"Do what you love, and the money will follow." This, along with a lot of other ideas from Barbara Sher, inspired me upon finishing college to eschew the cushy Web 1.0 jobs my friends were taking and strike out on my own. I formed a company, literally overnight, and set about marketing myself.
At first it was easy. I was landing 4 and 5 figure contracts, low, but steady, and I didn't even have to advertise. Then things started to get a little rough; some of the projects were too difficult for one person; my project management skills were not up to par; and I began a long, slow slide into financial ruin. It was not fun.
And it should have been. I should have taken only the jobs that I wanted, only the ones I would be passionate about. I should have trusted that saying "no" was ok. I should have done things like built up capital before I launched the thing, and networked more. Shouldashouldashoulda.
Most of all, though, I should have done what I really loved, rather than what I thought I should love. Rosa reminded me of this today:
"Right work is work you make happen on your own terms. You cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset, and you work for profit and not for a paycheck. Next you market what you produce; whether it be invention, talent, skill, or knowledge. You become a highly marketable, wildly desirable commodity that people are all to willing to pay for the privilege of having. It’s rarely a chore for you to produce more of what they might want from you, because you started off loving the doing of it in the first place. You are fueled by passion, you get affirmation and recognition when the marketing delivers sales, and the cash becomes gravy."
Right now, with some help from Mr. Pavlina's words and my loved ones, I'm working on maintaining that idea. That perspective that what is important is what I feel is important, not what my mind tells me I should feel is important.
Clear sentence structure obviously is not important.
But Rosa's post, along with many posts offshooting that, is well worth a read today.
Gray, you make a critically important distinction here; doing what you DO love versus what you’ve been conditioned to, or have reasoned to love. In particular, when we are young, it is very difficult to shut out the voices of well-meaning adults who we know care about us sincerely, so we can listen to our own self-talk on what it is we truly want. I have learned that listening to our wanting can be a very good thing.
Your story also describes something I think is very common for entrepreneurs – and I admit I still struggle with it as I write this – getting one’s work to be a business (which can hum along without you) versus a stressful practice (increasingly dependent on your labor). Saying “no” and learning to let certain things go become a more comfortable mantra as we get smarter about it.
I clicked in to Santorimedia today, and wow! What an artist you have become! It is quite magnificent; Congratulations. You now seem to be living in your aloha.
Posted by: Rosa Say | November 02, 2006 at 10:05 AM