My Story: Building a Dream

My name is Antonio and this is my blog.

I’ve always been a very pragmatic person, constantly thinking about what I needed to do to have a good life. Finish university, find a good job, settle and start a family with my girlfriend.

And I did it! Well, the last part is still in progress but all in all I feel fulfilled. Or at least this is what I say to myself. Yet, there isn’t one day that I think: “Is there something more I could do to be happier? What if I could build and run my own business?”

Maybe I can become the proverbial my own boss. If many people succeed in this, why can’t I?

These words started to hit my mind towards the end of 2024 and right after New Year’s Eve I decided that this is what I really wanted for myself, so I started to write this blog.

I don’t have a successful story to share with you. I’m just a normal guy trying to find happiness in this world. But I hope that this new adventure will become one. Not only for myself but for all of those people who like me would like to finally say “Fuck yeah, I did it!”

So here’s my story and how I came to what I hope will be a turning point for my life.

I was born on March 22, 1990 in a small town called Barletta, South Italy.

I lived in many different places during my childhood, as my father had to travel for work. We lived for almost 3 years in North Italy, but I only have flashes of memory about that period of my life.

Then in September 1993, my brother Federico was born.

When I was 4 we moved to Rome, as my dad started to work for a big pharmaceutical company there. We remained there until 1996. In the meantime, my second brother was born, precisely in December 1995.

After two years living in Rome, my dad was offered another job in a company connected to the one he was already working. This company was based in Pescara, a small town (about 150,000 people) not too far from Rome, but on the opposite coast (the Adriatic).

During that year, I moved back to my birth town in the South of Italy with my mom and my two brothers, while my dad remained in Pescara, and he would come back home just for the weekend.

Being a quite shy little kid, I remember that it wasn’t easy for me to make friends, especially since we traveled a lot during my childhood. I never really had the chance to have a stable group of friends. That’s probably why I built a very strong relationship with one of my cousins with which I used to spend a lot of my afternoons.

After school ended that year (it was 1999), my parents decided to move permanently where my dad was working, in Pescara. I have to admit that I’m happy we took permanent residence there because I got the chance to meet a lot of nice people. A few of them are still some of my closest friends even after 23 years!

Most of my best memories are related to them, and even though most of us live abroad, I’m extremely happy that we keep in contact with each other and we try to see each other as much as possible.

2020 – 2027: My University Years

I wasn’t the perfect student during my High School years. I didn’t like most of my classmates and didn’t like most of the subjects I had to study.

In my country, high school works a little bit differently. You can choose a school that gives you a certain direction but you don’t get to choose the specific subjects. I chose a school with a more scientific direction, but I still had to take History or Latin classes as an example.

Therefore, it’s easy to understand how happy I was when I finished high school. I was finally able to study what and when I wanted without the hassle of waking up early in the morning five days a week.

Nevertheless, I was still struggling to find my path and I wasn’t sure about what I really wanted to study. I lost the first half-year before I signed up for Business Administration. I got my Bachelor’s Degree (taking more time than I actually should have) and then enrolled for a 2-year Master’s Degree in Management and Business Communication.

At this point, I told myself that I had already wasted too much time studying. I wanted to start working as quickly as possible so I decided that I would put my heart and soul into this. And I managed to graduate on time (and with full marks).

But these years were not all books and lectures. My fondest memory will always be the day I asked my girlfriend out. She was in the same class I was, but she quit studying after a few months and started working (it wasn’t because of me, I swear).

We started dating around May 2010, and we have been together since then!

2017 – My New Adventure in Amsterdam

I’ve always wanted to live abroad, and The Netherlands was the perfect place to start this new adventure. Amsterdam it’s an open and vibrant city. It offers everything that a capital can offer, yet it’s not so huge and crowded like other places in Europe.

I graduated on July 19th, 2017. That evening I had a small party to celebrate with my best friends. The very next day, I was already in Amsterdam!

My girlfriend and I both decided to move to Amsterdam, but she moved here one month after I did, as she first needed to work for one more month before she could quit her job.

Moving to Amsterdam is not an easy thing to do (unless you are rich of course). It is one of the most popular destinations in Europe because of the many job opportunities and the fact that you can easily live here knowing how to speak English.

But for this reason, the housing market is insane, and rents have gone up every year. As a couple, it was much easier for us to survive in this jungle, and luckily we never really had problems finding a house.

I started my journey in a medium company as a marketing intern. It was my first job experience and I made lots of mistakes, but those mistakes helped me grow and understand the dynamics in a work environment.

I admit that this wasn’t an easy period, the pay was that of an internship, and my girlfriend was earning the minimum salary, so we had to count every cent to make ends meet. I didn’t have much work experience, and I was struggling to find a job with a decent pay.

After this 6-month internship, I spent almost 1 year in a startup accelerator. But the real game-changer for me was the job I obtained afterwards.

I was hired as a Media Buyer by a small company that introduced me to the world of Affiliate Marketing. I had never heard about it before, and I had no idea what to expect. But I was willing to give my best because I realized that this job could teach me invaluable knowledge.

Prove that we can do what we want and that if we desire something we can definitely succeed.

This is exactly what I hope to achieve by starting this blog. I want to share my knowledge of the affiliate marketing world and I want this to be a successful side business.

And I want to share my journey with anyone who would end up reading my blog to show him or her that with some simple steps you can start making money with affiliate marketing. No matter where you are or whether you choose this to be a side business or your main source of income.

I know that you can do it too!