I don’t fully agree that if you can turn your hobby into a business it would be the ideal career.

Think of something you really love doing. I mean be realistic about it. Don’t think of stupid things like, ‘lying on a beach all day long’ or ‘watching TV while sitting on a massive sofa.’ Let’s just imagine that your hobby is drawing. Now imagine if this favourite hobby suddenly had strict deadlines.

Would it still be fun?

• What if you had to document how long each drawing took?
• What if you had to manage your hobby by setting aside specific time slots?
• What if someone kept on contacting you asking whether you have finished or how far you have got with it?
• What if even when you have finished you were asked to make changes to it?
• What if someone else was so dissatisfied with your drawing that you had to start it all over again?
• What if you were questioned why you did your drawing a certain way?

Would it honestly still be fun?

It had better be.

If you are thinking of turning your favourite hobby or passion into a business it had better still be fun even after everything mentioned above because that is just part of what your hobby will involve.

I’m still in search of my true passion

The thought of having limits and deadlines set by my own clients makes me feel terribly out of control not because I hate deadlines but because creativity for me involves freedom of movement. I still love digital design but it’s almost as though I want it to be all on my terms. I wander if that’s just being too greedy?

I’ve got to love it.

If there is any part of my passion that I do not enjoy I know I’ll be doing it half hearted and then it’s just not worth it. I want my passion to be so strong that I love the deadlines. I want to enjoy the fact that people watch over me waiting and anticipating the outcome. I want people to question me about my passion because I want to be able to love it so much that I look forward to the challenge of answering them to help them. In other words I’ve got to love it to such an extent that everything that surrounds it does not put me off my desire to want to stick to it. Understand what I’m getting at?

I’m looking for inspiration

I would love to hear your story. Have you turned your hobby or passion into a business? If so has it been a good or bad experience? Or do you simply enjoy your hobby without the thought of turning it into a business?

I watched a documentary yesterday on BBC 2 called ‘The culture show’ in which Tom Dyckhoff talks to artist and designer Ron Arod. Ron creates unique sculptures, furniture and design pieces one of which he named the bookworm shelf which is bookshelf in the shape of a worm cleverly designed to hold books.

Clearly it is his passion for design that is the driving force keeping him motivated more so than commercial success.  It is this passion that has resulted in thousands being sold across the country but it seems as though he had not set out to make money out of it. Why? Because when he was asked about how he felt about the commercial success of the bookworm bookshelf he answered, “The pleasure is bigger when it is less likely.” Was he talking about the pleasure of success when you’re least expecting it?

That one thing in the documentary made me start thinking whether it is this type of passion that I really need to make a success of any project. Maybe I should not be too concerned about the commercial part of it and just concentrate on getting it right?

What do you think about this?

I can’t refer to my blog as my career yet so I’ll refer to it as my blogging efforts. Currently I am unemployed and looking for a job as I need cash coming in. It’s important that I keep everything realistic and not percieve my blogging efforts to be some kind of get-rich-quick scheme or expect any immediate results.

I have worked in so many different places and jumped in and out of jobs that I cannot even remember the names of the companies anymore. All the jobs, literally all of them, had one thing in common that would stand out even after I had left, people with warm personalities that would create a comfortable atmosphere. It’s funny because out of all the jobs that I have ever had, I enjoyed the factory job the most and it was nothing to do with the actual job itself. I wasn’t interested in sitting at a desk assembling little wires and looking down a microscope for 8 hours a day. I was there only because the people had great warm personalities. That’s what kept me there. All the other jobs that I started and left was as a result of not finding the right people to work with.

Is this the wrong attitude?

In terms of employment I know alot of people would be against this attitude and would really only encourage me to be concearned about my skills and not so much about the warm personalities that work there.  I agree to a certain point but wouldn’t this planet be a boring place if we were all the same hey?? I think stress at work is sometimes to do with being around people that you have nothing in common with which probably means that the job you are doing is also not your real passion. That stress can lead to health problems and without health you have no job anyway.

