>>>Follow your passion – with caution?
Hi there,
Follow your passion. It’s career advice that is bandied about by heavy-weights such as Steve Jobs and Jim Carrey, but I believe it should come with a word of warning.
The concept of following one’s passion is one that I find intriguing. Many of the women I work with are familiar with Simon Sinek’s work, Start with Why - and this is a quick TED talk which gives an overview of his thesis. Another common variation of this message is on countless Instagram memes: do work you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.
Perhaps don’t suggest that to a solopreneur deep in the trenches building their business! No matter how much your work lights you up, it’s still exactly that, work. I believe it’s a real shortcoming that the pursuit of passion message doesn’t include that passion alone doesn’t always pay the bills. It takes real exertion and sacrifice.
I find I have two different types of women who seek out my services. On the one hand, I have women wanting to reenergise their businesses, but are yet to uncover their vision and they feel that is holding them back. Sometimes, they use the concepts of vision and passion as interchangeable, however I don’t agree that this is the case. A vision is almost like a GPS, where you want your business or your work to go, a desired end state. A passion is a driver, no doubt about it, but I know it causes women great angst when they feel as though their great passion is unclear to them. Sometimes, there simply isn’t a lightbulb that comes on to say ‘Hi! I’m your passion! We’re a fit!’
The other commonality with some of my clients is they are following the advice of pursue your passion, do work you love and you’ll never work a day in your life, yet they aren’t making the money they would expect for this stage of their business. Herein lies why I’m wary of encouraging women to follow their passion - I’d much rather they explore how their passion fits within the market forces and environmental factors that can make a passion a sustainable business. Sometimes, nothing kills passion like resentment that comes from working damn hard with nothing to show for it!
Since adolescence, my passion has been food. In Tasmania, I was surrounded by wonderful fresh produce. I spent several years in the world of finance before completing a Diploma in Business (hospitality) as a mature aged student. Upon graduation I moved to Western Australia to build my dream business to blend my passion for food with my passion for entrepreneurship. However, I decided to work with the Perth Convention Bureau for a year to get a feel for the lay of the foodie land in Perth - but I loved it so much that I stayed on for four years. Whilst there, I spent countless hours researching gourmet store/catering/research trends nationally and globally before launching Panache Gourmet Food and Wine, my restaurant/gourmet food store/catering/events business that showcased the very best of WA food. It was a foodie’s dream, no doubt about it. It was also an entrepreneur’s dream as it was successful across all measures. However, I can tell you first hand - there is no greater dampener to passion than working 18 hour days!
There’s an insinuation that we can only have one passion in our lives (not true- I have many, as do the world’s most successful entrepreneurs), however the other hesitation I have when working with women who want to follow their passion is the fact that passion waxes and wanes over time. It’s fluid and dynamic, as we should be. It is an open rather than a fixed mindset that allows growth.
After shutting the doors on my foodie business in Western Australia, I found my passion for business and for food remained unchanged, however the way I expressed that passion changed. A move to Melbourne alongside a shift in career focus to support other entrepreneurs to create thriving businesses gave me a way to pursue both passions. In Melbourne, I had access to food delights that made me positively giddy with delight. I became the Queen of Foodiness as I explored Melbourne laneways and provedores, restaurants and wine bars. I even auditioned for MasterChef, but that’s a story for another day.
Through my business coaching, I discovered that while women needed access to my project management and systems skills, they equally needed my simple approach for taking care of their physical health. At the request of my clients, I started easy and tasty nutrition masterclasses for solopreneurs. Clearly, while my passion is food, and it’s one that has taken me professionally across Australia, how I’ve pursued that passion has shifted over the years.
When I think about my client list, I work predominantly with women solopreneurs at the 2+ year point. They are ready to scale and grow their business, they believe passionately in their businesses, but are locked in the trap of overwhelm. Coaching is one of the most transformative investments you can ever make in your business, and yes, while passion can (and is, repeatedly) can be transformed into a sustainably successful business, sometimes it’s that perspective and support from a holistic coach that takes you from wishing and overwhelm to achieving and a plan of attack. If you’d like some support making it happen, I’d love to work with you. Just reach out.
To your success…
