HustleKnockin'

Word: Life.

Once I saw an ad:

A man in his 40s, holding a baby, obviously his son. The headline read: “When you’re 80 years old, you won’t look back and say, ‘I wish I’d worked more weekends’…” I forgot what they were selling but I remembered what they were saying. You don’t need a job to live. Things like rent, clothes, and food require a job, but living doesn’t. You can and should live outside of work. And here are 7 tips to help you do just that:

Be Out By 5.

Most companies expect folks to work past 5 p.m. in order to be taken seriously for promotions and raises. People equate working late with caring about your job and being a team player. Well, screw these people, too. Working late is overrated. Work late only when you absolutely have to. Otherwise, put in your 8 hours and go home.

A couple extra hours a day can make all the difference between having a life and not having one.

No More Weekends

I once knew this exec, she was Jewish. Every Friday afternoon she had the same debate with herself: Saturday synagogue or Saturday in the office. She almost always chose work because of the pressure to excel and impress the higher-ups. One Friday afternoon somebody said to her, “God will get you another job, but your job can’t get you another God.” She went to synagogue that Saturday and most every Saturday afterwards… for a while, at least. It didn’t hurt her career. Much. But she was much happier when she kept her weekends to herself.

Take back your weekends. Weekends are yours. Weekends are when you remember that you’re human. People recharge on weekends. People party on weekends. People worship on weekends. People reconnect with their families on weekends. When you let a boss or a job own your weekends, you’re letting them own you. So screw folks who say your weekends aren’t yours—they’re just saying it because they have no life outside of work and don’t want you to have one, either. Weekends belong to people, not companies.

White folks have wonderful weekends.
All we have is “a couple days off”!
—Steve Harvey

I’m On Vacation!

American workers are terrible at taking vacations; we average just 10.2 days off a year. Yet in Western Europe, law mandates four weeks of vacation while six weeks off is not uncommon.2 But in America, employee vacation time is optional. That’s right. America is the only western industrialized country that doesn’t legally require employee vacation time. And why aren’t most bosses losing sleep over this is? Gee, I wonder… Could The Hustle have something to do with this?

In all my years, I only saw two bosses tell any employee, “Why don’t you take a couple days off, it’s okay.” It’s not that the other bosses were evil; it’s just that they were more concerned with the company’s wellbeing than their employees’. If it were up to them, employees would work 365.

So weekends aside, everyone should take off at least once every two months. One, maybe two days… Flip a Friday into a 3-day weekend. Even if you can’t afford to travel take time off. Sleep in. See a movie. Hit the beach. Catch up with family or friends. Just take some time off.

Also, when you go on vacation, don’t tell anyone where you’re going or how to reach you. Lose the celly. Ignore the email. Don’t check in. The whole point of time off is to have time off, not to be at the beach fielding “We need some files off your computer” and “Hey can you stop in for a sec,” calls. No. Vacation means: “Leave me alone until I come back to work.”

And don’t worry about losing your job or a promotion while you’re out. If your job’s in jeopardy, it’ll be in jeopardy whether you’re there or not, so you might as well get some rest out of the deal. In fact, if you have to work 24/7/365 just to keep it or to succeed then your job sucks and you’re getting pimped. A vacation is the least of your problems.

Looking back, I would’ve sacrificed extra salary for an extra two weeks of paid vacation time. That’s how important I believe vacations are to healthy living. In fact that’s part of why I freelance—I feel better now than I ever felt when I was clocking 70 hour weeks for some company. So if you can, next time you’re up for a promotion or a raise, trade some money for some extra paid time off.

Eddie Gaylord (Oklahoma Publishing founder) died
at his desk at the age of 101. I should be so lucky.
—L. Lowry Mays, Clear Channel founder/Chairman

Mr. Microwave...

Mr. Microwave

Growing up, I was a Detroit Pistons fan, which was blasphemy given that I was a Chicagoan during Jordan’s prime. Even when MJ was dropping 50 every night and Pippen was serving triple-doubles left ‘n’ right, I still checked for the Pistons. Why? I wanted to see The Microwave. Vinnie Johnson sorta looked like my dad—muscular, balding, and not real tall. (Even when Vinnie was young he looked old.) He was the consummate super-sub—always came ready to play even when he didn't get to play. He’d come off the bench and give you 20 on 7-for-11 with a couple treys and dimes for good measure. He got hot fast, cooked ‘til they won, kept quiet and cashed his checks. By the time Vinnie hung ‘em up, he’d driven most every defense nuts, made a few million, and earned a couple championship rings.

Watching Vinnie taught me something: If you want to be that hired gun people call when they need it hot and fast, you have to hone your craft. I was never a lazy full-timer, but at some point I got complacent. And once the frustration and typical corporate BS got to me, I started coasting. Had I settled for another full-time gig right away I probably would have spent the next 25 years staying just good enough to collect a pension.

