[softball]

Originally Posted by NickPapageorgio

For me, personally, being comfortable in my confines is what makes me feel successful.

Do I own a porsche? Nope...my 300 pound ass would look kind of dumb in it if I did. I do drive a couple nice cars that get me where I need to go when I do, indeed, leave my cave. Does that solidify my success? No.

Do I own my house? Nope...at this time, we are renting a 4 bedroom home trying to decide if we would like to build a house here in N.C. It has been quite a culture shock moving from the "big city" here. So, we decided to give it a year, and if we are still happy living here, then we'll build. When and if I do build my home, will then I be a success? No.

Do I go base jumping, hanggliding, surfing, etc. lmao...you ever seen a 300 pound man do those things? I do bar-b-que while wearing a kiss the cook apron and wielding a 12 oz. can of Budweiser. Does that count? Guess not.

Here are the things, I feel, make me a success.

I worked concrete construction for years. It was a thankless job that required many many back breaking hours of hard labor. It paid the bills, but it was like every morning when that alarm clock sounded at 4am, I just wanted to shoot someone. I was stuck, at 23 years old, babysitting men twice my age who had decided that a life of drunken construction work was what they wanted to do. I was sick of 50 year old men asking me, "what you want me to do next, boss?" 50 year old men who had been doing construction work, in my field, for more years than I was alive, who had no idea of the next step in the process. Couldn't read blue prints...couldn't be counted on for anything productive...yet, when the job ran behind, these men didn't hear a sound out of my superiors. I was the one getting the ram stick from the rear, not them. I was in a dead end rut...

Now, I do something that I LOVE to do. I have always said, I am a pervert by trade. I wake up in the morning, go fix my coffee, eat a boiled egg. I take my morning shit while reading the newspaper. I go to my computer desk and begin work for the day. Now, this work consists of, basically, looking at tits and ass, all day, and putting them into graphically pleasing layouts among other things. Real tough job I must say after years of walking around in the mud, shovel and laborer in tow. My kids get home from school and we have afternoon snack. We watch some cartoons together, play outside, play Xbox whatever. Mom gets back home and we go out to dinner most nights. Nothing fancy granted. Actually, it's probably a little bar-b-q place here in town called Parker's which has the best pork bar-b-q and cornbread sticks in the world. Dinner, for all 4 of us, usually runs around $50-$60. We then leave, come home, spend some time together and go to bed.

Last year, we went on vacation to various locales here in the U.S. 3 times. I own two timeshares but no second or third house or anything. I live a somewhat simple life, but I am happy. This is the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. I am comfortable. I don't scrape to pay bills. My kids don't want for much. I am relaxed now.

Does this all count as successful? Or do I need to be some eccentric money bags looking down his nose at the worker bees?

What I do find kind of funny, however, is most of the spouting done on these message boards by the "haves" is usually accompanied by some sort of secrecy about what it is they actually do. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't give two shits what ANYONE else on some porn webmaster forum makes, but I just think it's comical when I hear that, oh so cliche retort, "I don't need to show you what I make, just trust me, I pay more in taxes than you make in a year..." or some variation of it.

It's a good show for the idiots who sit all day and refresh the page, but those of us who are making a living doing this, and striving for more...don't really give a fuck lol. Good for you...glad you could find your path and make the best of it...but seriously...who fuckin cares?

Well, nick apparently a lot of people do especially the so called "old timers" because the first thing they do to shit on what they consider a newbie is to claim they do no businsess. Then they claim to know their traffic and pontificate about how they make no money and how they, the old time experts pay more in taxes than the newbie makes in a year. They then move on to references about their day jobs and blah blah blah...I am sure you have heard it all before. So, after the tirades we are led to believe that "they" actually know something because they are so "successful". However when a thread like this is posted, they duck and dive and refuse to step up to the bar and actually put up. I have seen it happen before. You see, in business, you don't want to take the advice of a crook, a failure, or a part time webmaster doing this for either "fun" or to pay for annual trip to Internext. That would not be a good path to follow if you want to succeed on the internet. That is why I posted this thread to see who actually is making a living out of this business and who is thus worth listening to. That makes sense to me. It has nothing to do with bragging rights and everything to do with credibility. But on this board, when called to task on any issue, there is usually a deathly silence. All the bullshit of don't you know who I am wears thin. So lets see. Simple question. Who here is successful on the net. Nice rant, but a bit misplaced in this thread. Its not a who cares thread its who is worth listening to thread. It sounds like you might be worth listening to.