Interview with JK Allen from the Hustler's Notebook
This is an interview of JK Allen from the Hustler’s Notebook. JK is a phenomenal blogger who writes about experience-based, value-rich content in the domain of personal development, for business and life.
For those who may not know you, tell us about why you started blogging.
I started blogging as a means of serving others. For me, blogging is an outlet to share some of the lessons I’ve learned throughout life, in an effort to impact others in a positive way.
In your writings you come across as full of confidence, what’s your advice for someone to build up their confidence?
I think a lot has to do with personality. Some people are reserved and display their confidence in different ways. The reason I’m confident in my writing is because I mostly write about things that I’ve experienced. Writing from that layer gives me total confidence in what I’m saying because I’ve lived and breathed whatever the message is.
The most solid advice I can offer to others on being confident in your writing is to try to incorporate your experience and personal perspective into everything.
Many people have many fears holding them back. One main one is fear of failure. What advice would you have to break that fear?
I will admit that I haven’t failed a whole lot as of late. Not because I’ve always come out victorious, but because my attitude have changed on how I view failure. I believe anytime we can find a lesson from our [so-called] losses, we truly end up winning. Anytime we can put ourselves in a better position for the next attempt, then we’ve won, not failed. Failure to me is coming up short then giving up.
My advice is to see failure in a different light…to view failure as a stepping stone and not a pit.
Achieving goals is like putting a puzzle together. There are a bunch of pieces that need to fit into place with precision…just because you attempt to put a corner piece in the middle doesn’t mean you’ve failed – it means you need to adjust it’s position. You’ll attempt many pieces throughout your journey of putting a puzzle together, quickly to learn that the piece didn’t fit at the first, second or third attempt, but eventually you’ll find it’s place, bringing you closer to completing the puzzle (achieving the goal).
With this way of thinking you are a winner, even in defeat.
To reach our goals, we think it’s important to just follow the list of steps to reach the goals. However, I’ve learned we have determine the type of person we want to become. To become a hustler, what type of traits would that person need to have?
That person would have to have a Pit Bull like tenacity in conquering the delta that lies between setting a goal and achieving the goal. The delta is the space between that requires action. Most people are pretty good at setting goals. Everyone is great when they can achieve the goal…but the hard part is the action in between.
[SET GOAL] –> { DELTA (ACTIONS TO ACHIEVE GOAL) } –> [ACHIEVE GOAL]
That’s the Great Divide between those that hustle, and those that sit around and wait for luck. Hustler’s manufacture their own luck by hard and intelligent work. In my experience, luck is simply a product of my actions.
Recently I wrote a letter to myself 5 years into the future. What will you say to the person you’ll be in five years?
In 5 years I’ll be 35 years old. My kids, who are now 2, 6 and 7 will be 7, 11, and 12 (wow, weird to think about that). But during this time, I will remind myself of why I worked so hard to become a millionaire; not just for the sake of my own family, but to share my wealth with the less fortunate. I would remind myself of how important it is to continue putting others high on my list, and helping out in anyway that I can. I would remind myself to teach other how to change their lives, as I changed my own.
Your posts always get so many great comments. How did you build up such a community at the Hustler’s Notebook?
I’ve taken the long path for growth, one I believe that has lasting effects. I love interacting with people – so I spend a lot of timing doing so. I love reading other blogs so I take my time, read and leave a meaningful comment. And, I never force content on my blog. I never hit publish under the pressure of having to post because it’s been [x] number of days or what not.
For me, blogging is not a numbers game…sure, we want our audience to be as big as possible – but more so, I want the impact of my message to be as powerful as possible. I think the combination of these things is what has helped me grow a great community.
Plus, it helps that I only post once per week, which naturally allows more time for comments to build up. This isn’t my mission, because I’m not after a certain number of comments…but the length of time does contribute to my posts ability to get so many comments.
You comment on so many blogs, write an amazing post per week, network on Twitter, and respond to all your comments. In addition you have a full time job, a wife and three kids.
How do you juggle everything and give proper attention in each area of your life?
Because I hustle!
On a serious note, I think we all have it within us to make ample time for whatever we want to make time for. I live very closely within my life priorities and doing so provides a pretty clear idea of what I need to focus my time on. Not that I always live to it…but it’s always in my vision.
I’m awake for 19-20 per day. So that helps give me a little extra time to juggle so many things at once.
In your experience, what are some of the best reasons to blog?
To serve others. To learn. To connect with others. To make a difference. To be challenged.
When you’re not being an blogger, businessman and family man, what do you do to relax and have fun?
I take off the blogging hat. I take off the business hat…but I never take off the family hat. So everything I do just about involves the element of family. I’m pretty laid back and reserved – I enjoy sports, working out, reading, video games (back when I had more time) and doing random things with the family.
Thank you to JK for an awesome interview! Be sure to visit JK at the Hustler’s Notebook. He is a blogger to get to know. You can also follow him on Twitter @JKthehustler.
If you have any questions, or comment I’m sure JK would love to answer them or hear from you.
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