Getting canned woke me up quick. I took everything I’d learned, good and bad, and used it to step my game up. After a while, I got to a point where every single place I freelanced for offered me a full-time job—that’s when I knew I was good. But the coolest thing about freelancing and consulting is even though someone else is signing your paychecks you still work for yourself. You determine how long you want to work at a particular place. You determine your own salary. If you decide you won’t work for less than $10G a week, then you don’t. On the other hand if no one’s offering $10G you have to lower your fee and possibly your standards. You also have to be willing to go wherever the money is, which for me often meant hitting other cities—that’s what took me to NYC. As I said earlier, freelance is a risky proposition—depending on your city, your industry and the economy, you work in spurts, but at least you’re your own boss. And that’s always a good thing.

Funny thing is, some companies respect freelance talent more than they respect their own employees. They know how stupid it is to hire somebody for hundreds or thousands of dollars a day and then not listen to them. But when you’re on staff, it’s like you’re their property. They’ll make you work overtime and weekends knowing it costs them the same amount no matter what. Plus they’ll push you to produce more knowing they can threaten to fire you if you don’t. But as a freelancer, you tell them what you can do and how much it’ll cost them once they agree. It’s as close as you can get to a partnership without starting a business.

And that’s what it means to be a freelancer. If you can get sharp and stay on your game, you’ll always get paid to help a team win. Companies will always pay for talent. And since most companies and industries are too shortsighted and greedy to train and retain talent, they will always pay for polished talent. And if you catch ‘em at the right time, they’ll overpay for it. The downside is that you don’t always know when you’ll work again or even how much you’ll make from month to month. Plus, health insurance is usually up to you. Also, you have to work extra to maintain connections since business changes so much so quickly. But in a weird way, it’s worth all it. You have freedom as a freelancer that you’ll never ever have as a permanent employee.

As long as you work for someone else, there’ll always be someone else to worry about. So I’m just putting my faith in the biggest, strongest someone else I know—God—and just rolling wherever He takes me. Whether this book goes platinum or wood, it’ll be my words, not a watered-down version of what a publisher that’s only giving me 10% wants. I’m not writing for Hollywood or NYT's bestseller list. I’m writing for God and regular people like you. And if that means I end up at UPS or flipping burgers then so be it. But rich or not, no one will ever tell me what to write or how to write again.

I don’t think you can ever find truth if the only path you’re on is the one somebody else is running. That’s what The Hustle is—being suckered into following somebody else’s path. If you don’t like my route, fine. I just want you to know that you have more options than you think. Besides, if you want to eat, I mean truly eat to live; you can’t wait for table scraps to fall off of somebody else’s plate. And when you work for companies, especially big companies, all you’re doing is waiting for them to finish eating and throw you some crumbs.

I’ve worked at companies where I helped clients boost their revenues by millions of dollars while helping my bosses make money hand over fist. But my reward was an annual salary of $20G, $40G, at best $100G. Give a company a few decades of yourself and maybe you’ve got 6 figures in your late 60s to play with. Nope, I can’t go out like that anymore. Again I’m not greedy or looking to get rich. But if I’m baking the pie, I deserve a slice. We all do. So going solo, at least for me, is the best chance I have at achieving that.

Snakes and Crooks on Wall Street

A NEW WAVE OF INSIDER TRADING
By Michael Brush

Some high-profile professionals -- lawyers, investment bankers and traders -- have admitted or are accused of scheming to grab illegal profits. A spike in takeover bids is driving the trend.

If crime doesn't pay, then it shouldn't come as a big surprise that criminal stupidity has its limits as a moneymaking enterprise.

Yet Wall Street appears to be awash in it.

In the past three months, the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed more than half a dozen cases that charge professionals at top brokerage houses, hedge funds and even some top accounting firms with insider-trading plots. The schemes could have earned more than $35 million.

Any gains weren't ill-gotten for long, though, mostly because of some outlandishly dumb moves. Among the allegations:

* A vice president at Morgan Stanley used her mother's brokerage account to buy companies targeted for acquisition before the deals were announced.

* A Hong Kong couple increased the size of their brokerage account 25-fold -- and made two wire transfers totaling $6.9 million -- just before making a massive illegal trade.

* An investment banker made calls to Pakistan from his office phone to place trades driven by inside information.

"You have to be a moron to make a call from your office phone," says James Angel, a professor of finance at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business in Washington, D.C. "It seems like there is an awful lot of stupidity going around, maybe because greed went to their heads."

How much is enough to be irritated?

How much is enough to be irritated?