Part of having good health at work, for me personally, is being around warm people. People who care and share the same interests as I do and not keep repeating that same old parrot phrase, “A job is just a job.”

It’s a bit like that with my blogging. I don’t want to feel that ‘a blog is just a blog’ I want to feel comfortable with what I’m doing and I would only want the same for my readers too. I don’t want people to be feel as though it is a chore reading my blogs and if they do feel like that I would genuinely want them to go and read and interact within a community where they are happier. If I were an employer I would want people who are passionate about what they do.

So, what sparked off this blog post? I was having a hot chocolate today with my daughter in Starbucks and she was asking what jobs I had applied for and asked, “What happens if you have applied for lots of jobs and you get two offers? Which job do you take and how do you choose?” It is a great question and the very first thing that came to my mind was, “I’ll see which place has people that make me feel welcome, have warm personalities and where I feel comfortable around them. I will take the job where these people are.”

What’s your opinion on this?

Do you think  that personal situations sometimes force you into taking jobs you hate? Or do you really have a choice but just settle for less because it’s less effort on your part? I mean, I could stress myself out and worry about not having a job, not bother writing this blog and use my unemployment situation as an excuse.  But infact it’s an opportunity so I’m not going to let myself be so stressed that I can’t write this blog because something in my heart is telling me that this blog is my life line. I don’t know how, yet, but I just know it is.

Before you read this I must warn you that I really do do things backwards. Ocassionally the usual process, that we refer to as ‘logical’, is often thrown out of the window. Read this article and let me know if you have ever done anything like this.

I bought vinyl records and made a little collection before purchasing a record player. I bought CD’s and my collection grew before I purchased a CD player. I applied for a degree course and when I was asked if my portfolio was prepared enough to bring to my induction interview process, I said I had prepared lots to look at and felt confident. With no portfolio and nothing for them to look at I started working hard straight away with the induction date as my deadline.

With a collection of vinyl records I was so eager to listen to them that I had to get hold of a record player and the same with my CD collection and university portfolio. I have started this blog without being able to pin point my passion but as I begin to read more and more about blogging I am certain and very eager that I will get hold of my passion in the same way I got hold of my records, CD’s and uni portfolio.

It’s the way I set goals

It is no different for this journey. I’ve had a habit of doing things backwards because it’s the way I seem to get things done. It is my personal way of setting goals for myself. It is not a ‘fake it ’till you make it’ process as I do not believe in pretending to know something when I clearly do not. Have you ever done things backwards like this? Even if you haven’t I would love to hear your thoughts on it. Before you carry on I have to say that I do not do this with literally everything for example I wouldn’t tell someone that I could design a blog header within 2 hours if I do not even know how to use software packages.  

Find the professionals in the industry.

Because I know very little yet I have begun the process of routing out the best of the best to learn from them. How? Well I visit their blogs, their websites and their social networking links. e.g. youtube and twitter accounts to get a feel for who they are, how hard they work and ask some of my favourite questions. Each one of these have either answered one of my questions fully concearned for my progress too or I was able to find the answer I was looking for from these, what I like to call, excellent bloggers.

Doing things backwards seems to go completely against what professional bloggers are doing according to the advice that I have read so far and I would also like to add that I haven’t read or interacted with other professionals or bloggers anywhere near enough the amount I should be.

Some of my favourite bloggers.

• Bilal Rammuy
• Chris Brogan
• Darren Rowse
• Gary Vaynerchuk
• Lisa Irby
• Neil Patel
• Seth Godin

The reason why I found the following to be inspiring is because not only have they created their identity with absolute belief, honesty and consistency but all of these have a no nonsense approach which is something I admire and respect in people regardless of what they have chosen to do. While my blog brings in no income yet I am dedicated to learning more and more each day.

Both of these books will be a valuable source.

• ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six Figure Income
• Crush It!: Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk

I visited amazon.co.uk today and ordered myself a copy of each of these. So as backwards as all this may seem I have put myself ina  position to move forward and would like to invite you again to leave your thoughts on my backwards approach !!!