In 2010, I was granted admission to Bachelor of Computer Sciences at a renowned university in Pakistan. To pay my first semester fee, my father had to take on a few loans. Moreover, because my family lived in a different city, I was also required to rent out a room at a hostel. At that time, the most inexpensive shared hostel room cost $50, which left me with only $30 for the rest of the month.
My Parents
Being one of five siblings, I have seen the determination and devotion that my parents have invested in raising all of their children. My parents never compromised on our education and health. They provided us with the best education and assured that there was always healthy food on the table.
It was years later when I realized that it took incredible amounts of effort for my parents to provide us with all they could. My father, an honest and hard-working man, earned $200 a month, at the peak of his career. My mother would help, to make ends meet, by teaching at a local school; and the highest she earned was $250 a month, throughout her entire 25 year career. Between them, the maximum they ever earned in 25 years of work was $450 a month. Regardless of their exhausting routine and demanding jobs, they never showed even the slightest discomfort in front of their children. My parents never quit.
My Education
When my university semester started, I had to live on a $30 budget, per month. I knew how my parents were paying through their noses for the growth and upbringing of all of their children. So, I decided that I would try my best to earn my way through university.
I wanted to support myself, as much as I possibly could, and hopefully save some for my family back home. However, there wasn’t much I could do for the first 6 months, at least.
After looking for a lot of odd jobs in a lot of places, I finally got the opportunity to offer private tuition to a student near my residence. That student offered me $100 for each month I taught him. At that point, having $100 in my life felt overwhelming. With the extra cash, I could pay off a lot more expenses to start living a better life and even afford a few occasional luxuries.
In the meantime, a friend of mine and I drafted a plan to start our own trading business. We would get together and import commodities that were not widely available in the region. The hottest trend of that time was flying, paper lanterns. We started importing them and ended up making a huge (at least in our perspective) revenue of $4,000 in the first year and a half.
In terms of time and effort, the progress was slow. However, it was a success for us since our initial investment was only $100. With time, we had to gradually give into the competition because paper lanterns were available in abundance all over the region in 2013. We had to come up with a new plan or abort trading altogether.
I tried to venture into other opportunities, but was constantly met with failure. Later that year, I invested $150 in an ad campaign and it was a complete disaster.
My Turning Point
Eventually, another friend of mine told me about LivePerson (an online platform where students and experts from different fields offer assistance). People always talked about ways to make money online, but I had no idea. I signed up on the website optimistically and got my first client (David Parker) within a week, luckily. I am proud to say that he remains as my client. Things took off from there. I started to gradually get more work. I still remember the first payment I received from that website – a smashing $4,000.
With that amount, I could pay my own bills, rent, utilities and other expenses. I could even sponsor parts of my own tuition costs. However, it was not easy. All my clients from that website were from the United States. So, I had to stay up all night, due to the time difference, to work with them. The next morning, I would run off to classes to keep my grades up and academics in line, without much sleep.
There were days that I would go hours without food or rest because I would tried to fit everything in one day. Nonetheless, I kept going at it as I remembered watching my parents work for us. I was supporting myself, and finally, my family.
After graduating in June 2014, I was lucky enough to land my first job right away. Unfortunately, I had to quit that job in December of the same year because it was becoming increasingly difficult to handle clients and work simultaneously. Gratefully so, after 2 years of diligent work and unparalleled commitment, I have made a number of loyal clients off of that website. So, I feel exceptionally honored when I am approached every time for assistance of any sort. My work earned me a reputation, which I plan on keeping it.
My Message
Work hard and you will be rewarded. Be consistent and don’t be afraid of failure, because failure is nothing but another step towards success. If you quit, you lose the chance to succeed. Remember! What comes easy won’t last. What lasts, won’t come easy.
Today, I am an IT consultant, freelance website developer, and avid blogger. My new blog concentrates on the basics of blogging and making money. I am eternally grateful to my parents for giving me the best upbringing and to my beautiful wife for being a constant motivating entity.
This article originally appeared on The Huffington Post.
—
Photo credit: Pixabay