I’m a believer in ‘Putting Passions before Profits’ because while profits may follow your passion, the reverse is almost never true.

Following a happiness-centric approach will bring abundance into your life – often in the form of profits but not always – but then again, waking up happy every day is worth more than millions (in fact, it can’t be bought even if you have millions anyway)

That being said, it can be difficult to resist the lure of riches and chase money instead of dreams (trust me, I’ve been there!).

Just like everything else, I believe that the decision and commitment to follow your passion takes persistence, dedication and hardwork… but the rewards are definitely worth it.

I’ve always loved to explain things to people – verbally or in writing. Of course, family and friends might say that I just like telling people what to do. And they’d probably be right. Anyway, I’ve never understood why things have to be so complicated, especially when it comes to the high-tech gadgets and software. No wonder technical writing was a natural career for me.

However, over time, I realized I needed more human interaction, so I started teaching technical classes to connect with students. I soon discovered that my writing and teaching skills were in great form, but people were still having serious problems with the software I was explaining. Why? Because it was badly designed.

Quite naturally, I migrated to the field of usability. I became a user advocate for better Websites and software products. I made great money, but got tired of the stressful environment, unrealistic deadlines, and socially backward engineers. That’s when I made the difficult decision to become a free-lance agent.

Over the past three years I’ve vastly expanded my repertoire, writing textbooks and marketing materials, designing Websites, profiling interesting people, even getting involved in editing spiritual white papers and children’s fiction. I’ve managed to continue to support myself, making about the same amount of money I made as an employee, but doing it on my terms. Sure, my income fluctuates, but my time is my own and I get to pick nice people to work with.

I’m not rich yet, and the recession has certainly reduced my number of clients and my income. However, writing’s what I do, what I like, and what I’ll continue to do. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Martha

I went through an epiphany of sorts when I decided to move across the country to Chicago, and decided to make a clean start across the board of my life. I decided that I was born to have a show. (First a talk show and then maybe a sit down audience show if I ever want to settle down in one spot.) I had enough money saved up to quit corporate and start my show. I bought a camera and just started. I’ve come a long way in a short time because I didn’t ask if I could, I just did it.

I haven’t made a ton of money yet, but I have amazed myself to see how little I really need to be happy.

For me the quote goes something like, “Do what you love, and you will be surrounded by other super cool people that are doing what they love. And then you can meet them for coffee during the day to talk about how much happier you are even though you haven’t bought new shoes in a long while.”

Happiness and money are maybe words that can’t be put together. We all have different definitions of happiness. We all have to figure out what is more important to us at our particular point in life. Happiness or money. Some go for money first even if they hate it, so that they don’t have to worry about it in the future and so they can follow their passions. If you’re a short term thinker this may be difficult. Others follow their passion first, maybe hope it leads them to financial security and keep getting better and better at what they do.

One thing is for sure, happy people are great to be around with. Why they are happy (money or passion), it doesn’t matter.

I really enjoyed reading this post — thank you for compiling it. Very inspirational, as is keeping up with your personal version of “Amazing Race.” I currently live vicariously through the details of your journeys. Travel on!