A Realistic Success Story / Entrepreneur

Three Years ago I made the decision to be an entrepreneur. No, I didn't quit my day job and risk everything to follow my dreams; as I'm just not one of those people who takes innappropriate risks that you typically read about in success stories. Instead, I worked 80 hour weeks and maintained the 9-5 job on top of a 6-12 one. I went nights without sleeping, I scraped, and I saved.

When all was said and done, in three years I made over $400,000, bought a house, purchased a 2006 C-300, paid off all school loans, got engaged, and am happy with my life.

Am I a multi-millionaire selling his secrets to the masses? Nope. I am a happy entrepreneur who will probably quit his day job in 5-10 years to work on the fun job full time.

This economic depression that so many people are going through right now is completely passing me by. While my friends and family struggle, I'm able to give them gifts and support them in their time of need. I hope that doesn't come across as bragging, because I do try to be sincerely generous with the money that hard-earned success has brought in.

Here's the rub though: my friends and family work just as hard or harder than I do. I know people who are working two jobs and struggling to feed their children. Fact is, this economy sucks, and working for "the man" only makes it worse.

With the money I was earning, I decided to follow my bank's advice and invest in a stock portfolio. What a joke! The market tanked and I soon realized that I would have been much better off investing in my business with those funds instead of throwing money into the great slot machine we call the stock market. For someone who doesn't have a entrepreneur's job however, they are stuck with their shrinking 401k and crappy interest rates. They don't even have the option of taking risks to make more money because they have a 9-5 job for "the man."

People without a side job like mine are just forced to wade through the seas of the economic recession we're currently drowning in. There's just no other options available to them.

What all those paid programs online don't tell you is that it's virtually impossible to just stop working a 9-5 job and become an entrepreneur. It's just not the way the world works! The best products take years to create and flesh out all the details, including things like websites, coaching programs, and other great services on the internet. If you were to drop your day job and try to create a PR6 blog overnight then you'd end up in line at a soup kitchen the following month.

You can become an entrepreneur, but be realistic about it. Take the following steps to avoid losing everything in your bid to leave the 9-5 job:

1. Choose a niche you love.
2. Talk to established members of this niche for advice.
3. DO. Spend a few hours each night DO-ing as well as learning.
4. Fail and learn from each failure.
5. Try new things even when you're successful and never give up.

That's all there is to it. If you slip up at any time, such as failing to make any money in the first week, month, year, etc, your kids will still eat thanks to your day job. However, once the money does start coming in, you'll soon find that you are more than comfortable. I know it's tough working two jobs, but the price of security and stability these days is very steep. Considering the fact that your side job is more fun than your day job, it should prove difficult but manageable to work both jobs.

Take care and remember to be a reasonable entrepreneur, eventhough you continue to dream big.