I haven’t yet put up my “About me†page on my blog, so I will start this article by telling you a little more about myself. Two years ago I moved to Madrid (Spain) with my beautiful Spanish partner (Elena). When I came here I knew two or three words in Spanish and I soon realised it would be at least 18 months before I was at the level of Spanish required to get a job here. So my only option was to continue with my love of turning my ideas into online projects. I was in a very lucky position because Elena’s parents were very good to me and this meant I had the security to do things at my own pace. Over the years there have been numerous instances where I have had to make the decision between following my dreams and ideas v finding a safe and secure 9 to 5 job. During the first year I barely covered my living costs and we got by on a small budget. This meant that security was my main and sole focus and this is why I perfected my SEO, marketing and affiliate management skills. However, from time to time there were opportunities where I could create or run interesting projects on a % only basis. Over the past 12 months in particular I have been fighting between continuing to help grow my own affiliate web sites v working for people on a freelance basis/ working in-house as an affiliate manager. So far I have managed to balance the two fairly well, but I am wondering if anyone else has had this mental battle as well? what were your priorities? which was more important to you security v your personal dreams? has this changed with age? I am having my very own house built in Madrid and this means that three weeks from now I start paying a mortgage. Due to the mortgage I recently made a six month freelance SEO/Marketing deal with a client and this means that four hours of my day (every day) is tied to this project for the next six months. Do you think I was right in putting security to the forefront with a mortgage on the way? or should I stick to turning my endless stream of ideas into online projects? Do our circumstances control us or can we control our circumstances? Taken from my Affiliate Blog Adventure v Security