Throughout the ordeal that I went through that landed me behind bars, I experienced self doubt to a degree that I had never experienced. After all, I was a United States Marine, the physical embodiment of discipline and honor. Some of the thoughts that coursed through my mind while I sat in the county jail were:

How, after all my training and accomplishments, could I have landed in jail?
Was it all a sham?
What monster inside of me reared its ugly head and destroyed my life?
How did it come to this?
Who am I really?

Once I was released, this self doubt crept into everything I did. People felt uneasy around me because I was uneasy with myself. I accepted low paying jobs, doubting my ability to do any better. I accepted a filthy pay by the week sleeping room since I doubted I could live any better. In short, the swagger that I walked with when I was a Marine was gone; I had lost my mojo.

The Evolution of Self Doubt

Most people first experience self doubt when it comes to the opposite sex. To curb this self doubt, young adults will dress a certain way, act a certain way, and do certain things (like having sex with multiple partners. Men and women whose only pursuit is sexual validation in any form usually have deep self doubts). When these individuals enter the work force, their self doubt either increases or decreases depending on their position and accomplishments. If these individuals come out of college, land a great job, and fit in with their careers then their self doubt is quieted. If these individuals land a mediocre job with slow or no advancement, self doubts begin to arise. “Is this the best I can do?” As they progress in life, regret piles up. They lose their youthful figures, have kids, settle into BS jobs, and start to stagnate. In some cases, they run into tragedy (like I did) and find themselves having to start over. Statements such as “I should have done this better”, “Where did all my time go?” and “I used to have this or that, I used to be on top of my game” become commonplace. Dreams dim. Self doubt destroys life.

If you will notice, self doubt begins with ones internal dialogue.This self talk sabotages future progress and prevents them from taking bold steps into the right direction. Self doubt is the result of questioning oneself and ones abilities. That’s why in books like Think and Grow Rich and Unlimited Power, the writers stress the importance of getting your mind right. If you havent gotten and read these books yet, you really are doing yourself a disservice.

The Opposite of Self Doubt

The opposite of self doubt is self confidence.

self-confidence. A, noun. 1, assurance, self-assurance, confidence, authority, sureness. freedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your abilities- Webster’s Dictionary

Self Confidence is something that is programmed within all of us by our parents, skill sets that we have developed, our victories, and challenges that we have overcome. There are also ways to build and reclaim the self confidence that you have lost over time. It can be as simple for you as it was for me with the following three steps:

Acknowledge past successes

Every Marine is taught to create a wall dedicated to their personal accomplishments. Awards, trophies, tokens of appreciation, battle trophies, and pictures of their travels provide a physical memory of every reason they have to be proud of themselves. Sometimes you might feel like you haven’t accomplished anything, and during those times having a “me wall” gives you a reason to press forward. Have you ever been to an accomplished professionals office and not seen a wall full of their degrees and accreditation? If you have no awards to fill your wall with then stop playing Halo, stop kicking it on the corner, and make some things happen. Not for the sake of collecting awards, but for the sake of creating success in your life.

Surround yourself with positive, challenging people

Positive people can have a massive impact on you and your self image. When I first seriously dedicated myself to getting big and hitting the gym, I would work out with people that were at or below my level of strength and ability. But if you want to accomplish anything, you need to work with people who already have what you want and get on their level. I found the biggest guy in the gym, asked him to take me under his wing, and the result was gains in weight and strength that I didnt think were possible for my size. Positive individuals like my training partner will challenge you physically and mentally when you need it most. Thats another reason why its so important I have talked alot about the importance of networking and assembling teams of people that will help you accomplish your goals in previous posts. Teams are powerful, thats the reason Alcoholics Anonymous and similar treatment programs are so effective – they leverage powerful and positive team dynamics.

Watch your Thoughts

Thoughts are things – Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller–Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century

Really start to pay attention to how you speak to yourself, and how you visualize things. Do you automatically assume the worst? Or do you visualize and prepare for your best performance? Self Doubt is thought driven. Therefore, to defeat the thoughts that produce self doubt, counter them with thoughts that produce self confidence. Instead of imagining defeat, imagine victory and the end result that you desire. Instead of letting your mind get away with saying things like “I cant do this because…” counter with “I can do this because…” Another technique that Olympic athlete’s use is to visualize what could go wrong and then visualize how to correct the error in mid-stride.

