Binary install it the simple way!
I can't believe no one has suggested this already - use the binary-only option for pip. For example, for mysqlclient:
pip install --only-binary :all: mysqlclient
Many packages don't create a build for every single release which forces your pip to build from source. If you're happy to use the latest pre-compiled binary version, use --only-binary :all: to allow pip to use an older binary version.