“Do what you love and money will follow.”
Earlier in my career, I remember so many of my mentors telling me this.
At the time I didn’t really understand it because all I was chasing was higher pay and that was the main focus with every job I took without taking other things into consideration such as the company culture, the leadership team, etc.
Of course, the distance between doing what you really want and making the money you want can feel like it’s going to take forever. However, the best way to bridge that gap is to get started now. Too many people wait because of fear or because their excuses are bigger than their desire to truly ‘make it happen.’
So why is it that so many people would rather continue working their 9-5, complaining about how much they dislike their job and how unfulfilled they are? It has a lot to do with passion or a lack of it. In a recent research done by Deloitte, 87.7% of workers are unable to contribute their full potential on the job because they simply have no passion for it.
On the flip side, there are also a lot of people who would really like to be doing what they love but don’t really know how to. If you’re one of those, today’s your day. In this blog post, I’ll be sharing with you some hacks that can help you take your passion and run with it. You’ll learn what you can do to monetize the things you love doing and make a profession out of it.
1) Know what you’re passionate about
What are you good at and what do you love doing? I think of these two as supportive of one another because turning your passion into your profession will take more than just being good at something. More importantly, a lot of people I talk to just aren’t exactly sure how they can discover their passion because they haven’t given it enough thought. Conversely, for those who have given more thought to what they want to do, they have a hard time focusing on a specific path to achieving smaller milestones that eventually add up over time.
Here are a few steps you can take today:
- Think of that one thing you get excited to spend your time doing and can do so without getting tired of it.
- What’s that one thing you do really well that other people compliment you on?
- Make a list of the top 5 things that make you really happy and that you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life.
2) Always be learning
Building your knowledge base is the key to fueling more success, gaining clarity, and mapping out a plan that will align with the higher potential of achieving your goals.
Further, learning can also happen from having conversations with people that are already doing what you love, and doing it well. Talk to them and listen to whatever advice they can give you about your passion.
By learning all you can, you’ll have that much more value to offer. This positions you as an expert at what you do and people will be more inclined to listen to you.
Here are some daily actions you can take:
- Subscribe to newsletters that publish content you’re interested in.
- Write about what you’ve learned and highlight the key items that are most useful to helping you elevate your position.
- Meet up with mentors, influencers, and other professionals that are doing something you can learn from and build relationships.
3) Be different
In all your research on your target market, make sure you also look at existing players in the game too so you can understand what they’re doing that’s working well, what’s not, and where you can fill in the gaps. Tailor your product/service offering towards the gaps that you identify.
Don’t be afraid to experiment either. Be prepared to try something new from time to time. If some new knowledge or trend surfaces, push to implement it and test it out. The more data you can collect, the better you’ll get at making decisions that will foster your goals.
5) Just do it
The hardest step to take is the first one. Typically your mindset will hold you back from being able to make progress. Rather than focusing on all of the things that could go wrong, focus on what you can do and what’s in your control.
Here are a few steps you can take to get moving:
- Build an email list by running Facebook Ads. You don’t have to spend a ton but set a goal to getting 100 – 500 people on your email list.
- Set up email marketing. Once you have a list built out, you’ll want an easy way to communicate with that list.
- Have a simple landing page that includes some information about who you are, what you do, who you serve, and a simple lead capture form so you can continue to grow your email list.
- Start writing content that can further position your expertise.
6) Keep doing it
Once you start, don’t stop. Do a little bit of it every day so that you’re always a step closer to your goal. Consistently and persistency is what will drive your further to achieving your goals.
Even if you haven’t got to the stage where you’ve started selling your skills, there are still several avenues you can explore to stay active. You can work for free at the beginning, volunteer to use your skills to help others in situations where what you provide is valuable. That way, you get to stay active in an environment where your skills mean something and you can keep learning as a result.
7) Monetize your passion
Get into the practice of selling a product/service before you have it fully fledged out. Here what I mean:
- Run Facebook Ads promoting a webinar you plan on running around the topic of your choice and even the research you’ve implemented.
- Push to get at least 100 people to register and strive for a 50% attendance rate.
- Make sure you record this webinar so you can continue to promote it over time and can get more people to register to attend it.
- Within your webinar, present high-quality content and actionable tips.
- Towards the end of the webinar, have a strong CTA (call-to-action) that pushes people to buy something from you. Examples could be: one-on-one coaching, signing up for a course, etc.
8) Outsource where you need the help
There are two ways outsourcing can be helpful to you. First, there are some tasks you can’t do as well as others. For instance, not everyone knows how to create an email list, set up auto responders, create web content or other stuff like that. By outsourcing these tasks, you ensure that they get done by a professional who’s much better than you are.
Second, outsourcing takes care of those tasks you can do but don’t have any time for because you need to focus on your business. You may be competent in tasks like graphic design or calculating your tax liability. But if it’s taking away from the time you need to focus on your profession, then you need to outsource.
At least 57% of businesses realize that outsourcing helps them focus more on their core business and it’s obvious why. Pay attention to everything but focus on the things you can handle. That way, you’re more productive and the other stuff still gets done.
Bonus: Don’t be scared of failure
It’s okay to be scared though. You’ll reach many crossroads where it seems you’ll fail if you try. But you won’t succeed either if you don’t try. Even though it’s a fact that many businesses fail, it doesn’t mean there aren’t any that succeed.
But in your optimism, also remember that it’s okay to fail. For every time you fail, you learn one more way how not to do it. So, work hard, but also know when to jump ship.
Final words
After starting, there’s a lot you’d need to do to keep your business going. Get yourself a business model, make plans on it and set out to implement the model. Set goals, measure your results, re-strategize on how you need to improve.
Remember, the difference between where you are now and where you want to be in five years is whether you decide to take a punt on yourself. Yes, you may fail. But what if you succeed?
