Disgrace to the Hustle: Ashwin Khanna dot Com

I won’t say it. Ok, I’ll try really hard not to say it!

Two weeks ago I wrote about my dislike for web contests, and as on Monday, August 20th (two days ago), it was apparent why. Ashwin of AshwinKhanna.com recently held a CONtest supposedly worth $2,500 to the winner, and news of it spread through the web like wildfire. It elevated his Technorati ratings from near obscurity to the top 5,000. Only being in existence for a little over a month, this is a feat that very few blogs can accomplish, contest or not.

However, it appears that no congratulations is in order.

The contest ran through August 20th, and at that time the winner was announced: BloggerSlogger. Who is BloggerSlogger? Beats the heck out of me, and a lot of other people as well! The site looks like it was just put together, and…coincidence? The only post is one that talks about the CONtest over at AshwinKhanna.com, posted on AUGUST 19th! It’s a WordPress blog, so we can’t see the WHOIS information, but nine times out of ten it belongs to none other than Ashwin himself.

Watch this video review that captures both websites in their essence as of Tuesday, August 21 (check back if video does not appear immediately, YouTube is running slow today):
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Hustle Review – What’s the Deal With Wirefly?

From time to time, Da Hustler will review new products and services on your behalf, to see if they measure up to be considered legitimate, or if they are just another fake hustle. Today I will be reviewing the site Wirefly.

What is Wirefly? It’s a site where you can view and buy wireless phones and plans. They also do comparisons between the top wireless companies so that you can get the best deal. According to themselves, they are the number one seller of wireless phones and plans, but I don’t see any awards or mentions by Consumer Reports, J.D. Power & Associates, etc., so for now I will just take them at their word.

As you know, Da Hustler loves a deal, so being able to get the best price on one site is very cool to me. However, it will take some time to get used to the interface because it is very busy (or am I getting old?). There is so much information, but it almost seems like it is crammed on one page at a time. Despite this, Da Hustler uses sites like these to make sure he is paying the lowest price possible for anything. In fact, before I won the T-Mobile promotion last month, I HATED my wireless phone bill, and wanted to do anything to cut it down. I wasn’t expecting free, but you know I didn’t pass it up either!

The only problem I see with Wirefly is that it doesn’t have all of the complete and up-to-date information displayed on the site. When looking up prices for plans at T-Mobile, the lowest one I saw was for $29.99, but on T-Mobile’s site you can find a plan intended for kids for $19.99 (50 anytime minutes, free weekends, etc). The best way to approach these sites is to compare them against the original vendor, then see which plans fit your needs. Also, go into the store to actually test the phones, then hop online to see who has the best deal. It’s a litle bit of work, but money saved is money earned!

Wirefly is owned by a company named InPhonic, and they just recently struck a deal with Brightstar to streamline their processes. InPhonic and Brightstar claim that this new alliance will help customers, but reading the press release, all I could see is fatter pockets for the owners. so that remains to be seen. If they are able to do more of what they are doing now, and maybe even get exclusive deals with the major players in the cellular phone industry that would lower prices and plans even further, then that’s some news I wouldn’t mind reading!

This has been a sponsored review.

Hustler’s Inspiration: Grind

Pain. Purpose. Resistance. Hard labor. Elbow Grease. All of these make up the several different layers of one simple 5-letter word: Grind.

Don’t just look at this pic. Think about it. Really think.

They say a hustler is on his grind when he is out there in the world, promoting, working, making deals, selling, etc. So many components make up the daily struggle, and the summary of all these parts is the makeup of grinding. When you grind, you refine what is already existing, you perfect what was previously flawed, and you go through great lengths to advertise the finished product. No matter what your hustle, you have to grind in order to make it truly successful.

Grinding is the necessary evil that we all hate. You work a job with a boss that doesn’t appreciate you? You work sales and deal with clients who are less than polite? You own your own business and work do get customers in your store? You blog online, commenting on other sites, holding contests and promotions, guest posting all over hoping to make enough money to put things on auto-pilot while vacationing in Maui? Welcome to the grind.

But grinding is more than the activity you go through on a daily basis. Notice the 2nd word in this post: Purpose. When you grind, you have your eye on the goal, you know the reason why you go through the things that you do. If you simply want to pay your bills or get through another day, you have a meaningless existence. You add nothing to society, and you simply live to help the efforts of others. One of the slogans of My New Hustle is to:

Be the man, stop working for him.

You have to take control of your destiny and say to the world that you want more for yourself, your family, your community, your nation. You are not going to sit idly by and waste opportunities to make a difference. You’re not going to accept the status quo, and you will have a life that is worth living, a life that can be remembered by more than just your immediate family. All of this forms the purpose of your grind.

I hate grinding. I hate getting up in the morning, facing the world, the weather, the rude people on the road. But I know why I do it, I know why my hustle exists. If I want to reach the pages of BusinessWeek as one of the top bloggers, then giving the best that I can give is what it takes to make it. This is my grind, and I know where I want it to lead me.

Do you know why you grind? Do you know where you want to go?