Why Can't I Stop Hustling? - My Struggle to Balance Work, Life, and Creativity

Are you constantly balancing work, passion projects, and life’s endless to-do list? In this video, I take you behind the scenes of my non-stop schedule—working full-time in sales, running a podcast, and managing a commercial property—all while fixing a light at Graham Rd. From navigating the challenges of ADD to finding creative outlets in the everyday grind, this is a story about resilience, determination, and embracing the hustle.

Discover how I transitioned from college to career, built multiple businesses, and rebuilt my life after the 2009 recession—all while keeping a hands-on approach to life. Learn why diving into DIY projects, like replacing light fixtures, can be so fulfilling and how staying active sparks creativity. Whether you're an entrepreneur, creator, or just someone looking for inspiration, this video is packed with relatable insights and actionable takeaways.

👉 Key Highlights:

Balancing a Busy Schedule: How I juggle a full-time job, podcasting, and property management.
The Creative Drive of ADD: Why ADHD can be a superpower for entrepreneurs.
From College to Career: Lessons learned in transitioning from academic life to building businesses.
Overcoming Setbacks: Rebuilding after losing everything during the 2009 recession.
The Value of DIY: Why hands-on projects are therapeutic and essential for personal growth.
If you're looking to unlock your potential, find purpose in your work, and stay motivated, this video is for you. Hit play, and let’s dive into the hustle together!


Stop Selling Start Believing
The Ultimate Guide to Sales, Objection Handling, Negotiation Techniques and Closing
https://stopsellingstartbelieving.com/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CP1PDPS4?tag=  

For more inspiring stories, listen to the Beans2Billions Podcast:
http://beans2billions.com/

00:00 Balancing a Busy Schedule
01:09 The Creative Drive of ADD
01:48 From College to Career
02:57 Entrepreneurial Journey
03:45 Overcoming Adversity
04:56 The Importance of Constant Growth
09:00 The Salesperson's Mentality
10:33 Avoiding a Life of Regret
11:45 Final Thoughts

Episode Transcript

John (00:00):
I work all week, 40 to 45 hours a week, in the day job,

(00:04):
working in the call center,doing sales.
And then New Year's day, I wokeup early, had the interview with
Tom Arnold.
I spent the rest of that nightuntil almost midnight editing it
so I could get some content outon the podcast.
Of course, there's always a lotof editing for something like
that.
That's probably the hardestpart.
You have a one hour interview.

(00:25):
And then, you spend five, eight,ten hours editing the daggone
thing.
I just try to make it where itlooks somewhat useful.
Spend the rest of the holidayweek working, Monday, Tuesday,
at the regular day job.
Wednesday, doing the podcastwith Tom Arnold.
Then Wednesday, that wasWednesday, then Thursday,

(00:46):
Friday, Saturday.
Work in the regular sales job.
Gotta pay the bills somehow,right?
And now, of course, in the dayoff there's always something to
do.
So I've got to go down to acommercial building that I own
and manage and replace lightfixtures that have burned out
because why would I get a dayoff?

(01:07):
Right.
And that's kind of how it works.
I think one of the things thathas always defined me as a
person has been my inability tojust kind of sit still.
I've.
Had ADD my entire life and oneof the things about that is in
some ways it's a hindrance, butin many other ways, it's

(01:29):
honestly kind of like asuperpower.
The fun part about it is whenyou get bored, you get creative.
Whenever you have a job to do ora project that takes a really
long time, one of the thingsthat you find yourself doing is
finding ways to fill that time.
I got addicted to learning whenI was in college.

(01:50):
I admittedly was not the beststudent growing up, like in high
school and stuff like that.
But, when I went to college, allof a sudden there was always a
10 page paper due every week andlearning a new subject and
doing.
a real, deep dive into a newsubject that you have never
experienced before and studyingit and learning it and being

(02:13):
tested on it and creating apaper and doing something
creative with it, maybe doing aproject.
And then I remember graduatingcollege and I had all of a
sudden a regular day job whereyou just kind of show up, you
work eight to five and you dodata entry, you do filing, you
do, some phone calls, you dowhatever you had to do to make

(02:33):
that work.
And.
Go home at five and then hereyou are.
You can sit down on your couchand watch TV.
And for me, I guess that justnever felt like it was very
fulfilling.
I was here.
I was in my early twenties and Icould just relax.
I had a college degree.
I had a decent job.
I was bored to freaking tearsthough.

(02:57):
So that was what I guessmotivated me to start my first
business.
I started my first businessafter I was working, eight to
ten hours a day and getting homeand just feeling like sitting
down and watching TV or justvegging out.
Browsing the Internet was justnot fulfilling for me.
There was nothing about thatthat made me feel like I wasn't

(03:19):
stagnating and just kind oflosing what it was that made me
enjoy being myself, which was,learning and exploring and being
creative.
So I started a side business andgrew that very rapidly and then
started another business andgrew that one and started
another business and grew thatone and several other websites.
And then I partnered withsomebody and we built a

(03:40):
consulting company and itservices and all of that kind of
stuff.
And then I lost it all duringthe Oh nine recession, spent a
bunch of time in poverty as asingle parent, trying to raise
two daughters by myself.
My entire schedule, workopportunities, businesses,

(04:02):
anything that I had to do had tobe centered around what could I
do with these girls.
The daycare opened at a certaintime in the morning, ended at a
certain time in the evening.
And where we lived was, an hour,hour and a half away from
anywhere where there was anyreasonably good jobs.
And I couldn't take a relocationpackage because it would mean

(04:24):
Giving up custody, my childrenand not being a parent.
It was overwhelming.
And in many ways it sapped a lotof my creativity for a long
time.
And then when I was able to getmyself back on my feet and build
businesses through sales and geta job that paid well in sales
and Excel again and rebuild myfinancial footing.

