Moving forwards

That image above is me. Well, the dream is what I'm chasing. It's been a dream since I was at secondary school, sports journalism. I wasn't one for going to university to get a degree nor ending up in debt despite the fact it was exactly what I wanted to do as I was never going to be the next big footballing superstar.

Over the years that dream has never waned and the flame has always flickered, all the time knowing it's a very hard industry to get into. The invention of the internet and social media has given many a second pathway into this avenue and making it far easier to get yourself in the public eye.

But, it's not that simple just to get noticed. Hard work and a way with words is still the way for you get people reading. Can you make a career out of it is the question?

That is the question I am hoping to find the answer to as I embark on my next working journey. Those who know me through Facebook and Twitter will know two weeks ago that I handed in my notice on my full time job. Having been made redundant in the summer, this job popped up immediately and secured the financial and possible emotional issues that could have followed.

What it didn't do however is keep a good work/life balance, it cut down my time at home with my family and it started to make the dream candle flicker, all points that didn't rest easy with me, mentally it was draining on nearly a daily basis. So I felt I had to make a decision, not just for me but for the benefit of things around me too.

And that's what I did! But not without doing my sums and working out the bills still get paid and what I need to be earning a month to make it a viable proposition, without doing that the pursuit of the dream would have engulfed everything and crushed it.

I will still have to make sure money comes in while I build this up, getting this balance right is just as crucial as everything but the time is there every day to make sure that part is working as well as everything else.

I've been blogging for two years now and also getting paid to write for one website for a similar length of time. In that time personally, I've seen a dramatic rise in my viewing figures on my blog which keeps convincing me the dream is worth following still. Finding the right topic doesn't always come easy and sometimes there's just too much you can write.

Knowing I can get paid for the opinion I write was a bonus and gives me belief there are even more opportunities out there to get my teeth into. There is an end goal of my own website which I can develop over the coming months, something to give great coverage for non-league football in my area, but only once I've worked it to be sustainable.

This time next week the dream becomes reality and that's where the hard work begins, but if you can't make money from doing something you enjoy then something isn't right!