Should You Follow Your Passion?
So many people get so worked up about this topic…
Should you follow your passion?
Can you turn your passion into profit?
Or do you focus on building skills and become passionate about that process?
Here are my thoughts… in response to a reader’s question…
Q: Hey Craig,
I have a quick question in regards to “passion.” It seems there are two thoughts regarding passion in the business world.
The first is the do-what-you-love-and-work-won’
The other camp says that the market doesn’t care what you love or what your passion is, the market wants what it wants. And if you make a business out of your passion it will quickly become a tedious chore and you will start hating that passion.
Obviously you have a passion and love for fitness, but do you think it’s possible to succeed in running a business selling products or services in an area that one is not “passionate” about? Or is the passion you have a different form of passion altogether?
Thanks in advance and keep up the good work!
Answer:
This is a great question, and I’m really glad you asked.
What a lot of people overlook is that not only can you be passionate about a product, but you can also be passionate about a process.
Look at my friend Rick Porter, for example. He makes good money being an affiliate of my fitness products. Now Rick’s interested in fitness, but not passionate about it. On the other hand, he is passionate about search engine optimization (SEO). He has to be. How else could someone be as good at SEO if they weren’t passionate about it?
What Rick does (SEO, link building, keyword research, etc.) and what I do (writing about 5,000 words per day) is factory work to most other people.
I often describe my workspace as a sweatshop.
Right now, for example, I’m in a modest hotel room in Denver writing this to you at 5:30 a.m. It’s a cramped space. The desk is old, the chair is uncomfortable, and if you’ve ever watched CSI, you know how dirty hotel rooms are (as a germophobe, I have to block that out!).
But even though I’m sitting down and writing, there’s little difference between the factory jobs I worked in between semesters at college (assembling the bearings that go in automotive parts) from what I do now.
It’s not all unicorns and pixie dust when you have a website business. There’s a lot of hard work. One way or the other, if you want to succeed, you have to do the work — mentally or physically.
But as far as work goes, there isn’t much else I’d rather be doing than writing. Unless you could find me a job where I get paid to walk my dog and re-read all of Hemingway’s books. (Not at the SAME time, of course!)
The work I do, sitting at a keyboard before sunrise and slogging away until 1500 words are written (and then writing another 3000 words over the course of the day), is something that most people couldn’t stand. The only way I persevere is by being passionate about the process.
On the other hand, I can’t stand building decks, but I have a friend who does that everyday. He enjoys working with his hands and takes great pride in his finished “art,” just as I do with my essays.
So could you hate what you do and make a lot of money at it?
I suppose. I’m sure there are quite a few lawyers out there who fit that description.
But of the world’s richest people, who fits that description?
What really rich person isn’t passionate about what they do?
I just can’t see how you can remove passion from success.
Now, will you have days when you wish that you didn’t make your passion your business?
Probably. I’ve had my fair share (mostly back in 2003 when I struggled and thought about quitting the fitness industry).
But I wouldn’t have made it through the dips if I weren’t passionate.
So if you made a list of all the most successful people in the world, or even the most successful people that you know, how many of them would you list as being in a position where they hate what they do? Or are ambivalent about what they do?
Not too many.
You don’t work night and day to go from rags to riches if you don’t love the product or the process.
And the great thing about the internet is that there are many different processes to be passionate about.
Take all the folks in the room at our mastermind meeting in Miami this past January.
There was Joel Marion — he’s passionate about writing great video sales letters to sell nutrition supplements.
There was Caleb Page — passionate about demystifying the homeschooling process and helping parents better educate their children.
There was Lori Kennedy — passionate about holding webinars and seminars for female entrepreneurs to help them succeed.
There was Kevin Rogers, a world-famous copywriter, passionate about putting words on paper that inspire others to take action and change their lives.
There was Dawn Sylvester — passionate about helping other women over 50 to experience big breakthroughs in their health and home life.
There was Lou Schuler — passionate about sitting and writing thousands of words each day for the books he publishes.
And there was my good friend Bedros Keuilian — passionate about changing the lives and fortune of 100,000 personal trainers and 5000 Fit Body Boot Camp owners.
Plus, there were others passionate about helping others and building businesses with the help of social media, YouTube videos, and membership sites.
But was there even one person in that room that hated what they were doing?
No.
Then again, there were no lawyers in the room.
We all shared stories of struggles — recent and from distant past — and the only thing that got us through those struggles was passion for what we do.
Good question, thanks for asking.
Get passionate about adding value to the world.