FUNDAMENTAL #9: Find and Live Your Passion This fundamental is very critical and central in your pursuit of success and prosperity. Build your business and career around your passion. Find what you are truly passionate about and then develop yourself and build your professional skills around it. There is no point pursuing careers and business interests which you are not inspired and motivated to do. When I graduated as an economist from university, my first job was teaching English and Maths at Mulunguzi Secondary School. It wasn’t long before I realised I was very passionate about teaching. But it was the pay and subjects that I wasn’t too motivated with. Two years later, I landed a job in transport logistics and freight management. It was a good job, the pay was much better, but I wasn’t passionate about the work itself. Although I quickly rose to a senior position of general manager within three years (and man, the pay and benefits were excellent!), I discovered that I was climbing the wrong wall. I was not motivated and inspired with transport logistics and arguing with drivers who were stealing fuel. My passion was in teaching, sharing life-changing ideas. I quit my job at age 28 to follow my passion. I left my official car, a Mercedes Benz 300D and started walking again and riding minibuses to follow my passion. I set up a consulting and training business. It was tough. I struggled. My business plan indicated within six months I would have a car again. I walked for two years. I discovered the reality of the business world was different. One of my worst moments was when I failed to pay rentals for six months! Luckily, it was my sister’s house, so we agreed I would settle the bill once things worked out. But I was down, frustrated, I almost quit on my dream and wanted to get back into employment. It’s been 15 years since I quit my good transport logistics job. Here I am, living out my passion. I love teaching, I just had to find different subjects to teach. I love what I do. I am passionate about sharing ideas that can change a person’s life for the better. I love helping organizations increase their productivity, efficiency and profitability. I have also found better “students” who are willing to pay me for my services handsomely. I have had the privilege of having some very good clients who have seen the value of what I am passionate about. They have at times “shocked me” with middle six figure fees per hour. ACTION POINT: Take some time alone to ponder over your passion and love. Write down at least ten things you are very passionate about. Select the top three. What would you be willing to do six days a week, twelve hours a day with a wide smile on your face and full of passion and enthusiasm? Develop a strategy to build your career and businesses around these.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 05:22:42 +0000
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