How To Stop Scraping By and Actually Start Living

First, I want to talk about the elephant in the room by saying, no, this is NOT a get rich quick scheme. I’m not going to lie and say that you haven’t heard about them before. Dozens upon dozens of ads, pop-ups, and blogs all hitting your screen, telling you the secret to making cash fast. How you can be the next millionaire, yadda-yadda.

Now before you stop reading, the difference between what I’m trying to tell you and what all those other folks are telling you is written in this next sentence.

Nothing good comes easy.

If you’re looking for ways to make a bit of extra side cash by doing something you don’t really want to commit to, there are plenty of opportunities to do so. One of the best ways to be a side hustler is to join affiliate programs.

What are affiliate programs? They’re businesses, courses, or programs that you can promote, and in exchange for doing the marketing and selling you earn a commission on each client you bring in.

I won’t repeat what I’ve said here for the purpose of not wasting your time, but I did blog about 3 Work at Home Skills Courses with Affiliate Programs Bloggers Can Join.

Now back to the chase.

Let’s take a look at your neighbors. Joe, what does he do? Maybe he works at a car dealership as a salesperson. He started there during his undergraduate in business, thinking it would be a great stepping stone while getting some insight into sales.

Somewhere along the way, Joe realizes bills are piling up, and the money at the car dealership is too good to leave after graduation because, heck, his friends don’t even have jobs yet and are completely jealous of him. Joe starts to go through the motions and looking back now he remembers how he used to want to do something more. He still does, but how can he quit the dealership? He has a family now.

Look at Paul who works in construction. He went into this line of work because he loved it. He loved it until he realized he’ll never be able to take his skills to the next level because work is political, and moving up in the company means replacing his boss, which is not going to happen any time soon.

These people aren’t uncommon. So what makes your neighbors different from Walt Disney, Stephen King, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or Mark Zuckerberg? No, I’m not talking about their intellect, though I will be discussing finding your genius later.

Do what you love… so you don’t get sick of it.

The difference between Joe and the Walt Disneys of the world is that the Walt Disneys are doing what they love and what they’re interested in. That’s what I want you to shift to, interest, real interest. Vocational interests are beyond even cognitive ability or your personality for predicting career success.

Don’t laugh, it’s true.

This analysis from Project Talent of a national longitudinal survey showed that interest in your work was the MOST influential contributor to income, which makes sense when you think about it logically.

When you choose to turn your interests into a profession, it hardly feels like work. Those successful people I name dropped? Their work is their passion, and they will continue to do what makes them successful.

I’ll take it a step further. If you continue to do something you are not personally invested in, you risk burning out. There is no innate motivation because there’s no interest. Honestly, I can attest to this, I get tired quicker when I’m doing something I don’t care too much about. Fatigue leads to lower productivity and lower productivity leads to decreased results.

If your sole reason for doing something is for the money, you won’t get very far.

Like I said, burnout is inevitable when you give something your all, all day, every day. Whatever you start to do is going to fall short at some point before you hit your peak. That’s why it’s not going to be easy. Finding out what you’re really interested in means you’re going to have to get vulnerable, and nobody ever tells you that.

That obsessive collection of hockey cards you have? Yeah, be embarrassed, but I can guarantee that your talent for collecting and categorizing has a niche, and can be monetized.

Let’s revisit Joe. Today he remembers his dream, and realizes he knows much more about sales than he gave himself credit for. He also remembers how hard it was as a new graduate, venturing through an endless array of job ops and advice. Joe monetizes his knowledge and years of experience into a nice course on tips and tricks for the newly graduated.

Remember Paul? He stopped keeping his ideas for his company’s growth a secret and developed a web series of lessons on how to implement them. He feels fulfilled and makes money every single time someone signs up for his courses.

Now it’s your turn!