I was thinking about that question as I sat in business class on my way to a consulting gig for a client. (In between books and re-launching my publishing company, I still take on the occasion white collar gig. Like many of you, I’m part of the emerging “creative class”—writers, artists, consultants, musicians… folks who make their living as content providers, entertainment… “intellectual capital on demand,” if you will.)

Mr. Microwave

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx KNOCK THE HUSTLE EXCERPTS xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx BOSS UP, PART THREE xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mr. Microwave

Growing up, I was a Detroit Pistons fan, which was blasphemy given that I was a Chicagoan during Jordan’s prime. Even when MJ was dropping 50 every night and Pippen was serving triple-doubles left ’n’ right, I still checked for the Pistons. Why? To see The Microwave. Vinnie Johnson sorta looked like my dad—muscular, balding, and not real tall. (Even when Vinnie was young he looked old.) He was the consummate super-sub: always came ready to play even when he didn’t get to play. He’d come off the bench, give you 20 on 7-for-11 with a couple treys and dimes for good measure. He got hot fast, cooked ’til they won, kept quiet and cashed his checks. By the time Vinnie hung ’em up, he’d driven most every defense nuts, made a few million, and earned a couple championship rings.

Diversity on Madison Ave

Talk about Spooks sittin' by the door...

My guy, High Jive (one day, I'm gonna find out who you are) is at it again.High Jive is a corporate insider who sneaks around ski-mask way--letting folks know how the corporate world, specificall Madison Ave aka the Advertising, Marketing and PR industries are getting down. His focus is largely the stunning lack of diversity and abundant bias in the industry.

HJ's blog MultiCultClassics also hits readers with hilarious spoofs on bad work, diversity, etc in the form of psuedo ads. Industry heads will recognize the sources of these ads as they're based on classic print work.

For example:

Smart stuff!

Morality vs. Ethics... Which side do you take?

Morals. Ethics.... Interchangeable? Do unto others?... How do you get thru life? How do you operate in business? In school?.... Read this then lemme know which is yours.

OFFICIAL KTH EXCERPT:

HONOR AMONG THIEVES?
(Ethics vs. Morals)

Better is a little with righteousness
than great revenues without right.
—Proverbs 16:8

Ethics. Some got ’em, some don’t. Me? No ethics at all. I don’t have any ethics and I don’t want any ethics. Thanks to my business and life experiences, I finally figured out the difference between the two; and the day I did, I tossed my code of ethics out the window. Life’s been pretty good ever since.

I’m not preaching here, I’m just going to offer a few angles up for consideration. So keep an open mind and ride with me for a bit, okay? Cool.

Crooks in Plastic

Retailers bank on unused gift cards.
About 6% of this year's gift cards will go unused, according to one estimate. Some put the figure much higher.
By Associated Press

Shoppers across America have millions of gift cards tucked away in envelopes, drawers and wallets. And some of the nation's largest retailers are profiting as a result.

"It can be fun to get them, but then I forget about them," said Deborah Cabaret, 46, who has hundreds of dollars' worth of unused cards. "Or I walk into the store, I look around, I don't know what I want, and I leave."

Last winter, Best Buy (BBY, news, msgs) reported a $43 million gain in fiscal 2006 from cards that hadn't been used in two or more years. Limited Brands (LTD, news, msgs) recorded $30 million in 2005 revenue because of unredeemed cards.

gotta love foreign ads!

if there's one thing i miss about GM shops, it's the account execs... not the guys, but...

Dove Evolution. Are they finally catching on?

Dove's Evolution film has been floating around for a minute;it's part of their Real Beauty campaign. But it's worth another look, if only from another, slightly more critical angle.

Now, as I've said to folks within the ad industry which i'm a vet of, it's a nice execution to be sure; but i'm troubled by one thing.

"Why did it seemingly take White Women being so upset with the absurdity of Mad Ave's unatainable beauty standards for a major brand to even begin to sincerely address this issue?"

Think about that as you watch, then we'll chat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT4dpFpiTgk

The only good Hispanic Mag is a Dead Hispanic Mag

According to Madison Ave at least... Only by Madison Ave's logic could use rationalize folding a publication targeting hispanic marketing professionals and covering related trends because the audiences has grown too big! That's the logic they're using, folks.

Our audience is so big, that the magazine we started to cater to them is no longer relevant.

Uh-huh.

White people... make that, white liberal ad people. gotta luv their logic.

Enjoy the story. more commentary to follow.

Judging a book by its cover, Pt. One

Whaddyathink of KNOCK THE HUSTLE’s cover? Huh? You like it? Not like it.
I've gotten some pretty good feedback from it. but the people who hated it --there were some, didn't like the book, either.

I’m not crazy about it. Never totally was. Did it myself. Had to.

