Jason Poole - The Hustlers Handbook: A Guide to Success in Your New Career

THE HUSTLERS HANDBOOK

HANDBOOK

A GUIDE TO SUCCESS
IN YOUR NEW CAREER

JASON POOLE

NEW YORK

NASHVILLE MELBOURNE

THE HUSTLERS HANDBOOK

A GUIDE TO SUCCESS IN YOUR NEW CAREER

2017 JASON POOLE

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Cincinnati, Ohio, July 14, 1970: the Major League Baseball All-Star exhibition game. Thanks to a Brooks Robinson two-run triple, the American League took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth. But after a Dick Dietz solo home run and three singles, the National League put up three runs and forced the game into extra innings. Three innings later, National League batters were facing Clyde Wright. With two outs, Pete Rose and Billy Grabarkewitz hit back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second bases. Jim Hickman singled to Amos Otis in center field. Otis fired the ball to catcher Ray Fosse as Pete Rose ran past third base, heading to home. Otis throw was on target, and arrived as Rose reached Fosse. Rose bowled over Fosse, forcing him to drop the balland scored to end the game.

Twenty-three year old Ray Fosse suffered a fractured and separated left shoulder when Pete Rose collided with him on the last play of the game. By his own admission, he never regained his swing, and he never returned to the level of play that hed been at before the injury. In a 1999 San Francisco Chronicle interview, he demonstrated that he still could not lift his left arm, and he now suffers from arthritis as a result of the injury.

Pete was heavily criticized for the play at the plate. At that time the All-Star game was, at most, an exhibition game that was largely played at half speed. When ESPN interviewed him after the game, asking why he went so hard, he simply said, I was trying to win the game.

Once I saw Pete Rose play that game, I learned more and more about him. He wasnt the biggest or fastest or strongest guy on the field, but he played to win, every second of every day. This was my first glimpse of the hustle . I understood then that hustling was free for the taking, and that playing to win all day every day could make up for many God-given talents.

To me, the word hustle means consistent, devoted, hard work, and Pete Rose was the definition of it. In 1963, he won Rookie of the Year, and he never looked back. Whether he was running over the catcher in that All-Star game or diving into third base head first, he showed that he was willing to do what it took to accomplish his goals. Even after suffering a few very big mistakes (and who doesnt?), hes still seen as the quintessential example of what a baseball player should be by fans and MLB players alike.

Before I go any further, I want to say this: hustling no longer connotes a bad thing. Were not talking about slinging rock and swindling. We are talking about doing work , as Big Black from MTVs Rob and Big would say.

Pete Roses rise to success gave me a little faith in myself. Like him, I didnt do particularly well in high school. In fact, I remember feeling a little bad for my parentstheyd both set pretty high expectations for making good grades. It did not help that my mom was the valedictorian in High School and held a 4.0 GPA through college and Nursing school, all while raising two boys. Going downstairs to the remedial class every day was pretty embarrassing for me, especially knowing that my friends were upstairs sitting in AP English and living it up with all the hot girls.

As a kid, high school is what everyone judges your future success on. When you fail at school, people expect you to fail in life. Not being good in school conditioned me to think small, and it made me second-guess the person that I aspired to be and things I aspired to do.

Since figuring out the hustle, Ive spent most of my adult life doing what I know I am good at: busting my ass. I hated feeling that aptitude would determine my ultimate altitude. Once I realized that I had a choice about whether I felt terrible about myself, I decided to choose to feel good about who I was. I started to make things happen. No wall was too big for me to climb. With help from many people that I admire and appreciate, I was able to pull out of the pity party I was having for myself. Once I figured out what I needed, I could workand once I figured out what I was good at, I could enjoy it.

One of the biggest setbacks that I have ever endured happened just as I was starting to feel okay about the direction that I was headed inthat bitch Hurricane Katrina. I had a great new job at Express Employment Professionals, and Id just bought a house and a carand it was all taken away in about six hours. Overnight, just like so many other people, I lost it all.

I spent the next fourteen months living a bunch of different places: in a tent, in the office where I worked (thanks Robert!), couch-surfing, and in a FEMA trailer. Just like that, I chose to feel sorry for myself again. I threw one of the biggest pity parties evereven the Kardashians would have been impressedand I did this knowing so many people were worse off than me.

Its hard to get back up after a blow like that, but if you can look up, you can get up. Once I quit with the pity party, I was able to keep going. Id accomplished something before the disaster, and I wanted to get back there, and get better. Luckily, the job that I had just landed at Express Employment Professionals survived the storm and had a spot ready for me two weeks after Katrina. My mentor, Robert Myer, was in charge, and he provided tons of support. Slowly but surely, I started sneaking up the organizational ladder. If there was a job that nobody wanted to do, that was the one I volunteered for, no questions asked. You need help in an office four hours away? Im there. You want me to get everybody coffee? Decaf or regular? You want me to take a pay deduction? Ill handle it. You say jump, I say how high. And then I jumped higher.

It didnt happen overnightIve been working for Express Employment Professionals for over ten years. I hustled like hell for five years before I got a chance to own a franchise of my own. I was able to get a small loan for an already failing franchise, and I was able to grow it to a point that I could sell it and purchase the office I first started with in Gulfport, MS. Two years later I opened my second franchise, and then a year after that, a thirdwith plans for four more in the next four years. Out of 752 franchises worldwide, my oldest Express Employment Professionals franchise ranks in the top 1 percent. I think we can get better, too. As my franchises started to grow, so did my interest in other business opportunities such as start-ups, real estate, professional speaking, and business consulting.