(04:46):
I can't stand being a Sundayafternoon watching a football
game or, something that justdoes not feel like it's a
productive use of my time.
So I have always found myselfstarting another side business
or learning a new skill like, ahobby like dance.
I learned boating.
I've go out fishing with mydaughter in the summertime, do

(05:09):
evening cruises, with family andfriends.
And, we do whatever we can tojust kind of keep moving and
exploring and coming up withsomething new at all times.
And I think one of the thingslike for me that has made me
successful in sales is thatdrive to just never feel like

(05:31):
where I am or what I have isgood enough.
I appreciate the things I have.
I am thankful for the thingsthat I've gotten to do in my
life, the experiences that I'vehad, the friends that I've made,
if you feel like you're capableof more, it's very difficult to
be satisfied.
So I've always felt thatExploring new things, building

(05:51):
something new, having anotherproject, something else to keep
my mind busy has been veryimportant to me Which brings me
back to why on a Sundayafternoon instead of hiring an
electrician I'm going to go downthere and try to do it myself.
I feel like there's a part of methat is just not happy unless
I'm doing something that I don'tneed to be doing.

(06:15):
There's a certain catharsis thatyou can get by having your hands
in a project and buildingsomething that you get to see
how it finishes.
I don't.
enjoy doing, paperwork.
I don't enjoy, shufflingsomething from pile A into pile
B and never really getting tosee that project complete.

(06:36):
So when you have a job or acareer or things like that, that
often for most of us feel likethey're not really super
productive in some ways, eventhough they can be immensely
productive for your company andyour employer and you're very
happy and thankful to be part ofthat.
But there's a certainsatisfaction for a creative type
of a person in starting aproject and building something

(07:00):
with your own hands and findinga way to make that be something
you're proud of.
And I think that's somethingthat for me has always helped me
in sales and something when Imanage sales teams and train
people and have built businessesI've always tried to focus on is
finding people that good enoughwasn't really always good

(07:24):
enough.
The most successful people thatI've ever met in my life have
been people that were notsatisfied with whatever was
happening.
There were people that if theyhad a certain level of success
in their business, they wouldalways maybe start another
business or find a way to expandthat business.
If they were working in aregular job and they didn't,

(07:46):
find their personal satisfactionor fulfillment in that, they
might find anotherresponsibility at that job.
They may look for a promotion.
They may quit that job and findanother.
They may start a business on theside.
They may build a hobby, whetherit was showing dogs or horses or
cats or anything, ballroomdance.
There's so many things that aperson can do that you can find

(08:10):
fulfillment in.
And that's also something elseyou kind of notice is that
people that are extraordinarilysuccessful in life They rarely
are the ones that go home atnight and just prop their feet
up watching TV.
They're rarely the ones thatare, so fully invested in, uh,
their local sports team that ifthey don't win a game that

(08:33):
Sunday, they, their mood isruined for the entire week.
They're the people that you findout on the roads on a Sunday
morning at 7 a.
m.
running a 5k.
They're the people that are at aCrossFit.
Or a gym at 6 a.
m.
on a, on a Saturday or 4 a.
m.
on a Friday before work.
They're the people that are,building and investing and

(08:55):
risking and always, always,always moving forward.
And a, an analogy to kind of tiethat into sales is, salespeople
often compare themselves towolves or sharks or, something
that hunts, right?
You're hunting for your food,you eat what you kill, nothing's
being handed to you.
And.
If you have that kind of sharkmentality, you can kind of think

(09:18):
about it as to why, salespeopledon't like to be captive, right?
We don't like to be, feel likewe're in captivity.
And think about like a greatwhite shark.
If you think about a great whiteshark, there's no great white
sharks that are in an aquariumanywhere in the world.
Anytime they've ever tried tocapture one and raise it in

(09:40):
captivity, it's always failed.
They just can't be kept incaptivity because there's not
enough space for them to moveforward.
It doesn't matter how highquality the tank is.
It doesn't matter, if they havewater flow, it doesn't matter if
they have plenty of food oranything else.
If they aren't free and theycan't go and hunt and they can't

(10:02):
keep always moving forward, theywill just simply die.
And somebody who's reallydesigned as a salesperson,
somebody needs to have that huntto survive, not necessarily
physically or even financially,but just emotionally, you can't
be kept in an aquarium.
You have to be moving forward sothat you can hunt so that you

(10:24):
can feel like something ismoving forward or else you'll
shrivel up and die on theinside.
And I feel like that's verytragic.
How many people have you knownthat have just stagnated?
Somebody who had a lot ofpromise, somebody who could have
achieved all of their dreams.
And instead of doing that, theyjust settled for the mediocre

(10:46):
life that was given to them orthe things that everybody else
told them they should do or hadto do.
And they never really went outand tried something that truly
meant something to them.
Those are the people that whenthey're old and gray, right?
And on their deathbed someday,they'll look back and regret

(11:09):
that they never tried the thingsthat they wish they had tried.
They never saw the places theywish they would have gone.
They never made the connectionsthat they really wish they would
have, whether it was family andfriends.
They never lived a day in theirlife as who they truly were
meant to be.
They settled for who they weretold they had to be.
And there's nothing wrong withthat.

(11:29):
You can be a productive memberof society, a good husband, a
good father.
a good son a good, daughter toyour parents.
You can be a good human beingand support yourself and be a
positive member of society.
There's nothing wrong with that.
But if you're the type of personthat truly feels like that shark
in that aquarium, cannot becaged up, or else you'll die

(11:53):
inside, then you're the kind ofperson that's going to have that
regret.
You're not going to ever feelcomfortable.
Like you lived a day in yourlife.
Don't do that to yourself.
Let there be light.