…and food is not one of them, regardless of whether I think it should or not.
We as internet marketers hear it all the time. Hustle this, hustle that. “#hustle” and on and on. What exactly do people mean when they say they are “hustling” anyways?

I’m convinced that 50% of them are posing because it makes them look like a baller on their Twitter feed, or Facebook walls. Another 40% are facebooking, tweeting, emailing, and doing a myriad of other distracting activities that make them think they are hustling just because they are keeping busy. And then there is the elite 10% that IS actually #hustle – ing. Ferrr Realziez.
Faith Without Works is Dead. Hustle Without Definition is Bullshit. – Jeremy Blake
So what exactly does it mean to hustle, and more importantly, what are 5 things that you should be hustling for as an internet marketer?
- Link Building
- Idea Brainstorming
- Relationship Building
- Competition Sniping
- Outsourcing
Link building is just one of those things that never ceases to be important. Regardless of what Shoestradamus tends to think about the future of SEO, I think that for at least 5 more years link building will be important. Especially in the social bookmarking realm, which I have started taking very much advantage of in various niches. So keep link building. It’s easy to buy into the idea that SEO is dead, or dying, but hey, it’s stillll workin for me.
The Takeaway: Link build as much as possible! Without looking like a robot, of course. And try to add some degree of value (Read: relevant link building). Spam is crap.
Idea Brainstorming is always something that I love to do. Funny thing is, it’s involuntary. I wish there were just some switch to turn it on or off, but it depends a lot on the mood I’m in, what music I’m listening to, how hungry I am, what book I may have just finished reading, and a variety of other factors. Most awesome ideas come when I have some peaceful, inspirational music on and I’m at relative peace with myself and the world. Then the ideas start to flow… You need to find out what sparks this revelatory process for you. Then get in those moods, listen to that music, read those books and do whatever it takes to get inspiration, and then always be ready to write those ideas down. Tell ya what, amazing things happen when you start actually writing down and cataloging your ideas.
The Takeaway: Learn what moods, music, and books spur inspiration in yourself and put yourself in these situations as often as possible.
Relationship Building is something that I suck at. I’m far better at building relationships in the digital world than I am in the real world. I dunno, it’s probably because I’m a pansy and usually lacking confidence and it’s a lot easier to type out an email, read it over 400 times, and then send it and wait for a reply then to tell someone how I feel face to face. I may be a pansy, but there are several reasons why I think email is 400x more efficient than face-to-face communication, but…(I’ll get into defending myself on this front in a later post).
Anywho, some of my best relationships as far as business goes, have been built online, and they’re with people that I have never met face to face. Perhaps you reading this are one of those people. (Hey dude!) Point is, you need to get in the habit of linking up with people and building relationships be it in the digital realm, or for my brave warriors out there, in the physical, face-to-face realm. There are tons of people out there who are 100x smarter than you, and that are willing to help if you just ask. Just the same, maybe you’re good at something they suck at and they will feel like they can ask you something and you can help them out. This includes affiliate managers, fellow bloggers, people who comment on your blog, people who comment on other blogs that you comment on, etc… Relationship building 101 from a kid with no real friends. How about that?
The Takeaway: Even if you’re a pansy like me, there is endless opportunity to build meaningful, strong business relationships in the digital world.
Competition Sniping is an art that I have just learned to both enjoy and exploit. What do I mean? I mean pinpointing exactly what is making your #1 competitor successful and defining a pattern of hustle that will blow them out of the water. This could include reserving domain names that your competition may need (they just don’t realize it yet), reserving social media profiles with unique profile *cough*their*cough* names. Discovering their link building strategy, and linking yourself up where they’re linked up, and then working even harder to get tons more links than they have that are even MORE relevant than the links they have. These are just a few ideas. Just remember. We’re trying to dominate the marathon, not the sprint. Chances are, your competition is riding the sugar high of winning the sprint and is blinded by the success they are feeling now to open their eyes to expansion opportunities and growth potential. Kick their ass.
The Takeaway: Treat your competition like bullies used to treat me in school. There is so much that your competition is NOT doing, or doing properly. Stop focusing on what they are doing well, and start focusing on what they aren’t, and how you can sneak in and insert a treadmill under their feet. Get it? So they think they’re still sprinting, but they really aren’t going anywhere. I’m so cool.
Outsourcing is one of the best things that I have ever discovered. This is the part where we define a hustle, and then tell someone else to do it. If you haven’t fully grasped the power of not having to work as hard as you used to yet, you need to get on it. I know several people in my family that would be disgusted to read what I just wrote. They’d think, how could that little sob mf&*@# possibly work any less than he already does? Well, my friends, I outsource. I tell someone to do something, they do it, I do my thing (which takes much less effort and time), and then I get paid. And the pay is swell. And the effort is minimal.
The Takeaway: Stop working so damned hard. Pay someone to write those articles. Hire someone to design that logo for you. You suck at it, and I doubt you’re planning on taking graphic design classes any time soon, so stop hating on yourself and your lack of skill and pay someone to do it. Heck, there are tons of people on a cool site called Fiverr (my post about it) that are willing to make one for you for only $5 bucks. (something funny I did with Fiverr NSFW)
So in summary, you should probably stop saying that you’re hustling just to say it. Define that hustle, and start actually hustling. There’s no hustle in screwing around on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts all day (unless you’ve defined that into your hustle plan, of course). Let your ocean-side mansion, butler, and Lamborghini all speak for your hustle some day.