The hustle is real, the story we tell is not.

JT McCormick is one of my favorite guys. His book “I Got There” is an inspirational story how in spite of having an absent (pimp) father & the harsh struggles of surviving with his mom, JT became a successful self-made millionaire.

He “got there,” & brought that same hustle to head Scribe Media. He even went so far as to paint “The hustle is real,” on his office wall.

JT brought the hustle & expected his employees to do the same. He worked long hours-grinding on little sleep & no days off. It took someone pointing out to JT that he’d gained a lot of weight, he looked tired, & there never seemed to be enough hours in the day to get his work done.

JT recalibrated his life. He began to get his health back by eating better, working out, & keeping a sleep schedule.

It was in his analyzing his hustle that JT realized the story he’d created. He hustled not to get ahead, but to get away...away from the pain he felt growing up in Dayton so he masked his pain in a story of hustle.

I believe in the hustle…but not always in the story.

My “hustle:” The story I told myself was that I was climbing the ladder …when in truth I didn’t want to have to deal with the real issues at home.

My “hustle:” When I get the title I’ll get in shape was the story I told myself when in truth I didn’t want to get real that I’d ballooned into looking like a lineman again & it would take forever to get back in shape.

My “hustle:” I’ve got to hit the bonuses to make big money…the truth was I was broke & inches away from bankruptcy.

My “hustle:” Buy expensive gifts so as not face the truth of having real, difficult conversations.

I’m doing this for you guys, was the story is was telling my family, but I wasn’t hustling to get ahead, I was hustling to get away, from my shadows, demons, & lies that plagued me.

Eventually the story became too heavy to hold & all of the lies & deceit came crumbling down.

It took losing everything to authentically create my hustle.

I believe in hustle- I really do because hustle is that raw energy, enthusiasm, excitement, vigor, & pressure that you bring to situations.

And if you create the right story you can bring it to everything– relationships, finances, career, & your creatives. You can bring unbridled excitement & passion to all areas of your life instead of just one section just to mask the pain & fears.

That way you’re collectively hustling with joy to move ahead instead of hustling with pain to get away.

Here’s JT’s piece https://jtmccormick.com/the-hustle-is-not-real/

Stay in The Sales Life 💪

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“Sometimes it takes a long time to sound like yourself”

Micheal Bentt was the first person to be featured on the Netflix documentary, “Losers.”

Bentt was a young phenom who’d won multiple Golden Gloves, but was knocked out in his first professional fight on national TV.

Ashamed, Bentt returned to his Queens, NY neighborhood void of confidence and full of embarrassment.

Bentt went from untouchable to untouchable. As an amateur, no one could beat him, but now that he’d lost, no one was willing to sign him to another fight. Scratching to get work, Bentt ended up sparring with Evander Holyfield. At the end of the fight, Holyfield’s trainer told Bentt, “I didn’t know which one of you was the champ in the ring!”

Those words reignited a fire in Bentt. He signed on to do a “tune up” fight with The Great White Hope Tommy Morrison and ended up knocking Morrison out!

Suddenly Bentt was the Heavyweight Champion of the World!

Full of confidence, Bentt agreed to fight an unknown fighter Herbie Hind, but Hind knocked Bentt out so bad he was placed in a coma.

“You’ll never box again,” came the words from the doctor. All Bentt knew was boxing…what was he to do now? Bentt just so happened to connect with a director who hired him to give boxing advice on an upcoming movie.

Bentt found his home. He ended up playing a young Joe Fraiser opposite of Will Smith in the movie Ali. More directors, more work came pouring in. He advised in movies such as Million Dollar Baby & trained other A list actors to perform better in upcoming roles as well as just to stay in “fight shape.”

Sometimes it takes a long time to finally sound like yourself. ~Miles Davis

That was Bentt’s mantra that kept him going.

Bentt had to travel the painful road of being knocked out & ashamed to spar with Holyfield. The spar led to the “tune up fight,” which led to Bentt becoming the champ to getting knocked out and in a coma, to finally find his home.

Life is full up peaks and valley’s..twists, turns, and seemingly dead ends. Bentt’s ups and downs in life sound a lot like our path-similar road, different experiences…

But painful just the same.

I went from picked last on a sports team to getting a full scholarship, to being 5th on the depth chart, to becoming a 4 year starter, to becoming an All-American, to not going pro, to raising my son by myself, to living in a house with no stove or refrigerator, to getting a job in sales, to having my wages garnished, to getting promoted, having 3 more beautiful children, to having a custom built home, to becoming bankrupt, divorced, demoted…to The Sales Life today.

Sometimes it takes a long time to finally sound like yourself. 

The fight you’re in, knocked down, or even out ….

you ain’t done. You have to take this road to finally find your home.

Sometimes it takes a long time to finally sound like yourself. 

Stay in The Sales Life.

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Do the verb…don’t be the noun

One of my favorite authors is Austin Kleon & his newest book’s title, “Keep Going” is right up my alley.

So many people chase, protect, or judge the noun (title) instead of just doing their verb.

When you chase the noun: You’re so busy chasing or kissing up to get your noun that you forget to do your verb so when (if) you get your noun your under qualified or it’s not what it was all cracked up to be.

