How to Turn Passion into Practical Impact

Here's how I turned my passion, into profit. (well, sorta) I love painting 🖌️ but let's face it. Making a living off painting, ain't easy. So instead, I learned design (way more market value). Specifically, apparel design, which enabled me to build an e-commerce brand (Greekify) that now supports my painting passion. I like this approach for 2 reasons: 1. It takes the "pressure" off, allowing me to create for "fun" on the side. 2. I still get to use my passions every day, without worrying about bills. The key, is figuring out how to translate your passion into a skill that is actually "worth" something in the market. For me, that skill was photoshop, branding, and apparel design. For you, it might be something else. Passionate musician? 🎵 → Learn Ableton or music production software, and ghost write for artists. Passionate writer? ✍️ → Study LinkedIn content and start a ghost writing agency. Passionate photographer? 📸 → Learn video and start a content creation agency. You get what I mean... (there's unlimited examples here) Ultimately, it's up to you to figure out your unique "cross-section" between passion and business (that's the hard part). But once you do, you'll wake up each day fired up to work. And believe me, it's worth the effort of figuring out (beats being in a job you hate for life). We spend way too much of our lives working, to not be excited about it each day. In summary: 🎯 1. Identify your passion. 💰 2. Find a monetizable skill that aligns with that passion. 🙌 3. Get SUPER good at that skill, then watch as doors open for you. For those who've translated their passion into their career, would love to hear how you did in the comments! ↓ _______ P.S. Still have questions? DM me... I'm always happy to help out (I know it's not easy... I started at 10 so got a lucky head start) 🎨✌ #entrepreneurship #creativity #design

I don’t always line up with Mark Cuban, but the other day he said something that made me pause and nod.   When asked about the worst piece of career advice he ever received was, he responded: “‘Follow your passions. No. Follow your effort. No one quits anything they’re good at. If I followed my passion, I’d still be trying to play professional basketball.”   I’ll add my twist: Look for the intersection of the two. And, it may not be the industry/product you’re passionate about, but the situation. For instance, learning how to improve my leadership is where the effort went and leading a team of smart, encouraging, client-first teammates is a passion. The industry mattered less. Having said that, getting to do both those things while helping our clients set the right price for their value and then get it through better negotiations? That’s the trifecta.

Giving back what we have learned is a way for others to identify their potential and grow in ways you couldn't even imagine. Thank you to Monroe County Family Coalition for the invitation to speak to some incredible local women at various stages in their life's journey. Having this opportunity was not only a blessing but one of the most rewarding parts of my weekend. The discussion this time was around, centering on what I have learned through my experiences, research, mistakes, and my reflective self-discovery journey: "The World of Work Today: Finding Purpose & Passion While Driving Impact" We all want to do something that we love to do, playing more to our strengths in an environment where we feel safe and that we belong while surrounding ourselves with people who enable us to become the best versions of ourselves. However, our approach is usually to look forward rather than reflect backward to design our personal and professional destination of success as well as happiness. When we are doing something that we love and we set the right intention our ability to positively impact someone else's story becomes infinitely more possible. Here are some of the keys for anyone who was not able to join us this time! 1. Start Your Self-Reflective Journey Begin by understanding yourself, your strengths, weaknesses, values, and goals. Looking backward to move forwards may seem counterproductive but this is critical to designing that "vision board for both personal and professional success." Arming you with the information you need and providing clarity to what you want. 2. Intention Drives Our Attention & Action This ultimately becomes of personal and professional mix tape, what are you listening to? 3. Find Your Tribe Once you have a sense of self, find like-minded individuals or communities who share your interests and goals. They can help you uncover strengths you never knew but also give you ways to effectively translate these skills and strengths while interviewing. 3. Mentors and Sponsors Identify mentors who can offer guidance based on their experience and sponsors who can advocate for your professional growth. Understand the difference as they both serve a purpose in our customized development and career path. 4. Network to Get Work Your Network is your net worth as they say and also when it comes to finding new careers, it is about who you know not what you know in most cases. Just look at Influencers, they understand the power of social capital. 5. Build Your Brand Develop and showcase your personal brand. This involves crafting a compelling narrative about yourself, highlighting your strengths and unique qualities, to give them more insights about your potential than a resume ever could. By contributing to the success of others you will learn from their wisdom, strengthen your network, and could just be the spark that someone else needs to achieve their dream and full potential. #giveback #community #rochesterny #leadup