When it comes to finding your career path (whether you are a business owner, FTE, or budding entrepreneur), recent and current generations have been beat over the head with the advice to follow their passion. The idea of this is great – it makes sense that you want your work to be aligned with what you are interested in.
The challenge is that we are typically passionate about our hobbies and while sometimes those perfectly line up with a career (cake decorating leads to owning a bakery, horseback riding leads to teaching lessons to kids with disabilities, reading leads to being a librarian), there are times that it is OK to separate your interests and hobbies from work. The real question is how to identify where you are in life and how this lines up with your professional pursuits.
You may be in a place where you need to absorb all you can from formal education. You may need to work at a job on a product that you have no interest in, but are able to see how that company thrives and excels. You may launch a new product that you felt was needed in the world, only to learn that consumers didn’t feel the same.
Money makes the world go round… but love? Love makes it all worth it.
Once we accept that we are all on a human journey, we can assess where we are in that moment, and figure out how our work and personal lives collide. I think that is when we find our purpose, and are able to accept that we don’t always know how to turn our passion into a sustainable paycheck. If you can love your family, friends, and yourself… your work can lend to providing a life for you and them that feels like a full-circle.
I do think it matters that whomever you are working for has true love for their business; you need to find true love in your role or in what you are promoting if you are a business owner. If not, I think there’s a shelf life to what you’re doing that will show itself eventually. And that’s actually OK – every step is progress towards a life full of love and business.
Resource that can be helpful: Designing Your Life Workbook: A Framework for Building a Life You Can Thrive In
Erin Wike is a Career Coach & Lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin and owner of Cafe Con Resume. Erin is fueled by dark roast coffee with cream AND sugar, her loving husband, daughter, and two rescue dogs. She is the Co-Founder of Small Business Friends ATX to help fellow entrepreneurs + hosts events for people to live a Life of Yes with Mac & Cheese Productions.
