Jab Till It Hurts - Chapter 9: A Successful Entrepreneur

There’s one quality that I believe determines whether someone will be successful, or whether they’ll fail in whatever endeavor it is they’re pursuing. It’s tenacity. I have a relentless tenacity that is so visible to everyone. My wife talks about it, my friends talk about it.

Failure doesn’t exist for me, because it’s not an option for me. Besides tenacity, the other quality many entrepreneurs share, in my opinion, is the desire to always do more, to one-up themselves. See, for me, everything is a game. Let me explain. Sales days begin for us at 12:00 AM—every day, the calendar resets at midnight. So, let’s say we start rolling in sales early in the day and we hit $1,000 in new business sales by 3 AM. For me, it’s not a financial thing. It’s not about the $1,000, the question is can we do $2,000 by 6 AM? $10,000 by the end of the day? It’s a game to me. It’s always wanting to one-up what we just accomplished.

Seeing business as a game and seeing it as fun is a nice way to grow. It’s not about dollars and cents, it’s about doing better than before and achieving something that we have not yet achieved. I don’t necessarily size people up, what I do is listen to them, and what they’re doing. Just based on the way they talk, or the way they position what it is that they’re doing, it’s pretty easy to determine if they’re on the right path or not. They may succeed by accident, or they might fail because of poor planning. But the reality is most entrepreneurs are dreamers, living way, way in the future. They don’t spend a lot of time in the past. They don’t spend a lot of time reminiscing or putting out fires in the day-to-day. They envision tomorrow and dream about what will be.

My First Business

Entrepreneur wasn’t a word when I was a kid, but I knew I was different. I always knew that I was different—not in a good way, at times. I was a terrible student, terrible. Part of it was that I was bored. School didn’t challenge me, and most of the crap I was taught was useless, like teats on a bull to me, and I just thought school was a complete waste of my time. To this day, I still believe that our school system is busted beyond belief, and is a waste of most of our kids’ time, and doesn’t teach them anything.

Anyway, it was 1979. I was 12 years old, and there was a gas shortage in the United States because of something going on with OPEC. There was rationing of gas. People could only get gas on odd numbered days, or even numbered days depending on your license plate number. The lines would extend for miles because there was this shortage.

There I was in Queens, New York, growing up right off of Union Turnpike and 166th Street—shout out to the people of Queens—and, the first or second day, I saw the lines forming, and asked my mom what they were. My mom explained, and so I decided to take my bike down to Kissena Boulevard, to Buddy’s Bike Shop. I had gone there a lot because I was into bikes, and BMX was starting to become a thing. All I wanted to do was ride. Anyway, I said, “Buddy, I need your help. Could you put all of the baskets you could possibly configure onto my bike?” I came back the next day, and he had done it. I didn’t have the money to pay for this, but I told him I would work it off. He was super cool about it. I don’t think my parents ever knew this part. This is the first time I shared this little detail.

Anyway, I got the baskets, and the next morning at 4:30 AM, I was working the gas line on my bike offering coffee, donuts and newspapers to the people in the line. I didn’t charge them a service fee, they paid for what they ordered and I just worked for tips. I quickly figured out that I could get Dunkin’ Donuts a little cheaper if I pre-ordered. I started to get into the rhythm of knowing how many donuts I would need each day. At 12 years old, I was making thousands of dollars a week. That was my first business venture. I was providing a service people needed—I had a solution that would make their day better. Money was a side effect, benefit of the service.

My Daily Habits

My habits are a little bit strange, but I think part of what works for me is my routine.

My new daily routine is getting up at 5 AM, having my coffee, and getting in the gym by 5:30. My quiet time to think is spent on the treadmill doing my cardio. Working with a personal trainer has helped me lose weight, get in better shape (for me), and has given me even more energy than I’ve ever had.

What I then do is shower, and ideas start to flow when I’m in the shower. When I get out, I jot them down immediately. When I have a shower thought, and I do call them shower thoughts, I will lose them the moment someone talks to me or my focus shifts. I know I will forget some really great ideas before I get the chance to write them down if I don’t do it right away. Now that I have Amazon devices all over my home, it makes it easier. Alexa has changed my world because I could walk to any room in my home and say, “Alexa, take a note,” and it will drop it in a To Do list for me automatically.

For me, mornings are the most productive for idea generation and organizing my day. I really need that quiet time. I find news to be very distracting, music to be very distracting. I just like silence and my coffee.

The Sweat of Regret

I was on summer vacation with my family in Southern California when, at 4 AM one morning, it hit me: I don’t want to have regrets about would’ve, should’ve, and could’ve. At 51, I realized that if I make it to 80, that only gives me 29 more years on Earth to accomplish my goals. That is nothing! 29 more years to get to where I want to be, to make things happen, to make the world a better place for my kids, for my family, for my legacy.

