So today I’m just sitting back listening to The Vertikal Radio Show. Their topic is called “Hustle & Flow: The Pros and Cons of throwing bricks.” It’s pretty much about people that hustle to make money at non-traditional occupations. Hustle is no longer associated with just illegal activities. You could love to make earrings and are starting your jewelry business out of your bedroom. That’s your hustle. Artists might be selling their CD’s out of the trunk of their car ( — ahem –) That’s their or should I say our hustle. Politicians do it. Game developers do it ( — thank you for those free android apps –). People combine their passion and their entrepreneur spirit everyday!
The show started off with one of my 2010 anthem songs by Drake…”Successful”. My favorite line…”I just wanna be…I just wanna be successful…” The whole topic takes me back to what Common told me when I asked him for advice… “find your voice. Your voice is what you want to put out there to the [world]. …no matter if you have a job. …Stick with it and work on it and perfect it every-day!” Nope…I’ll never forget that ’cause it inspired me.
We all have strengths…and we all have weaknesses. It is much easier to build up your strengths than your weaknesses. Sometimes we don’t even notice them until it becomes a reoccurring pattern. But when you recognize them, ignoring them doesn’t strengthen your foundation just because your strengths are strong. It’s like a bicycle with a busted tire but with a strong rider. No matter how strong the rider and how fast that rider can peddle, he is not going to get far with a flat tire…
Passion brings forth that hustler mentality. How else are businesses founded…fashion trends created by new comers…new music genre’s “discovered” or should I say become popular? (Maybe I’ll talk about all these music genre’s one day…I can go on and on about that topic). Someone putting forth the effort to pursue a passion and … and step out on a limb. … ridding themselves of fear … And we all know that fear can leave you stuck like a deer in headlights. Especially, when you are different and not the norm. Hustlers are usually “unique”. The norm is usually awkward for a hustler because they are dreamers and once they get to that evolution stage, visionaries.
This topic hit home because I am still going through this transition. And yes, I’ve been getting my hustle on lately. But what is your hustle? What is feeding your passion or should I say how are you feeding your passion? Everything isn’t for everyone. As much as I love cars, I could never sell them. …Drive one like I’m in the Indy 500, I’d like to think so and have old tickets to prove it unfortunately but never sell them. The combination is not my passion. I could never turn selling cars into a hustle because it is not my desire and I don’t have the drive.
So again, what is your passion? Do you have a hustle? And if you do, is it flowing? If you’re out of the infancy stage and it’s not flowing, you may need to re-examine your hustle. It may not be completely for you or maybe you have to build those strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes we have to take a look in the mirror. We aren’t going to like what we see all the time, but if you take a close look and work to rebuild your image, your own reflection becomes a more inviting image to your own eyes.
Hustle…then flow…