Self Doubt and self confidence are practices that become traits. If you practice confidence, you will embody it naturally over a period of time, and the money and success you seek will come. Dont let your self doubt sabotage your life. Go forth confidently and victoriously. Otherwise, all the money in the world wont help you.

This post is a blast from the past (at least where my early days on Twitter are concerned). Daily Kicks in the Ass are motivational tweets that I would send out on a daily basis to inspire my followers. So here’s a list of every daily kick that I shot out. Refer back to this list on occasion to keep you motivated, and if you haven’t already, join me on twitter and you can receive some of these daily insights, as well as news and notes.*Punctuation and spelling have been modified to suit twitter’s 140 character limit. So dont comment on my bad spelling or grammar. Nobody else cares that you are an English major and correcting other peoples grammatical errors only proves one thing: youre a nerd. Just read and enjoy!

• 7 years from now, what will you have to show for what you’re doing right now? If your answer is “not much”, consider a new plan
• The answer is not to work harder, but to work smarter A job should be looked upon as a temporary inconvenience
• Who dares to teach must never cease to learn
• Wealth is when small efforts produce large results Poverty is when large efforts produce small results
• Don’t get stuck in resentment-Travel without dragging an emotional baggage full of past disappointments
• Doing anything remotely major will bring criticism Attempting  do anything large-scale will bring armies of haters Stay wit it!
• Create a personal advisory board
• Smart businesspeople focus on the things they have the power to change, not whining about the things they don’t
• Don’t overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself – You are better than you think!
• CONQUERING FEAR = DEFINING FEAR. What are you afraid of?
• Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action – ACT ON YOUR GOALS TODAY!
• Many a false step was made by standing still
• For things 2 get moving in your life, stop having new ideas and focus on finishing the old ones! Finishing is better than starting!!
• You’re either starting or quitting
• PRIORITIZE! There are always more demands than there’s time to meet them!
• Success is getting what you want Happiness is wanting what you get
• Most people give up just when they’re about to achieve success They quit on the one yard line and never know how close they are
• Don’t wait for success; work, learn and progress until it comes to you
• A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him
• The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it!
• If you have a ‘why’ to live by, you can live with any ‘how’.  Go forth and conquer!
• If you neglect your hustle for one day it will neglect you for two
• Strength doesn’t come from winning, but from struggle. When U go thru hardship and decide not to surrender, that’s strength

• The greatest thing a man can do is to make the most possible out of what has been given him This is success, and there is no other
• Give to the world the best you have, and the best will come back to you
• Motivation will almost always beat mere talent, so get motivated and conquer your world!
• A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty
• Everyone thinks of changing the world, but the great (wo)man thinks of changing himself, first!
• It isn’t easy  get others  believe in you until U have a track record. So go make your own track and build your own record
• To talk much and no nothing is the same as climbing a tree to catch a fish. Put up or shut up today!
• Most obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we make up our mind to walk boldly through them!
• Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall
• Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
• I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it
• Every day is either a success or failure. Which do you want today to be?
• It is better to be defeated with integrity, than to win without it
• Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do
• One of the secrets 2 success is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks
• The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today’s work superbly well
• The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism
• You must fail often to succeed only once
• Yesterday’s joy will become today’s sadness; yet today’s sadness will grow into tomorrow’s joy
• Unless you act you will perish in a life of failure, misery, and sleepless nights
• Today I will surpass every action which I performed yesterday
• To multiply your value you must multiply your actions!
• Success comes to those willing to work a little bit harder than the rest!
• Remove from your vocabulary the words quit, cant, unable, impossible, failure, hopeless, and retreat; these are the words of fools
• Nature knows not defeat, why should you!
• Live today as if it is your last chance to prove your love and your greatness
• If you must be a slave to habit, then be a slave to good habits
• Do not waste a moment mourning yesterday’s misfortunes, yesterday’s defeats, or yesterday’s aches of the heart
• Don’t be satisfied with yesterday’s accomplishments or indulge in self-praise
• Destroy procrastination with action. Dismember fear with confidence!
• Cherish each hour of this day for it can never return!
• Act now, for now is all you have!
• A man of sense is never discouraged by difficulties; he redoubles his effort, he perseveres, and infallibly prevails at last
• Bad habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out of
• First we form habits, then they form us. Conquer your bad habits or they will conquer you
• Excellence is not a destination; it is a continuous journey that never ends
• Goals that are not written down are just wishes
• Define your business goals clearly so that others can see them as you do
• Do not let the future be held hostage by the past
• We all need lots of powerful long-range goals to help us past the short-term obstacles
• Keep your mind on the things you want and off the things you don’t want
• If you chase two rabbits, both will escape (Focus on one goal at a time!)
• If you focus on results, you will never change If you focus on change, you will get results
• My experience has shown that ppl who r good in biz aren’t so bcuz of what they know but because of their insatiable need to know more
• If you think education is expensive, try ignorance
• Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing!
• Success is not permanent. The same is also true of failure
• Everyone has his burden. What counts is how you carry it
• Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do
• Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great
• Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly
• Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together
• Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together
• Seize Today! Remember, you can earn more money, but when time is spent is gone forever
• It’s a very funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it
• They can conquer who believe they can He has not learned the first lesson is life who does not every day surmount a fear!
• It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires great strength to decide what to do
• Acknowledge rewards for they are your due; but welcome obstacles for they are your opportunities!
• Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things and I’ll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things
• Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts
• Performance, and performance alone, dictates the predator in any food chain

