simplest way possible, check out my book, Unlocking the Small Business Game. Grab a FREE preview - Click Here. Until next time. Keep it moving and keep it simple in the process. You know how you’re so deep into something that you can no longer see the big picture? Meaning people see things you don’t see any more, or can’t see?
There was a customer of mine who used to come by and see me every so often. She was around my age at the time and had a very sweet demeanor. Like most of my customers when she came around and had time, we used to talk about a little of everything – Work, money, relationships, student loans, the state of the world, why Krispy Kreme doughnuts are average, and on and on – You get my point. This young lady was also a Christian. Now me, myself, I’m not a religious person but I respect it. If your religious beliefs help keep you empowered and make you a better person then by all means, do what works for you. What I don’t like however, is when people push religion on you. That’s like pushing the Game on a “Square” (average person). Imagine two trains on the same track, headed toward each other going the same speed. There’s going to be some irreparable damage. Back to the story. So one afternoon this young lady customer and I got into a conversation about entrepreneurship. It was something she always thought about, but was scared to do. I asked her why that scared her. She replied she wanted to always be sure she could pay her bills and feed herself; being a small business owner lacked a sense of security. Now I’m not one to lie, being an entrepreneur isn’t all happy days and champagne wishes, but just the journey itself is something that will change your life forever. She went on to say, “You wake up every morning, run your business and don’t know what the outcome will be. You don’t know if you’ll make money to eat this week.” I said, "Yes that’s true but everyday for everyone on the planet it's like that." I explained to her that security is an illusion; there is nothing that is truly secure. The best we can do is to carefully move forward in a direction we set for ourselves. You can’t control everything, but you can control how you play the Game. Being a Christian, she naturally interpreted what I said into what made sense for her. “So you live everyday on faith? You just get up, go out and live your day on faith?” Now I wouldn't have used the word faith, but I saw her perspective. To be honest, I had never really looked at my stubborn determination as faith. I often say that, “A Hustler is able to maneuver through dark corridors with no flashlight. We have a natural sense of direction.” And that’s what moving in faith really is. If you’re in the dark there are numerous possible outcomes that can happen. You can trip and fall. You can run smack dead into a wall. You can get turned around. You can miss a staircase in front of you and end up at the bottom of it – The hard way. But despite the worst that could happen, you still move forward anyway, slowly finding your way around to the exit. What is curling up in a corner and balling your eyes out going to accomplish? And that’s what many of us do. We feel the fear, doubt and uncertainty and sit in the corner, in the dark, scared. In the Bible it states that faith can move mountains. That if you truly accept what you say will come to pass, then it will come to pass (Mark 11:23). Fear, doubt and uncertainty are the greatest killers of faith. They will stop you before you even start. Don’t let this be you. A Hustler keeps it moving, always. Until next time... I’m assuming you’re talking about the Game. I get plenty of questions about the Game. People use this term all the time but it’s been so bastardized that it has 50 different definitions but no one can give you a straight answer.
The Game is a street term for something that you “play”. A Game has rules and regulations, there are winners and losers and there is a way to keep score. As a Hustler I use the Game and apply it to business in a unique way. Business owners have a Game they play (if they’re smart), so do recording artists, sales people, macks, pimps, gold diggers and the list goes on and on. The Game has become synonymous with deceit, trickery, lies and manipulation but that is not what the Game is about. The true essence of the Game has nothing to do with those things. It can be used in that way, but that is not how the game is supposed to be “played”. The Game itself is a certain kind of knowledge. I call it Uncommon Sense. This knowledge gives you a certain viewpoint on life and because of it you do things differently than the average person. We refer to the average person as a “Square”. You see, most Squares will work a regular job, fuss and complain about it when then go home and turn around and do it all again the next day. And they will do it again and again and again for 20, 30, 40, 50 years. A Player (a person in a Game) wouldn't subject themselves to that non-sense any longer than they had to. You want to know what this Thing (the Game) is really about? It’s about self-empowerment. You utilize your potential to live a life that you design; not a life that was designed for you. I’ll give you an example. Let’s talk about the American Dream. The American Dream is to have a good job that you work at until you retire. A loyal and attractive wife or husband. A nice three of four bedroom house in the suburbs with beautiful green grass and a white picket fence. Let’s not forget a television in each bedroom and 2.5 kids along with 2.5 cars. Now let me ask you a question. Where did this come from? Did it come from you or did you learn it growing up? And here we are, many of us work our asses off to live the American Dream, a dream that was not even ours to begin with. I’m not saying it is bad, I’m just saying that this dream was given to us. Most of us didn't dream this up in our own mind. Being a Player in the Game tears through all of this garbage and gets "you" back to you. I could talk about the essence of the Game for days non-stop but I hope this answered your question. Thank you for asking. Until next time. Hustlers are known to have a unique perspective on life. If you have a burning question about business, the Game or life in general email me at [email protected] and ask a Hustler, I’ll be glad to deliver. |
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