Rihanna and Elon Musk paid Dues.

In youth organizations especially nonprofits, you’re required to pay dues.

Here is what happens when you desire to be a part of a progressive organization or have that “I-am-doing-something” satisfaction and maybe have posts on Instagram and Facebook:

So you pick up a form for a token then, get interviewed and get selected. Voila! You’re a member of the organization. It’s a new experience perhaps, the one you love, you make new friends and find yourself doing the things you’ve dreamed of.

Then, there’ll come a time when the financial secretary starts asking for your monthly due and you’re like, “I’ll pay it”. Being a non profit organization, the organization needs you to run so whose loss is it if you’re kicked out? Hence, you get unimaginable allowance to misbehave. And to think you willingly picked up the form *sigh*

So months go by, you’re not only slacking in your financial obligations, you’ve begun slacking in your job description as a member. Eight months roll by, the Financial Secretary and the Vice President are in your face for the nth time, as usual you have nothing for the organization. With the dues piled, the amount gets so intimidating that you quit; you leave the organization to save your face and then decide to apply somewhere else. Of course, you got selected there and the vicious cycle continues.

Back to the present…

So I was browsing through the profiles of celebrities in various fields: Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, Rihanna, Bill Gates, Dwyane Johnson, Beyonce, etc. And guess what? In between the letters of their stories is a common tone; I PAID MY DUES.

I realised they all stayed with their stuff, worked it till it was something anyone in any continent could identify or recognize. I mean, they paid their dues. It’s not easy to pay dues and that’s the reason some people quit and start something else and quit again. Remember that cycle?

Building a global enterprise is no joke and it demands that you pay your dues per time. The dues-piled moment usually occurs when you sit to watch a celebrity (in your field) on TV or YouTube and you look at the hectares of land left of your dreams to be covered and you feel discouraged. Yes! That’s no time to quit, it’s time to start or continue paying your dues!

Coming out of my dues-piled moment, I decided to write this.