The actual phrase is "paying your dues".
Dues, literally, is money paid to be a member of some organization.
In this idiom, it means making the sacrifices necessary to achieve your goal, or goals.
Usually, it is a cliche said by musicians who achieve fame. They will say that they achieved fame by paying their dues - spending years playing in small bars and theaters for very little money.
In business, if a successful business man talks about having paid his dues, it means that he spent a long time at lesser jobs to climb to his present position.