You ever hear the story about Jim Carrey writing himself a check?

It’s 1987. Imagine him as a 25-year-old struggling comic, sitting on Mulholland Drive in Hollywood Hills overlooking the City of Angels, writing himself a check for $10 million dated for Thanksgiving, 1995, for “acting services rendered.”

Fast forward to 1995.

Carrey was way too conservative.

His films (“Ace Ventura,” “The Mask,” and “Dumb and Dumber”) have grossed over $550 million and he’s now commanding $20 million per film.

Wow.

How about you?

What are you committing to today?

I read that story about Jim Carrey years ago and was inspired to do likewise. I wrote myself a $100,000 check for graphic arts services and put it in my scrapbook which I still have. I’d like to report I made that money in some way from a couple of personal business ventures I made but I never could earn a living wage from my personal businesses. I would like to say I worked my butt off doing marketing and building a professional looking portfolio but I never approached the financial success I had hoped for. I did get riches from the experiences and from the joy of getting better at graphics design and making artwork but Jim Carrey’s gimmick never worked for me.