GREATNESS Is The MOTTO!!! -An In Depth Look Into The Mind of Tony Gaskins Jr.

THE best part about typing, is that you can never actually be speechless, but if you asked me to tell you about this interview with Mr. Tony Gaskins Jr, that's exactly what I'd be...speechless! I started out with a clean sheet, and 10 of the best questions I could possibly think of, what I ended up with was something reminiscent of a college student’s notepad, that was about 2 days away from double major midterms. The amount of notes that I took, the different shades of highlighters, and the pure scribble that only I will ever understand is a testament to the respect, and humility that I have for Mr. Tony Gaskins Jr. I can confidently say that THIS INTERVIEW WILL CHANGE SOMEONE’S LIFE. I no longer believe that it’s a rare thing to find someone who is successful, that is willing to share all that they know. What I believe in turn is that the “successful” people of the world are an open book, as long as their time is invested, not wasted.

Tony Gaskins invests in people. I knew that this interview would be not only a blessing to everyone that listened in, but something that I hope you can listen to and from that point on, it becomes a single point of reference for the moment that you knew your life changed: that’s how powerful this interview is. I envisioned the whole thing, and from the moment that I was able to get in contact with Tony, it was evident that we were going to mesh well together. We literally talked about EVERYTHING! I mean we covered relationships and what women mistakenly look for, we talked about Mr. Gaskin’s “3-F” philosophy, and we also spoke in depth about entrepreneurship while actively working on a relationship. You can literally take your pick from different topics, and match them with something that you’re going through personally, and I think we addressed it.

While you listen to this interview, I urge you not to listen to find out about Tony, but listen to find out how this interview can help you in whatever area that you’re currently not feeling as if you’re living up to the potential that GOD has for you. At the end of the day, there may or not be something burning inside of you, chances are, however that if you’re on this site, there’s a “next level” that you want to reach. I believe this interview can point you in the right direction, or at the very least help to suggest key steps, and a thought process that you can start implementing immediately to fuel you towards your dreams and goals. I am honored to present to you Mr. Tony Gaskins Jr.




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HUSTLE HARDER-Top 3 "To Do's" for 2012

As much as I tried to fight it off, I just couldn’t do it. There was almost an attack on 4 out of my 5 senses, and I tried my absolute best to keep all of the remarks, the insight, the opinions that I had inside… but I broke, and what you are about to read is the result of YEARS of watching, listening, and most importantly watching again. So what is it that I can’t take anymore, what drove me over the preverbal edge? NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS.

I’m not talking about the regular “I’m going to lose weight” or “I’m going back to school”, this is of course, catered to the entrepreneurs, and the things that people are telling you to do with your business. For once, I took the “average route”, logged onto Google and typed in something similar to resolutions for entrepreneurs and I couldn’t believe the lists that popped up, I’ll share some of them in no particular order: (along with my opinion of them of course)
1. Go Small: ( I guess they mean “do more with less, stretch your resources…okay fine if it makes sense why not)
2. Go Mobile: (What serious entrepreneur HASN’T ALREADY gone mobile? Most smart phones now almost eliminate the need for a laptop…almost)
3. Go Local: (*blank stare* -as opposed to what? Starting a brand new company in a place you’ve never heard of, with people you don’t know? Still scratching my head on this one)
4. Learn to delegate: (Now this one I like, at some point in the growth of your business, you’ll have to realize that you can’t do everything, so yes…learn to delegate)
5. Expand your customer touch points: use more social media-( HELLO!!! In this day and age, how can you be serious about your business without using the bare minimum of twitter and facebook, I’m convinced this one was a joke)
6. Refresh your website: (if needed okay, sure a fresh look never hurt anyone)
7. Encourage feedback: Most entrepreneurs, sales professionals, and general humans, only encourage POSITIVE FEEDBACK, but I’m here to tell you, if you don’t encourage feedback in general, your business will remain stagnant, and quite possibly regress. Grow thick skin!
8. Obsess about your business: REALLY? (I promise I’ll calm down, but this was literally a suggestion. Listen, if you don’t bleed your business, STOP NOW!

