Random Wisdom (or DUH)

You should do what you love to do. That’s an often heard sentiment (or advice) when people talk about work. Of course you know it isn’t that easy. Can you really make money, doing what you love?

A better question is should you make money? A lot of people only consider doing what they love if they know that they will get paid for it. If they are not certain about getting paid, they just won’t do it. And that way they lose out. Doing what you love always pays off in an emotional sense. It makes you happy in the moment. Of course, if your mind is on the bills you have to pay or the empty feeling in your stomach, you won’t feel that happiness a whole lot. 

It helps to think about income as part emotional income and part financial income. You can start doing what you love for emotional income and keep your current day job for financial income. This could mean that you have to start small. 

Say you dream of being a life coach, helping people one on one or in small groups, using NLP. You would like to earn a living doing that, somewhere in your future. You know that a lot of work goes into making material, getting clients, getting the word out about yourself. It could take a year before you have a small steady flow of clients. If you’re lucky. So this is not a situation where you would jump in and go do what you love. Instead, keep your dayjob and start small. Look in your extended circle of friends if someone needs a coach. Set aside some time and, if needed, some money, to be able to coach. Work for a small fee or even free if you feel like it, but actually coach someone. That way you will be doing what you love, you gain the emotional reward, you get experience and you have a starting point from where to expand your efforts. 

As an added bonus, your day job will be more meaningful to you, because it is supporting your emotional income. You might even find that this balance is better for you than doing your dream job full time. I know a photographer who went from amateur to fulltime professional, only to go back to being an amateur, because the business side of photography took the fun out of it.

Some questions to ponder:

• What would you love to do? What makes you fulfilled?
• Can you make a living out if it? Immediately? In the future?
• To what extent can you do it, for instance starting on a small scale, and support it with other income? 

Once you’ve answered those questions, start doing what you love and focus on emotional income first, financial income a close second. Once you’ve started you can expand step by step until you’ve found your optimal balance.