I Hate Potential

*Warning rant ahead*

Hear me out on this, but I personally hate the word “potential.” I have heard this term thrown around countless times to various people and organizations. Singers, businesses, DJs, incubator groups, artists, and more. They have all said/heard the word and I cringe every time I hear it.

Google is just so convenient.

According to Google potential means, “having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future.” Key word here is ‘future’ because 99.9% of the time I hear someone throw around this diabolical word, nothing every becomes of the idea that was once praised for having ‘potential’. No one does anything to make that something happen in the future.

Every time someone uses the word to describe their business model, their career, or their future they just bask in the rays of the term’s power and leave it at that. They think that potential automatically leads to success without the need to put in any of the work that real success requires. Entitlement is running rampant in today’s society.

Success comes to those who work for it

The team here at Eliix has been extremely fortunate to work with some of the hardest working business owners we’ve ever met. From the tenacity of Tony and Mona at Top Gear Powersports, to the straight hustle of Drew over at MDi-co, to the pure dedication of Lisa at Fields of Gold Farms, we have met some incredible people who not only were once told that their ideas have potential, but they worked to materialize that potential into success.

Lisa Black of Fields of Gold Farm with her amazing goat’s milk gelato. (It is nothing short of amazing btw)

Lisa really believes in her business, and despite all odds, when she was told she has ‘potential’ she stopped at nothing to achieve success. She has been shot down multiple times by investors yet she still perseveres and keeps hustling. She puts in countless hours on the farm to keep it running, and then continues into the night marketing and doing other legalities. She is the true embodiment of the word hustle and more people should be like her.

I love the word hustle

Hustle is a word that often gets laughed at or pushed to the side for being too casual of a word, but in honesty, it is something incredibly vital to staying in business.

Hustle is when someone doesn’t have a 9-5, but a 6AM till 2AM. Hustle is when someone doesn’t just stop when they achieve their sales goals, they crush them. Hustle is when someone ends up working a temporary part time job in order to make capital to fund their start-up that they work on at night because they couldn’t afford it otherwise.

Hustle is working damn hard, and more people need to stop saying the word potential, because without the hustle and putting in work you will never succeed and fulfill that potential you thought you had. Without the hustle, 'potential' is an empty word and it has been empty for too long.

/rant

(Post originally made on eliix.marketing)