Stephan Miller

06 Mar, 2008

Tunnels, Carrots, and Tangents

Posted by: Stephan Miller In: Journal| Make Money| Uncategorized

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Blog_051_large_1.jpgI have been writing the posts in this blog for the me of three years ago. "I come from hard working stock." Three years ago I was just looking for a job that paid more. That’s all I wanted. I was always told to "keep a good job" but I have never held a job for more than three years.

I always thought it would be different with the next job. In fact within a month of getting a new job, I usually learned enough to give the veterans a run for their money. I was excited to try something new. I always got big raises, one year it was 50%. And with some of these jobs I made it into management. And until I was 23 or so, no matter of hard work or initiative really mattered at the jobs I worked. For some reason, up to then, only my age counted.

Sometimes it takes moving up the ladder quickly to realize that there is no pay off. A few years of this and I realized that with a degree and and job that paid more, it would have been the same but it would have taken me longer to catch on. It doesn’t matter how much you get paid if you don’t like what you are doing. And if you have a problem with authority, there is no "job" you like doing.

I could not see out of this tunnel. And when I finally started making money online, it clicked. So many things I had read and that people had told me had a new meaning. There was no tunnel. Despite my anger with my working situtation and the ideals of those who seemed to enjoy their low paying jobs, I had fallen for the trap. The tunnel had slowly constructed itself out of these working class ideals. It didn’t take much to have it evaporate, just one foot in the right direction.

I consider myself lucky because I knew it was a series of chance occurrences that woke me up. Ever since then I having been trying to put to words a way to cause that snap without all the work.

Small places have small ideas. Small jobs breed small ideas. If this is all you have to work with, you have a chore ahead of you.

If you do not shake this when you try to take off on your own, it will still be the same. Old voices will taunt you. Old friends may not recognize you with your newly found attitude. And this may cause you to go back to the tunnel.

Or you could start making money online and be so flabergasted by the amount you can make with a few hours of work that you find the real culprit. Or not.

If I gave you a job that doubled your income instantly, how long would the money blind you? How long would you be satified with what I gave you?

The same game your boss played with you is still real and alive in your head. The carrot. But you have become pretty good at playing it yourself, haven’t you?

I have gone through many layers of internet marketing from Ebay to product creation to affiliate marketing. Those tangents were just as important to the lesson I have learned. But It took a few years in for me to take the first one.

As I go back down into the depths of the internet marketing machine every once in and while, I see the same people there that were there years ago. They are thriving or else they wouldn’t still be there. But they haven’t changed much.

And where some people stop amazes me. The tunnel is strong with these people. They still have their eye on the carrot.

So take a few tangents. It really doesn’t matter which ones. Each one will show you something new. Do it to cut the string from that carrot. Do it again to make sure it is still not there. Throw yourself in a few times where you don’t belong and feel free to make mistakes until you get what I am trying to say in this post. And then do it again.

And if you still don’t get it, read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. It’s a short book.

The truth. The carrot never really leaves. You have to fight it whenever you can.

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6 Responses to "Tunnels, Carrots, and Tangents"

1 | Bec (1 comments.)

March 6th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

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Love the post! I can see exactly what you mean and where you are coming from. I just can’t do the ‘job’ thing anymore permanetly. I’m temping in an office for 3 weeks now and it sucks! But it’s a lot better than being in a permanent position, even if you do move up the ladder.

None of my friends know what I mean, they stay at work an hour late and arrive early. I want to go home and do other stuff!

I love the internet and the possibilities it brings. The freedom to research, explore and learn rather than process invoices or do whatever you do for your boss!

2 | Stephan Miller

March 6th, 2008 at 3:38 pm

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One of the best jobs I did have was a temp for Verizon, then AT&T. I got to hang out in Best Buy, CompUSA, and Circuit City and and pick up commissions by explaining phones and plans. And play demos when the store was slow, which was a lot of the time. As far as work went, I would really only do maybe 4 hours of work the whole weekend and walk out with $300. It was only seasonal and they wanted to hire me for a store afterward, less the commissions part. I said no.

3 | Simonne (4 comments.)

March 7th, 2008 at 2:32 am

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Hey, I know what you mean. I’ve been chasing that carrot myself for many years. And you know what? You always end up by getting used to the bigger carrot, be it in your wallet or in your behind. And if you don’t keep moving, at a certain stage you’ll start to love your carrot and never leave it. That’s the big danger. That’s what I’m trying to avoid.

Simonne’s last blog post..Happy Birthday Sweet 40

4 | Stephan Miller

March 7th, 2008 at 11:39 am

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Exactly. What sucks with what I do is that I could double our income if I locked myself in a room for a week. I know I can. But I know lottery mentality. All debt would be gone in a month, but then I would rack up even bigger debt which would require me to lock myself in a room for week, ad infinitum. So I am testing hiding the excess. If that works, maybe I will lock myself in a room for a week.

5 | Simonne (4 comments.)

March 7th, 2008 at 3:13 pm

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Until last year, I used to to think debt was bad. I tried to stay away from it as much as I could. I’ve reconsidered this lately: now I want to die in big debt. I don’t have children, and the loans are insured anyway, so if I die, the bank will get the rest of the money from the insurance company.

Simonne’s last blog post..Happy Birthday Sweet 40

6 | Lessons Learned at Low Paying Jobs | Stephan Miller

March 27th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

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[...] And fortunately I found out I could do this stuff before anyone else did. Who knows what my price would have been? Three years ago, $60,000 was a lot of money. It still is now. But even a job paying that much will have to take a back seat to what I now do online. Hopefully, by next year, I can put a $100,000 job in the same league. Freedom is not having a price tag. [...]

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