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Follow Your Passion? The Blogger Roundup

Follow your passion and the money will follow?

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the financial payoff of following your passion. If you deliberately take steps to do the work you love instead of the work you don’t enjoy, most of us would agree that you’ll feel a lot better about yourself.

But will you also make more money?

This is a controversial issue, so I asked some of the writers I read on a regular basis to chime in with their thoughts. The list of respondents includes:

First of all, I follow what each of these people have to say on a regular basis, and I have learned a lot from them… so if you are interested in any of their topics, go and check out their sites.

I asked each writer what they thought about the original essay, and also about the concept of “following your passion” in general.

Here’s what they had to say about each subject:

Mignon Fogarty, AKA Grammar Girl:

On financial success following you-

I think it is much harder to be successful if you aren’t doing something you love because success takes time and commitment, and those are easier to give if you’re happy and engaged in your job.

On following your passion to the bank-

I think it’s a myth. There are all kinds of people who follow their passion and don’t make a lot of money. Some even go bankrupt. Having passion and loving something don’t guarantee that you’re good at it or that it will make a successful business.

A personal story-

Before I launched the successful Grammar Girl podcast, I was the host of a science podcast called Absolute Science. I loved doing that show and I was passionate about it. I actually put more effort into promoting that show than I did for the Grammar Girl podcast, and although Absolute Science was well-received, after doing it for nearly a year it was clear that the show was never going to make enough money to make it worth the time required to produce it.

***

Darren Rowse, ProBlogger Extraordinaire:

On financial success following you-

It’s a tough one – I’d like to answer that it’s a secret to financial success to do something you love but I can think of plenty of people who are financially successful who hate what they do. For me it’s certainly true – I can’t believe that I get paid to do what I’d do (and what I did for ages) for free but there’s plenty of people making good money by doing work that they don’t enjoy.

On following your passion to the bank-

I think it can be true – but what if you love doing something that there is just no economic sense in?

(Update: Darren’s book about problogging is now available on Amazon)

***

John Wesley, self-improvement guru:

On financial success following you-

I think it makes perfect sense, but it took me a while to realize why. The better you are at what you do, the more financial success you’ll achieve. For example, the world’s best artist makes much more money than a mediocre banker, although on average, banking is a much more lucrative profession.

The key to financial success is being absolutely great at what you do, and you’ll never be great at something you don’t love.

On following your passion to the bank-

I think there is truth to it, but it’s also a bit dangerous. Simply following a passion won’t help you build income unless you develop it as a business. You need to actively look for opportunities to create value with your passions. You need to use them to help others, instead of just indulging yourself.

A personal story-

With PickTheBrain there was definitely a turning point where it went from being about what I wanted to what the readers wanted. This attitude has been a big part of our success in growing the site.

***

Gretchen Rubin, Happiness Scholar:

On financial success following you-

Studies show us that perhaps the KEY to true mastery is the will to practice and to persist. In other words, if you want to be good at something, it helps a lot if you enjoy it and want to stick to it! I started out my work life as a lawyer, and I was successful. I was editor-in-chief of Yale Law School’s law review, and I clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. But in my free time, though, I was writing books “for fun,” not studying caselaw. Finally it hit me: I should do as my JOB what I did for FUN, because I’d be willing to put in the enormous amount of hours necessary to achieve the greatest mastery I could.

On following your passion to the bank-

The problem with pursuing a job for the money is that in most cases, the big money comes only if you achieve a certain stature or goal. If you don’t hit that target, you don’t get the money – and you haven’t much enjoyed the time you’ve spent in pursuit. If you follow a passion, you’ll enjoy your life as you’re working to achieve your goal, so if you don’t hit it, you won’t have spent all that time in vain.

Also, I’ve noticed something. When people are doing something they enjoy, they figure things out more easily. They challenge themselves more. They’re more curious. They remember information better. They make social connections more easily. These things tend to make success more likely, and therefore, they make money more likely.

***

Naomi Dunford from IttyBiz:

On financial success following you-

I believe that passion and money belong in the same sentence, but not quite so close together. Do what you love, do it very well, be prepared to accept appropriate payment for it, let people know what you’re doing and that you’re excellent at it, and then — at the very least — a sustenance level of money will follow.