Can you hear me breathing deeply in semi disgust? This was supposed to be a top ten list, but I refuse to do that to you. I just can’t believe that these were the top results on the internet when the average public searched for help. Either someone out there is extremely out of touch, or they are underestimating what people really need to get going, and thrive in their businesses. Please understand that I’m not attempting to say that what I’m going to offer up is the “end all-be all” or that it’s the best advice that’s out there for you. But I will say that this is one of the most sincere posts I’ve ever written, and without these 3 things, it will be IMPOSSIBLE to grow.

I want to share 3 things for new and existing entrepreneurs to implement NOW, or next year, whenever you’re ready. Like the lists above, I’ll add in a little reasoning to go along with what made the HUSTLE HARDER TOP 3 “TO DO’s for 2012.

1. WORK BACKWARDS- Simply means begin with the end in mind, you’ve heard this before probably, but a prime example is to set a goal for the entire year, maybe it’s revenue, or a pin level (for my friends in network marketing) then simply separate that yearly goal into smaller quarterly goals. It doesn’t stop there, separate the quarterly goals into weekly goals. Doing this allows you to have several smaller targets to hit on your way to success, as well as celebrate some “wins” along the way. Additionally, this method will help you manage AND measure your activity on the way to your yearly goal.
2. STUDY YOUR INDUSTRY- There’s a saying that I heard a while back, and it’s stuck with me, one of the main reasons that I read so much, it goes something like this: “Your income growth, will never be more than your personal growth”. That being said, I suggest that you look up the top 5 books relating to your industry, and read them. It doesn’t matter if it’s an actual person that is successful, or a business, but find them, and read them. (Personal favorite: The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz).
3. COLLABORATE- Find out what goes well with your industry, and reach out to someone in that industry and work on a project together remember spider webs catch more than mouse traps by this I mean, if you build a strong network, there’s a better chance of getting referrals out of the blue that ADD to your business, than finding new business on your own. Think about it ladies, have you ever asked someone where they got their hair done? Where they got their boots? BUILD YOUR NETWORK, AND GET REFERRALS!!

Okay, this one has been long enough, so I’ll wrap it up. The main point that I want to drive home guys is that ENTREPRENEURS DON’T HAVE THE LUXURY OF TIME, so I don’t want you to rob yourself of valuable time by setting goals that are “common sense” in retrospect. The difference in your accomplishments from 2011 to 2012 for the vast majority will be based simply on game planning work ethic, it’s all about execution. Remember, don’t wait until new years to have resolve. The change can happen anytime!

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THE FIRST GRAY HAIR

Okay, I know what you’re thinking, and yes you’re right. As much as I’ve never given it a first, second or third thought, it finally came. Life’s most gruesome, evil, forsaken, telling mark of age… my first grey hair. Sure, I went through all the stages, denial, maybe I’m stressed etc, but much more quickly than I’d imagine in retrospect, it didn’t cause the reaction most would think.

I didn’t flip out, I didn’t go on a mad treasure hunt trying to figure out if anymore were coming. For me, the first grey hair wasn’t as much as an alarm as it was a reminder…maybe even a stopwatch. If you know me at all, you know that I’m a sports guy, namely NFL and track and field. The reason I say it’s a stopwatch, is because most athletes don’t use a stopwatch to “countdown” per say, they use them to measure speed, accuracy, and improvement. Okay, okay… back to the grey hair, what I realized is that we don’t have the luxury of time when it comes to chasing our dreams and goals.

I began to think about what I’ve accomplished in life thus far…any self respecting entrepreneur would say it’s not enough, but in the same breath, I’m absolutely grateful for where I am, and what’s on the horizon. In my official effort to give grey hairs a perception makeover…Ask yourself these questions…

1. Have I truly made good use of the time that I’ve been given?
2. When I procrastinate, is there really a good reason?
3. Where would I/we be if I’d saw that one thing through, or not given up so early?