• A failure establishes only this: that our determination to succeed was not strong enough
• In pursuit of success, you will hear  no’s until you find the person who will say yes don’t stop until you find that person!
• I’m sorry u feel bad about not meeting your goals–I would suggest that u begin meeting your goals in order 2  feel better (LOL!)
• The rut you’re in isn’t permanent, nor is it perfect. Escaping your rut is not a quick dig, but a slow climb
• “EXPECTATION BRINGS MISERY, ACTION BRINGS VICTORY!” DONT EXPECT TO BE SUCCESSFUL, GET UP AND TAKE YOUR SUCCESS!
• The presence of fear is not the absence of courage. Courage is doing wat u r afraid  do, so there can be no courage unless ur scared
• Get up, work hard, n do what you gotta do now so you can do what you wanna do later!
• In the end, you’re measured not by how much you try but by what you finally accomplish -Donald Trump
• You, Diddy, Trump, and Obama all have the same 24 hrs in a day. What makes them different is how they use those  hrs
• THE GREAT TRADGEDY OF LIFE IS THAT IT HAS TO END ONLY BY GIVING BACK TO THE WORLD CAN YOU REALLY LIVE EVER!
• LOOK AT YOUR  NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS HOW MANY OF THEM STILL ARENT ACHIEVED? GET UP N GET ON EM YOU HAVE MONTH!
• Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that!
• “You don’t have to stop being a gangster, just elevate your hustle. Remember, real gangsters wear suits”
• “A CONSISTENT VISION LEADS TO CONSISTENT ACTIONS THAT LEAD TO CONSISTENT RESULTS DEVELOP YOUR VISION AND GET MOVIN!”
• Daily Kick in the Ass: Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it Establish your priorities and go to work
• Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily
• “DONT TAKE ADVICE FROM PPL WHO ARENT WHERE U WANT TO BE
• Those who take action are rewarded, not those with the best ideas. There’s no reward  thinking it, only  doing it!”
• IF UNSUCCESSFUL PEOPLE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH WHAT YOU ARE DOING, KEEP DOING IT!
• The bottom is the worst place to be. When the flood waters start rising, you will be the first to drown. RISE UP!
• “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can’t read or write, but those who refuse to learn”
• “He who overcomes shall inherit all things” – If you quit, there is a % chance you will never achieve!
• If you got a dream protect it People will tell you you can’t do it because they can’t do it!
• THERE ARE PPL WHO WILL LUV U NO MATTER HOW MUCH WRONG U DO, THERE R PPL WHO WILL HATE U NO MATTER HOW MUCH RIGHT YOU DO!
• When it comes to helping poor people: The best thing you can do 4 them is not be one of them
• To know and not to do is to not yet know.
• Ability is nothing without opportunity -Napoleon Bonaparte
• Success seems to be connected with action. Successful men keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit

This isnt going to be an easy concept for alot of you, but it is essential that you stop living a lie if you wish to truly conquer your world. It is the man and woman that defines their personal truth and lives by that truth that has the most potential for power.

