7 Slow and Steady Steps to Turn Your Passion Into Your Job
Photo by moriza
This is a guest post by Skellie, who occasionally blogs at Skelliewag.org.
If there’s one thing most of us have in common, it’s that we want to work at something we love. It can be done, but it’s a process that will take time, and require steady progress. Be prepared to be patient, driven and single-minded about transforming ordinary work into your life’s work.
In this article, I want to share a step by step path for turning your passion into your job over months and years, not days. If you progress a little bit towards your goal each day, you’ll be stunned at what you can achieve.
1. Constantly practice your passion and learn as much as possible about it
If you’re not yet skilled in your passion, you’ll need to do an ‘apprenticeship’ of sorts before you start thinking about earning money. This period will help to set you up for future successes. You don’t need to learn and practice until you become an expert, but you do need a solid grounding in your passion. Think of yourself as an apprentice, and aim to get your skills to apprentice levels – to the point where you are not making too many mistakes, even if your work lacks some polish and finesse.
Depending on your passion, you may be entirely self-taught in this period, or decide to get some formal training. Whatever path you take, find someone – or a community of people – who can give feedback on your work.
2. Start creating a (small) platform you can use to help yourself
This is a means to promote your eventual business, service or products. It might be a Twitter account, a blog, a LinkedIn profile, or a stack of pamphlets for a letterbox drop. If you start work on this now, you’ll have less work to do when it’s time to start searching for clients, or a job, or a market for your products.
3. Work out what kind of job you want to create from your passion
If you’re considering going freelance and working from home, be aware that finding and communicating with clients will be a huge part of your job. If this sounds like your worst nightmare, consider working at a company, where you’ll be dealing with a smaller group of people more regularly. The downside is – you’ll have a boss :)
Whatever you choose, don’t overlook necessary aspects of the job you’re creating. If you want to write and sell eBooks, don’t overlook the fact that you will need to spend some amount of time marketing your products. Choose the path that involves the least possible amount of work you don’t like.
If you’re not sure how to turn your passion into a job, research what others have done before. What kind of jobs exist around your passion? What kind of products?
4. Find role models – and unabashedly copy them!
Let’s say you wanted to be a comic book illustrator. You’d need to find as much information as possible on other illustrators who are doing the kinds of things you’d eventually like to be doing. Interviews and bios are especially helpful.
Try to work out the steps they took to get where they are. Did they get formal training? Where did they start off? When did they get their big break? How did they develop their skills? If you discovered that almost all of your favorite illustrators went to art school, art school might be a good place for you to start, for example. If they all drew for upwards of two hours a day, then you should do the same.
By copying what has worked before, you’ll have a path to follow.
5. “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” – Steve Martin
Even if your passion is obscure and not easily translatable into a job, being extremely good at it means that other people will often invent services for you. For example, Kseniya Simonova’s passion is sand art. Despite it being an obscure field without many opportunities, she manages to earn a living because she’s so good at it, nobody can ignore her.
Do your best to become great at what you love and it will be hard not to find work!
6. In the beginning, experience is more valuable than money
While it shouldn’t be necessary to work for free, don’t worry if you start off earning or charging much less than you eventually hope to earn. In the beginning, experience is invaluable – it will help you develop your skills, which will lead you to be more successful later on.
Don’t expect your business or career path to be fully developed from the first day. The process of charging higher rates, making more sales, or earning a high salary will come with time, and you’ll be able to move closer to your goals as you get better at what you do. In the beginning, part of your payment is simply being able to practice your passion, and the happiness you get from that.
7. Focus on one client or project at a time and you’ll start creating a snowball effect
It’s important not to become overwhelmed in the early days. Focus on one thing at a time – whether that’s one client, one project, or a single product. Complete it to the best of your abilities, then move on to the next one. With each successful job, project or product completed, you’ll increase your chances of more coming in the future.
A few extra tips:
- A good rule of thumb is that you shouldn’t quit your job unless you have at least three months worth of living expenses saved
- If you can put some element of your passion business or job online, do so – it will drastically increase your potential audience and client base
- Focus on slow and steady development of your business or career. Try to improve one thing about you or your business every day
Note from Scott: Have you been able to turn a passion into your job? What tips and advice do you have to help others do the same?
Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you.
Please share this article
Hey, I’m delighted to find an article by Skellie here. I’m one of her loyal readers at Skelliewag and still wait and wait for more of her awesome articles.
Congratulations on starting this sparkling blog, Scott! I’ve always said to you that you’re going to be a top blogger one day. I look forward to tracking and celebrating your progress.
I have subscribed :-)
Hi Mary,
Thank you for dropping by. I agree – it’s great to be able to read an article from Skellie again!
Trying not to go fangirl but WOOT SKELLIE! <3 I've missed her writing.
This is the type of article I would have loved when I started out – most of the tips are ones that I used. I've spent most of the 18 months focusing on getting experience and learning. Now things are really taking off. I'm earning a full time income. It's freaky but amazing.
I agree with Mary that you are one to watch – I'll see what I can do to highlight your work next year :-)
Hi Jade,
I’m pleased you found Skellie’s article helpful.
By putting in the time to learn your craft over 18 months, this has given you the strong foundation on which to build your business. Sometimes, in the rush to be a success, we don’t focus enough on being an apprentice.
Thank you for your kind comments!
Excellent post. Nice to see Skellie guest posting on Scott’s excellent blog.
Skellie writes:
“By copying what has worked before, you’ll have a path to follow.”
No doubt. One way to define this is “modeling”. And it works. That’s what copywriters do… they find what works and use it strategically to encourage as many sales possible.
I think charging low in the beginning is wise for a few reasons, not the least of which is what Skellie pointed out that it will allow for more experience which is invaluable.
Hi Bamboo Forest,
While qualifications are important, it’s equally critical to get practical, on-the-job experience. Charging a lower rate appropriate to your skill levels, at least at the outset, can encourage clients to take you on. It’s one tactic amongst others to try.
Great article! My only suggestion is to clarify that while it is ok to work for less when learning, there is no harm charging what others in the industry are charging. If you have training and skill charge more, don’t under sale your service or product just because you are new, to do so is a disservice to yourself and the industry.
Hi AJ,
I guess it’s a question of assessing what your target market is willing to pay for your services while you are still learning and building a reputation. You make a good point about not underselling what you’re offering – or undervaluing your skills either for that matter.
I’m new with this. Lets see if I succeed by following Skellie’s article.
Hi Asad,
Give Skellie’s tips a try – and let us know how you get on.
Hi Skellie,
Being able to work at something you love is a dream come true indeed. Unfortunately for many of us, we don’t know how to make this dream a reality. So it’s great to read the helpful steps that you have provided to turn our passion into our jobs.
1. Constantly practice your passion and learn as much as possible about it
I agree with you about having a solid foundation with regards to our passion. Without this foundation to build upon, it is hard to turn our passion into our job. It is hard to do everything by yourself though, so I feel that it is better, as you say, to find someone or people to help you out where they can. Belonging to a community will go a long way in helping you to gain competency in your passion.
3. Work out what kind of job you want to create from your passion
I feel that this is an important point. Without clarity about what you are doing, you will be mostly groping about in the dark. Research is indeed important to ensure you do not waste your time or make too many mistakes.
4. Find role models – and unabashedly copy them!
Haha! I love this point! Copying role models does indeed make your life simpler. Even though you may not be able to replicate their success, you have at least path to follow or a framework to use. From there, you will be able to adapt it to your own unique style as you grow and evolve.
7. Focus on one client or project at a time to create a snowball effect
It is very easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of work and effort you have to do to turn your passion into your job. Breaking things down and focusing on small manageable portions is critical if you want to survive in the long run.
I just want to add that 3 months worth of living expenses may not be enough if you are clueless about how to turn your passion into your job. 6-12 months might be better. Anything longer than that and you may get too comfortable in taking your time. But this is merely my personal opinion and it may differ from individual to individual.
At the end of the day, consistent daily progress is the key to turning your passion into your business.
Thank you for sharing this great post!
Hi The Vizier,
Thank you for your helpful comment.
As you say, taking a longer-term view will keep us steady in turning what we love to do into something we can do as our work. I’m sure many folk have that as an ultimate goal.