Although we’re all guilty of procrastination in some way, shape or form, nothing is worse than telling yourself flat out excuses (which are nothing more than well planned lies.) How many times have you said “Next year, I’ll definitely get it done, or “As soon as things settle down, it will be easier”, or maybe you just tell yourself “It’s just too late”.
All of these excuses run congruently, it’s kind of like the lie you tell yourself about running a stop sign. If it’s not a complete stop, it’s a roll. Accept it, deal with it, just hope you don’t get caught! However in life, for everything that you don’t give the extra effort for you not only get caught, you get penalized.

Think about it, how many times have you known that you should have done something as simple as changing the oil in your car, and not gotten it done? Only to talk about how “crooked” the mechanic is when he tells you how much it costs to replace your engine. You get the idea.
The reason I’m writing this is to invite you to look at your first grey hair, (or the 6th, 7th or 19 grey hairs that you have) as the starting gun to get things done. It’s clear that time isn’t on our side, so we have to make the most of what we have.

Top 5 things to do:
1. Take inventory of all the projects you’ve always wanted to do
2. Take inventory of the “reasons” that you haven’t done them
3. Prioritize (quickest gratification, sense of accomplishment
4. Plan of action
5. Be Accountable- now that you have a grey hair… how much will you get done, (be it little or whatever) before you find the next one, the next 5…

I can see now, that in the interest and utter respect for your time, this may have to be a 2-part series…but one thing is for sure, Grey hairs don’t come by themselves, and they typically don’t stop coming…why not make sure we have something to show for them. OH! and No!, I'm not telling you where it was!!!

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FUNNY HOW TIME FLIES!

The best part about personal development for me has got to be the reading. Rather it’s being introduced to “the secret” or practicing the principles of money, there is always a golden nugget of knowledge waiting to either be discovered, or remind you of what it takes to get you to the next level of success. While shuffling through my notes, thoughts, ideas and all the other “light bulbs” and “what if’s” in my mind this past week, one topic stood out so clearly that it all but literally slapped me in the face…TIME MANAGEMENT.
Don’t worry, we’re not about to talk about the literal map out your day to the minute type stuff, this is more of a “yellow light” if you will to all of the entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs to be out there. The goal here is to give you a few warning signs of some of the hidden time stealers, and maybe a suggestion or two on how to avoid and recover from them. First let’s talk about the time stealer that kills most businesses before they even start:
MENTALLY BUSY: Everyone with a burning desire falls into this category, but I want to poke my network marketing friends and brand new entrepreneurs in the arm on this one. Just because you want to win so bad that you can taste it, see it, feel it and all that, doesn’t mean you actually have it just yet. You still have to go out and physically do the work. I’ve wrestled this bear first hand guys, and know that if you don’t identify that you’re only mentally busy, you will grow to hate the opportunity that you have in front of you. Not because the opportunity is wrong, or didn’t produce the results you wished for, but because you spent more time thinking of how to do it, when to do it, what it would be like, etc…than actually physically doing anything. I personally feel that being mentally busy is the most dangerous of all time stealers. Whatever you think of more than likely will produce an emotional reaction, and if you measure all that you’ve been thinking about vs. the results that inactivity produces, you’ll start to put more pressure on yourself.

SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME PLANNING: Be honest, how many of us have had the perfect idea, the perfect addition, event, or next step to our businesses, only to have it waiting for the next 5 months because you’ve been “planning”, or you want it to be “just right?”. Don’t get me wrong, you always want to map things out and line up your eggs. But I want to tell you now; there is ABSOLUTELY NO SUCH THING as the perfect time to launch. The money may never be right, the kids will never be “all taken care of” and your customers WON’T HAVE MORE MONEY AFTER TAXES! (Sorry, I personally hate that one)- sidebar: your customers more than likely have already decided what they will spend their refund on well before they even file their taxes). Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out, I encourage us all to get started faster. Whatever the next step is, don’t let it fall victim to the excuse of it’s not the right time, only to fool yourself by hiding behind the planning button. The world has been robbed of many a great book, business, invention, and all around influential people because they are still planning their next move.