When you protect your noun: Great! You got your coveted title, but now you play not to lose instead of playing to win. You must take risks to grow- yes you will lose, but it’s in the losses-taking risks, that you develop more skills and create opportunities.

When you judge other’s noun: Oh you can do it better than them right? And that’s just it…while you’re busy judging they’re doing.

The greatest thing that ever happened to me was being demoted. For months I kept my old business cards, but it wasn’t until I walked to the big green dumpster and threw them away that I could begin to do my verb.

Doing your verb exposes & reveals you. It exposes your weaknesses- being demoted forced me to relearn a department that I hadn’t been in in over a decade. But my demotion also revealed my beast mode strengths too.

You have unique strengths, niches, & expertises that those who demoted you will need you and only you to take care of.

And you’ll do it- gladly not out of vengeance but because you’re just doing your verb.

I don’t care about a noun…I just do my verb. Nouns are for business cards & others…

Nouns are temporary..

Verbs are eternally for you.

Do your verb…let’s others worry about a noun.

Stay in The Sales Life 💪

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You can’t connect if you have no dots

It’s funny how things line up…

You’re humming along and it seems like everything’s falling into place perfectly…

Until it doesn’t.

Things aren’t lining up for you right now because you stopped putting up your dots.

Dot Days are the days where you’re tired, frustrated, & seems like it’s all for naught…

Nothing’s for nothing.

You Dot Days count….

…not always in immediate results, but they count in grit, persistence, commitment, & resilience.

Your Dot Days are building your infrastructure so when the results come you’re strong enough handle it.

But most people will never see the results…

Because they didn’t put up enough dots…

…they turned back too soon.

Put up so many dots so that it’ll compound & reach tipping point that will eventually spill over into results.

Some days you’ll even have more results than you put up dots.

So on those days where you’re feeling discouraged…

Just put up your dot…

“Today’s my Dot Day…”

One day they’ll all connect.

Stay in The Sales Life 💪

🔥Check out over 400 episodes of The Sales Life on ITunes or Spotify.

“You can’t do what I do…”

Hall of Fame NFL football player Micheal Strahan was on a radio talk show & found himself being humiliated by the host while on the air. Strahan was so embarrassed that he vowed to never come back on that show, but as fate would have it, the two met face to face again on a different show.

Strahan, matter of factly, set the record straight. “You can’t do what I do…” he told the shock jock. “I can do what you do…but you can’t do what I do. Like you, I can have a conversation on radio and tv in front of the lights & audience…but you can’t put on the pads and be one of the best in the world…”

From that point on, when others piss or try to put Strahan down, he psychologically frees himself up by whispering to himself, “You can’t do what I do…”

I worked with a guy like that…

For nearly two decades we worked together. He wore custom suits, Presidential Rolex, $300 dress shirts, drove baller cars…& always seemed to squirm his way out of his double life being found out.

He was in the room when I got demoted…

I remember the smirk he had on his face when I looked at him with tears in my eyes.

Back on the bottom rung he avoided all contact with me. While I struggled to relearn a department I’d left 17 yrs ago, he’d flaunted and gloated the fact that he was untouchable while I sank lower & lower.

My turning point came one night when we were closing up-everyone had left for the night & it was just him & me. “Lock me in because I still have to clean these deals up I told him…”

Right then that was my mantra, “You can’t do what I do…”

His identity was in his title & things he possessed. Me?…I’d been stripped of everything. I lost my family, home, income, and a position I’d given my all to possess.

I realized he couldn’t lose it all & be strong enough to climb out & up. Had he gone what I’d been through, he’d probably put a bullet in his mouth.

That’s what freed me up…”You can’t do what I do.”

Though tragic, I now had the unique advantage of being able to work every department in sales. Don’t get me wrong, even though I had decades of experience, I performed like a rookie because I had to relearn everything in that department again.

I was determined to take every deal…work long after others left to figure it all out and not only survive but excel. What others didn’t want to do, I took on.

As I got myself back together spiritually, emotionally, & physically, the same smirk he gave me when I got demoted, was the same smirk I gave him as I passed him in the hallway & in life.

He was playing to a title…I was playing to another level.

The people who try to keep you down- who flaunt, gloat, & are fooling everyone EXCEPT you?

Let them be…

“You can’t do what I do…”

Eventually everything caught up to that guy & he ended up getting fired.

I’d long let him go- not for him, but for me.

Those kinds of people aren’t the ones holding you down…you’re the one holding you down, because you’re holding on to them.

Free yourself up. Wink & grow while they gloat because…

“You can’t do what I do.”

Stay in The Sales Life 💪

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5 reasons to stay “needy”

I had a salesperson who was grinding down to the final few days of the month & his month was $$$ short.

“I need to make enough to pay my rent, car note, & eat,” he told me.

“Then do what you need to do,” I snapped back.

& he did- actually he exceeded his need.

But then a new month started…

With a fresh, full month ahead he list his “need”& shifted back to a “want.”

You “want” to lose weight…

You “want” to have a good month…

You “want” to save money…

But if you don’t have a specific need, you lose the sense of urgency & will find yourself in a desperate situation again.