Make a personal resolution to live whatever truth that you wish. If you want to be a millionaire, if you want to help other people, if you want to be any specific kind of professional, you have to live that truth every day. Your every thought, word, and deed has to be in line with the truth you wish to live. That is the source of personal power. Good people like Mother Theresa and Malcolm X, and bad people like Adolph Hitler and Idi Amin (who until his death held the belief that Uganda needed him) had one thing in common – they lived their truth. Because that, they reached the pinnacles of power and people followed.

The Opposite of Living the Truth

The opposite of living the truth is obviously living a lie. Pastors who preach the piety of poverty and live in luxury live a lie. Politicians appointed to protect and defend the Constitution and then manipulate existing laws for their image and benefit live a lie. Self help gurus who dont help other people live a lie. Hypocritically acting in ways that are not consistent with your words and not holding up your end of promises and contracts are a few other examples.

Contrast that with Christians that live meager lives who help all they can, revolutionary voices that speak out against politicians in their own parties who abandon the standards set by this country’s founding fathers, and the Millionaire Mentors, whose goals are to help 100 people become millionaires (instead of making a million dollars for themselves).

People work jobs that they hate, doing things that dont match their skill sets whatsoever. If that defines you, you need to make plans for moving into a career field that reflects the truth you want to live. You cant truthfully say you are a deal maker and a business man if you clean warehouses at night. You cant truthfully call yourself a singer or dancer if you dont live the life of a singer or dancer. You either live the truth, or live a lie.

If you have  read The Evolution of a Hustler, you know the story behind how I came to be an inmate. There was a time that I called myself a Marine, but didnt live the principles that Marines are known for. My behavior revealed the truth, that somewhere along the line I rotted. You need to ask yourself if  your behavior is really the truth that you want to live.  The good thing about the Marines is that it provides young men and women with a pre-defined truth; a standard that determines ones personal conduct at all times. Similarly, religion provides a frame of thought that provides followers with a truth. The bad thing about religion and organizations like the United States Marine Corps is that demagogues (false prophets) are given places to hide. Dont be one of those people. If you  hope to get anywhere, be brutally honest with yourself. Honesty is more than a word. Honesty is a way of thinking that is reflected in your actions. Your actions then reinforce your truths, which then further influence your actions.

Re-Programming Yourself

In place of whatever undesirable truth that you used to hide, adopt and live by new truths that will affect your actions and your way of thinking. Do you want to live as a thief? Do you want to live as a con-artist, a fake, or a demagogue? Of course not, who does? The secret to abolishing those old truths is to define the truth that you really want to live and replace those old and undesired behaviors. Determine what you are not, then determine what you are. By verbalizing the truth to yourself, you are reprogramming your brain using a technique called Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP for short – more on this later).

“I am not a thief. I am able to find ways of making more money than I ever could stealing

“I am not a fake. I am who I am and the world can appreciate it or go to hell”

“I am not a failure. My actions today will reveal me as the success that I am”

” I am not lazy. I get more done than anybody that I know”

“I am not a demagogue. I embody the principles and philosophy of my school of thought always”

This isnt fake it til you make it. This isnt acting the part. This is living the part. This is walking the path.

Define your truth, and then live the truth.

Alot of the people I coach get really frustrated when it comes to getting out of their financial situation and getting their hustle on. I experienced this same frustration when I started out, and came to the realization that the problem I had wasnt a lack of money, it was a lack of ideas. I had no money because I had no ideas on how to make money.

That all changed when I picked up a book called Jump Start Your Business Brain by a guy named Doug Hall. He co-hosts a live radio show on WVXU in Cincinnati, is the founder and CEO of Eureka! Ranch, which is a corporate innovation, research and training center, and helps companies build their businesses with new ideas and strategies.The book didnt give me all the answers, but it started me down the right path. I highly recommend you check it out!

Ok, so where do ideas come from? The two best sources of new ideas are (1)”information cross-pollination” and (2) exposure to different ways of doing things.

Turning Information Into Ideas

Getting ideas from information is like cross pollination. Cross pollination occurs in the animal kingdom when birds and insects carry seed from one plant to the other, fertilizing the receiving plant in the process. Vast fields of blooms are the result of these animals going from plant to plant. Coming up with fertile ideas is rarely the result of reading a single book or studying a single subject matter. You will harvest your best ideas from going from book to book and subject to subject. You are more likely to discover new ways to make money by studying biology, history, sociology, and Mediterranean cooking along with business and financial books that if you just studied books on making money.