HIDDEN DISTRACTIONS: This is going to be a bit of a different take on distractions. I’ve got to admit, that this entire section was inspired by someone I have a great deal of respect for Ms. Donna Krech. She talks about the “hidden distractions” being the things we don’t even pay attention to during the day. Hidden distractions are a gut check here’s why: 1. You don’t think of them as distractions, you think of them as things that are helping you. 2. Hidden distractions don’t take long to appear or even complete, its 2 minutes here, 45 seconds there, or even 15 minutes…that you know you’re going to spend 90 minutes away. 3. They steal time from everyone around you. What are these vicious, large toothed, red eyed evil hidden distractions? The things we love the most of course, technology, social media and television. I know I am probably just as much a culprit as anyone, so I won’t poke fingers, but if you could write down how much time you spend on social media pages, as great as they may be for your business, how much time have you spent with your iPod instead of meeting people that you commute with? And dare I ask how many “shows” are yours on television that seem to keep forgetting to send you YOUR check (get it: Your show, YOUR CHECK?). For those of us chasing our dreams with families, try to get what you need to get done as quickly and efficiently as possible, without compromising the product. Also try to carve out time where they know what you’ll be doing, and during that time, FOCUS, and get it done.
So, now it’s time to show all of you the clip that just set me all on fire again. Because she hit the nail so right on the head from the very first 45 seconds of this video, I know that some of you will find this video absolutely helpful. Donna Krech is a phenomenal speaker that is actively in the business of helping people get better every day. I want you to enjoy this video as much as I have, and take it to heart throughout your day while you HUSTLEHARDER. I encourage some of us to start treating our time like we treat our money (protective) Some of us, should treat our time much better than we treat our money...maybe then money will be attracted to us.

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Part TWO!! LAND ON YOUR FEET

So there you have it: Protect your dreams. I hope the small clip of Will Smith as Chris Gardner from the movie “Pursuit of Happyness” was the kick in the pants we all needed. You have to have a dream. Face it, when everything is falling down around you, and the ground you’re standing on isn’t all that stable, besides your faith, the only thing that we can hold onto is our hope…our dream. Now if you’re anything like me you’re thinking to yourself wait, I’m flat broke, jobless and the business I want to start or just started is already at a standstill, and you want me to DREAM?

Absolutely that’s what I want you to do, DREAM BIGGER, FASTER! Without a dream, there’s nothing to keep you motivated. What I’ve learned over a number of years is that inspiration fades depending on the mood; however, true, sincere motivation is one of the most powerful weapons we will ever have when it comes to chasing our dreams and goals, more importantly it’s going to be THE KEY COMPONENT to rather or not you’re able to land on your feet. There is no dream that you’ve ever had that you are incapable of achieving, (what the mind can conceive it can achieve). The fact that you even want to start your own business, do something different with your job, or go in a different direction in any aspect of your life, is proof positive that you are able to do it. Think about it, man wanted a better way to get around, out comes the wheel, the wheel wasn’t working on its own…attach it to a horse, the horse isn’t fast enough, create an engine, engine doesn’t work fast enough, give the engine WINGS! I’m getting a little carried away here, but you get the point right? I always say that the fact that you can complain about ANYTHING, simply means that you are able to do something about it. Have you ever heard anyone complain about gravity? Unless they’re involved with N.A.S.A, probably not! Because it’s accepted that you can’t fight gravity, but if you hate where you are in life you can change it. If you hate balancing the checkbook, because you know it’s never going to TRULY break even (no matter when you get paid again…) YOU CAN MAKE MORE MONEY. If you’re at a job that you hate, you can get a new job, new relationship, or whatever is that you want, you can do it.

