It can seem unrealistic or unattainable to turn our passions into a fully-fledged career, we’re often told to look at more practical opportunities rather than moving off the beaten path.
That being said, it’s more possible than ever to monetise your passions with the internet and current technological landscape. More and more people are taking advantage of self-education, social media and even utilizing traditional routes like university to form their own road to fulfillment. This article will take a look at what it takes to turn your passion into your profession and hopefully provide some tips along the way.
Determine Your Passion and Research Market Demand
While passions are the driving force for most of our motivations in life, it’s also important to think practically and look at the demand in the marketplace. If you don’t do this you might be stuck in a field that cannot support you or have long-term profitability. The first thing you need to do is examine the current trends in that industry and look at the average wages or profits within businesses in that field. If your chosen industry is what the marketplace actually wants then it is a good idea to follow that path, otherwise, it might be worth looking at other passions to follow. This doesnāt mean completely discounting that career path, maybe it doesnāt make sense to become an elite athlete but you could look into a Masters in Sports Journalism for a career that is still in a similar field.
It is important, however, to ensure that you have the right balance of passion to market demand, those who aren’t committed to their profession often fail when the going gets tough. This is why having passions is often an advantage because the person in the right industry who is in love with the process will be able to go through the many hardships more than one who is solely profit-driven.
Evaluate Skills Required and Look at What Others Have Done to Get There
Now that you’ve determined what industry makes the most sense for you to pursue, it’s time to figure out how you can get there. This means looking at what skills are most in demand in the marketplace and how others have gotten there as well.
In order to determine the skill set required you will need to look at the industry as a whole what competencies you already have and what others you might need to work on, which can include anything from financial skills, customer skills or just developing foundation competencies in your niche. This takes some objective self-reflection because it’s often the case that we don’t know what we don’t know, so do some thorough research and soon you’ll have the answers on how to become the best in your industry.
Looking at what others have already done can be a fantastic cheat code to find your way to success. This is good for those less confident in their ability because it can help them visualize that success is actually possible since someone else has done it before. But it can also be valuable to look at mistakes others have made so then you don’t have to go through them again.
Find Courses or Training to Become an Expert in your Field and Industry
In today’s industries, everything is so fast-moving that it’s not enough to simply be working within your field, you need to be constantly improving and updating yourself with new information. After figuring out what kind of skills you need to work on you should search for the right institutions or training to get that knowledge. This means either looking online for reputable courses, doing one-on-one tuition or even heading to university for degrees that might be relevant to you.
This training can help fill in any gaps in knowledge and make it easier to position yourself as a professional in the industry. When you are seen as professional and an expert then it makes it much easier to inspire confidence for those around you which can give you higher returns and better opportunities. Don’t settle for less and go all in for your education if you want to truly pursue your passions.
Develop a Plan for Turning your Passion into a Full Time Operation
Nothing happens by accident, as much as we’d like to think that those who are successful had some sort of lucky break, this simply isn’t the case. Every single person from entrepreneurs to world-class athletes has intention behind their actions. They know exactly what they want and how they want to get there. So what kind of success do you think you’ll have if you don’t plan? This is an often overlooked aspect of having a successful career in any endeavor.
In order to create a plan you must first assess where you are at before deciding what steps to take next. This may mean looking back and revisiting your skillset, knowledge and existing connections to see your starting point and what advantages you might have in the marketplace. Then you will need to map out your short-term and long-term goals and be as detailed as possible so you know exactly what you need to do every day.
It’s also important to remember that the best plan is one that can adapt and evolve because nothing stays the same, things might be reached earlier than expected. Just don’t be too rigid and think the milestones are the be-all and end-all, it should act as a guide.
Build Contacts and Networks to Help Support Your Career
Every successful business or individual has a network of contacts and people they have to support them, this can be anything from mentors to business partners. If you’re out alone following your own path it’s imperative that you have the right team to lean on when the going gets hard. It can be very difficult otherwise and lone wolves often fail.
If you want to build networks make sure you get out there by attending events relevant to your industry, joining associations or putting yourself out there online. This is a great way to meet like-minded people who share the same interests as you so that you can develop mutual relationships, just remember that this process doesn’t happen fast and it does take time to build rapport.
Conclusion
It’s important to remember that you can successfully turn your passion into a profession with not only hard work but with the right and careful planning. This doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy but by having the right systems in place you’ll see progress faster than others who might be tempted to just wing it as this never works.
Just know that it is very possible to follow your passions and everyone who has talents should ensure that these are developed to their fullest capacity, it won’t only bring satisfaction to yourself but that attention to detail and passion shine through in the end result. Good luck with your endeavors.