I will pay you an ample monthly salary to do any job you please. Think hard.
What will you choose?
Some of you will have happily answered that you’re already doing the job you please.
Others will have chosen that thing they do when there are extra hours in the day.
Still others may have chosen something completely outside their current orbit.
But let’s take a step back.
Imagine you’re someone who adores creating journals. Every week, you put aside a few hours to stitch and paste together a beautiful journal for one of your friends, or even for yourself. One day, one of your grateful journal-owning friends comes up with a brilliant business plan for you and your journals. Fast forward ten months, and you have a website that’s raking in more orders than you can keep up with.
Literally.
You were elated a few months ago when you could give up your day job to make journals full time. But then you realized that a huge chunk of your time is spent marketing, accounting, e-mailing… not making journals, in other words. When you do finally sit down to make those journals, a strange feeling settles in the base of your chest. You can’t quite put a finger on it, but something’s definitely bothering you. Why would you feel so crappy when you’re doing what you love?
How many journals do I have to make today? Who do I have to make them for?
All these shoulds, have to’s, and gotta’s start running through your head. And suddenly, it’s obvious. That thing you love doing has become that thing you have to do.
I believe that the question of whether or not to combine one’s passion with one’s income is truly personal. Though it often seems like it would be insane to turn down the chance to turn your passion into a successful career, I’ve spoken to a number of people who’ve been there and been disillusioned.
Some writers thrive on 8-hour writing workdays, while others become famous writers by writing in the wee hours of the morning before their jobs in supermarket stock rooms.
It can be liberating and glorious to find a way to make money doing what you love, but it also brings in a lot of baggage. Baggage like obligations and ROI and finances. It can also mean compromising your pure passion to make it more marketable. In reality, many people who try to combine passion and career end up shooting too broadly — the freelance writer who loves writing, but then realizes it’s actually just writing poetry that he loves. Not writing ad copy, or white papers. But he’s making a living writing, so isn’t he doing what he loves?
The questions we have on our table today are:
Would you want to combine your passion with your career?
Or would you rather keep that passion safe from the burdens of business?
What keeps that thing you love doing from becoming that thing you have to do?
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{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Very insightful. I actually have thought about this before. I would only leave my current job for 2 other jobs….
Business owners can easily be owned by their business. The sticky side of being your own boss, is the business end of it. Another question becomes, do you love what you are doing so much that you are willing to overcome all obstacles to succeed? Now, if only I could get green backs for being the Domestic Godess that I am. LOL! Trust me, I enjoy how I get paid.
Recently, I’ve been thinking about this exact subject. About 20 days ago, I entered a contest to win my “Dream photo assignment.” The prize is $50,000. I’ve already resigned myself to the idea that I don’t have a chance to win because I don’t know enough people to vote for it to get it into the top 20. Don’t get me wrong. The idea is good, but unless you’re on the home page of the voting, your idea is overlooked.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Once I submitted my idea, it occurred to me that this was my dream job. Traveling CA, visisting places, events, nature, and people, photgraphing them, and then writing about it. I wondered if I’d get tired of it, once it became a “job.”
After thinking long and hard, I know I wouldn’t. For me, this is truely the job that I’d love everyday for the rest of my life.
Oh, I’m not naive enough to think I’ll love every aspect. I’m sure there are somethings I would like, but I know I’d get up every morning looking forward to what the day would bring………….:)
LisaNewton´s last blog post..Riding the Los Angeles River
Hi Zoe! I must admit the idea of selling out, business and possibly corporate politics does not sit well with me because of things that happened in my past. But I’ve grown a lot since then and I know in my plans, I must do these things. My blog takes in a decent income, not enough to live on, but certainly a nice supplement.
If you want to “make it?, you must risk the burden of business. I realize I will have to sell out to a certain extent. It seems only successful writers can write what they want free from having an agent or publisher tame them and force conformity. I read an article where Stephen King degraded Stephenie Meyer’s (author of the teen book Twilight) writing prowess. It got me thinking about my own stilted views and how judgmental I can be about other people’s writing. I’ve decided it’s just bad to insult any writer or pass judgment on their skills. The point is, Stephenie Meyer is incredibly successful. She did something right. She got published and sold millions of books. I don’t want to end up bitter like King and ever place myself on a pedestal. You can be an incredible talent and remain unsuccessful.
