The income generating model around us is changing. Traditional corporate jobs are no longer the only route to earn an income. Millions of people are making a living by simply pursuing their passion! I’ve referenced this in an earlier post-Ready to Quit? 4 Factors to Consider When Making a Career Change. There are numerous stories around this. Teachers are earning huge bucks selling their lesson plans and teacher resources on sites like tptteachers. Etsy is another classic proof that enables creative folks to sell their products. Blogging has become another hugely successful money making endeavor for many folks. Cooking sites such as Joy of Baking which simply started to share the owner’s passion for cooking with the world, are now full fledged income generating sites. Even traditional social media platforms like Facebook, instagram have paved way for people to sell their handmade jewelry or cakes etc.Name your passion and there is a way to make a living from it!
A good friend of mine, N, is a huge fitness buff. His passion for fitness and body building is unmatched to anyone else in my little world. He works out for hours at the gym, eats 6-8 small meals a day and is hugely devoted to building a strong and healthy body. He even took part in a body building competition recently. Listening to his stories about prepping for the competition was not easy for me to digest! Couple weeks ago, he was approached at the gym by three ladies who were impressed with his knowledge and devotion to fitness and his body of course! They requested him to be their physical trainer and offered to pay decent fees as well, of their own accord! This goes to show that passion can generate profits without even seeking it at times.
But, there are millions of others who are going broke trying to pursue their passion!
Here are 5 keys to thrive in your passion without going broke:
- Commitment: Are you COMMITTED to your passion? Do you do all it takes to stay at it? There is a difference between wanting to spend time on it or thinking about it VS staying committed to your passion. When you are committed to it, you go out of your way to find time for your passion, you make small sacrifices, you get to it no matter what. The friend N i referenced earlier, I remember during body building competition prep days, he would refuse to go out with friends as he was in a strict dietary schedule and hanging out would impede his diet.
- Get better: Are you getting/doing better at your passion? Lets say your passion is making terra-cotta jewelry. You start watching videos on Youtube and making the jewelry. The more time you spend at it, you discover you love it all the more! You’ve mastered all the youtube video stuff. There are still ways to get better at your art. If you are committed to your passion, you will find ways to get better at it, improvise and master it.
- Hobby vs Full time: One key thing to ascertain is whether you want to pursue your passion as a hobby or full-time. At some point you may cross over from hobby to full-time or vice versa. But at the moment, you have to know where you stand on the hobby-full time spectrum. And identify when you would want to move over. People sometimes are not clear on where they stand on this spectrum and unnecessarily start investing time and money and move towards the broke side. To help determine, gain clarity on the following questions:
- Why are you passionate about XYZ? What does it give/bring/make you feel? Do you just enjoy the feeling you get when you are involved in your passion activity. You love spending an hour a day or few hours a week but do not desire in anyway to change that. I truly love dancing(and am not good at it) but do not have opportunities to dance. Instead I go to zumba classes few times a week at my gym, although they are not technically ‘dance’ classes. But I love the group energy and an hour of zumba dancing makes me happy and energized and moving through the day. I do not aspire to change that in anyway shape or form.
- If you want to earn money from your passion
- If this will be a second income or you want to replace your full-time income generation through your passion.
- Brainstorm ways you may generate the income
- Are you committed to doing the nitty-gritty work to generate the income. For example: Let’s say my passion is dancing and I decide to earn money through dancing. Brainstorming produces several options – open a dance studio, become a dance instructor in someone else’s studio, join a professional dance troop, teach dance virtually and so on. Am I committed and willing to do the nitty-gritty work of investing time and money to rent a space and open a dance studio, marketing and finding clients, creating packages, doing dance recitals, making connections at cultural places to identify opportunities for recitals, advertise and so on.
- Connection: Before making the leap or investing huge amounts of money, connecting with others who are pursuing the same or similar passions is important. Exchanging ideas and experiences gives multiple perspectives and learning opportunities. Back to the dance studio example, connect with several dance studio owners and understand when and how they made the leap, what are the problems they are facing on a daily basis, what lessons they have learnt and so on. This will help in understanding how serious you are about your passion and also how far you want to take your commitment to your passion. Connecting with folks who understand and who are equally passionate about your passion, can leave you feeling energized and inspired.
- Investment: If you are seriously committed to your passion and know for sure that you want to live it full time, it would be prudent to make an investment in getting better and learning from others who have been there and done that. If you are passionate about acting, you may want to invest in acting classes, connecting with casting agents and hiring an acting coach. All this takes an investment of time and money.
In conclusion, understand what element of your passion moves the needle for you and how. Pursuing our passions keeps us energized, stimulated and fulfilled. So go for it with all you have, but know where you stand on the Hobby vs Full time spectrum and on the commitment spectrum.
What are your passions? How much time and money do you invest in your passions?
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