For Entrepreneurs, Hustle is Greater Than Luck

Here’s what I know for sure: luck and hustle matter.

This is a perfect time to bust out my fave graphic. 🙂

Unlike the question of the chicken and the egg, the matter of which comes first is solved for me, as it relates to luck and hustle. 

Hustle > Luck

Without hustle, there is no luck for entrepreneurs.

Last night something pretty cool happened that inspired this article.

At 8pm I got an email from a writer for ESSENCE magazine, the leading publication for Black Women in America, with an urgent request for a proper photo for an upcoming article. The article is an interview with a famous interior designer, with whom I am good friends.

This is awesome on sooooo many levels.

1. The interior designer who recommended my business in the article totally did me a solid by including me without me even asking. It was hustle that led me to her two years ago when I needed a designer for this booth at BlogHer, and I was lucky her star was rising at the time:

2. Black women is a demographic with which I haven’t gotten much traction to date, but would love to do so. Naturally, news of inclusion in ESSENCE is very intriguing.

3. Once I got the email from the writer, my hustle really kicked in.

The More I Hustle, The Luckier I Get

There was a twitter handle in the writer’s email, so I also sent her a tweet.

She called me back in ten minutes and thanked me for being so prompt with my reply on a Sunday night. Then she said something I thought was interesting:

In my experience, people who respond to me quickly [i.e., hustle] tend to be successful entrepreneurs. – ESSENCE magazine writer

In her Twitter bio she mentioned she went to Spelman College, the sister school of my alma mater, Morehouse College. So, we connected around that.

Her Twitter bio also mentioned she is a relationship expert, so I told her about this blog and how thankful I am for my wife and all the support she’s given me to make my dream a reality. I told her my story then sent her this recent family photo:

She loved it!

And now she wants to interview my wife and me for the magazine. Yep, the same magazine that’s read by a demographic I really want to reach.

The Bottom Line

Luck and hustle both matter.

But hustle is greater than luck.

As entrepreneurs, sometimes we never know what will work, so we have to keep hustling.

Never. Stop. Hustling.

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Feature image credit: Beverley Goodwin Up!