To your 3rd question I say I simply love writing and must remain rooted in that feeling regardless of what I may have to write. If you become truly successful, what you love and what you have to do become the same thing—but you will have to pay a price to get there and it’s not all pleasant.
Bobby Revell´s last blog post..Afterbirth – Tale of Terror
You are so so so so right. Isn’t this the blessings and the curses of freelancing?
@ Jessica – It’s funny how when you sit down to truly think about it, your list narrows down quite a lot…!
@ Trina – Yes, devotion has to be a key factor — to be so devoted that the sticky side doesn’t pull you down.
@ Lisa – You’re right…of course you won’t love every moment. But if you can say that it’s what you’d want to wake up to every day, that’s pretty huge
.
@ Bobby – Wow, really keen insight. I think it’s important to distinguish between becoming successful for doing something you love, and finding a way to turn something you love into a successful business. For example, the former could be becoming an internationally acclaimed author once your novel is published. The latter, on the other hand, could mean other things — it could mean taking your love for writing and starting a really popular writing class that gets franchised (OK, maybe I’m stretching a bit here
)…which may be great, but then you’re still not quite doing that thing that you love.
If I read your comment correctly, I think you’re highlighting *becoming successful for doing something you love* as the way to ultimately join passion and career — and in that case, I’ll have to strongly agree with you
.
@ writersresort – Yes! Definitely applies to freelancing.
Yeah, I’ve recently been writing a lot of nonfiction articles to build my portfolio whereas my real love is writing fiction. Don’t get me wrong. I also love writing for magazines –going out there and interviewing people and looking at places but my passion is exploring my imagination, entering a fantasy world and never leaving it. And lately I realized I’ve been spending less and less time in that nowadays as I juggle that, marketing and teaching. I’m sure you can relate Zoe.
Kate Yowein´s last blog post..The Devil Wants You Dead – 8
I’ve been thinking of this topic lately as well. My thoughts went something along the line of ‘who could afford to pay me for the phenomenally good job I do every day?’(I was hanging out the washing at the time) and I’m only half joking!
As a Body Harmony consultant and practitioner, my work is freelance but not in the way of creative writing. There isn’t the risk of having to practice my art in a way that doesn’t resonate. Body Harmony treats the individual and not the condition, so even working with clients with health issues is endlessly fascinating and humbling.
I love it!
I guess I’m really lucky in that there is little difference between the effects of giving and receiving a session. I always come away feeling expanded, so there is never a moment when I would not want to work. It is exactly the kind of ‘job’ which isn’t really a ‘job’.
What’s interesting in relation to your questions, is that the promoting part of the business is much harder for me. The time that it has taken to get the website/blog together would probably have been much shorter if I was doing it for someone else. It’s been a real process of refining my writing skills to be able to communicate the effects and benefits of the work clearly as well as temptingly!
What kept me moving forward, the blessing and the curse, is what Seth Godin said in his blog today:
Don’t choose your dreams based on what is certain to happen, choose them based on what’s likely to cause the change you want to occur around you.
A wonderful and thought provoking post.
I have three questions/provocations:
1. What about those of us who are uncertain of our passion/desire?
2. What about those who struggle to survive day to day through no choice of their own, but because of where they were born in the world? (a large proportion of people in the world fall into this category)
3. What to do if your passion is the subversion of an economy based on money in favour of one based on human relationships? To put it slightly differently, what if you believe being paid (in money) is unethical because your passion is fighting against the idea that the value of labour should be measured in monetary terms (rather than whether it is good for the human soul, whether it nurtures and sustains the earth, etc.)?
Always, it’s a question of balance Zoe. If my passion was one that was extremely labor intensive compared with its monetary equivalent, I’d say no, combining the two would not be a goal. That’s just another job, another time-for-money trade-off and I think that is precisely what most people are looking to avoid.
Only when the joy/pleasure is a consequence of the activity itself (as opposed to the result thereof) will that kind of trade-off work for me.
