Working Hard And Getting Nowhere -

There was a fellow classmate from High School that all he did was try to earn extra money. Seriously, that was all he ever did. He’d cut grass in the summer, sell magazine subscriptions, he’d take a cooler full of cokes to the Little League Games to sell to the parents. He’d wash cars. Shovel snow in Winter.

He was always hustling. He also always looked frazzled, too. Maybe in retrospect the word should be frantic. It was as if he felt like the only reason he was born was to start work immediately.

I never saw him date or go to school dances. He wasn’t in any of the Science Clubs or Drama Clubs. Never played sports. Most of us avoided him between classes because he’d try to sell you something. He tried to sell me a comb once between English and Biology!

Of course, he was voted most likely to succeed in the Yearbook.

And it wasn’t as if he needed the money. They lived in a big house; his dad was a doctor. Go figure…

Point is, I saw him a few years ago when visiting my hometown. I didn’t recognize him at first. Almost 4 decades had gone by then. I wouldn’t have bothered except for this bum lying on the sidewalk said my name! Don’t know how he knew it was me.

Gosh, he was in bad shape. Ragged clothes, dirty, smelly, obviously sick. I finally recognized him and couldn’t believe it. Here was the class hustler homeless, destitute, lost. However, when I asked if he needed any help, he said he didn’t need anything. He refused a room, refused food. Said he’d be fine that he was working on a ‘big deal’ and would be okay.

He thanked me for the money I offered and then told me to go that he had an important appointment lined up in a little while. Some business meeting. There he was, lying in rags on a sidewalk in the middle of downtown, still hustling. Or, at least, believing he was. Our old classmate, still looking for that big break.

I’ve thought about the ‘hustler’, from time to time. That’s what we called him. Until I saw him homeless, I imagined him living in a big house with several nice cars. A beautiful wife and kids going to private schools.

Rich and retired. Nope.

Looking back on that meeting and on our time in school together I’ve decided his downfall, his total lack of success was due to one main thing. Just one…

He never stuck to any one thing long enough to make it work!

One day he was selling pencils and notebooks. The next day he sold combs. For a while he cut grass. Then it was washing cars. You never knew what he was going to be into.

He never became the ‘go to’ guy for any one niche. He was never that one person you knew you could count for that particular thing you needed.

You know what I mean. Things like, if you need the car fixed, you’d immediately think of ‘Robert’s Garage’ or if you had to get a haircut you’d always go to ‘Sam the Barber’.

Sam was always going to be there. Roberts was always going to be open. You knew it. I was a certainty. You could count on it. My friend was never that person.

Maybe there’s a lesson here.

Aren’t a lot of us like my friend. Only we’re doing it online. Don’t many of us jump from ‘next big thing’ to ‘next big thing’ almost weekly? Being online makes that easy to do.

It’s hard to ignore all the wonderful opportunities available to us isn’t it?

Well…maybe, just maybe we’d be better off if we got into something and stuck to it? What do you think?

Should we continue to be butterflies, flitting from BizOp to BizOp to BizOp or should we research some Company's, find one that has great products and/or services and then commit to making their affiliate program a success?

That way people would know who we are and what we do. We could become a brand. When people need what we offer they’ll automatically think of us! What a concept!

The idea that we should be patient and stick to something, really? Commit and don’t quit. Wow…

Should we do that? Would that work?

Hint: It’s what the most successful people in the Networking/MLM Industry have done and continue to do.

Food for thought…

All the best,

Donald Gaw