A great example of cross-pollination is the discovery of Velcro. The inventor combined his knowledge of engineering with his study of nature and became filthy rich. I make it a point to regularly diversify my information diet by reading books on a diverse array of subjects, listening to podcasts that are informative but have nothing to do with money (like Blog Talk Radio’s Zeitgeist Movement podcast), and watching The History Channel. Read newspapers from other cities and other countries. Watch channels that you have never watched before. Diversify your knowledge intake. The result could be the million dollar idea that youve been waiting for.

Turning Exposure Into Ideas

One of the best ways to gain exposure to new and different ideas, practices, and opportunities is travel. The time I spent overseas was more than just a break from the sameness of American society; it was an opportunity for me to experience first hand how other cultures lived and thrived. I discovered solutions to problems that they had come up with. For instance, Japan’s small land mass meany they didnt have room for expansive parking lots. Their solution was to build a mechanical parking garage that could store parked vehicles in a much smaller facility. My travels in the middle east exposed me to Aquaponics, a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics that allowed Africans to grow both crops and fish in the middle of the desert. Traveling is the absolute best method of coming up with new ideas. Just look at what Ed has done with the Japanese vending machine business model. (I wish I could find a Georgia Coffee in America!)

If you cant get to Japan, try heading to any other region right here in America. The cultures in Seattle, Los Angeles, Mobile, Louisville, and Baltimore are all different from each other. If youre not from those areas, you can learn much from the way they do business and take the ideas you come up with back home to launch a new and different product or service.

And even if you cant get outside of your region physically, theres the internet. Sites like this, The Block Standard Network, Dream and Hustle, and many others are all dedicated to helping you come up with new hustles and ideas that could help you change your financial situation. There really is no excuse for limiting your exposure.

Capturing Ideas

Keep a notepad on you at all times. Keep a notepad next to your bed. Keep a notepad with you while youre in the gym. The best ideas have the tendency to pop up when you least expect them to. Dont run the risk of forgetting your million dollar idea because you didnt write it down!

ACT!

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.” – Swami Vivekananda

“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.” – Buddha

Action is the most important thing when it comes to ideas. I have talked about this before in my post, Ideas are Useless, where I also gave you step by step instructions for capitalizing on them. Dont talk yourself out of the idea before taking action on it, but put it into action. Wear it out. Do everything in your power to make your idea work. Truly put it to the test. Invest your life savings into making it successful. If you have invested a godly amount of effort and money into making your idea successful and it still fails, only then can you call it a bad idea and move on to the next idea thats written down in your book. Re-read Swami Vivekananda’s quote above.

Diversify your knowledge, gain exposure to new ideas and cultures, capture your ideas in writing, and put the idea into action. This is one of the many formulas for success.

This is a short, powerful film by my girl Naomi Klein. In the spirit of taking control of your world and the world around you, you need to be familiar with the tactics that your adversary/oponent/ antagonist will use against you. This video does just that. Watch and Learn.

In honor of Black History Month, I give you this post.

Do you know what the number one methodology used by slave masters (BOTH IN THE PAST AND TODAY) to keep their slaves in a captive mentality was? I want to quote from a document called the Willie Lynch letter on how to thoroughly break a slave and keep him in pocket, and whether you think this speech was real or not, the parables that are talked about couldn’t be more real. So I quote:

You know language is a peculiar institution. It leads to the heart of a people. The more a foreigner knows about the language of another country the more he is able to move through all levels of that society. Therefore, if the foreigner is an enemy of the country, to the extent that he knows the body of the language, to that extent is the country vulnerable to attack or invasion of a foreign culture. For example, if you take a slave, if you teach him all about your language, he will know all your secrets, and he is then no more a slave, for you can’t fool him any longer, and BEING A FOOL IS ONE OF THE BASIC INGREDIENTS OF ANY INCIDENTS TO THE MAINTENANCE OF THE SLAVERY SYSTEM. For example, if you told a slave that he must perform in getting out “our crops” and he knows the language well, he would know that “our crops” didn’t mean “our crops” and the slavery system would break down, for he would relate on the basis of what “our crops” really meant. So you have to be careful in setting up the new language; for the slaves would soon be in your house, talking to you as “man to man” and that is death to our economic system.

