Why Profiting From Your Passion May Be a Big Mistake

Mark Ford|October 9, 2020

Jerry’s wallpaper business bored him.

It was profitable, but he wasn’t interested in wallpaper. He’d bought the business from his father-in-law after he and Veronica were married and applied himself diligently to making it grow. His father-in-law, who was still a shareholder, was happy. His family was pleased with the lifestyle his growing income provided them. But he himself was never happy with it. It was just work – work he did to make money.

One day, after slogging away for 20 years, he did something that shocked his family and himself. He sold the business.

“Why?” was all Veronica could say.

“I’m 50 years old, and I’m unhappy for eight hours a day. I don’t want to be doing this for another 20 years. I want to…”

“You want to what?”

“I want to do something I’m passionate about!”

Veronica was a big magazine reader and loved to watch the Academy Awards, so she was au courant about the importance of following one’s passion. She hit the mental mute button on the dozen objections that were running through her mind and placed her hands gently on his shoulders.

“So, what’s your passion?” she asked.

“You know what my passion is,” Jerry replied.

Veronica’s face darkened. “You don’t mean…”

“Yes!”

“Flying airplanes?”

“Well, yes. Sort of. I want to go into the aviation business. I’m going to turn my passion into profits!”

Jerry bought a small cargo plane, spent three months scouting for customers and landed a gig flying goods to and from Central America. He carried auto parts down to Costa Rica and flew shrimp back to the U.S. In just a few months, the business was profitable. Before the year ended, he bought a second plane and hired a pilot and doubled his revenues.

This was a very busy and exciting year for Jerry. And it continued to be busy and exciting for the next several years. At his 50th birthday party, I asked him how he was feeling about his new career. “The work is hard. The money is good. There’s only one problem,” he said.

“What’s that?”

“I don’t like flying anymore.”

I understood what he meant.

My Own Little Experiment With Turning Passion Into Profit…

When I first retired at 39, I bought a half-interest in an art gallery, believing it would be the perfect hobbylike retirement occupation. I pictured myself sitting amid beautiful paintings, reading interesting books, and chatting with art lovers about Karel Appel and Jules Pascin.

Instead, I was thrust into a high-pressure selling situation, one in which my partner expected me to press friends and former colleagues into buying art. After six or seven months, I had to admit to myself that this experiment in mixing my love of art with the desire to profit from it had failed. So, I got out. It cost me a considerable sum of money, but it was worth it.

What I learned was that the job of running a business – even a “passion business” – is first and foremost about selling. And selling is always hard work.

But it’s also mandatory and therefore ceaseless. If you are not continually finding new customers, your business will start shrinking. And a shrinking business is a dying business. The death of a business is always disappointing. But the death of a business you believed was your life’s calling is downright depressing.

My fantasies about the experience of being a gallerist were shattered by the reality of having to constantly sell art. And what is worse, all the things I loved about collecting art (as a hobby) were ground into mundanities by the application of them toward profit.

After a brief respite, I abandoned my retirement and went back into the business I had been in previously. But this time I told myself I would change my primary reason for doing business. It would no longer be about creating maximum profits. It would be about building a profitable business that I could be proud of.

Most of what I did on a day-to-day basis was the same, but I became more selective about the quality of the publications and the satisfaction of our customers, and less concerned about the bottom line.

And what happened was a happy ending. I was able to enjoy the hours I spent working every day, and, to my surprise, the business grew strongly – even beyond the business I had previously.

What I discovered was that by applying myself to my old business with two equal goals – to grow it profitably and to make it something I could be proud of – I was able to have my cake and eat it too. Instead of converting my passion into profits, I’d found a way to convert my profits into passion.

It Can Be Done

I’m not saying it’s impossible to turn your passion into a career – or a second career. I’m saying that, in my experience, there are risks and trade-offs involved that you should face squarely.

The risks are two – that you will fail and in failing you may discover that you don’t have what it takes to make a profitable career of your passion. The trade-offs are about what one must do to succeed at something about which you are passionate: You may have to give up many of the benefits you imagine you will attain – such as celebrity, fortune and validation.

But it can be done.

My niece, for example, was passionate about becoming an actor. And she worked her butt off developing her skills. After graduating from the University of Michigan’s fine arts program, she has gotten one acting job after another. She is on her way to a great career. But she knows that in that profession, her future will always be insecure. And as she ages, the opportunities will probably diminish. She’s okay with that. She’s good. But she’s also lucky.

BP, No. 2 son, had a passion for musical composition, but after having two children, he decided that his income from music was modest and tenuous, so he took on a second job as a portfolio manager for real estate. His musical brain somehow adapted itself well to his second career, and he’s been able to have his passion and profits too.

So, if you are young and have a particular passion, go for it. But keep in mind the risks and trade-offs, and – if you plan to support a family – be prepared to make compromises along the way.

In building your career, you have at least three choices:

1. You can make your passion your No. 1, work 24/7 making a success of it, and hope that if you do beat the odds and succeed, the passion will still be there.
2. You can opt to make money by doing whatever will give you the best chance of making the money you want and postpone your passion project for retirement.
3. You can do both at the same time, working longer and harder than your friends and colleagues, and see what happens.

But if you are in your middle ages and tired of the business you are in, I’d advise you to keep your day job and see if you can’t modify your relationship to it in a way that will make you happier with the work you do and keep your passion projects for evenings, weekends and holidays.

Did you turn your passion into a career… or have a career so you could follow your passion? Tell us about it at mailbag@manwardpress.com.