If you have ever asked yourself how to get paid for doing what you love to do, then this post is for you! Whether you want to make money working for someone else, or you want to make your fortune as an entrepreneur, there is a guaranteed formula you can use to ensure your success.
Veteran readers of this blog will note that I have been out of the loop recently, and the subject of finding what you are passionate about is a large part of the very reason why I dropped out of the blogosphere for so long. In short, I have been struggling with how best to spend the time and resources that I dedicate to my career, and I recently got a wonderful bit of assistance in that regard: Brian Kim’s awesome book, How to FINALLY Find What You Love to Do AND Get Paid For Doing It.
Back in July 2007, I did a review of one of Brian’s other books, The Hidden Secret in Think and Grow Rich, and since that book was incredibly useful, I was ecstatic to hear that Brian had released something new. The concept of finding what it is that we are passionate about is something that so very many people struggle with. After reading Brian’s Book, I can honestly say that the system contained in his book is the best one that I have seen yet.
As Brian so eloquently points out in the book, many people are “secretly leading lives of quiet desperation,” and despite their desire to find fulfillment and financial success, very few people are able to find and stick to a system that allows them to do so. As a result, many people end up just doing whatever they are good at and/or educated for, and what they actually WANT to be doing rarely even enters into the equation.
Using myself as an example, this blog has been up for several years, and although it has been a success on every measurable level, it became more and more apparent to me over time that simply blogging for a living – although enjoyable – was not enough for me. My life requires more of a consistent challenge than just writing provided to me, and I was left asking myself just what it was that I DID want to do.
Although I still love blogging and working on the Internet, I can’t honestly say that I am passionate enough about blogging to see it as my “mission” in life. Does it hold value for other people? Absolutely, and for that I am grateful. However, my destiny lies along a different path, and Brian’s book really helped to open my eyes to some core concepts that needed to be considered as I mapped out the next stages of my life.
How to Find your Passions
There are other books out there on the subject of finding your passions, but as Brian points out in How to FINALLY Find What You Love to Do AND Get Paid For Doing It, most books on this topic ask you to think about the DETAILS of a passion-filled life, but they never really tell you how to find that passion to begin with. The details (type of work, ideal work day, income potential, etc.) are just a small part of the equation compared to the importance of finding the passion FIRST, and then working out the less important details once the passionate foundation has been laid.
In addition to the step by step process that Brian lays out in the book, he is quick to also add in that using the power of your subconscious mind is also an integral part of finding your passions. Brian’s system advises you to not only make a consistent conscious effort towards finding your passions, but to also use your subconscious mind as an active ally in the process, and to respond quickly whenever inspiration or “ah-ha moments” strike.
Did you find your passions?
Another thing I love about the book is that there is a 10-question “test” that you can apply once you think you have nailed down your passions. It is easy to get excited about a new idea or a new plan of action, but if the new passion won’t fuel a long-term process, then it’s not really a passion to begin with.
Chapter 5 is entitled How You’ll Know You’ve Truly Found What You Love to Do, and the 10-question test does a great job of separating temporary enthusiasm from the long-term mindset that true passions are made up of.
How to Make Money with your Passions
There are really only 2 ways of making money: You either use your resources to work for and invest in yourself, or you use those resources to benefit someone else, a.k.a. – an employer. Both of those systems have their benefits, and this book does not take sides. Brian has a section about how to make money as an employee while following your passions, and a separate section for how to make money as a passionate Entrepreneur.
Both of those sections of the book include the same “questions equal answers” mentality, and the questions that you ask yourself about how to monetize your passions are the critical first step towards finding useful answers. People who find the wrong answers are the same people who asked the wrong questions. For both the employee route, as well as the entrepreneurial route, Brian lists the types of questions that you should ask yourself.
I was also very impressed with the short, yet extremely useful section that he put together for entrepreneurs who want to monetize their passions. His overview of the entrepreneurial process of making money while loving what you do is only a few pages long, but it covers a lot of ground and definitely points the would be entrepreneur in the right direction.
Conclusion
Overall, the book How to FINALLY Find What You Love to Do AND Get Paid For Doing It promises a lot, and if you are willing to go through the processes described in the book, you will indeed get a lot out of your time investment. Discovering what to do with the rest of your life is worth a little bit of homework, don’t you think?
For me personally, I have already changed my own mindset about the future, and I have a renewed sense of hope and confidence as a result. Even just a short time after reading the book, I have already gotten a huge amount of value from it.
Brian Kim has written a lot of great content over the years, and despite the massive impact that this book will have on the lives of anyone who reads it, the cost is very low.
Big props to you, Brian, and thanks for this great book that will help to put so many people on the right path!
Pick up your own copy of
How to FINALLY Find What You Love to Do AND Get Paid For Doing It
BONUS#1: ($12 value) Get a FREE Copy of “The Introspection Workbook” – Use it to help discover the kind of work that’s suited just for you!
BONUS#2: ($12 value) Get a FREE copy of the s
pecial report: ‘3 Real Life Stories Of Those Who Did It’ – Read the real life stories of those who have managed to find what they love to do and got paid for doing it! See how they used the information in the book to do so.
