Your Hunger Determines Your Success
I want to change your life. That’s why I wrote this post (and why I built this brand). This post, if applied to your life and put into action, will change your life. So, if you are hungry to change your life and not end up like everyone else read on. If you want to be like 99% of people that do not achieve what they want most in life, then it is recommended that you close this browser.
When I quit my job March 25, 2016, I didn’t have a clearly defined path to making my dream a reality. What I was sure of? How hungry I was to achieve my vision. This would allow me to persevere when the struggle got real.
Specifically, it was my hunger to live a life that I was proud of. A life that inspired others while tangibly impacting them. A life that I would be proud to tell my family about. A life that provided 100% and total freedom without requiring me to work and hustle like a madman. A life that was genuinely happy and not just a facade of social media hype and bullshit.
I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do to achieve this vision, but it was inevitable. This sense of inevitability came from the depth of my desire – my hunger – to achieve that vision.
I wasn’t concerned about the how because I had the why. And that why was enough to push me through the obstacles I would surely, and had already, faced on that journey.
Yes I asked my friends and college brother for rent money on a few occasions. Yes I had to leave NYC, the city I love more than anywhere in the world, because I couldn’t afford to live there. Yes I burned out and questioned myself and wondered if I would be able to actually achieve my vision. But each of these experiences only deepened my hunger. Thank god, my hunger wouldn’t allow me to give up…
After 13 months, my business inched past that $100,000 revenue mark, my first significant financial milestone. After 16 months, we were consistently generating $15,000+ per month and I was leading a team of 10+ full and part-time contractors. For the first time in my entrepreneurial journey, complete financial independence was a reality. After 18 months, we hit another major milestone, as we generated $25,000+ in monthly revenue (while I personally logged 20 working hours per week).
Well shit. It was actually happening. What I had worked so hard for was finally happening. I had a real business. I had team members and full-time employees. I was tangibly impacting the lives of other people. It became the greatest experience of my life.
It would have been selfish to keep this amazing feeling to myself. I converted my knowledge into a program, co-designed with Ian Luebbers, to help others make the same transformation I made – from struggling, burned out, broke “entrepreneur” to thriving business owner – without sacrificing quality of life. The program was a massive success. Not only did we generate more than $30,000 in revenue from DH’s first ever launch, but we genuinely changed the lives of my friends and those in the program.
We have since had more than 12 users go through our program and achieve truly phenomenal results. What I’ve discovered from this experience is the title of this article, and is the reason that you should be on the edge of your seat reading this.
While we enrolled over 12 users into our program, we had sales calls and strategy sessions with many more, more than 60 in total. We were very selective with who we selected to ensure that everyone who enrolled would take action and not treat this program like 99% of other programs. Our primary criteria? Hunger.
We had to feel that hunger from the other end of the line. Because we knew, from our own experience, that was what would determine the winners. At least that was our hypothesis…
We turned out to be right. More than half of our users achieved significant results, growing their revenues up to 4X within a few months, landed billion dollar clients and some were able to close more than $18,000 of sales in a single day. Those were just the tangible, quantifiable results within a short amount of time. We know more are coming very soon, even bigger and better.
The purpose of sharing this is not to sell you on my program. It’s to emphasize what I have seen firsthand as one of the most significant predictors of success: your hunger.
The fact is that 99% of people will never achieve what they want most in life. Most people will die not having felt the triumph and fulfillment they deserve. That sucks, let’s be real.
But listen to this – the reason this happens is not because they don’t have the ability to do so. This is because they lack the motivation needed to do so. This means that changing your life and achieving your goals is not a matter of ability, it’s a matter of motivation.
If you’re a nerd and familiar with the world of behavioral psychology and research, you know that intrinsic motivation (driven by personal satisfaction and fulfillment) is many times more powerful than extrinsic motivation (driven by external rewards such as recognition and financial reward).
How this applies to your life? You must align your hunger with intrinsic motivation to win. You have to do what you do because you love to do it, not because you will make more money. Money of course, is a byproduct of aligning your motivations properly. I am not saying you shouldn’t be focused on making more money, either, you absolutely should.
But that hunger deepest inside of you must use personal satisfaction and fulfillment as its compass. Because when that happens, your success is inevitable. Also inevitable? You making more money than you could ever want.
If you’re the beast that I know you are, you’ve been paying attention. And so your logical next question is this: How do I identify my hunger? One that is both intrinsically motivating and powerful.
You already have the answer to this question. But it might take years to discover that answer. Some people spend their whole life without knowing what their hunger is, and that really sucks. It takes a lot of difficulties to discover that hunger, and that’s why a lot of people give up. They lack the hunger needed to discover what matters most to them in this life.
Your hunger can be identified after a lot trial and error. After a lot of wins, but a lot more fuck ups. After exposing yourself to new, uncomfortable situations that force your growth. After getting outside of what you know your world to be, and expanding your perspective into different places. After surrounding yourself with others who inspire possibility.
So, my friend, tell me, what is your hunger?
