"Do what you love and the money will follow?"

G'day Dien and the rest of the gang.

I've enjoyed reading this thread and I've got to say, I must be lucky!

You see, I love to write, and that love, that passion, led me to start my mail order business around three years ago.

I didn't always get paid for my writings ... I used to write fiction, mainly short stories. None were published. It wasn't until I started looking for markets first, and then developing a book to suit that market, that I began to make money.

So, in my opinion, you can make money by following your passion. It may take a bit of compromising on your part, it may you have to view your passion a bit differently to suit an already established market ... but it can be done.

Take care all!

Pete

> There's a saying which some still repeat....
> It goes,

> "Do what you love, and the money will
> follow."

> We've discussed this here before on Sowpub,
> but it could be good to mention it again.

> I love to do a lot of things. I love body
> surfing. I love listening to music. I love
> deep philosophical discussions. Does that
> mean that the ideal thing for me to do is to
> keep doing these things?

> Business is about fulfilling a want in the
> community.... Unfortunately, my body surfing
> doesn't fulfil a very big want in the
> community (no matter how much I love to do
> it)!

> I think the ideal is to find a particular
> intersection.... Find out what are viable
> businesses. What will make money for you.

> Once you have many of these in front of you
> - many ideas - then choose one or more to
> do. Think through it - what will it actually
> entail? Make a plan of some kind - it
> doesn't have to be a formal business plan,
> it could be a simple flow chart of what you
> need to do.

> The ideal is to choose something which will
> bring in money, and which you love to do as
> well! (Or at least like to do!)

> The fact is, work takes up a big chunk of
> our lives.... It's best to spend it doing
> something you enjoy!

> If you enjoy meeting and talking to people,
> start a business which will let you do that.
> If you like solving technical problems, find
> a business which lets you do that. Some
> people just like setting up businesses - so
> that's their "business"! They set
> up businesses, then let them run, or sell
> them only to start another!

> It helps to have lots of viable businesses
> in front of you to do this.... I realize I'm
> "tooting my own horn", but The
> Great Ideas Letter is perfect for that
> reason!

> I put all the issues in front of me in a big
> folder.... It makes it easy to skim through
> them. Dozens of viable ideas.... Unusual
> ones. Interesting ones. Having all these
> ideas in front of you stimulates more
> ideas in your mind.... Perhaps different
> variations of what's there. Or combinations.

> Anyhow, "Do what you love and the money
> will follow" is a widespread myth....
> Of course, it's great to be able to do what
> you love. And if you're doing what you love,
> you'll probably do it better than most
> people will. But - not EVERYTHING you love
> to do will bring you an income.

> So, instead - out of the things you could do
> to bring an income - choose one of those
> options which you love to do the best. :)

> - Dien Rice

Hi, Folks,

I haven't posted much here but this topic is very 'current' for me these days. I started out to write and publish my writings on the internet. Then I got into other things...and now I find myself doing website things to the exclusion of my writing (or nearly so).

The lesson being that one not only has to do what one loves, but be prepared to find, hire, train etc others to do what you will not have time to do if you're to follow your dream.

Sandi