pay one's dues

Earn something through hard work, long experience, or suffering. For example, She'd paid her dues in small-town shows before she finally got a Broadway part. This expression transfers the cost of being a paid-up member in an organization to that of gaining experience in an endeavor. [Mid-1900s]

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
ArnbjÖRg	-	Ancient Scandinavian, Icelandic
Aleida	ah-LIE-dah	Dutch
Ania	AHN-yah (Polish)	Polish, Russian
Helene	he-LEN (Swedish, Norwegian, Danish), he-LE-nu (German)	Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, Ancient Greek, Greek Mythology
Shizuka	shee-zoo-kah	Japanese
Madhu	-	Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu