I know you. You long to make a career out of that thing you love. The reality is that what you love may not make money.
What I mean is, there may not be a huge marketplace of buyers for what you love to do. That’s the honest truth. And that’s ok. If I asked you what would you like to spend your days doing, you might answer by saying you’d like to lay on a tropical beach in a gorgeous part of the world for the rest of your days.
But, I want to challenge you on that. You may think you’d like to do that, but after a few weeks, you’d be bored.
Why? Because we are born with a purpose. That purpose is not one specific vocation because it will change over time, but rather it is the desire to serve. If you’re not serving in some capacity, you’re not fulfilled.
When I was a corporate banker for 7 years, I pushed down the sinking, nagging feeling of the job being meaningless by convincing myself I was serving someone... I told myself that someone had to do that job and that the money I was managing was helping someone.
After some years though, that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to see and experience first-hand the results of my service. But year after year, I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to do — I couldn’t figure out what my life's purpose was.
When I finally left the corporate world, I thought that was the end of me and the business world. We got divorced. End. Over. Never going back.
And as I became a yogi and spiritual seeker, I thought I’d never want to be involved with business and strategy, and the “system” ever again.
But the reality is, I’m good at it. I get the business world. There are skills that I learned in those years, working and studying, that have come full circle.
If you’re struggling to figure out your purpose, and if you’re asking yourself over and over again what you love and you keep coming up with the same answer — that the thing you love won’t make a decent income, then think about this:
I bet you have skills, expertise, education and training in something you’re doing right now or in the past, that you may feel you don’t want to do. And I would argue that you don’t want to do it in the same frame as it looks right now (or has looked in the past).
Meaning, you are working for someone else, in a place you don’t like, with people you don’t like — and it’s soul crushing.
But what if you could reframe those skills and work for yourself? Work from home or anywhere in the world? What if you could provide law consultancy to other women entrepreneurs, or manage a cool company’s social media campaigns, or be a business growth manager for small businesses that you support and admire?
You can use those skills you have to be of service, first-hand. And being of service feels purposeful.
Did you know there are LOTS of entrepreneurs who are good at finances, technology, social media, organization, management, marketing, writing (and many more!) who are running very successful businesses that support other businesses?
Yes. Please think about it.
When you stop obsessing about this pie in the sky purpose idea that’s not becoming clear, and start using the talents you already have to create your own freedom, that’s when you’re singing the tune of your own heart.
With all the income you make from this reframed skill working from home, or on a beach or even Paris, you’ll be way happier and less stressed, AND you’ll have lots of FREEDOM to do all those other things you really, really love, too.
Now, get to it.
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