Road to Somewhere: Your Two Options

You have two options in life, and you can either pay your dues, a double charge at times, and work toward your own dream, or work really hard working for someone else's dream.

In life, we have the power of choice, and many of us make the wrong choice and go work for someone else.

Worse yet, making the choice to work for someone else and to help them reach their dreams has given us the respect of our friends and family.

My own dad wants nothing more than for me to do this. "You can get a raise each year, a 401(k), benefits, and best yet, job security. And after thirty to thirty-five years, you can retire. You're set for life.

"Look at everything your brother and cousin are doing. They got good jobs, benefits, and a company there to take care of them."

And don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with taking this route, but what many of our parents, friends, and families fail to understand is their way, the normal way, the easy way out, isn't always for everyone.

We're Creators

I hesitate to call us just affiliate marketers, because we're so much more than that; we're creators, and for that, we're blog owners.

Some of us have our own products to sell, as I do on one of my sites, while affiliate marketing on other sites. Also, we have ads on our sites as well, providing us another income stream.

But how do we drive traffic?

We're creators.

Creators of content on a niche we're passionate about.

And in the long run, that beats punching a timeclock and working eight to twelve hours at a Dreaded Day Job (DDJ).

We're talented in ways that doesn't involve droning in a monotonous job for someone else unless that job happens to be your passion.

Again, if that's the case, feel free to ignore this article.

But since you're here and the title of the post likely caught your eye, I'm guessing you're not interested in toiling away in obscurity for pointless company goals where the CEO has zero idea you even work for that company.

And don't get me wrong, I'm cool with my current day job, but I told my parents it's not something I'm doing forever.

Again, while my mother was supportive my dad immediately resorted to his usual negativity, doing all he can to make me look and feel stupid about myself and that what I want in life is nothing more than a fantasy.

Of course, the successful members on here can prove him wrong in two seconds, but he's the type of person who will deny fact even if fact is right in front of his eyes. The self-righteousness and ethnocentrism he displays at times is downright demoralizing.

But again, the ignorant can be ignorant, as again, we're creators of content. Maybe our dreams won't happen overnight, no one's dream will.

Trust the Process

Stallone faced homelessness. Simon Cowell was bankrupt at thirty-two. Ditto for Curves International founder Gavy Heavin, who lost his fortune at age thirty.

The trio listed above found success in their thirties.

They could've easily have given up, worked for someone else, wore someone else's brand, and become another drone.

But they believed in themselves and all exceeded even their harshest critic's wildest expectations.

It took them all time. It will take you time. It will take me time.

We'll have our ups and downs. Sometimes we'll have a streak of ups and a streak of downs.

It's life.

But don't think for a single second that just because those around you are earning respect from their friends and families by punching a timeclock and working a normal job for pay, benefits, and a company shoulder to lean on means we all should.

Sure, it entices people to give up on their dreams. 90 to 95% of people we know are like this.

But the 5-10% of us who aren't, who are stubborn and smart enough to continue fighting for our dreams, we're unique.

You're unique.

If you're here, reading this article, putting the time in day in and day out, your success is on the way.

The secret is to persevere. Continue to work toward your dreams. Put every waking second of your downtime into it.

And you will build your own dreams. You will choose the right path.