On following your passion to the bank-

This might make me the bad guy, but I don’t believe that passion inherently begets money. I believe that passion makes it far easier to navigate the hurdles that come between you and money. The mountain standing in your way is a lot easier to climb when you’re passionate. If you’re not passionate you look at the mountain, realize how big it is, say “Screw it, I don’t give a shit anymore,” and then tell your friends and family that the mountain was too high. Uh, no.

A personal story-

I got into marketing because I can’t not be in marketing — I’m totally unemployable in every other capacity. Long before I even considered consulting I read marketing books on the bus, in the bath, in bed. I would rant and rage and scream about lousy marketing and bad copy and how I could have done it better myself. Then I read some more books. Lo and behold, if you read every marketing book in print, you tend to get pretty good at it. When I got good people started paying me. Now I make far more than my husband and I made combined when we were out in day jobs. So yeah, in my case, B followed A.

***

Leo Babuata from Zen Habits:

On financial success following you-

Well, it’s definitely possible to gain financial success without doing what you love. Many people have. However, I think your odds go up greatly if you do love what you do — you’re more likely to do it with passion, to put all of your energy into it, to stick to it longer than you would doing something you don’t enjoy. So if I were to put odds on financial success, I’d pick the guy who loves what he does and works with great passion.

On following your passion to the bank-

It sounds a bit too much like a guaranteed statement. I don’t agree that it’s a sure thing, but as I said, you have better odds if you follow your passion. I’d change it to something like, “Follow your passion, and don’t worry about the money. You’ll be happier, and you’ll give yourself a better chance at the money.” It’s not as catchy, though.

A personal story-

My blogging is an example. I didn’t start blogging so that I could make money. I thought that would be nice, but I did it because I love it. And I still do, and I still blog with passion. However, I’ve been lucky enough to be able to make a living doing what I love–I did it for passion, and the money did follow.

J.D. Roth from Get Rich Slowly:

On financial success following you-

Well, I’m not convinced there’s a strong correlation. I think that financial success can be related to doing what you love, but it’s not always the case. I have friends who love to teach, but they’re never going to get rich at it. I have friends who hate their jobs but make a killing.

I think it’s more apt to say that happiness is related to doing what you love. My friends who teach are happy; my friends who hate their high-paying jobs are not. I’m a strong proponent of “following your bliss,” but it does take some creativity to make it pay off sometimes.

On following your passion to the bank-

‘Do what you love and the money will follow’ sounds good, and I certainly encourage people to give it a shot, but I don’t think it’s a given. If I hadn’t done what I loved with Get Rich Slowly (and my other blogs), I would never have known if there were money there or not. I’m glad I gave it a shot. I think other people should pursue their dreams, too.

A personal story-

Get Rich Slowly is a perfect example of the principle in action. I’ve always loved writing. I’ve been blogging regularly for seven years (and writing on the web for more than that). I’ve kept at it with passion, and now I make enough to support myself full-time. Blogging is no way to get rich — slowly or otherwise — but it is a way for me to live a fulfilling life.

Tim Clark from Soul Shelter:

Financial success is related to passion, and passion derives from doing what we love. But the world isn’t entirely under our control, so we’ll do well to modify our definition of “financial success” as we pursue what we love.

I choose to believe it, with the eyes-open caveat that the amount of money that comes may be quite modest!

(Update: Tim’s post on Opting Out of the Deferred Life Plan will go up later today. Good stuff there.)

***

And here’s some final thoughts from Naomi at IttyBiz:

“I am thoroughly convinced of one thing — if you do what you love, happiness and a better life will follow. You will have financial security, but it might not come in the flavor you’re used to.

Maybe you’ll sell paintings for a hundred grand a pop. Maybe you’ll rustle yourself up a patroness. Maybe you’ll spend the morning in your loft teaching three-year-olds how to finger paint, enabling yourself to spend the next 10 hours channeling your inner Pollock and not worrying about selling out. Maybe you’ll be happy eating brown rice on your brother’s couch because it’s better than working for The Man. Whatever. It all gets figured out in the end.”

That’s a great wrap-up—thank you, Naomi. I had my own ending ready to go, but I like yours better.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the roundup! Participants and readers, I welcome your further comments below.

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