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Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting a New Business
Owning a home used to be the “American Dream.” However, this long-standing goal that so many aspired to, and ultimately reached, has been replaced with a new goal -- becoming a business owner. At first glance it sounds perfect: Leave the...
Organizational Political Savvy
It is a fact of organizational life: politics influence
virtually everything that happens in an organization. Leaders,
especially change leaders, must develop political savvy. I am
not advocating unethical behavior, but I am recommending...
Three Common Deadly Mistakes Made In Job Interviews
Since no two interviews are alike it is difficult to be prepared for the unexpected. You can however focus on your presentation skills which may be even more important than what you have to say.
Here are three areas that you should consider...
"Triple The Response Of Your $ales Letters By Harnessing The Mysterious Power Of Mind-Reading"
Want to know a clever way to instantly supercharge your sales letters? One that most of your competition doesn't even have a clue about or are just to lazy to implement.
What would that mean to you? Perhaps a small fortune, or even a big one!...
Why Demo FX Account Performance Is Often Better Than Real Account Performance
Over the past several years, the popularity of online currency trading has grown substantially. Each day, online FX brokerage firms attract new investors - each of them lining up with a glint in their eye, lured in by promises of easy money. ...
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Life is Short - Love What You Do, Do What You Love
Life is short. Are you doing what you love? Are you living your
passion? If not, why? I am guessing most people will answer that
question with "I have a mortgage, a spouse and three kids to
support, and $20,000 in college loans to pay back. In the real
world people have responsibilities. They have to make
sacrifices. You aren't supposed to be happy with your job but
you do it because you have to."
With all due respect, they are wrong. You can take care of your
responsibilities and be happy with your job. We spend over 1/3
of our day, at least five days a week performing our jobs. This
is a lot of time to be wasting on something we don't enjoy, is
it not? Why not spend that time doing something you truly are
passionate about for 50 hours a week instead something that
lacks meaning?
I think there is one main reason people don't follow their
passion - fear. Fear of how others will react, fear of failure,
and fear that they can't do it themselves. I think the first
part is for people realize that they can conquer their fear. You
will fail at times and others will think you are crazy at times,
but if you believe that you will succeed than you ultimately
will.
I always tell people that it's a three step process. First,
figure out what your passion is. Second, figure out how to make
money doing it. Third, do it. It might seem simple. In a way, I
think it is.
Step 1: Figure out what your passion is
Everyone is passionate about something - sports, dancing,
painting, roller coasters, computers, family, religion,
politics, etc. Sometimes it's hard to figure out what that
passion is. Pretend as if money is not an issue. Whatever you
would spend your time doing is your passion. I love to quote
office Space (one of my favorite movies of all time) when I talk
about this step. Peter makes the statement "Our high school
guidance counselor used to ask us what you would do if we had a
million dollars and didn't have to work. And invariably,
whatever we would say, that was supposed to be our careers. If
you wanted to build cars, then you're supposed to be an auto
mechanic." What would you do if you had a million dollars?
Step 2: Figure out how to make money doing it
Whatever your passion is, I
guarantee you can make money doing
it. If your into roller coasters then get a job at a company
that designs roller coasters. If you are into computers,
consider starting a business building computers or designing
websites. Now, if your passion is music, you may not be able to
be a concert pianist, but you could sell pianos or give piano
lessons. Whatever skills you have, you can find a way to make
money. At the very least, you can start a blog like this one and
make money from advertisements. You can syndicate your posts as
articles across the web to drive traffic to your site. That
pretty much covers any topic imaginable and requires very little
technical knowledge.
Step 3: Do it
Without a doubt this is the hardest step. I'm not saying
everyone should run out and quit their job today. It takes
planning to do it right. The key is that you are planning. That
you have started working towards that goal of living your
passion. One of my passions happens to be sports collectibles.
So, as a senior in college I started SportsLizard.com. At the
time I graduated, I wasn't making enough money from the business
to live so I took a job as an engineer. I am working toward
being able to live my passion full time but for the time being I
need the income from the job. Again, the important thing is that
I am doing it. I have goals set and each one that I achieve
brings me closer to being able to focus my life on the things I
am passionate about (SportsLizard.com and other things).
I understand that it is not easy. I am in the middle of going
through it right now. But understand that there are other people
out there who have been through what you are going through and
can help you immensely. They have failed, been ridiculed, and
come out on the other end extremely successful. They are living
proof that you can do what you love.
About the author:
Adam McFarland owns SportsLizard.com - an online marketplace for
buying
and selling sports collectibles http://www.sportslizard.com.
SportsLizard.com was recently awarded honorable mention in the
Microsoft Start Something Amazing Awards.
You can read Adam's blog about being a young internet
entrepreneur by going to http://www.sportslizard.com/blog/
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