Gather Round Hustlers That's If You're Still Living

[jstover77]

Sir, I give best work at best price. Please contact.

No, but seriously. I know that feel. Finding reliable workers is hard. I don't want to sound like my grandfather, but the I've gone through quite a few guys who I've given huge opportunities too, only to see them flake off. This God DAM generation! There are a lot of people out there who simply expect everything for nothing. Even my SEO manager. I've given him 3 raises in the last year, but yet he complains at least once every couple months about making more money. I have to explain to him that he's a desk monkey and doesn't make me money. He's an operating expense. When he starts making the company money, I'll give him a real nice raise.

My latest attempt is hiring an intern. The latest guy seems like a hustler. I let him know, I don't need a worker who takes a paycheck and goes home. I need a guy who is going to expand my business. If he's that, he can make a ton of money with me. We'll see.

 

[lion1978]

There are a lot of people out there who simply expect everything for nothing. Even my SEO manager. I've given him 3 raises in the last year, but yet he complains at least once every couple months about making more money.

Unless you are raising through the serps like there is no tomorrow I would have fired that dude a long time ago 3 raises in a year and he complaints WTF!!!

 

[Philip J. Fry]

@CCarter, You're missing the other side of the coin. I just left an interview with a large startup whose strategy is, I quote, "we have a large budget and are hiring a lot of people." Yeah, they're strategy to take over the market is to just spend more than their competitors. It's not a real strategy since they don't know how much their competitors are spending (nor will it get them to their desired end state, whatever that is). They're just getting fat off investor dollars and it's totally fine with the hiring manager as "growing" a startup will look good on his resume.

If there was only an indicator above people's heads broadcasting what type of person they are... sorta like the crystal that's on top of a Sim's head... the world would be so much better.

 

[CCarter]

I can't believe the people they DO end up putting in some of these positions too. I've worked with GM's that can't even make a payment on time or seem to be unable to send an email.

EXACTLY!

The way I see it is you have 2 classes of people readily available, and the unicorn 3rd if you're willing to hunt for it.

1) Fully capable, but scared
2) Not capable, but not scared

Guess who ends up CEO in the end?

That's the thing "Action" triumphs over everything. There are a lot of broke smart people that never "went for it" like @RomesFall went for it, and those smart people end up in the gutter. The the no-so smart person, who doesn't understand they aren't smart, but has passion or just drive ascends just based off of the energy of confidence they give off. Yet if they were a bit smarter they wouldn't be as confident due to their lack of knowledge, but they give zero fucks, or just don't know any better.

They don't remember 2008 and they seem oblivious to the reality that it's probably going to happen again sooner than later.

WOW, I was right in the mist of it, in mortgages and the option ARM. I got out about 6 months before the bubble burst though. I just couldn't see a future with the rate at which people were borrowing money and luckily I got out in time.

Pubcon really opened my eyes. People selling basic shit and not one of them knowing how to fix anything.

That's my overall feeling when talking to some of these candidates that just give a blank stare back.

it's just too frustrating to keep being disappointed when you put in so much of your own time.

Amen. I'm pretty much burnt out from all this nonsense.

But yea a lot of the "SEO's" aren't "hustling" anymore - that's cus shit got a bit real lately. Survival of the fittest bros

Yeah the whole "landscape", if you could've even called it that, dried up real quick. I'll shoot you a DM when something new comes along.

I'm really confused by the first part. $5k is obviously plenty of budget to do a lot in SEO so I have no idea who you approached or who turned you down?

Clearly the wrong people or they just can't get past my bullshit detector. If anything new comes across I'll shoot you a DM too.

Sir, I give best work at best price. Please contact.

You're on my list now mate. To be honest, some of you I've never had real conversations on what you do or take on so I simply wasn't aware.

@CCarter, You're missing the other side of the coin. I just left an interview with a large startup whose strategy is, I quote, "we have a large budget and are hiring a lot of people." Yeah, they're strategy to take over the market is to just spend more than their competitors. It's not a real strategy since they don't know how much their competitors are spending (nor will it get them to their desired end state, whatever that is). They're just getting fat off investor dollars and it's totally fine with the hiring manager as "growing" a startup will look good on his resume.

Yeah I've also ran into that scenario. I usually just let those companies go or excuse myself from the project. Sometimes they ask why and I try to be as blunt and honest with them. The smart ones that shape up come back 2-3 months later.

That's a 'milking the investor' operation - sucks to be those investors. A pure strategy of just throwing money at a problem sounds like they aren't one with their industry and don't completely understand their problem. There is no way any army can win a battle on unfamiliar terrain AND without knowing skillfully the weapons they are utilizing.

 

[jstover77]

Haha...Carter, that was a joke, but definitely hit me up if you are ever in need.

 

[Steve Brownlie]

Clearly the wrong people or they just can't get past my bullshit detector.

My guess would be 90% of the industry wouldn't even come close to getting past. Some of the things I've seen when we've gone to pitch a potential client are horrific. My 'favourite' case of insanity was where a big name agency recommended a 'site merger' to fix declining traffic only to 301 an entire penalized domain over to the safe main domain and toast the traffic there too.