Now, one of the reasons Im about to start doing podcasts and video is that a lot of the black men and women I market my site to say “Well, I don’t read a lot. I mean, I read the sports page, and that’s it, Im not a reader”.  And if you look at a lot of black social networking profiles under the section entitled “Reading” or “Books I like”, most of them type out the fact that they don’t read, don’t like reading, have no interest in reading.The title of this post came from someone I met in a restaurant. After offering him a book suggestion, he retorted “Mayne, real niggas dont read!”….

I agreed with that statement on one level: Niggas (root word niggers) dont read. The very word is synonymous with ignorance. But to imply that to be a real African American, you should embrace ignorance and shun reading is both sad and dangerous.

In today’s world, because we are in the information age, if you don’t read you are still a slave. Let me re-quote the Willie Lynch letter : BEING A FOOL IS ONE OF THE BASIC INGREDIENTS OF ANY INCIDENTS TO THE MAINTENANCE OF THE SLAVERY SYSTEM. By avoiding reading, you remain an economic slave, a slave in the penal system, a slave in the corporate system, and a social slave.

Interpret these two graphs, and you should understand the resulting dangers of not reading, or exercising what limited reading skills you possess.

Are You Still A Slave?

Some of you are also familiar with “Blacks Dont Read: They are Still Our Slaves“. Reportedly written by a Caucasian, this post was circulated on the net in 2006 and read on air in New York via a radio station. In it, the author writes:

Their IGNORANCE is the primary weapon of containment.

A great man once said, “The best way to hide something from Black people is to put it in a book.” We now live in the Information Age. They have gained the opportunity to read any book on any subject through the efforts of their fight for freedom, yet they refuse to read. There are numerous books readily available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com, not to mention their own Black Bookstores that provide solid blueprints to reach economic equality (which should have been their fight all along), but few read consistently, if at all.

He closes with his monologue with this:

Yes, we will continue to contain them as long as they refuse to read, continue to buy anything they want, and keep thinking they are “helping” their communities by paying dues to organizations which do little other than hold lavish conventions in our hotels.

By the way, don’t worry about any of them reading this letter, remember, ‘THEY DON’T READ!

Now the funny thing about this whole post is that while I was doing the research for it, I came across this blogsite called Preavil Haiti. Blacks Dont Read was re-posted there in 2008 with the opening statement, “How much if this is true for Haitian people, in Haiti and abroad?”. I hope black Americans, Haitians, and every other uneducated and mis-educated population in the world turns their back on the doctrine that they have lived by, the doctrine that “real niggas dont read”

If you encounter this mentality, print this post out, give it to the man or woman that believes that to be black means to be ignorant, and talk about it. Be the catalyst for change. It is willful ignorance and apathy that is the real danger to blacks in America.This post goes for every other socially disadvantaged and media consumed culture in the world.

On Thursday, Im going to post some very relevant video that will help you to open your eyes to whats really going on in the world around you.

Information is resistance. Arm yourself and others.

P.S. I just finished watching the movie Precious for the first time. Coincidentally, I think the whole point of the movie was what I just finished writing!

If you are new to this site, one of my roles here is to inform offer consultation on the street level. I teach hustlers to maximize their earnings potential regardless of where they are in life and in business.This post is a very small example of the advice I give.

In an email from Derrick Chavis (aka “THE HUNGRY JEWELER”), one of the many people I met on Tariq Nasheed’s United Players of America Message Board, he asks:

Im getting my tax return in a couple of days..thinking on what to do with it so I can be straight this whole year. I want to invest some $$ back into my business like biz cards, maybe a website. Buy a few products to sell here and there…Plus I sell wheels & tires also as a side hustle so I need to capitalize on that too

Heres my response:
Im happy to hear that more people are starting to use their tax returns to invest in their businesses and their portfolios! To start off, you need to have some things on hand to make your business look legitimate. Business cards are a good start, and at Vistaprint , theyre free or very cheap ($14.00). You wont even notice spending such a small amount for a big return.

