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

Hi Linda,

A great post! :)

I think we're interpreting "Do what you love and the money will follow" in different ways....

I guess my interpretation (in my post) is more of an ACTIVITY-based interpretation. I'm interpreting it as "Do the ACTIVITY you love, and the money will follow".... And I'm saying it's not necessarily true.

To follow on with your golf example.... If I enjoy playing golf, does that mean I'll enjoy running a golf course? Possibly not.

That's because playing golf and running a golf course are quite different activities. One involves getting out on the green and hitting some golf balls, the other involves organizing staff, a lot of administration, etc. etc.

The way I'm interpreting it, "Do the ACTIVITY you love" means playing golf! That is, try to become a golf pro.

However, becoming a golf pro may not be the best way for you to make money - no matter how much you may love playing golf.

Yes, you could succeed in running a golf course - but you may not love doing it.

Linda, I think you are using more of a KNOWLEDGE-based interpretation. Something like, "Do something related to what you love and KNOW about, and the money will follow."

I think you're right (in many cases). It's a great interpretation of the saying, and also gives insight as well....

What you're saying is that if you love to do something, you'll be more likely to have insights into how to make a business succeed, if that business caters to others like you who love that activity as well.

If you interpret it that way, it means something quite different.

(By the way, everyone on this thread is essentially interpreting it one way or another. It's helpful, I think, to see that we are using two quite different interpretations of the same thing - which is probably the real source of disagreement here.)

By the way, I love your cake analogy, with the cake being the pay check, the application of knowledge being the ingredients, and "loving" what you do being the icing on the cake! Thanks for sharing that.... :)

Best wishes,

- Dien