 

[turbin3]

Pubcon really opened my eyes. People selling basic shit and not one of them knowing how to fix anything.

My agency sent me to the "masters class." It was filled with magic info such as "making sure to have a mobile ready" site or "unique content is always good". I was shocked. These are supposed to be the so called "industry leaders" but 95% of the speakers there are just talking about the same shit from 2007.

In a time of lazy motherfuckers who don't try - Hard work and persistence are revolutionary acts.

-George Orwell

To paraphrase. LOL

Yeah, when I come across the "Moz-type" crowd, I just smile, keep my true opinions to myself, and LOVE every minute of it. Let that marginality multiply like wildfire. Just separates the winners from the never-has-beens that much more. Besides, they're usually the MF'ers that end up going home with the set of steak knives.

 

[CCarter]

I'll be honest with you guys. This was a social experiment. Some discussions were happening in the background and I wanted to see who was hungry, like really hungry. I purposely blocked my PMs and didn't reply to any messages. I wanted to see who was really hungry. A lot of people saw this thread, only a fraction of those people bothered sending some sort of a message to me. Out of the people that sent a message only ONE person sent a follow up message.

If you guys ever seen Wall Street there is the moment Buddy finally gets in contact with Gordon Gekko. What a lot of people miss is that scene's dialog and what it conveys. Try recalling that scene and recall WHO was keeping track of how many times Buddy tried contacting Gekko? Gordon Gekko was.

I recall that lesson from Dan Peña. Peña has a mentee that became the youngest Major of a US town. After his time in office the mayor wanted to own a Major Sports Franchise. So Dan told him to call up one of the big owners out of Houston. THe mentee was like "whoa wait, I can't just call him up." Dan was like "Why not? you are the former Mayor of XYZ town, call him up!" So the mentee tried 3 times to call the dude. First time he got re-routed, 2nd time he got the personal assisting staff, and the 3rd time they finally got through. The owner then asked the mentee to come on up and talk to him. In the meeting he stated to the mentee, "You know how many people have called me in over 20 years to ask for my help? Zero. You are the first person to call me in 20 years!"

So why didn't people call this successful franchise owner? The surface answer is everyone assumed they are too busy. But the underlying answer is they just don't think they deserve the help, guidance, or financial reward. Maybe they just aren't hungry enough. Buddy was hungry for Gekko's business and called him over 100 times. Most of these people you guys admire and can help you aren't incommunicado if you just keep trying to knock down their door. One disregard or non-reply shouldn't discourage you from following up over and over and over.

There are also people that won't bother replying to a person if they only try to contact them once. It's sort of a filter for the people that are serious. Some people won't reply until 7 attempts have been made! I thought it was crazy, but then realized it's actually pretty smart. That's where I've taken a cue from in my thinking. If someone is serious and it seems a bit difficult to contact me, they'll try on the hour every hour to figure out how to get in contact.

It's not like I'm in some far away land, I'm right here. If you wanted to contact me bad enough, you'd do it. You'd figure out my skype, you'd figure out my email, you'd use contact forms that are all over most websites I'm associated with. It's not difficult. The only barrier I made this round was block PMs. But only a single person contacted me twice, and it was just one hour a part. There was no one that contacted me on multiple days or inundated me to get in contact with them. The real fear to overcome is "what's the worse that can happen?" It's me simply saying no. So if a no is the worse scenario and crazy rewards is the best scenario, I mean, shit man where the fuck is the perseverance and hustle? That's the hustle I'm talking about that's missing.

If I create a video that showcased a million dollars in gold bricks on my coffee table and told you "all you had to do is come and get it", but I left no address or contact information, and all you had was my phone number. Really think about it, would you seriously only contact me once? and then WAIT for me to contact you? If it was me I'd call you on the hour every hour forever. I'd contact all your known business associates to get your contact information or get them to give you my details so I can communicate. I would hit them up on the hour every hour too. I'd fly to potential locations I recall you being at and have someone analyze that video (hopefully with metadata) of where that address would be. I WOULD NOT STOP until you told me NO.

If there is any potential opportunity out there you need to go at it with that feverish level of dedication. Every time you pick up the phone or send a message it could be the one that changes your life, so give every attempt it's due respect for the potential reward that it could lead to.

 

[Phenom]

@CCarter I just thought you were ignoring me on Skype lol. Or are you?

I can't handle these next level mind games!

 

[Andrewkar]

Well,
Lots of meat in this for sure. The message @CCarter is trying to convey here is worth all the money of this world.

Here is another way to look at it, quite funny, my possible take on this

Do you want the best employees? Whom want to do the job for other people, and be paid by other people as well?

This thing could be a move in right direction...

http://www.businessinsider.com/dan-price-gravity-payments-employees-leave-2015-7

...especially in this line of work of ours, potentially?

In general, what this guy did it's not what I would do, never ever. But it might be suitable for some needs? It's not soo stupid actually.

In my world, everyone will be paid for performance, but for now, I know this world isn't like that so... Maybe this guy's idea is worth consideration? Stakeholders and CEOs won't get poor right away lol, but instead they could improve productivity (and possibly profits), yes or no? What do you think about this?

