Whining Wannabes [A Quicker Clicker]

XM Radio has fundamentally changed my media intake. It’s like cable for the ears, only better—an essay or two all by itself. And for the most part, I love it.
But.
It seems like the channels that do insert commercials attract a very different advertiser base than your local radio station. I’m still trying to figure out which I’d rather have: odd national invitations (such as hypnosis vendors) or vanilla local annoyances (such as Lynchburg Nissan). Thankfully, on XM, I’ve got 200+ more options to which to flip during the breaks. One commercial, in particular, draws the flashback button more than others.
It’s for moneyisnice.com. First of all, who needs to be told that money is nice? Don’t you just know this is a commercial with a catch? I’ve visited the site. I’m still trying to figure out (without requesting a packet and getting on a mailing list), if the site makes its money directly or with headhunter-type fees.
The commercial touts home-based business as the way to almost-instant wealth. “Simple, fun . . . almost magical.” Actual quote. No joke. “I found this incredible opportunity . . . $78,000 a year.” Another portrayed an entrepreneur claiming that he makes $5,000 a month “very, very part time.”
At first I took special interest in the commercial, as the vast majority of times I heard it came while I was standing at the desk of the office in my home-based business. BiPlane Productions, Inc., my design firm, grosses just under six figures a year; but I’m not scared that moneyisnice.com will ever give me a competitor.
I’m amused by the concept that income from inside the house would magically be more profitable than from an office or sales floor in town. And I hear often, “It must be so nice to work for yourself” in a tone that connotes a lucky break or old-money setup. I assume it’s folks with these interpretations who have been demographed by the infomercialists. It’s the same type who take nine weeks of their life off to try to win a reality show, the same people who say, “the rich get richer,” the same caste who buy lottery tickets, the same majority who think government redistribution of income makes capitalism human.
I would love to claim the early success of my business as my own, but I have to attribute that to sovereign intervention. I work hard. I do good work. I don’t skip the hard stuff. While I can show you a path of risk and reward, God has multiplied the reward of what little risks I’ve taken.
Most, if not all, of the millionaires with whom I dine and conference have all started from humble roots. They didn’t find $5,000 in the attic or a treasure map in the basement. They found a vision. They reformatted their lives around that vision—more drastic than I have with my firm. Then they took some serious risks, often a series of them. When the going was tough, their dream kept them alive. It’s how soldiers survive prison camp, cancer patients heal, and mothers weather a child’s failures. It’s a life principle that makes a great business practice.
I’m sure with my skill set—at least I’ve been told—that I could amass a business that would put me in the amenitied house and supertanker SUV. I don’t own enough desire for that. I’ve got enough instinct and drive to maximize a one-horse show and applaud those whose guts have allowed them much more.
Until the folks slamming moneyisnice.com see that wealth comes from within, they will always be looking to others for direction no matter where they work. Until they understand that business is fueled dreams, they will own nothing but schemes. Until they stop thinking that money and magic fit in the same sentence, they will begrudge the successful.
Ironically, until they see their plight for what it is, entrepreneurs will continue to make money off of them. And until I get quicker at changing the XM channel, the whine of the wannabe will continue to distract me from my $80/hour.