How to Make Money Doing What You Love
It’s the ultimate career question: How can I make money doing what I love?
There are so many intelligent, talented, hard-working people stuck in unfulfilling careers. They want to live with greater purpose, but it’s hard to know where to begin. Formidable barriers stand in the way. As a result, it’s common to procrastinate and let dreams run away.
Here’s what this sounds like:
- I want to leave the 9-to-5 rat race, but I don’t even know what I want to do instead.
- How can I leave my corporate job? I’ll never be able to provide for my family.
- I tried doing what I love on the side, but didn’t make enough money.
- Nobody will take me seriously if I go out on my own; I don’t have enough experience.
- I’m so drained from my job that I can’t even think about doing something different.
- I can’t believe I’ve been in this industry for two decades. This is never what I imagined for myself.
- Maybe I’m not passionate about my job, but it pays the bills. Not everyone can just have a career based on passion.
What we’ve found in breakthrough coaching is that an incredible number of people share these thoughts. Fears and judgments build up over time, and eventually it seems “too late” or “impossible” to make a change. The 9-to-5 environment reinforces these beliefs, creating what seem like insurmountable barriers to a fulfilling career.
However, we know the truth. With the right kind of support, our clients have been able to engage with existing patterns and break through barriers to do what they really love and make money doing it. A whole new career is available to discover, free of the corporate rat race. You can make money doing what you love.
Today, we’re going to share powerful strategies that can help you get there.
Start with a Strong Foundation
So, you want to know how to make money doing what you love. You want to bring your passion to life! The first thing to know is that you must start with a solid foundation. Venturing out on your own will introduce constant challenges. Indeed, some of these challenges will be more difficult than the ones you face daily at your desk job. Without a stable foundation, your deeper purpose faces sabotage before it even comes to light.
“Just do it” may sound good in commercials, but champions know it doesn’t revolutionize careers over the long term. Current thought leadership, while well-meaning, fails to dig deeply into the principles that enable real change. These include:
-
- Clarity about your motivation
- High quality support
- Better theory
- Make it Safer
Let’s talk more about how these foundation components come together to help you make money doing what you love.
Clarity About Your Motivation
Tip: Explore What You Really Want
If you’re here, something about your current career doesn’t feel right. However, if your only motivation is to flee work you hate, I guarantee the next adventure will not fulfill you in a more meaningful way – unless you’re willing to take a look at what’s driving that feeling. To make money doing what you love, your vision must be clear about what you really want to accomplish. Some of the questions you might begin to explore on this journey could include:
-
- What core values do I hold that I want to share with the world every day?
- Which people would I love to impact positively?
- What types of activities allow me to enjoy a state of flow on a frequent basis?
- Which topics or industries inspire me to learn more?
- What would a typical day look like if I had control over my own schedule?
- How would I make a difference in the world if I had more financial abundance?
When you explore questions like these, you begin to get a sense of how you’d really like your work life to be. This practice starts to pull you out of the 9-to-5 grind so you can develop a clear vision of how you might enjoy making money doing what you love.
Tip: Identify Your Deepest Need
To powerfully own your present and future, you must acknowledge the past that made you who you are today. In the breakthrough coaching process, we often look at patterns or dynamics that developed all the way back in childhood. Doing so can change your perspective about what motivates you.
When we explore these patterns, we find that deep purpose typically springs from a deep need. It’s common for people to realize that there was a deep need in their childhood that was not met. Furthermore, it’s natural to want to meet a similar need for others when they become adults. When people struggle to find their purpose, this is often the gem they’re looking for: the “deepest need.”
Here are some examples of deep purpose connected to a deeper need:
-
- Professionals who were ridiculed as kids when they tried new things may identify that their deepest need was to be encouraged with warmth and love. They may find fulfillment in providing support and reassurance to others in the workplace as a teacher, mentor or coach.
- Leaders who were expected to act like adults at an early age might identify that their deepest need was to play and explore. They may find themselves motivated to help others have joyful experiences in areas like art, sports, travel or hospitality.
It’s important to find a connection with your purpose if you want to go anywhere meaningful and make great money doing it. We believe when you’re doing work that’s aligned with your purpose, that involves helping people in some way.
