When You Can’t Quit.
“Don’t just talk that talk, walk it and go forward. The walk doesn’t have to be long strides; baby steps counted too. Go forward.” — Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness.
This is hard. This requires tenacity. This doesn’t happen overnight.
The “This” is, making ideas manifest — This is Entrepreneurship. For the past few months I have been searching for the right book, film, quote, personal story, and really — just the right mix of encouraging words to keep pushing when shit gets tough. Over the years I have always been able to find the perfect words, whether it be in a music track, book or personal story but it didn’t happen this time.
So I figured I would try a different route to reach fulfillment — I will share a bit of my story. I will release.
Some of my story:
I am a 3rd generation entrepreneur. It’s in my DNA — I call it “Blue Blood Hustle DNA”. This Blue Blood Hustle DNA spans my matriarchal and patriarchal blood lines. My blood line consists of business owners in the following fields — chauffeurs, seamstresses, tailors, real estate brokers, retail owners, tobacco farmers and automobile repair.
‘Blue blood’ defined: 1. an aristocrat, noble, or member of a socially prominent family. 2. aristocratic, noble, or socially prominent lineage or relatives
This Blue Blood Hustle DNA I speak of does not fully meet the criteria of that definition, as wealth and valuable physical assets are fundamental in this definition. To date my family hasn’t been fortunate enough to amass a fortune vast enough to pass on — even for seed investment money. However, what has been passed on from each generation is a genealogical trait of a strong sense of the Hustle aristocracy.
‘Hustle’ defined: 1. to proceed or work rapidly or energetically. 2. to push or force one’s way; jostle or shove. 3. to be aggressive, especially in business or other financial dealings. 4. ability to make things happen when others can’t (Talib’s addition)
This Hustle + Blue Blood DNA has taken me many places in life. I was born in University of Pennsylvania Hospital and lived in Center City Philadelphia until I was 11 years old. My parents owned finer women’s apparel boutiques — “Richard B. Manns the Clothier” in the prosperous Rittenhouse Square area of Philadelphia.
My parents’ boutique was in the middle of the booming business district of Center City. Politicians, TV Personalities, and Professionals of all walks of life shopped in Richard B. Manns the Clothier. My parents would host after hours events with jazz quartets and cocktails for late evening shopping and hobnobbing. Their business was ‘happening’.
As early as 5 years old I was traveling with my father to make wholesale purchases, host trunk shows, and assist customers — our travels took us to Atlanta, New York, Ohio, Washington D.C., and Florida to name a few. You see, relying on retail-store foot traffic isn’t always enough to pay the bills — he had to hit the road, and meet the money where it was. And in our case the money was in the many prominent black communities of the east coast. For 15 years my father and mother would run their store at 1921 Walnut St — when my father would go on the road my mother would run it independently.
Richard B. Manns the Clothier had a fantastic run for 15 years in Philadelphia. However, as with many business of the 80’s, high interest rates, a couple of bad business decisions plus other macro/micro factors that Malcolm Gladwell can better articulate than me — resulted in my family closing-up shop and moving south. We landed in rural North Carolina at my great-great grandparents “home-house”, this was where my family regrouped — we didn’t have much money. Matter of fact, after a few months in — my mother didn’t have a car. Things got real.
This was a tough chapter for my family as what had become common for us in Philadelphia was impossible to recreate in rural NC. My mother’s side of the family owned hundreds of acres of farm land and a family compound consisting of six homes. During our time in rural N.C. I learned to chop wood for the fireplace, make new friends, clean houses and churches to make a few of my own spending dollars. There were no more corner stores, double dutch, water hydrant fights or gourmet food shops that we grew accustomed to. Everything was new, yet very OLD at the same time. We started over from scratch.
This was time of transition for me and my family. It set our life on a different trajectory (more of that in another post). I wouldn’t trade it though — through it, I learned three very valuable life lessons. The first is about handling Failure. The second is about knowing your Worth. The third is about unlocking Tenacity.
Handling Failure. You need to fail. You need to hear NO. You need to figure out the Why. My first question to job candidates or people looking to partner in a venture is “tell me about a time when you failed, and what it felt like”. The response should be a mix of a piercing stare, quick dodging eyes, a slight throat grunt and a swallow. What should follow is a narrative that involves dealing with risk, vulnerability, lessons learned and a high reverence for what success can feel like. We have to know what failure feels like, so we can better avoid it.
Knowing Your Worth. Know your value. In the words of DMX in the film Belly “Your baby can’t eat no books”, paraphrased — all of your inspirational readings, business cases, and social media posting don’t mean anything if you can’t turn that IDEA INTO A MANIFESTATION. I can’t front, it can take time to figure out what to bring to the marketplace. But when you do figure it out make sure you get paid to do it. If a person isn’t willing to pay you for it — you need to take a few steps back and figure out why. Recalibrate.
Unlocking Tenacity. We will get kicked. It will sting. We will heal. I think Tenacity is the cornerstone of success for those of us who are trying to build ‘something from nothing’. FYI — Tenacity is that whisper in your ear — “you can do more” — it is also that yelling in your ear — “get the hell up! stop being weak!” Tenacity knows how to talk to you to get your attention. Stay ready to be a better you.
“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” — Ernest Hemingway.
The above photo was taken at 12:05 on my Birthday this year in Durham, NC. At the stroke of midnight I walked into a Pub and found a $20 bill on the ground. All this happened a few minutes after I strolled down Durham’s Black Wall Street (Parrish St.) while having a conversation about a few businesses that we have manifesting. I took this $20 bill and my path to it finding it as a sign of Good Things To Come.
Keep Hustling. — Talib
