We live in an age of high-flyers and reachers-for-the-stars, all eager and able to share their experiences of how to make millions doing what you love. On every side you and I are bombarded by gurus who want to teach us how to make our fortune following their footsteps and implementing their template for success. We can buy their books where they reveal their secrets, we can even attend their webinars and tutorials, their bootcamps and their one-on-one sessions and teaching retreats.
The problem is, a lot of these people make money only by telling people how to make money. There is a massive market in ‘Online Entrepreneurship’ as punters flood to pay out their cash for a get-rich-online quick fix. But very often what works for one person – or several people – will not work for others. There are many, many people following these ‘success stories’ and gaining no other reward than the privilege of being able to follow them.
This can lead to the ‘what’s wrong with me’ mentality, the despair that comes from the belief that there are millions of pounds/dollars/yen/euros out there just for the taking if only you are savvy enough to figure out how to cash in. Disillusionment and a big hole where their savings used to be is often all a person has to show for their weeks and months of devoted following, liking and friending, for signing up and favouriting every golden word that issues forth.
So I say, stop following the herd. Strike out on your own. You may still have times of despair and disillusionment, or panic, or sorrow. BUT…
You will be forging your own path.
And when you do arrive at your destination – or at the very least, within sight of it – you will owe nothing to anyone but yourself and your ever-loving and supportive family and friends, and your higher power. It will not be easy. Contrary to popular opinion the world will not – initially – beat a path to your door. But you will make a beginning for yourself, IF you don’t give up.
Stickability, also known as perseverance, determination, grit, stupidity, blind faith or sheer bloody-mindedness, will in the end bring forth results. It may take ten years, or twenty, thirty or forty for you to become an overnight success and realise your dreams. But you will do it. You have to do it.
Because what other choice is there? You could give up now and live an unfulfilling life, always wondering what might have been. Or you could follow the herd, forever convinced that your own little piece of glory is just one more tutorial or blog-post away. Or you could hunker down, lay in a few supplies, put on your hard helmet and your work boots, and you could settle in for the long haul. Adopt a ‘we-shall-not-be-moved’ attitude. The rewards of hard work and determination may often come slowly, but they are far more likely to come in the first place, and are all the sweeter when they do. After all, you’re going to be living your life anyway, so you may as well live it on your own two feet than crouched at someone else’s.
As Winston Churchill said, in very dark times, “I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” But he also said, “Never give in–never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”