Tip: Determine How YOU Like to Help People
Getting clear on your purpose is important. However, understanding your preferred ways of helping people is a substantial part of clarifying your motivation. We call these delivery methods: the ways you engage with the people you want to help, such as authoring, speaking, teaching, training, mentoring or coaching. This is how you actually get to make money doing what you love.
There are so many different ways to bring your purpose to light in a tangible way. For instance, some people are naturally gifted in writing. Others thrive speaking in front of large groups. Some people enjoy working in one-on-one coaching environments. You don’t have to be able to do it all; if you can do only one or two things well, you will flourish. Take time to identify the key delivery methods that resonate with you – and those that don’t.
Once you identify your core delivery methods, your vision of the future will become even more clear. This is when you’ll start to see how your purpose can come to life in a real way and make a strong impact for others.
Are you ready to get some support to get clear about your motivation? Consider downloading our free Break Through Your Barriers Blueprint to explore a deeper understanding. You might also listen to one of our podcast features about practicing your purpose.
High Quality Support
Tip: Reconsider the Urge to “Go it Alone”
One of the biggest mistakes people make when they want to venture out on their own is they fail to engage support. They think they can or must do everything themselves. In our culture, entrepreneurs and business owners are often glamorized as lone heroes in the wilderness. Sometimes, we even worship what seems to be an ability to “go it alone” without worrying what others think. However, we mustn’t forget that behind the scenes, heroes – and successful business owners – have team members and friends who help them along the way.
There’s no question about it: you need to have support if you want to make money doing what you love. The process of starting your own business will challenge your beliefs about yourself and your work. Because you’ll be selling yourself and your purpose to those you serve, you may feel more vulnerable than ever before. Relying on yourself alone to stay focused and motivated through this journey is a recipe for failure.
So, what qualifies as “high-quality” support? We define high-quality support sources as those that not only encourage you to be your best self, but also bring your attention to blind spots that you may not notice on your own. They provide an environment in which you can fully be yourself and explore and break through the barriers you face.
When you reach out to others for high-quality support, keep these things in mind. The most convenient sources for mentorship and advice may not be the best ones for your new journey.
Tip: Connect with Your Community
If you want to ditch the 9 to 5 rat race, a strong connection with your community will serve you well. When you engage with others and share your purpose, you’ll identify people who can benefit from your gifts and help you in your journey.
You’ll also start to identify the types of problems you can solve for others. You may even begin to develop a vision of the ideal client, or client avatar, who will benefit from your services or products. Ultimately, when you find a way to help others reach their goals, you become empowered to make a great living doing what you love.
There are many different sources of high quality support. If you’re not sure where to find it, check out our blog post on how breakthrough coaching can transform your life. As a breakthrough coach, my purpose is to support people on their leadership journeys, and I’d be honored to help you with yours. Alternatively, you might connect with a peer on a similar journey, or seek an industry mentor. As transformation takes you from one way of being to another, high quality support will empower you to flourish outside of the corporate world.
Better Theory
Tip: Identify Your Current Theory
Have you ever checked in with the underlying beliefs that you hold about yourself and the world? For the most part, it’s common to go through each day on auto-pilot. What beliefs do you hold that prevent you from stepping into your power? We call these beliefs “theory,” because they reflect a set of principles that we generally regard to be true. Fortunately, while theories are typically regarded as correct, they are up for debate.
For instance, although we may not realize it consciously, we may believe that we are bad, incompetent or headed toward failure. We may tell ourselves negative stories about who we are and what we can accomplish. These stories and beliefs are what keep us in jobs that we dislike and take away our power when we feel inspired to go a new direction. Embracing better theory is a mindset change that pivots the direction of our beliefs and instills strength. It recognizes that you are not broken; you are a full, worthy, and complete individual with much to offer the world.
When you want to make money doing what you love, you’ll start to run into these beliefs on a more regular basis. Perhaps you’ve tried to instill new beliefs or habits to change your trajectory, but an old other-than-conscious mindset sabotages your efforts. The theories that we subscribe to continue to impact our success or lack thereof.
