Grinding and Hustling are Talents, Not Skills!

I can't help it: I love reading, but most of all writing about entrepreneurship. I have huge respect for entrepreneurs and I end up profoundly connecting with them because of their vision and passion.

Entrepreneurship versus Corporate

There are two type of people in the business world: entrepreneurs and corporate people. Obviously I'm painting a black and white picture to make a point but before shooting, hear me out. Entrepreneurs are proactive people wanting to change the status quo. Whereas corporate people are good in politics and are experts in rules and procedures. In case you have been reading my posts, then it's no surprise that I'm a proponent of stimulating an entrepreneurial culture within an organization. Granted, diversity is very important and there needs to be a mixture of characters but there are many different forms of entrepreneurship. In a market that is dynamic you need people with a variety of backgrounds that are able to proactively innovate or collaborate.

What is Grinding and Hustling?

Entrepreneurship is sexy again. SMEs have been booming like never before thanks to SaaS technology. Enterprise software used to only be available for large companies but now small companies can also gain competitive advantage with SaaS. Also there's a trend of large corporations acting more like a startup. Multinationals that aren't able to transform in this kind of manner might be extinct in a few years.

The basics of any good entrepreneur is grinding and hustling. According to American Webster:

Grind: to move with difficulty and friction.

Hustle: to move or work in a quick or energetic way

Or in other words, grinding and hustling is doing all that is necessary to get business and overcome obstacles/objections. It's about working very hard to be on the phone with customers and bringing value to them.  These are two terms that have become popular thanks to internet personality Gary Vaynerchuk. So to come back on the difference between an entrepreneurial and corporate professional: instead of dealing with internal politics, an entrepreneur rather spends his time with customers. Instead of waiting for Marketing to give leads, an entrepreneur creates his own brand to engage with customers.

Difference between Talents and Skills?

I recently participated in a LinkedIn group discussion on what the difference is between talents and skills. Well.. I believe that (hard) skills can be learned, whereas (soft) talents can be unlocked and further developed.

Take hustling and grinding as an example: it's something you have within you or you don't. If you're afraid to go to customers and pitch an idea, then maybe Sales might not be a good career choice. My love for Sales started early during my college years. I started selling magazines and news papers to students. Even though it was a declining business due to digitalization, I still went out and did it. I hustled my way to students by convincing professors to give me some talk time during lectures. Therefore I learned by actually selling and not by reading textbooks. That's why every door-to-door salesman speaks to my heart and I love getting cold calls. Grinding and hustling is really where Sales starts and you can further build upon that foundation.