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Success Advice

7 Ways to Kick Start Your Hustle Efforts

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Joel Brown

Success comes to those who don’t wait and go out and get what they want. And if you don’t want to be a person who waits for things and gets the things left by those who hustle, become a hustler yourself. This new habit is pretty easy to form. Just believe in yourself. Be determined. And learn the ways of putting yourself out there.  So, let’s kick start your hustle efforts.

Here are 7 ways to kick start your hustle efforts:

1. First things first, do your homework

Have a specific type of client in mind that you’d like to work for. Start doing your homework to find out where they hang out at. There’s no sense in marketing yourself if you’re in the wrong areas.

If you want to work for local clients, look for coffee shops, office supply or book stores, or other places your prospective clients hang out at. Don’t forget about online places like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, forums, or other message boards.

2. Put together a plan of action

Once you put together a bunch of names and information on your prospective clients, it’s time to start putting together a plan of action. For example, to cut the amount of time you spend on email outreach, create a template which later you’ll be adjusting so it’s personalized to them. You might only save 2-3 minutes on an email, but after you send 100-200 of these, you’ll see how much time you can actually save over the year.

“Action is the foundational key to all success.” – Pablo Picasso

3. Now you contact them

If you’re writing an email, go ahead and send the emails out to everyone, as fast as you can without feeling like you’re missing something important. If you want to call the prospective clients, make sure you’ve made some quick notes on paper so you can look at them in case they ask questions like, for instance, how you could boost their profits.

And this is where your expertise and planning goes into action. Point out (quickly) a couple of areas that you could improve and that you’d love to sit down with them for a free coffee (on you of course) to discuss things a bit further.

4. Use Google to find work

Another way you can hustle yourself and find extra work is by googling. I didn’t mention this in the above places because I feel like it’s severely underused and I’d like to shine a little bit more light on it. The method of finding work here is simple, yet effective.

If you’re looking for blogs to design, search Google for “keyword blog” and start looking at every result that comes up. If you feel like you can help make their blog better, find their name and contact them with your skeleton email that I mentioned above. I’d personally go through the first 5-10 pages in order to make sure you’ve got enough contacts out there.

Out of every 20 you send, you’ll generally get 5 or so responses and if you’re a smooth enough talker, you can land a couple of sales. Not bad for an hour or so of leg work, right?

5. Start working on free stuff

A great way to get your name out there more as well as show off your skills is to put together some freebies. For writers, you could release a free guide that gives tips to people you’d normally like to work with. For designers, you can release design freebies on sites like Design Moo.

This will allow you to build a reputation as a skilled freelancer, plus you’ll get backlinks to your website which is always good and could land you some extra work from people who might want something you’ve customized a bit (this happens a lot with WordPress developers and xhtml/css coders).

6. Sleep less

Listen, I know a lot of people out there feel like they need 8 hours of sleep in order to function, but in reality, it’s just an excuse that people use in order to work less. If you’re not where you want to be in your life, you’re going to have to change something. Watching less television and youtube videos is a great start, but by cutting out a few hours of sleep every night, you’ll be able to accomplish much, much more.

When you sleep less, you’ll be able to get emails sent out at night so that way you’re on the top of the list in the morning when people open their inboxes. This will increase your open rates and will hopefully land you some more sales. All while your competition is sleeping.

“I’ve got dreams that is worth more than my sleep.” – Eric Thomas

7. Study your competition

Speaking of your competition, are you studying what they’re doing? If not, you need to be. A lot of business owners talk about how they don’t care about what anyone else is doing, but in reality they do and if they’re not personally checking it, they’ve got a team watching the trends.

By seeing what your competition is doing and building on their successes and making your offers better, you’ll be able to stay one step ahead of them.

You can also learn a lot about the direction the market is headed by studying your competition and seeing what they’ve done right and wrong. Don’t worry about what they’re doing now – think about what they’re going to do in the future and do it first. Put yourself in their shoes and think “what would I do next?” and then go do it.

How are you kick starting your hustle efforts? Please leave your thoughts below!
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Success Advice

Why One-Size-Fits-All Leadership Will Always Fail (and What Works Instead)

The surprising truth about leadership styles that can make or break your team’s success.

