Seth Godin makes the point today that you cannot always make money at what you love, yet many blindly pursue their passion and can't earn a living. He describes a musician that found work in the PR department of a record label and how unfulfilling that job is to someone that wants to make music. The better route in Seth's mind is to become a music teacher and offer music on-line for free.
I think the latter is right with one exception. We should all pursue jobs that allow us to follow our passion while making money AND have entrepreneurial endeavors that are solely focused on the passion that also make money. This duality serves many purposes not to mention protection on the downside should our primary source of income disappear and creates the opportunity to make money at an increasing rate over time as we get better at our passion. Both feed each other. You can improve work performance because of your extracurricular learning and bring some level of inspiration to both that comes from knowing that everyday you are moving a step forward.
Today everyone has the tools to create, educate, perform and offer something of value to the world. We need to change our mindset of dependency on others to one of dependency on ourselves.
I couldn't agree more. And this is an exciting time for people like us, who share these ideals. Creativity and consciousness being emphasized in business is the future. Richard Florida, Bill Gates and many other agree.
My blog, Rise of the Innerpreneur, is about the emerging trend in entrepreneurship of people starting businesses to pursue their passion, grow personally and make a difference.
Posted by: Tara Joyce | October 15, 2008 at 08:23 PM
I couldn't agree more. And I see that the mindset is changing. The creative class is growing steadily and our importance and ideas are holding more weight than ever before. Many, including Bill Gates and Richard Florida see us as the future of business and as solvers of global issues.
My blog, Rise of the Innerpreneur, is about the emerging Creative Class, the subculture they are a part of and the group of entrepreneurs within it. These entrepreneurs (myself included) are starting businesses so they can pursue their passion, grow personally and create the social change they desire. We are innerpreneurs as we are driven by consciousness, both global and internal.
Posted by: Tara Joyce | October 15, 2008 at 08:31 PM
"We should all pursue jobs that allow us to follow our passion while making money "
That's so true, everyone should keep this in mind, and not work as a slave.
Posted by: clash077 | March 02, 2009 at 05:14 AM
One of the core values at the agency that I work at is...
"We will love what we do - or we won't do it at all."
I'm thankful that I am one of the lucky people that makes a living while doing something that I love.
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Posted by: Katie | March 11, 2009 at 10:57 PM
If you love making money, you´re not troubled with such issues :-)
But sometimes the lack of talent, could also be an obstacle making a living from what you love
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Posted by: Morten Fabrin | October 21, 2009 at 05:17 PM