Would you say I was crazy if I said the hype around hustle was wrong? 

Consider this, what if I told you the path to a million dollar business could be working 60 days of the year, OR busting your butt every single day. Which would you choose?

I profiled a bunch of speakers in a presentation I did around The YOU Economy. My presentation covered four key areas where you can create F.A.M.E around your own personal brand to build a business. Let me explain what I mean by F.A.M.E:

F stands for Foundation

The first step towards success in any business is by building a solid Foundation. Your foundation should encompass things like your business model, your revenue model, your website, product and service offerings, analytics, etc. It’s the foundation you need to put in place when you start a business if you want to be able to monetize your marketing.

A stands for Assets

Assets are your intellectual property. In a YOU Economy, your knowledge is worth money. Every piece of content you create, every webinar, video, blog, e-book, white paper, online course, etc., is part of your asset bank. Your assets allow people to see your subject matter expertise. If they can’t see what you know and how you might be able to help them, it’s very hard to monetize. This is why people who rarely create value-based content always seem to have cash flow issues and lack depth in their sales pipeline.

You can do great things without hustling for money. #Business <– Tweet it out!

M stands for Marketing

Marketing is how you distribute your assets to the world at large. In order for someone to choose you, they need to know you exist. You need a distribution strategy to get your content assets in front of others. This includes choosing social media channels, creating opt-in pages for free downloads, and building and communicating with your mailing list or your chatbot subscribers. Your assets are what you market. The biggest mistake some content creators make is that they assume once they press publish, people will come running to see their work. Not only do you need to distribute your assets by marketing them, you also need a combination of organic and paid reach, and careful selection of an audience that matches who your ideal customer is for your marketing to be effective.

E stands for Engagement

This is how you connect and interact with people. If you are sending out one-way marketing messages and never connecting, engaging and interacting with people, your marketing will fall flat. You need to show up, check in, be SWIIFT, (Show What’s In It For Them) and connect with people in the YOU Economy. People spend so much time on screens today that what most people are really craving is a connection. They want to be seen, heard and feel as though they matter to the companies they choose to do business with.

Back to my question...

During a time where there is so much that you can do, are you choosing to hustle when perhaps there is an easier path? What if instead of making marketing transactional, you focused on building relationships? What if instead of being everywhere, you built a deep solid network in one place?

What if instead of working 18 hour days, you chose to work 60 days a year? What if the hustle is wrong?

This weekend I profiled four different speakers. One works all the time and the other has balance in their life. Both have 7+ figure businesses.

The path you choose, the model you pick for yourself, is up to you. Personally, I am looking for deeper connections, strong long-term relationships with clients and my team, and to minimize the hustle.

You can do great things without hustling for money.

Originally appeared on lisalarter.com