The Hustler’s Mindset
As I’ve mentioned, I always held the mindset that I could get anything that I wanted for myself, and I understood that there was always a way to get it – the key was to figure out how.
How did I get what I wanted?
Well, I got a job as a cook. Because my parents were working class people, that’s what I knew on how to get money. I was brought up on the get a job and work hard mentality. So I did. It was only when I was mentored by a man that had his own Hawaii towing business that I learned the ropes of being an entrepreneur.
But before that, as I worked hard at my part-time job after school and on the weekends for my money, I learned a valuable lesson on value and the economics of supply and demand. I took the newly learned concept and became a hustler.
“I’m a hustla, imma, imma hustla'” – rap song by Cassidy
No, I didn’t slang anything illegal. The rap game just influenced me a little to acquire material things.
Anyway, no I didn’t sell drugs or anything. I was a video gamer and that’s what I learned to slang – video game counsels. You see, back then the video game counsel wars had begun between Microsoft and Sony. At first, I wanted to get and acquire the latest “Next Generation” video game counsels for me and my brother to play. But, I noticed that the video game companies either released a limited amount for strategic purposes, or just didn’t have enough supply (I feel it was the earlier). So stores where left with a limited supply of video game counsels to release but with a huge demand for them. Some stores could’t even fulfill the reservations that they took in advance.
If you didn’t reserve for the counsel ahead of time, the only way you could get them was to wait in line. I seen the opportunity. It was right before the Christmas, I knew that the resale value of the most demanded product(s) of the holiday season would be high.
So, me and my brother got our camping gear ready (which was only some chairs to sit on), picked our location that we knew was going to release the counsels, set up our chairs at the store’s designated line, and camped. We camped sometimes overnight, 10 hours plus (hey we had nothing better to do and it was for a good cause. It was worth my time). While everyone was eager to rip open that box and play it, I couldn’t wait to see how much money I could make.
It was always me and my brother in line, so we often bought 2 counsels (they limited it 1 per person). I posted them for sale soon after the purchase and got them sold fairly quick. I doubled… and tripled my money. People didn’t hesitate to pick them up from me for outrageous prices.
It was tempting for me and my brother to just open the video game counsels up and play the sparkly things and get hypnotized by the highly improved graphics, but we stayed disciplined and taught ourselves a valuable lesson in delayed gratification.
It was a great learning experience. At the time it was unconscious to me that I was practicing a principle of business.
As time passed, my time had gotten more valuable than flipping video game counsels. But, I did the same thing, just with more valuable things. Ever take notice of new housing property releases or lot releases?
Not only that, I also learned how to hire someone and use their time!
