Tomasz Gorecki, fellow blogger and long time contributor to this site sent me a link today that I wanted to share with everyone. If this video does not stir your passion it will hopefully give a not so gentle kick in the ass we all need.
The video is from the Web 2.0 Expo in New York this past September with a presentation from Gary Vaynerchuk. So let’s start hustling!
Oh I almost forgot to mention take a look at Tomasz’s Blog on his journey to get debt free. It’s a great story and is packed with lots of good tips. Debt In Your 20’s Is The Kiss of Death
Sit back and enjoy.
Doing what you love seems deceptively simple. We should know what we love, but we often confuse this with what others expect us to love, what we do to fill our time, and what we merely like.
Our friends, family and society have expectations of us which vary greatly. If you look at practically any program on television, you will see what society currently expects us to want and love. These images influence our behavior, even if we do not completely understand it.
Sometimes we are pressured to make our hobbies into more than they are. My friend Jen is a crafter in her spare time. She has a flair for making adorable dolls, but once she started taking commissions, her hobby became a chore. In this case, Jen didn’t really love what she was doing. Making dolls was a pleasant time filler, but it was little more than that.
When you truly love what you do, you get a sense of joy the moment you begin. Something you love will energize you and make you feel better about yourself, what you’re doing and life in general. Loving your business will bring harmony into your life; in and out of your workplace.
If you know you love what you do and are still working at making it a business success check out the article titled “From Passion to Profits”.
If you could pick one of your favorite hobbies or past times and turn it into a money making business, what would it be? Give yourself a moment to reflect on the things you love and ask yourself this one important question: Why am I not doing this already? Struggling in a 9-5 world may seem like the obvious solution to life since thats what has been pushed on us our whole lives, but really breaking down what you love in your life and turning it into a profitable business is exactly what we should all be doing.
Who has a 9-5 and hates getting up in the morning and getting ready for work? I know a lot of people like that and I bet you do too, if you’re not one of those people yourself. I always ask them why they’re not doing something different. I try to implant this into friends and family all the time when they see that I am on my own, doing what I love to do, answering to no one, and making money at it. Now, I want to give you some thoughts to take with you today on turning your passion into profit and hopefully I will spark the fire inside of at least one my readers here.
Brainstorming your life
One of the first things you need to do is break down everything in your life and figure out exactly what it is you love to do. Maybe you love writing stories or blogging about your life. You might also love music or sports. Some people I know love to cook. Regardless of what it is, take out a sheet of paper and write down everything you love to do. Don’t worry about making it in order or neat and clean yet; we’ll be forming this all together throughout this article.
Forming opinions on your list
Once you have a list completed of the things you love we’ll want to figure out what about these things really makes you love them. If you chose sports as something you love, you could break it down and put that you love the competition of the game, the strength you need or endurance and skill. Maybe you just like the lifestyle these players have. The object here is to fill out your sheet with as many ideas as possible. Again, don’t worry if you’ve got them in order of your favorite to least favorite, the point is just to get things down on paper.
Profit finding brainstorms
This is where it can either get really fun, or really stressful, depending on how you look at things. I hope you look at it in an enjoyable way, because after all, we’re working on getting you outside of the cubicle and doing what you love! What I want you to do is sit down with that paper and give yourself 5-10 minutes for each topic you wrote down and really think about any ideas that could make money. From big to small, don’t let any idea go unnoticed. If it’s as realistic as selling t-shirts with slogans for sports teams on it, or advertising on CNN.com, you need to get it all down on paper. These ideas might spark some other thoughts or profitable ideas, so don’t let any of them go unnoticed.
Finalizing the list
This part is simple; go through everything you’ve written down and format the list in a good order so it’s easier to read and follow. Now, once you have the list done, step back and look at it for a minute; you’ve just written up the foundation of your new life! Regardless of what others might tell you, having the beginning thought about an action you’re wanting to take is the most fundamental thing you can do have when building your business, and you just did it. I’m sure out of your list you can find 1 thing that really doesn’t seem very hard to create as far as manual labor, pricing and marketing costs right?
The PROS of doing what you love
- You’re doing what you love
- You’re working for yourself
- You’re creating a life changing product
- You’re freeing yourself from dependency on the cubicle
- Potential profits are endless
- You have passion for your business
The CONS of doing what you love
- Finances aren’t promised; at first
- People might think you’re crazy
The final question to ask yourself
You might be wondering why the con list only has two items; I doubt you can come up with many more cons to doing what you love! In my opinion, there are many other additions you can add to either of these lists, but I believe these sum up the basics of them and really show you what you should could be doing with your life on either side of the fence. There is one last thing you have to ask yourself to make this whole process complete; Do I want to spend the rest of my life fulfilling someone else’s dreams or is it time to chase my own?