Last weekend I went camping and was chatting with one of the other dads on the weekend getaway. He shared that he had recently taken his freelance graphic design business and turned the focus on the growing marijuana industry.
He went on to explain that he’s having more fun with work than ever before. Wakes up refreshed and energized and excited for the day ahead. Just months before, he dreaded his work, but now that he has been able to merge a passion with a skill, he is both happy and making more money than ever before.
Whether your business involves a creative pursuit like writing or graphic design, finding a way to combine your skills and passions is the fastest path to job satisfaction.
Explore Your Passions
I am a man of many interests. Over the years, I have obsessed over rock climbing, professional wrestling, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, blogging and online business, flash mobs, world travel, flying, DJing, social cycling, nightclub culture, and many other sometimes eccentric hobbies.
I found a few passions converging over the years: blogging, personal finance, and online business. This is what ultimately led to my current career path as a full-time freelancer. When I spent my days in grey cubicles doing financial analysis, I enjoyed my job and career path but did not have the drive and excitement I do today. By merging my passions into an income source, I was able to create a job that I love.
Become an Expert in a Unique Niche
My expertise is in the world of personal finance, entrepreneurship, and business finance. Thanks to both an undergraduate finance degree and an MBA in finance, I am an expert in almost anything with a dollar sign attached. For me, that led to opportunities to earn a real income, typically to the tune of $10,000+ per month.
Of course, everyone is not passionate about finance. But everyone is passionate about something. If your passion can lead to expertise in a specific niche, you just may be onto something special. If that niche is one that can generate revenue via product sales, courses, freelance work, or anything else, you may have hit the jackpot.
Merge Your Passion by Getting Outside Your Known Box
I would never have thought to look to the marijuana industry for graphic design, but it worked perfectly for one person to grow his income while doing a job he loves. Just because I would not have thought of something, or you may not have thought of something yet, does not mean it is not a great business idea.
Looking at my passions from over the years, I can find plenty of people making money from all of them. There are blogs, websites, and podcasts dedicated to nearly every topic. In fact, I turned my passion into income, or at least an income attempt, on several occasions. My first website was about professional wrestling. My own blog is about personal finance and entrepreneurship. I have been paid to write about travel. I have been paid as a nightclub DJ. You never know what’s possible until you try.
Make Freelancing Fun Again
In my experience, when something transforms from a hobby you do for fun into a job you do for your living, it becomes less fun. I used to wake up excited to write every single article, but now that excitement comes and goes as is common with any job.
But there are some days I am more excited than others and some articles I find more exciting than others. Those are the ones that align with my passions. Just like this article on growing your income through a freelance business you are passionate about.
I now know someone who is a freelance marijuana graphic designer. What a cool and unique job! While marijuana doesn’t fit into what I do, I still found a path. This path combining a skill with a passion: writing and finance. Whatever it is you love, you may be able to do the same.
Look at your skills and passions. Look at your hobbies and interests. Take a look at how you earn a living and how you do your best work. Where the venn diagram of your passions and skills overlap is the first place to look. This can be a very fruitful, profitable, and exciting income stream. If it works out as well for you as it does for me, you will find yourself earning more than ever. All this with a job you truly love. That’s what entrepreneurship is all about.
