ON CAREERS || Lead With Passion, Money Will Follow

At any point in time if I were to tell someone "follow your passion, the money will follow." They will likely say "I totally hear you" or "you're right", but those of us who have studied negotiation before know that when someone says "you're right", that is literally what they mean, you may be right but that's not what they consider is right for them. If you hear "you're right", it means they are saying it to appease you, but their mind still firmly believes in an opposing or different view. 

So why would I bother with writing an article on the topic? It's because this is finally starting to happen for me. I am the actual case study. I started Pendulum Magazine as a passion project, and it has allowed me to connect with brilliant contributors, entrepreneurs and interesting people around the world. This part of the experience is already supremely satisfying, but as if that weren't enough, I got an email one day from a restaurant asking me to visit them for a meeting. 

They had read my article and was interested in having us generate content for their social media channels. Needless to say, I was extremely happy because someone was appreciating my art and my creation. Less than half a year ago I had never even picked up a camera. Learning by doing and forging a path for myself where you don't know what to look for at the end of the tunnel, that energy can only be sustained by extreme passion and dedication; I don't know if my time invested in this passion project will ever 'pay off', but every moment I am working on Pendulum brings a smile to my face. 

This is similar to one of our recent interviewees, artist Laura Uy, who mentioned she would spend her days at her job, and her evenings honing her art until the wee hours in the night. Now her cards and other creations can be found around Vancouver and online, with many followers appreciating her art.

The moral of the story is, don't stamp out the fire of your own passion. Doubt is the biggest killer of dreams, and it's up to you to keep believing and plugging away at it. If it is truly your passion, you will not be doing it for the money or the fame, you are investing time simply because there is no other substitute for that feeling when you are working on your passion project. 

So go on, follow your dreams. It's worth it now and will likely be worth it down the road.