Business Insight Zone

Online wine impresario Gary Vaynerchuk has talked about the dire need to “hustle your face off” if you want to make a serious go of it as an online entrepreneur.

But how do you know when you’re hustling enough?

Well, in the long run you’ll know because you’re seeing the results you want to see. But since Gary is also right to preach patience, that approach may not give you effective feedback over the short run.

My advice: make a hustle-meter for yourself.

This idea is stolen directly from the coaching staff of the Chicago Bulls, back when Michael Jordan & Co. were running away with one NBA championship after another, but it goes far beyond the realm of sports — and you don’t need a sports background to understand it.

The relevant point is that those Bulls teams were great on defense. Especially during their record-breaking 72-win season, they were known for the crushing defensive pressure they applied to their opponents during key stretches of games.

But defense can be hard to measure in the short run. There are statistics for blocking shots or stealing the ball, but they don’t capture the total level of effort that a team demonstrates. So the coaching staff started tracking “defensive touches” instead. Every time a Bulls defender poked the ball out of an opponent’s hand, or deflected a pass, or put a hand on the ball even momentarily, a mark went down on the tally sheet. Blocks and steals counted, too, but only as part of the bigger picture.

Over time, the coaches figured out what amount of touches represented an exceptional level of effort. And finding out the team’s current number of touches became a regular fixture of locker-room meetings at halftime and after games.

Now, apply this standard to yourself.

• If you’re selling something (or selling yourself in looking for a job) how many calls a day represents an adequate level of effort? How many e-mails?
• If you’re managing a team, how many one-on-one talks per week do you have with your team members — even informal chats in the hall?
• If you’re running for office, how many hands are you shaking each week?
• If you’re trying to become an expert in something, how many books are you reading in the field each month?
• If you want to get good at something — say, public speaking — how often are you practicing?

The list goes on, and the specific metric is up to you. But somewhere there’s a measureable number that will help galvanize you to action.

You tell me: What will your hustle-meter measure?

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Related post:

• Hard times call for an entrepreneurial outlook.

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(Photo by ccgd, used under a CC-No Derivative Works license.)

Category: The working life