your passion and not money should drive you

[Nick Garcia]

Bryan,

As a fellow musician I can relate to what you say. I write music as my life passion. As much as I've wanted to try going professional, I know that the risk of dropping everything in my life and gearing towards that is far too high. Having a career based on music is all about your audience, and not everyone will think that your most recent creation is the next biggest hit in the music industry (whatever genre you might compose in).

So, I'm in the same boat as you. I continue writing music because it is my passion and always will be. My friends enjoy my songs and I sometimes post them online for a greater amount of reviews. I've decided that if it ever does go somewhere, only then would I pursue a career. But until then, it's wonderful therapy for the mind and soul, and at the very least it creates great memories of sharing my music with my close group of friends.

To conclude my main point, I think that any form of art should be a passion until 'proven' otherwise. I've seen too many people strive for a career in music, acting, drawing, sculpting, or painting, and they become one more of the stereotypical 'starving artists'. I think it's good to have a main career in addition to whatever passion you might have. If you're lucky enough to make their passion into a career, great! Follow it until you reach the sky, then keep going to see how high you can really go. But if not, at least you have that main career to keep a roof over your head and food coming your way.

I hope my two cents are helpful to someone out there!

-Nick Garcia

[Martin Luxton]

Steven and Nick,

If you have such a stock of songs you could go into the royalty free niche.

Or how about this one?

You put 30 of your best ones online with lyrics that can be customized to suit the customer "I love you (first_name fix)".

For $250 people get a great personalized present.

With the quality of voip you could even set up a virtual recording studio. You play the backing track, they do the karaoke bit via Skype and then you mix the result.

You get $250 for 2 or 3 hours work and the satisfaction of your music making 2 people very happy.

Martin

[Steven Wagenheim]

Originally Posted by Martin Luxton

Steven and Nick,

If you have such a stock of songs you could go into the royalty free niche.

Or how about this one?

You put 30 of your best ones online with lyrics that can be customized to suit the customer "I love you (first_name fix)".

For $250 people get a great personalized present.

With the quality of voip you could even set up a virtual recording studio. You play the backing track, they do the karaoke bit via Skype and then you mix the result.

You get $250 for 2 or 3 hours work and the satisfaction of your music making 2 people very happy.

Martin

Martin, actually my friend Warner Kielwasser and I (hope he finds this
because I have lost track of him) did this years ago. We made recordings
for people who were getting married and wanted their life story of how
they met put to song.

It was a heck of a lot of work back in the 80s with the limited technology
we had available to us. Today, it would probably be a lot easier.

Don't get me wrong. Don't think I don't know that there are a gazillion
ways I could "monetize" my "gift"(???) if I sat down and put my mind to
it. I may yet someday do just that. But right now I have to keep my
priorities in order and concentrate my efforts on what I know for certain
is going to continue to put food on the table.

Otherwise, my wife would kill me.

[jbsmith]

The perfect marriage is one between passion and commerce.

Here's a great example...

I deal with many writers - book writers, freelancers, wanna be writers - they have immense talent and passion for their craft.

Those that do NOT find a way to make money from their craft cannot spend near the time they wished on doing what they love - instead they must sneak in a few minutes here and few minutes there, but eventually become frustrated and angry they can't get more time to do what they want to do.

On the other hand, those that learn to direct their craft in a way that is in-demand by their community - learn to direct their focus to an area of specialization, learn to teach others, learn to market themselves find themselves getting more and more time to direct to their passion - AND they have to worry less and less about the bills being paid.

The first group typically end up unhappy and often give up their passion - the second group end up much happier and deepen the love for writing.

Same goes for almost anything in life - if you can better learn to marry commerce with your passion you have a formula that will both make you happy and fulfilled.

Jeff

[drmani]

Great discussion, some wonderful posts, especially loved
Bryan's message.

I've found that if you choose what really, truly makes you happy,
what makes you feel good for most of your day, you can't go wrong.
...

Find a way to live your true passion(s), whether it is teaching or
building a corporation. (It's your passion. No one can tell you what it is.)

But, leverage everything so that following your passion doesn't cost
you other areas of your life. The end result should be happiness,
while maintaining good health.

Bryan

My Passion Manifesto got published recently on ChangeThis.com - you may find it relevant to the subject - and hopefully it gets you started on following your passion!