I’m heading into the second-printing of KTH. But that means revisions. I’m working on the cover, too. I’m not sure how much of it I’ll change. There’s a certain amount of equity in the look so I don’t want to lose that. But I do want it to “pop” a little more.

The colors got washed out in some cases. It was red and yellow but I think it turned into an orange-ish thing.

Sounds like a designer, huh? Not bad for a Copywriter/marketing guy, huh?

thanx, HJ!!!

Thank You HighJive.

HighJive it’s been an interesting ride. I swear I know you. It’s not like there’s that many of us. LOL. Anyway, I’ve learned a lot from your columns, perhaps the biggest being the importance of proofreading.

I disagree with you. The industry won’t change. It doesn’t have to. And in the end, that’s all that matters. It’s too myopic and its being rewarded just enough to stay the course.

Thank You, Danny G.,

Thank You, Danny G.,

Danny was one of the first people to champion KTH. He bought a copy, blemishes and all. In fact, I think he bought 2 and donated one to a high school library in OH.

By the way: Thank you, Danny Goldgeier for actually sticking to your word and interviewing me for the Talentzoo podcast, unlike that-trifling-Sally-what’s-her-name-broad.

I also appreciate Danny for raising the diversity issue, too. Obviously I think it’s an important issue.

You’re a good writer Danny G. Keep it up. I think they’re catching on.

H.

thank you, tom messner

Thank You, Mr. Tom Messner.

Thanks for reviewing KTH and calling it a courageous book. Though to be honest, “career suicide” would’ve been more accurate.

Black Ad People: pay attention

This is how we do (Before you get in a fight with your mentor/producer and footage of you from Change of Heart comes out.)

What I'm refering to is Hispanic marketing professionals. This is how you handle your business. You rally. You take charge.

Black agencies... too busy running scared waiting for hand-outs. Waiting for everybody to like 'em and give their 5% subcontractor cut. While GM shops and clients dictate what Blackness is to them and what's acceptable about black people.

not Hispanic Ad folks...

welcome to the big show!

I think this one’s important enough for it’s own entry. It’s also the last one of the month, too. Enjoy. (Happy Saturday, by the way...)

12. Lose the “Minor-Leagues” Mindset.

Too many folks, particularly successful/privileged blacks treat the black community like it’s the minor leagues of American society. We don’t live around blacks any longer than we have to. We don’t want our money in black-owned banks. We won’t support black retailers. Most won’t use black vendors or black contractors. Most black executives only see Black Enterprise as a stepping-stone to Forbes. We still measure our success by the degree to which white institutions and consumers accept and support us.

cuz i gotta keep going whether anyone cares or not.

Month’s closing down… September flew by didn’t it? Just a couple more joints from this KTH chapter to hit you with, then I’ve got some goodies to share for you. Yippee! Here’s a weird one. For you:

9. Where You Go, the Whole Race Still Goes.

Don’t sleep on this one because it’s still true. Whether it’s said to your face or behind your back, a lot of folks and companies still measure whole groups by the actions of a few. You do indeed represent your community when you’re outside of it. You can view that as a burden or as a healthy responsibility.

It doesn't mean you oh every cat you meet a job or even an interview, but it's a heart-set, a mindset... a change in thinking and being.

And again, it’s not as hectic as it was back in the day, but it’s still very real, so recognize and represent.

U–N–I–T–Y!
—Queen Latifah (8)

where u fit in... wherever that is.

Workin' angles... Opportunism knocking. Hustler's blues. call it what you will. Sometimes the best thing to do is just suck it up and look for a way in and a way up. you'll find one. you'd be surprised by how stupid some people can be to allow their biases to get in the way of business. but you'd be surprised by the opportunities it can create as well...

keep that in mind as you take in the follow KTH snippet:

---
6. Get In Where You Fit In.

For every door slammed in your face there’s an opportunity to succeed somewhere else. The opportunity may be small, far away, or require harder work, but it’s there. You just have to be diligent and find it. Why? Because business loves money. It lives for cream. Show ’em you can put money in their pockets and you’ll find work.

A couple more...

Some would call me a whiner... I've been called worse. Never to my face. Usually a sign that you're probably fighting the good fight. anyway, here's a couple more from KNOCK THE HUSTLE.

5. NO WHINING.

The only thing worse than the angry minority is the whiny minority. You know the ones...they’re always complaining and looking for sympathy. One who sticks out in my head is a colleague I knew named “Kate.”

Kate was a white female exec, extremely talented and hardworking and always got the job done. But she swore she was oppressed 24/7. “When a man is aggressive at work he’s praised, when a woman is aggressive she’s a ‘bitch’...” She’d go on and on like April rain in Seattle. I can’t say that it ever cost her a promotion, but this much I know: people truly hated working with her. Her constant complaining drove people nuts.