I am a big basketball fan.
Ever since I was a kid.
I have played the game for close to 40 years.
I have followed the game for almost as long.
Before I started circling the globe, I followed a local high school basketball team. St Patrick high school – now The Patrick School – has been a national powerhouse in the United States for 25 years. The school has churned out NBA players Kyrie Irving, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Deandre Bembry, Al Harrington and Sam Dalembert, and one college player who attended the high school – Nick Richards – will likely be a top 5 pick in the NBA draft next year.
How can a high school with about 100 kids turn out so many NBA players? All of whom have made millions of dollars?
The secret lies in the habits of Kyrie Irving, one of the best basketball players in the world.
Kyrie is only 25 years old. He is a kid, basically, but he is perhaps the most skilled offensive talent on earth. His dribbling and shot making skills are among the best in the NBA.
Peep this; Kyrie signed a $90 million dollar contract to play with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He also has endorsement deals with Nike, Pepsi and other companies with net him tens of millions of dollars.
How?
He developed his basketball skills through persistent, disciplined practice like few players I have ever seen.
He makes crazy money *now* because when he was in high school at St. Patrick he would spend 8 hours a day sometimes practicing his crossover dribble, his spin moves, or his ridiculously skilled finishing shots around the basket. He estimates that he spent over 10,000 hours practicing his basketball skills before he was 18 years old.
It was only a matter of time before he became one of the world’s best players, and one of the world’s wealthiest players too.
The Confusing Aspect of Making Money Online
I see folks on the Warrior Forum and Quora ask what system, what strategy or what technique will help them make money online.
This would be like Kyrie asking which basketball, pair of sneakers or style of basketball clothes would help him make millions of dollars.
Da skillz pay da bills.
Or more accurately, the years you spend honing your skills through diligent, controlled, persistent practice is the real money maker.
This confuses the hell out of most folks who make money online. Most human beings do not want to practice a skill to earn money. Whether greed or desperation fuels their fear, this prevailing energy goads most bloggers and internet marketers to search for the online money making Holy Grail, the one system, technique, strategy or investment that will make money online for them.
But the systems, strategies and techniques are only as good as the skills of the entrepreneur who uses the systems, strategies and techniques.
Kyrie’s net worth last year was $30,000,000 dollars because he spent 8 hours a day when he was 14, 15, 16 and 17 years old practicing his skills tirelessly. The skills made him the best player in high school basketball, the best player in college basketball and the #1 pick in the NBA draft, as well as one of the best players in the NBA.
Every eBook sale or client payment or audio book sale or course sale that flows to me is the result of me spending thousands of hours honing my blogging, writing and networking skills.
I practiced writing 1000 to 10,000 words a day for years. Naturally, honing those skills helped me to write and self-publish 126 eBooks which help me make money online through Amazon author commissions and through my Amazon Associates payments monthly.
I land clients for freelance writing and blog coaching because my writing and blogging skills inspire folks to hire me.
Practicing a specific skill which solves a problem helps you make money online.
Honing your skills daily over months, then years, helps you make money online.
Until you develop the skill you ain’t making money.
Until you pay your dues you ain’t making money.
Until you put in the time you ain’t making money.
Your skills, and your commitment to practicing the skills related to your niche, whether writing, creating videos, creating ad copy, networking, crafting infographics or any other skill related to making money online, these are the money makers.
Your Turn
How are you practicing your skills daily to make money online?
About the Author:
Ryan Biddulph is a blogger, author and world traveler who’s been featured on Richard Branson’s Virgin Blog, Forbes, Fox News, Entrepreneur, Positively Positive, Life Hack, John Chow Dot Com and Neil Patel Dot Com. He has written and self-published 126 bite-sized eBooks on Amazon. Ryan can help you build a successful blog at Blogging From Paradise.