BTW, if I'm going off topic kick this shit out

 

[Louey37]

I gave up trying to hire a hustler. Now I just hire new mums who've stepped out of the corporate arena because they need something flexible so they can look after their kids. Since going down this route, I've found workers who're 100 times more organised, more willing to learn, more reliable, and even though they need more training, produce far better results in the end.

Try it, you'll be surprised.

 

[Inhibition]

While I get the premise you're going for, the important part to note here is that people aren't as binary as you assume.
If you have a hungry entrepreneur that is on the reserved, inhibited, anxious side, them making even one attempt to contact you to them is a huge deal as opposed to a blockhead, non-inhibited A-type personality that will make 10 attempts to contact you. I know this is true for me, it's just in my nature to think in terms of 'I contacted this person, they clearly saw it and didn't reply, I won't bother them anymore' and I truly don't think that says anything about my what you've assumed is lack of personal aspirations to being successful.

 

[RiverStyx]

it's just in my nature to think in terms of 'I contacted this person, they clearly saw it and didn't reply,

I'm exactly like that, especially as if someone has contacted me and I don't bother replying its usually because I'm not interested. Not always of course, but a lot of the time.

 

[lion1978]

it's just in my nature to think in terms of 'I contacted this person, they clearly saw it and didn't reply, I won't bother them anymore'

I'm exactly like that, especially as if someone has contacted me and I don't bother replying its usually because I'm not interested. Not always of course, but a lot of the time.

I think the point that @CCarter is trying to make about keep contacting people is that, sometimes that person is bussy they do notice your outreach but it isn't their first priority to get back to you right now, then unfortunatly that person may have forgotten about the outreach untill another one from you pops up and hopefully at a better time for them to get back to you. If you do keep trying eventually you will get some sort of respond from the person even if it's a "leave me alone" you will have acomplished something and now you'll know weather or not they want to talk to you.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I think the point that @CCarter is trying to make about keep contacting people is that, sometimes that person is bussy they do notice your outreach but it isn't their first priority to get back to you right now, then unfortunatly that person may have forgotten about the outreach untill another one from you pops up and hopefully at a better time for them to get back to you. If you do keep trying eventually you will get some sort of respond from the person even if it's a "leave me alone" you will have acomplished something and now you'll know weather or not they want to talk to you.

This exact scenario happened to me recently. I was being contacted by an ex-client and they had to try several times before they got me at the right time (because I kept forgetting). First time was ignored due to me not knowing the number. Then I listened and forgot about the voice mail. Then I didn't answer the second time because I was at the gym. Third time, I was grocery shopping so I answered. Persistence is key in all the right things.

 

[Forzas5]

The "lifestyle entrepreneurs" are laughing at you ccarter. Why work hard when all you need to give is 10% to make a decent living. This is a mentality I will never understand.

 

[built]

This exact scenario happened to me recently. I was being contacted by an ex-client and they had to try several times before they got me at the right time (because I kept forgetting). First time was ignored due to me not knowing the number. Then I listened and forgot about the voice mail. Then I didn't answer the second time because I was at the gym. Third time, I was grocery shopping so I answered. Persistence is key in all the right things.

I'm the type of person that would never think of this as the reason someone wouldn't reply.

My thoughts are no response = "get fucked" kind of response.

 

[Capital]

I'm the type of person that would never think of this as the reason someone wouldn't reply.

My thoughts are no response = "get fucked" kind of response.

Same.

Likewise, I hate feeling like a burden on ppl. This naturally puts me at odds with Carter's message.

But I see the truth and value in his message. It's a warrior's message; a crucial part of a winner's mentality. Definitely something I'm internalizing more and more.

The problem is that we've (people like myself) been conditioned to be polite and move subtley. Combine that with a touch of ego, and suddenly you have, "Well, I tried contacting him twice already. It's obvious he's not interested. Besides, it makes me look weak and desperate to attempt contact too many times."

Obviously, the goal/prize should be worth the cost of potentially coming off desperate and annoying.

But yeah, if it's a big goal/opportunity/win that's at stake, I think the approach and mindset CCarter delineated makes perfect sense. Time is a finite and non-renewable resource... why would you sacrifice the opportunity for a better existence just to achieve momentary comfort?

 

[Ryuzaki]

You definitely will never know the other person's view towards you unless:

• You're psychic
• You receive a Yes or No

I'm not psychic. Also, if there's a potential that someone's written me off, I don't need to worry about burning the bridge. That means there's also the potential that they haven't written me off, but I won't get what I need unless I keep trying.

If you follow it logically without emotion, it will always come down to the point made in the OP... "Go until you get an answer." A non-answer relies on our biases, perceptions, baggage, etc. to turn it into an 'answer', but in the end it's still a non-answer.

 

[animalstyle]

Looking back a few months at one of my now recently closed deals I was hounding someone hard enough to have them tell me: "I know this is #1 on your priority list, but we're busy. I'll get back to you when we have the resources available."

I crossed that polite line far enough to be told so, respected the message, and ended up closing the deal in the end. Without that level of hounding, things still wouldn't be closed.