By Isaiah O’Connor

I am a fan of Mike Row, and I saw a video where he spoke of not following your passion, but instead bringing it with you. This seems to be the polar opposite of the advice I gave in one of my early posts, where I wrote about finding a career that fits your passion. The post is here and my exact quote was;

Now Mike Row is a rather intelligent guy and I have a lot of respect for him.  Because of this, I do not take what he says lightly, and so I took time to ponder it, and try to figure out if what my views were in conflict and if so, which of us were correct. 

I came to the conclusion that there was not a conflict. Notice the second part of my statement.”What can I become passionate about? “ The keyword there is become.  Now, in all honesty, I think you can become passionate about anything that you choose to become passionate about, as long as that thing does not conflict with your core belief system, both moral and political.

 For example. I really do not foresee a PETA member becoming passionate about running a cattle ranch. That is as long as they hold the same value for animals they did when they joined PETA. Now a person's world view and belief system may change over time, and if your views change so can your passions, again giving you the choice of what you want to become passionate about. 

However, if something you are not passionate about does not conflict with your core being, you can develop not only a passion but perhaps even a talent for it. You may be thinking that you cannot create a talent that you do not already have, however, I recently came upon some new research that shows otherwise. I will dig into that in another post. 

Let me give you an example from my own life.  In the balloon world, there are two main styles of balloon artists. You have balloon twisters, those that use the long “Entertainer” balloons to create figures, often for kids' birthday parties, as clowns, magicians, etc.

Then you also have balloon decorators who primarily use large amounts of
balloons usually stacked in some way to form large eye catching decor

Lastly, you have people that do a little of both, which is what I now do.

I started off my business as a balloon twister, and I really did not see the point of doing decor. I figured it was nice and all but no thanks I liked what  I did. However, as I was marketing I had one potential client after another asked me if I also did decor. I got tired of saying no, so I found a DVD based course and took it, then did the final exam with real instructors. Two things happened by doing this. First I found an appreciation for the decor side, then that grew into a passion. I found I liked doing the Decor more than I did the twisting, I still like and do both but I really work to up my decor game much more than my twisting game. I became passionate about something that I was not. Sure they were linked but also different. 

As a matter of fact, I have always had a passion for helping people grow and learn, and my experience with the balloon world has brought me into a new passion, writing blogs, podcasting, and coaching. Linked but different.

So is Mike Row right about bringing your passion. Yes, am I right about trying to find your passion, again the answer is yes. The difference is one of emphasis, rather than a difference of opinion.  What do I mean by that? 

Well, I am an advocate and supporter of entrepreneurs, people wanting and willing to take the risk to jump out and start out on their own. Does everyone need to be an entrepreneur? No of course not, and not everyone should be either. I will write more on that one as well.

Mike is the champion of the every man who just needs to find a good-paying job they can thrive in to provide for their needs. Does this mean that no one should want to become an entrepreneur, and just be satisfied with what they have? No of course not, and I do not think Mike would say otherwise.  Matter of fact the people I have seen bring their passion to the work on hand, take ownership of it and do it with excellence whether that was simply fixing a broken video game, or flipping a burger as a kid, is the exact type of person who often goes on to impact the world later either by becoming a leader in their field, or becoming an entrepreneur. 

Learning how to bring your passion with you as Mike says, no matter what job you are doing is a key skill, or in my terms a required secondary power, that will help you become a successful entrepreneur.

Matter of fact, even if you become a tradesman, you can still become an entrepreneur, one does not exclude you from becoming the other. My cousin is a contractor, works for himself and hard and does amazing work. If you decide you want to be a tradesman as well, then go check out Mike Row he is amazing. His website is here www.mikeroweworks.org

Your Friendly Neighborhood Entrepreneur 
Isaiah O’Connor. 

P.S. Mike If you happen to read this, I hope you agree with my sentiments

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