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“I’m earning well from an established business but I’m not passionate about it anymore. Should I continue with this business or start a new business which I’m passionate about but does not have the same money-making potential? The latter will be more enjoyable but will be a risk.” — Ash
Hi Ash, this sounds like our proverbial question of, “Should I pursue passion or money?” I have addressed this question before in my article Passion or Money?
Without repeating what I have written in there, my short answer is not to box yourself with an either money-only (A) or passion-only (B) scenario. Rather, create a Scenario C which has the best of both worlds — money AND passion. That’s because neither A nor B would not make you truly happy since you would lack something at the end of the day (lack of money in B scenario and lack of passion in A scenario).
So applying this to your situation, let’s say you were to continue on with your current, established business. Even though it would make you financially wealthy, it would make you emotionally and spiritually empty since it’s not something you enjoy. Here, this is Scenario A, the money-only scenario. On the other hand, let’s say you abandon your business for your passion — yet this doesn’t have as high a money-making potential as A. This would leave you unsatisfied since you’d not be as financially abundant compared to Scenario A. This then leads you to Scenario B, the passion-only scenario (somewhat).
Given that both scenarios pretty much suck since they don’t realize your full desires, you should look for a third path, Scenario C, that will give you the best of both worlds. How do you get there? Some possibilities:
- Run your established business (X) while starting your new business (Y). This way, you can earn money through X while waiting for Y to gain traction. Transit to doing Y full time when it shows an adequate amount of money-making-ability, one you can quickly scale up when you do it full time.
If X is taking up all your time, delegate, outsource, or create systems in X to free time up for Y.
- If your new business idea Y has fundamentally low money-making potential, improve on it to increase its profitability. Money is a function of the value you give, so as long as you deliver massive value, you should be able to generate massive revenue.
If you can’t generate much money from it, that means you aren’t giving value that people want. Return to the drawing board and create an idea that lets you do that. Read How To Get From Earning $6/hr to $1,000/hr and Million Dollar Tip Series.
- Start a totally new business Z that (a) has high money-making potential and (b) is something you are passionate about.
My Example
Example #1: From Passion Or Money, to Passion AND Money
I used to be in a similar passion-or-money situation where I was in a well-paying job in a Fortune 100 firm which wasn’t my passion (this was before I started PE). I wanted to pursue my passion, my purpose to help others grow, by starting my own blog and personal development business of coaching/training. However, since I would be starting this business from scratch, without prior formal experience, my passion would likely not generate any revenue for me — for quite a while.
Not wanting to settle with either passion or money though, I quit my day job with the intent to pursue my passion and earn more than I used to. In the beginning when I had no income (since I had just quit my job and all), I gave private tuition so I would have some cash flow to offset my expenses. After I started generating revenue from my passion (which was within the 4th month of my business; earlier than expected), I stopped giving tuition. I then focused my efforts on growing the business, which then led to more revenue.
Today, my monthly revenue from PE is higher than my salary in my previous job. While it sounds like a dream come true, this could happen because I first created the vision — a path with passion AND money. Say if I were to accept that I could have passion or money only — what’s going to happen? Under this paradigm of thought, I wouldn’t have formulated a vision of passion and money. How could I, if I didn’t even think that this scenario existed? Given that, I most certainly not have taken actions to make it happen. Here, the ironic concept of self-fulfilling prophecy would play out where I would take actions that’d give me passion or money only and hence create the very scenario of passion or money only.
(I have detailed the early phases of my passion journey here: Passion or Money?, How To Overcome Fear Of Loss And Pursue Your Dreams, How To Discover Your Ideal Career: Your Message and Your Medium, Pursuing Your Passion With No Money, and Passion Paycheck.)
Example #2: Using Money to Expand on Passion
I’ve built PE to the point where it’s generating passive income each month, from Google Adsense (advertising), to my e-books, to e-courses, to royalty fees of my products, not including active income that I earn from coaching and training.
Given that PE is earning me passive income, technically I could do nothing and relax every day. I could also just do the exact same thing I’ve been doing in the past few years — write articles, do 1–1 coaching, and conduct online courses. In this scenario, I would most definitely secure good and stable money.
