Since no one else wants to take a shot at defining "paying your dues...."
Paying your dues: To put in hard work for a goal before reaping success.
Just because you're a good writer doesn't mean you can write a legal brief and have it stand up in court. Just because you've studied the law doesn't mean you can argue YOUR case before the courts and win. YOUR in caps because you can't argue anyone else's case in a court of law unless you first "pay your dues" to be a lawyer by going to Law School, graduating, and passing the bar exam in the state you want to practice law. In short, put in the time and work (pay your dues) before you can put up a lawyer's shingle.
Other definitions:
pay one's dues
1. Lit. to pay the fees required to belong to an organization. If you haven't paid your dues, you can't come to the club picnic. How many people have paid their dues?
2. Fig. to have earned one's right to something through hard work or suffering. He worked hard to get to where he is today. He paid his dues and did what he was told. I have every right to be here. I paid my dues!
See also:
due,
pay
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
pay your dues
to work hard or do something unpleasant over a long period in order to achieve something: I've looked after four kids for sixteen years, I've paid my dues, and now I want some time to enjoy myself.
See also:
due,
pay
Cambridge Idioms Dictionary, 2nd ed. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006. Reproduced with permission.
pay your dues
to earn respect because you worked hard to develop a skill: She paid her dues playing in small clubs in New York before an album made her famous.
Another example: The homeless man who criticizes the house another man built.
"Where's YOUR house? You want to say I shouldn't have put a bay window in the back of the house I built, but not only are you homeless, but you've never built a house. Until you "pay your dues", i.e., actually build a house from the ground up - like I did - admire, learn from, whateva, but don't tell me you, who haven't even built a dog house, know from books OR experience how to build a better house than I do." (goes to "earn respect" and "work hard" in the above definitions).
Hope this helps.