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Leadership has always been as much about people as it is about performance. Ken Blanchard, in his influential book, “The One Minute Manager”, put it simply: different strokes for different folks. (more…)

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What Every New CEO Must Do in Their First 100 Days (or Risk Failure)

Your first 100 days as CEO could define your entire legacy, here’s how to make every move count

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The Leadership Shift Every Company Needs in 2025

Struggling to keep your team engaged? Here’s how leaders can turn frustrated employees into loyal advocates.

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Image Credit: Midjourney

In workplaces around the world, there’s a growing gap between employers and employees and between superiors and their teams. It’s a common refrain: “People don’t leave companies, they leave bad bosses.”

While there are, of course, cases where management could do better, this isn’t just a “bad boss” problem. The relationship between leaders and employees is complex. Instead of assigning blame, we should explore practical solutions to build stronger, healthier workplaces where everyone thrives.

Why This Gap Exists

Every workplace needs someone to guide, supervise, and provide feedback. That’s essential for productivity and performance. But because there are usually far more employees than managers, dissatisfaction, fair or not, spreads quickly.

What if, instead of focusing on blame, we focused on building trust, empathy, and communication? This is where modern leadership and human-centered management can make a difference.

Tools and Techniques to Bridge the Gap

Here are proven strategies leaders and employees can use to foster stronger relationships and create a workplace where people actually want to stay.

1. Practice Mutual Empathy

Both managers and employees need to recognize they are ultimately on the same team. Leaders have to balance people and performance, and often face intense pressure to hit targets. Employees who understand this reality are more likely to cooperate and problem-solve collaboratively.

2. Maintain Professional Boundaries

Superiors should separate personal issues from professional decision-making. Consistency, fairness, and integrity build trust, and trust is the foundation of a motivated team.

3. Follow the Golden Rule

Treat people how you would like to be treated. This simple principle encourages compassion and respect, two qualities every effective leader must demonstrate.

4. Avoid Micromanagement

Micromanaging stifles creativity and damages morale. Great leaders see themselves as partners, not just bosses, and treat their teams as collaborators working toward a shared goal.

5. Empower Employees to Grow

Empowerment means giving employees responsibility that matches their capacity, and then trusting them to deliver. Encourage them to take calculated risks, learn from mistakes, and problem-solve independently. If something goes wrong, turn it into a learning opportunity, not a reprimand.

6. Communicate in All Directions

Communication shouldn’t just be top-down. Invite feedback, create open channels for suggestions, and genuinely listen to what your people have to say. Healthy upward communication closes gaps before they become conflicts.

7. Overcome Insecurities

Many leaders secretly fear being outshone by younger, more tech-savvy employees. Instead of resisting, embrace the chance to learn from them. Humility earns respect and helps the team innovate faster.

8. Invest in Coaching and Mentorship

True leaders grow other leaders. Provide mentorship, career guidance, and stretch opportunities so employees can develop new skills. Leadership is learned through experience, but guided experience is even more powerful.

9. Eliminate Favoritism

Avoid cliques and office politics. Decisions should be based on facts and fairness, not gossip. Objective, transparent decision-making builds credibility.

10. Recognize Efforts Promptly

Recognition often matters more than rewards. Publicly appreciate employees’ contributions and do so consistently and fairly. A timely “thank you” can be more motivating than a quarterly bonus.

11. Conduct Thoughtful Exit Interviews

When employees leave, treat it as an opportunity to learn. Keep interviews confidential and use the insights to improve management practices and culture.

12. Provide Leadership Development

Train managers to lead, not just supervise. Leadership development programs help shift mindsets from “command and control” to “coach and empower.” This transformation has a direct impact on morale and retention.

13. Adopt Soft Leadership Principles

Today’s workforce, largely millennials and Gen Z, value collaboration over hierarchy. Soft leadership focuses on partnership, mutual respect, and shared purpose, rather than rigid top-down control.

The Bigger Picture: HR’s Role

Mercer’s global research highlights five key priorities for organizations:

  • Build diverse talent pipelines

  • Embrace flexible work models

  • Design compelling career paths

  • Simplify HR processes

  • Redefine the value HR brings

The challenge? Employers and employees often view these priorities differently. Bridging that perception gap is just as important as bridging the relational gap between leaders and staff.

Treat Employees Like Associates, Not Just Staff

When you treat employees like partners, they bring their best selves to work. HR leaders must develop strategies to keep talent engaged, empowered, and prepared for the future.

Organizational success starts with people, always. Build the relationship with your team first, and the results will follow.

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Entrepreneurs

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