There's a lot of talk on the internet about passion.
Passion is great. It fuels inventions, creates lustful relationships, builds businesses, sparks new ideas... but it can also crush an otherwise productive life.
There are a lot of businesses that should simply be hobbies.
There are a lot of hobbies that should be businesses.
Most of these people galavanting around the internet try and claim that any business can be built from a passion. Sure, it's possible, but if you don't have a direction for sales, that is not a business.
A business without sales is just a hobby.
Yes, it's romantic to envision a life where you talk about your passions and people around you support you 1,000%. Where they can't wait to find a way to support you and your business. Where people frantically share your work to their entire network.
You MUST sell something.
It could be a product, service, course, ebook, etc., but there must be a way to get paid for what you do.
There are hundreds of sites that squeak in a few Adsense/Amazon affiliate dollars here and there, but if you're in the online game to make real money, building a real business, you have to actually make your own transactions.
Of course, it's scary. I almost threw up and didn't sleep for two days when I launched my first digital product.
I was also terrified the first time I asked for money to write. It was only $5 for an online article and I wanted to curl in a ball and hide under my desk when I saw a reply in my inbox. Now, I make 10x that an hour.
It's terrifying, but that is what separates the winners from the hobbyists.
Once you figure out what you want to sell, EVERYTHING YOU DO must direct people in that direction.
If you want to be a private chef, every single action must speak to the people you're selling to. Taking a selfie with your ten cent ramen noodles is going to hurt that image.
If you are a photographer and your Instagram feed is full of grainy, blurry images, you're losing clients at every turn.
People all over the world have problems they need solved, and they want to pay people to do it. More often than not, they want to hire the expert to solve the problem.
Nobody wants the amateur.
Too many sites have weak copy that basically says, "Hi I'm new to this and have no idea what I'm doing but like you should give me money, I think?, because like, I'm totally being authentic."
Would you feel safe in an Uber with someone who just told you they learned to drive yesterday? NO. You'd clasp your seatbelt, sweat bullets the entire time, and try and remember where you kept your health insurance card.
Do not be the newbie driver. BE THE DAMN EXPERT.
The truth is, it doesn't matter what you pick to sell. It really doesn't. There are thousands of ways to build a passion into a career, but sitting around twiddling your thumbs thinking "one day" is going to suddenly become two or three years later.
You MUST put yourself out there.
2015 is half way over.
Before you know it, 2016 will be here.
It's time you start getting paid.