I’ll never forget I was speaking with world renowned speaker Mr. Les Brown a few years back at a training seminar that I was fortunate enough to qualify to attend, and he told me that people are so busy trying to make ends meet, that they never realize they are called ENDS. Ends never meet by definition. That small statement changed my life. Remember I had less than 1,000.00 dollars in the bank, and the walls were caving in on me. At that point, all I had was my dreams. Between my dreams and a verse from the best-selling book on earth (Proverbs 18:16) I knew that I could crawl out of this whole. At that point, I realized that success isn’t always about us; it’s about people that depend on US to get it right. Now of course there’s more that I’ll elaborate on soon, but I knew my gift. Now I just had to plan it out. Some of us have gotten so comfortable with that “one thing” that we are GREAT at, that we don’t realize it may be the purpose for our lives, the way out financially. Our gifts aren’t going to do it by themselves though, so I’ll leave you with another clip (prelude to part 3) it’s pretty obvious, but see if you can pick up what step #3 is to “Landing on Your Feet” It’s one of my all time favorites, because they spell it out so specifically. Enjoy!

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Land on Your Feet Pt 1

Have you ever found yourself in a place where you were bored at work? Your dream business that you launched wasn’t taking off the way you planned? Or maybe you have them both staring at you, out of work, and no business to even speak of? That feeling of incompleteness, that same feeling of immense void, or personal failure is exactly what led me to open up the laptop and start typing away. I’ve had the privilege of being personal friends with multi-millionaire's, interviewed and chatted with CEO’s, mentored, and been mentored by some of the best entrepreneurs around, and I’ve helped first time job seekers land their first job, and help others re-enter the workforce or get promotions. In each and every one of those scenarios, there was a consistent question that the millionaire’s, CEO’s, job seeker’s and entrepreneurs all had in common: “WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE”?

Truth be told that’s exactly where I found myself. My business wasn’t growing as quickly as I’d needed it to (married with children depending on me) I wasn’t working, and like most of us, THE HOUSE NOTE/RENT, and the rest of Murphy’s Law, was staring me in the face with not even the slightest of smiles. Now there were all kinds of ideas in my mind about how to fix this mountain of an issue, but I didn’t know where to start, I didn’t know who to ask, and even worse, couldn’t bear the thought of admitting any of this to my wife. Now maybe you are the wife reading this, in which case I apologize now! I’d like to speak for men everywhere when I say, I’m not nonchalant, I just didn’t know what to say, and admitting that as the head of the household, I literally have no clue…well, let’s just say it’s harder than failure itself. No one should ever be able to put more pressure on you than you put on yourself, because to be successful at anything you have to expect success. If you expect something to happen, no one else should be able to expect it more than you. Now I don’t know if it’s an ego thing, or just plain ignoring the signs that were all around me, but I figured that I had a pretty good handle on things, even though I obviously didn’t. Let’s be butt naked clear about this thing; at my lowest point, I had less than $300.00 in our joint account, less than $1000.00 in our retirement account, and only one income coming in with daycare, groceries, household priorities, and oh yeah, let’s not forget THE ROOF! We have to pay for that too right? So how on earth did we I get here?

There's definitely more to this story, but sticking with the title of "Landing on Your feet, I want to leave you with this clip below as the first hint or clue of what it will take to land on your feet. If you really truly watch this clip, and listen to the message that that I found within this scene, you will at the least have the fuse in your hand...Next we'll have to talk about how to light it!

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-HUSTLEHARDER

Hustle Harder w/Paul C. Brunson- The Modern Day Matchmaker Talks -Vision, Action, & More!

Before it happened, I visioned it. Before the calls were made, I heard them, and I am so happy that I've learned to vision my success. We were able to interview the "Modern Day Matchmaker", Mr. Paul C. Brunson, he has been featured in Essence magazine, recently added to the cast of Dr. Drew's Lifechanger's series, and the sky is the limit on the success that he is having and the success that is to come. I hope you enjoy this interview with the world renowned Mr. Paul C. Brunson. I learned so much in this short time, it was absolutely amazing! Listen below.... #HustleHarder