A Childhood of Influence

I grew up hearing about influential people. Sometime in my past, I have read the biographies and autobiographies of Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Harvey Mackay, and many other successful entrepreneurs. While I one of these men I mentioned as since fallen short of his past splendor due to personal decisions, no one can deny the fact that in their prime, these men were hailed as greats. Thus, quotes like “I don’t do it for the money. I’ve got enough, much more than I’ll ever need. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That’s how I get my kicks” (Donald Trump) and “Short Notes Yield Long Results” (Harvey Mackay) are what I embodied in my life from an early age. To this day they are still with me, just like the Book of Proverbs, guiding me in nearly every aspect of my life and making all the difficult decisions easier.

Regardless of what our entrepreneurial predecessors have passed down to us, many of my friends still think they are born entrepreneurs. I’m not saying people aren’t born and raised to lead, I’m saying that most people neglect the knowledge of the more experienced.

The Biggest Problem

If there is any problem that is the most common throughout humanity, it must be not learning from one’s mistakes. I know, because I’m guilty, and in fact, we’re all guilty. Every person has thought of a process in his or her head, tried it, watched their plan fail, and then tried their same plan again. And again. And again. Why? It’s simple – we’re stubborn, and since it makes sense in our head, it must make sense in reality. However, this couldn’t be more wrong, especially in regards to getting money – lots of money.

I’m no expert at making money. But, I would consider myself an expert at not losing money. What I mean is, I always consider the big picture, the long-term effect. Whether this is liking a girl but realizing things probably won’t work out and stopping before anything begins or whether it’s starting a project I don’t intend to finish. Note the last word, “finish.” Too many people believe that to make money, you have to strive for it. Well, I’m sorry but I have spent over $5000 of personal savings (consider that I’m an unemployed teenager still living with middle-class parents who know nothing about my web projects) trying out money-making websites on the web and only have $3.64 to show for it after two years (the time in which I stopped, not two years ago). When I stepped back and wrote down my results, the big picture finally hit me.

Money Comes From Passion

I’ve always believed that to make money, you need to invest time. That’s why I spent two years trying to make money online – and I kept telling myself each month I wasn’t making anything because it was still too early. Now, I realize that if you want to make money, it has to come from something you love to do, regardless of whether you get paid or not. It’s like Donald Trump said in the quote above, it’s not about the money, it’s about whatever you get a kick from.

The internet is full of get-rich quick schemes and even medium-term moneymaking schemes that actually seem rational. But from my better judgment, I can say that the numbers thrown around that you can make online are possible to make. However, the timeframes in which they are offered generally are not. If you’re reading this and disagree, consider this: Your friend is an architect and loves to design buildings. Not only does does he love his job, he is also making a lot more money than you. Would you quit your job and take up architecture simply because your friend is making more money than you?

I feel that description should be enough to convince people how ludicrous it really is to aim for money.

Hypocrite Or Not

Quite a few people have accused me of being a hypocrite about my ideas on money and how to make it. After all, isn’t my latest website project, Sudden League (http://www.suddenleague.com) just another gaming tournament website – one among hundreds on the web? The answer is yes and no. Sudden League is another gaming tournament site on the web. However, Sudden League, unlike many of the gaming sites out there, is focused on one game ( Sudden Attack) and has sponsorship from the game’s producers (GameHi, http://www.gamehi.com). These two details are what separate Sudden League from the rest of the gaming tournament sites out there, because very few of them are sponsored by the companies that make the games they run contests for.

Currently, Sudden League is not 100% ready to launch as I am still waiting on a freelancer to finish coding the forum skin. In all other site aspects, Sudden League is fully functional and tournaments could begin immediately.

Some people ask where my passion is in gaming, as many know I have stopped gaming as much, and the explanation is another important lesson I’ve learned in life.

Strong Foundations Lead To Strong Creations

Before Sudden League, I owned a gaming community site called Villain Gaming. Among the community were Sudden Attack players, and through them I learned about the great predicament GameHi was in. While a few sites on the web actively held Sudden Attack tournaments, almost all of them ended up in failure because they failed to prevent players from cheating. Thus the inspiration for Sudden League was born out of a desire by the players themselves to create a cheat-free gaming league for their favorite game. This is the foundation for Sudden League, and without it I would have never embarked on the project, even if GameHi came to me and asked me to create a tournament site. The audience is a key factor, and in gaming, the audience is the gamers. Without their requests, Sudden League would have never left the idea plate.

People who don’t know the history behind Sudden League often point out that Sudden League will fail like the rest of the gaming tournament sites. While I’m not able to blatantly say that Sudden League will be a success, I am able to say that it will take off. The other gaming leagues (like OWGL) failed because they didn’t address the demands of their audience. For Sudden League, I hired some of the best programmers I could find to create an cheat-monitoring program, and a few select members of the Sudden Attack community, as well as GameHi staff, have tested it with success. Overall, the forecast looks good, and I’m willing to stick with Sudden Attack gamers and Sudden League for the next few years, regardless of how much money I earn.