Should You Quit And Follow Your Passion?

Quitting everything and going after your dream is the subject of dozens of books.  As a business owner and industry leader many other business owners wanted to duplicate my success and would ask me how to do it.  

To be truthful, I have told many people that they had to find their own dream and pursue it.  They couldn’t be me, my dreams, mission and goals are mine and mine alone.  Many people have paid me for advice, and until now, I was overlooking two pieces of key information in the formula.

I have to give credit where credit is due, because I have been taking this for granted instead of making sure everyone understood these keys to success. Cal Newport in his book “So Good They Can’t Ignore You”, pointed out something that was right there all along and I was glancing over it.  

There is a bit of irony here since I am taking a hosting and interviewing class right now from Marki Costello, and just about everyone in the class will glance right past the “bombshells” and go for the “safe” route.   This is exactly what happens in business.  As entrepreneurs we get caught up in our mission and forget to listen to the market.

Some time ago another entrepreneur friend told me “You have to keep a lot of irons in the fire, and go with the ones that get hot.”   At the time it didn’t make much sense, and it is still not advice I would give everyone, but Cal Newport puts it a better way that makes sense to me, and is worth passing on.

The First Key

The foundation of any endeavor that requires financial success as part of the grade has to first pass the test of the market.  Simply put, you must do something people will pay you for.  It doesn’t matter how good you are, if there isn’t a market need, and you can’t convince people that they have one, you can be the greatest, and still be broke.

Lets face it, money does matter.  In a way it should right?  Society rewards us with money for solving their problems, not ours.  When you solve your problems you relieve a little stress, when you solve societies problems you are rewarded with money and power.  That isn’t selling out, that is being real.

The Second Key

Cal Newport also points out that you might get lucky and find that your dream is also financially rewarding, but that is rarely the case.  When you explore the lives of people we call “successful” in both life and financial rewards, he noted that they did several different things, and went with one that worked and became the best at that "thing".

The two keys together provide and an interesting insight, that was sitting right in front of me.  I had been skipping right over it all along, and yet it is exactly why my residential technology business did well in California, and only average to boring in Texas.  The market wasn’t as willing to pay for the technology in Texas no matter how good I (an my company) was.  In California I had both the market and the skills, in Texas, it was mostly just idle skills.

Instead of looking at it as putting many irons in the fire at once, I think this is more like putting an iron in the fire, branding the cow, and seeing if anyone will buy the brand.  If not, get another iron and try again.  If they do, get really good at making that brand better. 

This is why truly successful people can have many successful ventures.  Richard Branson comes to mind here.  Once one Iron got hot and everyone liked the brand, he built it up and used that to buy the next iron.  While we all know the brands that stuck, records, airlines and cell phones, I am sure there are just as many or more that didn’t take and we never heard of.

Looking back over my successes and not so much successes, it is clear that success is much more a simple formula than I ever gave credit for.  Pilot? I got pretty good at it, and people pay for it. Both keys here.  Business developer and consultant? Yes people pay well for what I have learned and my knowledge in their business. Both keys here  Actor? people are starting to buy it, so I’ll probably do more, have a market that will pay, only have some skills and have a plan to improve them. Athlete?  Clearly a market, but I never got the skills to a salable level.  Musician? Ditto.  

At the end of the day, Cal Newport is right.  Trying to become a Rockstar just ended in misery, I was in love with the dream, not the product and process so I never attained the skill level needed for my brand to sell.   Practicing chords and notes made me nuts.   In business, flying and acting, for whatever reason I don’t have any problem pushing to new limits every time I go to work.  I like building the skills and thus obtained the second key.

If you have been chasing your passion and it feels like you are chasing your tail, Cal’s book might help you get on the right track.  

Do You Ever Buy Something, Wonder Why And Learn You Can't Live Without It?

Welcome to 2014.  It is amazing a year has past isn't it?  Growing up in the technology world programming computers and games, I have always had a bit of the hacker mentality.  Whenever I look at anything I wonder if there is a better, faster or cheaper way.

Some of those thoughts lead to places like Wal-Mart, which I have decided really isn't any better, faster or cheaper.

When I switched from AT&T to Verizon, I found a cheaper way that I thought had faster internet.  Nope, just cheaper.  I never realized how much I talk while surfing and how much I would miss that.  Technology is amazing and I was just taking it for granted.  Now I realize why AT&T costs a little more, you really do get more.

Sometimes I find things at the fair and bring them home never to be seen again.  Some like the Cham-Wow do work, and I keep them in the car for quick dustings before parades and shows.  Others like the magic mop I haven't seen since I paid for it.

This years's fair season was quite the interesting one.  First we got duped by the ionic cleansing machines where you put your feet in the water and all this stuff is supposed to be coming out of you.  A little research proved it was 99% rust from the coil.  Too bad my CPA won't let me call it an educational expense.

We also bought the Gripstic.  The guy said it was a better version of the chip clip, so we bit and spent $20.  Of course the deal at the fair wasn't really a deal.  You can get it here on Amazon for $2.00 for a package, and for $20 you will have more than we picked up at the fair.  If you need more, the as seen on TV stores will sometimes have a big variety pack.

We started using the Gripstic almost immediately.  When there are only two people in the house, we tend to have bags for a while.  The giant chip clip never really sealed our chips and living near the beach makes everything soggy quickly even with a big clip on the bag.

Of course the first thing we did was replace the giant chip clip on our tortilla chips.  Four days later when the chips weren't stale and soft, we knew Gripstic was a great idea.  Then we used a Gripstic on the sugar bag, another on the cereal bag, and soon they were everywhere.  Some things like candy or pasta we used to put into plastic zipper bags or tubs which seemed like a waste.  Now we just Gripstic it.

For the holidays, we spent some time at our family vacation home and realized just how much the Gripstic saves us.  In just seven days, one entire box of plastic zipper bags were used to store other things that were already in bags we couldn't seal.  One bag os swiss cheese even came in a zipper back but the tear off part didn't work right so the bag wouldn't seal.

The Gripstics would have paid for themselves in just a few days.  Now that is a good product.  It solves a real problem, does it better, faster and cheaper.  Next time we head up to the vacation home we are brining a handful of Gripstics.