My Success Story (Well, Sort of)

If you're looking for some grand success story of how I turned my little part of the internet into a wonderful opportunity ....... this isn't the post for you.  However, if you're struggling to understand why you feel something pulling you in the direction of your dreams but you have yet had your big break ..... then this might the post for you.  This might be the post that puts your little accomplishments in a light that makes them huge successes.

This is a post about how I realized my dream helped my buy my car, and that is a pretty big success.

Let's start at the beginning:  If you're new, a few years ago a left my home town of Virginia to trek up north to be with the man I love.  I spent a few months struggling with self-employment/unemployment.  I loved, and hated, every minute of it.  It was great to explore what I could do - and I found I could do it, it was just too much work that I wasn't ready for.  I wasn't raking in the dough like a needed to - a girl has to eat and save and you know, be alive - and so I decided to find "real" full time work (emphasis on the "" because any work that pays is real work, but thats beside the point....).  And I did.  Because I felt like I'd given up on self-employment, I struggled with feeling like a failure.  However, I loved that I didn't have to worry about my finances anymore and I had a steady pay check.  The good of the company was in someone else's hands and I wasn't one person doing everything.  This post by Alycia also really got to me.

It took a while (a long, long, long while) but suddenly I started to feel like I was doing alright in my full time job, and even succeeding.  I also began to develop a routine again and was able to fall back into my blog.  Long story short., I found it in myself again to put the effort into my brand while still working a full time job.  I'm not sure if I'm cut out for blogging as a business or running anything full time....it is a fun hobby that I can make a little pocket cash from.  I like it that way for right now because I'm realizing it's keeping me honest.  Here's a post on my thoughts on employment

I'm more in tune with what is genuinely me and I don't feel the pressure to be on the brink of the next big thing, to stay ahead of the game, to turn my blog into a cash cow.  I can still blog for me and not for the $$$.  I didn't have a steady income from this blog or any of my shops, and I still don't......but I had earned and saved enough in my PayPal account to put $1000 towards the down payment on my car.

Now, that might not seem like a lot considering I've had an Etsy shop on and off since like 2007 but through my stunt of self-employment/unemployment I laid the ground work to continue to make something off of what I'd set up.  The majority of my earnings came through my Zazzle shop and some from my old blog design shop, it also came through the affiliate links on my blog (read my disclosure here).  Did you know that PicMonkey (affiliate link) is my leading revenue link?  I promote it because I love it......and thats what I love about my small blog.

So, what is the point of this story?  The point is that after feeling like a failure because I gave up on my dream I realized that all my hard work helped me out in a time I needed it the most.  Working towards my dream helped me buy a car!  It may seem small but when you're in need of an extra grand to really get your payments manageable it's nice to know that you did that one thing that you felt like a failure at.

I remember getting so upset thinking that I was failure because I wasn't making a living wage off of what I was doing.  I was making something but it wasn't enough.  Now I realize that what wasn't enough before was just enough when I needed it the most.

That is my success story.  Working towards my dream helped me make a huge purchase.  It seems unimportant but it really was a revelation to me - at one point I felt like I wasn't doing enough and then suddenly I thanked my old self for all her suffering.  Just thinking about it makes me want to continue working towards something I love.

What is a success story of yours?  Do you have anything small that made a meaningful impact on you?

xoxo, Moe