ChangeThis :: Passion Manifesto

All success
Dr.Mani

[Mike McBride]

This forum is a great place, and discussions like this make it really cool.

I'm about halfway through reading Career Renegade: How To Make A Great Living Doing What You Love, by Jonathan Fields. I highly recommend it, especially to Roger and Mike. Extremely relevant to this discussion, and a great read to boot.

[tomw]

Originally Posted by drmani

My Passion Manifesto got published recently on ChangeThis.com - you may find it relevant to the subject - and hopefully it gets you started on following your passion!

ChangeThis :: Passion Manifesto

All success
Dr.Mani

Funny, your book came to my mind when I read some of the posts in this thread. I read it over the holidays and it had quite an impact on some of my thinking in regard to some key decisions.

Thank you.

Thomas

[drmani]

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

But it still all comes back to one thing...I'm just not that good and I'm
intelligent enough to know it.

The intangibles of songwriting elude me. It's like a magic formula that you
can't write down...that magic combination of words and music that
produces something that many people want to hear over and over.

Only 1,000, Steven. Only 1,000.

This paradigm-shifting article may show you another perspective.

Kevin Kelly -- The Technium

All success
Dr.Mani

[Steven Wagenheim]

Originally Posted by drmani

Only 1,000, Steven. Only 1,000.

This paradigm-shifting article may show you another perspective.

Kevin Kelly -- The Technium

All success
Dr.Mani

Very interesting article Dr. Mani.

Thank you for sharing it.

Now to find my 1,000 true fans.

[ExRat]

Hi Mike,

I'm about halfway through reading Career Renegade: How To Make A Great Living Doing What You Love, by Jonathan Fields. I highly recommend it, especially to Roger and Mike. Extremely relevant to this discussion, and a great read to boot.

Thanks. Added to wish list.

I can't remember who recommended them recently, but someone mentioned on here -

Irrationality - Stuart Sutherland, and
Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely

I got them and am well into the first one - excellent! Nothing to do with this subject, but I just thought I'd mention it.

[Kay King]

But it still all comes back to one thing...I'm just not that good and I'm intelligent enough to know it.

But - you are good enough to thoroughly enjoy your music and give it a solid place in your daily activities.

I understand what you mean. I can easily sight read music and "hear" the song in my head - I can sit down and play it because reading music to me is like reading a book. However, I don't have the talent to sit down and play without music unless I've memorized the score. I can't write music

Passion for some may not be about our hobbies or talents or apply to what might be "a niche". Way back in this thread, Mike posted that he didn't have any passions that he could find - and I used to feel the same way. But the passion may be for privacy, or space or living where you can look out and see trees and nature - so indulging our passion may mean working effectively to afford that indulgence.

For some, it's doing what you love to do even though you do it as a supplemental business. For others, it's doing what you can to allow yourself the time/money to peacefully watch nature for hours on end.

Isn't the point of finding a passion - finding motivation?

kay

[Allen Graves]

Kay,

Let me just say that you are an absolute GENIOUS!

Loved it.

AL

[moneymaker8]

My passion is to help people in any way I possibly can. I hope to learn enouigh here to eventually help as many people as I can.
David

[Ram]

I am passionate about business. I am building what will be the largest direct marketing firm on the globe. But we market in a lot of niches I have absolutely no interest in beyond selling.

Passion can be anything. You can build a business around things you have no passion for as long as you have a passion for your business.

Or your passion can be unrelated to business, such as traveling or bird watching or building houses for the poor, and you can build a business around something completely different that gives you the cash to live your passion.

Or you can build a business around your passion.

Of any combination or something different I may have left out.

Can you be successful without passion? sure. Many people rise near, even all the way to, the top of companies without real passion. People would call them successful. But I think you need passion to be successful on your own. Something to drive you beyond the norm. But , for some super dedicated people, that can something as basic as providing the best life for your family. Lots of immigrants to the U.S. do very well with that passion.

You get to decide what you want to do if you are willing to do so. There are no absolutes. No "musts." Don't let many in the self-help crowd tell you otherwise.

Ram

[Nick Garcia]

Kay,

Very well said, in my opinion. You hit it right on the spot. I'm passionate about computers, Internet Security, programming, business, and marketing. That's what I'm basing my business off of. My business will hopefully enable me to enjoy my passion for music. It's a win-win situation no matter which route I take. I could either be a successful entrepreneur, or I could be a successful musician. Either way, music will always be a part of my life, which is what I want in the end.

