I heard an interesting business story a couple of days ago from a friend of mine who's also a marketing consultant.

He was talking about an event he was at and compared the contrasting success of two of the food vendors there.

Both had great food. But while one waited for customers to come to them, the other got off his backside and went out to offer free samples to the crowds and have a bit of fun with them.

Of course, the end result was that the “I'll wait for them to come to us” vendor struggled while the “get out and hustle” vendor had huge queues in front of their van.

My friend's conclusion was that if you want to succeed, you've got to get out and hustle.

And while I think that's very true, I think there's also another important element.

You see, the vendor that got out and hustled didn't do it by just hassling people.

He didn't just go out into the crowds asking them to buy or telling them how great his food was.

He took them free samples.

Those free samples not only proved how good his food was and built a lot of goodwill, they also made it psychologically easy for him to go out and hustle.

He felt like he was doing people a favour, so he felt comfortable doing it.

How many of us have the front to go out into the world to proclaim how great we are or to ask repeatedly for people to hire us?

Not many I reckon.

It feels uncomfortable. And frankly, clients hate it.

Yet if you suddenly switch around from pushing your stuff at people to offering something for free they'll find valuable then you're welcomed with open arms.

It makes “hustling” a pleasure for you and your clients.

Even the most timid of professionals is capable of offering something great for free to potential clients.

So yes, hustle is vital if you want to win clients.

But the best and the easiest way to get the confidence to hustle is to have something valuable you can give to people to make that first connection.