“Be so good they can’t ignore you.” I’m making a large sign to hang on my wall TODAY! Great idea and I know I’m THAT good! I’m grateful for your inspiration. I believe I’ll make that my motto for the coming year. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Hi Tess,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
I agree – it’s a great little motto to boost our self belief everyday. I hope it inspires you well into the new year!
Hey man I love your blog, I think I’ll have to subscribe. Loving the design by the way, Chris Spooner did an awesome job on it!
Hi Luke,
Thank you for the kind words. I look forward to seeing you back around here soon!
Well I probably won’t be back, I’ve subscribed so I can read your posts without coming back. Love them, have a great week!
I now make 100% of my money working freelance. Some of this advice might only work for freelance.
Tip 1: Gradually reduce the hours of your day job (if possible)
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Perhaps this is obvious, but you can take a slower and safer approach and keep your day job while you do most of this process. If you reach the point where you barely have enough time after work (at your day job) to keep up with your clients for your dream job, it’s a lot easier and safer to quit your job at that point, or you can switch your day job to a part-time position.
Tip 2: How to learn as you go
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You can learn as you go, but make sure you take the extra time (10 times what you’re billing for if necessary) to do outstanding work. Think of it as 9 hours of practice and 1 hour of your dream job. This has advantages:
1) Your clients are very happy, and see you as being a real pro. They recommend you as such.
2) You end up with a great resume and references in short order
3) You gain practice in all the skills of running your own business, not just the “actual work” that your clients pay you for.
4) You gain confidence in your ability to deliver quality work, and can confidently tell people that you can do a great job for them (and give examples and references).
5) If it turns out you don’t like working freelance, hopefully you can realize this sooner, and switch to a different model before you get too invested.
Tip 3: Charge enough
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Figure on your take-home pay being about 1/3 – 1/4 what you charge. You will probably spend at most half your time doing billable work (not counting practice hours.) And then there’s taxes (which are higher than as an employee).
I initially couldn’t bring myself to charge more than twice what I made as an employee (which wasn’t terribly much.) This made it very difficult to support myself financially even though I was living very cheaply (no car, etc.)
Another reason to charge more is that people take you more seriously. If you are very cheap, people will recommend you to people who are looking for someone very cheap. If you charge the same as people who’ve been doing it for 10+ years and do an excellent job, then people will recommend you to people who want great quality. And those people are way more fun to work for.
Tip 4: Practice great communication
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You will probably spent as much of your work time communicating with your clients as you do working for them. Consider this part of your job, and get good at it. Most communication time is not billable, but make sure you’re charging enough so you can figure half what you charge is for the billable work, and the other half is for communicating and such.
If something goes wrong and a client is unhappy with you, your work, or especially your communication:
1) Apologize. If you don’t feel like you did anything wrong, you can say that you’re sorry that they are not happy with how things went, and reiterate that you’re trying to make them happy
2) Ask what you can do to fix the problem or make it up to them.
3) Ask them for advice on how you can handle this sort of situation in the future. Some of your clients have a lot of experience working with or as freelancers, and can offer very sage advice. Others are new at it, and can share their feelings/experience which will help you work with other people who are new to contracting out to freelancers. Often this works well in an e-mail so they have as much time to think about it as they want, and they don’t have to say “no” to you. Something like: “Thank you for working with me to resolve[...] I am always looking for ways to improve my [communication/scheduling/whatever]. I would really appreciate any advice or feedback you can offer on how I could better handle this sort of situation in the future.” At first I was reluctant to say this sort of thing, because it seems to imply that they are more of a professional than you or something. But people really like it. I think for a few reasons: A) you’re reminding them that you have a strong commitment to acting professionally (and that you mostly succeeded) B) it’s very professional to take responsibility C) Asking for advice is a form of paying respect. This is especially powerful if they feel you have an ego about anything. D) It gives them an opportunity for them to release their frustrations without bad-mouthing you to the community.
4) Put a lot of effort into making them feel that you’ve done right by them. It’s like the old saying goes, a happy client tells one person, an unhappy client tells 10. You don’t want anybody telling your community that you screw people over.
