Re: OPEN for discussion: DO WHAT YOU LOVE, THE MONEY WILL FOLLOW...

Gordon wrote -

> But what is at issue is DOING WHAT YOU LOVE
> and the MONEY WILL FOLLOW.

> So, I now open the floor for discussion.

Well, alrighty then. I'll be more than happy to take my shots at the discussion topic. *g*

IMO, there are multiple facets to this issue.

1. As many of you know, using a few marketing techniques *and* doing what I love, (that is working in the IT field and specifically developing software which I now enjoy more than hardware - that's significant because I started in hardware), I was able to double my income in less than 90 days. In fact, it's a little more than double now because of a couple of small raises I've gotten since I started here. (Yup. Just got my annual review. Some of the input came from a still-wet-behind the ears engineer who's trying to make a name for himself. Man! Sure reminded me why I hate that part of corporate life.) Anyway, here's the caveat. A few months back someone was posting on another board that one could become rich by getting into the IT field, developing software, etc. I had to throw a wet blanket on him. Here's why. Yes. One can be well paid in the IT field. But it's just like selling any other product. The buyer, (in this case employers), have to want what you're selling, (your services). Otherwise, you get nothin'! So here's the point. You can have the money follow doing what you love but you better be darn sure that the buyers love what you're selling. Otherwise, you better find something else to love!*g*

2. I spent 5 years doing what I loved developing and marketing a software product for a specific industry. Guess what? The market didn't love it and the money didn't follow. Why? Because we made some crucial mistakes; the most egregious of which was giving the market what *we* thought it wanted. So guess what? They stayed away in droves. We sold only a handful of copies of the software. And while the software still has tremendous potential, it still vastly underperforms that potential WRT to sales. The difference is I don't care anymore. My ex-partner still has a small core of people using the software and he's continually upgrading it to meet their demands. So guess who gets paid a pretty decent hourly rate to keep the old versions going and write the new stuff? *G* Yup. Yours truly. So it worked out in the end but it was real rocky for awhile because we ignored some critical marketing issues. (That's another story for another day. *g*)

Rick Smith, "The Net Guerrilla"