How Court Reminded Me Why I Love Internet Marketing

Had to go to court this morning, and damn if I didn’t get a huge dose of reality.

(NO – I didn’t end up in handcuffs.)

It was actually just traffic court…guess I should back up a minute, huh?

The week before Christmas, I was out doing a little shopping for the kids and got stopped at a police checkpoint run by county sheriffs.  There were four of them checking driver’s licenses.

(Because, you know, that’s such a good use of their time…oh, did I tell you about the sheriff that came by my place not two days before that to warn me of the rash of recent break-ins there had been in the neighborhood?  With such criminal behavior going on, I’m glad they were tending to important matters like checking driver’s licenses.)

Anyway, you could tell the guy that ended up checking my license was determined to be a hardass and was giving me dirty looks.  Personally, I think he was just jealous of my ’66 Mustang.

Well, he also happened to be the only guy checking license plate tags, and damn if mine hadn’t expired.  Fuck me running.  You could see the grin on his face when he realized he was gonna get to write me a ticket.

Fast forward to this morning – today is my court date and I have to go to traffic court.

I’m not really dreading traffic court itself (I had already gotten my updated registration and I all but knew they District Attorney was gonna throw my ticket out once he saw that).  What I was dreading was the process.  Traffic court here is ‘first come, first serve’, starting at 8am, meaning you gotta get there early so you can get through security, log your name in, etc or else you’re gonna be there all morning.

And the courthouse is one town and a city away, on the opposite side of the city.  It’s only about 40-45 mins drive, but I have to drive through a military base to get there, and I knew early morning traffic was gonna SUCK.

All in all, the whole thing wasn’t that big of a deal, but I was just dreading the time, the drive, and the hassle of the whole thing just to stand in front of the DA for roughly 9 seconds and get my ticket dropped just wasn’t my idea of a cool Friday morning.  But whatever.

So I get my daughter out the door and on the bus this morning, get into the ‘Stang, and hit the road.  And am I in a grumpy mood.  Traffic wasn’t too bad, but it didn’t matter – I was pissed and staying that way.

I end up getting to the courthouse, get through security, and was actually one of the first ones there.  I get logged in, and ended up being probably one of the first 30 people they called up.  From the time I walked out the door, I had spent almost 90 mins to get to this very moment – I spent my 9 seconds (give or take a couple seconds) with the DA, he dropped my ticket, and I went on my merry way.

As I headed back through town, I reflected on what I’d heard in the courtroom, sitting whilst waiting for my name to be called.

The woman sitting next to me was talking about how she was missing part of her shift as a nurse, and wasn’t getting paid while she wasn’t clocked in.  She had tried to get there early so she could get out early, as not only was she not getting paid while she wasn’t at work, she was worried about getting in trouble with her boss if she was gone too long.

The man sitting next to her recounted how he was from another city (roughly 2 hours away) and had gotten nailed by the cops a couple months back while he was in town to make up a drill he’d missed for his military reserve duty.  Turns out he was missing class to be in court (he was there for expired tags like I was, so he’d made the long trip for his own 9-second meeting with the DA), and hoped he could get out early as he had a test in his 1pm class and couldn’t afford to miss it.

To be honest, I heard a number of stories like that – all the things people were missing and the important reasons why they had to get out of there so quickly.

Then I thought about myself.  See, I’m a full-time internet marketer.  I love what I do, and don’t look at it as I *have* to get up and work each day, but rather I *get* to get up and work each day.

Anyway, I thought about the lifestyle that internet marketing affords me and I couldn’t help but relate it to everything I’d overheard everybody saying.  I didn’t have to worry about a boss being mad at me being gone, not getting paid for missing work, missing a test in school, getting somebody to cover my shift, or anything else like that.

How did this huge hassle (as I had been looking at it) screw up  my morning?  I had to get up 20 mins earlier than normal.

When I got done with court, where and what did I have to get back to?  Nothing really…hell, I hit the gym on the way home.

All of a sudden, I felt kinda like a douche-bag for being in such a pissy mood a little while earlier.  But then I was thankful that I get to get up each morning and do what I do to make money…because it gives me an awesome lifestyle I know other people wish they had.

I know a lot of people that get into IM because they’re interested in the money.  Trust me, the money is badass, but once you can do it full-time, the idea that you can largely do what you want, when you want…well…now THAT is badass.

Tags: internet marketing