Why We Hustle So Hard

For those of you who have been reading my weekly articles here on LinkedIn, you know that I've been hitting on topics laced with motivating and encouraging messages specifically directed towards business owners, entrepreneurs and all you other hard working "go-getters" out there. We've been talking a lot about overcoming failure, refusing to give up and how to properly apply wisdom in some of the most critical aspects of our business endeavors. From "Who Has Your Attention" to "Never Give Up", I've introduced many of you to some notable entrepreneurs who have certainly achieved much success in the world of business. And while many of us strive to persevere and press toward our business goals much like the guys mentioned in these articles, I'd like to take this opportunity to deliver a greater encouragement to never forget the true purpose behind your daily grind. I don't want to sound cliche, but if you're doing it just for the money, you're selling yourself short. If you're doing it just for the reputation, you've completely missed the point. If your only motivation for grinding so hard is to have wealth, notoriety and power, then I can most certainly promise that you will one day find yourself at the end of an seemingly prosperous yet empty and unfulfilled life. This is exactly why when I ran across this quote from Clint Boland, I knew I had to share it.

First and foremost, I always consider it a privilege to have gleaned from so many great entrepreneurs from a distance. Over the years, I have learned so much from guys like Dave Ramsey and Jack Ma (as mentioned in the articles above)...which is why I love to share and write articles that expound and build upon their famous quotes. In this instance however, I consider it to be an even greater privilege to expound on this quote from Clint Boland because he is not only another great entrepreneur, but also a personal friend of mine. For those of you who don't know Clint like I do, I'll just give you a quick breakdown. Clint is the owner of Trade Street Media. He is a Digital Content Strategist and Video Producer...as well as a Wedding Videographer and Photographer in partnership with his wife's business Discover Love Studios. One big reason I have always been drawn to Clint is because, like me, he is one of those guys that you never would have thought would be successful at entrepreneurship. Clint was raised without a father in his home and, as a teenage boy, ended up getting into trouble and walking down a path that could only lead to destruction. If you knew this guy 20 years ago you might have believed he had more opportunity to end up in a dingy prison cell one day rather than on the wide-open 9th floor of a tall glass building in downtown Charlotte, slightly overlooking the Bank of America football stadium. Thank God for his grandparents who convinced him to come live with them down in Myrtle Beach in an effort to help shape him into a better young man. Clint's grandfather ended up being that father figure he needed all those years. He made a huge impact on Clint's life while instilling in him an incredible work ethic. As a matter of fact, Clint moved back to Charlotte, NC in 2006 and started working for free with his best friend because he had nothing else to do and wanted to learn IT. He did so well that the owner of the business started paying him. From that point, both Clint and his friend decided to start their own IT business which was run out of a small but successful storefront location just outside of Charlotte. Several years later, Clint became interested in video production. He cordially parted ways with his business partner so that he could pursue another business venture in that field. Clint began doing a lot of filming and video editing for big names in a lot of different industries, and has really excelled in the corporate world.

To make a long story short, there are many things about Clint that I have come to love and respect over the years. He has always made his own path and doesn't make excuses about anything. He works incredibly hard to bring in more clients and more opportunities, all while looking to God's ever-sufficient grace and provision. He is motivated by his two major passions: faith and family (hence, why I wanted to write this article today). As you can see, this is the Facebook post where I pulled his quote from. This is Clint Boland, spending time with his precious grandparents down in Myrtle Beach. What stopped me dead in my tracks was when I read the line "I use my resources to buy time, which I use to spend with family." I don't think I've ever heard it quite like that before. Maybe it's because of how he prefaced those words. Maybe it's because the photograph seems to perfectly portray those words. Whatever it was, it made me want to share those words with everyone in my network. This man gets it. He just gets it. Clint Boland is not looking for money. He's looking for time. He is motivated to work hard...not so that he can spend time building an ego-stroking empire, but so that he can spend time with family. He is motivated by the things that money cannot buy. He is chasing after the things that truly matter in this life. Money is fleeting. Beauty is fleeting. Every new and shiny material object in life soon fades, tarnishes, decays and withers away...including our own bodies. But the moments we create with our loved ones last an entire lifetime; and if you know Jesus Christ, they can last forever.

In Closing...

I really want to challenge you today to seriously consider what you are working so hard for. I'm not saying that we shouldn't appreciate the outward and temporary rewards that come with hard work and dedication. There are many fruits of success that we should take delight in; but if you know anything about me, you know that I am constantly encouraging others (including myself) to find where the balance lies in any area of life. As I stated in one of my previous articles titled "A 10,000:1 Failure-to-Success Ratio", it's not what we accomplish, but who we become. In that same article, I went on to mention that if any business venture (in any way) were to threaten my health, my marriage, my family or my faith, then it would be put on hold or even completely discarded and forgotten. Period. Of course, the point being that there are more important things in life than your career. I continued to go on referencing how you often hear about all the many regrets people have in their older age. Regrets of not being there more for their children. Regrets of not being a better husband or wife. Regrets of not taking time to stop and "smell the roses" or enjoy more sun rises and sun sets. But this is one thing you will probably never hear any elderly person say at the end of their life: "I wish I would have spent more time at the office." I would venture to say that no man laying on his death bed is thinking about how much more work he could have done to build his business. The regrets that people have at the end of their life almost always have to do more with relationships than anything else. Trust me, you don't want to be that guy...or that girl. Like Clint Boland, we should strive to keep the more important things in focus as we continue working hard and building our empires. We should make our business pursuits more about pouring time into our relationships rather than money into our bank accounts. Don't get me wrong, the money and bank accounts are good; but the time and friendships are incomparably better...and the latter is so much more worth the hustle.