Setting up a website is a good idea, but only after you have tried selling on sites like eBay and Amazon to test the viability of your products online. Otherwise, think about setting up a free Wordpress site until you become proficient with eCommerce (If you aren’t already).

One of the best things that you can do in this down economy is educate yourself on ways to reach your market, and educate your market on why they should buy from you via intelligent marketing. Pick up Guerilla Marketing on the Internet: The Definitive Guide from the Father of Guerilla Marketing or Guerilla Marketing in 30 Days (I read this book 5 years ago, and I still use some of the low-cost, highly effective techniques taught).

Think about buying some adspace online at sites like Baller Status, Hip Hop DX, and Global Grind. Advertising need not be expensive; for physical material that will help you become an established brand, check out The PR Store, and think about hiring a graphic artist online that will help you design a flashy logo. Not to toot our horns or anything, but heres the Block Standard logo that exemplifies what a good logo should be:

All in all, if educate yourself and your market, operate intelligently, and continue to invest in effective advertising, you should make whatever you spend right back.

Keep Hustling!

When I talk about making it rain, Im talking about money raining on you – not you throwing money on other people. For the entrepreneur and hustler, sales equal money. Website traffic equals money. Contacts equal money. Action equals money. One sale, one website visit, one contact, one act could mean the difference between a flood of money or a drought. Lets make it rain.

You don’t need an office. Your car is your office. Your briefcase, your backpack, your lunch table is your office. Customers wont come to you – you have to go to them. If they are on the basketball court, in the gym, at the club, in doctor’s offices, in chat rooms, in hotel conference rooms, at conventions then GO THERE! The phone is for followup calls, not initial contact. Its easy to hang up on a telemarketer. Its hard to be rude to someone standing face to face with you.

Hit the streets. Hustling is a numbers game. Get in customers faces, ask 33 customers a day for a $1000 sale and you get $10,000 per month. If you are making it rain, your schedule is 24 hours per day. Your workday is all day. Your work week is all week. Vacation time and family time are off limits, but every other time period is free game. Fish every lake dry, then find more lakes. Then come back and re-fish your old lakes. New customers come into the market every day. If you are selling milk, and I just bought milk, Im not a customer right now. If you come back in a week, you will have a sale. “NO” REALLY MEANS “NOT RIGHT NOW!”. If you cant close a sale, then close them on a follow-up phone call or appointment.

ABC = ALWAYS BE CLOSING

What do you do? Whatever that is, let everybody know! If you are a blogger aka freelance journalist, tell everybody you meet and know. If you sell chicken, tell everybody you meet and know. If you sell jewelry, books, T-Shirts, DVDs, organic fruit, sex toys, dog collars, or billboard space, tell everybody you meet and know. If you specialize in something, be proud of it and be known for it. Have you made a single penny online? Are you a dancer? Are you a political pundit? Tae kwon do red belt, youth counselor, member of the Farmers Association? Whatever is unique about you, make it known. Otherwise, youre just another salesperson. Just another hustler.

And make no mistake about it – EVERYBODY IS IN SALES, WHETHER YOU KNOW IT OR NOT! You are selling yourself to get a promotion, you are selling yourself to get more men or women in your life. You are selling yourself to make more money, to win friends and influence people. That means ABC (always be closing) applies to you. Close your boss (“Heres why I should be a floor manager immediately…”), close the opposite sex (“Im impressed with you, so lets exchange numbers and meet wherever at whatever time”), close friends (“Youre good people, why don’t you stop by the house and watch the fight Friday with me and a few ladies”).

When it comes to sales – ask for the order! Most salespeople set up meetings with potential customers, everybody is all smiles and giggles, and then the salesperson leaves without asking for the order. The customer knew you were a salesperson and, therefore, you were going to ask them to buy. Maybe they had already decided to buy before you even showed up! But since the salesperson didn’t ask for the order, the customer is left thinking “WTF was he even here for?” Meanwhile, the salesperson thinks he has had a successful appointment. Ask the customer to buy when you first walk in their door. If they reject you, come back with “I was just kidding, of course youre not ready yet, because I haven’t shown you what my product can do for you”. Then, instead of launching into a pitch, find out whats important to the customer. Get into their world and into their head. Think like them so that you can get them to think like you. Then ask for the order again.