It's my wish that others can accomplish lifestyles such as that. If you're lucky enough to have Internet Marketing as your passion, you're just set for life!

-Nick Garcia

[clarissa25]

Moving out of the country in these dismal economic times does seem like a lovely ideea.

[Li Weng]

Don't forget there's a difference between being passionate
about something to being actually talented at it.

You could be very passionate about golf, but you won't get
anywhere if you don't have some 'natural talent'.

You can be passionate about playing basketball, but if you're 5'4
then there's no way that you can translate this passion into success.

It's a fact of life.

[Mike Long]

I hate to dig this thread back up, but I REALLY need to learn to start subscribing to threads that I post in so I could keep track of them. Is there an option to automatically subscribe to all threads that I post in, so I can more easily remember to come back to them?

Anyway, thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts with me in this thread. I really appreciate it!

Too many good responses to quote them all, so I'll just ramble here and hope that I cover all the bases.

Kay, you actually hit the nail on the head, as I am fiercely private by nature and crave alone time. When asked "if you could do anything on earth, anything at all, what would it be?" my mind *always* flashes to an image of me, walking alone in the redwoods near the ocean, on a wide trail with no one around, and nothing but the sound of the birds and the breeze around me.

It's that same vision, every time, and has been since I was at least 14 years old.

Unfortunately, that great desire to remain alone, private, and in the background runs in direct opposition to another thing that I do believe I love to do.

Teach.

I came into IM almost 10 years ago and knew almost immediately that my goal needed to be:

1) Learn as much as I can as fast as I can
2) Teach it to others, as I really don't care for actually doing it myself.

So I learned it, and have been fortunate enough to have a lot of success over the years.

But I never started teaching it.

Part of the reason was due to that fiercely private nature, and not wanting to engage with people and let them get too close. Part of it was the fact that I never achieved "guru" status, which I mistakenly believed was required of me to become a full-time IM coach.

I now find myself with no desire whatsoever to continue to *do* IM for myself (and my current income reflects this) but a tremendous desire to help, coach and teach others to do it.

I certainly have the knowledge and experience. I have earned nearly $500K online over the years and never really enjoyed it. Think what I could have done if IM were my passion!!

But even with that, I've never quite felt as though I would be taken seriously as a teacher without that "well known" pedigree.

I could move into other forms of teaching. I've long thought I would make a great history professor. But it would take me close to a decade to get there.

I've realized that the subject I teach isn't really important. What is important to me is that I impart what I've learned to others, so that they may use it and hopefully do better then I ever did.

What do you guys think? Can someone who quietly made good money in IM in at least a half-dozen different ways over the years, but who is virtually unknown in the IM community, make it as an IM coach?

Years ago, I attended a seminar that Jim Edwards did on a cruise ship. I was only 2 weeks from launching Article Lightning at the time, and I wanted to see how the "gurus" did things.

I came away from that experience with the realization that I had plenty of knowledge to do what he did, but I lacked the "self promoting" personality that he had. It hurt me while running AL, as I could never quite "put myself out there" to a group of 300 people.

But for whatever reason, I have no problem giving everything I have of myself to people in a 1-on-1 situation.

I asked it earlier, before I started rambling again, but I'll ask it one more time, and hope to get some thoughtful, honest responses.

If you were a newbie (or even a not-so-newbie), and wanted help and 1-on-1 coaching, would you feel comfortable receiving it from a guy like me?

If so, how does a non self-promoting personality put himself out there to get clients?

Thanks for listening,
~Mike

[Dave Allen]

This thread is a great source of information and inspiration. Thanks to everyone!

Also, here is the link to Barbara Sher's WishCraft...

Welcome to the home of Barbara Sher's WISHCRAFT!

[GuruGazette]

Originally Posted by ExRat

STILL stuck? Go and live somewhere new.

This is hands down one of the best ways to shake things up that I've ever found. You can break bad habits, shake out of stale routines, de-stagnate, re-inspire, etc etc.

[Matias1021]

money is what allows me to be able to pursue my passions...

[ExRat]

Hi Mike,

Is there an option to automatically subscribe to all threads that I post in, so I can more easily remember to come back to them?

Go to user cp>edit options (near the top, at the left side of the red menu bar)

Then on that page, in the second red 'box' down, (messaging & notifications) - in the second 'box' down in that section, set the setting to 'instant email notification.'