2 questions to help turn passion into a source of income

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

You may already know the answers. Check it out and figure out where to go next.

If your salary is enough for basic needs and even a little more, it is assumed that you should be happy and contented with life. It seems incredible that one day you will wake up and decide to quit such a job in order to devote all your time to your passion. But this is exactly what happened to me six years ago.

I had a comfortable life, and those around me believed that I should feel fulfilled, but I did not. I wanted something more. What I did day after day, and what I considered important, did not coincide with each other. So I decided to quit my job and look for ways to bring what's important to me into my daily routine.

The only thing is that it is a convoluted process. Even people with money and higher education often struggle with it. And here, in my thirty, I'm talking about finding a hobby and turning it into a career. I was told that this is not worth thinking about until you earn enough or retire.

There is a belief that looking inside yourself and finding something that brings joy and fulfillment is either a luxury available to the rich or something that retirees can indulge in. I wondered if this was really so.

Many of us are used to seeing survival as the main goal of life. In Africa, we are brought up with the idea of memorizing as much as possible in school and passing the exam in the hope that you will then get a job. And if you do, hold on to it, no matter how bad it is. And so on until you are offered something better or asked to retire.

But I dropped out of school, so I had only two options: enroll in a professional course or take any job I could find, regardless of the working conditions.

I chose the first option, hoping to find a course close to my character and my dreams. But with regret I discovered that there is no place in training centers for people who do not fit into the existing framework. In many countries, the education system consists of a limited number of options, chosen by someone else for you. And young people are forced to adjust or risk being renegades.

By abandoning formal education, I opened up a whole world of new possibilities. I could be anyone, study anything. I found free online courses and they helped me fill out my resume and find a job.

I worked for eight years, and then I realized that there must be more to life than just a routine. So in 2014, I founded an organization where we help high school graduates turn their passion into a profitable business.

When I talk about passion, people often ask me what it is and how to find it.

In simple terms, passion is the sum total of your life experiences that give you the deepest sense of self-realization.

And to find it, you need to look inside yourself. To do this, I propose two questions.

1. What would I do if I had enough money and time?

It sounds simple, but many find it difficult to immediately answer, because they have never thought about it before.

2. What makes me happy or gives me a deep sense of fulfillment?

It would seem that we all should know what brings us happiness and gives us the opportunity to self-actualize. But many have no idea about this, because they are too busy with everyday activities, they have no time to stop and look inside themselves. Sit down and think about it slowly if you also find it difficult to answer.

However, I understand that passion alone does not guarantee success.

For passion to turn into a career, it needs to be complemented by skills and proper positioning.

Therefore, when we invite young people to understand themselves, we also ask them to think about what skills, talents and experience they have that they can use to find a niche for themselves in the market.

And of course we look at trends. If you do something that no one needs, or no one is willing to pay for it, this is just a hobby and it will not work out of a career. Therefore, it is important to decide how you will position yourself. Think about who you will offer your services to and how to make people want to buy from you.

The combination of these three factors - understanding your passion, assessing skills and choosing positioning - will help make a business out of a passion. Well, when passion turns into work, you don't just succeed - you become invincible.