THE 100 = 75 RULE
I remember DJ’ing to help get myself through college. While I was at Ohio State, I met my friend Brian Crompton at a DJ gig at the Roller Chalet in Westerville. As we became friends, we got the idea to start our own DJ company—weddings, school dances, parties, etc.
I remember coming home one night after DJ’ing a dance at Westerville South. I had to haul in my record crates, amps, speakers, coffin, and everything else that came with doing a mobile DJ gig.
It always seemed like loading in and loading out was more work than actually playing the gig. It was the part of the job I always complained about.
One day, my dad finally got tired of hearing me bitch about it and gave me a simple piece of advice that has stuck with me ever since:
“100% of your complaints account for 75% of your income.”
Plainly put, you don’t get paid for the fun, easy stuff that anyone can do. You get paid to be good at the stuff nobody wants to do.
He gave me another piece of advice that day:
“Do the things you hate first. That way, they’re done and out of the way.”
Simple advice, but I’ve carried both lessons with me throughout my career.
Too often, I see posts online or hear people complain about the parts of their jobs they don’t like. We all have them. But if I could offer one piece of advice, it would be this:
Don’t fight the stuff you hate. Embrace it.
Get good at it. Maybe even become better at it than everyone else.
Because the easy, enjoyable parts of a job are usually the things everyone wants to do. Your real value often comes from your willingness and ability to tackle the difficult, tedious, or uncomfortable things that other people avoid.
Success isn’t just about being great at the things you love.
Sometimes, it’s about being great at the things you’d rather not do.
And whenever I find myself complaining about those parts of the job, I can still hear my dad reminding me of The 100 = 75 Rule:
“100% of the hardships of the job account for 75% of your income.”
Funny how some of the best business advice you’ll ever get has nothing to do with business.
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