Hustle: Securing your income- Being indispensable and building your brand
By: Jerry Hernandez
“If you are the best at what you do, you are indispensable”
Everybody who is reading this woke up today. This in itself is a blessing, so congratulations on that. That is the first step. But what else typically happens from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed. Maybe you make your bed if you’re lucky enough to have one, brush your teeth, eat breakfast, take care of your kid(s), etc. but then what? For most, (70% of people in the world, according to a quick google search), it is going to work in some form or fashion. That means around 5 billion people every day are working. Think of how many different jobs, industries, demographics, and compensations are represented. Think of all the different routines and habits that there must be. What separates you and yours?
So really if you break it down, when it comes to employment there are two types of people. Employed and unemployed. Variety of different circumstances represented in both of those categories but simply put, those are the two. If you are one of the lucky ones who can work and you have a job that produces income, this is for you. If you are in the other boat because of different circumstances, this could still be for you but maybe just not in the same sense. What do I mean by that? The same principles not only apply to work but also to life in general.
The majority of the world views their primary source of income as their key to financial stability. What is your primary source of income? SECURE IT. As far as your financial success is concerned, your primary source of income is quite literally the biggest priority. Be the best at what you do. Every single day. The last person who has to worry about losing their job is the person who is the best at it. And as mentioned above, there are plenty of people in the workforce. Center your focus around mastering one form of income before you pursue others. Your time and how you allocate it are crucial to your success. If you were to go somewhere else, would it shake the culture completely?
A lot of people will develop some sort of side hustle, and I am never one to discourage any type of hustle but if it diminishes your ability to produce for your primary source of income then it is not the move. To be clear, there is a difference between someone who is busting their ass at their job that is their primary source of income but that just isn’t enough to pay the bills so they have to get a second or third job. My grandma is a great example of this. Her circumstances- being a minority that had issues speaking the native language, had a limited education, and was left by her spouse- resulted in her having to deal with adversity and adjust on the fly. That meant getting multiple jobs paying minimum wage to keep the lights on and feed her kids. That situation is not what I am talking about and people like my grandmother are not alone- according to some studies, there are 7.8 million people in America who have more than one job. Some of this is due to circumstances like my grandmother but then others just want to make more money on the side. Which is ok to do. Just make sure it is not at the expense of your primary source of income.
What is your brand? What do people say about you when you’re not in the room? While what people think and say about you shouldn’t be where you derive your self-value, their perception of you is ultimately what drives their decision to either have you a part of their life or not. This is especially critical when we talk about securing your income and applies to companies you work for or companies you own. This applies to anything that has to do with interacting with other people. Whatever your employer’s/customer’s perception is of you is what will drive their decisions to want to be associated with you/your brand. If you want to be successful in any aspect of life you have to take pride in how you present yourself and building that brand. If I want to be impactful to people and be a positive influence as far as financial literacy goes but I have a credit score of 500, haven’t paid my bills on time, and have declared bankruptcy how successful will I be?
Be the best at what you do so that you’re indispensable. Stay disciplined around building your brand.