Yet, this is a path which I wouldn’t feel immense passion for. I’m not saying that I don’t like writing articles, coaching, or running courses — I love them and I see them as staples in my business till I die. However, I wouldn’t feel crazily excited if my current routine of business activities was to stay exactly the same for the next 50 years. That’s because I wouldn’t feel like I was innovating, stretching myself, and hence doing my utmost best to help others. Rather, I would much prefer to constantly be trying new things, experimenting with new projects, and taking on new activities that allow me to help more people and in a greater capacity, all while doing what I already love (the writing and coaching).
This brings me to my original point about not settling for an either-or, A or B situation, but to go for a Scenario C that consists of the best of both worlds — passion and money.
So given that I now have the benefit of a business with a high reach (over a million pageviews a month) and ongoing income, this means I don’t need to worry too much about doing only things with a ROI (rate of return). Rather, I can be more liberal in how I spend my time (and money) to create better, more fulfilling workdays:
- Hiring an assistant. When I started, I did everything myself to reduce costs. However, after earning steady income with my business, I started outsourcing and hiring contractors between 2012 and 2014. As of 2015, I have an assistant who does an array of tasks for me, from administrative tasks to simple graphic work. Here, I’m using money to help me create more effective and enjoyable workdays by cutting out the admin work (which I don’t really enjoy) and doing the stuff that I’m good at and enjoy.
- Creating video content. My blog started off being articles-based and recently I’m looking to create videos as a way of increasing engagement with my audience. Even though videos don’t really earn me money AND video equipment is expensive (I’ve spent several grand procuring video gear), I’m able to do this because the other parts of my business generates the revenue. Here, I’m working on videos out of passion, without worry about money.
- Travel freely. Between 2011 and 2013, I spent almost 50% of my time overseas, traveling across different places in United States, Europe, India, and South Africa. These trips weren’t really for business but more for personal growth and exploration which is becoming a better person. Because my business generates automated-revenue and I had gracious readers housing me in many of my destinations (which removed accommodation costs), I didn’t need to worry about travel expenses or earning money and could focus on maximizing my travels.
- More new projects. This is a random thought but something I’m considering for the future is perhaps to start a foundation or some kind of free-hang-out where people can meet other PE readers, get social support, and free help/consultation. I’ve no idea how exactly I’m going to realize either but this is a long-term idea that I may look into in the future. And in either case, money wouldn’t be the key focus — passion is. If anything, I may likely need to use money from my core business to fund this project.
As you can see, given that my business is generating steady revenue, it gives me more liberty to embark on new projects and make decisions based on passion/desire, without overt worries about money. So here, I’m creating a Scenario C of passion and money by leveraging my money inflow to create more passion.
Endnote
The long and the short is not to box yourself with either money or passion only. Identify that Scenario C that lets you achieve everything you want. (Day 2 of Live a Better Life in 30 Days is about setting the vision for your ideal life.)
Obviously, Scenario C will not happen overnight or over-month just by virtue of you identifying it, but the point is to form the vision, create a solid plan, and then take action.
Even if you’re not able to take action towards Scenario C at the moment, then pick the better path between A and B in the short term, while taking baby steps towards C.
Because by boxing yourself between A and B and choosing only one of the 2, you will never be truly happy. You will be faced with an either-or situation which will only leave you mildly satisfied at best and immensely unhappy at worst, since you are not getting the best out of your life in this scenario.
Remember, you were not born to compromise. You were not born to “make do” with what you have. You were born to live your greatest life of all. This is something you have to create for yourself, with your own hands, because no one is going to hand that to you.
Good luck, and I wish you all the best in your new business / job / whatever you decide to do. :)
Check out my How To Pursue Your Passion series for more articles on pursuing your passion.
![The Emotional Journey of Creating Anything Great [Infographic]](png/infographic-emotional-journey-of-creating-anything-great-400x220.png)
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Hi Celes!
