15 Mar Should Your Passion be Your Career or a Side Job?
As the job market continues to change, more and more people are questioning what the right career path is for them. Others offer advice, like: “Find something you enjoy!” or “Make sure it pays nicely!” As the job market continues to change, we are seeing a shift in the kinds of jobs people look for. For one, many are turning their passions (even creative ones) into full-time careers. But should your passion be your career?
Passion as Your career vs. Passion for Your Career
Though it might not seem like a lot, there is a distinct difference between being passionate about your career and making your passion your career. Much more than just wording differences, these situations can have greatly different outcomes.
What do We Mean by “Passions?”
In a simplified way, the passions we are referring to are things you enjoy doing (and would probably do for free). This can range from things like photography, cooking, singing/dancing/performing, comedy, exercising, etc. Passions can be anything. Many also refer to these as hobbies.
Having Your Passion for a Career
Nowadays, there’s a job for just about everything. From painting, videography, and writing to program managing, coding, and unlimited variations of physical labor, there are a ton of careers in the world. It’s a lot easier now to make your passions a career than it has ever been.
With services like Etsy, Fiverr/Upwork, and website builders (such as WordPress, Wix, etc.), people have made their dream jobs more obtainable. They are discovering ways to bring their passions to work and earn a living from it.
In a short explanation, this is what we mean by making your passion a career.
Being Passionate about Your Career
On the flip side of the coin, you can be passionate about your career without it being your main passion. How many people do you know have “side” jobs doing something quite different than their overall career—or maybe they just have a hobby they do in their free time? There are a lot of people that do this.
The woman in the corner office might have a passion for knitting sweaters; the guy who always seems to throw his wads of paper across the room into the trash can might work a side job as a high school basketball coach; and the two ladies that greet you when you get to work could have a joint side business making cakes. Though these people might technically “work” for their passions, it’s not their career.
Having these side jobs or passions outside of work doesn’t mean you can’t feel passionate about the things you do at work. You still might enjoy going to work every day, talking with coworkers during break, or completing big projects. You can enjoy the work you’re doing while still keeping your passions separate.
How can a Passion become a Career?
As mentioned earlier, it’s easier now than ever for people to make their passions a career. With the digital world and online services, people can make a job out of everything. Whether you’re into something creative like art, writing, and videography/photography or something more technical, it’s not impossible to make it your career.
Ways to Tell Which Passions Can be a Career and Which Ones Can’t
Though we’ve spent most of this article alleging how any passion can become a career, there can be a limit to it. Some passions, when made into a career, lose a lot of meaning or aren’t what you expect them to be.
The career side of anything tends to dampen the enjoyment. Paperwork, rude clients, expanding the business, etc. All of these things are what many call the “less fun” sides of business. And if you’re starting the transition to making your passion a career, then you will run into these sides a lot more often.
If you’re looking to make your passion a career, do some research about what a career in that passion would be. Review businesses (small or large) that follow the same path or talk to people around you that might see the other side—the side that isn’t full of doing something you love.
The Downsides
Unfortunately, making the leap to have your passions as a main career might not be the worst downfall you stumble into. By this, we mean that there could be unseen circumstances that you encounter while working for your passion. Because, after all, work is still work.
Here are a few downfalls you might run into:
1. Burnout
Passions are something you enjoy doing. It’s not always something you do all of the time or something that you do to its full extent. When you switch that passion into a career, you’re adding a lot more responsibility to it. It can quickly over-exhaust you and lead you straight into burnout.
2. Blurs the Lines
When you do something you enjoy as a career, it doesn’t always feel like work. It’s fun, more enjoyable, and easy to be motivated for. Before you know it, though, the gap between work and life will blend. Your passions were once something you did in your daily life, but it’s now what you do in your work life. This creates an unclear boundary and could eventually lead you to overwork. Which, in turn, leads to burnout.
3. Lessens the Excitement / Enjoyment
Another side effect is that this constant overlapping of life and work could cause you to lose enjoyment in those passions. How many things have you started only to lose excitement after a few months (maybe a few years)? Just because you make this particular passion a career does not mean that it’s safe from this same fate.
Take the Leap to Making Your Passion a Career
If you’ve decided that the downsides are worth it if it means that you can do something you enjoy, then there are a couple of things you need to do.
For one, start.
The hardest thing for people to do when they decide to make their passions their career is to start. This is because they sometimes need to carve their own path. Not all passions already have jobs in the world and not many that do have large companies in which you can just apply for a job at. Sometimes, you need to start from scratch.
This is why freelance companies such as Upwork and Fiverr, online marketplaces for handmade/start-up businesses such as Etsy, and website-building services such as Wix and WordPress are great places to begin. If you want to start from scratch, these places are the ones you need to look at. They will help you spread your passions across the world (or to whichever niche crowd you’re targeting).
Next, consider getting a Career Coach. While you might think you know the best place to start, there is always more than you realize. A Career Coach can help you set a course of action, revamp your personal brand, and get you started on the path to your new career in no time.
At the Jonus Group, we offer numerous career services. Including career coaching, resume assistance, mock interviews, and more. You can find a full list of our services here.
We can help you find a career in something you love and help you make a plan of action for any downfall you might encounter.