Aaron,
I’m glad this book came into your life and thank you for sharing it and introducing it to our lives, too.
Alex
Alex,
The Universe tends to give us what we need exactly when we need it, and that was definitely the case here.
I have seen a lot of value from the book, and I am truly grateful that this blog will act as a vehicle to let others know about it as well!
This sounds like a good book. Without really reading it and your intro carefully excluding any specific content of the book, it’s hard to say, but I can wholeheartedly agree that finding the true love and passion is critical.
Hey, Akemi!
I actually had an outline of the book’s content originally laid out, but I am trying to keep my posts a bit shorter than my historically longer posts.
Apparently, I can be a little verbos! 😉
I welcome anyone to shoot me an email if they would like more of a detailed look at the specific contents of the book.
About bloody time! Glad your back buddy and even gladerer that you’re working towards living that life of your dreams. Not that I ever had any doubt 😉
Thanks, Tim! It’s been a long time since I’ve done any regular blogging, and it felt great to be back in the driver’s seat – especially about such an important topic.
I appreciate your support and encouragement, Tim – it means a lot coming from someone as schooled in the way of these things as you are! 🙂
Aaron, it’s good to see you back and to see that you are passionately pursuing your next career adventure.
To me, most books about finding a career you are passionate about fail on one of these two fronts:
1) Helping you figure out your overall passion/mission in life
OR
2) Helping you connect the dots that go from passion to money
It seems that Brian’s new book helps on both these levels.
Thank you so much, Maria!
And yes, most books on this subject do tend to stick to a certain set of guidelines. That is what I loved about Brian’s book – it includes a system of finding your passions AND finding how to monetize them.
There is nothing wrong with being passionate for free, but I am personally looking for that mentality of “loving what you do so you’ll never work another day in your life”. That’s the sweet spot, at least on my long-term goal list! 🙂
Hi Aaron,
What an immense pleasure to find a new post from this wonderful blog in my in-box!
I’ve noted this book down, of course.
Much joy and success in your new journey!
Patricia
Thank you, Patricia! I am also subscribed via email (yes, even to my own blog), and it was nice to get that email from myself after all this time. 😉
As always, your support means the world to me, and your continued positive attitude is always so very welcome. If you could bottle that stuff up and sell it, you’d be incredibly wealthy in more ways than one!
Keep leading by example, Patricia!
Hi Aaron! It’s funny I read the post today before I even got the email alert from your blog. Anyway, as much as I agree with the take on that subject, I want to direct you and your readers to a recent blog post from Seth Godin. It’s not as critical to that subject as I might appear on the first glance, it’s actually quite an addition.
Maybe you can’t make money doing what you love
Yours
John
John,
Thank you so much for your continued interest in my writing, and also for sharing that awesome post from Seth Godin. I have been a fan of his for years, and the post that you referenced does a great job of looking at this concept from a different – yet very useful – point of view.
I think the 2 takeaway points from his post for me were:
1) Do what you LOVE to do, not something “in the area” of what you love to do. Providing a product or service that you are passionate about is entirely different than finding a way to make money by doing so. Passionate people are not necessarily savvy business people, so finding a way to deal with that issue can indeed be an important part of the process.
2) I’ll just quote Seth, because he said it perfectly:
“(And the twist, because there is always a twist, is that as soon as you focus on your art and leave the money behind, you may just discover that this focus turns out to be the secret of actually breaking through and making money.)”
Thanks for linking out to that great read, John!
Hi, Aaron;
Brian DOES have a way of putting things, doesn’t he?…A little like you do!
I especially appreciate your insight here that “…most books on this topic ask you to think about the DETAILS of a passion-filled life, but they never really tell you how to find that passion to begin with.”
A life without following our passions is a life not worth living, in my opinion! Perish the thought.
Thanks as always for your wit and wisdom, and happy trails, my friend.
Shauna
Thank you, Shauna! You are – as always – such an inspiration to me.
There have been many business plans that I have come up with that were heavy on pertinent details, but much too light on following a truly passionate path.
For that reason, I am giving my next move A LOT of consideration, and not jumping into anything without plenty of thought. I do still plan to blog at Today is that Day, keep PDP up and running, and also create Surfside Fitness as a useful web location. However, those will all be projects that I manage via business practices that allow me plenty of time to dive into new projects and opportunities.
It’s an exciting time to be me, and I appreciate people like you who have given me so much hope, wisdom, and support along the way! 🙂
Aaron, I have read the book and I agree with you. Brian has written a very motivating and inspirational book. While I was reading his book, I started to think about my life and where I was heading. I realized that being an entrepreneur is not me, but I do commend people who take the risks of pursuing their dreams. You wrote in your article that you know your path and all, but I’m wondering when did it start for you? Were there any obstacles you had to conquer?
Some people have said you need to spend money to make it. I think its true to a point, but there are ways to spend minimal to get places. At the end of the day passions are worth following, regret is not worth the consequences and guilt.