There’s power in being needy.

Here are 5 ways to keep you “needy:”

1. When you know your “X,” then you know your “why.” Because you have a specific need, you know why you rise early, stay late, chase every lead, and push beyond your comfort zone.

2. Being needy drowns out the noise. Because “wants” are unfocused, you participate in the bs, but when you’re needy, you’re only focused on hitting the mark.

3. Needy forces you to find unknown gears. You have capabilities and skills you never knew you possessed, until you have to really dig down & dig in. Initially you’ll be emotionally & physically tired, but you’ll get stronger & better.

4. Being needy gives you temporary memory loss. You don’t have time for the recap, you’re on to next.

5. Being needy is infinite. You may hit the mark, but you’ve built up so much momentum & confidence, you just pile it on.

Wants are wishes…needs are missions.

Stay in The Sales Life 💪

Be thankful…just don’t be done

Watch this post on YouTube!

“Be thankful, just don’t be done”

You see these billionaire baller stories and feel “less than” in comparison to them.

You have the same advantage billionaires have…

NOW

The only difference between them & you is they treat NOW as a verb & you look at “when” as a noun.

“When” I get the gym membership…

“When” I get a raise…

“When” I get the supervisor position…

“When” I rebuild my credit…

“When I get to _____, then I’ll Win”

We wait for “when” while they work their NOW.

NOW is the great equalizer…but you have a PLUS 1…

Your deficit…because you find yourself in 25th place you have to learn to fight to get to 1rst. And because you fought, you can handle whatever else comes your way.

Most people don’t know how to fight…they slide from 25th to 100th and justify their position by saying “At least I’m in the top 100.”

Be thankful just don’t be done.

Stay in The Sales Life 💪

You have NO CHANCE!

Watch this post on YouTube!

When successful tech entrepreneur Marc Lore was applying to schools his father asked him if he’d applied to the prestigious Wharton School of Business, Lore responded that he hadn’t because he had NO CHANCE of being accepted.

“So what’s the downside?” his father asked? “What would be the downside if you just applied? Sure the odds of being accepted may be slim but at least it’s not a zero…it’s a non-zero.”

Think about all of the zeros you’ve taken in life…

All of the times you didn’t ask the question, raise your hand, fill out the application, make the offer or phone calls, send the emails, follow up, or walk through the open back door…all of the times you did nothing simply because you thought- in your mind, there was NO CHANCE.

Your assumptions could’ve been right…but they could’ve been wrong too.

Who cares, right?

You should…

You should enough to try it anyway…to do your part to AT LEAST make it a non zero.

The response back is irrelevant-the chance taken is what’s important.

A “No” is proof that you took the chance…& at least it was a non-zero.

Stay in The Sales Life 💪

(Ht Tony Gonzalez “Wide Open” Podcast)

Skills come before the label

Watch this post on YouTube!

Look at anyone’s social media feed and you’ll see their label…

NYT Best Selling…

Wall Street Journal Best Selling

TEDx Speaker

Founder

Developer

Million Dollar Producer

…you see those labels & want to aspire to be “the label,”

James Altucher made a good point, “Skills come before the label, so when the label comes, that’s just the confirmation of the skills.”

Your label will come when it comes. “Until” is your time frame anyway.

“Every day I’ll show up until I see the results I want to see.”

Here’s the paradox: If you chase the labels, you’re skills will be weak because your dominant focus is on a distinction instead of an ethos…

…but if you chase the skills, your label becomes strong, because your identity is in the development of skills not in the ego of the label.

Stay in The Sales Life 💪

What’s your BECAUSE?

See this post on YouTube!

What’s your “because?”

“Because” can be the reason why you quit…

“”Because” can be the reason you move forward IN SPITE of the adversity you’re facing right now.

Cadets who were training to become a Navy SEAL rang the bell BECAUSE they thought the pain would never end…& they regretted it for the rest of their lives.

When you reach a point where you’re pissed off…something doesn’t go your way…or it’s just plain hard remember you started your climb long BEFORE this situation…so don’t quit BECAUSE of this situation…

You’ve been working for “this” for years…so don’t just give up in these tense minute BECAUSE of _______

I almost did that in college…

My ticket out of my hometown was to get a full paid scholarship because my parents couldn’t afford to send me away to college. I got a full ride to play football, but was overwhelmed when I checked in as a boy among towering men.

Alone, skinny, scared, & deep on the depth chart I almost quit BECAUSE….

My decision could’ve aborted everything I’ve ever worked hard for simply because Coach slapped me hard across my helmet in front of the others. Coach wasn’t my because…he was my excuse. Truthfully I wanted to quit because it was hard…because I went from a starter in high school to riding the bench in college … because I thought I’d never get playing time.

Had I made that fateful decision I would’ve never risen to become a starter, All-American, All-Louisiana, permanent Team Captain, & be voted 1 of 12 of the best linemen in the school’s 75 year history.

You’ve come too far…fought to hard to just get to this. There’s more…”I will not quit BECAUSE _________ (you fill in the blank w/ your because)

Stay in The Sales Life 💪