I really, really loved this post! I think it’s so easy to get caught up in the desire to follow passion even if it doesn’t lead to money without thinking there is a third option–more people need to be aware of that! I’m so glad that you stated that so clearly.
I’m also really excited to hear about your new business!!!!
~Christina
Thanks Christina! I appreciate your support. :D
I would ask: what do you need the money for? Money is never an end in itself, only a means to something. What is it that you would buy with money and do you really need it? Beyond our basic needs, money doesn’t really bring extra happiness.
Maybe you’ve never experienced just how happy it can make you to provide true value to people. Maybe it would make you so happy you would not worry about the money anymore ;) (as long as you have your bills paid, ofc!)
I think it’s important to get to the root of why you want money as it’ll help you to be more conscious about your pursuit, but a large part of your comment feels like a justification *not* to have more money, which I feel might be a self-limiting view in itself. It’s something to watch out on.
During the first module of the Passive Income course, participants were asked to address their limiting money beliefs, as these limiting beliefs are the very reasons preventing them from earning more money. I distinctly recall one of the participants (Sultana) who shared the realization that she had been holding herself back from earning more money because she kept rationalizing that she wouldn’t need the extra money anyway. Then I just asked, “So what if you have an extra load of money now? One million dollars? One billion dollars? What can you accomplish with that? Wouldn’t that be used to help you in your higher pursuits like build schools for kids in South Africa and so on?” That really gave her an a-ha moment because she never thought about the extra things she could do with the money, especially not in the context of pursuing her higher goals.
It is very true that money can’t buy happiness but more money will always be helpful in realizing our goals and achieving more good in the world. Money is a means, a tool, to help us accomplish a greater purpose, so it’s important we learn to utilize this tool and put it to our advantage rather than trying to explain away its role in our lives.
It’s something I’m personally working on myself actually. :) Some parts of me used to fall under the camp that I don’t need much money to live and be happy (which is true of course), but now I’m beginning to realize how that’s holding me back in life and I should embrace an abundance mindset rather than justifying a scarcity situation (which will only perpetuate the scenario).
The problem I have with money is I know all money is created out of debt by private bankers. They create money out of thin air and expect you to pay back with interest (money which doesn’t exist). This creates an artificial scarcity which leads to poverty, unemployment etc.
Since they control the money supply, they also control the world’s resources. We would have enough to feed and house everyone but since the money is in the wrong hands, that ain’t happening (because there is no monetary profit in solving welfare problems).
I’m not sure if that made sense but Positive Money’s campaign page has more in-depth explanations: http://www.positivemoney.org/how-banks-create-money/
If a monetary reform were to happen and the system wasn’t rigged anymore, I might take a different mindset towards money.
I understand what you are saying, but whatever monetary issues that private bankers create is their own issue. It doesn’t mean that we should hold a scarcity mindset towards money and justify ourselves into living with less or having less. And if anything, the supposed misappropriation of money/resources which you are highlighting should actually be incentive for us to be more financially abundant. If people who are supposedly holding the world’s wealth are not utilizing it in a meaningful manner, then that should be a reason for us to acquire wealth ourselves such that we can then put them to better use. Grieving about how they are misusing the money or creating money issues in the world (or even washing our hands from them) isn’t going to solve those problems; it’s only going to let the issues persist. Taking charge of the situation through action though, will help to elevate the issues, even if it’s one tiny step at a time.
I thought the video in Steve Pavlina’s latest blog post as well as what he had to say about it was interesting: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2013/03/data-has-no-power-over-you/
After pondering over this for a while, I think we disagree due to different backgrounds. You’re living in a wealthy society and have seen many success stories. I come from a working class background. My family has worked hard all their lives and they’re still struggling. Even here in the UK, which is supposedly a wealthy country, I see more and more homeless people. I know that changing mindsets would not help any of them and their situation is not their own fault (would you say it is?)
