Turn your passion into a career

By Joseph Gonzalez

Vocational happiness rewards wallet bottom lines, but more importantly, allows you to do what you love and still care for yourself and those you love.

 

Do what you love

How does the saying go? “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” This saying is true for a number of reasons, with the most important one being that work shouldn’t feel like work. Your career should be something that, at the very least, you enjoy. But this isn’t always the case.

A 2016 study by Gallup found that 51% of full-time employed Americans are not “engaged” in their jobs. This means that the people are essentially just there to pay the bills—there is no passion involved whatsoever. This mindset is bound to take a toll on a worker grinding away five days out of the week.

Doing something you love—whether it’s writing, art, sports, or anything else—can find its way into your life. You just have to put in the effort to make it happen. Here, we offer three tips for turning your passion into a lucrative career.

 

Be serious about your passion

Having a stack of work pertaining to your passion can give you a head start on whatever path you want to go down. This gives you a chance not only to show the work you’ve done regarding your passion, but it also shows how serious you are about what you love.

 

 

Mind Key is continually teaching people how to follow their passion in this way. Creating a portfolio of written pieces is important for your career—whether you consider yourself a writer or don’t plan on ever writing again once you land your dream career. Mind Key’s professional writing seminar led by Danielle Rose, a seasoned journalist who built her own health-based career through her writing portfolio, shows you how easy it is to present yourself as a professional whom people will want to listen to in today’s competitive job market.

 

 

Engage your online audience

Having your own website where you can automatically send others is often the most convenient method for getting your name out there. Many free website programs exist, but if you want to be continually updating your site to include new work (and to rise in search rankings), you’ll probably want to work with someone who can create an SEO-ready site that is easy to navigate and update on your end, while having someone on hand to do the technical stuff. We like J. Arthur & Co. who has not only created Mind Key’s website but has made it simple, easy and seamless for small businesses to create a beautiful website in only a few simple steps with their Smart-Site platform.

At the very least, creating a landing page for yourself with a dedicated URL (check out Danielle Rose’s landing page at mindKEY.me/danielle to see what we mean) is a great way to produce the same results as a web page without having to filter potential clients or employers through your social media site. All of our Mind Key writers and contributors qualify for a free Mind Key landing page. Contact us to see how you can learn with us, grow with us and use our platform to help grow your business.

Once you have a website or landing page, push out your portfolio or website in any way you can. The more people who see your work, the better chance you have of finding opportunities in that field.

 

Bide your time

You’re not going to find what you’re looking for overnight. According to Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, economist for Glassdoor, a research company focusing on today’s labor market, the hiring process takes about a month on average, and that’s not even counting the process of applying to the jobs.

Then again, everything in life takes time. Your work will get noticed by the right people, at the right time. If anything, the time it takes to hear back from employers can be used to keep expanding your portfolio and preparing for future happenings.

Kerstin Zettmar, an artist who has been able to follow her passion for years, learned that making a career out of your passion won’t happen instantly.

“It helps to have a stick-to-it kind of attitude and not expect immediate results,” she said. “You have to protect your time to do what you are passionate about.”

Persistence is key when it comes to following your dreams. Thinking outside the box is necessary if you’re looking to stick out. This is where vendor shows can come into the picture.

 

Vendor shows: Build your brand

Depending on your passion, you’re going to have to find some way to get your skills out there. Vendor shows can be one of the most efficient ways to take matters into your own hands.

Clothing enthusiast and saleswoman, Erin Ernest, frequents vendor shows once a week or more. She can attest to how much these shows can offer someone following your passion.

“I [sell] all the time online, but it’s so much more fun to work with people one-on-one,” she said.

To find the right vendor show for you, Erin suggests looking at the social media accounts of the town you live in. They will most likely list events available for vendors. Usually, these shows have minimal entry fees and don’t require a special vending permit.

Jessica Filkins has built her tea company, Jahmu Chai, around vendor shows. She believes they can help you in more ways than one. Jessica has traveled around the globe selling her instant chai tea and has met many interesting people—most of whom have turned into clients. She’s sold at farmers markets, large trade shows, and music festivals. Because she loves what she does, she instantly draws in interested customers. She uses that passion to tell a compelling story—her story—in a way that might otherwise go unnoticed.  

Additionally, vendor shows allow Jessica a simple way to explain what is a unique, and otherwise difficult to understand, product. She offers free samples at her table and has a variety of packaging available. Any budget can afford to bring their favorite flavor home.

“Put your own spin on your table,” she suggested. For example, she made her own sign. This can help you stand out from the others, which is crucial at the bigger shows when there are more vendors than you can count.

 

Vocational happiness rewards wallet bottom lines

You can turn your passion into a career. Going by any of these steps can help in your journey to pursue what you love doing. And before you know it, you’ll have type of job you’ve always wanted to have–without sacrificing the bottom line or straining your wallet.