Yesterday we had our mastermind meetup and it was very informative, a lot of topics spoken and a lot of new things learned. We all drank and ate and discussed strategic plans on attacking a specific niche. We even criticized each others LPs and tactics on attacking our own niches, all 3 of our inputs helps one another without one of us trying to kill each other on traffic.
Besides the planning and learning we also discussed reality. We discussed aspects of normal people and entrepreneurs, this was a really good topic we just talked about over dinner. Everyone talked about how they hustled prior to online marketing and it ranges. I remember doing crazy stuff when I was younger, especially in the hood - when I was a young young young dude - like 20 years ago. But it says something you have to have a hustler's mindset to survive.
Adhustler and WayneDog has done a lot prior to online marketing and it has helped their way of thinking. By far our group were basically hustlers when we were younger from drug dealing to selling on eBay.
Me personally, I have done several things in my young days, sighs. I have done custom mixtapes, I bought sneakers and clothing in bulk and sold them on eBay, I have done computer repair for local neighborhood, I sold old crap on ebay, playing card games, rolling dice, I have done a lot prior to online marketing. This type of thinking definitely has on impact on what you do and how you think of things.
I personally went heavy on the internet went I got kicked out of my parents house and started working 3 jobs! I started heavy with eBay and made good money that I started and risking it on affiliate marketing and information marketing. When I was doing eBay I even did local marketing, selling things out of my trunk.
I sold to employees at Wal-Mart, I went to local McDonald and just stood outside chilling and selling stuff out of the trunk of my car. It was crazy and I was definitely hustling heavy. This type of mindset definitely help me where I am today. It helps be thinking and rethink certain marketing aspects, how does a customer think and how do they react towards preselling topics.
Thinking differently and putting a different spin on how you look at things is important. There are people in this world who likes repetition and no change, basically workers. Then there are other people who like to think different and want to improve their situation, entrepreneurs. Thinking differently and doing something others are not puts you in a different boat.
If you started buying a pack of Juicy Fruit gum for 25 cents and sold each stick for 25 cents - I mean you automatically profit after you sold the second stick of gum, thus helping you increase your inventory and helping you create more income! It is this type of thinking that kids have when they are little or when they are strap for cash, you think of ways to make money.
Another example is selling mix CDs when 4x CD burners were just coming out. I remember buying a spindle of CDs, downloading music and providing a huge list of my music inventory and asking friends at school or whomever what type of mixes they wanted - sold each CD for 10$. This is another big profit since the songs you downloaded were basically free or cheap to purchase and a spindle of 100 CDs are cheap as well after the 3rd CD sold you basically profit!
Why isn't the whole world thinking like this? Is it too complex for someone to grasp an idea and run with it? Repetition and no change is the typical Americans, it is a safe place - there is no risk involved. Which is fine because it separates the entrepreneurs from the typical corporate America.
I would ike to nkow how you started hustling prior to the internet, if its selling fake girl scout cookies to your neighbors or selling ice to an eskimo. How did you earn some sort of lunch money prior to internet marketing! Definitely would like to here all your stories.