Tip 3 a: Manage expectations
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Part of your job is managing the expectations of your clients. This has two parts:
1) Getting clear with your client about what exactly they’d like you to do, and what you charge. When I make websites, I finish what the client asked for (as I understand it) and then the client always wants more done, before they see it as finished. Sometimes they see the additional work as part of the initial job, and sometimes they know it’s additional work. Now I talk about this ahead of time. I’m going to charge more because of it, and the client will feel better about paying me if they know what they will get. For small projects I usually just give them a bigger quote. For larger projects where I really have no idea how much work it’ll be, I give them a quote for just the part that we’ve described so far, and spend some time explaining my process, which is that they pay me to do “phase 1″ (what we’ve written down, to the letter) and that there’s “no way” they’re going to want to publish it that way. I spend some time convincing them that this is just the first step, and by the time we get there we’ll have a list of more things to do before it’s done. I reinforce this regularly by referring to it as “phase 1″ or a “draft”. This has greatly improved my life. Now half-way through big projects my customers pay me and are happy about moving on to the next set of changes (and we have a list already.) Without this management of expectations, they’re usually frustrated that it’s not done yet, and that it’s going to cost more.
2) Making sure they know you’ve done something difficult or particularly well. I didn’t think of this as one of my responsibilities at first, but I feel much more valued now, and my clients seem happier about paying me. This is particularly valuable for very technical work (like website programming) where the client may have no idea what is very difficult and what is easy. When I tell my client that I’m doing something difficult, they appreciate it more, and feel better about their choice to hire me. I think this also goes for things that they do understand well. If you encounter a difficulty in your work, and handle it well, tell your client. In most cases they’ll still pay you the same, but they’ll appreciate you more and feel they’re getting more value for their money. And they’ll know that you are capable of handling such situations well, and will sometimes tell their friends about it, as proof that you are capable. So in other words, it’s not just your job to do a good job, it’s also your job to make sure the client knows you did a good job. This isn’t just selfish, it makes the client happier.
Tip 4: Word of mouth can be slow, but it’s the best
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Word of mouth can be slow, be slow, but it’s free and you often get customers that already trust you because their friend has worked with you and told them that you’re great. It is so nice working with people who think you’re good at what you do before they’ve even talked to you. You don’t need to prove yourself all the time, and they don’t have to worry about whether you’re capable. Also have a tendency to interpret things in a way that matches what they already believe, so when they come in thinking you’re great, they tend to see you that way and be even happier with your work.
Even if you do advertising, be sure to optimize the way you work to bring in more clients through word of mouth (and to bring in the right sort of people.) Much of the advice here is about this.
To get started with freelance website work, I just told people what I did, and it took about 5 years before I was making enough money to live very cheaply, and could finally stop my day job. Now I get referrals from clients I haven’t worked for in several years. So it can take a while, but you can end up with a really steady business.
I’m now switching to babysitting. I think I could have gotten enough work to support myself in about one year, except I’ve got some long-term website projects to finish. It seems to be a lot about when you get your big break. The recipe seems to be:
1) Work for that person who talks to everybody
2) Make them really happy with your service
So, yeah step one is luck, but you’ve gotta be awesome at your work for step two to work. Be awesome! Oh, that’ my next tip…
Tip 5: Spend as long as it takes to do top notch work
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Take the time to do awesome work! I’ve found that it is definitely worth spending a lot of extra time when I’m getting payed to do something I’m new at, so that I do a very professional job. Even if I only end up making $2.50/hour. Don’t think of it that way, better to say that you spent 32 hours learning/practicing and 2 hours doing awesome, professional, billable work. As you gain experience you’ll be able to deliver the same excellent quality in less time, and thus make a good hourly wage.
For example, after years of doing website programming, I decided (after many requests) to branch out into website design as well. At first I was very inexperienced at it, and it would take me easily twice as long as it does now, and I’d sometimes make several designs that I wouldn’t even show my client. In the end I’d get paid for one design, but as long as I thought of most of the designs as learning and practice (on a real-world problem :)) I felt good about making a little money while I learned. And after a few of these design jobs, I ended up with a nice little portfolio. One of these days I’ll get around to making my own website look as nice as my clients’.
I find this approach much more satisfying and efficient (in the long run) than trying to find clients that will pay you very little to do a mediocre job.
Make your first clients very happy and they will probably refer clients to you for years.
Wow, that was a lot. Maybe I should get my own blog :)
Hi Jason,
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a comprehensive collection of tips. I’m sure many other readers will be able to try them out too.