Not Giving Up
You know what they say: the best way to achieve a goal is to 1) get started and 2) keep going. But sometimes we get a little discouraged along the way, and feel like giving up. For those moments, I give you these stories:
Pat Flynn:
I’m glad that I didn’t give up on my blog at smartpassiveincome.com. A lot of people don’t know this, but I’ve wanted to give up on it 3 or 4 times, all within the first year since it started. Traffic just wasn’t growing at all and I had seen a lot more visitors on some of my other sites, it was disheartening to have so little right from the start – I just wasn’t used to it, and felt a little doubtful thought in my mind each time I published that publish button. Of course, I kept with it, worked on some strategies to generate more traffic and never looked back since. I think it was my passion for the topic and the fact that if I helped one person, it would have made it all worth it. It’s hard when you keep looking at the numbers through, but it helps when you step back and remember the purpose behind what you’re doing, whatever it may be.
American Debt Project:
I’m glad I didn’t give up on my plans of earning my income independently of any salaried, professional job. While those who attain a white-collar job with benefits, vacations and bonuses are indeed privileged, I want to be able to provide for myself and my family if anything should ever happen where I lost my job, hours were reduced, benefits slashed, whatever. I’ve always wanted to be a business owner and it seems like people my age are not interested in that, or are more interested in acquiring symbols of wealth rather than actual wealth. But I didn’t give up, I started researching and have found so many incredible people (new friends!) and resources online who are my age or younger and have achieved independent financial success. I’m slowly building up passive income streams and I am more confident about my ability to become a business owner (outside of blogging and internet marketing) as well. I’ve been working at this for nearly a year, so I believe I will see even more results as my commitment continues!
Tyler Tervooren at Advanced Riskology:
Myself, I suppose. I’ve quit a lot of things in my life so far, but it’s always been with the intent to do something else that’s a better fit for me. In other words, I don’t really regret any of the difficult choices to give up big pieces of my life because the underlying principle has always been that I know what’s best for me, and that I’m capable of recovering from a loss.
So, in a roundabout, less-than-straightforward kind of way, I’m really glad that I never gave up on myself and my ideals.
Jai Catalano, photographer:
I am glad I didn’t give up on my photography. 2 years ago I couldn’t get any work. However, with a few changes things re grew. Today I am proud to say I was able to have my first photo published in a book called Impact Investing.
Glen at Free From Broke:
I’m glad I didn’t give up on blogging. There have been a number of times where things flattened out for a while and it felt like my online efforts weren’t working. But I kept sticking it out and I was always rewarded – in time.
Frugal Zeitgeist:
I’m glad I didn’t give up on trying to find a way to make a portable living. With blogging and online freelance work I can travel and be almost independent of location.
My Personal Finance Journey:
I’m glad that I didn’t give up on my goal of going back to graduate school after several years in the full time working world. It could have been easy to start accumulating a bunch of debt on cars, furniture, a house, etc which would have made me much less mobile and flexible to take to the pay cut in going back to graduate school when the right time came.
Miss T. at Prairie Eco-Thrifter:
I am glad I didn’t give up on myself. When I was younger I had very little confidence and was treated poorly. I often questioned what I deserved. I am glad I stayed motivated and pushed myself to do things despite feeling like it might not be worth it. Now I have attained many great things in my life and so I am glad I didn’t give up.
Stock Trend Investing:
I’m so glad that I didn’t give up on my dream to keep learning and developing myself by leaving the fixed employment and starting my own business. It is scary to leave your job and it is scary not to have enough income for a while to pay all the bills. But it is even more frightening to be stuck and prisoner of what your doing and that retirement is the only escape.
Jaime at Eventual Millionaire:
Blogging. After 6 months and not having a ton of traction I was ready to quit. I was going to create a post and tell everyone that I was going to stop. I’m really glad I didn’t because a week later a journalist from CNN contacted me. Not only that the blog has changed over the year, and started becoming more than I thought it would be. Now I’ve interviewed over 50 millionaires, and I never would have gotten to this point if I didn’t just keep going with the blog.
It was confusing, and I had no idea if it would be worth it or not. But in the end it totally was and I am so glad I didn’t give up on it. You never know what can happen when you just keep moving forward.
Daisy at Add Vodka:
I’m so, so glad I didn’t give up on school. I was going to stop after I got my diploma, and kept going to get my degree. It has made a world of difference to my confidence, my hire-ability, and my skill set. Not a great impact on my wallet, but I definitely see it as an investment in myself.
Affiliate Help:
I’m so glad I didn’t give up on my first ever website. After a year of hard work I was still not making hardly any cash. I was working 2 jobs, plus was in a band in the evenings. I knew I couldn’t keep this pace up forever, so I moved abroad to Morocco, where I could afford to live a lot cheaper. This gave me more time to be able to keep working on my online business. Within 18 months I returned to the UK and was more or less making a full time income (subsidized with some flexible part time work). I now make a good full time income without the need to work. I’m just so glad that I kept going to get to the point I am at now, and didn’t let my circumstances dictate this to me. Instead I temporarily changed them to help me get what I wanted. Keep pushing for your dreams and you WILL get there in the end!
Imagine the things that wouldn’t have happened if those folks had given up. If you’ve got a dream, stick with it. It’s worth it.
Lots of familiar names here – and lots of respect from me for sticking with it. I’m still waiting for the CNN contact, but we’re staying online for better or worse, haha.
Thanks for this, Jackie!
I bet you do get that CNN contact one day though :)
Very encouraging and inspiring. I will read this over and over especially when feeling down.
I thought the stories were inspiring too :)
I’m glad I didn’t give up on my dream of living in Thailand. It took 4 1/2 years to get here, but it is so worth it!
Awesome!
I almost gave up in August before I bought my own domain. My wife convinced me that I should keep doing it and 7 months later I have made a lot of money and progress in the blogging world.
Sometimes we just need a little encouragement! Glad you went ahead and then have stuck with it :)
Wow Jackie, this is so inspiring to me. I never wanted to quit blogging but I have felt the frustrations of little to nothing to show for all of my hard work.
It seems that the ones that stuck with it are now seeing the fruits of their labor.
Yup, you’ve got to get through those moments before you can see the fruits of your labor.
To echo several other commenters – totally inspiring! I almost gave up on blogging and freelancing. Then, a random blog post led me to one of my biggest clients! Serendipity, to say the least.
It’s funny how often serendipity and other good stuff follow hard work like that :)
This is so inspiring! Blogging, too – at first it was a hobby, and now it’s more than that. I give up a lot of things because I get quickly bored, but I’ve been blogging for a year and a half now which is awesome.
Here’s to sticking with it! :)
This is a great article with a great list of resources! I love it when authors are willing to link to other websites with similar interests. I can assure you, I try to help all of my friends with the idea of not giving up!
Sticking with things usually pays off :)
I gave up when I first started blogging and regret it a lot.
But you’re back now :)
Maybe try to look at it as having taken a break…