To use your journal-making example. On a small scale, I’m sure the activity is enjoyable, but my guess is that person derives much of the joy from seeing the result, feeling accomplished, watching the person for whom it was made receive it. When the journal-maker is disconnected from that part of the equation, the activity of making the journal becomes a chore.
My sense is that David is on to something in his 3rd point. When we are engaged in the things that are reward in and of themselves, when they, by their very nature, place a focus on relationships, on sustainability and on the health of the human soul, we’ve hit pay dirt in every possible aspect of the expression.
Jeb Dickerson´s last blog post..The formative years
This is why I’m sometimes glad that writing poetry is an unlikely way to make a living – though even as I type this I just thought of one possible avenue for doing it… Anyway, I like my career to have a touch of my passion in it, but I’ve also been exploring and implementing ways to expand my services beyond writing. But I find the more I write copy, the more desperately I want to write my other stuff, like my blog, fiction, poetry, etc. So in a way, it keeps me motivated.
Melissa Donovan´s last blog post..Plotting Fiction: The Elements of Plot
@ Kate – I love working on both fiction and nonfiction — problem is, the nonfiction pieces I truly enjoy are the ones that don’t pay much
. But there you go, living here in Thailand allows me to focus more on what I like doing, regardless of pay issues. In the end, of course, most of us do have to pay rent, though 
.
@ Lindsay – That sounds pretty wonderful. It sounds like you love your work so much that the crappy promotion stuff pales in comparison. That’s a really good Seth Godin quote, too — I hadn’t seen it yet.
@ David – And even more thought-provoking question/replies from you! Wow, you’ve really touched on a lot of points that set my mind in all sorts of directions. Let me give this a shot
1. Very legitimate point. It really got me thinking about my recent explorations (into my mind haha). I have always completely loved writing, but as I realize that I don’t exactly want to be a full-time fiction writer, I am trying to get my finger on my own pulse and feel out what those other connecting passions are. Of course, there are also many people who can’t pinpoint one passion… it can be a difficult thing to uncover for some.
2. I have a half-written post on this topic. Half-written because it is endlessly fascinating and complex, and I keep rewriting and re-researching
. Most of the world simply does not have the luxury of pursuing their passion full-time, for matters of simple survival. When you’re waking up at 3:30am to sell food at the market and then coming home to cook dinner, you’re probably not thinking about when you can put aside a couple hours for your art. Aside from time and money, there is also the issue of resources/opportunities. We are extremely lucky to even *know that it’s possible* to make a living doing what you love. To be educated on ways that might happen. I’m working with an NGO that is doing art workshops for teens with cerebral palsy, and it’s incredible to see how simply being able to create something has had an empowering effect on them. OK, I think that half-written blog post will need to crawl out sometime soon, before I write a whole post in this comments section!
3. Wow. I don’t even know where to start with this one. Sounds like a conscious community, no?
I have to think on this one for a while, but I’d love to hear more on your thoughts… and everyone else here too!
@ Jeb – Yes, yes, yes! Balance, and all those wonderful pay-offs that aren’t money. It’s an incredible vision. But I still wonder what it would take to make such a movement wide-scale… it works in small communities, and it seems great. But it won’t be a viable solution as long as it means excluding ourselves from most of the world’s society — what will create that tipping point? Are we anywhere close to it even?
@ Melissa – That tension is definitely there! Sometimes it seems hard to juggle two types of writing lives, one for love, one for income. On one hand, writing for clients makes me wish I were working on my own work… but then when I’m done writing for clients, I often want to do anything but write! Still working on that balance, for sure.
I’m glad I finally found a post where someone basically states that it is ok to have separation between your work and your passion. I like what I do, it affords me flexibility and freedom, but I do not have a passion for the particular type of equipment that I sell for a living. I work to support the life I have. I pursue my passions outside of work, namely with my wife, friends, in personal development, and nuhabits.com – a personal change social network I’ve been working on.
I think my dream job would be a snorkeling boat operator in the Caribbean, I love the beach and I love to swim, but who knows? Maybe I’d get bored of it after the novelty wears off. Maybe I’d wanna go see an IMAX movie once I settled in – and realize there are no IMAX theaters on the island. Maybe I’d discover a whole new set of complicating factors that I never anticipated that my new life would entail – like liability insurance, marketing time/expenses, and the Caribbean tourism industry’s dependence on the failing US economy.
