What makes an entrepreneur? I wish I knew, it seems to be that thing that just kind of happens. Its that thing that sometimes you wish you could shake. Its this drive within a person that you think non-action, even if it is not all that productive that keeps you in action. You feel like you’re lazy if you’re not doing something, even if the action itself is really just a lazy one. We have this thing within is us that tells us to do more. Spending a lot of hours building network marketing? That’s great! You should start a fitness company! Busy with those two? That’s great! You should start Private Labeling! Sounds like those are taking all your time, you should start a podcast! Well, now that you’re working into the night, glued to your cellphone, stressed and your wife isn’t happy with you, it may be the time to start speaking about marketing via social media.
When I was a kid, I was not able to focus on one thing. I was diagnosed as bing ADHD. However, if you read the main symptoms of ADHD, its the symptoms of being a child. I think in all honesty it is our own difficulty in controlling this drive, because it comes with us young; we’re born that way and its never really created. We are those that draw thew universe; no one ever told us the lines have to be the same or even!
It’s created when we are. I used to play video games when I was younger, but I’d lose interest in them. So, I started doing things this new way; I’d listen to an audiobook while I did it. At 13, I listened to world economics in the Lexis and the Olive Tree, by Thomas Friedman or got my fill of classic literature by reading a Tale of Two Cites, by Charles Dickens. I did all this while building a football dynasty on Madden NFL on mute; I was a weird child.
I started working very young, at the age of 11, delivering newspapers. It seemed like a pretty basic and easy job. I started small, just two roads and about 30 subscribers. However, for a young kid with just a bicycle, it was income and I saw success. I learned the value of a dollar and it was like being a distributor for the newspaper. Then, I started with building my newspaper empire. The carriers on two neighboring routes, then gave up their routes, and I took them over. My little 30 paper route was now 180, and took significantly more time to do, but based upon time input, I was making pretty decent money for about an hour and a half worth of work after school one day.
A few years into my newspaper exploits, my paper came up with a commission program. The agreement was that we would go out to neighborhoods with low readership, I would deliver my quick pitch to them, and close them on a new subscriber. I set some records for the most new subscribers, it was kind of cool!
By age 17, I had a drivers license and new knowledge and interesting news of caddie at the local golf course. I would continue my newspapers and add this new stream of revenue. However, it turned out to not be the greatest opportunity out there. I would have to arrive early to the golf course, before 6 AM, and hopefully be the first to arrive. The caddies that had been there the longest were requested and would have the best bags for the day. I would have to put in my time here in order to make more income. The going rate for $35 per bag, and a round of golf would take 4.5 hours. It was a little less than minimum wage, but there was the opportunity to really make some big money with tips.
I learned the reality of it was that most people that hired me were bad golfers. Well, not just bad but horrible. I found myself giving golf lessons in order to help save myself some hours. Those 4.5 hour rounds of golf were now taking over 6 hours; 6 excruciating hours. Most of the time was spent on recon missions looking for golf balls, which often ended with the golfer not being happy with me.
Less led me to start keeping stats and see what my time was worth. At the end of a month, I would decide if this whole caddie thing was worth my time. For every golfer that gave my $100 there were 8-10 that would give me $40. Based on the average amount of time I was spending, 6 hours, I was not doing so hot. Not to mention, that even though I was always the first one there, some how some names were getting scribbled on the roster ahead of me; maybe they were hiding.
It turned out I was lucky I had my newspaper route in my back pocket and I kept it for two more years. For about 7 hours of work a week, I would usually bring in about $300 per week with tips; not a bad gig. Christmas was always good to me too, I would bring in about $2000 in tips. However, as I got older, I learned that I was tied to my location and when trying to go to college, it became a bit of a problem. After 8 years of service, all of them without a single subscriber complaint, I gave up my paper route and went onto being an employee. Looking back on it now, I probably should have wen right into network marketing, as the time layoff and all the school made me a bit rusty.
I bring up this experience because it taught me a few things:
- My time is valuable
- Work should help you create a life, not be a slave
- If your tied to hours eventually you run out of them
- I want freedom of location and time in a career
This has been what I have always strived for, with a bit of an identity crisis after college. However, eventually I found network marketing and remembered what I wanted in life. Question I hate the most? How much are you making? I hate it mainly because, most people do not truly grasp what it takes, and second I’m going for my dreams, you can’t put a number on those. Besides, we’re most likely not the same person, so results will vary.
Be awesome my friends in whatever you choose to do! Do you have experiences like me? Comment below I’d love to hear from you!