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Maybe you can't make money doing what you love

sethgodin.typepad.com

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Re: Maybe you can't make money doing what you love

#12

Post by redorb »

if you're going to make a living at it, it helps to find a niche where money flows as a regular consequence of the success of your idea

as soon as you focus on your art and leave the money behind, you may just discover that this focus turns out to be the secret of actually breaking through and making money.

thats the meat of the articles, overall good ideas..

Re: Maybe you can't make money doing what you love

#15

Post by iigs »

I think there's some kind of implicit sentiment that the happiness from doing something you enjoy and getting paid are additive when you do something you enjoy. I'm not sure that's true.

I love computers, UNIX/Linux, scalable architectures, yadda yadda yadda. I work in the field, and am reasonably well compensated, but I've always said "I'd keep doing computers even if I was the one paying."

Doing something you're passionate about for someone else (whether your customer is a manager, or you're self employed and your customer is the one paying) isn't inherently pleasurable if the customer's goals aren't perfectly aligned with yours -- in fact it can be deeply saddening to know there's a better way to accomplish something, if only some business reality (cost, technical constraint) wasn't in the way.

For me, the big win working in my favorite field is that the job is easy -- I have a great pool of contacts, I've spent over 80% of my entire life immersed in the problems and solutions of this field. That said, I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy computing a lot more again if I went back to bagging groceries -- 100% of the computing I'd do would be computing for pleasure, no more chores or building stuff for people that have needs that are different than mine.

Re: Maybe you can't make money doing what you love

#17

Post by bbgm »

I mostly agree with most of the comments, especially since Seth oversimplifies, but he has a point. I know a couple of people who loved painting and graphic design, but lost all love for it when it became a career, so they switched to another career and started enjoying design again. It wasn't that they couldn't make money from design, but making it a career took the joy and creativity out of it.

HN might just skewed towards those lucky few who are able to make money from things they love. Personally, if I am not doing something I love, it's not worth it.

Re: Maybe you can't make money doing what you love

#19

Post by kirse »

LostInTheWoods wrote: post #9

"That passion you have for art... perhaps making your painting commercial enough to sell will squeeze the joy out of it." Once you cross the line of doing something to pay the bills, instead of doing it for the joy of doing it, then it becomes work. And, work, ultimately sucks.

I was trying to figure out when a hobby I love turns into something I hate, and you just nailed it for me. Needed to pay bills = work.

It also becomes work once you believe you have to turn your hobby into something that makes money (because everyone - especially this site - tells you to find your passion and then make money from it).

Some pursuits are better left intrinsicly rewarding.

Re: Maybe you can't make money doing what you love

#20

Post by jerf »

I think he misses the real problem. It is easier to be noticed. It is easier to get "picked up". However, it's easier for everyone, which means that the supply of niche content is radically increasing... and when supply increases, the price drops. In the end, the key is still to move from niche to large, and we've moved from "like winning the lottery" under the old system to... "like winning the lottery" under the new system, too. The barrier of entry is lower, but it's even more random behind the barrier.
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