I spent a huge chunk of my life making absolutely ZERO positive impact on other people. Now I’m dedicated to changing that. I’m starting the Brewed with Hustle podcast with three goals in mind.
- To inspire.
- To learn.
- To build relationships.
Brewed with hustle is a weekly podcast that we believe will have a huge impact on those looking to grow leadership skills or create businesses. Each week we’ll interview leaders and entrepreneurs to hear their stories and find out what makes them tick.
Much like brewing a beer, success in business is dependent on how much you put into it. If success were a beer, it would be “Brewed with Hustle.”
What tricks or hacks have they learned to make their business successful? What keeps them motivated? Who or what inspired them to get started and keep going? How do they do the amazing things they are doing? We’re about to find out the answers to these questions and so much more!
THE 51/49 STRATEGY
Several years ago I began studying and consuming content around the topics of leadership and entrepreneurship like crazy. One of the people I discovered who still has a huge impact on me to this day, is Gary Vaynerchuk. He has this strategy towards relationships called 51/49. That means, he makes sure that he provides at least 51% of the value in every relationship he has.
It’s interesting to me how many successful people I have seen who actually try to provide value to others instead of trying to see how much they can get out of every relationship they have. I actually know people who take the opposite approach by always asking, “what will I get out of this?” Without really knowing it, this is how I lived most of my life.
The 51/49 strategy actually reminds me of the very first quote I ever heard that changed the way I went about leadership, my life and my profession. That quote came from the late, great Zig Ziglar. He said, “You can have everything in life you want if you just help enough other people get what they want.”
Both concepts are basically the same approach. They seem like simple ideas, yet so many people, including my younger self, have a really hard time wrapping their heads around this idea. We’re so protective of ourselves it’s hard to understand how bringing value to someone else first is actually helpful to us.
WE NEED TO SEE PEOPLE LIKE US SUCCEEDING
When I was working towards starting my first business, Skydance Brewing Co., I read, watched and listened to every piece of content I could find that would help me to not only find the inspiration to get started, but also the technical aspects of creating a company. All the podcasts, videos and books I found on this subject became my education. Now my education comes in the form of doing.
Without consuming all that content, I’m not totally convinced I would have started my company. I’d probably still be working for someone else.
This is because I didn’t grow up in an entrepreneurial household or environment. I grew up with a single father who just worked as hard as he could to make sure we had the power turned on and food on the table.
When you are raised that way and you don’t see other people like you starting businesses or succeeding often, it can make you feel like starting a business is for “other people.” This type of thinking and belief will keep you from creating a business more than anything in this world. Entrepreneurship was just completely foreign to me. I wanted it, but didn’t think I was capable, or really even allowed.
This is why it’s important for minority entrepreneurs and leaders to share their stories with the world. It’s absolutely vital that they put an emphasis on the fact that their companies are minority owned. It’s also why we want people to know we are a Native American brewery. I want other Native Americans to have a chance at seeing someone like them creating businesses. The same goes for women who own companies. My daughter needs to see that women are capable of being successful.
I remember all the stories from entrepreneurs on these podcasts about how they dropped out of school, came from nothing, started a company with $100 or just changed their mindset to become a business owner and create something great. I began to realize that many of them were just like me, except they did one thing that I hadn’t. They started!
USING A PODCAST TO CREATE IMPACT
Brewed with Hustle is my new passion project. This podcast is my way of making an impact on others. Hopefully, I inspire someone else to just start.
There’s one thing I wish I had found more of in those days of consuming inspirational content as a way to help get me started. I wish I had seen more content from entrepreneurs during that critical time of getting started. I wish more of them had just documented their journey. Seeing the struggle, the tears, the difficult times with the great moments would have all been even more useful.
When you see entrepreneurs as a finished product, it’s easy to fall back into that mode of thinking they were able to do something you’re not capable of doing. This is why I’m starting my podcast now instead of later.
I wish I had known that all these amazing entrepreneurs went through the same struggles I went through when I first started my brewery. The business deals I regretted. The partnerships that didn’t work out. The financial difficulties in the early days. The plans that never seemed to unfold correctly. All of these are things that I have experienced early on that made me feel at times like I must be doing it all wrong.
Seeing successful entrepreneurs go through these same difficulties would have gone a long way towards reinforcing my belief in what I was doing. Luckily for me, my purpose and passion was strong enough to pull me through. So far.
I’m using my podcast, Brewed with Hustle, as a documentation of my journey. It’s my way of allowing others to see my own journey as it happens, while also sharing the stories and helpful information the people I interview have to share with the world.
Don’t get me wrong. I think I’ll also get something out of this. Not only will I get to learn from the people I interview, but this podcast is going to help me create relationships that will not only help my brewery, but will also benefit me personally. I said 51/49, not 100/0!
We will launch Brewed with Hustle on June 2nd, 2020 and it will debut on iTunes, Spotify and YouTube. We’ll have guests from many different industries and diverse cultural backgrounds. All I need is one young Native American to be inspired to start the business of their dreams. If that happens, the entire podcast and my brewery will be more than worth it!