If you are the same age I am, 51 or 50 or 45 or 60, and you’re still wanting to achieve great things, or little things, or important things to you, please, please don’t wake up in the sweat of regret. It’s scary as shit to step off the pier and not know if you can swim, but I’m telling you, you can figure this shit out. And the longer you stay doing the thing you don’t like doing, the more you’re going to wake up in the sweat of regret.

There is nothing worse than being at the end of your life and wishing you had done this or that or the other thing. I remember when my grandfather, Lou, was about a week away from taking his last breath, we were talking about the things he never got to do in his life, things he had always wanted to do. One of them was visit the Great Wall of China. He wanted to go to China and take this amazing trip—and never got to do it. I promised him that I would take that trip, that I would see the Great Wall of China. I had no desire, at the time, to see the Great Wall of China, but I said, “Grandpa, I will go. I will see this thing that you never got to see.” He had deep regret because he put it off to accommodate others in his life. He put it off to make sure everyone else was provided for, that everyone else’s needs were met.

I just want to remind you that there’s nothing wrong with being selfish once in a while. Because what I’m really talking about here is not actually selfish at all—because the happier you are, the more productive you are, the better off your entire family will be.

I also remember when my father-in-law John was diagnosed with cancer. As the end of his life drew closer, a regret surfaced. One of the things that he had always regretted was not taking all of the kids, spouses and grandkids to Disney World. He wanted to do this amazing family trip. Not everybody wanted to do it, but had he pushed for it, it would’ve happened. I know that was a regret for him that he never got to do this thing with his grandkids, all of the grandkids together—because he didn’t push for his dreams, for his goals, for his life’s ambition. That was something that he wanted to do.

Too many people die with regrets. They die with unfinished business. Now’s your opportunity to finish that business. Now’s the opportunity for you to make that change, to live life on your terms. Don’t wake up in the sweat of regret.

Better Than Sex

Sure, sex feels great. But the intense pleasure doesn’t really last that long. You can’t feel the climax all day, every day. So, what feels better than sex? How about helping someone achieve their goals? This idea isn’t like some Miss America statement to win a competition, either. Helping others really does feel better than sex, and the pleasure is constant. This has been one of the biggest takeaways for me since I launched Ad Zombies: the ability I have to help others in their businesses is so personally fulfilling, it’s not even funny.

When you start your business, your brand, whatever it is you do, if you’re an expert in a certain area where others are not, you have the unique ability to help them, to give value in ways that other people just can’t. The ability to help somebody achieve their goals, the ability to give someone something, to jab, and to help is so awesome, and it feels so damn good.

There is nothing better. There is no high that is better, there is no sex that is better than being able to help someone. So, as you start down your journey to take that leap, and to make big changes in your life, to do your thing, and to create your version of whatever it is you’re going to do, remember as you go to help people along the way. Be helpful. Give of yourself freely. Continue to do so every single day, because it feels so great, and pays you back in so many ways that you don’t even realize. Giving like this, helping someone achieve their goals, feels way better than sex.

Key Points from Chapter 9

  • One quality that will serve you well as you start and grow your business? Tenacity. Don’t quit.

  • Get up early each day and devote time to simply thinking and jotting down ideas.

  • Don’t wake up in the sweat of regret later in life by failing to act now.

  • Nothing feels better than helping people achieve their goals. As you grow, keep giving and helping.

Conclusion

I have now gone over the manuscript of this book five or six times. I’ve had my Apple computer read the manuscript to me at least a dozen times. I realize it might sound repetitive at times, but I cannot stress enough that in order to achieve, you have to take action. Many people will read this book, or listen to the audiobook and be motivated or inspired, yet they’ll do nothing. I don’t know if it’s a human nature thing, or what, but Gary Vaynerchuk said this to me at dinner: “I can give away all of my best advice for free to people, and only a very small percentage, maybe one percent, will put it to use, will take action.”

It’s Not the End, It’s the Beginning

I hope this book inspires you to be that one percent. Maybe I’ll get lucky and hit two percent. But I hope it inspires you to realize that whatever you think you can do, or whatever you dream of doing, you can do. There are no more shackles on you. The man doesn’t own you. It’s time for you to lose the floaties, jump off the pier, and learn to swim. Because once you start swimming, you’ll discover there’s a massive ocean waiting for you.

Did You Get Value From This?

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Ken 'Spanky' MoskowitzJab Till It Hurts, Gary Vaynerchuk, Spanky Moskowitz, TYC, Best-Selling Author