Tip: Slow Down
In our on-demand world, we want to have it all, and we want it quickly. For instance, we can learn how to do something new in minutes on YouTube. We have exposure to the lives of the rich and famous with the click of a button on social media. We can press a couple buttons on our phone and expect a hot meal to arrive shortly.
To make matters worse, there are a lot of people who promise that we can get rich quickly with little effort.
If you want to know how to make money doing what you love, prepare yourself now to slow down. This is a long game. You probably will not achieve the results you want quickly, and some days you may believe you’re a complete failure. However, if you’re clear on what you really want and you have high-quality support to help you get there, chances are you’ll look back in the coming years and be very proud of how much you’ve accomplished.
Tip: Claim Your Power
Once you’ve adopted better theory, you can make it safer to do, say, think and feel what you really want. This includes ditching your corporate gig to do what you really love. When you understand this concept, you can be yourself more readily and show up with authenticity, which will attract others to you and your purpose. In this process, you claim your power as an individual who has much to offer the world. Your insecurities lose hold on you, and you become better able to lift others up with support and acknowledgment.
This power puts you on the right track to make money doing what you love.
If you want to quit the rat race and embrace your calling, now is the time to identify your current theories and consider better ones. In this process, you’ll begin to embody your vision of the future in a real way. Getting really clear about this generally requires high-quality support. Once you’re in tune with this, you can choose how to reframe your beliefs. You can give yourself more forgiveness and operate from a place of playful mindfulness that will help you bring something new to life. This practice frees you to start on your new journey without an old operating system running in the background.
Make it Safer
Tip: Lean into Your Emotions
Making it safer is about developing strategies to deal with powerful feelings like fear, anger, sadness and shame. We all have parts of ourselves that hold us back from doing the things that we want to do. One of our clients referred to this as a “covert side within.” This explains why habits don’t stick. Though our intentions may be earnest, something inside of us causes resistance and regresses us back into old behaviors. We avoid, repress, and deny the feelings that we don’t want to feel, and in the process, we’re held back from doing what we love.
Rather than running away from strong emotions, you can celebrate them and get clear on where they’re coming from. When we learn how to lean into – not away from – negative emotions, we fully experience and identify the risks that hold us back. Then, we’re empowered to make it safer by taking a small step.
Tip: Try a Pilot Program
You don’t have to go all in at once to start doing what you love. In fact, doing so may introduce too many risks that could jeopardize your emotional or financial well being. Many successful entrepreneurs and business owners started with pilot programs to test their ideas. We encourage you to plan a pilot program that allows you to bring your purpose to life in a safer way. Once you’ve thought through a pilot program, you can launch it and practice doing what you love in a real way. This practice will build your confidence and help you learn more about the challenges of your new career idea so you can better prepare yourself for the road ahead.
Tip: Foster Unique Insights
People are attracted to enlightened leaders who can help them attain the lives they want. It becomes much safer to leave your corporate job and do what you love when people are clamoring to work with you.
One way you can begin to earn this type of demand is to take small steps to develop yourself as a thought leader. That is, seek knowledge, practice, and moments of quiet related to the thing you love to do. These small steps can be very empowering. You may begin to connect dots in ways that others haven’t before. As you foster the growth of these unique insights, you’ll discover power to make a meaningful impact on the world.
We yearn to make a difference for others, to put our stamp on the world and leave a legacy. Accomplishing this takes time just as any other journey does. Small steps can get us there safely.
Complimentary Consultation
If you’re ready to explore how to make money doing what you love, schedule a complimentary video call to learn how our coaching programs can empower you! We provide solutions that prepare professionals to move from empty 9-to-5 jobs into careers that fulfill their purpose. To get started, schedule a complimentary consultation via Zoom.
In this 30-60 minute online breakthrough coaching session, I will help you get crystal clear on where you are right now and where you want to be. I’ll give you my best professional recommendations to help you take your first steps toward your success breakthrough.
Click here to book your session now.
 |
Written by Craig Tennant At Engaging Breakthroughs, Craig Tennant and Monttein Alonso deliver |