After asking for the sale, be quiet. First one to talk looses. Heres the right way to do it:

The Hustler: “Ok, you like this and that about my product. Lets get some paperwork done. How does that sound?”
Customer: “…………………………………….”
Customer: “Lets do it”

Heres the wrong way:

The Buster: “Ok, you like this and that about my product. Lets get some paperwork done. How does that sound?”
Customer: “…………………………………….”
The Buster: “bbbbbut if you want to think about it I will come back”
Customer: “Let me think about it”

Make it rain in good times and bad. Just because you are on a hot streak doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax. Work consistently. If you put in 8 hours during the bad times, put in 8 hours during the good times. If you make fat tips or commissions one week, don’t take the next week off. Again, work consistently. If you are doing what you love – then this will be easy to do. If you hate what you do, this will be impossible – therefore, you need to quit! It makes no sense for you to get paid to do what you hate when you can get paid doing what you love. I had to keep a job that I hated until I built up my income streams doing what I love. Its called “straddling”. You keep one foot in the job and the other in your passion.

Every person you meet is either a customer or knows somebody who could become one of your customers. Therefore, keep them in the Blackberry. Call them every other week to find out whats going on in their world. Ask them about their wife, kids, probation officer. Ask them about their jobs, recreational activities, their goals. Ask them if they have reconsidered buying from you. Ask them if they can give you the number to somebody who can use your product right now. Do this every day for 10 people that you have met in the past. If you don’t have 10 people to call, go meet 10 people.


Let me wrap this up by putting it in terms that most men can understand. Have you ever seen another man who was shorter than you, had less money than you did, and was only average in the looks and height department but still had more and better quality women than you did? Its because he hit the streets, the clubs, the parks, the mall, asked for the number, asked for the date, asked for the open relationship, and provided social value to the woman (If you have one quality woman, other quality women will see that, making you instantly more attractive and socially valuable). Dating is a numbers game. Talk to 1000 high quality females, and if you have a 1% success rate, you have 10 high quality women you could be kicking it with. Even Forrest Gump had better than a 1% success rate. Same thing with making it rain.

Sounds hard? It is.

Early to bed, early to rise, get your hustle on and monetize.

I’m going to open up a few free spots for anyone who would like to sponsor World Domination with Arthur Pledger in order to get your blog or business some free traffic.

What you get is a 125×125 ad ABOVE THE FOLD, FREE OF CHARGE in my sidebar. I don’t care if your blog tiny or gargantuan. I don’t care if you have 2 page views per day or 2 Million. This will give me a chance to figure out this whole sponsorship thing, while you get some free exposure.

You’ll need to provide me with the 125 x 125 banner for the ad. Depending on how well this thing works out, I will select four additional sponsors for a total of six to run, free of charge, until April. You will pretty much be approved as long as youre not a spammer or pedaling something I wouldn’t approve of (sex toys, escort services, etc).

Here’s how you do it and what I need if you’re interested

If you’re interested, please email me with the word “Sponsorship” in the subject line

• Write one paragraph for me on something you did in the last year that you’re proud of.
• Your website URL
• A description of your blog and/or business
• Why you’re interested
• Your pitch: why should it be your ad?

At the end of April, I will send you a bill for $5 to keep your banner on the site. If youre getting decent traffic, pay for the banner. If not, you can bail. No risk, no hard feelings. I will be making my banner choices in 5 days, SO HURRY UP AND ACT NOW!

How much talent you have really doesn’t matter. How much time you invest in developing your talent is paramount. If youre a great dancer by nature, that’s good. But to be great you need to invest time into your craft. In what area do you want to be more talented?

Investing?

Public Speaking?

Production?

Web Design?

Sales?

Golf?

Basket Weaving?

If you don’t have a lot of talent in the area, then get busy – it will take massive amounts of time to get there. It will take more time than you think, but less time than you expect. The important thing is to get to work today, right now. Practice, train, study the greats, try, and try some more.

More Talent doesn’t equal more success. More time invested does.Persist through the long and boring hours of repetition that success demands.  Get busy.

“There are massive returns to doggedness, the people who achieve the most are often the ones who stick with it when others don’t. . . They show up. They practice and practice and practice some more…  …The world is littered with talented people who didn’t persist, who didn’t put in the hours, who gave up too early, who thought they could ride on talent alone.” – Dan Pink