Sometimes I think people should focus less on trying to do what you love, and focusing more on learning to love a particular aspect of what you do. But I’m sure there are plenty of people who disagree, and I’d like to hear your thoughts either way. We can’t all be a bunch of tour guides and life coaches, can we?!
Derek @ NüHabits
nuhabits.com/derek
Derek´s last blog post..Self-Reflection Over Chocolate Chip Pancakes
@ Derek – Great scenario you played out there
. I think that it definitely is important to find things you appreciate in your current situation — but not to the point where you’re settling. If you’re devoting time to that thing you love outside of work, then I’d say you’re probably not settling (“you” in the general sense, not specifically you 
). And as you and some other people have suggested, I think having that separation can sometimes lead to an important balance.
Zoe, I agree. It’s not an easy balance to achieve – especially when you have a blog. Sometimes I spend my spare time working on the blog rather than my fiction or poetry, but I enjoy it, so I don’t mind. I just need to level out the balance a wee bit more…
Melissa Donovan´s last blog post..12 Places to Find Awesome Writing Ideas
The article is really good. I recently left my job and started doing the things which i love and made them my career.Now , m my own boss and earning from the things which i love to do.:)
Ruchi´s last blog post..Facts about Lie Detector
@ Melissa – Yes, I know exactly what you mean about blogging!
@ Ruchi – Sounds excellent
— it’s really good to hear a positive story about that.
I’d like to think of the example as a cautionary tale, rather than a prediction.
So long as you guard against getting sucked into trying to make what you love as a business into a business model that you don’t believe in then why should you end up with shoulds and have tos and accepting more orders than you can fulfil?
James | Dancing Geek´s last blog post..Spring is in the air, epiphanies are in the brain
@ James – Our approach/attitude certainly plays a huge part. I think the tough part is resisting those possibilities, and understanding how to be loyal to your own vision. Most worthwhile things are tough for a while
.
Would you want to combine your passion with your career? – yes, but my passion is not the physical creation of something. So also, no. Let me explain. I LOVE to write. that is a physical creation, but no, I would not want to be paid to write for the reasons you listed in your post. I LOVE to facilitate and help people reach common goals. For the last two years I was in a job that did not allow me to do that. I have finally moved to a position in which that is my sole task. I am HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.
Or would you rather keep that passion safe from the burdens of business? Same as above, yes and no. Don’t pay me to write. Do pay me to facilitate.
What keeps that thing you love doing from becoming that thing you have to do? So, since I am paid to facilitate, and am HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY about that, lets take writing. I like the freedom to write when I want, about what I want. So, blogging works perfectly for me. I do not concern myself about monetizing, or readership stats, or SEOs. I just write. And that also makes me HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY
Urban Panther´s last blog post..It’s all about the stats
@ Urban Panther – Really, really good examples. I think we can have different types of passions, or different ways of loving and being absorbed by things. Some things feel “right” as a career, some things just don’t quite fit…!
I faced that at uni with my creative writing. I had a lifelong passion for writing – university killed it. I realised that writing for me was therapy, a way for me to express the mess in my head. I *hated* being graded and judged on my writing, being told that my characters were “unrealistic” (they’re me!!). Now I’m slow to start writing again.
What would be nice is to be subsidised and sponsored for my creative ventures. Still maintaining freedom, but having enough to live on.
Tiara´s last blog post..Shifting centers
Zoe,
Have you read the E-Myth?
Pace´s last blog post..It’s okay to need what you need.
@ Tiara – I’ve heard that from friends who did MFAs in creative writing… that the workshops drained the joy from it. I’ll have to agree with you that being sponsored to write sounds ideal
.
@ Pace – No, I haven’t — does it address this whole topic?
@Zoë: Yes! It talks about the myth that many entrepreneurs believe, that they can do more of what they love if they start a business to do it. But then they end up doing business instead of doing what they love, and get burned out. It’s a really good book; I recommend it! (:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Myth
Pace´s last blog post..Transformational.
@ Pace – Wow, very relevant! I’ll have to go check it out now — thanks for the link
.