On a brighter note, I’m optimistic about the future, just not within the current fear and scarcity-driven economic system. I think the people will force the system to change and thus create a more abundant future. It has already happened in Iceland where they overthrew a corrupt government, wrote off all debt and nationalised the banks :bow:
I’d say this counts as taking charge of the situation? :)
I come from a low-income family. My parents were/are blue-collar, working class adults and worked their butts off all their lives just to put my brother and I through school. I remember when I was really young, how they would wake up early just to distribute newspapers to the neighborhood flats to earn, I don’t know, a few ten dollars. I’ve been to many parts of South East Asia, as well as New York, San Francisco and India where I got first-hand encounters of many poor people and homeless people. I was never, by any means, at a famine-level of poverty, but I was definitely not born into a rich household. I know you didn’t make any assumptions about my family background and I appreciate that, but I don’t think it’s fair to assume that I have not seen my fair share of non-wealth just because I don’t hold a scarcity view to wealth. As you mentioned yourself, UK is considered a wealth society with levels of poverty. One shouldn’t think otherwise about Singapore; there are really poor people here too and I live in the heartland/neighborhood areas where I do see such people daily.
I also think it’s disempowering to use one’s background to explain away the rationale behind one’s beliefs rather than assume 100% responsibility for how we think. While my parents may be poor and while I’ve been to extremely poor places and seen extremely poor people, I use those experiences as motivation for me to earn more and accomplish more rather than as a justification *not* to have more wealth. Their backgrounds, my background, nor others’ predicaments have no hold over how I choose to view wealth and abundance; if fact, they inspire me to do more, because now I know “how expensive it really is to be poor” (one of my favorite quotes since young).
Similarly, “not being born in a wealthy society” (though you did recognize that UK is considered a wealthy society and I think so too having been there just two years ago) and “not seeing any success stories” isn’t an excuse or reason to hold or not to hold abundance beliefs. The internet already puts us in touch with things all around the world where we can access case studies and stories from both the great and the fallen. It’s not a matter of not being exposed to these things; rather it’s about whether we WANT to be exposed to those case studies and whether we WANT to buy into them or not. It’s all about our fundamental lens of reality.
At the end of the day, our beliefs to wealth basically create our reality. Hold scarcity views to wealth and the only thing that perpetuates in our life is scarcity of wealth. Hold an abundance mindset to wealth and it will only support one in accomplishing abundance in life. A perfect example would be how lottery winners (of million-dollar jackpots) would return to their original states of wealth after 1, 2, 3, to 5 years of their victories. Likewise, there’s billionaires like Donald Trump who was declared bankrupt a couple of times (at least, if i’m not wrong) in his life but returned with more wealth after that.
As for one’s situation perpetuating one’s poverty (or wealth), I think this story is a great example of how one can turn from rags to riches if one truly wants to:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/crossingborders/2013/02/13/how-one-woman-went-from-homeless-to-millionaire-in-less-than-two-years/
I think a good example of someone who created the bulk of his wealth would be Mark Zuckerberg. I don’t know his family background and I personally don’t care, but I think it is undisputable that he created a large part of Facebook’s success and as a result, his own success and his billion-dollar net worth (whether that sustains or not is a different thing altogether).
What I like is that you are consciously evaluating different things happening around the world and slowly integrating them into living a better life. One watch out I have (for everyone including myself) is just to always examine our beliefs. What are your goals, and are your beliefs helping to support them? If not, then maybe it’s a good opportunity to re-evaluate them, drop the disempowering beliefs, and embrace the empowering ones instead. There are no right or wrong beliefs really (after all everyone’s reality is subjective), only disempowering or empowering beliefs.
I can’t agree with you but better not turn this into an argument :) Thank you for taking the time to reply!
Hey Celes and Jade,
I like both of your view points, I think that with education (both school and self taught) it can lead us to have a more enriched life because we realise that there are so many more choices available to us.
Money gives us the option to have experiences almost immediately which can be good or bad, but it also makes us aware of how we manage or mismanage our lives.
Sure! Disagreeing is your own choice to make as well, Jade. :D Just remember your beliefs make up your own reality. Thanks for your response and all the best to your pursuits!
Very helpful Celes! thank you..
No problem prabhaker! I’m glad that you are finding it helpful. :D
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