When the world says, “Give up,”
Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”
~Author Unknown
Everybody wants to be successful: either at your job, be it online or offline, in your projects or in your poker nights with the guys (or girls, don’t want to be sexist there :D ).
So, what is the quality I think you need the most? Perseverance. Let me say it again: PERSEVERANCE.What does it mean? Whatever you do, do not stop. If you believe it to be what suits you or what you want to do in your life, do not stop.
I remember when I was starting to get serious about earning an income online: everybody was asking me how can I earn any money without being either a programmer or a webdesigner? Three years ago we had no public success stories about earning online income in Romania (Softpedia was just at the begging and not very public about their income). My parents were dazzled by the fact that I would refuse a 400E/month job (entry level in a bank, it was a good monthly income in 2004-2005 in Romania) and worked my a$$ of for dimes and pennies doing “something online” – I was writing texts and making link exchange campaigns on sites like ScriptLance and Rent-a-Coder. Why, would they ask me? And one year I had the same discussion with them: “go to a bank, it is a sure and safe job. You speak English fluently, you are good with computers, what’s to stop you from going up and up?”
What they didn’t seem to understand at that point (though they accepted my decision) was that a job in a bank wasn’t what I want (though I majored in Finance and Bankning). I didn’t want to be a part of the 9 to 5 rat race. I wanted to do something I like, something I would have done without even being paid for. So I persevered. I read everything I could on making money online, I have read success stories (Thanks, God, for blogs from successful people online and for forums like DigitalPoint, SitePoint and WebmasterWorld), I had some ups and downs, at some point I was even having problem finding money to buy some food (though I had some big checks coming from Adsense, it took about 4 months for the first check to be cashed in). The fact is I didn’t quit. Though all my friends were telling me to go get a job (I even had interviews set up without knowing), I kept at it. And it paid off, at some point. And it still is, 2 years and some later.
What did perseverance brought me? A life style I enjoy (I can wake up when I want to, I can leave to visit friends in and out of the country when I want to – by the way, guys, we are coming to Iasi this weekend, to have a beer or two), people I like and with whom I can speak about what I do without getting “the blind, WTF, look”, I helped a lot of people do what I did (there are some that do it even better than me). Overall, the best 2 years of my life (and mind you, my parents owned a night club for three years, so I had some good and fun stuff to compare with :D )
So, final conclusion, after all the “superhero ME” post you just read?
Think about what you like, see if you can make a living out of it and start doing it. No matter what people around you tell you, if you think it is right for you, do it. This is the first step. The other step is: no matter the adversity, keep doing it. At some point, you will see the sun: and man, is it brighter when you are on the other side of the rat race…
Quote from QuoteGarden
