This morning casually having a conversation and just chatting, something came to my attention that angered me greatly; I had to write this. Someone mentioned that one of Grenada’s top photographers got an opportunity to go further his skills in China and another person who thought he shouldn’t have gotten that opportunity started raising hell. One of the statements that was made was that he just came on the scene two years ago more or less, so why is he getting that opportunity when there are people on the photography scene longer. Frankly I do not know any of the parties personally, however I had to address this because of the level of disrespect towards the hustle and towards the market.
Let’s get this clear, it doesn’t matter if you are black, white, Asian, 70 years old, 10 years old, if you had a business for the past 50 years or if you started 4 weeks ago. If you have the balls to put in the work necessary to build your brand and take your business to the next level the market will reward you. The most important word in business is hustle. You cannot and will not build a business or build your brand if you live for weekends, if as soon as 4pm you are done for the day and you go home to watch TV and go hang out with your boys. The market will respect and reward you when you put in the work necessary.
There are many talented photographers in Grenada and around the world for that matter, but talent is not enough, you have to put in the work. If you are sitting down at home with your talent while someone else is out there putting in the work to build their brand, that person will beat you every time. It is too easy today to market yourself and build your brand for free to waste your time trying to shit on someone else’s hustle when the market reward them with a win. The mere fact that someone was able to start their business 2 years ago and become one of the most successful and known personality in the industry means that everyone that was there before him sat back and let that shit happen. Being a great photographer is not enough, you need to have a business mindset and if you don’t know about marketing and branding then team up with someone who does, business is a team sport.
Entrepreneurs in Grenada and the Caribbean need to realize that they are not entitled to anything, so first of all get rid of this entitlement mentality. Your age does not entitle you to anything in business, the amount of time you have been in business does not entitle you to anything. You have to work, when everyone else is having fun, you should be working, you should be honing your craft. Hustle will always beat talent when talent doesn’t hustle. If you are complaining and going all out to degrade someone and belittle your competitors proves you have absolutely no idea about how business operates. Instead of complaining, focus on your shit, go out there and put in the work. If you want to get the opportunity to go China, put in the work, if you want more clients, put in the work, if you want to be well known in a particular industry, put in the work.
If you are not going to put in the work, if you are not going to hustle, if you prefer to watch Game of Throne, if you prefer to be out partying hard and having fun instead of working on your business then you have absolutely no right to talk and try badmouth someone who is doing it and being rewarded by the market. And the market consists of people, just in case you guys were thinking it’s some big bubble out there. If you disagree with all that I said no problem, take me up on it and I will take you to Hustle School Kimron Corion style!