Doing What You Love And Making It Pay (Big Time!)
It’s the big cheese, isn’t it? All of us – as we clear tables, pour beers and sit through another interminable staff meeting- think of working with a passion, and getting paid to do what we truly love.
I don’t know that it’s the be all and end all – after all, life is about a lot more than just what we do for a crust. But if we can love what we do, then that crust becomes a whole lot more enticing.
Here are a couple of tips from cyberspace about how to make money doing what you love.
Invest
Time, money and patience. The only way you’ll ever make money doing what you love is if you can invest enough in it at the beginning. Sure, being an overnight sensation would be grand. But the chances of that happening are slim to none, so be prepared to put in the hard yards before you make any money from it.
Investing upfront capital without any guaranteed return is a pretty confronting idea. You’ll probably be working at a loss for a while, and if you aren’t up for that, I would consider sticking with the nine to five you’ve already got on the burner. If you’re unwilling to invest in your endeavour, you’re probably going to have a hard time convincing anyone else that they would want to.
Explore
So you’ve taken the plunge (and probably a sizeable pay cut) to start doing what you love as a career. So, now the decision is made, what are you going to back it up with? There are thousands of people out there who are probably trying to do exactly the same thing, so now is the time to sit down and work out how you are going to come out on top. Network with people in similar positions, ask for their advice or if they would be your mentor.
Get creative about how to get your name out there, and if you’re a shy person in normal day life, find yourself a persona that isn’t for your working self.
Take It All
Just because you love what you do doesn’t mean it ill be solely fun. Lots of people love and are grateful for being teachers, but that doesn’t mean they enjoy it when the class clown climbs out the window for the third time that lesson. There will be grinding days just like any other job, I guess they are just easier to bear because you believe in the end goal. If you falter at that point, it’s going to be hard to get to the point where you make a sustainable living.
In a similar vein, it’s easy to believe that success will fall right in your lap. You probably have the talent, drive and sense to make a good go of whatever your chosen career is. In the end, though, it’s about having the ability to work hard when there are no dividends. It’s about taking all the small, dodgy gigs that don’t pay, the acting jobs in tiny commercials or the short admin job in a policy office. Having too high a standard of what you’ll accept as a first step is an easy way to derail your aspirations. Work hard, work often and you might just get there, and make it pay for itself as well.
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