It takes a village.
Being my first official post on here, I felt it only right for me to speak on the PHENOMENAL community aspect of this ridiculously well designed site/platform known as Wealthy Affiliates.
They say "It takes a village to raise a child" and I have to admit, that in my somewhat 'limited' online business experience, after researching, reading and studying a plethora of various programs and sites on the web, I have NEVER encountered one that is so well set up, or provides such an enthusiastic, driven and ENGAGED community of members that are here with you, every step of the way, from the moment you set up your own page.
After dabbling in a few of the other systems I'd previously come across, I did find the vast majority of the others practically promise you the earth, ocean and entire universe, if only you "CLICK HERE TO TAKE UP THIS INSANE OFFER!!" then, upon doing so, one pretty much finds himself somewhat 'lost in the dark' without any hope of a flashlight to illuminate the path to riches ahead. Suffice to say, the great majority of online 'gurus' have found a way, or a 'hack' online that allows them to generate income-so, it seems, they tend to think along the lines of "Well, if I can do it (ignoring the degree in computer sciences/programming/coding they hold) then ANYONE can-so all I have to do is charge them to give it a go, if it doesn't work out for them, ah well, I get paid anyway."
This is a very far cry from the pioneers of supportive sites such as WA, where within your first day, you get ACTUAL written emails from the likes of Kyle and Carson-the pioneers who started Wealth Affiliates-and NOT just the generic kind of message, sent out to every new member (you may get some of those too-as expected upon signing up to anything online), but these are genuine, personalised messages welcoming you aboard, making themselves available for any issues or to even provide you feedback on blog or website ideas you may want to run by a seasoned professional before publishing.
Not only that, but within minutes of signing up, you are receiving 'welcome' and 'congrats' type messages from other members too! The community, or 'village' if you will, here at WA, is what I would refer to as an absolute market leader. There's a transparency here that you don't often find elsewhere, an HONESTY as to how and why they got you here, how it all works, and how you too can start generating income the same ways. Without that support, even after reading every 'how to' blog, manual, audio book, YouTube video, you are truly left wondering which way is forward, up or down.
Like many, the recent pandemic across our beautiful planet, has really given me the shove I needed, to stop settling for spending 40hours a week in an office, doing work that has zero interest, passion, heart or soul in it for me. Maybe it's because I'm only a couple of weeks away from hitting the dreaded 40 years of age, and just deciding it's well and truly time for me to just step up and TAKE what I've wanted this whole time, throughout my 45 or so jobs over the past 25 or so years-creative FREEDOM and financial independence.
One of the many fields I've worked in, was the dreaded call centre role-in which I ended up doing for just over 13 years, for 23 different call centres, in both Australia and New Zealand. Anyone who has done this type of work can empathise and relate to the amount of verbal abuse you tend to cop daily as a telephone operator. I spent year after year, taking call after call, after call, day after day and so on, insult after insult. Some companies I worked for, you'd literally even get death threats and bomb threats on a daily basis-no exaggeration!.
If one was to look at this work experience and analyse it, from a logical perspective, surely the question would be "why?" "why put up with that, day after day?" to which, the only true response or suggestion I can offer, is that it was almost a generational issue. This does not in any way imply that I feel our parents, or likely even their parents, were responsible for the 'norm' that was initiated and distributed all over the world, which pretty much was:
"Study hard in school, then get a good job that pays the bills, work hard, save harder, then one day you can retire at 65 years old and ENJOY your life"!!!
I imagine if we could travel back in time to around a century ago, the above statement would likely sound like an absolutely 'heavenly' existence, but in this day and age, especially after what the covid-19 virus has put us all through, we are much more aware of our time, our surroundings, and of what IS and IS NOT, any longer, completely necessary. We've seen a massive global shift, in seeing what is possible when the occasion calls for it. We have found new ways of doing business, communicating, broadcasting ideas and messages and I believe it's fantastic, and incredibly empowering for those of us who are trying to create the life we desire here online.
Although the quote above was certainly the norm while I was growing up, I have to say it was an extremely negative view of life-you're basically working your whole life away, so that when you die, you can have a few dollars in your account! I've never quite been able to just 'assimilate' to this way of thinking. I believe its why I have held so many employment roles in my life, why I could never decide on a career to follow, a subject to study, and so on-I believe it's because I've never been able to define myself by my job, and don't really ever want to be defined by that. However, I've always loved writing-as soon as I start, I find it hard to stop, so this type of thing will NEVER feel like a job. Especially when there are very real opportunities for us all to make a living from this lifestyle.
I initially thought that I'd be best to NOT chase down a niche in my true passion areas, as figured they'd all be niche markets that are far too crowded, overpopulated etc. I now realise there is MORE than enough money in this world for practically every blogger and online business enthusiast to almost follow the exact same niche. Honestly, when I think about the distribution of wealth in the world, it really spins me out. As an example, there are roughly 7 billion people on earth...and there are a HUGE proportion of that number of people living below the poverty line, or not even knowing where their next meal is coming from. Then on the same planet, we have business giants such as Jeff Bezos, who alone is worth more than 200 BILLION DOLLARS! Which, when compared to the human population of earth, would mean he could single handedly give every person on this planet more than a billion each, and he'd still have so much money that his feet will never really touch the ground again!
Like other legendary figures such as Naval Ravikant has said before, he wishes every person on earth could just start off rich-in terms of monetary rich, THEN we could all truly just focus on doing what makes us happy, those things that don't feel like 'work' in the traditional sense-because it truly is staggering just how much we all would and DO put ourselves through, purely just because of money. I have personally spent far too many years doing things that might have made bosses happy, but did nothing to uplift me, to look after me long term, or to even provide happiness in the short term-it was simply an unspoken transactional agreement between employee and employer-give us your time, your energy, focus, and your YEARS, and we'll pay you on pay day what we feel your time is worth.
It is a terrible, horribly depressing thought to think of life as one big, hard slog, in which you basically work your life away, until you maybe retire, get a few years to 'enjoy' it all, then punch out. I am here, as I'm sure most others are, to try to put an indefinite stop to this cycle for my family and myself. If I can help anyone out there with my words, possibly inspire others to seek fulfillment, true happiness, and passion for LIVING (as opposed to simply existing, or 'getting through it') then that is far more fulfilling than any of the 9-5's I've served in throughout my years.
I couldn't be happier to be here, I thank anyone who has read this far (I told you I have trouble stopping once writing), but I'm fine if no one has read any of it-this is simply my first attempt at putting something out here, sharing some thoughts and viewpoints on some things, and trying to re-iterate that this community here is not only unique, but can truly be the change in a person's life course. It's very daunting to be out there alone, trying to figure it all out on your own, so being constantly supported by others who have already 'walked the line' and can offer real world advice to guide you, single handedly provides you with more value than most other sites or programs offer with their entire service, that's usually around 5 to 10 x the price as Wealthy Affiliates!
Stoked to be here, feeling more excited, pumped and DRIVEN than ever to make my own way in this world, and I hope that you too can make the life of your dreams a reality. Here's to a more passionate, connected and FULFILLED world.
Recent Comments
7
See more comments
I wonder how did you manage to stop and not make this post a book.
Great,a limitless potentional in you.You have entererd the village as a grown up child.
My regards.
Thanks very much. Tis true, it is very lengthy for a first post (my apologies) but yes, that's kinda why I'm here I guess, I could almost just blast out a book on almost any topic once I start writing-just gotta focus more on making sure it's interesting enough to readers.
Thanks alot for reading through :-)